The United States and France have encouraged Lebanese lawmakers to work together to select a new president at Wednesday's presidential election session.

Lebanon's parliament will convene on Wednesday to try to elect a president, a position that has been vacant for eight months, but lawmakers remain sharply divided on the candidate.

The Co-Chairs of the U.S.-Lebanon Friendship Caucus in the U.S. Congress -- Representatives Darrell Issa, Darrin LaHood and Debbie Dingell -- have sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken regarding Lebanon’s stalled presidential election.

A British court has ordered a London-based company that delivered the ammonium nitrate that exploded in 2020 at Beirut's port to pay compensation to some families of the hundreds of victims, Beirut's Bar Association said Tuesday.

The verdict in the High Court of Justice on Monday came four months after the court ruled that London-registered chemical trading firm Savaro Ltd. is liable to the victims for the devastating blast.

To help vulnerable Lebanese "continue to put food on the table and access medical care," the United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is providing more than $17.4 million in additional humanitarian assistance to the people of Lebanon via the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) and two non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the U.S. Embassy said.

"As staple food and fuel prices rise and livelihoods erode, Lebanon’s deepening economic crisis continues to generate humanitarian needs by decreasing vulnerable populations’ purchasing power, and restricting access to healthcare," the Embassy said in a statement.

Former General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim has commented on the reports saying that Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has asked him to carry a message to Hezbollah.

“The report that I have met with FPM chief Jebran Bassil and that he asked me to carry a message to Hezbollah contains major fabrication in its timing before Wednesday(’s)” presidential election session, Ibrahim told OTV.

A toy hand grenade was found Tuesday near MP Nadim Gemayel’s residence in Ashrafieh, a day before a heated presidential election session.

“A security expert examined the suspicious item near MP Nadim Gemayel’s home and it turned out to be a toy grenade containing no explosive material,” a security source told LBCI television.

MPs Paula Yacoubian and Najat Aoun Saliba of the Change parliamentary bloc on Tuesday announced that they will vote for ex-minister Jihad Azour in Wednesday’s presidential election session.

“Political realism obliges us to take the best decision and a dream president does not exist until today, that’s why we have decided to declare our support for Jihad Azour and we will hold him accountable should he be elected,” Yacoubian said at a press conference.

Outgoing Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri seem to maintain a strong friendship, despite political differences.

"Nothing can affect my relation with Berri," Jumblat told al-Joumhouria newspaper, in remarks published Tuesday. On the same day, Berri told al-Akhbar

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Tuesday hit back at Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri over the issue of presidential dialogue.

“Dialogue is not when a certain camp picks a certain candidate and invites all others to dialogue to elect him,” Geagea tweeted, addressing Berri by name.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri would not postpone Wednesday's session, except on one condition.

Berri assured that the 12th session to elect a president would be held on time, unless Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi asked him to postpone it.