A joint committees session was suspended Tuesday, after the Free Patriotic Movement MPs left it.

"We received a decree from the government that has many constitutional flaws and doesn't carry all the ministers' signatures," FPM chief Jebran Bassil stated after he left the session.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri will try his best to break the presidential impasse.

Al-Joumhouria newspaper, in remarks published Tuesday, quoted the speaker as saying that there is still a chance to elect a president, but that a solution is only possible when all parties agree to cooperate in order to reach a consensus.

The Basketball World Cup field is now filled, and Lebanon is back, after its most recent appearance was in 2010.

THE FIELD

Unknown assailants broke into the offices of Lebanon's state-run National News Agency and stole the servers that contain its archives, the Information Ministry said.

The theft occurred in a tightly secured area, further reflecting the cash-strapped country's continued decay. The archives are located in a building that houses two ministries, across the street from the Lebanese central bank, and adjacent to the heavily-guarded Interior Ministry that is in charge of security in the country.

The country’s two main Christian blocs -- the Lebanese Forces and the Free Patriotic Movement -- have rejected a proposed, French-backed presidential settlement under which Suleiman Franjieh would be elected as president and Nawaf Salam would be named as premier, media reports said on Monday.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea dubbed Monday a meeting between a delegation of Arab parliamentary leaders and Syrian president Bashar al-Assad as "shameful."

"It is truly shameful to see a delegation of Arab parliamentarians taking advantage of the tragic earthquake to meet Syrian President Bashar al-Assad," Geagea said.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati told the ministers, in a cabinet session on Monday, that cabinet cannot extend the term of General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim and that the extension needs a law.

Local media had reported that Ibrahim's term might be extended through an administrative decision or a Cabinet resolution should parliament fail to hold a legislative session.

Banks in Switzerland are holding a substantial amount of the millions of dollars Lebanese central bank chief Riad Salameh is accused of embezzling, Swiss media reported on Sunday.

Salameh, 72, faces investigations related to suspicions of money laundering and illicit enrichment in Lebanon and abroad after he amassed a fortune in the country mired in financial crisis.

A Sunni Muslim cleric who went missing earlier this week was killed by people from his northern hometown with whom he had been at odds with for more than a decade, security officials said.

Sheikh Ahmed Rifai was last seen in the northern city of Tripoli Monday evening and his car was found days later in a village a few kilometers south of the city. His family said they lost contact with him Monday night after they tried to call him and found that his cellphone was turned off.

Intensive contacts will be held over the next two weeks in a bid to reach a presidential settlement within weeks or a few months at the latest, a media report said.