The life imprisonment verdicts issued Thursday by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon are the “clearest condemnation of Hizbullah” in the 2005 assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri, al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri said.

“After the conviction of Salim Ayyash in the crime of the assassination of martyr premier Rafik Hariri and his companions, the Appeals Chamber of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon unanimously sentenced two other Hezbollah members, Hassan Merhi and Hussein Oneissi, to life imprisonment,” Hariri tweeted.

The Constitutional Council’s deadline for accepting appeals against the results of the parliamentary elections ended on Thursday, after 15 appeals were filed in total, the state-run National News Agency reported.

The appeals were filed between May 31 and June 16, NNA said.

The so-called Change MPs will meet President Michel Aoun separately during the binding parliamentary consultations next Thursday, al-Akhbar newspaper reported.

In remarks published Thursday, the daily said that the meetings are separate because the MPs haven't yet agreed on one name according to some sources, while other sources said that the Parliament's General Secretariat has sent the names separately without asking the MPs.

U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Lebanon Najat Rochdi has delivered a speech at a press conference held Thursday at the U.N. House (Beirut) on the Extension and Revision of the Emergency Response Plan (ERP).

Below are Rochdi’s remarks as delivered at the conference:

The Free Patriotic Movement is intensifying its calls as it tries to find a PM candidate who fits President Michel Aoun's conditions, and who, at the same time, can gain enough support from the MPs in order to compete with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, media reports said.

Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported Thursday that Aoun is imposing certain conditions on the PM-designate. It said it had learned from sources that Aoun is demanding that the next PM dismiss the Central Bank governor, include the administrative appointments on the new Cabinet agenda and recover the money transferred after the October 17 uprising by approving a forensic audit.

Conflicting reports have emerged on whether Lebanon and Israel will manage to quickly reach a sea border demarcation deal in the wake of U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein’s visit to Lebanon earlier this week.

The maritime border demarcation talks have reached a sensitive phase, according to Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab, who told LBCI on Thursday that the U.S. mediator will come back within ten days to Lebanon with a response.

Bou Saab told LBCI that a progress has been made in the negotiations and that the Lebanese proposal to Amos Hochstein has strengthened Lebanon's stance.

A U.N.-backed court sentenced two Hezbollah members in their absence to life imprisonment on Thursday for a huge Beirut bombing in 2005 that killed Lebanon's ex-premier Rafic Hariri.

Habib Merhi and Hussein Oneissi were found guilty on appeal in March by the Dutch-based Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) over the attack, which killed 21 other people and injured 226.

Lebanon's caretaker energy minister has extended the licensing deadline for oil and gas companies to explore in the country's territorial waters until mid-December, to give more firms the chance to bid, state-run news agency reported.

The decision by the minister, Walid Fayyad, to extended the deadline of the second round of licensing until Dec. 15 followed a request by the Lebanese Petroleum Administration, the National News Agency said.

Higher Judicial Council chief Judge Suheil Abboud has questioned Judge Ghada Aoun’s eligibility to be in her post during a meeting for the council, after referring her to judicial inspection “failed to yield a result nor to curb her drive,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Accordingly, Abboud proposed expelling Aoun and Judge Shadi Qardouhi from the judiciary for violating the principle of judicial discretion, the daily added.