Spotlight
Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has hit out at Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi and Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil over the files of the presidential vote and the caretaker cabinet.
“We understand that some religious leaders are practicing political and media pressure on the political forces represented in parliament to expedite the presidential election, but one must refrain from sectarian incitement,” Nasrallah said in a televised speech, in an apparent jab at al-Rahi.

A French judicial delegation probing the death of two French citizens in the Beirut port blast met Wednesday with lead investigator into the blast Judge Tarek Bitar, media reports said.
The delegation also met with Attorney General Judge Sabbouh Suleiman, who is tasked by the public prosecution to oversee the file of the port.

On New Year's Eve, a small boat carrying more than 230 would-be migrants, most of them Syrians, broke down and began to sink after setting sail from the northern coast of Lebanon.
Since the collapse of Lebanon's economy in 2019, an increasing number of people -- mostly Syrian and Palestinian refugees but also Lebanese citizens -- have tried to leave the country and reach Europe by sea. The attempts often turn deadly.

European investigators have questioned two witnesses for eight hours in Beirut as part of a probe into Lebanon's central bank governor Riad Salemeh and his brother, a judicial official told AFP.

The caretaker cabinet convened Wednesday for the second time at the Grand Serail to discuss the electricity file and other items.
Minister of Tourism Walid Nassar attended the session despite a decision by the Free Patriotic Movement to boycott any caretaker cabinet session.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat criticized Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea's call for reconsidering the state's structure.
"What does he mean by reconsidering the Lebanese structure," Jumblat asked, in remarks published Tuesday in al-Joumhouria newspaper.

The ongoing presidential vacuum might last for more than a year due to the political deadlock, a senior official told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Tuesday.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat is in favor of a caretaker cabinet session that would tackle vital matters like education instead of electricity.
Jumblat considered, in remarks published Tuesday in al-Joumhouria newspaper, that the electricity problem is hard to be solved, urging for reforming the sector before spending on it.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Tuesday warned that a caretaker cabinet session scheduled for Wednesday will “violate the constitution and the Pact,” deepen the national rift and undermine balances and understandings.”
He added, in a video posted online, that a “constitutional” solution for passing decrees needed to purchase fuel for electricity would be through so-called “roaming decrees” signed by all ministers.

Mount Lebanon Environmental Prosecutor Judge Fadi Malkoun has filed charges against the state-run Council for Development and Reconstruction and its chief Nabil al-Jisr as well as against the contractor Jihad al-Arab and his company, LBCI television reported on Monday.
Malkoun accused the aforementioned parties of “executing the Costa Brava landfill project without obtaining an environmental impact approval from the Environment Ministry,” LBCI said.
