British Ambassador to Lebanon Ian Collard has visited Baalbek ‘the City of the Sun’ and joined students at the American University of Science and Technology in Zahle.

"The Ambassador’s visit to Baalbek (on Tuesday) was an opportunity to hear from Baalbek-Hermel Governor Bachir Khodr, local officials, dignitaries and NGOs about the important work they are doing to support their communities during very difficult times," the British Embassy in Beirut said.

The U.N. Productive Sectors Development Program (PSDP) funded by the Government of Canada is launching an online survey for women and men farmers, entrepreneurs, and Medium and Small to Medium industries and cooperatives working in the agri-food sector in Lebanon.

The survey aims to select beneficiaries in the PSDP’s activities, which will include technology transfer and technical skills training in the agricultural and agri-food sectors, training on environmental sustainability, and in-kind support, with a specific focus on female youth skills’ upgrade, and innovations promotion.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announced Tuesday that Paris “lauds the Kuwaiti mediation for allowing Lebanon to overcome its crisis.”

“We stressed that we will continue to closely work for the sake of peace and security in the region,” La Drian added in Kuwait, following talks with his Kuwaiti counterpart Sheikh Ahmed al-Nasser Al-Sabah.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed Tuesday that the government will not resign before the parliamentary elections.

"One of the government's tasks today is to hold parliamentary elections, and my resignation might be a reason for disrupting the polls," Miqati said.

The head of Hizbullah’s parliamentary bloc, MP Mohammed Raad, claimed Tuesday that political rivals want to win the parliamentary majority “in order to secure laws that would allow them to normalize relations with the Israeli enemy.”

“All parties want to keep us away from the parliamentary action arena in order to implement their agendas,” Raad added, at a political rally in the southern town of Yohmor.

Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib has noted that the latest improvement in the Lebanese-Gulf ties had started with the Kuwaiti paper that had been submitted to Lebanon.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Tuesday rejected a suggestion from Prime Minister Najib Miqati for turning an ongoing legislative session into a general discussion session that would involve a vote of confidence over the government’s policies.

“This is a legislative session and I have not received a request,” Berri told Miqati, who responded by saying that “the issue is being raised through the media.”

The public prosecution on Monday reversed an order issued by Mt. Lebanon Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun that had barred six Lebanese banks from transferring and shipping money out of the country, LBCI TV said.

Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh issued Monday a decree that allows public sector workers to withdraw their entire salaries from the banks, with no restrictions.

The statement said that all banks must secure the needed liquidity to allow public sector workers to withdraw their entire monthly salaries, additional compensations, social assistance, and payments from their solidarity funds.

The lawyer of Raja Salameh -- the detained brother of Central Bank chief Riad Salameh – filed Monday a request for the release of his client.