Cabinet on Wednesday approved the energy minister’s plan for building two new power plants in the northern area of Deir Amar and the southern region of al-Zahrani.

MTV said Energy Minister Walid Fayyad also proposed setting up a plant in the northern area of Salaata, adding that the suggestion was rejected by Prime Minister Najib Miqati and Culture Minister Mohammed al-Murtada of the Amal Movement.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati said Wednesday that progress has been made within the main points of the recovery plan with the International Monetary Fund.

He said at the start of a Cabinet session that the situation is challenging, adding that "we will not give up, we will carry on with the recovery plan."

A session for the joint parliamentary committees was postponed Wednesday due to lack of quorum, Deputy Speaker Elie Ferzli announced.

On 31 March 2022, the World Food Program, working hand in hand with WHO, UNICEF, sector partners and OCHA, delivered the last drop of fuel as part of emergency fuel operations under the U.N. coordinated Emergency Response Plan for Lebanon (ERP), the office of U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Najat Rochdi said on Tuesday.

Failure to secure funds and logistics necessary to provide uninterrupted power supply to polling stations on May 15 might become an excuse to postpone the parliamentary elections, a media report said on Tuesday.

“Electricite du Liban has informed the Interior Minister that it will only be able to supply a third of the polling stations with electricity,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported.

Mount Lebanon Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun decided on Tuesday to lift travel bans against BLOM Bank chairman Saad al-Azhari and Bank Audi chairman Samir Hanna.

The decision came after the lawyer of the two banks, Sakher al-Hashem submitted a request to lift the travel bans to Judge Aoun.

The Central Bank is stumbling, economic expert Edmond Shammas told al-Jadeed on Tuesday, following a statement by Deputy Prime Minister Saadeh Shami about the Central Bank being bankrupted.

Shami had explained in a TV interview that his remarks had been quoted out of context.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati co-chaired Monday the fourth meeting of the Consultative Group of the Reform, Recovery and Reconstruction Framework (3RF).

The 3RF Consultative Group consists of the Government of Lebanon, Lebanese civil society, the European Union, United Nations, the World Bank, and international donors. Together they monitor progress and give strategic direction to the reforms and activities under the 3RF.

The head of Hizbullah’s parliamentary bloc, MP Mohammed Raad, on Monday accused Washington of being behind Lebanon’s historic financial and economic crisis, as he stressed that his Iran-backed “will not communicate with the Americans.”

“What bankrupted the Lebanese and plunged them into the latest economic and financial crisis is the U.S. domination, which wanted to besiege the resistance and failed to do so,” Raad said in a speech in the southern town of Zefta.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Monday hit out at Hizbullah over its latest anti-corruption remarks.

“You can combat the part of corruption related to borders and smuggling between Lebanon and Syria, because the security of the region is in your hands and the smugglers are your people,” Geagea said during an electoral event.