Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab met overnight in New York with U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein to discuss the sea border demarcation file, as Israeli media reports said a final agreement is expected within two weeks.

Israeli business news website Globes meanwhile quoted a source familiar with the negotiations as saying that there is “hope is to finalize the agreement within two weeks, but a few contentious items are delaying the process.”

Crisis-hit Lebanon hopes to adopt key reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund for a long-delayed but urgently needed bailout before the end of next month if there is "political will," Lebanon's caretaker economy minister said Tuesday.

Amin Salam spoke to The Associated Press after meeting with an IMF delegation that has been visiting Lebanese officials since Monday. The reforms would include restructuring the country's banking system and banking secrecy laws.

President Michel Aoun is still insisting on “his right to name the Druze and Sunni ministers who will replace Minister of the Displaced Issam Sharafeddine and Economy Minister Amin Salam,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Tuesday.

“This may reflect a difficulty that is still obstructing the announcement of the formation of a new government,” the daily added.

The Ambassadors of the EU and its Members States resident in Beirut, along with the Ambassadors of Switzerland and Norway, met with President Michel Aoun on Tuesday to express “grave and growing concern about the current situation in Lebanon,” EU Ambassador to Lebanon Ralph Tarraf said.

“We urged the President to do his utmost to support and actively contribute to the implementation of the crucial economic, monetary and fiscal reforms that Lebanon has committed to,” Tarraf tweeted.

Israel is preparing to activate an offshore gas field partly disputed by Lebanon, aiming to boost energy exports to Europe but risking further tensions with its northern neighbor.

Israel and Lebanon, still technically at war, have engaged in on-off U.S. mediated talks since 2020 to delineate their Mediterranean border, which could allow both parties to boost offshore natural gas exploration.

A U.S. court has ordered Hezbollah to pay millions of dollars in damages to a group of Americans who sued saying they were wounded by the group's rockets during the 2006 war with Israel.

The case was brought under the U.S. Anti-Terrorism Act and alleged that Hezbollah caused the plaintiffs physical and emotional injury and damaged their property. The judge ordered Hezbollah to pay damages of $111 million to the plaintiffs.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea met Tuesday with Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari in Maarab.

Bukhari had met on Monday with Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat.

Cyprus has assisted in rescue of a small wooden boat crammed with more than 300 migrants that was floating adrift 203 kilometers west of the island nation, a Cypriot official said Tuesday.

Cyprus Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC) Commander Andreas Charalambides told the Associated Press that the captain of the 18-meter (60 foot) boat sent out a distress call Monday afternoon after experiencing engine trouble.

French President Emmanuel Macron will meet with Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

Mikati had on Monday took part in the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in London before leaving for the United States where he will lead Lebanon’s delegation to the works of the U.N. General Assembly.

Israel's prime minister has vowed to begin production at a contested Mediterranean natural gas field "as soon as it is possible," threatening to raise tensions with Lebanon's Hezbollah.

Yair Lapid's announcement in a statement from his office came at a sensitive time in long-running efforts by a U.S. mediator to resolve a dispute over the countries' maritime border. U.S. officials have said they are making progress, but need more time to reach a solution.