The “margin of obstruction” in the government formation process “has started to seriously get narrower” and the remaining obstacles can be resolved, sources informed on the file said.

Former auto magnate Carlos Ghosn expects to get hit with at least one preliminary charge when French investigators travel to Beirut to question him over suspicions of financial misconduct. But he insists he's done nothing wrong and hopes their investigations are eventually dropped.

Lavish parties in Versailles, questionable payments to an Omani car dealer, suspected tax evasion -- these are the subjects of multiple investigations in France involving Ghosn's actions as the head of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi car alliance. They were opened amid new scrutiny of Ghosn after his shocking 2018 arrest in Japan.

Former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn has backed his former colleague American lawyer Greg Kelly's insistence he is innocent of any wrongdoing.

Ghosn said in an interview with The Associated Press in Beirut on Tuesday that Kelly, a former Nissan executive vice president, had sought only legal methods to arrange post-retirement compensation for his boss.

President Michel Aoun on Wednesday signed a decree for referring to parliament an urgent draft law aimed at approving and financing the ration cards plan.

Caretaker Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni had on Monday signed the draft law, which was prepared by the Premiership and is aimed at “approving ration cards and opening an additional and extraordinary line of credit for funding them.”

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) has started scaling up its support to a crucial national social support scheme in Lebanon to assist families struggling to make ends meet amid a severe economic downturn, skyrocketing inflation and a collapsing Lebanese pound.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, WFP said it will support an additional 195,000 people, aiming to reach a total of 300,000 people per month through the National Poverty Targeting Program (NPTP) of the Ministry of Social Affairs which is developing the national social protection framework and strategy. To address inflation and increased food prices in Lebanon, WFP “will provide each family with a cash top-up of 200,000 LBP that can be used in shops or at cash machines (ATMs),” it said.

French judicial investigators heard fugitive ex-auto tycoon Carlos Ghosn as a witness Wednesday in Beirut ahead of further questioning next week, two sources said.

The hearing came before French magistrates officially question Ghosn, who holds Lebanese, French and Brazilian citizenship, on Monday over other judicial inquiries lodged against him in France.

Migrant workers in Lebanon have been hit hard by its multiple crises and half of them left jobless, the U.N. warned Wednesday, calling for voluntary returns to be scaled up.

From marching in rallies to posting live updates on social media, Palestinian refugee Mira Krayem has barely slept since conflict gripped her ancestral homeland earlier this month.

But the 24-year-old university student, who lives in Lebanon, said she felt solidarity messages for the Palestinian cause from across the world have made her and fellow activists feel reenergized after years of crushing defeat.

Canada said Tuesday any new request to extradite Lebanese-Canadian academic Hassan Diab to France over a deadly bombing in Paris 40 years ago would be given due consideration.

Najat Rochdi, the Deputy U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, on Tuesday briefed a virtual meeting of the Security Council’s Informal Expert Group on Women, Peace and Security on the situation in Lebanon, particularly with regards to impact of the current crisis on women and how women are working to sustain peace and security in the country, her office said.