U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein will visit Lebanon this weekend but his visit will not be decisive, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Tuesday.

“He will brief the three presidents (Michel Aoun, Nabih Berri and Najib Mikati) on the United States’ vision for the solution, in light of the ongoing discussions with the Europeans and Israelis, and he will ask the Lebanese to clarify some points,” the daily said.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati held talks Tuesday in Ain el-Tineh with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

The 30-minute meeting tackled the general situations, especially the issue of the state budget and legislative files.

Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab held talks Tuesday in Baabda with President Michel Aoun over a host of issues.

Referring to the sea border negotiations with Israel, Bou Saab said the talks are “going in the right direction.”

Yes in Beirut this September, MIDDLE EAST CLEAN ENERGY 2022

Caretaker PM and PM-designate Najib Mikati stressed Monday that the constitution allows the caretaker cabinet to assume presidential powers in the event of a presidential void.

MP Simon Abi Ramia of the Free Patriotic Movement on Monday lashed out at Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea over the latter’s speech on Sunday in which he launched a vehement attack on President Michel Aoun’s term.

“President Aoun does not need a certificate from a collaborator (or agent) with Israel in the 1980s, nor from a conspirator with the Syrian forces against the free areas in the early 1990s, nor from a subordinate to foreign dictates at all times,” Abi Ramia tweeted, referring to Geagea.

Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari on Monday tweeted about Lebanon’s 1989 Taif Agreement, which ended the country’s 15-year civil war.

“The National Reconciliation Accord (Taif Agreement), which was endorsed by the Lebanese under Arab and international sponsorship, is neither an illusion nor a mysterious riddle,” Bukhari tweeted.

MP Najat Aoun Saliba of the so-called change bloc has stressed that she is not running for president, because she respects “the will of the people” who elected her as MP.

“I will perform my role to the fullest,” she added, in an interview with Radio All of Lebanon.

Hezbollah is working on encouraging the efforts aimed at expediting the formation of the new government, the party’s senior official Sheikh Nabil Qaouq said on Monday.

“The social and living cost crisis in Lebanon is aggravating and one of the reasons behind its worsening is the absence of a government enjoying full powers and characteristics,” Qaouq said.

Dozens of Lebanese and Syrian migrants stranded for days on a sinking fishing boat in the Mediterranean Sea are urging European coast guards to save them, saying that two children have died.

The roughly 60 migrants told relatives and volunteer groups with a satellite phone that two young children have died, and that the group has been without food, water, and baby formula for the past three days. On board are Syrian refugees and Lebanese from its severely impoverished northern provinces trying to reach Italy for job opportunities. They left Lebanon off the coast of the northern city of Tripoli about 10 days ago.