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.

U.S. ambassador Dorothy Shea has been reportedly quoted as saying that "some parties" have been obstructing the transfer of gas and electricity from Egypt and Jordan to Lebanon, al-Akhbar newspaper said.

Informed sources have told al-Akhbar, in remarks published Wednesday, that they suspect that KSA might be the party obstructing the deal.

A preliminary agreement with the International Monetary Fund is likely to be reached soon, as the negotiations have made an important progress, according to al-Joumhouria newspaper.

The daily said Wednesday that, according to its sources, an initial agreement might be signed in the upcoming hours, as Prime Minister Najib Miqati will meet tomorrow with the IMF delegation, before the team leaves Friday to the U.S.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati has vowed to remove anything that might threaten to disrupt the elections.

Miqati told al-Joumhouria newspaper, in remarks published Wednesday that the government will carry on with implementing its program with perseverance and steadfastness.

Pope Francis is set to visit Lebanon in June, the country's presidency has said, amid spiraling financial and political crises in the tiny nation.

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.

President Michel Aoun has intervened to impose a “compulsory agreement” on Free Patriotic Movement parliamentary candidates Ziad Aswad and Amal Abu Ziad, obliging them to be on the same electoral list in the Jezzine-Sidon district, media reports said on Tuesday.

The FPM’s list was announced overnight, only hours from the midnight deadline for the submission of electoral lists to the Interior Ministry.