Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Wednesday held a meeting with President Michel Aoun over the current developments, including Information Minister Georges Kordhai’s remarks and Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi’s initiative for resolving the controversy over the port blast probe.

“We tackled several issues, especially the patriarch’s initiative,” Miqati said after the talks, hoping the initiative will materialize soon and will lead to a resumption of Cabinet sessions.

“Lebanon is going through one of the worst economic crises in world history,” said De Schutter, an independent expert appointed by the Human Rights Council to monitor, report, and advise on poverty and its intersection with human rights.

“According to one estimate, in just two years, multidimensional poverty has doubled from 42% to 82%, with nearly four million people facing deprivation in education, healthcare, public utilities, housing, assets, or employment and income,” he said.

Members and supporters of the Lebanese Forces party on Wednesday flocked to Maarab in their cars in solidarity with LF leader Samir Geagea.

The move comes after Geagea was summoned to appear before the army’s Intelligence Directorate as a witness in connection with the deadly Tayyouneh-Ain al-Remmaneh clashes. The summoning had been scheduled for 9am Wednesday and the LF leader did not show up.

The Gulf Cooperation Council condemned Wednesday the statements made by Minister of Information George Kordahi about the Yemen war, saying it reflects “a limited knowledge and a shallow understanding” that are not acceptable.

Saudi sources told MTV media station that “we are facing a severe diplomatic crisis due to Kordahi's offensive statements to Arab countries, regardless of the timing of the interview.”

The defense for former Nissan executive Greg Kelly said Wednesday there was no evidence or motives linking him to alleged under-reporting of his ex-boss Carlos Ghosn's compensation.

Kelly's chief defense lawyer, Yoichi Kitamura, said in wrapping up the defense's arguments that Kelly is innocent and he had no knowledge of the complex calculations over Ghosn's unpaid remuneration, tabulated and updated by Nissan Motor Co. secretariat official Toshiaki Ohnuma.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Tuesday held meetings with President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and PM Najib Miqati, during which he proposed a “solution” to resolve the political standoff over Judge Tarek Bitar’s investigations into the Beirut port blast.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea's lawyers filed on Tuesday a memo to State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Fadi Akiki, arguing that Geagea’s summoning is “illegal.”

Some of the detainees’ lawyers also submitted a request to recuse Akiki but the latter refused to register the request, which is considered a violation of legal norms, media reports said.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan hosted Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari at Dar al-Fatwa to discuss the situation in Lebanon and the region.

During the meeting, Bukhari expressed Saudi Arabia’s keenness on the security and stability of Lebanon and its institutions and on Islamic-Christian coexistence, condemning civil strife.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Tuesday announced that he is “looking forward to the resumption of Cabinet sessions as soon as possible.”

He added that Cabinet should carry on with “the necessary decisions to activate the work of commissions and committees and accomplish what is required from the government according to what it announced in its ministerial statement.”

Kataeb Party chief Sami Gemayel on Tuesday lashed out at the Military Court over the summoning of Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, reminding that his party had repeatedly called for dissolving it.

Kataeb had “submitted a proposal for amending the military judiciary’s law and limiting its jurisdiction to servicemen, due to the selectivity that the military judiciary uses with civilians,” Gemayel added.