Egypt has asked PM-designate Saad Hariri not to give up the mission of forming a new government, agreeing with him on a “timeframe” for consultations over the formation of the much-awaited cabinet, media reports said on Wednesday, shortly after Hariri met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

“Cairo will work on devising a roadmap for resolving Lebanon’s crisis,” Al-Arabiya’s al-Hadath TV quoted unnamed sources as saying.

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri on Wednesday started a visit to Egypt ahead of a key meeting with President Michel Aoun over the new government.

Hariri’s Cairo visit involves meetings with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and several senior officials.

Lebanon’s electoral management and supervisory bodies “need to be fully empowered ahead of the 2022 Lebanon elections,” the EU Delegation to Lebanon said on Wednesday.

“A new Supervisory Commission for Elections with a properly sized budget, carrying out its mandate independently, is essential,” the Delegation added, in a tweet.

The Internal Security Forces (ISF) fired tear gas on Tuesday during scuffles with demonstrators outside the home of caretaker Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi, accused of stalling a probe into last summer's huge port explosion.

The protests, called for by relatives of the victims of the August 4 blast, swelled by the evening, with dozens of demonstrators streaming in to join families storming Fahmi's heavily guarded home in Beirut's Qureitem area.

President Michel Aoun on Tuesday held talks with Elena Valenciano, the head of the EU delegation that monitored Lebanon’s 2018 parliamentary elections.

President Michel Aoun affirmed during his meeting with visiting French Foreign Trade Minister Franck Riester, Tuesday afternoon, that Lebanon is grateful for the “efforts” and “initiatives” made by French President Emmanuel Macron to support and “help the country out of its current crisis.”

The President thanked Macron for “his constant interest in Lebanon” and added that "the Lebanese are thankful for Macron's initiatives in the conferences that have been held and will be held to support Lebanon, including the conference scheduled for the beginning of the upcoming month.”

President Michel Aoun on Tuesday received a phone call from Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, who requested that a meeting between them be postponed from Tuesday to Wednesday, state-run National News Agency reported.

Al-Jadeed TV meanwhile reported that Hariri requested the postponement due to an "urgent appointment."

The British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has announced new UK aid funding to find the “most effective ways to give the world’s most vulnerable children an education,” the British Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office said.

The lead investigative judge into the Beirut port blast, Tarek al-Bitar, has informed Parliament Bureau his rejection to provide it with any additional documents related to the MPs Nouhad al-Mashnouq, Ghazi Zoaiter and Ali Hassan Khalil, al-Jadeed TV said on Monday.

“In a memo sent to Parliament Bureau, Bitar considered that he is not obliged to submit any additional documents regarding the three MPs, seeing as any additional info that he might give would compromise the confidentiality of the investigation,” al-Jadeed quoted judicial sources as saying.

The Banque du Liban – Lebanon’s central bank -- assured Monday that “Lebanon’s gold is safe,” in response to MP Jamil al-Sayyed’s remarks that BDL Governor Riad Salameh “had partially or totally disposed of the gold owned by the Central Bank.”

The Central Bank said that Lebanon’s gold reserves “have not been touched,” and will not be touched nor used “as a mortgage” against the country’s interests “as some people wish.”