Tourism Minister Michel Pharaon held talks Wednesday in Maarab with Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and noted that the presence of Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun alongside ex-PM Saad Hariri in power would “relieve the country.”

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq stressed Wednesday that al-Mustaqbal Movement will maintain its ties with Speaker Nabih Berri despite the latest tensions.

The army on Wednesday received a quantity of ammunition that have been granted to Lebanon by the Belgian authorities, state-run National News Agency reported.

The United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Sigrid Kaag, visited the North-eastern border areas of al-Qaa and Hermel, a press statement said on Wednesday.

During the visit, the Special Coordinator was briefed by local representatives on the socio-economic situation and the security conditions of the area.

The Investigative judge in Mount Lebanon issued an arrest warrant against General Security warrant officer Tony Abboud in the Ashqout crime case in the town of Keserwan, media reports said on Wednesday.

The judge issued the warrant after interrogating the culprit, the reports said.

Police said they have arrested one of the biggest drug dealers in north Lebanon, the Internal Security Forces said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Several theft and drug trafficking operations were reported lately in the city of Tripoli and its suburbs,” said the statement.

A legislative session was held on Wednesday to tackle several pending issues ahead of a meeting scheduled for October 31 and dedicated to electing a head of state for the vacant presidency.

After a long failure to achieve quorum and end the two and a half years vacancy, the parliamentarians attended the legislative session, except for the boycotting Kataeb party, and 21 "necessary legislation" items were on the agenda.

Speaker Nabih Berri has refused to receive al-Mustaqbal Movement chief Saad Hariri after knowing that the ex-PM plans to brief the Speaker on his intention to nominate MP Michel Aoun for the post of the presidency, al-Akhbar daily reported on Wednesday.

Berri denied reports that quoted him as accusing the al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri and MP Michel Aoun of seeking to “topple Shiism,” and described the reports as “inciting,” An Nahar Daily reported on Wednesday.

“All the news and talks that AMAL and the Liberation and Development bloc mentioned something about a Maronite-Sunni bilateral power-sharing of the 1943 are unfounded. This rhetoric is inciting and I categorically deny it,” Berri told the daily.

The Change and Reform parliamentary bloc on Tuesday dismissed accusations from Speaker Nabih Berri's AMAL Movement about an alleged “Sunni-Christian” deal as an attempt to “blackmail” the supporters of Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun's presidential bid.