Environment Minister Mohammed al-Mashnouq said on Saturday that the collection of garbage will resume overnight after a final decision was reached on the location of the dump sites that would replace the Naameh landfill that was closed last weekend.

His announcement was made after environmentalists held a protest in downtown Beirut calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Tammam Salam and al-Mashnouq over the waste management crisis that erupted when the landfill was shut down last Friday.

The presidential elections were postponed on Wednesday for the 26th time following a lack of quorum at parliament.

Speaker Nabih Berri postponed the polls to August 12.

Head of the Mustaqbal bloc MP Fouad Saniora and Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq returned to Lebanon from a trip to Saudi Arabia where they held talks on the latest local developments with Mustaqbal Movement chief MP Saad Hariri, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Saturday.

Informed sources told the daily: “The officials agreed on measures to confront these developments and prevent the escalation of the government crisis.”

A top U.S. official is expected to visit Beirut to discuss with top Lebanese officials the demarcation of the maritime border with Israel, an issue which was thoroughly discussed by Prime Minister Tammam Salam and Speaker Nabih Berri over the weekend.

Amos Hochstein, who serves as the Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs leading the Bureau of Energy Resources (ENR) at the U.S. Department of State, will travel to Beirut this week.

Former MP Ghattas Khoury revealed Monday that ex-Prime Minister and Mustaqbal leader Saad Hariri discussed with the movement's officials in Saudi Arabia recently the latest crises in Lebanon, in particular the controversy of appointing high-ranking security and military officials.

Khoury, who is Hariri's adviser, pointed out that the Jeddah meeting included “all the surfacing crises.”

Mustaqbal leader and former Prime Minister Saad Hariri discussed with the movement's senior officials in Jeddah the latest developments.

According to al-Liwaa newspaper published Saturday, Hariri met with head of al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc Fouad Saniora and Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq in presence of his adviser Nader Hariri.

Al-Mustaqal Movement parliamentary bloc leader MP Fouad Saniora stressed on Saturday that Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun has no chances of reaching the presidential palace in Baabda.

“The hijacked presidency is ruining the country's reputation,” Saniora's visitors quoted him as saying in comments published in As Safir newspaper.

Speaker Nabih Berri is exerting efforts to convince the rival parliamentary blocs to attend an upcoming parliamentary session that mainly Christian lawmakers oppose amid the absence of a head of state.

The agenda of the session was distributed to lawmakers, An Nahar newspaper reported on Thursday.

Hizbullah on Sunday lashed out anew at “those who don't want dialogue” between the party and al-Mustaqbal movement, blasting them as “instigators and rabble-rousers," as it called for speeding up efforts aimed at securing the election of a new president.

“We know that dialogue can only succeed if both parties want it and this is the case now. Some voices have rejected dialogue and they have become well-known,” Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem said.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon's Defense team continued on Thursday its cross-examination of head of the Mustaqbal bloc MP Fouad Saniora, with questions focusing on United Nations Security Council resolution 1559 and former Premier Rafik Hariri's ties with ex-President Emile Lahoud.

Saniora said: “Hariri fought hard to ensure that the term of later President Elias Hrawi was extended in 1995 in order to avoid the election of Emile Lahoud as president.”