The circumstances required to hold an over two-year delayed presidential elections are not appropriate yet and they are linked to a political solution that could be brought on to Syria and the region, al-Joumhouria daily said on Thursday.

Al-Mustaqbal movement chief ex-PM Saad Hariri was informed during his latest visit to Moscow and after a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that the “conditions required to hold the Lebanese presidential elections are not ready yet,” Russian sources following up closely on the Lebanese file told the daily.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam traveled to New York on Thursday to participate in the ceremony aimed at signing the climate-change pact that the world adopted in principle in Paris last December.

The state-run National News Agency said Salam is expected to give a speech at Friday's ceremony, which will be attended by leaders and envoys from more than 160 countries.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter stated on Wednesday that Hizbullah is a “perfect example” of Iran's role in the Middle East.

“The United States has kept the sanctions against Iran in relation to terrorism and ballistic missiles. Hizbullah is the perfect example of Iran's malicious activity in the region,” said Carter.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq postponed the municipal elections in the Zahle town of Terbol until the completion of the administrative procedures, the state-run National News Agency reported on Wednesday.

“The administrative procedures linked to the civil registry of residents of the village of Shehabieh-Faour have not been completed yet,” an interior ministry statement said.

Lebanon ranked 98th out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index that was released by advocacy group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Wednesday.

World press freedom deteriorated in 2015, said RSF after it released the index which ranks the countries on indicators such as media independence, self-censorship, the rule of law, transparency and abuses.

Analysis of a windfall of data from inside Islamic State shows fighters of more than 70 nationalities, including Lebanese, joined the ruthless jihadist group, researchers said after examining thousands of records.

The treasure trove came from an IS defector who handed over some 11,000 personnel files to US television network NBC, although more than half were found to be duplicates.

A parliamentary committee that witnessed a slight clash between Health Minister Wael Abou Faour and OGERO Telecom chief Abdul Menhem Youssef over the thorny file of the illegal internet network confirmed reports that the equipment had entered Lebanon through legal crossings.

MP Hassan Fadlallah, the head of the committee, confirmed that the equipment for the illegitimate internet networks had entered the country through legal crossings but via fake documents.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has failed to reconcile powerful Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr with former Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, al-Mustaqbal daily reported on Tuesday.

The newspaper quoted an Iranian diplomat as saying that the efforts exerted by Nasrallah to bridge the gap between al-Sadr and al-Maliki, also a Shiite, have not yielded results.

Police arrested in the eastern Bekaa town of Brital a man wanted on 125 arrest warrants, the state-run National News Agency reported on Monday.

The Internal Security Forces International Anti-Thefts Bureau arrested on Monday at dawn Hussein Hassan Bou Mehsen after raiding his home in the town, NNA said.

The fate of the Lebanese soldiers held captive by the Islamic State group could see a glimpse of light after reports that the kidnappers might accept a deal to open a channel of negotiations with the Lebanese state, al-Akhbar daily reported on Monday.

The mediator negotiating the file of the soldiers was informed that the military Emir of the IS in the Syrian al-Qalamoun region bordering Lebanon, Mwafaq Abu el-Sous, sent a message to the “capital of the caliphate in al-Reqqa” promising a positive outcome with regard to the fate of the soldiers, the daily said.