Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has called on caretaker PM and PM-designate Najib Mikati to "step down so that the president can call for immediate parliamentary consultations that lead to designating someone else" to form a new government.

President Michel Aoun announced Saturday that the formation of a new government before the end of his presidential term “seems to be impossible.”

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Saturday issued a stark warning over what he called an attempt to usurp the president's powers.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil held talks Friday in Bkirki with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, after which he warned of a domestic-foreign “plot”.

“The ultimate priority is for the election of the president, and unfortunately in a few days we will enter into presidential vacuum, which everyone is tackling as a de facto situation without exerting efforts for dialogue and understanding,” Bassil lamented, warning that keeping the caretaker cabinet amid an expected presidential void would be “adding vacuum on top of vacuum.”

Featuring a majority of participants coming in from different countries across the region, ARAB ART FAIR presents a unique platform for art lovers and collectors to discover masterpieces from a new generation of up-and-coming artists.

The annual event gives artists the opportunity to showcase their artwork, promote themselves, and connect with gallerists, collectors, curators, and art lovers.

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid has reiterated that the U.S.-brokered sea border agreement with Lebanon is “historic,” describing Israeli opposition claims that he conceded far too much to Hezbollah and Lebanon as baseless.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Friday dismissed Speaker Nabih Berri’s call for dialogue over the country’s next president.

“I was not very relieved when I heard about Speaker Berri's dialogue invitations,” Geagea said at a press conference that followed a meeting for the LF-led Strong Republic bloc.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati swiftly hit back overnight at remarks by President Michel Aoun, accusing him of distorting facts.

“I agree with His Excellency that the constitution is the guide and reference in all issues. But as for what His Excellency said about private matters and curtailed, distorted or untrue details, I will only say regretfully: sometimes our elderly’s memory fail them, so facts get mixed up with wishes and realities get mixed up with illusions,” Mikati said in a statement.

A Cypriot delegation met Friday with President Michel Aoun over the maritime border demarcation between Lebanon and Cyprus, in the presence of Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab.

After the maritime border deal with Israel, Lebanon reached out to Syria and Cyprus to start direct negotiations over their northern and western maritime borders.

What President Michel Aoun regrets, he jokingly told reporters, is having never accepted any bribe from any country like other politicians did.

Aoun said Friday, in a farewell meeting with journalists, that absolutely no one from the political leaders has helped him to fight corruption, using the Oct. 17 famous slogan "All of them means all of them."