AUB President Fadlo Khuri has expressed his pride in Professor Ardem Patapoutian, who was awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, through a congratulatory letter in which he expressed that the AUB community is doubly pleased as Patapoutian is not only Lebanese, but also a former student at the American University of Beirut.

Patapoutian, professor of neuroscience at Scripps Research institute in California, an American University of Beirut (AUB) alumnus and former student, has been awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Committee in Stockholm announced Monday that Patapoutian and his fellow molecular biologist David Julius have been awarded for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch. Patapoutian is the first AUB alumnus to win a Nobel Prize.

Lebanon’s Energy Minister Walid Fayyad met Tuesday morning in Cairo with Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, in the presence of Egypt’s Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Tarek El-Molla and Lebanon’s Ambassador to Egypt Ali al-Halabi.

The press office of Prime Minister Najib Miqati has issued clarifications after the premier’s name was mentioned in the Pandora Papers -- a massive trove of leaked documents showing how the world's elite is using tax havens and offshore and shell companies to stash assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The documents show that Miqati, a businessman who formed a new government last month, owns a Panama-based offshore company that he used to buy property in Monaco in 2008 worth more than $10 million.

Attorney General Judge Imad Qabalan on Tuesday issued a ruling on the memo referred to him by Beirut port blast investigative judge Tarek Bitar, who had asked the prosecution to determine whether Judge Ghassan Khoury had committed breach of duty in connection with the case.

“Judge Qabalan considered that the investigative judge’s memo was empty of any suspicion and that there is no evidence of a breach of duty,” the National News Agency said.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Tuesday held a meeting at the Grand Serail with the ambassadors of the European Union member states.

“Grateful to PM Najib Mikati for meeting with EU Ambassadors to Lebanon today to present his government's programme,” EU Ambassador to Lebanon Ralph Tarraf said in a tweet.

President Michel Aoun met Tuesday with German Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Niels Annen at Baabda palace, the Presidency said.

The meeting was held in the presence of German Ambassador to Lebanon Andreas Kindl.

President Michel Aoun met Tuesday with Prime Minister Najib Miqati and discussed the general situation and the latest developments in the country.

Miqati briefed Aoun on the results of his meetings with the ministerial committees, the Presidency said.

Former public works minister Youssef Fenianos has filed a “falsification” complaint against the lead investigative judge into the Beirut port blast Tarek Bitar, TV networks said on Monday.

Al-Jadeed TV said Fenianos filed the complaint with the Court of Cassation, accusing Bitar of “falsifying the date of his lawsuit against Judge Ghassan Khoury.”

The Court of Appeals, headed by Judge Nassib Elia, dismissed Monday the requests submitted by MPs Nohad al-Mashnouq, Ali Hassan Khalil and Ghazi Zoaiter for the removal of Judge Tarek Bitar from the port case.

The Court issued a ruling saying that it has decided to dismiss the removal request for the lack of competence and that the three MPs will be fined LBP 800,000.

French presidential envoy Ambassador Pierre Duquesne has arrived to Beirut to follow up on the international aid to Lebanon, a mission that had been assigned to him.

Duquesne will meet today with Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamiyeh, one of the two ministers assigned by Hizbullah – “which reflects the French interest in the port blast case,” al-Joumhouria newspaper said on Monday.