Speaker Nabih Berri has tasked on Thursday a committee of experts to prepare a draft law aiming at legalizing medicinal marijuana, the National News Agency reported on Wednesday.

A meeting between Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil on the sidelines of a parliament meeting early this week, “did not led to an agreement” on the facilitation of the Cabinet formation, the pan-Arab al-Hayat daily reported on Thursday.

In light of reports that relations have took a “strained” turn between President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, the latter refuted the claims and assured that his ties with the President are "strong," al-Mustaqbal newspaper reported on Thursday.

Israeli troops have combed the area close to the technical fence with Lebanon in al-Abbara region as part of preparations to resume the construction of a separation wall, the National News Agency reported on Wednesday.

Caretaker Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq met with his Saudi counterpart Abdulaziz Bin Saud Bin Nayif in Jeddah where discussions touched on the Lebanese-Saudi relations and the latest developments in Lebanon and the region, LBCI station said on Wednesday.

The Saudi Minister received Mashnouq at his summer Palace in Jeddah, where he was received by senior interior ministry officials and the Saudi National Security Council.

In light of “unfounded” reports that the parliament is capable of withdrawing the cabinet formation task from the premier because of the process delay, an expert in constitutional and international law, Shafiq al-Masri, stressed that the designation “is final and cannot be withdrawn,” the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa daily reported on Wednesday.

Masri said in an interview with the newspaper: “The appointment of Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri to form a government is final and can not be withdrawn. The Parliament had named Hariri and tasked him with forming the government in line with the constitutional system which does not limit him to a deadline.

With the ongoing stalemate delaying the government formation, things have started to take a “negative turn,” especially over the "divergence" in opinion between President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri over the the approach adopted in addressing the issue, the Saudi Asharq al-Awsat reported on Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia encourages Lebanon to expedite the formation of the government in order to maintain security and stability, Saudi Charge d'Affaires in Lebanon Walid al-Bukhari said on Tuesday.

The Parliament elected on Tuesday its 17 parliamentary committees and is expected to elect the presidents and rapporteurs later during the day, the National News Agency reported.

Despite the so-called Druze obstacle delaying the Cabinet formation, Speaker Nabih Berri said “it is not difficult to solve,” meanwhile describing the conflict between the Lebanese Forces and Free Patriotic Movement over Cabinet shares as the ‘“mother of all obstacles,” al-Akhbar daily reported on Tuesday.

Pointing to several attempts to solve that problem, Berri said “they have all failed.”