The Civilian Court of Cassation on Monday dismissed a petition filed by ex-minister Ali Hassan Khalil and Ghazi Zoaiter for the removal of Judge Tarek Bitar, the lead investigative judge into the Beirut port blast.

The Court argued that it is not the right authority to look into the request seeing as Bitar is not one of its judges and that his jurisdiction does not make him affiliated with the public prosecution.

Parliamant Speaker Nabih Berri has revealed that he has urged Prime Minister Najib Miqati to finalize talks with the International Monetary Fund and to tackle the power crisis.

“Miqati’s chance should not exceed a month and a half,” Berri said, in an interview, considering that “Parliament will be quasi-idle by the start of December, due to the holidays and to the nearness of the elections.”

Speaker Nabih Berri’s political aide MP Aii Hassan Khalil on Sunday lamented what he called a “very high level of politicization” in Judge Tarek Bitar’s probe into the catastrophic Beirut port explosion.

MP Wael Abu Faour of the Democratic Gathering bloc on Sunday said “the election of six MPs representing Lebanese expats is a silly propaganda idea that was imposed by the Free Patriotic Movement.”

Lebanon’s national electricity grid has been restored following a total blackout and power supply will increase at the end of the month, Energy Minister Walid Fayyad announced on Sunday.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday issued a stern warning against any "tampering" with the spring parliamentary elections.

Lebanon's two main power plants have been forced to shut down after running out of fuel, leaving the small country with no government-produced power.

Lebanon is grappling with a crippling energy crisis made worse by its dependency on fuel imports. Erratic power supplies have put hospitals and essential services in crisis mode. The Lebanese increasingly depend on private operators that also struggle to secure supplies amid an unprecedented crash of the national currency.

Lebanon's national electricity grid totally collapsed on Saturday, after the al-Zahrani and Deir Amar power plants stopped operating due to a lack of diesel, LBCI television said.

The two power plants' separation from the grid lowered national power production to below 200 megawatts forcing the collapse.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Friday announced that Tehran will continue to send fuel shipments to Lebanon via Hizbullah, while noting that his country is also ready to provide Lebanon with medicine and other needs.

“We will help brotherly Lebanon overcome its crisis,” Abdollahian said at a press conference at the end of a two-day visit to Lebanon.

MP and Ex-minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq’s lawyer Naoum Farah filed on Friday morning a lawsuit before the Criminal Court of Cassation in Beirut to dismiss lead investigator into Beirut’s port blast, Judge Tarek Bitar, from the probe due to so-called "legitimate suspicion."

The Court of Appeals had turned down Monday requests to replace Bitar following a week-long suspension after al-Mashnouq, suspected of negligence leading to the tragedy, filed a lawsuit to replace the judge.