The State Shura Council has rejected the government’s request for borrowing from the Central Bank’s foreign currency reserves, after the bank’s vice governors demanded a legal cover for any such expenditure, media reports said on Wednesday.

According to al-Akhbar newspaper, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has told Central Bank First Vice Governor Wassim Mansouri that if the government failed to name a new governor it would submit to parliament a draft law for legalizing the monthly use of around $200 million from the Central Bank’s obligatory reserves.

A Cabinet session scheduled for Thursday will discuss the possibility of appointing a new Central Bank governor, media reports said.

French presidential envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian’s talks with Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Wednesday were characterized by “positive honesty,” the FPM's media department said.

“The French envoy proposed an idea backed by the five nations that had recently met in Doha, under which Le Drian would return in September to restart consultations, from square one and within a rapid and specific timeframe, in order to agree the presidential program that Lebanon needs,” the FPM added.

French special envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian met Wednesday with Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil, as he returns to Lebanon to help resolve divisions that have left the presidency vacant for nearly nine months.

Later on Wednesday, Le Drian met with Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati met Wednesday morning with central bank vice-governors, Wassim Mansouri, Bashir Yakzan, Salim Chahine and Alexander Mouradian, in an attempt to find a solution to a looming leadership crisis at the central bank.

Minister of Finance Youssef Khalil, who attended the meeting, said that so far the vice-governors are not inclined to resign.

William Noun and Maria Fares were united by loss after a devastating blast ripped through Lebanon's capital three years ago. Now engaged, the couple pledge to keep fighting for justice.

As they prepare to take their wedding vows, Noun and Fares, both 28, sit at his family's house in the hills northeast of Beirut, surrounded by photographs of Noun's brother who perished in the tragedy.

French special presidential envoy for Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian arrived Tuesday in Beirut on a several-day official visit.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri met tuesday with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Ain el-Tineh and discussed the looming leadership crisis at the central bank.

Berri stressed during the talks "the need to hold a Cabinet session to appoint a new Central Bank governor."

Outgoing Central Bank chief Riad Salameh and the political forces and money changers he cooperates with are seeking monetary and financial instability in the Lebanese market, a media report said on Tuesday.

“The Central Bank on Friday stopped purchasing dollars from the market until further notice,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported.

A meeting Monday between caretaker PM Najib Mikati and the Central Bank’s four vice governors was “not encouraging,” media report said on Tuesday.

“The offer presented by Mikati to them was not tempting: he asked them not to tender their resignations in the next 48 hours while promising to find a way to cover expenditure from the foreign currency reserves, as they had requested in the plan presented to the Administration and Justice Committee,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported.