Anti-government demonstrators on Tuesday held candlelight vigils in Beirut, Baalbek and Tyre in tribute to Ahmed Toufiq, a protester who died of his wounds Monday after being injured in clashes in the northern city of Tripoli in October.

The demonstrators staged the sit-ins at Beirut’s Martyrs Square, Baalbek’s Khalil Mutran Square and Tyres al-Alam Square.

Justice Minister Marie-Claude Najm on Tuesday asked State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat to request information from the central bank’s Special Investigation Commission on alleged Eurobond operations involving some Lebanese banks and global financial firms.

The National News Agency said Najm's move follows “media reports that some Lebanese banks have placed their bonds under the name of some foreign institutions to pressure the State to pay the debt.”

A delegation from the World Bank's private lending arm met Tuesday with Prime Minister Hassan Diab, as the debt-ridden country seeks assistance to rescue its moribund economy.

The meeting tackled the possibility of “launching joint cooperation projects between the public and private sectors and the issue of developing the transportation sector and the airport,” the National News Agency said.

The Strong Lebanon parliamentary bloc, which is led by the Free Patriotic Movement, on Tuesday stressed the importance of recovering the state’s stolen funds and establishing a financial crimes court among other measures.

Decrying the “continued suffering of the Lebanese due to the selective and unfair measures that the banks are imposing,” the bloc said the central bank is yet to answer its inquiry about the suspicious transfers abroad of large sums of money.

Lebanon's financial situation points to a likely restructuring of the country's massive debt and financial sector to preserve declining foreign currency reserves, Fitch Ratings said Tuesday.

The credit rating agency's report comes as Lebanese officials are debating whether to pay back $1.2 billion worth of Eurobonds that mature on March 9 amid a severe economic and financial crisis, the worst since the country's 1975-90 civil war. Lebanon has never defaulted before, and the decision is causing much anxiety in the crisis-hit country. Many have argued the priority should be to use shrinking foreign currency to pay for imports of basic needs such as wheat, medicine and fuel.

Financial Prosecutor Ali Ibrahim on Tuesday filed lawsuits against 18 money exchange shops on charges of violating the law regulating the sector and “harming the state’s financial standing.”

“He referred the files to the investigative judges of the governorates,” the National News Agency said.

Lebanese-Saudi billionaire Bahaa Hariri, the eldest son of slain ex-PM Rafik Hariri, issued a rare statement Tuesday in which he denied playing behind-the-scenes roles in Lebanon’s troubled political life.

“For a while now, Lebanese media outlets have been circulating news related to Sheikh Bahaeddine Hariri that have nothing to do with reality, following 15 years of intentional silence on his side, during which he stayed away from Lebanon and did not even exploit his commercial projects for personal or political marketing,” the statement said.

The Foreign Minister of Greece is expected to visit Lebanon on Wednesday for talks with senior officials, the National News Agency reported on Tuesday.

Senior adviser to the British Ministry of Defense for Middle East Affairs, General Sir John Lorimer, reiterated Britain’s “continued support” for crisis-hit Lebanon, the National News Agency reported on Tuesday.

Under the pretext of health conditions, Lebanon is being “pressured” to release Amer Fakhoury charged with murder and torture of Lebanese citizens during Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon, al-Akhbar daily reported on Tuesday.