The Foreign Ministry on Sunday denied an al-Akhbar newspaper report claiming that the appointment of Ambassador Farah Berri as acting charge d’affaires at Lebanon’s embassy in Qatar was a “political deal between ex-minister Jebran Bassil and Speaker Nabih Berri at the expense of the treasury.”

Farah Berri is the parliament speaker’s daughter.

Health Minister Hamad Hasan announced Sunday that a Lebanese young woman who arrived from China in recent days has been quarantined at the Rafik Hariri state-run hospital “at her own request.”

The woman had appeared in a viral video in which she criticized the ministry’s precautionary measures at Beirut’s airport and said the country lacks test kits that can verify whether or not a person is carrying the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

Maronite Archbishop of Beirut Boulos Abdul Sater on Sunday noted that “a true leader is one who resists the naturalization (of refugees) and one who chooses to leave rather than disappoint or harm his people.”

“A true leader is not one who believes that the country is a property for him and for his children after him or one who monopolizes power and aggrieves those who placed their confidence in him,” Abdul Sater said in a sermon marking Saint Maron’s Day.

Defying a cold storm that saw temperatures drop significantly in Lebanon, demonstrators kicked off a march on Saturday rejecting the new government of PM Hassan Diab named to deal with an economic crisis, which they say lacks a popular mandate.

Justice Minister Marie-Claude Najm stressed in a tweet on Saturday that investigations kept unresolved for an indefinite period of time won’t be tolerated and that she will use her powers to accelerate probes.

Prime Minister Hassan Diab received an invitation to take part in the Higher Islamic Council meeting in Dar el-Fatwa, after “dull” relations between the two following Diab’s designation, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Saturday.

Speaker Nabih Berri at the AIU meeting on a US Mideast plan held in Jordan reiterated the strong rejection of Palestinian resettlement and the so-called Deal of the Century.

MP Ziad Aswad of the Strong Lebanon bloc on Friday filed a lawsuit with the Mount Lebanon prosecution through his lawyer Antoine Atallah.

The National News Agency said Aswad is suing the protesters Habib Najem, Alain Waked, Wajdi al-Arja, Rabih al-Zein, Carlos Zgheib, Ghassan Bustani, Michel Bustani, Charbel Zgheib aka Charbel Younan and Roger Akiki on charges of “harming one of his bodyguards and vandalizing public and private property.”

A February 14 rally marking the 15th anniversary of the assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri and his companions has been moved from the BIEL venue in central Beirut to the residence of ex-PM Saad Hariri -- the Center House.

A statement issued by al-Mustaqbal Movement said the change comes at the request of the former premier.

World Bank Regional Director Saroj Kumar Jha held talks Friday in Beirut with Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni and said the Bank is awaiting the government's reform program to decide how to support the Lebanese people.

The official also stressed that the World Bank is committed to helping Lebanon create better job opportunities for its people and in funding projects in the health, education and electricity sectors.