Almost one year has passed since former president Michel Aoun's term ended. The divided Parliament failed for 12 times to elect a new president, with neither of the two main blocs -- Hezbollah and its opponents -- having the 86 votes required to elect one in a first round of voting.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea who had refused to take part in a dialogue to agree on a president said there are no other choices but Jihad Azour or Suleiman Franjieh.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has stressed that neither the Hezbollah-led camp nor the opposition can “impose” a president.

A top official with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah group has said that Palestinian and Lebanese officials have given militant Islamic groups in Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp until the end of the month to hand over the accused killers of a Fatah general.

A fragile calm has largely prevailed in the Ain el-Helweh camp since Thursday night after the warring sides reached the latest in a series of cease-fire agreements. It followed a week of intense fighting that killed at least 18 people and wounded and displaced hundreds.

Army Commander General Joseph Aoun is currently the leading candidate in the presidential race, but French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian is insisting to return to Beirut with two or three names, informed sources said.

“This would facilitate the discussion with the hesitant parties or those who have reservations over the army chief, such as the Free Patriotic Movement,” the sources added, in remarks to Kuwait’s al-Anbaa newspaper.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has announced that he is “clinging to” his presidential dialogue initiative.

“It is the only one present on the table,” Berri told al-Manar television overnight.

Lebanese native Hosams Abu Meri has been appointed as Latvia's new health minister.

European Union member Cyprus has warned against allowing Lebanon to “collapse,” noting that such a development would create a refugee crisis for Europe.

In a letter to European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas, Cypriot Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou said he has raised the urgent need for aid to Lebanon, where it is estimated that 2.5 million Syrians have taken refuge.

Four years after Lebanon's historic meltdown began, the small nation is still facing "enormous economic challenges," with a collapsed banking sector, eroding public services, deteriorating infrastructure and worsening poverty, the International Monetary Fund warned Friday.

In a statement issued at the end of a four-day visit by an IMF delegation to the crisis-hit country, the international agency welcomed recent policy decisions by Lebanon's central bank to stop lending to the state and end the work in an exchange platform known as Sayrafa.

French Special Presidential Envoy for Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian has not proposed a third-man solution, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said.

Berri told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, in remarks published Friday, that he and Le Drian are on the same wavelength, denying media reports that had claimed that both candidates, Suleiman Franjieh and Jihad Azour, will not be elected.

A president will likely be elected soon, French Special Presidential Envoy for Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Friday.

The PM's office said that Le Drian called Mikati and both assured that Le Drian's talks in Lebanon were "positive" regarding the "imminent election of a president."