The Community Support Program (CSP), funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has recognized the efforts of a third cohort of 76 university students and recent graduates from 11 universities who completed internships in support of USAID-funded projects in Lebanon.

U.S. Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Richard Michaels, USAID Lebanon Acting Mission Director Nicholas Vivio, and representatives from municipalities, local communities, and 11 USAID-assisted universities attended the ceremony.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri received over the past days a negative U.S. stance regarding the presidential election file, a source close to him said.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Thursday called on the caretaker Cabinet to convene at 10am Monday.

Crisis-hit Lebanon is "at a very dangerous moment", a visiting delegation of the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday, criticizing slow progress on reforms needed to unlock billions in loans.

Lebanon and the IMF reached a conditional agreement in April 2022 on a $3-billion-dollar loan needed to save its economy, which has been in free fall since 2019.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has called for “consensus” with Saudi Arabia over the “presidential choice,” as he reiterated that “the problem is Maronite” in the presidential file.

A Parliament Bureau meeting that was scheduled for Monday was postponed, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Thursday after meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh.

"Some laws will be referred to the parliamentary committees to be studied, and this is why the parliament Bureau meeting was rescheduled, in order to have more laws in the coming legislative session," Mikati said.

A delegation from the families of the Beirut port blast victims met Thursday with Higher Judicial Council head Suheil Abboud, and described the meeting as "positive."

The families had rallied in front of the Justice Palace to protest the obstruction of the probe.

Hezbollah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem on Thursday noted that “the region has started moving against the U.S.-Israeli direction,” adding that “the Iranian-Saudi agreement has thwarted the scheme of making Iran the enemy instead of Israel.”

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday noted that Iran and Saudi Arabia did not tackle the Lebanese file in the talks that led to their recent reconciliation agreement, stressing that the presidential file is “domestic” and that the Lebanese “must benefit from the positive atmosphere.”

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea answered three Lebanese officials weeks ago by saying that Suleiman Franjieh would be a “legitimate president,” a media report said on Wednesday.