The latest French proposal for dialogue among the Lebanese parties is still unchanged, but Paris does not mind receiving objections and suggestions to discuss them and clarify them, especially if some parties are dismayed or have concerns, a French diplomatic source said.

“The previous package, which stood for a president in return for a premier, is no longer on the table, because it did not lead to a result,” the source told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Friday.

Interim Central Bank Governor Wassim Mansouri on Friday announced that the bank will not print Lebanese currency to cover for the state's deficit, stressing that financial regularity cannot be achieved without “passing the reforms.”

“I urge all political forces to keep the monetary authority out of political bickering, seeing as the current stalemate would negatively affect the economy and contribute to the isolation of Lebanon internationally,” Mansouri added at a press conference.

Rights activists have condemned a hardline Christian group's assault on a bar hosting a drag show in a Beirut nightlife district as the result of escalating anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.

On Wednesday evening, more than a dozen people from the "Soldiers of God" group converged on the drag show venue in the capital's Mar Mikhail district, witnesses told AFP, requesting anonymity due to security concerns.

Air traffic controllers at the Rafik Hariri International Airport announced on Thursday they would go on strike next month over severe staffing shortages, partially closing the Beirut hub.

The announcement by the team of 13 air traffic controllers follows a report last week by the European Union’s aviation safety watchdog that raised concerns after inspecting the airport, just south of the Lebanese capital.

Caretaker Energy Minister Walid Fayyad on Thursday announced that a reconnaissance permit has been granted to a consortium of international companies to conduct a 3D seismic survey of Lebanon’s offshore Block 8.

“Today is a historic day in a journey that had started in the year 2010,” Fayyad said at a press conference.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib has said that he is not going to New York to “confront anyone or be a reason for obstructing any agreement related to the extension of UNIFIL’s mandate.”

“What concerns Lebanon is lowering the tensions that sometimes result from clashes between residents and some UNIFIL members as well as the tensions caused by Israel,” Bou Habib said in an interview with the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper published Thursday.

As French special presidential envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian arrives in Lebanon in September to resume his initiative to push for a solution to the presidential impasse, Lebanese MPs have still not responded to a letter he sent via the French embassy, in which Le Drian asks them about the required qualifications of the future president.

Al-Akhbar newspaper said Thursday that while Amal has responded to the letter, the Free Patriotic Movement and the Marada are preparing their answers, and the Progressive Socialist Party will hold a meeting monday to take a decision regarding the letter.

Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen Imad Othman has reassured that the security situation in Lebanon is “under control,” while warning over “the impact of politics on security and stability.”

“I sense that the (ISF) institution is in danger. There are parties targeting it because it is in control of security in the country. I don’t want to delve into details, but there is a direct and unjustified targeting of the ISF,” Othman added, in an interview with Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.

Members of the hardline Christian group Soldiers of God overnight attacked a pub in Beirut’s bustling Mar Mikhail area over the “presence of homosexuals” in it.

Videos posted online showed the pub’s ransacked terrace and people locking themselves inside as a Soldier of God militant shouted threats and warnings.

The Lebanese Army turned away around 700 Syrians attempting to cross into Lebanon illegally over the past week, the military said in a statement on Wednesday.