President Michel Aoun held talks with Ambassador of the European Union to Lebanon, Ralph Tarraf where talks highlighted the EU’s position from the developments in Lebanon and the issue of thousands of Syrian refugees.

A Lebanese lawyer filed a lawsuit on Friday against caretaker Minister Jebran Bassil accusing him of "embezzlement, money laundering and illicit enrichment."

Anti-government protests demanding an overhaul of the political system shows no sign of abating with thousands of school and university students demonstrating for the third day on Friday to boost the protests as they enter their third week.

On Friday, protests mushroomed around different parts of the country. Students, retired servicemen and activists marched from Beirut’s Martyr’s Square to Beirut Port to protest “squandering of public funds.”

France has reportedly stepped in to help Lebanon resolve the crisis of forming a new government in light of stalled efforts and swelling street protests against the political elite, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Friday.

Lebanon’s anti-corruption protesters on Thursday staged a demo outside the headquarters of state-run Electricite du Liban in Beirut’s Gemmayze area to denounce chronic power cuts and an institution seen as a symbol of Lebanon’s dysfunctional political system.

Protests were also held outside ex-PM Fouad Saniora’s house on Beirut’s Bliss Street and outside his office in the Sidon district town of al-Hlaliyeh.

Vehicles were on Thursday queuing at gas stations in Beirut and Sidon after station owners said they would soon run out of stocks due to a renewed dollar exchange rate crisis.

“The fuel problem has not been resolved because those who should resolve it – the central bank and the Energy Ministry – have not come up with a complete solution but rather half a solution,” the Syndicate of Gas Station Owners and the Syndicate of Fuel Tanker Owners and Fuel Distributors said in a joint statement.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday said that he is fully keen on the re-designation of caretaker PM Saad Hariri as premier.

“I’m insisting on his designation because it is in Lebanon’s interest and I support Lebanon’s interest,” Berri told NBN television.

Lebanon's financial prosecutor on Thursday ordered sweeping investigations into suspected corruption and waste of public funds by senior officials, the state National News Agency reported.

The move comes as a nationwide protest movement over poor services, economic woes and official corruption enters its fourth week with demonstrators hoping to expel an elite they say has ruled the country like a cartel for decades.

Caretaker Education Minister Akram Shehayyeb on Thursday attributed “claims about the loss of $9 million in the file of refugee education” to “a shortage in funding according to UNICEF.”

“To boost transparency over the file, I sent a memo to the Central Inspection Board asking it to look into the file to unveil the truth,” Shehayyeb said at a press conference.

Former premier Fouad Saniora on Thursday gave a three-hour testimony before Financial Prosecutor Ali Ibrahim in the case of “the $11 billion spent between 2006 and 2008,” the National News Agency said.

The hearing session was held in the presence of Saniora’s lawyer – ex-minister Rashid Derbas.