An elderly Lebanese priest found guilty in France of sexually assaulting children has been defrocked by the Vatican, the Assembly of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops of Lebanon said.

Jihad Michlawi struggled to make ends meet as a chef in crisis-hit Beirut. The Palestinian had never considered taking a perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe until friends who did so persuaded him to try.

Now, he's one of dozens of survivors from a capsized migrant boat that left Tripoli, Lebanon, last week heading toward Italy carrying some 150 Lebanese, Syrians and Palestinians.

MP Charbel Maroun of the Free Patriotic Movement-led Strong Lebanon bloc was on Tuesday summoned for judicial interrogation over his recent remarks against Higher Judicial Council chief Judge Suheil Abboud.

The interrogation session has been scheduled for Thursday.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati will not visit the Baabda Palace on Tuesday, contrary to what some media reports have suggested, al-Akhbar newspaper said on Tuesday.

Mikati will instead wait for General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim to meet with President Michel Aoun, the daily added.

A Free Patriotic Movement delegation led by FPM chief Jebran Bassil held talks Tuesday at Dar al-Fatwa with Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan, three days after the latter presided over a broad Sunni meeting.

“We witnessed at the Dar al-Fatwa meeting patriotic stances on which all Lebanese agree. We came here to stress that we stand by the mufti in all the remarks that were voiced, especially as to the constitution and the Taef Accord in terms of decentralization, the creation of a senate and the abolition of sectarianism,” Bassil said after the talks.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri called Tuesday for parliament to meet Thursday to elect a president to replace Michel Aoun whose term expires at the end of October.

"Berri called for a session to be held at 11:00 am (8:00 GMT) on Thursday September 29, 2022 in order to elect a president," a statement from his office said.

Lebanon's parliament has approved the 2022 budget, one of the conditions set by the International Monetary Fund to action a bailout for the crisis-stricken country.

Lebanon and the IMF had reached a conditional agreement on a $3 billion loan in April to help the country tackle its economic crisis, but the global lender last week condemned the "very slow" progress Beirut has made towards implementing reforms.

Syrian authorities have recovered 100 bodies from a Lebanese migrant boat that sank off Syria last week, Syrian state media reported about one of the deadliest recent shipwrecks in the eastern Mediterranean.

Parliament on Monday approved the 2022 state budget with 63 MPs voting for it, 37 voting against it and 6 abstaining out of 106 lawmakers present in the session.

The budget includes a three-fold wage hike for public sector employees and the armed forces as well as for retirees.

U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein is continuing efforts aimed at reaching an agreement over the demarcation of the maritime border between Lebanon and Israel, an official at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut said on Monday.

In remarks to al-Jadeed TV, the unnamed official said the U.S. administration is continuing to narrow the gaps between all parties and that it believes that a sustainable settlement is possible.