President Michel Aoun may stay in the Baabda Palace following the end of his presidential term in order not to cede his powers to a caretaker cabinet, senior Free Patriotic Movement sources have said.

“We will not accept, in any way, the remaining of the caretaker cabinet should we reach presidential vacuum, and we will not accept the scheme of Speaker Nabih Berri and PM-designate Najib Mikati that is based on ambiguous constitutional edicts,” the sources told al-Akhbar newspaper in remarks published Wednesday.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati held a new meeting Wednesday with President Michel Aoun at the Baabda Palace to discuss the formation of a new government.

"Discussions will be continued later," Mikati said in a terse statement while leaving the palace.

Lebanon, which is yet to reach a sea border demarcation deal with Israel, has received a Turkish proposal for investment and drilling in the southern oil and gas blocks near Israel’s border, a Lebanese official source said.

“The Turkish proposal involves drilling and investment works in Block 9, which lies on the maritime border,” the source told Russia’s Sputnik news agency.

Around 400 judges held a general assembly Tuesday at the Court of Cassation and decided to carry on with an open-ended strike aimed at protesting “the difficult financial, social and health conditions that Lebanon’s judges are going through,” the National News Agency said.

“Contacts with the officials have not led to any result,” the agency quoted the judges as saying.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka on Tuesday visited the northern city of Tripoli, where she met with local authorities, members of parliament as well as NGOs working to promote reconciliation, capacity-building and opportunities for the youth.

In late April, Hussein Dinnawi, his wife Samar and several dozen other Lebanese, Palestinians and Syrians set off by boat from northern Lebanon under the cover of night, entrusting their fate to smugglers on a treacherous sea voyage in search of better opportunities in Italy.

Several hours later, their boat sank about 5 kilometers from the port of Tripoli, under circumstances disputed to this day. Survivors say their vessel was rammed by the Lebanese navy, while the military claims the migrants' boat collided with a navy vessel while trying to get away.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Tuesday vowed to seek the election of a Lebanese president who resembles slain president-elect Bashir Gemayel, who was assassinated in a bomb attack in 1982.

“On the 40th anniversary of your election, our promise to you is to secure the election of a president who resembles you,” Geagea tweeted.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati asked Tuesday caretaker Minister of Public Works & Transport Ali Hamieh to preserve the remaining southern block of the Beirut port silos as a memorial.

Another significant section of the devastated Beirut Port silos had collapsed on Tuesday morning in a cloud of dust, while the remaining southern block is more stable and not at imminent risk of collapse, said French civil engineer Emmanuel Durand, who has installed sensors on the silos.

Telecom price hikes in Lebanon have slashed the number of emergency callers to aid hotlines, limiting access to relief services at a time of unprecedented economic crisis, Mercy Corps said Tuesday.

Head of the Justice Committee MP Georges Adwan said Tuesday that the government doesn't have an economic plan but is rather taking random and ill-considered steps.

"The customs dollar is part of a non-existent plan," Adwan said, asking how and why did the government choose the rate of LBP 20,000 to the U.S. dollar, while depositors can only withdraw from their dollar savings at a rate of LBP 8,000.