The caretaker Cabinet on Thursday approved a decision by the country’s financial authorities to replace the Sayrafa currency exchange platform with one based on the international Bloomberg platform.

Asked whether the new platform “has been requested by the international community,” caretaker Information Minister Ziad Makari told reporters that no such move has been requested from Lebanon.

French President Emmanuel Macron is seeking to achieve a breakthrough in the Lebanese presidential file and will discuss this matter with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman when he meets him soon, al-Liwaa newspaper said.

“Macron is optimistic that a breakthrough can be achieved during the expected visit to Beirut by his personal envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian,” the daily quoted French Presidency sources as saying.

Over a thousand Syrian refugees each week fleeing to Lebanon from their country's worsening economic and financial conditions "could create harsh imbalances" in the small Mediterranean nation, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati warned Thursday.

Over the past months, thousands of Syrian citizens made it to Lebanon through illegal crossing points seeking a better life. But Lebanon is going through its own four-year meltdown, with a drowning economy pinning its hopes on tourism and crumbling infrastructure where electricity and water cuts are widespread.

Ninety-one MPs will attend a seven-day dialogue proposed by Speaker Nabih Berri, following which open presidential election sessions would be held, al-Akhbar newspaper said Thursday.

- Who's attending -

The Lebanese Army said Thursday it had prevented the entry of around 1,200 Syrians this week, at a time both countries are beset by painful economic woes.

Millions of Syrians have fled abroad since their country's civil war broke out in 2011 following the government's repression of peaceful pro-democracy protests.

Hezbollah’s top lawmaker Mohammed Raad has recently met with Army Commander General Joseph Aoun away from the spotlight, media reports said.

“The visit came at the request of Hezbollah in order to tackle the presidential file,” the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported on Thursday.

The caretaker cabinet convened Thursday morning at the Grand Serail to discuss, in two consecutive extraordinary sessions, "urgent" articles including the refugee crisis and the state budget.

"We are carrying out our responsibilities and we're not confiscating power," caretaker Prime Minister Bajib Mikati said at the beginning of the session.

Caretaker Tourism Minister Walid Nassar has honored prominent Lebanese music producer and DJ Rodge over his achievements in the field of music and concerts in Lebanon and the world, offering him a memorial shield.

Nassar said that he wanted to honor Rodge “at the building of the Ministry of Tourism, not anywhere else,” noting that the Lebanese producer “has become famous internationally as well as locally and an icon of entertainment and musical culture as part of the entertainment tourism that Lebanon is known for.”

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri seems to be very relieved, a week after he called for a seven-day dialogue, following which open presidential election sessions would be held, al-Liwaa newspaper reported Wednesday.

The daily said that Berri is patiently waiting for the positions of the political forces to crystallize regarding the dialogue. "And if they don't want it, too bad for them," the daily quoted Berri as saying.

Hezbollah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem has hit back at Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea over his latest remarks on presidential vacuum.

“Someone has said that they are willing to bear vacuum for months and years but not willing to bear us. This means that they are ready to see the country in ruins and not ready to open the door to a certain agreement or settlement to finalize the presidential juncture,” Qassem said, referring to Geagea.