Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has signaled that he is willing to be re-appointed to his post, in the first such stance since the parliamentary elections.

In remarks at a university graduation ceremony in Tripoli, Mikati called for speeding up the designation of a new premier, warning that Lebanon no longer has the “luxury of time.”

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has inaugurated the newly constructed Trilingual UNRWA al-Sakhra Co-educational School at the Mieh Mieh camp in Sidon.

The inauguration was attended by United States Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea, French Ambassador to Lebanon Anne Grillo, Palestinian Ambassador to Lebanon Ashraf Dabbour, Chairperson of the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee (LPDC) Bassel El Hassan, UNRWA Deputy Commissioner-General Leni Stenseth, and the Director of UNRWA Affairs, Lebanon, Claudio Cordone. The inauguration was also attended by Lebanese officials, representatives of the Palestine refugee community in Lebanon, teachers, students and parents.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on all parties to “respect the decision” of the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon, after the court sentenced two more Hezbollah members to life imprisonment in relation to the 2005 assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri.

“The Secretary-General’s thoughts are with the victims of the 14 February attack, and their families,” his spokesperson said.

The Universal Postal Union has published on its website a LibanPost statement about the company’s efforts to achieve the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goal 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth).

Below is the statement’s full text as published by UPU:

Hamish Cowell has been appointed as the new British ambassador to Lebanon, the British embassy said.

Cowell replaces ambassador Ian Collard, who will be transferring to another Diplomatic Service appointment, the embassy added.

The parliamentary bloc of the Progressive Socialist Party, known as the Democratic Gathering, on Friday called for forming a new government as soon as possible and said it discussed “the characteristics that the PM-designate should enjoy.”

Director for the Middle East and North Africa at the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Stephen Hickey, has concluded a two-day visit to Lebanon. He met with senior Lebanese officials, local experts, international partners and visited projects funded by the UK supporting the most vulnerable people in Lebanon.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati will likely be appointed next Thursday as a PM with a parliamentary majority, media reports said Friday.

Although Mikati enjoys the support of France and the U.S., the largest Christian blocs will not name him, while the Democratic Gathering is still undecided, al-Akhbar newspaper said.

Head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc MP Mohammed Raad on Friday said that the Lebanese are awaiting the outcome of U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein’s visit to Lebanon with “great caution.”

“It is the right of the Lebanese to be able with the least cost, shortest time and easiest ways to exploit their natural gas resources and to extract them without obstacles or a conflict,” Raad said.

U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein himself was not convinced with the “Qana field for Karish field” equation that was demanded by Lebanon in his latest visit to the country, which means that “there is no possibility to reach a solution,” diplomatic sources said.

“There are two scenarios: either returning to the Naqoura negotiations with Line 23 as the basis of the Lebanese negotiations, or Israel’s noncooperation and its continuation with gas extraction,” the sources told Kuwait’s al-Jarida newspaper in remarks published Friday.