Saudi Arabia has stressed the need to “finalize the Lebanese presidential juncture as soon as possible so that it contributes to rescuing Lebanon.”

The kingdom’s stance came in a statement issued by the Saudi embassy after talks in Diman between Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari and Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi.

Interim Central Bank Governor Wassim Mansouri reassured Monday that the Central Bank will not finance the Lebanese state, neither in dollar nor in LBP.

"The decision is final," Mansouri said in an interview with al-Arabiyya, stressing that the state must find other ways to finance its budget deficit.

Kataeb Party chief Sami Gemayel has anew rejected Speaker Nabih Berri’s call for dialogue and said the opposition will confront what he called “Hezbollah’s coup.”

“We are the advocates of dialogue and we’re the ones who are adhering to Lebanon and partnership the most. The moment in which Hezbollah decides to reconsiders its approach we will be ready for dialogue and for finding the solutions that relieve everyone so that we live together, but we are not ready to be second-class citizens,” Gemayel said in an interview on al-Jadeed TV.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has accused Hezbollah of being behind the kidnap and murder of LF member Elias Hasrouni last month, noting that the incident “resembles the dialogue that the Axis of Defiance has been calling for since months.”

“They invite you to dialogue to strangle you and kill you or to stifle your principles, beliefs and freedom and force you to do what they want,” Geagea said in an annual speech commemorating the “martyrs of the Lebanese Resistance”.

Parliament speaker Nabih Berri has renewed his call on political blocs to engage in dialogue to elect a president before the end of September, after 10 months of presidential void.

Crisis-hit Lebanon has been without a president since Michel Aoun's term ended in October last year, with neither of the two main blocs -- Hezbollah and its opponents -- having the majority required to elect one.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday called for a dialogue "without prejudgments."

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has met with Islamic Jihad leader Ziad Nakhalah and Hamas deputy politburo head Sheikh Saleh al-Arouri, Hezbollah said on Saturday.

Kataeb Party chief Sami Gemayel on Friday rejected Speaker Nabih Berri’s call for dialogue that would precede open sessions for the election of a president.

“The proposal to hold successive sessions to elect a president on the condition that we participate in dialogue is an acknowledgment that you were deliberately violating the constitution and that all the excuses that you were using are invalid,” Gemayel said in a post on the X social media platform.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has expressed optimism about a presidential dialogue which might take place in September, as he again called for decentralization, creating a trust fund and completing the Central Bank forensic audit.

In a speech Thursday, Bassil said the FPM had a clear condition to participate in a dialogue suggested by French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian.

On August 1, 2023, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) awarded a contract to RTI International, a nonprofit research institute and leading international development organization, to implement the new five-year $96.9M Quality Instruction Towards Access and Basic Education Improvement (QITABI) 3 to support Lebanon’s education system.

In collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE) and the Center for Educational Research and Development (CRDP), USAID’s QITABI 3 will improve literacy, numeracy, social and emotional learning (SEL), and inclusive education outcomes for students nationwide. The project will also provide life skills and career guidance to students at the intermediate and secondary levels.