The Association of Banks in Lebanon announced Thursday that the country’s banks will resume their open-ended strike on Tuesday, March 14, decrying recent judicial rulings.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri's open nomination to Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh is not a challenge, Berri said, but is supposed to break the presidential deadlock.

In remarks published Thursday in al-Joumhouria, Berri said that his nomination to Franjieh is supposed to urge the other parties to announce their candidates, in order to seriously elect a president.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati met Thursday with United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka at the Grand Serail.

Wronecka stressed the need for Lebanon to commit to implementing basic reforms and completing constitutional junctures on time, especially the presidential and municipal polls.

The ambassadors of the UK, the U.S., Canada, Germany and the Netherlands and the deputy ambassador of Japan have met with caretaker PM Najib Mikati and agreed with him on “continued support for transparency and accountability in Lebanon,” a joint statement said.

Free Patriotic Movement Alain Aoun said Thursday that the FPM might agree with the opposition MPs on a presidential candidate.

"We are communicating with all parties," Aoun said, adding that hic bloc hasn't yet decided on a candidate.

Bkerki’s spokesperson Walid Ghayad said Thursday that Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari did not discuss with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi the names of any presidential candidates, in a meeting they had Tuesday in Bkerki.

Ghayad told al-Jadeed TV that Bukhari did not support or oppose the election of any candidate, but rather mentioned the qualifications needed in a president.

Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh on Wednesday hit out at his Christian rivals for reversing their stance on the boycott of presidential election sessions.

The Free Patriotic Movement on Wednesday called for the election of “a president who embodies a complete salvation and reform program, in line with what was said in the presidential priorities paper that has been proposed by the FPM.”

Thirty-eight countries at the U.N. Human Rights Council have condemned the political obstruction of Lebanon’s domestic investigation into the August 4, 2020 explosion at Beirut’s port.

Hezbollah and the Amal Movement’s nomination of Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency was not a “surprising move” but it might “activate the presidential election file,” MP Ghassan Hasbani of the Lebanese Forces said on Wednesday.