As Lebanon mulls austerity measures to slash its ballooning budget deficit, President Michel Aoun insists the 2019 state budget draft gets discussed in Cabinet during its upcoming meeting next week on Thursday, said al-Joumhouria daily on Friday.

It's now up to Congress to decide what to do with special counsel Robert Mueller's findings about President Donald Trump.

While the special counsel declined to prosecute Trump on obstruction of justice, he did not exonerate him, all but leaving the question to Congress. Mueller's report provides fresh evidence of Trump's interference in the Russia probe, challenging lawmakers to respond. The risks for both parties are clear if they duck the responsibility or prolong an inquiry that, rather than coming to a close, may be just beginning.

For many yellow vest protesters, the stinging sadness that came with the devastating fire at Notre Dame Cathedral has quickly given way to boiling anger.

Some of the activists, whose violent protests against inequality have been shaking up France for months, said they cried in front of their TV sets as they watched the Gothic architectural masterpiece being consumed by flames Monday night.

Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil revealed shocking figures related to salaries of some state employees, a needed revelation after a public outcry provoked by government plans to cut pays as part of strict austerity measures to counter an economic collapse.

Just days after flames ravaged the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, a New Jersey man was arrested Wednesday night after entering St. Patrick's Cathedral carrying two cans of gasoline, lighter fluid and butane lighters, according to the New York Police Department.

The unidentified 37-year-old man had pulled up in a minivan outside the landmark cathedral on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, walked around the area, then returned to his vehicle at 7:55 p.m. and retrieved the gasoline and lighter fluid, said NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller.

The U.N. Security Council expressed "grave concern" Wednesday that agreements reached four months ago by the warring parties in Yemen have not been carried out and called for their implementation "without delay."

The council reiterated its endorsement of the Dec. 13 cease-fire agreement between Yemen's government and Houthi Shiite rebels that called for the "phased but rapid mutual withdrawals" of fighters from the key port of Hodeida, two smaller ports in the province, and Hodeida city.

France has renewed calls on Lebanon through the French Ambassador to Lebanon Bruno Fouche to implement strict austerity measures to reduce a ballooning budget deficit and massive national debt, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Thursday.

The Parliament passed on Wednesday amendments necessary to implement an ambitious plan to restructure the country's crumbling electricity sector.

Restructuring the power sector, dysfunctional since Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war, has been among key demands for reforms by the World Bank and international donors.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri warned Wednesday that Lebanon is heading toward an economic "catastrophe" unless the government implements strict austerity measures to reduce a ballooning budget deficit and massive national debt.

The stark warning came shortly after parliament passed amendments necessary to implement an ambitious plan to restructure the country's crumbling electricity sector. Restructuring the power sector, dysfunctional since Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war, has been among key demands for reforms by the World Bank and international donors.

The new Palestinian prime minister on Tuesday accused the United States of declaring "financial war" on his people and said an American peace plan purported to be in the works will be "born dead."

In his first interview with international media since taking office over the weekend, Mohammad Shtayyeh laid out plans to get through the financial crisis he has inherited and predicted that the international community, including U.S. allies in the Arab world, would join the Palestinians in rejecting President Donald Trump's expected peace plan.