Tourism Minister Michel Pharaon said he would accompany Prime Minister Tammam Salam in his tour to lure back Arab tourists to Lebanon after a steady decline in their numbers in the past years.

The tourism “sector lately witnessed a sort of movement after Turkish and Egyptian and even Kuwaiti citizens visited Lebanon during the Easter holidays,” Pharaon said.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Thursday announced his support for legalizing the cultivation of cannabis in Lebanon, especially in the Bekaa region.

“There should not be any concerns over legalizing and organizing the cultivation of cannabis for medical purposes, as it would not pose a health risk unless it is turned into an addiction," Jumblat said during an interview on al-Jadeed TV.

Telecommunications Minister Butros Harb announced Thursday that he has agreed with Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat to seek “new ideas” in approaching the presidential vote.

“The meeting was an occasion to exchange ideas on the means to confront the coming period, after the (parliament's) failure to hold the presidential vote” on Wednesday, Harb told reporters after meeting Jumblat in Clemenceau.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Thursday that the rival March 8 camp does not want a “real state” in Lebanon, accusing it of “obstructing” parliamentary sessions aimed at electing a new president in order to “maintain the state of chaos” in the country.

“We will not accept the persistence of the artificial, paralyzed and usurped state in Lebanon. We will struggle to restore the real and strong state,” Geagea said at a ceremony titled Day of the Republic that was organized by the LF's Student Department in Maarab.

Mansour Labaki's lawyer denied on Thursday that Vatican authorities ruled that the monsignor was innocent of the child abuse accusations against him.

"The case is now in the hands of Pope Francis only, and we are sure of Labaki's innocence according to the documents we have,” attorney Antoine Akl said in released statement.

The army announced on Thursday the arrest of five wanted suspects in Beirut's southern suburbs of Dahieh.

Mohammed Mazloum and his sons Ali and Hassan were arrested after the discovery of military equipment at their residence.

An Israeli force inspected an orchard in the South on Thursday morning in search of a “suspicious object” in the area.

The force, which comprised more than 20 soldiers, was examining a region facing the border town of Kfarkila, MTV reported.

Mustaqbal Movement leader MP Saad Hariri is keen on continuing talks with Free Patriotic Movement officials, in light of his recent meeting with Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Thursday.

It said that the former premier is eager to develop ties between the two sides and that the talks should cover other issues besides the presidential elections.

Bishop Samir Mazloum stated on Thursday that “no one expected the required quorum to be met” at the parliament in the second round of votes on a new president.

"Each camp has its own candidate and neither has the required number of votes to secure its nominee's victory,” Mazloum told al-Joumhouria newspaper.

The joint parliamentary committees have made progress over the funding of the new wage scale, reported the daily An Nahar on Thursday.

Informed sources told the daily that the committees completed discussions on articles linked to its funding, agreeing that the cost of the scale will reach L.L. 1,740 billion.