In many countries, public libraries are considered a dying relic amid the shift to digital, but in Lebanon they are getting a new lease of life as its economy flatlines.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement Secretary-General Ahmed Hariri on Wednesday commented on ex-PM Fouad Saniora’s press conference without mentioning him.

“Only your stance represents me,” Ahmed Hariri wrote in a tweet accompanied by a photo of al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri.

There will be no solutions in Lebanon in the near future, senior al-Mustaqbal Movement sources have said.

“What we know is that there will be no solutions. There will be neither an agreement with the International Monetary Fund nor solutions in the coming days and months,” the sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Wednesday, when asked whether ex-PM Saad Hariri’s withdrawal from politics was related to any expected negative developments.

Cabinet will discuss today, Wednesday, the management of solid waste and the strategies of the Environment Ministry, while the electricity file will not be discussed, according to Environment Minister Walid Nassar.

Nassar told al-Anbaa news portal, in remarks published Wednesday, that two imminent sessions will discuss the electricity plan and the increase of the telecom tariffs.

Ex-PM Fouad Saniora on Wednesday called on the Sunni community in Lebanon to take part in the upcoming parliamentary elections, despite ex-PM Saad Hariri’s decision to boycott the vote along with his al-Mustaqbal Movement.

At a press conference, Saniora stressed the importance of “engaging in the elections by all Lebanese, especially Sunni Muslims who believe in Lebanon’s sovereignty.”

The European Union will send election observers to monitor Lebanon's May 15 parliamentary polls, at the invitation of the Lebanese government, the bloc's foreign service said on Wednesday.

The team's chief observer, Gyoergy Hoelvenyi, said in a statement it will be the fourth time the EU has sent observers to Lebanon, after previous missions in 2005, 2009 and 2018.

The Internal Security Forces have thwarted a plan by the Islamic State group to carry out three suicide bombings targeting Shiite religious compounds in Beirut's southern suburbs, the interior ministry said Wednesday.

"A terrorist group had recruited young Palestinian men in Lebanon to carry out major bombing attacks using explosive belts" and other munitions, Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi told a press conference.

President Michel Aoun on Tuesday denied accusations that he has given up Lebanon’s rights in the maritime border talks with Israel.

“Everything that is being said about giving up Lebanon’s sea border rights is baseless, because those talking do not know what was said in the negotiations,” Aoun said.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Tuesday said that the upcoming parliamentary elections will be a “political war of liberation,” after a top Hizbullah official suggested that the vote will be a “political July War” against Hizbullah.

Commenting on Sayyed Ibrahim Amin al-Sayyed’s claim that rivals and foes “want (to end) our arms and resistance so that the upper hand in our country goes to Israel and America,” Geagea said the Lebanese “want legitimate arms and a state, so that the upper hand in our country be for the Lebanese.”

UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Stefano Del Col on Tuesday inaugurated a photographic exhibition in the Lebanese capital, highlighting a "unique momentum" to "collectively build on the existing stability in south Lebanon and move forward," UNIFIL said.

Opening the exhibition of more than 60 photographs, including some historic maps, Major General Del Col said these photographs tell the story of the long journey UNIFIL and Lebanese populations have made together in the last 44 years.