Caretaker Labor Minister Mustafa Bayram announced Friday that it has been decided to approve a hike of an LBP 1.9 million on the wages of the private sector and to increase the transportation allowance from LBP 95,000 to LBP 125,000.

The decision was taken in a meeting for the country’s Consumer Price Index Committee.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian held talks Friday in Beirut with his Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bou Habib.

“We heard from Abdollahian Iran’s keenness on Lebanon’s stability and the importance of finalizing the presidential juncture,” Bou Habib said at a joint press conference after the meeting.

Amnesty International on Thursday decried that blocking the work of Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar is “akin to crushing the domestic investigation.”

“Judge Bitar should be allowed to resume his work immediately. But the international community should also heed the victims’ calls for an international investigation,” Amnesty’s MENA dept. tweeted on its official account.

Two people have been arrested for preventing members of an Internal Security Forces patrol from removing a construction violation in the Koura town of Kfar Qahel as well as hurling insults against the patrol’s members and Bkirki.

“To preserve the state’s prestige and prevent any transgression against religious authorities and security forces, the (ISF’s) Intelligence Branch arrested Diaa and Mustafa Qaraali in Batroun after they insulted security forces and Bkirki in Kfar Qahel, Koura,” caretaker Interior Minister Bassam al-Mawlawi tweeted.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil urged Thursday the Lebanese government to immediately start working on returning the displaced Syrians to their homeland.

In an FPM conference on refugees, Bassil said that Lebanon must implement its plan to return the refugees and must apply local and international laws.

The Observatoire Européen pour l’Integrité du Liban has said that General Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat has received a request to interrogate several individuals responsible for auditing the accounts of the Central Bank.

A European judicial delegation from France, Germany, and Luxembourg had started to arrive in Lebanon this week to probe the country's Central Bank governor and dozens of other individuals over suspected corruption.

Families of the port blast victims gathered Thursday in front of the Justice Palace after some judges asked the Higher Judicial Council to meet to discuss the requirements of the judicial probe into the case of the Beirut port blast.

Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat left the Justice Palace after quorum was not secured.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Wednesday that a caretaker Cabinet session will be held early next week to approve an electricity loan regardless of who may attend or boycott it.

“There is no possibility to grant a loan to Electricite du Liban except through a Cabinet decree and there can be no actions that contradict with the public accounting law,” Mikati told Annahar newspaper in an interview.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday postponed a presidential election session scheduled for Thursday over the death earlier in the day of former parliament speaker Hussein al-Husseini.

Mourning Husseini, his predecessor, Berri described him as “one of Lebanon’s major figures” who “dedicated his life to defending the country and its people, territorial integrity and national and pan-national identity.”

The General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers on Wednesday sent ministers a memo informing them of the draft agenda of Cabinet’s upcoming session ahead of setting a date for it, state-run National News Agency said.

The move comes “based on a request from the (caretaker) prime minister and in line with articles 62 and 64 of the constitution,” the General Secretariat said.