Parties concerned with the government formation file revealed what they said was an informal “proposal of a cabinet draft” to line up a cabinet of 20 ministers, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Thursday.

Two rights groups on Wednesday criticised a Lebanese judicial council decision to strike down a new work contract for foreign domestic workers, calling it a "sharp blow" to their rights.

The Beirut Bar Association on Wednesday handed the public prosecutor almost 700 criminal complaints from victims of the city's deadly August 4 port blast, Lebanon's National News Agency said.

Grand Mufti of the Republic Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan stressed Wednesday that PM-designate Saad Hariri is seeking to form a rescue government to stop collapse and everyone must seize this opportunity.

President Michel Aoun received at Baabda Palace Russia's special envoy to Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, at the head of a delegation of diplomats and military personnel, the National News Agency reported on Wednesday.

Discussions focused on the Russian initiative to return Syrian refugees back to their homeland, and on the international conference to be held in Syria for the repatriation of the displaced.

Progressive Socialist Party leader ex-MP Walid Jumblat lamented the spike in coronavirus cases in Lebanon saying the “confrontation is still at the beginning.”

The second round of US-mediated sea border talks between Lebanon and Israel launched on Wednesday at the UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura under UN and US auspices.

Lebanon recorded 1,809 new coronavirus cases and 11 deaths in around 36 hours on Sunday and Monday, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

The cases include 1,763 local cases and 46 among people coming from abroad.

The Free Patriotic Movement-led Strong Lebanon bloc on Tuesday announced that it is “committed to the utmost degree to facilitating the formation” of the new government.

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri held a new meeting Tuesday with President Michel Aoun as media reports said a near-final agreement has been reached on the shape of the new government.

"President Aoun met PM-designate Hariri and discussed with him the governmental situation in an atmosphere of understanding on the progress that has so far been made," the Presidency said in a tweet.