Prime Minister Hassan Diab received an invitation to take part in the Higher Islamic Council meeting in Dar el-Fatwa, after “dull” relations between the two following Diab’s designation, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Saturday.

Speaker Nabih Berri at the AIU meeting on a US Mideast plan held in Jordan reiterated the strong rejection of Palestinian resettlement and the so-called Deal of the Century.

Lebanon’s SGBL bank on Friday lamented that it is facing “an organized campaign aimed at stripping it of the confidence of its clients and the public.”

“In this regard, al-Akhbar newspaper has accustomed us to such campaigns, and this systematic campaign has been followed by TV campaigns championed by a so-called economic expert who has given TV interviews that are only aimed at insulting Société Générale de Banque au Liban S.A.L. and its owners,” SGBL said in a statement.

MP Ziad Aswad of the Strong Lebanon bloc on Friday filed a lawsuit with the Mount Lebanon prosecution through his lawyer Antoine Atallah.

The National News Agency said Aswad is suing the protesters Habib Najem, Alain Waked, Wajdi al-Arja, Rabih al-Zein, Carlos Zgheib, Ghassan Bustani, Michel Bustani, Charbel Zgheib aka Charbel Younan and Roger Akiki on charges of “harming one of his bodyguards and vandalizing public and private property.”

A February 14 rally marking the 15th anniversary of the assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri and his companions has been moved from the BIEL venue in central Beirut to the residence of ex-PM Saad Hariri -- the Center House.

A statement issued by al-Mustaqbal Movement said the change comes at the request of the former premier.

World Bank Regional Director Saroj Kumar Jha held talks Friday in Beirut with Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni and said the Bank is awaiting the government's reform program to decide how to support the Lebanese people.

The official also stressed that the World Bank is committed to helping Lebanon create better job opportunities for its people and in funding projects in the health, education and electricity sectors.

Mount Lebanon Investigative Judge Bassam al-Hajj on Friday dismissed a medical report filed by the lawyer of protest movement activist Rabih al-Zein.

The judge also issued an in-absentia arrest warrant for al-Zein and ordered a broader investigation.

State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Peter Germanos announced Friday that he is stepping down.

In a phone call to the National News Agency, Germanos said he will on Tuesday submit a request to be relieved of his duties to Justice Minister Marie-Claude Najem for “purely family reasons.”

On 5 February 2020, Trial Chamber II decided that Ayyash would be tried in absentia. The following day, the Pre-Trial Judge, Judge Daniel Fransen, requested the Head of Defence Office, Dorothée Le Fraper du Hellen, to assign Counsel to represent the interests and rights of the Accused, said STL in a press release.

The Head of Defence Office therefore assigned Emile Aoun, a lawyer at the Beirut Bar, as Lead Counsel and Anta Guissé, a lawyer at the Paris Bar, as Co-Counsel to defend the interests and rights of Salim Jamil Ayyash in the case of The Prosecutor v. Ayyash (STL 18-10) in connection with the attacks against Marwan Hamade, George Hawi and Elias El-Murr.

Prime Minister Hassan Diab on Friday urged the Lebanese to join efforts in order to salvage the country from multiple crises it “inherited from previous policies,” the National News Agency reported on Friday.