Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Thursday accused the political forces that are forming the new government of seeking to appoint supposedly technocratic ministers who are “closer to being advisers to these political forces.”

“Everything that has been and is still being leaked to the media about the anticipated government line-up is not reassuring at all, whether in terms of the interference of the very political forces who were behind the current crisis in the country or in terms of the feud over portfolios among these forces,” Geagea added in a written statement.

Lebanon's justice minister said Thursday that Lebanon has received an international wanted notice from Interpol for Nissan's ex-chair Carlos Ghosn.

Albert Serhan told The Associated Press in an interview that the Red Notice for the former automotive titan was received earlier Thursday by the prosecution.

French ambassador to Lebanon, Bruno Foucher urged the formation of a Lebanese government acceptable by the people taking their demands into consideration, the National News Agency reported on Thursday.

The Lebanese presidency on Thursday denied reports that President Michel Aoun had welcomed fugitive former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn upon his arrival in the country.

Lebanon’s protests ongoing since October, regained momentum with the start of the year on Thursday pressing demands for a corruption-free country, as the new PM-designate grapples with efforts to form a much-delayed government amid political dispute over its form.

Lebanese courts are full of dozens of lawsuits demanding that banks pay account holders the sums of money they need to withdraw, the Saudi Asharq al-Awsat reported on Thursday.

The first lawsuit was filed in November by Judge of Urgent Matters Ahmed Mezher against a bank in Nabatieh.The Judge ordered the release of 129 thousand euros, without delay and under penalty of coercive fine of 20 million pounds for each day of delay.

A young man of Lebanese descent will get engaged to U.S. President Donald Trump’s daughter Tiffany on January 11, according to invitations sent out by their two families.

“The story of Michael Charbel Boulos and Tiffany Donald Trump started in the summer of 2018, as they were vacationing on the Mykonos Island in Greece,” Lebanon’s MTV reported.

Celebratory gunfire wounded five people in Lebanon on New Year’s Eve, the Internal Security Forces said on Wednesday.

“Five people were injured in al-Qobbeh, el-Mina and al-Nour Square (in Tripoli), and on the Sayyed Hadi Nasrallah Highway and Choueifat” in Beirut’s suburbs, an ISF statement said.

Caretaker Minister of Finance, Ali Hassan Khalil, on Tuesday said that he had refused the extension of Lebanon's state-owned operating cell phone companies' mandate shortly before the Media and Communications Parliamentary Committee convened and rejected the extension.

With Lebanon suffering from an unprecedented economic crisis, the head of the hotel owners association Pierre Ashkar said the hotel sector falters as sales slow.