Prime Minister Saad Hariri chaired Thursday a cabinet meeting on the 2020 draft budget.

“The Cabinet discussed all the proposals sent by the financial and economic reform committee. There is a positive inclination to approve the elderly pension law, the customs law and the tax law as soon as possible,” Information Minister Jamal al-Jarrah said after the session.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Thursday denied a media report claiming that the United Arab Emirates intends to deposit $1.4 billion at Banque du Liban as part of a support package for Lebanon.

President Michel Aoun on Thursday described Turkey’s military operation against Kurdish militants in northeast Syria as a “dangerous development in the war’s course in Syria.”

“Lebanon is following up on the developments and it hopes that they won’t have repercussions on Syria’s unity and the situation of Syrian refugees,” Aoun told U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo in a meeting in Baabda.

Environment Minister Fadi Jreissati on Thursday responded to criticism after telling citizens not to complain if they do not embark on sorting waste at home.

The Union of Bakery owners announced a strike Monday "if no positive developments take a place."

General Security Chief Major General Abbas Ibrahim stressed on Thursday that celebratory gunfire in Lebanon is a “crime” requiring the State's action, the National News Agency reported on Thursday.

Following the “clarification” statement of the World Bank Group a few days ago urging reform of Lebanon’s troublesome energy sector, the bank has directly reaffirmed through its senior officials to Lebanese officials the importance of “immediately” initiating the required reform steps, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Thursday.

Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday condemned a Turkish military operation against Kurdish militants in northeast Syria as an “aggression” and “occupation.”

The Foreign Ministry “considers the military operation that the Turkish armed forces are carrying out in northern Syria an aggression against a brotherly Arab country and an occupation of Syrian territory which will subject its people to killing and internal and external displacement,” it said in a statement.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri met Wednesday at the Grand Serail with the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo, in the presence of the U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jan Kubis, former Minister Ghattas Khoury and Hariri’s advisors Nadim Mounla and Hazar Caracalla.

During the meeting, which included a working lunch, discussions focused on the situation in the region and the challenges that Lebanon is facing to preserve its security and economic and social stability.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday criticized the delay in discussing the 2020 state budget.

“The Speaker wondered about the progress of the state budget debate, after the series of meetings in Cabinet and in its ministerial committees,” MP Ali Bazzi said after the weekly Ain el-Tineh meeting between Berri and lawmakers.