The U.S. Embassy in Beirut has announced the expansion of interview waiver eligibility for Lebanese citizens who are renewing B1/B2 tourist and business visas.

Lebanese citizens of ages 50 and older and whose B1/B2 visas have expired within the last 24 months may qualify for Interview Waiver which allows for visa renewal without an interview.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Monday warned that Lebanon can only bear a few more “weeks” of further deterioration at all levels.

Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab has said that he will not cast a blank vote in Thursday's presidential election session.

Bou saab told LBCI that "blank ballots are no longer acceptable," and that all the MPs of the Free Patriotic movement have agreed on this.

A parliamentary committees session to discuss the long-awaited capital control law was adjourned Monday due to the absence of Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh, Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab said.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati held meetings Monday in Sharm el-Sheikh with International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid and Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif.

Mikati and the IMF chief discussed “the steps that Lebanon has taken since the preliminary agreement was signed between Lebanon and the Fund,” Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported.

Lebanon is in the most dangerous stage of its political, economic, financial and social history, said Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi.

Al-Rahi said Monday that war makers cannot make peace, and that the ruling class has failed to elect a new president because "those who made the war are ruling our country."

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati arrived Sunday in Egypt to take part in the U.N.'s COP27 climate summit, which will be held over two days in Sharm el-Sheikh.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday addressed Lebanese officials and friendly countries by saying that “there is no priority that comes before the priority of electing a president.”

Pope Francis said Sunday he was praying for "suffering peoples of the Middle East", at the end of a Bahrain visit promoting dialogue with Islam.

In a final address before boarding a flight to Rome, he also urged congregants to pray "for Ukraine, which is suffering so much," and for an end to the war.

Scores of Syrian refugees have headed home from eastern Lebanon in the second convoy in less than two weeks as Lebanon attempts to organize a mass refugee return to the war-torn country.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said the "voluntary return" Saturday included 330 Syrians who left from the eastern Bekaa Valley to Syria's western Qalamoun region. Qalamoun borders Lebanon and years ago witnessed some of the worst fighting of Syria's 11-year conflict.