Lebanon’s new foreign minister Nassif Hitti on Thursday denied announcing the “death” of Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem.

“He has not used the account carrying his name for the past three and a half years and he has not created any Twitter account recently,” a statement issued by his office said.

Swiss Ambassador to Lebanon Monika Schmutz Kirgoz on Thursday held talks with Prime Minister Hassan Diab at the Grand Serail.

Commenting on reports that a number of Lebanese politicians have recently transferred billions of dollars to Swiss banks despite the de facto capital controls imposed by Lebanese banks, the ambassador said her country is willing to investigate the claims should the Lebanese government request help.

EU Ambassador to Lebanon Ralph Tarraf held talks Thursday with Prime Minister Hassan Diab at the Grand Serail and noted that the European Union’s assistance to Lebanon hinges on the implementation of economic reforms.

The meeting was held in the presence of Environment and Administrative Development Minister Demianos Qattar.

Grand Mufti of the Republic Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan condemned the massive acts of “sabotage” that were witnessed in downtown Beirut yesterday evening, the National News Agency reported on Thursday.

The Mufti utterly rejected acts of vandalism against private and public property, saying “infiltrators have smashed shops, uprooted trees and violated private and public property.”

Former Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil attended the elite annual World Economic Forum in the Swiss village Davos despite social media cries telling the forum to have him “uninvited.”

The National News Agency on Thursday said Bassil, who is also head of the Free Patriotic Movement, took part in two dialogue sessions, one on the situation in Syria and one that tackled the situation in the Middle East.

Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni on Thursday said that around 4 to 5 billion dollars will be requested from international donor countries to finance purchases of wheat, fuel and medicines in crisis-hit Lebanon, according to media reports.

Named as new minister on Tuesday, Wazni said that Lebanon is looking to secure 4-5 billion dollars in soft loans to finance the purchase of the country’s needs of wheat, fuel and medicines in light of a dollar shortage crisis.

Clashes in downtown Beirut between protesters and police on Wednesday left 86 individuals injured, according to a toll compiled by the Lebanese Red Cross.

The United States has called on Lebanon's new government to enact serious reforms to tackle the twin challenges of a collapsing economy and angry street protests.

"The test of Lebanon's new government will be its actions and its responsiveness to the demands of the Lebanese people to implement reforms to fight corruption," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.

Security forces fired tear gas and water cannons at anti-government protesters in central Beirut on Wednesday afternoon, after some of them hurled stones firecrackers and uprooted trees and began dismantling a huge security barrier outside Nejmeh Square.

The area had witnessed overnight clashes during a demo rejecting the country’s new government.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri announced Wednesday that the new government which was formed overnight Tuesday has the capability to pull the country out of its multi-faceted crisis.

“With its competent and specialist ministers, the government has the ability to come up with visions and programs that can be a cornerstone for overcoming the current crisis on the condition that there will no time waste,” Berri said during his weekly Ain el-Tineh meeting with lawmakers.