Lebanese authorities deported to Riyadh two Saudi nationals based on a request by their country as another batch of detainees is expected to follow, a Saudi diplomat told the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat on Wednesday.

Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awadh Asiri confirmed in remarks to the daily that the Lebanese state extradited Abdullah Ahmed Mohammed al-Bishi to Riyadh on Tuesday evening.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi announced Tuesday from the Palestinian town of Beit Sahour his rejection of the “spring” that comes through “weapons and destruction,” condemning the Israeli separation barrier that limits the Palestinians' freedom of movement.

“We thank the Lord because all the eyes of the world are focused on the land of Palestine and on the Holy Land and because the entire world has realized that this cause is a sacred cause,” al-Rahi said in his sermon as he presided over a mass in the Palestinian town.

The United Nations Security Council is mulling a French draft resolution regarding the importance of electing a new head of state in Lebanon and end the presidential deadlock.

According to a report published on Monday in the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat, the Security Council is discussing ways to convince the political arch-foes to elect a new president to fortify state institutions and safeguard the country.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam is scheduled to travel to Saudi Arabia on Monday, in his first official visit abroad since the formation of his cabinet in February.

Salam is expected to meet with Saudi King Abdullah and several top Saudi officials.

The army announced on Saturday the arrest of a number of suspects in Beirut's southern suburbs of Dahieh.

It arrested seven suspects on charges of the possession of weapons and military equipment.

The Judicial Police detained on Tuesday Beirut and Mount Lebanon's “biggest” drug dealer, who has over 50 arrest warrants against him.

"The Central Anti-Drug Bureau and the Anti-Drug Bureau in the South were able to arrest A. N., 31, in the Faraya region (in Mount Lebanon),” the Internal Security Forces said in a communique.

President Michel Suleiman is expected to head on Friday a cabinet session at the Baabda Palace after he returns from Rome, where he attended the canonization mass of Popes John Paul II and John XXIII that was held at the Vatican.

A ministerial source said in comments published in An Nahar newspaper on Monday that the session will not make the appointment of top civil servants in a single package.

The body of an Electricite du Liban contract worker was found after being missing for around ten days, the state-run National News Agency reported on Monday.

According to NNA, the body of Ali Ibrahim was found on Sunday overnight laying in an electrical room in a building in the Hay el-Sellom neighborhood of Beirut's southern suburbs.

The Syndicate Coordination Committee held on Wednesday a protest near the education ministry in Beirut's UNESCO area to pressure MPs into approving the pay hike, as Minister of Education Elias Bou Saab warned that the academic year is “in danger.”

“Official exams are at risk and the academic year is at risk,” Bou Saab said after meeting with a SCC delegation in the afternoon.

Italy's top court on Tuesday said it was delaying a ruling for a key political ally of Silvio Berlusconi, after both the lawyers of former senator Marcello Dell'Utri said they were sick.

The judge said the Dell'Utri hearing -- which concludes a legal case that has lasted for more than two decades -- will now be held on May 9.