President Michel Suleiman called on Friday for “appropriate measures” to be taken against a user who has posted a Facebook cover photo of himself kissing the statue of Virgin Mary.

A Baabda palace statement said Suleiman called for certain “procedures and appropriate measures” against Ali Itawi.

U.S. Ambassador David Hale recently visited ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's grave in downtown Beirut on his 9th assassination anniversary as the mission reaffirmed its support for the efforts exerted by the international tribunal.

Hale toured the Mohammed al-Amin mosque and the memorial “to reflect on this period in Lebanon's hist” and to pay respect to deceased victims, the embassy said on twitter on Friday.

Investigations with the prominent member of the al-Qaida-affiliated Abdullah Azzam Brigades, Naim Abbas, have led to unveiling a terrorist attack planned to happen on Sunday, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported.

According to a report published by the daily on Friday, the extremist group was planning to detonate an explosive-laden vehicle near Hizbullah's al-Manar television in Jnah neighborhood in Beirut's southern suburbs.

The Lebanese Forces reiterated on Friday it's staunch rejection to the formation of Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam's cabinet, calling on Hizbullah to announce it's commitment to the Baabda Declaration ahead of the drafting of the ministerial policy.

“We respect the stances of our March 14 allies but we don't agree with them... And we will not participate in it,” a high-ranking source in the party said in comments published in al-Joumhouria newspaper.

Al-Mustaqbal bloc praised on Thursday the army's “great security achievement” in arresting fugitive Naim Abbas, adding that this proves that autonomous security and illegal weapons "do not protect the Lebanese."

"We salute the security forces' great achievement and particularly the army's arrest of terrorists that were planning dangerous criminal acts that could have threatened the lives of innocent civilians and harmed Lebanon's stability,” the bloc said in a released statement after the MPs' weekly meeting.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun agreed to nominate an Energy minister other than current officeholder Jebran Bassil, solving the deadlock that has lately haunted the cabinet's formation.

However, a new challenge arose concerning which portfolio will be assigned to Bassil.

A suspicious case in Beirut's Adlieh area caused a severe traffic jam in the region on Thursday afternoon.

The Traffic Management Center announced that traffic was diverted from the Mathaf area towards the Justice Palace as a suspicious case was being inspected by security forces in the region.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi continued on Thursday his visit to the Vatican by holding talks with Pope Francis I, reported the National News Agency.

The pope expressed his “keen interest on the situation in the Middle East, especially Lebanon.”

Islamist cleric Omar Mahmoud Othman, who is also known as Abu Qatada, strongly criticized Hizbullah on Thursday, calling on the cabinet to “pressure” the party to stop its involvement in the Syrian war.

Abu Qatada, who is being tried in Jordan on terrorism charges, also expressed his support to suicide bombings carried out by the al-Qaida linked Al-Nusra Front in Lebanon and Abdullah Azzam Brigades on Lebanese territories.

Lebanese Olympic skier Jacky Chamoun depicted in revealing photographs and a video that circulated on the Internet said her country's sports officials are "on my side."

Three years ago, Jacky Chamoun posed for a calendar photo shoot. Behind-the-scenes footage recently was posted online, and Lebanon's sports and youth minister reportedly ordered an investigation.