After President Michel Aoun suspended the parliament for a period of one month paving way for political parties to agree on a new electoral law, Speaker Nabih Berri said Friday the next parliament session on May 15 must reap the “fruits” of the agreement.

“What has happened must place everyone in front of their responsibilities as for agreeing on a new law as soon as possible. The month time period must be a month of decisiveness as for agreeing on a new voting system,” said Berri to his visitors on Thursday.

Army Commander General Joseph Aoun stressed on Thursday that the army will respond firmly to any attempt to move the armed clashes out of the southern Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh, the National News Agency reported.

“The army will firmly respond to any bid aiming to target military positions or residential areas around the camp, or attempts to move the clashes outside,” said Aoun while touring the army's units deployed in the southern city of Sidon and in the vicinity of Ain el-Hilweh.

Laying bare deep and dangerous divisions on Syria and other issues, President Donald Trump declared that U.S. relations with Russia "may be at an all-time low." His top diplomat offered a similarly grim assessment from the other side of the globe after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

"Right now we're not getting along with Russia at all," Trump said flatly during a White House news conference Wednesday. It was stark evidence that the president is moving ever further from his campaign promises to establish better ties with Moscow.

European airplane manufacturer ATR says it has signed a deal with Iran Air for 20 aircraft with an option for 20 more.

ATR spokesman David Vargas confirmed the deal for the 20 ATR-600s, a twin-propeller aircraft, were signed on Thursday. He declined to offer a value for the deal.

Chancellor Angela Merkel says it's in Germany's interest to have good relations with the United States, despite disagreeing with President Donald Trump on important issues.

Merkel told Germany's Funke media group in an interview published Thursday that conversations with Trump during her visit to Washington and in subsequent phone calls had been "good."

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he will take "unprecedented steps" to end the political division between his West Bank-based autonomy government and the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

The Islamic militant group Hamas seized Gaza from Abbas in 2007. The rivals failed to reconcile. A unity government set up by Abbas in 2014 never got off the ground in Gaza.

President Michel Aoun's move where he invoked his constitutional powers to adjourn the parliament for one month, is only the second in Lebanon's history since 1926, media reports said on Thursday.

Philippine officials say at least six people have been killed in battle between government forces and suspected Abu Sayyaf militants on a central resort island, far from the extremists' southern jungle bases and in a region where the U.S. government has warned the gunmen may be conducting kidnappings.

Military and police officials say a soldier and at least five gunmen were killed in an ongoing clash in Inabanga town in Bohol province, a popular tourist destination.

The United States has made a preliminary conclusion that Russia knew in advance of Syria's chemical weapons attack last week, but has no proof of Moscow's involvement, a senior U.S. official said Monday.

The official said that a drone operated by Russians was flying over a hospital as victims of the attack were rushing to get treatment. Hours after the drone left, a Russian-made fighter jet bombed the hospital in what American officials believe was an attempt to cover up the usage of chemical weapons.

Iran has opened registration for those hoping to run in the May 19 presidential race.

The official IRNA news agency said Tuesday that prospective candidates can register through the end of Saturday. They will then be vetted by the Guardian Council, a clerical body that will announce a final list of candidates by April 27.