Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi held talks on Friday with President Michel Suleiman at the Baabda palace on Bkirki’s efforts on the Christian and national levels.

The Patriarch also presented him with an icon of the late Pope John Paul II.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea called on Friday for the formation of a technocratic government “seeing as it is the only solution for the governmental crisis because a political one cannot be established at the moment.”

He said during the opening of the ninth session of the discussions on the LF’s internal structure: “We were hoping that parliamentary sessions would be held given the deteriorating social and economic situation, but these sessions would be illegitimate under a caretaker government.”

Visiting deputy Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Reza Shebani delivered a message of support from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad to his Lebanese counterpart Michel Suleiman, reported al-Jumhuriya newspaper on Friday.

The message includes the Islamic Republic's position on regional issues, while asserting its ongoing support to Lebanon.

It’s official! Lebanon is still a priority for the U.S. although President Barack Obama did not address the situation in the country in his “historic” speech on Thursday.

“The democratic changes in the region started in Lebanon in 2005,” U.S. embassy spokesman Ryan Gliha said about the Cedar Revolution that drove Syrian troops out of Lebanon in the aftermath of the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri.

Police commandos ended the riots that erupted at Bloc B at Roumieh prison Friday morning when security forces attempted to carry out an inspection of the prisoners.

The security forces began the inspection after one of the inmates threatened a doctor with a knife if the latter refused to take him to hospital, even though he was in no urgent medical condition.

British Government spokesman Martin Day stressed the need for the formation of a government that respects its commitments to the international community and Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

He added in a radio interview that the Cabinet formation is an internal Lebanese affair, saying that the British government will deal with the new government on the basis of its policies.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams said that the Lebanese government crisis isn’t witnessing any breakthrough, which is affecting the economic sector.

Williams told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Friday that the tourism season in Lebanon isn’t promising this year, hotel and flight reservations are deteriorating and most tourists come from neighboring Arab countries.

Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare’s amended indictment includes names of Syrian officials involved in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s Feb. 2005 assassination, said the French daily Le Figaro.

According to the article written by George Malbrunot, French intelligence agencies provided the STL with information about Syria’s involvement in the murder.

No progress will be reached in the government formation for before ten days due to the regional developments and numerous diplomatic visits to Lebanon and the region, a concerned source told al-Jumhuriya newspaper in remarks published on Friday.

President Michel Suleiman’s circles meanwhile noted that there are no new developments in the consultations in the government formation.

Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee at the Israeli Knesset Shaul Mofaz described Hizbullah is an Iranian threat towards the entire region.

He told the Kuwaiti al-Rai newspaper that Iran threatens the region, especially the pragmatic Sunni Arab states, through its nuclear program.