U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea has hosted civil society and international non-governmental representatives engaged in combating corruption, the U.S. embassy said.

At the event, Ambassador Shea presented the Department of State’s Anticorruption Champions Award on behalf of Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Riad Kobeissi, head of the investigative reporting unit at Al Jadeed TV.

Youssef al-Mawla, the father of one of Beirut port blast victims, filed Friday a recusal request against the port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar.

Al-Mawla's lawyer Salman Barakat filed on Friday morning the recusal request before the Criminal Court of Cassation headed by Judge Randa Kfoury.

Hizbullah military commander and expert Akram al-Sayyed has died in artillery shelling in Yemen’s Marib governorate, Yemeni Information, Culture and Tourism Minister Moammar al-Aryani has said, describing the development as “a painful blow to Tehran’s regime and its sectarian militias.”

“Al-Sayyed, 35, had entered Yemen in August 2017 among a host of terrorists belonging to Hizbullah, and on December 3 he was sent with a number of Hizbullah experts to the fronts of southern Marib to lead operations and implement Iran’s scheme of escalating the magnitude of confrontations in the governorate,” Aryani said in a social media post.

Deputy Prime Minister Saadeh Shami said that "we need the approval of the Cabinet to start with the IMF's plan."

"If Cabinet doesn't convene, there would be difficulties to negotiate with the IMF," Shami said.

Free Patriotic Movement head Jebran Bassil tweeted Thursday that the decision by the labor minister to allow Palestinians and the unregistered individuals to practice dozens of professions is "illegal."

"The decision violates the Labor Law and the Constitution," Bassil said.

The central bank on Thursday hiked the dollar exchange rate for bank withdrawals from LBP 3,900 to LBP 8,000 while setting a $3,000 monthly cap per account.

In a statement, the bank said its measure comes ahead of “devising an integrated and comprehensive governmental pan that is based on the economic and reformist principles and the requirements of the International Monetary Fund.”

KSA and UAE urged Lebanon, in a joint statement, "to make political and economical reforms and to limit the possession of arms to the legitimate state institutions."

"Lebanon shouldn't be an incubator for organizations and groups that target the security and stability of the region, such as terrorist Hizbullah," the statement said.

An old water pipe burst Thursday in Mohammad al-Hout street in Ras al-Nabaa, Beirut, causing major material damage.

The burst submerged 13 cars in a building's parking in water, and damaged the main road. A car fell into the sinkhole caused by the road's subsidence.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati arrived Thursday in Cairo on an official visit to Egypt.

He met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli.

The U.S. State Department on Wednesday announced that al-Jadeed TV investigative journalist Riad Kobeissi is one of the winners of its 2021 International Anticorruption Champions Award.

“At least seven years prior to the horrific August 4, 2020, Beirut port explosion, Mr. Kobeissi began exposing rampant bribery and smuggling at the port through a bold blend of investigative and ‘accountability journalism,’” the U.S. embassy in Lebanon said in a tweet.