Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Wednesday met with a senior Saudi official for the first time since the November resignation crisis.

A picture circulated by Lebanese TV networks shows Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir having a standing conversation with Hariri – both smiling – on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

President Michel Aoun held a closed-door meeting with Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah at the end of his visit to the Gulf country on Wednesday morning.

Assistant U.S. Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorist Financing Marshall Billingslea visited Lebanon January 22-23 to discuss combating illicit finance, including “financing of Hizbullah's terrorist and trafficking activities,” the U.S. Embassy in Beirut said in a statement.

In his meetings, Billingslea engaged with Lebanese authorities and financial institutions on combating all forms of illicit finance, stressing “the importance of countering Iranian malign activity in Lebanon, and the U.S. commitment to help Lebanon protect its financial system from Hizbullah, ISIS (Islamic State group), and other terrorist organizations,” the Embassy said.

Kataeb Party chief MP Sami Gemayel on Tuesday accused authorities of “lying” over the latest garbage crisis on Keserwan's shore, shortly after he was accused of staging a “show” and seeking electoral gains from the Monday warnings he made over the issue.

“All officials mobilized today after the environmental disaster that we witnessed yesterday on Keserwan's shore. I thank them for their enthusiasm, efforts and insistence on media appearance, but we cannot but evaluate what happened,” Gemayel said at a press conference.

The U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon confirmed Tuesday that it has received Lebanon's share of the Tribunal’s 2018 budget from the Lebanese government, following an announcement from Prime Minister Saad Hariri's office.

“The full sum of 28,827,533 euros, amounting to 49 percent of the Tribunal's budget, was transferred to the Tribunal's bank account yesterday by the Lebanese government,” the STL said in a statement.

Movies from Lebanon, Chile, Russia, Hungary and Sweden are competing in the Academy Awards race for best foreign-language film.

Five nominees announced Tuesday include Lebanese filmmaker Ziad Doueiri's forceful "The Insult"; Chilean director Sebastian Lelio's drama with a transgender heroine, "A Fantastic Woman"; and Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev's stark divorce story "Loveless."

President Michel Aoun arrived for an official visit to Kuwait on Tuesday where he was received by Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Jaber al-Sabah, the National News Agency reported.

The President and the Emir headed to the main palace of the Emir, the Bayan Palace, where Aoun will stay during his two-day visit, NNA added.

Under the supervision of the High Relief Committee and at PM Saad Hariri's orders, trucks have started Tuesday removing the trash that accumulated on the Keserewan shore after rough waves broke down a faulty retaining wall around a coastal dump just east of Beirut, spilling the trash into the sea.

Maj. Gen Mohammed Kheir, the head of the High Relief Committee stressed that the cleaning process "will continue despite bad weather conditions and in commitment to Hariri's directions."

Environment Minister Tarek al-Khatib said he is still “not certain” about the source of the trash that accumulated on Monday at the Keserwan's shore and accused Kataeb Party leader Sami Gemayel of trying to gain popularity for the upcoming parliamentary elections, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Tuesday.

“I can not define the source of the trash. A technical team has been dispatched to conduct a detection report after which I can determine the source,” Khatib told the daily.

President Michel Aoun reassured Monday that Lebanon is actively fighting money laundering during talks in Baabda with Marshall Billingslea, the Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

“Lebanon is taking part effectively in the global efforts aimed at combating terrorist financing and money laundering, through its central bank and competent financial authorities and according to the applicable international standards and laws,” Aoun told the U.S. official.