Prime Minister Saad Hariri stressed on Tuesday that Lebanon's parliamentary elections will be staged in May 2018 as agreed.

Relations between Saudi Arabia and Lebanon are reportedly “strained” lately as the diplomatic accreditation of ambassadors remains unsettled so far, al-Akhbar daily said on Tuesday.

SA has not yet accredited Lebanon's ambassador to the Kingdom, Fawzi Kabbara, although he was appointed five months earlier by the Lebanese government, said the daily.

Former US President Barack Obama's administration has been accused of “blocking investigations” into an operation to stop “Hizbullah smuggling drugs” into the United States so that the nuclear deal with Iran could go forward, the US Politico said in a report on Tuesday.

Obama's administration has reportedly “blocked investigations to stop Hizbullah and its Iranian backers from smuggling drugs,” fearing that pursuing the suspects would undermine chances of reaching an agreement with Tehran over its nuclear program, according to Politico.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq reassured Monday that the security situation in Lebanon is “excellent,” while hailing the Internal Security Forces over its swift arrest of a taxi driver accused of killing a female British embassy staffer.

“The security situation is excellent and the clearest example is the special achievement of the ISF and its Intelligence Branch, who arrested the killer of the British embassy employee only hours after the murder,” Mashnouq said.

The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, Federica Mogherini, will visit Lebanon on December 19 to “reaffirm strong partnership and continued EU support to Lebanon's stability, security and prosperity,” the EU Delegation to Lebanon said.

She will meet with President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Pernille Dahler Kardel met Monday morning with President Michel Aoun and separately with Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri stressed the need on Monday to develop a strategy to prevent violence as he called for combating terrorism with education and knowledge.

Lebanon's waste management crisis surfaces once more as the two major landfills in the country approach maximum capacity, meanwhile the government prepares to tackle the controversial file in addition to 67 items on its agenda during its meeting on Tuesday.

A number of options are placed on the Cabinet table which include a suggestion proposed by the Council for Development and Reconstruction CDR for expanding the Costa Brava and Burj Hammoud temporary landfills, al-Liwaa daily said Monday.

The Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch on Monday arrested a taxi driver suspected of killing British embassy worker Rebecca Dykes after attempting to rape her, according to officials and the National News Agency.

The Lebanese news agency said the Lebanese man, Tarek H., had confessed to killing the young woman, who worked at the UK embassy in Beirut.

MP Fadi Karam of the Lebanese Forces on Sunday accused some Free Patriotic Movement officials of “sowing discord” between the LF and Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s al-Mustaqbal Movement.