Speaker Nabih Berri signed Lebanon's state budget draft for the year 2017 and referred to the government on Monday, media reports said.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades stressed during talks with Lebanon's ambassador to Cyprus the need to deepen relations with Lebanon at the political and economic levels as he assured continued support for the country's army, the National News Agency reported on Monday.

Lebanon has recently appointed a new ambassador to Syria in a move that raised controversy as the new diplomat prepares to begin his duties next month.

President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Saad Hariri have signed a decree appointing the new ambassador, Saad Zakhia, who is expected to begin his duties early in November, said al-Joumhouria daily on Monday.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri congratulated three Lebanese men on their liberation over the weekend after their abduction a week earlier in Iraq, Hariri's media office said in a statement on Monday.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi voiced calls on the international and Arab communities to work on ending wars all around the world and urged all the displaced to return to their homeland, the National News Agency reported on Saturday.

Al-Rahi who is on a tour in the United States said: “I call on the International and Arab communities to put an end to wars in Middle Eastern countries.”

Progressive Socialistic Party leader MP Walid Jumblat said Saturday it would be needless to squander more public funds for the issuance of biometric voter cards, and has called instead for establishing garbage sorting plants before a major landfill for the Beirut area approaches its absorptive capacity.

A delegation from the US congress arrived in Beirut where it is scheduled to meet with several Lebanese officials, the State-run National News Agency reported on Saturday.

In light of the efforts exerted to return the displaced Syrians back to their homeland, Lebanon's foreign ministry initiated measures for the registration of refugees' births and civil documentation at the Syrian embassy in Beirut, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Saturday.

President Michel Aoun held talks Friday in Baabda with Alistair Burt -- the UK Minister of State for International Development and the Minister of State for the Middle East.

“Lebanon demands quick efforts to find a final solution to the Syrian crisis, because any delay will worsen the suffering of the Syrians as well as the impact of their presence as refugees on the country,” Aoun told the visiting British minister.

Internal Security Forces have arrested two suspects involved in drug dealing in south Lebanon, the ISF Directorate said in a statement on Friday.

The ISF anti-narcotics bureau arrested the first suspect after tracking his mobile. He was caught with cocaine drugs in his possession, said the statement.