Lebanese actress Stephanie Saliba, who has links to Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh, was arrested on Friday, a judicial official and the state-run National News Agency said.

The development is the latest in the controversy surrounding Salameh, who is being investigated for corruption as an economic meltdown and financial collapse convulse the tiny nation.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Friday called for an emergency cabinet meeting over media reports claiming that Hezbollah is using Beirut’s airport to bring weapons from Iran.

“This is a delicate, dangerous and emergency matter that requires an urgent and necessary meeting by the caretaker cabinet in order to gather all the needed information and take all the necessary measures to preserve the security and stability of the Lebanese,” Geagea said in a tweet.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Friday snapped back at Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil over accusations related to the possibility of holding dialogue over the country’s next president.

“Dialogue requires advocates of dialogue,” Geagea tweeted, responding to Bassil’s remarks.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi said Friday that Monday's caretaker cabinet session "shouldn't have happened" especially that many parties were absent.

A caretaker cabinet session was held on Monday despite being boycotted by the Free Patriotic Movement and the Tashnag party, triggering tensions between long-time allies Hezbollah and the FPM as MP Jebran Bassil blasted Hezbollah for attending the session and the latter responded that Bassil's comments were "inappropriate" and "unwise".

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Friday visited Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi in Bkirki and called for an agreement on the country’s new president.

“I continued with Patriarch al-Rahi the discussion of the issue of the presidency and the agreement on a candidate and I call on everyone to agree on a name,” Bassil said after the meeting.

After talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and King Salman and his 37-year-old son Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, China and KSA expressed their keenness on stability and unity in Lebanon.

In a joint statement from Riyadh, they stressed the importance of making the required reforms and holding dialogue and consultations to overcome the crisis in Lebanon.

Taxi driver Youssef Daher has languished for months in prison without charge, one of scores stuck after Lebanese judges launched an open-ended strike in August to demand better wages in a collapsed economy.

Judges have suspended their work as rampant inflation eats away at their salaries, paralyzing the judiciary and leaving detainees in limbo -- the latest outcome of Lebanon's years-long financial crisis.

A Lebanese court has handed a man known as the "Captagon King" a seven-year sentence with hard labor for producing and trafficking the illegal drug, a judicial source told AFP.

This is the first time a major drug baron is convicted in a captagon case in Lebanon. 

The British Ambassador to Lebanon, Hamish Cowell, has visited the city of Tripoli for the first time. The visit aimed at understating the impact of the socioeconomic crisis on Tripolitans, and how UK funded projects are supporting livelihoods and community cohesion, the British Embassy said in a statement.

Ambassador Cowell met a range of individuals working to promote reconciliation, social cohesion and opportunities for young people in Lebanon’s second city, the statement said. This included the Tripoli Mayor Engineer Ahmad Kamareddine, security officials, project partners and beneficiaries, and U.N. agencies.

Lebanon has been without a president for over a month, its legislators unable to agree on a new head of state.

The impasse is holding up a range of initiatives, from putting into place structural reforms for an International Monetary Fund program to allowing the country's state-owned television channel to broadcast the World Cup.