President Michel Aoun on Sunday hoped Christmas will bring peace to Lebanon and the region.

Dozens of people have gathered with candles in Beirut to denounce violence against women after at least three were murdered in Lebanon in less than a week.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq announced on Saturday that he will be running for the upcoming parliamentary elections, and pointed out to full security preparedness to secure safety during the holidays.

Mashnouq announced that the elections “will not be postponed. No political party wishes them postponed and I will run for the polls.”

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi stressed in his Christmas message on Saturday the need to value the freedom of the press, after several encounters in Lebanon that saw lawsuits against journalists, as he asked the State to shoulder responsibility for private school teachers' salary increase demands.

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday ordered an investigation into allegations that the Obama administration undermined efforts to target Hizbullah drug trafficking.

U.N. chief Antonio Guterres has extended the mandate of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon for a period of three years starting March 1.

In a tweet, the STL welcomed Guterres' decision and thanked the U.N. for "its commitment to support the STL's work in the fight against impunity for major crimes, in order to bring those responsible to justice."

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil on Friday said he submitted a draft law to extend the deadline for Lebanese expats to register their names in order to vote in the country’s' parliamentary elections slated in May 2018.

“I have presented a draft law to the government asking for the extension of the deadline set for Lebanese expats to register for the parliamentary polls,” he said on Twitter.

South Lebanon police arrested two Syrian nationals in the southern towns of Hasbaya and Nabatieh on charges of collaborating with terror armed groups in Syria, the National News Agency reported on Friday.

The General Directorate of State Security in Nabatieh had closely monitored the suspects to find that they have been contacting with jihadist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham alliance and al-Nusra Front in addition to more armed groups in Syria's Beit Jinn and Maghar al-Mir, NNA said.

Before the political crisis following the, now-reversed resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri, tourism sectors in Lebanon expected to achieve occupancy rates during the holiday season much larger than the current rates. However, they believe the activity is better than last year, as inspired by Tourism Minister Avedis Kedanian's projects who announced that “2018 is the year of tourism in Lebanon.”

Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Thursday that “this is the best time to invest in Lebanon,” after the Lebanese showed “wisdom” during the November political crisis.

“This is the best time to invest in Lebanon because, thanks to this political stability and security in our country, we have been able to establish that the country is capable of confronting crises in a wise manner,” Hariri said during a discussion with the participants in the Global Business Summit, organized by Endeavor Lebanon and LIFE at the Four Seasons Hotel.