Prime Minister-designate and caretaker PM Najib Mikati on Friday said that he is seeking to “halt the collapse” of the country.

“We need to address a lot of social issues and to organize the living matters and salaries so that we launch the rescue process and revive Lebanon,” Mikati said during his sponsorship of the launch of a touristic campaign in Tripoli.

Contacts are underway behind the scenes in a bid to reach a “settlement” related to the case of Archbishop Moussa al-Hajj, a media report said on Friday.

“Under the expected settlement, Hajj would not be legally prosecuted for violating boycott laws and for communicating with Lebanese and non-Lebanese sides carrying the citizenship of an enemy country, and the money and medicines he was carrying would be confiscated,” informed sources told al-Akhbar newspaper.

U.S. President Joe Biden has extended the so-called U.S. National Emergency with respect to Lebanon.

“Certain ongoing activities, such as Iran’s continuing arms transfers to Hezbollah -- which include increasingly sophisticated weapons systems -- serve to undermine Lebanese sovereignty, contribute to political and economic instability in the region, and continue to constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States,” Biden said in a statement, explaining what prompted the extension.

A Turkey-based grains trading company denied Friday that barley and flour aboard a ship docked in the Port of Tripoli in Lebanon had been stolen from Ukraine, saying the source of the flour is Russia.

An official at Loyal Agro Co LTD said that the firm had sought to sell 5,000 tons of the flour on the ship to private buyers in Lebanon and not to the Lebanese government.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib revealed Friday that Lebanon has received “a number of protests and warnings from a number of Western countries” after a Syrian-flagged ship carrying wheat and barley arrived at Tripoli’s port on Thursday.

“The relevant authorities in Lebanon are currently examining the ship and Lebanon has not yet managed to identify the source of the material it is carrying,” Bou Habib added, noting that the appropriate decision would be taken later.

The Russian Embassy in Lebanon denied Friday any knowledge of a Syrian cargo ship that has docked in the port of Tripoli with "stolen grain from Ukraine."

Ukraine said the ship, sanctioned by the United States, carried 5,000 tons of flour and 5,000 tons of barley stolen by Russian from the war-torn country. The ship, Laodicea, was initially heading to Tartus Port in Syria, and was expected to arrive there earlier this week.

Free Patriotic Movement said Friday, in a video post on social video, that what is happening in Parliament is sad.

"First, there is disrespect and impoliteness between the MPs," Bassil said, adding that the Parliament is not "productive."

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea said Friday that smuggling is the common factor between the multiple crises in Lebanon.

Geagea mentioned, in a post on social media, the economic collapse, the fuel crisis, the Akkar tragic explosion and the bread crisis.

Discrimination and violence against Syrian refugees in Lebanon has soared in recent weeks as the country grapples with high food prices and shortages, the U.N. refugee agency told the Associated Press on Friday.

"We have seen tensions between Lebanese and Syrians at bakeries across the country," United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees spokesperson Paula Barrachina told the AP. "In some cases even involving shooting and using sticks against refugees."

France and Saudi Arabia stressed Friday, in a joint statement, the two countries' support for the sovereignty, security and stability of Lebanon.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had talked over dinner Thursday about regional crises including the war in Yemen and Iran's nuclear program.