The United States has named Panama's prominent Waked family, who run a large luxury goods, duty-free shop and real estate business, as a major drug money-laundering organization.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader MP Saad Hariri met with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Friday in Bkirki where talks touched on the necessity to end the presidential vacuum.

“The Patriarch did not name anyone for the post of the presidency. He is democratic and urges all parties not to obstruct the election process and to attend the parliament session to elect a head of state,” said Hariri after the meeting.

Three people from the same family were injured in Beirut's southern suburb of Bourj al-Barajneh when gunmen in a moving vehicle opened fire at them, the National News Agency said on Friday.

Unknown assailants in a vehicle opened fire from a pump-action rifle, which led to the injury of three people from the al-Annan family, NNA said.

A prominent Lebanese official said that it is likely for the Lebanese to “sleep one day to wake up and find that a president has been elected,” As Safir daily reported on Friday.

“I am certain that we are now slowly approaching the end of the vacuum at the top state post. The coming summer could be a stage of setting the foundation for the election of a president next autumn,” said the senior politician on condition of anonymity.

The Financial General Prosecutor sent Thursday afternoon a request related to the illegal internet file to Telecommunications Minister Butros Harb asking for permission to pursuit some of the employees at his ministry, particularly OGERO employees, after the minister objected to the form addressed earlier, al-Joumhouria daily quoted prominent judicial sources on Friday.

During a parliamentary media committee meeting on Thursday, Harb noted that the request to prosecute some of the staff at his ministry did not respect the norms nor did it include the necessary investigations on which he can build his decision upon.

The cabinet on Thursday postponed discussing the thorny issue of the State Security agency as Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil reportedly accused OGERO chief Abdul Menhem Youssef of “theft.”

Al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri stressed Thursday that he will not tolerate another garbage disposal crisis in the capital Beirut as he called on Beirut's voters to defend “Rafik Hariri's project” in Sunday's municipal polls.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi will meet with French President Francois Hollande during a four-day visit to France that will begin on Saturday, Lebanon's National News Agency reported Thursday.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah met Thursday at his office with Ali Akbar Velayati, the international affairs adviser to Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei, the party said.

MP Hassan Fadlallah vowed on Thursday that the judiciary will continue on investigating the case of the illegal internet, stressing that this issue will not be victim of a political cover-up.

He said after a meeting of the parliamentary media committee: “This file will not be subject to a cover-up and all low- and high-ranking officials linked to the case will be held accountable.”