The United States is closely “monitoring” the work of the new government in Lebanon, formed after three months of jubilant protests and a worsening financial crisis, United States-based satellite TV channel Alhurra reported on Saturday.

When Nazih Khalaf heard that protests were taking place Oct. 17 in Lebanon's capital over government plans to impose new taxes, he was just returning from south of Beirut where he'd been working to put out deadly wildfires that had been raging for days.

Residents of Beirut, Keserwan, Tripoli, Sidon and several other Lebanese region on Friday felt an earthquake that struck eastern Turkey, Lebanon’s National News Agency said.

Lebanon’s state-run National Center for Geophysics said “the earthquake felt by the Lebanese in several regions originated in Turkey, where a 6.9-magnitude earthquake hit areas in eastern Turkey.”

Anti-government protesters in the southern city of Nabatieh on Friday unveiled a “fist of the revolution” statue to commemorate 100 days since the beginning of the October 17 popular uprising.

The ceremony was held amid tight security measures taken by the army and Internal Security Forces, as supporters of Hizbullah and the AMAL Movement staged a rival demo at the location, chanting slogans supportive of Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Speaker Nabih Berri.

Lebanon's new health minister Hamad Hasan on Friday made a surprise inspection visit to the state-run hospital in Hermel.

“We have made this visit to honor our promise that we would stand by our people and they will find us with them whenever they make any appeal,” Hasan said.

Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi on Friday announced the arrest of two of those who attacked anti-corruption protesters outside the Council for South in the Beirut suburb of Jnah.

"They are being interrogated to identify the motives, reasons and instigators behind the attack on protesters," Fahmi said in a statement.

UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jan Kubis said he touched "positive signals" during his meeting with PM Hassan Diab at the Grand Serail on Friday, stressing that the international community expects Lebanon to implement a much-needed reform and fight corruption.

Prime Minister Hassan Diab chaired the first meeting of a panel tasked with drafting a new ministerial statement at the Grand Serail, the National News Agency reported Friday.

As Lebanon’s newly appointed ministers focus on setting a plan to save Lebanon from the current financial and economic crisis, chief economist for the Middle East and North Africa at the International Finance Institute, Garbis Iradian, said in report there is still hope for Lebanon to restore stability, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Friday.

A group of European parliament deputies are reportedly seeking investigation into corruption claims involving European aid for Lebanon in waste management projects, which if verified may lead to withholding EU aid from the crisis-hit country, al-Akhbar daily reported on Friday.