A Lebanese businessman who was kidnapped in southern Nigeria's oil-producing Edo State has been released, the director-general of the foreign ministry Haitham Jumaa announced on Friday.

Jumaa said Lebanon’s Charge d’Affaires Shawqi Abu Nassar informed him that Elias Sarkis was set free by his unidentified kidnappers.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel has appeased fears on the growing clashes and gunfire in Syrian towns bordering Lebanon but warned against any attempt by Syrian refugees to engage in political activity against their country’s rule.

In remarks to pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat daily on Friday, Charbel said: “There are no political intentions behind what’s going on the border between Lebanon and Syria from time to time.”

Lebanese authorities are weighing up what action to take after a group of newly recruited policewomen showed up for training wearing the hijab, a security official said on Friday.

The policewomen, numbering nearly 40 and all reportedly Shiites, were among hundreds who sat for an exam to join the Internal Security Forces earlier this year.

Speaker Nabih Berri slammed the government on Friday for failing to appoint civil servants to posts in state institutions and mainly employees linked to the premier’s office.

“Why haven’t the vacant seats been filled ten months after the formation of the cabinet?” Berri wondered in remarks to As Safir daily.

Speaker Nabih Berri issued another warning on Friday that parliament would hold the government accountable if it fails to appoint the members of the oil authority.

The cabinet’s adoption of the authority’s formation bill is not enough to avoid a parliamentary grilling, Berri said in remarks published in several dailies.

Premier Najib Miqati struck a pessimistic tone on the power crisis on Friday despite an offer by his Georgian counterpart to provide electricity to Lebanon via Turkey.

In remarks to As Safir daily, Miqati said he did not invite a ministerial committee tasked with resolving the crisis to a meeting on Thursday after he “found out that it would not be useful anymore to hold unproductive meetings.”

Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn hit back Thursday at Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea over the latter’s call for the army to storm the Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp.

“Those behind such calls do not belong to Lebanon, its unity or its future,” Ghosn said in an interview on Al-Manar television.

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour said on Thursday that the Lebanese community in Mali is safe as renegade soldiers in the west African country claimed that they seized power.

Mansour revealed that he had made some contacts to inquire about the status of the Lebanese community.

Military Examining Magistrate Imad al-Zain issued an arrest warrant on Thursday against a Lebanese national on charges of smuggling weapons to the Free Syrian Army, reported the National News Agency.

It said that Hussein A. was arrested after attempting to smuggle the arms through the border region of al-Qaa in the Bekaa.

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour said Thursday he would soon issue a “Service Passport” which would be used by its holder for a specific official mission abroad.

Mansour told An Nahar daily the passport would be given to officials with special missions in other countries on condition that they hand over the document to the ministry upon their return to Lebanon.