Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon walid Bukhari has informed a number of MPs he met that Saudi Arabia is not against the election of Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh as president, al-Liwaa newspaper said.

Sources told the daily, in remarks published Friday that Saudi Arabia has no objection on Franjieh or any other candidate, but rather cares about the president's program and how he will address the political and economic challenges.

Central bank governor Riad Salameh said Friday that he has appeared "as a witness" before the European legal team and not as a suspect or an accused.

Salameh was questioned for two hours Friday and six hours the day before about his properties abroad and his wealth.

French and Saudi officials will meet in Paris in the coming hours to discuss the Lebanese crises, including the presidential file and the economic crisis.

Saudi royal envoy Nizar Al-Aloula and Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari will meet with French President Advisor Patrick Durrell and French presidential envoy Pierre Duquesne.

Central bank chief Riad Salameh, once lauded for reviving the economy, faces investigations into his personal wealth and is widely viewed as a key culprit in the country's dramatic economic crash.

Salameh, 72, one of the world's longest-serving central bank governors having held the post for three decades, was a previously untouchable figure in Lebanon.

A European legal team on Friday ended two days of questioning of central bank chief Riad Salameh in Beirut in a money-laundering probe linked to the governor.

Salameh was questioned for two hours Friday and six hours the day before, Lebanese judicial officials said. The European delegation — with representatives from France, Germany, and Luxembourg — questioned Salameh through a Lebanese judge, acting as a go-between. Under Lebanese laws, the representatives cannot directly question Salameh.

Saudi Arabia has not reached “detailed understandings” with Iran over “the crises in Iraq and Lebanon,” the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV quoted a Saudi source as saying on Thursday.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has said "it is time to get out of the shell of traditional names" and to elect a consensual and not a confrontational president.

In an interview published in Kuwait's al-Qabas newspaper on Thursday, Jumblat suggested the name of Lebanese international lawyer Chibli Mallat, and re-mentioned International Monetary Fund official and ex-minister Jihad Azour.

Pope Francis on Thursday reiterated his “firm faith in the message that Lebanon performs through the cultural and religious pluralism that characterizes it and makes it unique in the region,” during talks with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati in the Vatican.

The U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon said Thursday it had not observed any border crossings after Israel said it killed a suspect wearing an explosive belt who may have entered from Lebanon.

The Israeli army said on Wednesday it was probing the possible involvement of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement after troops "neutralized" the suspect following a blast that wounded a civilian in northern Israel on Monday.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited Thursday the Lebanese border, after Israel said an armed man suspected of blowing up a car may have come from Lebanon.

Gallant threatened that "whoever decided to test Israel" by perpetrating the roadside bombing in the country's northern region "will pay dearly."