The family of Monsignor Mansour Labaki urged on Saturday Christian figures in the country to intervene with high authorities at the Vatican to allow an appeal in the case of the Maronite father.

Labaki was charged by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican with sexually abusing several minors, LBCI television reported on Tuesday, quoting the French magazine La Croix.

Renowned Lebanese singer Wadih al-Safi passed away on Friday after a battle with illness.

Al-Safi, 92, died at Bellevue Medical Center in al-Metn's neighborhood of al-Mansourieh, al-Jadeed television reported.

Special Tribunal for Lebanon Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen confirmed on Thursday an indictment against Hassan Habib Merhi who is accused of being involved in the February 14, 2005 Beirut attack that killed former Premier Rafik Hariri and 22 others.

The confirmed indictment and an arrest warrant were transmitted confidentially to the Lebanese authorities on August 6 so that they could search for, arrest and transfer the accused to STL custody, announced the tribunal in a statement on Thursday.

The head of Israel's armed forces has painted a grim picture of a future war in which the country could come under simultaneous attack in many ways, including from Hizbullah.

"The war could open with a surgical missile strike on the general staff building in the heart of the Kiriya (defense ministry complex) in Tel Aviv," Lieutenant General Benny Gantz told a conference in remarks broadcast by public radio on Wednesday.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Tuesday warned against turning the issue of offshore oil exploration into a distribution of shares among the Lebanese sects.

“The issue of oil has become complicated but we won't disregard the issue. All the Lebanese are awaiting and everything related to oil and gas is being obstructed, such as the issue of cars operating on gas and green diesel,” Aoun said after the weekly meeting of the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc in Rabieh.

Army Intelligence arrested on Tuesday a people-smuggling network in Lebanon, reported LBCI television.

It said that the 13-member network was arrested in southern Lebanon.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Monday voiced dismay that President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam have not formed a new cabinet until the moment, revealing that he is not a candidate for the presidency – “for now.”

“I don't know what President Suleiman and PM-designate Salam are waiting for (concerning the formation of the cabinet), especially recently, since the stances of all parties have become well-known,” Geagea said during an interview on MTV.

Eighteen Lebanese survivors of the Indonesia ferry sinking returned to Lebanon on Sunday.

The survivors arrived at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport where they were received by a number of officials, including a number of politicians from the northern region of Akkar where the majority of the victims hail from.

Lebanese doctor Gabriel Gharib has been chosen as the best cardiologist in France, the state-run National News Agency announced on Saturday.

“Gharib was chosen as the best cardiologist among 200,000 doctors in the country,” French magazine Capital revealed in its October 2013 issue after conducting a thorough investigation.

A woman shot to death by police outside the Capitol building after she tried to drive through barricades outside the White House held the delusional belief that the president was communicating with her, a federal law enforcement official said Friday.

The official had been briefed on the investigation but spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing investigation.