The organization representing families of hostages held in the Gaza strip was celebrating the news that three male hostages would be released Saturday as part of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

Washington is pressuring top Lebanese officials not to allow Hezbollah or its allies to nominate the country's next finance minister, five people with knowledge of the matter said, in an attempt to limit the Iran-backed group's sway over the state.

United Arab Emirates billionaire Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, who this week scrapped his investments in Lebanon, said the country was still not safe and that he had been threatened with being "slaughtered and killed" last year.

Lebanon’s new government should prioritize protecting and promoting human rights, accountability, transparency, and the rule of law.

The election of President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam is a political breakthrough in Lebanon and a harbinger of what could happen in a country long dismissed as unsalvageable. Beirut’s new leadership reflects the aspiration of a majority of the Lebanese people to live in a functioning state free from the dual drivers of its failure: political violence and pervasive corruption.

Lebanese officials say firing by Israeli troops has killed two people and wounded 17 in the second day of deadly protests in southern Lebanon.

The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has left behind lots of rubble. Some experts fear that much of it will be dumped into the environment without controls.

Roy Worrall, 39, was arrested in connection to the robbery that happened Jan. 19 in the 700 block of Lehman Street, according to a news release from the Lebanon City Police Department. According to charging documents, officers responded to the Penn Jersey convenience store after receiving reports a robbery happened around 10:30 a.m.

Tom Homan, acting director of ICE, has said the goal of the raids is to get gang activity out the country, with an emphasis on public safety. “I think success is taking every illegal gang member out of this country, every public safety threat out of this country," he said. According to CNN, ICE field agents have a daily 75 arrest quota to meet.

Concerns over governance issues and underfunding of critical services are being brought to light after two select board members resigned in December.

The Israeli government says its military will not withdraw from Lebanon by Sunday’s deadline, in violation of a deadline set in a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah.