The American University of Beirut will pay $700,000 to settle a U.S. lawsuit over allegations it provided "material support" to entities linked to Hizbullah, U.S. officials said.

AUB confirmed in a statement Friday it was settling the lawsuit, which charged it had violated the terms of grants it received from U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

After Israel's announcement that it will submit a bill to the Israeli Knesset annexing a disputed maritime border area with Lebanon, Lebanese authorities have sent a letter to the United Nations and Security Council denouncing the move and warning of the repercussions, media reports said on Saturday.

The Israeli move has put Lebanon on alert at the political and diplomatic levels. Prominent political figures have questioned the objectives that Israel seeks to achieve at this particular time, said al-Joumhouria daily.

After a wave of protests rejecting the parliament's decision to impose a series of tax reforms in a bid to fund Lebanon's long-stalled wage scale, Speaker Nabih Berri said the pay scale must be approved “independently” from the controversial issue of tax suggestions, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Saturday.

“Efforts are underway as for the wage scale file, some important progress has been recorded in that regard,” Berri said in front of his visitors according to the daily.

U.S. authorities arrested a long-wanted alleged Hizbullah financier Friday on charges of violating U.S. terror-related sanctions, after he was apparently deported to the United States from Morocco.

Kassim Tajideen was formally charged in U.S. federal court in Washington nearly eight years after the United States named him a "specially designated global terrorist" for allegedly proving tens of millions of dollars to Hizbullah.

United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Sigrid Kaag and United Nations Deputy Special Coordinator Philippe Lazzarini met with President Michel Aoun on Friday at the Baabda Palace, a U.N. statement said.

The meeting took place ahead of President Aoun's anticipated meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the upcoming Summit of the Arab League.

A Syrian national suspected of transferring money to Jabhat Fatah al-Sham militant group in Syria has been arrested in south Lebanon, the National News Agency reported on Friday.

Lebanese authorities in the south have detained Ahmed al-Issa in the southern district of Tyre, NNA said.

Minister of Economy Raed Khoury stressed on Friday that the ministry has started monitoring commercial institutions and prices of commodities, as he urged the Lebanese to report any violation related to manipulation in prices.

The Lebanese army arrested on Friday at dawn two wanted suspects in the Hermel district and in the border town of al-Qasr, the State-run National News Agency reported.

In collaboration with the Intelligence Directorate, the army staged wide raids on houses of wanted fugitives in several neighborhoods in Hermel and al-Qasr village, NNA said.

Lebanon's security apparatuses have launched a wide security operation to hunt down the most wanted fugitives of drug traffickers, kidnap gangs and outlaws in Hizbullah's strongholds in Beirut's southern suburbs (Dahiyeh) and the Bekaa valley, al-Akhbar daily reported on Friday.

The Cabinet on Friday approved an item on purchasing security equipment for Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport, postponing the discussion of the state budget and the electricity plan to a session that will be held on Monday.

“All the items on the agenda have been approved and the session was adjourned to 4:00 pm Monday to complete the revision of the state budget and discuss the electricity plan,” Information Minister Melhem Riachi said after the session, noting that the discussion of the electricity plan will continue on Tuesday.