French President Francois Hollande held talks with former Prime Minister Saad Hariri in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Sunday evening.

Hariri published a picture of him and Hollande on his Twitter page.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Sunday welcomed President Michel Suleiman's announcement that Saudi Arabia will give three billion dollars to the Lebanese army, describing the move as “a step towards transiting to a real state” whose army “is not rivaled by any other army.”

“In his address to the Lebanese, President Michel Suleiman announced an extraordinary step towards transiting to a real state whose authority is not challenged by any other authority, whose army is not rivaled by any other party, and whose constitution is not breached by any other constitution,” Hariri said in a statement.

French President Francois Hollande met Saudi King Abdullah on Sunday on a visit aimed at boosting commercial ties and addressing escalating tensions in the Middle East.

The monarch highlighted a "convergence" of positions between the two countries on several issues, a member of Hollande's entourage said.

Saudi police on Saturday pulled over a woman minutes after she got behind the wheel in the Red Sea city of Jeddah after activists called for a new challenge to a driving ban.

"Only 10 minutes after Tamador al-Yami got behind the wheel police stopped her," activist Eman al-Nafjan told Agence France Presse, adding that Yami carries an international driving licence and was with another woman who was filming her in the car.

A Beirut car bomb that killed an anti-Syria politician underscores how Lebanon has become a "microcosm of regional conflicts", with violence escalating as Damascus and its ally Tehran become more emboldened, analysts say.

Friday's bombing that killed seven people including Mohammed Shatah, a voice of moderation and a Sunni member of Lebanon's anti-Syria March 14 coalition, will also further fuel Saudi-Iranian animosity, the experts say.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar on Friday "strongly" condemned the car bomb blast in Beirut that killed six people, including former finance minister Mohammed Shatah.

Saudi Arabia "has followed with great concern and disturbance the outrageous terrorist bombing" that rocked the Lebanese capital, said a statement on the official SPA news agency.

Saudi health authorities announced Thursday a new MERS death, bringing to 57 the number of people killed by the coronavirus in the country with the most fatalities.

The health ministry said in a statement on its website that a 73-year-old Saudi man, who suffered from chronic illnesses, died in the capital Riyadh after he contracted MERS.

A Saudi judge has recommended that a liberal activist be tried in a higher court for apostasy, a charge that could carry the death penalty, rights campaigners said Thursday.

A court in the ultra-conservative kingdom sentenced Raef Badawi in July to seven years in jail and 600 lashes for setting up a "liberal" network and for allegedly insulting Islam.

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday announced the recall of more than 400,000 Toyota cars for alleged problems with unintended acceleration, a statement from the kingdom's ministry of commerce and industry said.

It said the vehicles will be equipped with a break override system to "reduce the risk of sudden unintended acceleration without the ability to stop or control it."

Helping Lebanon overcome the burden of Syrian refugees and supporting the stability of its state institutions are two main issues that will be on the agenda of high-level talks between French and Saudi leaders over the weekend, officials said.

The French officials told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Tuesday that French President Francois Hollande is expected to discuss with Saudi King Abdullah Lebanon's political crisis.