Lebanese PM Hariri says he's setting off for Paris

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who abruptly resigned and flew to Saudi Arabia in early November, tweeted late Friday, saying he was on the way to the airport to leave the country. "To say that I am held up in Saudi Arabia and not allowed to leave the country is a lie. I am on the way to the airport," Hariri said in a tweet that followed speculation that he had been forced out of power by Riyadh because of his relationships with Iran-backed Shiite group Hezbollah. Hariri's associates earlier said he would go to Paris and eventually return to Beirut to decide the fate of the government there.