Former finance minister Ali Hassan Khalil snapped back Thursday at Judicial Investigator Judge Fadi Sawan after the latter charged him with negligence in the ongoing probe into the devastating August 4 explosion at Beirut’s port.

The Consultative Gathering, a grouping of March 8 camp Sunni MPs, on Thursday blasted the lead investigator’s decision to indict caretaker PM Hassan Diab in the port blast investigation.

Lebanon's lead investigator into the catastrophic Beirut port explosion, Judge Fadi Sawan, announced Thursday that he is carrying out the probe “accurately and deliberately,” after he was accused of procrastination by some observers, journalists and political forces.

Lebanese-Brazilian banking magnate Joseph Safra, the wealthiest man in Brazil, died Thursday at age 82 of natural causes, his bank said.

Safra, who had an estimated fortune of $23.2 billion, ranked 63rd on Forbes magazine's list of the world's wealthiest people.

Ex-PM Najib Miqati on Thursday warned against double standards after Judicial Investigator Judge Fadi Sawan charged caretaker PM Hassan Diab in the ongoing probe into the devastating Beirut port explosion.

From the devastating Beirut port blast in August to the charging of outgoing premier Hassan Diab with negligence on Thursday, here is a timeline of the crisis rocking Lebanon:

- Devastation -

Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab's office said Thursday that the outgoing premier's conscience was clear after he was charged in the Beirut port blast probe.

"He is confident that his hands are clean and that he has handled the Beirut Port blast file in a responsible and transparent manner," it said in a statement.

The lead investigator into a catastrophic August 4 explosion at Beirut port charged outgoing premier Hassan Diab and three ex-ministers with negligence Thursday, a judicial source said.

Progressive Socialist Party leader ex-MP Walid Jumblat on Thursday raised doubts a government would be soon formed, despite a format presented by the PM-designate Saad Hariri a day earlier to the president.

Criticisms arose after the presidency’s announcement that a complete government proposal was submitted by the President to the PM-designate during the latter’s visit to Baabda to submit his cabinet line-up, media reports said Thursday.