U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon ad interim Robert Watkins

expressed on Wednesday the world body’s readiness to share with the Lebanese government its expertise in disaster management policies.

President Michel Suleiman called on Wednesday for the amendment of the constitution, saying the appointment of top civil servants should be through the majority vote of cabinet ministers rather than the two thirds.

In remarks to As Safir newspaper, Suleiman said: “I have said on many occasions that the cabinet has a limited productivity and this is obvious in the administrative appointments.”

The government could order on Wednesday the immediate removal of the Jal el-Dib bridge that links Beirut to the north over worries that it could collapse, a day after Interior Minister Marwan Charbel called for taking the necessary precautions around the bridge.

An Nahar daily said that the cabinet decision could come during a session that is scheduled to be held at the Grand Serail. But ministerial sources told the newspaper that a decision to remove the bridge had been taken several weeks ago.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel confirmed on Wednesday that the investigators of the U.N.-backed court probing the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri requested the fingerprint records of some Lebanese citizens.

“I informed them that I can’t evade the legal framework that organizes such requests,” Charbel told As Safir newspaper.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Tuesday noted that Bkirki’s dialogue with Hizbullah was revolving around three issues: “the Lebanese entity as a state, the National Pact which is based on living together in parity, and Lebanon’s role and message.”

“We are discussing the obstacles hindering these principles, and this is how we can move forward,” al-Rahi added.

The Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc on Tuesday lauded the cabinet’s decision to compensate the families of the victims of Sunday’s building collapse in Beirut’s Ashrafiyeh district, urging the government to “quickly compensate the families of the martyrs of the Wadi Khaled and Arsal regions.”

In December, three Lebanese citizens were killed in the northern border region of Wadi Khaled by gunfire coming from across the border with Syria.

French Ambassador to Lebanon Denis Pietton held talks on Tuesday with Prime Minister Najib Miqati on the latter’s upcoming trip to Paris.

He said after the meeting that the “finishing touches” were added to his agenda and the preparations that will be made for this “important trip.”

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun stated on Tuesday that the electricity dispute in Lebanon is old, saying that some sides are seeking to exploit the issue for personal gain.

He said after the Change and Reform bloc’s weekly meeting: “Some sides are seeking to privatize the sector as they did with the mobile telecommunications sector.”

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly held talks on Tuesday with Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on the political and security situation in Lebanon and the current situation in Syria.

She stressed after the meeting “U.S. concerns that developments in Syria not contribute to instability in Lebanon.”

The decision has been taken to remove the Jal el-Dib bridge “as soon as possible” in order to avoid a possible “disaster,” Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said Tuesday, after the collapse of a building in Ashrafiyeh that left 27 people dead stirred fears of the possibility of similar disasters.

Numerous complaints have been made about the weary metal bridge on the Jal el-Dib highway, north of Beirut. But Charbel reassured that “there is no need to panic,” saying the relevant authorities had taken the “necessary precautions.”