Roads in Beirut and elsewhere were blocked on Thursday in protest at remarks by the journalist Salem Zahran against Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri.

In Beirut's Corniche al-Mazraa area, protesters blocked a vital highway with burning tires and garbage bins to condemn the “insult” against the prime minister.

The Prosecution of the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon has submitted a “Final Trial Brief” that explains the links between Hizbullah and the supposed assassination squads who murdered ex-PM Rafik Hariri and draws attention to meetings and phone calls between senior Hizbullah and Syrian officials prior to the February 2005 attack.

The report says slain Hizbullah commander Mustafa Badreddine was “the leader of the three-man team that coordinated the Attack.”

AMAL Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil on Thursday stressed Lebanon’s need for the "speedy" formation of a national unity government, urging political parties to make concessions “like we did” in order to reach that end.

Khalil, speaking during a celebration in South Lebanon, said the new Cabinet should include the majority of political parties, where “calm and responsible rhetoric must be conducted away from individual interests.”

UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti said in a statement the UN headquarters in New York has organized for “separate meetings” between the new UNIFIL head of mission Major General Stefano Del Col and permanent representatives of Lebanon and Israel to the UN, the National News Agency reported on Thursday.

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and Special Presidential Envoy for the Middle East and North Africa Mikhail Bogdanov received yesterday in Moscow the personal representative of Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, Georges Shaaban, Hariri’s media office said Thursday.

The Lebanese Forces party said the formation of the Cabinet has been delayed because of “domestic obstacles,” noting that quests to include a clause in the ministerial statement calling for naturalization of ties with Syria was what prompted Hariri to raise the "red card," the Saudi Asharq al-Awsat daily reported on Thursday.

Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rahi on Wednesday voiced calls on Lebanese politicians to “center attention on public interest” in order to ease the obstacles hampering the government formation.

The Turkish Embassy in Beirut issued a statement on Wednesday expressing appreciation for support campaign launched by the Lebanese people, as Turkey faces new “economic attacks” from the United States.

As part of his farewell meetings as British Ambassador to Lebanon, Hugo Shorter attended the High Level Steering Committee, with US Ambassador Elizabeth Richard and the Lebanese Army’s Commander General Joseph Aoun at the new Land Border Training Center at Rayak, a press release said on Wednesday.

The passengers' chatter on the Beirut-bound flight was far from reassuring. Taxi drivers were striking. Traffic was going to be bad. Add the heat and suffocating humidity of a typical summer day and you're hit with a powerful urge to get out of town.

The mountains? Absolutely.