Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri Wednesday called the Parliament Bureau to convene at Ain el-Tineh on Friday afternoon.

Berri also called the Finance committee and the Justice Committee to hold a joint session on Monday at the Parliament.

The judicial path has been “affected by the political path” in the Beirut port blast investigation and there are fears that truth might never be reached, judicial sources said.

The calls for reactivating Cabinet are falling on deaf ears, a ministerial source said.

“Cabinet has been idle for the past month and a half pending a political decision to resolve the crisis of the investigative judge into the Beirut port blast Tarek Bitar, and accordingly there will not be an imminent Cabinet session,” the source told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Wednesday.

There is no inclination to lock down the country and the ministerial panel tasked with following up on the anti-Covid precautionary measures has not submitted any recommendation for a curfew, Grand Serail sources said on Wednesday, denying media reports in this regard.

“The challenge lies in the fact that hotel bookings are high in the holidays season and the committee will study all preventative proposals in order not to lock down the country after the holidays,” the sources added.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati met Wednesday with President Michel Aoun at the Baabda Palace.

When leaving, Miqati only said that “the government is functioning but the Council of Ministers is not,” answering a question by a journalist.

At the High Level Steering Committee on Tuesday, British Ambassador to Lebanon Ian Collard, along with U.S. Ambassador Dorothy Shea and Canadian Ambassador Chantal Chastenay, met Lebanese Army Commander General Joseph Aoun to discuss the security of the Lebanese-Syrian border.

"The discussions focused on the Lebanese Armed Forces’ mission to secure the entirety of the Lebanese-Syrian border and the challenges they are facing during Lebanon’s many crises. During the meeting, Ambassador Collard announced a $1.4 million uplift to strengthen LAF’s resilience with spare parts for Land Rovers previously donated by the UK Government and for protective personal equipment for female soldiers deployed on border operations," the British embassy said in a statement.

Taxi drivers blocked roads with their vehicles Tuesday during a protest against the increasing prices of gasoline, consumer goods and the crash of the local currency.

The taxi drivers protested in front of the Interior Ministry, blocking Hamra's main street and also Martyrs Square in downtown Beirut.

The Beirut Fire Brigade pleaded Tuesday for help to extinguish a fire that has ripped through a forest in Bshamoun.

The firefighters urged those who can help to secure water for the fire engines, as the wind caused the fire to spread.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati visited Ain el-Tineh following his return from abroad to seek Speaker Nabih Berri’s help in holding a Cabinet session in which “some” Shiite ministers would take part, informed sources said.

The other Shiite ministers would “boycott” the session, the sources added, in remarks to Nidaa al-Watan newspaper published Tuesday.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati will proceed with calm negotiations to relaunch his government soon, sources said.

Well informed sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper, in remarks published Tuesday, that Miqati is still optimistic about ending the Cabinet’s disruption.