The President of the Republic, Mr. Elias Al-Hrawi, met yesterday in Baabda with deputies Talal El-Morhbi and Ghassan Matar.
Afterwards, he met Mr. Joseph Habis the general consul of Singapore in Lebanon. Habis declared that the President of the Republic charged him with a message in which he invited the President of Singapore to visit Lebanon.
The President of the Parliament, Mr. Nabih Berreh, stated that the current regional as well as domestic situations required a radical change in the form of the new government .
He did not expect the constitution of the new government this week and that it might come to existence at the beginning of the next week. He also added that it may include 30 Ministers.
Berreh received yesterday Ministers Anwar El-Khalil, Yassin Jaber, Ali El-Khalil and the former deputy Samir Aoun. Berreh also received a number of deputies, among whom his vice-president Elie El Ferezli , deputies Mahmoud Awwad, Chaker Abou Soleiman, Elias El-Kazen, Akram Choheib, Nohad Said, Qabalan Isa El-Khoury and others.
The Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, met yesterday with deputy Jamil Chammas, who said the visit was to receive the Patriarch benediction.
Denying being charged by President Al-Hariri with a message to the Cardinal, Chammas hoped the three Presidents would come to terms upon the new government form. He added that positive results would come out now that infrastructure works almost ended, and that the social issue is to be dealt with as a priority .
Sfeir was also joined by the head of the Lebanese-French cultural League, Mr. Samir Daher, by engineer Jean Mofarrej, Mr. Samir Franjyeh along with Mr. Ibrahim Hanna Daher, Antoine El-Khaweja and Prince Hareth Chehab.
The Minister of Transport, Mr. Omar Mosqawi met yesterday with the substitute of the Mufti of the Republic, Sheikh Mohammad Rachid Qablani, with whom he discussed the media issue.
On the other hand, Mosqawi sent a note to the Minister of National Defense, in which he asked him to recommend the army leadership to hand over the southern dock of Sidon harbor to the Transport Ministry in the aim of using it for trade purposes.
In the aim of evaluating the party situation, a series of the Phalanges Party meetings started yesterday, at its headquarters. The president of the party, Mr .Georges Saadeh has refrained from resigning, and held a meeting with the reduced political bureau to prepare the agenda of the next movements.
Saadeh had met with heads, vice-presidents and general secretaries of Beirut, north and south sectors, each alone and discussed with them means of enforcing the party institutions role in order to have a general reconciliation.
Saadeh, on the other hand, decided to take legal proceedings against Mr. Michel Jabbour, and charged him with impersonation and defamation.
Furthermore, the information and propaganda department within the Party asked all mass media to abide by the laws in force, when quoting or broadcasting any statement by someone, like Mr. Michel Jabbour, who was witheld from all responsibilities in the party.
The entrusted Prime Minister, Mr. Rafiq Al-Hariri, addressed two notes to the Lebanese Reconstruction and Development Council and the Mouhafez of Beirut, Mr. Nicholas Saba, blaming both for the recent traffic crisis which occurred after the heavy rain.
In his note to the Development Council, Al-Hariri pointed that since this council was in charge of the project of purging and maintaining the sewage and rain drainage networks in Beirut, and since, during the last few days, rain water flooded public squares and streets, which caused traffic jam and damages to people and public domains; therefore measures taken by this council weren't enough .Al-Hariri blamed severely the council and promised appropriate measures would be taken against heads of departments in the council as well as contractors.
As for the note he addressed to the Mouhafez of Beirut, Al-Hariri said that in the wake of heavy recent rain, many regions were flooded , traffic stopped and accidents occurred, which caused damages, namely in Beirut. Al-Hariri wrote, " if the local administration had taken necessary preventive measures, by cleaning drainage systems and controlling digging and fixtures works this wouldn't have happened. Therefore, you were asked to bear the total responsibility in this regard, according to laws in force, and you were to blame for the lack of responsibility in your administration."
On the other hand, immediately after meeting with president Al-Hariri, Minister Michel El-Murr asked the head of the Lebanese Reconstruction and Development Council, the head of the Council, the head of the Council for carrying out Great Projects in Beirut , the Mouhafez of Beirut, the Mouhafez of Mount Lebanon, the general inspector of the police forces, the head of the committee on traffic emergencies and the general directors of Public Works and Hydroelectric Resources Ministries, to hold a meeting today at 12:00 to deal with the problem of water rain flooding roads and squares.
Within the fifth period of the Lebanese football series, five games were held yesterday. Al-Ansar is still ranking first, though defeated yesterday by Achabiba Mazraa, followed by Al-Homemtmen and then Al-Homenmen.
The outcome of yesterday's games were as follows :
1-Al-Ansar v/s Achabiba -Mazraa (1-1) (at Bourj Hammoud local stadium)
2-Al-Homentmen v/s Assalam-Zgharta (4-2) (at Bourj Hammoud local stadium)
3-Al-Hekmeh v/s Al-Homenmen (3-1) (at Saida local stadium)
4-Assafa v/s Chabab Assahel (6-1) (at Assafa stadium-Wata Mosaitbeh)
5- Annejmeh v/s Al-Akha-Aley (2-0) (at Jamal Abd Ennaser stadium, Al-Khyarah, Bekaa)
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