Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil warned Wednesday against what he called “breaking the will of Christians” in the issue of the presidential election, cautioning that such a step would affect Christian representation in all other state institutions and administrations.

“When there is a flaw in the presidency, it would affect all other state institutions, administrations and posts,” said Bassil after meeting Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi in Bkirki.

Head of the Marada Movement MP Suleiman Franjieh paid a visit on Wednesday to the Center House where he held talks with MP Saad Hariri to thank him for his ongoing support for his run for the presidency and to condole him on the eleventh anniversary of his father and former Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination.

He told reporters after the meeting: “I will remain a presidential candidate as long as some blocs support me.”

The 15th national dialogue session was held at Speaker Nabih Berri's Ain el-Tineh residence on Wednesday as gatherers focused the ongoing failure to tackle Lebanon's trash disposal crisis.

Berri stressed before officials the need to revitalize the role of cabinet and parliament “so that they can stay abreast of the pressing needs of the people.”

Kataeb party chief Sami Gemayel stated on Wednesday that the Lebanese state has “immensely” failed in handling the trash management file and that the Council for Development and Reconstruction is not qualified to handle it.

“The state has failed in handling the garbage management file which had turned into a Mexican soap opera and a national and health disaster burdening the Lebanese,” Gemayel said after leaving the dialogue session held at Ain el-Tineh.

The mayor of Haifa in northern Israel said on Wednesday that he is grateful for threats made by Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah to attack the city's ammonia facility.

In 2006, Israel fought a war with Hizbullah in Lebanon, but when Nasrallah said Tuesday that "several of our rockets combined with the ammonia storage facility in Haifa will create the effect of a nuclear weapon," the local mayor seized the opportunity to highlight his city's environmental problems.

The National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia has reportedly decided to end its operations in Lebanon, a decision seen as a blow to Saudi-Lebanese relations.

Informed banking sources expressed fear that the decision to close the bank’s two branches in Lebanon was the result of Hizbullah’s verbal attacks on Saudi Arabia.

Speaker Nabih Berri has said that he agrees with al-Mustaqbal Movement chief Saad Hariri and Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat on their call for lawmakers to head to parliament and elect one of three candidates.

Berri, whose remarks were published in al-Joumhouria daily on Wednesday, told his visitors that he has been repeating the same idea lately.

Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi will attend a cabinet session set to be held on Thursday after the case of former Minister Michel Samaha was put on its agenda, al-Joumhouria daily reported.

Last week, Rifi stormed out of the session to express resentment of the government’s failure to discuss a bill proposed by him.

Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayyeb has said that the Council for Development and Reconstruction will clarify the ambiguity on the export of Lebanon’s waste after a Russian official claimed Moscow received from Lebanese authorities a “fake document.”

“The entire country is a scandal and some news outlets are happy about it,” Shehayyeb, who is in charge of the garbage file, told An Nahar daily published on Wednesday.

A young man died of his wounds on Tuesday evening after being stabbed by two men during a brawl in Beirut's Ashrafieh district, media reports said.

“Marcelino Zamata was sitting in his car with his fiancee on the side of the road in Sassine Square when a verbal dispute erupted between him and two young men who were passing in the area on a motorcycle,” LBCI television said.