Al-Mustaqbal newspaper, mouthpiece of Saad Hariri’s al-Mustaqbal movement, reported on Thursday that the commemorative photograph of the new cabinet was aimed at “saluting” the “Black Shirts,” in reference to Hizbullah.

The dark color worn by the ministers was “an obvious violation of the protocol of wearing white suits” during official occasions in the summer.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati is expected to kick off a regional tour that would include Syria, Saudi Arabia and Turkey after his new cabinet receives parliament’s vote of confidence.

As Safir daily said Monday that Damascus would be Miqati’s first stop. The premier might also visit France, it said.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s cabinet would most probably hold sessions twice a week to compensate for the five-month political deadlock that left major issues unsolved, ministerial sources told An Nahar daily on Thursday.

There has been a massive accumulation of daily, managerial and economic problems, the sources said.

Lebanese Democratic Party leader Talal Arslan rejects to return to Premier Najib Miqati’s cabinet and is considering the nomination of his relative Marwan Kheireddine to replace him as state minister, sources close to the MP said.

An Nahar daily reported Thursday that Druze leader Walid Jumblat and Miqati discussed the issue during a meeting they held the day before. Efforts are underway to convince him not to give up his post and that he apologizes from Miqati over his remarks.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat said he agreed with Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah that social and economic affairs should be the cabinet’s top priorities.

Jumblat described his latest meeting with the Hizbullah chief as “excellent.”

A high-ranking U.S. official said that Premier Najib Miqati’s cabinet is “disappointing” warning that it would face “consequences” if it does not abide by Lebanon’s international commitments.

The official said in remarks published in several dailies on Thursday that the consequences “won’t be limited to U.S.-Lebanese ties but (would involve) Lebanon’s international relations particularly (issues) linked to the operation of the international tribunal.”

European police have arrested six suspected members of a multi-national drug trafficking and money laundering ring and confiscated millions in cash, two police agencies in Europe said.

“More than eight European arrest warrants were issued against German, Dutch, Colombian, Lebanese and Turkish nationals suspected of being active members of this large and highly complex network,” the Hague-based European police and judicial co-operation agencies Europol and Eurojust said on Wednesday.

A phone call about the presence of a bomb in the vicinity of Khouri Hospital in Zahle turned out to be a hoax after security forces thoroughly combed the area on Wednesday, state-run National News Agency reported.

“The emergency room doctor at Khouri Hospital in Zahle received a phone call about the presence of a bomb in the hospital’s vicinity,” NNA said.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Wednesday described the new government as a “broad national coalition,” stressing that “it was not imposed by outside forces as some have claimed” and that it is not “one-sided.”

Following talks with Prime Minister Najib Miqati in Beirut’s Verdun district, Jumblat added: “The atmospheres are excellent despite the delay in forming the cabinet … Each of us has made sacrifices, each in his own way.”

The Loyalty to the Resistance bloc praised on Wednesday Speaker Nabih Berri’s “bold national stand” that helped establish a new government.

It said in a statement after a meeting headed by MP Mohammed Raad: “With the formation of a new government, the country has entered a new phase rife with challenges that require different policies that would be able to revitalize all state institutions and fields.”