President Michel Suleiman said Wednesday that the choice of Beirut as host of the Arab Thought Conference is an acknowledgment of Lebanon’s role in the service of Arab culture.

“The Lebanese challenge to allow all sects to participate in decision-making … increases our responsibilities” amid efforts by some people to thwart such attempts, Suleiman said during the opening of the conference at the Phoenicia intercontinental hotel in Beirut.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri will not call for a cabinet session before making some consultations to avoid deterioration in the political situation, ministerial sources told An Nahar newspaper.

The possibility of holding a cabinet meeting was part of the discussions that Hariri held with President Michel Suleiman at Baabda palace on Monday, the daily said.

President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri and Premier Saad Hariri will meet on Monday on the occasion of the launching of the judicial year, ministerial sources told An Nahar newspaper.

Meetings among officials will gather pace with the return of Hariri to Beirut, they said.

President Michel Suleiman ends consultations with top Lebanese officials on Monday after holding talks with Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat.

A source involved in the consultations that Suleiman started at Baabda palace last week, told An Nahar newspaper that the president would not announce the results of his talks anytime soon.

arliament Speaker Nabih Berri accused the majority March 14 coalition of paralyzing the Government.

Berri dismissed accusations that the Hizbullah-led Opposition was crippling the Government.

Lebanon on Monday finally received the much-awaited rain that helped douse dozens of forest fires, including a 7-day blaze on the outskirts of the Jbeil town of Fatri.

"The sky saved the earth," said the Voice of Lebanon radio station.

President Michel Suleiman held talks with Lebanese Democratic Party leader Talal Arslan on Saturday as part of consultations aimed at ending the political deadlock.

Arslan said he told Suleiman that the cabinet should be responsible and play its role. A solution should also be found to the issue of false witnesses, the MP told reporters in Baabda palace.

All-party talks will be re-launched soon following a success in consultations carried out by President Michel Suleiman at Baabda palace, An Nahar newspaper reported Saturday.

The daily quoted Baabda palace visitors as saying that Suleiman did not ask Lebanese officials with whom he held consultations about their opinion on putting the issue of false witnesses on the agenda of the national dialogue.

Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir hoped on Thursday that President Michel Suleiman would succeed in his efforts to relaunch national dialogue sessions.

“Lebanon is a small country dogged by crises … This small country is influenced by its neighbors that’s why its citizens are always worried,” Sfeir told a delegatiion from the Antonine University in Baabda.

Former Prime Minister Najib Miqati said he urged President Michel Suleiman to bring back Lebanese leaders together at national dialogue sessions.

The sessions were in addition to discussing the defense strategy aimed at keeping contact between officials during crises, Miqati told As Safir newspaper.