Prime Minister Hassan Diab on Tuesday received a congratulatory cable from Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, Lebanon’s National News Agency said.

The emir congratulated Diab on the formation of the new government and wished him “success in fulfilling the hopes and aspirations of the brotherly Lebanese people,” NNA said.

British Secretary of State for Middle East Affairs Andrew Morrison on Tuesday held phone talks with Lebanon’s new Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti.

“He congratulated him on his new post and wished him success in his missions amid these difficult circumstances, expressing the United Kingdom’s readiness to help Lebanon overcome its economic crisis,” Lebanon’s National News Agency said.

Anti-government demonstrators on Tuesday flocked to Martyrs Square in downtown Beirut to assist their comrades in re-blocking roads reopened by security forces.

The roads that go through the protest camp had been closed by security forces since the first days of the October 17 uprising.

An emergency Christian spiritual summit was held Tuesday in Bkirki at an invitation from Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi with the aim of “discussing the dangerous situations that Lebanon has been going through for more than three months.”

Expressing relief that the new government comprises “ministers who have expertise,” the religious leaders called on the government to “gain the confidence of the Lebanese people, especially its young men and women who have staged a peaceful uprising.”

Prime Minister Hassan Diab followed up until the first hours of dawn on the issue of the collapse of the Merhej building in Ashrafieh to confirm that no casualties were recorded and inquire about the safety of the area’s residents, the National News Agency said.

The collapse of the old and uninhabited three-story building at around 1:00 am caused no casualties but damaged a number of parked cars as debris blocked the street. The ground floor houses an operating bakery.

It has not been shown that the new coronavirus spreading in China and other parts of the world can be transferred through items bought online from China, media reports said.

“There is no evidence this is a risk… Cold viruses tend to survive less than 24 hours outside the human body,” the BBC has reported.

Prime Minister Hassan Diab on Monday presided over the fourth meeting of the ministerial panel tasked with drafting the Policy Statement of the new government.

“PM Dr. Hassan Diab stressed at the beginning of the session that the approval of the state budget in parliament sends a positive signal domestically and externally, regardless of the reservations related to the circumstances of this budget and its content,” Information Minister Manal Abdul Samad said after the meeting.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri stressed Monday that al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc will not “boycott or obstruct” state institutions, defending the bloc’s decision to take part in a controversial parliament session that approved the 2020 state budget.

“I stress to whom it may concern, and to anyone who is trying to seize the chance to fabricate campaigns, that al-Mustaqbal bloc will not be a tool for boycotting or obstructing institutions,” Hariri tweeted.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat on Monday noted that “the step of approving the state budget is better than vacuum or extrabudgetary spending,” although the PSP-led Democratic Gathering bloc has abstained from voting on the bill in parliament.

“The government must propose serious reforms, topped by ones related to the electricity sector, its regulatory commission and the law on the judiciary’s independence,” Jumblat tweeted.

MP Jamil al-Sayyed on Monday stressed that Hassan Diab’s new government is not “Jamil al-Sayyed’s government,” denying media reports and political accusations that have suggested that he played a key role in its formation.

“This is not Jamil al-Sayyed’s government as it is being said and I will speak about the issue during the confidence session,” Sayyed said in a speech before parliament during a session to vote on the 2020 state budget.