Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has announced that he would attend national dialogue if invited by President Michel Aoun, as he warned against the postponement of parliamentary elections.

“I cannot boycott a dialogue I’m invited to, but what’s important is the result of any dialogue,” Berri said in an interview with the Lubnan al-Kabir news portal.

The Free Patriotic Movement's Central Committee for Information and Communication denied Monday any talks between FPM chief Jebran Bassil and Hizbullah coordination official Wafiq Safa over the cancellation of the parliamentary elections.

The committee said in a statement that the FPM is against extending Parliament’s term.

Justice Minister Henri Khoury on Monday expressed openness to the possibility of referring the accused former officials in the port blast case to the Higher Council for the Trial of Presidents and Ministers – a 15-member body comprised of MPs and judges that has rarely been active throughout Lebanon’s history.

Khoury voiced his remarks in a meeting with a delegation from the Beirut Bar Association.

The political aide to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, MP Ali Hassan Khalil, said Monday in response to Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil’s “rude accusations” that the Shiite Duo cannot be “blackmailed” by any “words of incitement.”

The alliance between “the patriotic duo” is based on transparency and respect, Khalil said.

President Michel Aoun on Monday received a series of reports about the development of the coronavirus situation in the country amid the significant surge in cases, especially among those who are yet to be vaccinated.

In this regard, Aoun urged all citizens and residents who have not been inoculated to head to hospitals and health centers to take the jab and to cooperate with the campaigns that the Health Ministry is organizing in the various regions to this end.

The political aide to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Ali Hassan Khalil, will hold today a press conference in response to Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil’s speech.

Bassil on Sunday pinned his frustration on the Amal Movement, saying that in recent months Hizbullah has backed Berri at the expense of their own alliance that is “no longer working.”

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Sunday issued a stern warning to Hizbullah over the fate of the memorandum of understanding between the two parties as well as the fate of the entire country, as he lashed out at Hizbullah’s ally Speaker Nabih Berri.

Health Minister Firass Abiad announced Sunday that the decision to lock down the country to rein in the major surge in Covid infections is being “carefully studied.”

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Saturday commented on President Michel Aoun’s latest call for national dialogue.

The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has issued the 2022 New Year’s message, in which he takes stock of U.N.’s major breakthroughs in 2021 at the health, political, socio-economic and environmental levels, and wishes that 2022 will be "a year of recovery for everyone."

Below is the full text of Guterres' message and the url of the English-language video: