Binding consultations with members of Lebanon's recently elected parliament to nominate a new prime minister are set to start on June 23, the presidency said on Wednesday.
Consultations with Lebanon’s 128 MPs will take place at the president's Baabda Palace outside Beirut.
President Michel Aoun is scheduled to start with a mid-morning one-on-one meeting with Deputy Parliament Speaker Elias Abou Saab, Baabda said.
Mr Aoun will then spend fifteen minutes with each of the parliament’s 13 political blocs where representatives of each bloc will put forward their nominations.
The new prime minister will be selected based on the consensus of these nominations and must then form a government, a process that often takes months.
Analysts previously told The National that they expect caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati to be chosen again.
A three-time prime minister who made a fortune in the telecom sector, Mr Mikati is a consensual figure who reputedly enjoys good relations with most political parties.
Mr Mikati's main rival, also several-time prime minister Saad Hariri, announced his withdrawal from political life on January 22 and declined to run in May’s parliamentary election.
Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing system dictates that the prime minister must be a Sunni Muslim, the President a Maronite Christian and the Parliament speaker Shiite Muslim.
Lebanon needs a new government to push forward difficult reforms requested by the IMF for a bail-out.
The country's political class has been unable to address its worsening economic crisis which started in 2019 and has pushed nearly three-quarters of the population into poverty.
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Known as The Lady of Arabic Song, Umm Kulthum performed in Abu Dhabi on November 28, 1971, as part of celebrations for the fifth anniversary of the accession of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan as Ruler of Abu Dhabi. A concert hall was constructed for the event on land that is now Al Nahyan Stadium, behind Al Wahda Mall. The audience were treated to many of Kulthum's most well-known songs as part of the sold-out show, including Aghadan Alqak and Enta Omri.
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The Sinopharm vaccine was created using techniques that have been around for decades.
“This is an inactivated vaccine. Simply what it means is that the virus is taken, cultured and inactivated," said Dr Nawal Al Kaabi, chair of the UAE's National Covid-19 Clinical Management Committee.
"What is left is a skeleton of the virus so it looks like a virus, but it is not live."
This is then injected into the body.
"The body will recognise it and form antibodies but because it is inactive, we will need more than one dose. The body will not develop immunity with one dose," she said.
"You have to be exposed more than one time to what we call the antigen."
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Tightening the screw on rogue recruiters
The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.
Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.
A contract must be drawn up for domestic workers, the wages and job offer clearly stating the nature of work.
The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.
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Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.
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