Lebanese Parliament speaker urges new government U.S. envoy due in Beirut

Lebanon’s parliament speaker called on Thursday for quickly forming a new government in the first legislative session since the catastrophic explosion that killed 172 people last week and pushed the cabinet to resign.

Parliament approved a state of emergency declared by the now caretaker government. The resignations of eight MPs who quit after the blast was also confirmed.

State media said Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a longtime pillar of the sectarian elite, called at the session for “speeding up the formation of a (new) government”.