Saad Hariri is expected to meet with Michel Aoun today to propose a cabinet lineup, our sister publication L’Orient-Le Jour reports. Hariri’s proposed government will include 18 “non-partisan” ministers, according to L’Orient-Le Jour. The country’s premier-designate and president last met in Baabda on Nov. 9 amid a growing stalemate over the formation of a new government. It’s been nearly four months since Hassan Diab’s government resigned, as the political elite have failed to act while economic conditions continue to deteriorate.

Lebanon begins another week under nighttime curfew, but with COVID-19 measures relaxed from the recent lockdown, as critical cases from the virus mount. On Saturday, caretaker Interior Minister Mohamed Fehmi extended the daily 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew and the closure of nightclubs and pubs until Dec. 14. Since Friday, the Health Ministry has reported 33 deaths while ICU capacity has hovered slightly over 80 percent. Firass Abiad, the head of Rafik Hariri University Hospital, tweeted over the weekend that the first COVID-19 vaccines could reach Lebanon by mid-February, to cover “a small portion of the population, mainly health care workers and high-risk patients.”

Activists surrounded the main entrance to the ESA Business School in Beirut on Friday after hearing Banque du Liban Gov. Riad Salameh was inside. A protester was injured by security forces during the hourslong standoff outside the school, where activists said Association of Banks in Lebanon chief Salim Sfeir was also holed up. On Saturday, a few dozen protesters with Cry of the Depositors, a group representing those whose money is stuck in the Lebanese banking system, demonstrated in Martyrs’ Square and outside the ABL office.

The country’s neglected infrastructure was exposed yet again when heavy rains and hail caused widespread flooding. Scenes of chaos enveloped the capital and highway leading northward on Saturday, with motorists trying to ford the rivers of rainwater submerging main thoroughfares. Two days before the winter rains, the Higher Defense Council discussed actions after a previous round of floods blocked motorways the week prior.

Lebanese authorities arrested Ziad Takieddine, a wealthy businessman convicted in France for arms-sales kickbacks, pursuant to an INTERPOL warrant, AFP reported Friday. Takieddine was previously detained from Oct. 26 to Nov. 10 in Saida while under investigation for a lawsuit filed against him for “threats, blackmail, defamation, fraud and breach of trust.” A lawyer who sued Takieddine alleges that the businessman tasked him with trying to recover $200 million from Lebanese banks in mid-2019, before their relationship soured.

Former Lebanese Army chief Jean Kahwaji and other defendants in a blockbuster corruption case are set to give testimony on Wednesday. Lead Beirut Appellate Court investigative judge Charbel Bou Samra’s inquiry is scheduled to kick off with questioning of the eight high-ranking retired officers, who stand accused of using their office to illegally enrich themselves. The prosecution is the first under the “illicit enrichment” law adopted by Parliament on Sept. 30, according to our sister publication L’Orient-Le Jour. The Justice Ministry, meanwhile, filed a complaint with the prosecutor's office at the Court of Cassation against 17 employees of the Ministry for the Displaced under the new illicit enrichment law, the NNA reported Saturday.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon is scheduled to deliver its sentence, in absentia, of Salim Jamil Ayyash. On Aug. 18, the Tribunal found the alleged Hezbollah member guilty for the February 2005 bombing attack that killed former Premier Rafik Hariri and 22 others. Ayyash’s three co-defendants in the case were found not guilty, while the prosecution of late Hezbollah official Mustafa Badreddine was dropped following his death outside Damascus in May 2016. Prosecutors are seeking a life sentence for Ayyash.