Lebanon's cabinet: Just call me mister

Courtesy titles were abolished during the cabinet's meeting yesterday night in Baabda, as announced by the cabinet's rapporteur, Minister Bassem El-Sabeh. The new law, proposed by President Elias Hrawi, cancels the politicians' honorific title, "excellency," and replaces it by "sayyed" (mister, in Arabic).

The ministers also decided to hold an exceptional meeting next Tuesday to study new proposals by Interior Minister Michel Murr concerning municipal and mayoral elections. In addition, Tuesday's meeting will address appointing officials to several administrative posts. These administrative posts were supposed to be assigned yesterday but Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and President Hrawi failed to agree on this point when they met before the cabinet's session.