| Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has resigned. Mr Hariri submitted his Cabinet's resignation to President Emile Lahoud after a meeting at the presidential palace. Mr Lahoud asked his prime minister to continue as caretaker until a replacement appointed and a cabinet formed. Mr Hariri is widely expected to be asked to form the next government. The prime minister has been in power for nine of the past 11 years. The outgoing cabinet has been in office since November 2000 after Rafik Hariri and his allies swept the parliamentary elections. A change of government has been the subject of public discussion for several months. It appeared to have been put off by the developments in the region with the war in Iraq. Hariri, a 58-year-old billionaire businessman who made his fortune in Saudi Arabia, has served as prime minister since 1992 except for the years 1998-2000. He is credited for launching a multibillion-dollar programme to rebuild Lebanon's infrastructure from the ruins of the 1975-90 civil war. Critics, however, blame him for borrowing heavily on international markets. |