INTERNATIONAL: U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday has urged Lebanese leaders to put people first and implement reforms to rescue the country from a financial depression and its worst social crisis in 30 years.

Guterres met President Michel Aoun at the start of a four-day visit for talks with politicians, civic leaders and humanitarian workers on how the world body can help the country overcome mounting problems.

In a country fractured along sectarian lines, successive governments made up of nearly all Lebanon's main parties have repeatedly failed to implement the reforms needed to fix the national finances. Foreign donors have long pressured politicians to enact the changes, long promised but never delivered because of vested interests, before they release funds. U.N. agencies have warned of a dramatic deterioration in living conditions, and Guterres said he was deeply concerned about hardships faced by ordinary Lebanese.

^{PHOTO: UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL, ANTONIO GUTERRES, ARRIVING TO LEBANON AND WELCOMED BY LEBANESE FOREIGN MINISTER ABDALLAH BOU HABIB / GUTERRES ARRIVING TO PRESIDENTIAL PALACE AND MEETING WITH LEBANESE PRESIDENT MICHEL AOUN / GUTERRES SPEAKING AFTER HIS MEETING WITH AOUN / GUTERRES SIGNING GUEST BOOK AT PRESIDENTIAL PALACE}