DAILY SCOPE: No More Cabinet Obstruction, Initiative to Elect President

Local Editor

NEWSPAPERS' HEADLINES:

AS-SAFIR:

Popular Movement Gathers its Strength... Cabinet Hides behind Wall

Garbage "Smells Horrible": Open and "Expensive" Bids!

AN-NAHAR:

Blast Walls" Line for Open Confrontation

Tender Bids Collide with Prices Obstacle

AL-AKHBAR:

Bomb in Council of Ministers, Salam Threatens: I will Not Wait for Anyone

AL-LIWAA:

Berri Supports Annulling Bids, Hizbullah-Future Dialogue Sets Off Beirut Protest Fires

Lebanese newspapers on Tuesday discussed different domestic and regional topics, focusing on the domestic arena, such as the waste management crisis and other files pending solutions, at the time Lebanon remains without a president for the 457th day.

Maronite Patriarch to Launch Initiative to Stop Crisis --- AL-JOMHOURIA

Al-Jomhouria newspaper on Tuesday reported that Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi is expected to launch an initiative to stop the growing political crisis from getting out of control.

The newspaper said that Al-Rahi is scheduled to return to the seat of the Maronite church in Bkirki from his summer residence in Diman after canceling a trip abroad, adding that the patriarch will more likely ask Maronite leaders to agree on the election of a president during a summit in Bkirki.

Al-Rahi will urge them to assume their patriotic responsibilities because he believes that the political crisis is the result of the vacuum in the country's top Christian post, said the daily.

According to newspaper, al-Rahi will contact top Lebanese officials, whom he also blames for the Baabda vacuum.
The country has been without a president for more than a year, despite nearly 30 attempts by parliament to pick a new one.

Will Not Allow Obstruction of Government Anymore: Salam --- AL-AKHBAR

Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam stressed in an interview with al-Akhbar newspaper that decisions taken by the majority of cabinet members will be implemented despite attempts by some parties to hinder them.

"Even in the presence of a president, the Constitution grants him a time limit to review the decisions. They will be implemented when the deadline expires," Salam told al-Akhbar.

In the interview with al-Akhbar, Salam said that the rival parties should resolve their differences outside the cabinet. The PM told al-Akhbar that on several occasions, he gave time for the rivals to reach settlements, noting "But no one is responding."

When Baabda Palace became vacant "we agreed on unanimity inside the cabinet to avoid the obstruction of productivity ... Then we agreed for consensus to be the basis of the government's work," said Salam.

"But this also drowned us in paralysis," he noted, asking "Are we able to remain in this paralysis that is being imposed on us?"

Unsealing of Bids ‘Big Scandal' --- AN-NAHAR

Education Minister Elias Bou Saab, who is one of FPM's representatives in the government, told An-Nahar daily published on Tuesday that the unsealing of the bids is a "big scandal."

He compared the waste crisis to a "chicken that lays a golden egg."

"If you want to fight it, then you should fight those benefiting from this gold. This is the battle: either they or the people would win," he said.

The "You Stink" online group has been holding protests against the trash crisis that erupted when the Naameh landfill south of Beirut was closed on July 17. Since the closure of the landfill, arbitrary garbage dumps began to emerge after various municipalities refused to allow the disposal of waste from Beirut and Mount Lebanon in their areas.

But the protests, which began as peaceful demonstrations, turned violent this weekend. A small group of young men, allegedly hooligans, repeatedly tried to tear down a barbed wire fence separating the crowds from the Grand Serail in downtown Beirut.

Speaker Nabih Berri on Monday demanded the "reevaluation" or "total annulment" of the winning waste management bids, citing the "high prices" that were proposed.
"The bids must be reevaluated due to the high prices and the major burden on the treasury or else they should be totally annulled," said Berri in remarks carried by the state-run National News Agency.

Meanwhile, Environment Minister Mohammed al-Mashnouq clarified that the prices he declared earlier in the day were higher than those charged by Sukleen, the firm currently in charge of waste management in Beirut and its suburbs, due to the fact that they involve "the establishment of treatment plants and the setting up of landfills."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team