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Hale Meets Soaid: Functioning Presidency, Parliament, Govt. Allow Lebanon to Tackle Challenges

United States Ambassador to Lebanon David Hale stressed on Monday the need for Lebanese powers to elect a new president, urging parliament to do so soon.

He said: “Only with a fully functioning presidency, parliament, and government will Lebanon be able to address effectively, with international support, the challenges it faces.

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Jumblat Warns of Wage Scale Impact as Miqati, Karami Decide to Boycott Tuesday Session

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat recognized on Monday “sacrifices” made by the Syndicate Coordination Committee and its “legitimate” social demands regarding the new wage scale.

He told the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa website however: “Any adventure in approving the wage scale will have unpredictable repercussions on the national economy.”

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Suspected Accomplice in Akkar Child Rape, Murder Case in Custody

Police arrested on Monday a man who is the suspected accomplice of the rapist and killer of a child in the northern Akkar province, reports said.

Local radio stations said that police in the town of Halba apprehended G.M. for selling drugs to Nour Ayyash who has been accused of raping and killing the five-year-old Syrian boy.

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SCC Heads Towards Showdown with Bou Saab over Official Exams as Teachers Threatened with Prosecution

Public sector employees and teachers held on Monday a sit-in in Beirut amid a deepening row with lawmakers on the wage scale draft-law and with the education minister on the official exams that are set to start on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Educational General Inspectorate threatened teachers with legal prosecution if they boycott the supervision of exams.

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Al-Mashnouq, Basbous Laud ISF on Fight against Terrorism

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq and the Internal Security Forces chief, Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Basbous, praised on Monday the police force for making several achievements in the fight against terrorism.

“Lebanon and the Lebanese will always remember the ISF's fight against terror and the arrest of terrorist networks,” al-Mashnouq said at the 153th anniversary of the ISF.

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Report: Paris Asks for Copy of Nasrallah Speech on 'Power Triangle'

The French embassy in Beirut has reportedly asked for a copy of a speech made last week by Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who accused Paris of suggesting a “power triangle” in Lebanon.

An Nahar newspaper said Monday that the mission contacted Hizbullah official Ammar al-Moussawi to ask for the copy of the official document after Nasrallah mentioned the division of power among Sunnis, Shiites and Christians.

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No President in Sight as Vacuum Enters 3rd Week

The presidential vacuum entered its third week on Monday as a large number of lawmakers failed to attend an electoral session, which met the fate of its predecessors over differences between the rival parties on a compromise candidate.

Speaker Nabih Berri adjourned the session to elect a new president to June 18 after MPs once again did not guarantee the needed two-thirds quorum.

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Teen Rapes, Kills Child before Throwing Body in Garbage Dumpster

A 17-year-old teenager on Sunday raped a Syrian child, 5, before murdering him and throwing his body in a garbage dumpster in the Akkar town of Halba.

“The Halba police station received a phone call from Mahmoud Aa., who reported that his son N. Aa., 17, had confessed to him that he had killed a child and thrown his corpse in a garbage dumpster near the Halba vocational institute,” said a statement issued by the Internal Security Forces in the afternoon.

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Hizbullah, FPM Hit Back at Soaid over Lassa, Slam 'Sectarian Incitement'

Hizbullah and the Free Patriotic Movement snapped back Sunday at March 14 General Secretariat Coordinator ex-MP Fares Soaid over the land row in Lassa, with Change and Reform bloc MP Simon Abi Ramia describing him as one of the politicians “who cannot survive unless they see blood.”

“Disputes in the area started in 1992 and there had been disagreements over land since 1936. Back then there was no FPM, General (Michel) Aoun or (Hizbullah chief) Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah,” Abi Ramia said at a press conference.

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Jumblat Says Won't Pull Out Helou even if Hariri Agrees with Aoun

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat has stressed that he will not pull out MP Henri Helou of the presidential race even if an agreement was reached between al-Mustaqbal movement leader MP Saad Hariri and Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun.

“I'm not one of those who wait for external factors. I won't pull out Henri Helou even if Hariri reaches an agreement with Aoun,” Jumblat said in an interview with The Associated Press.

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