Press Digest for Friday August 09, 2013

    
The following are summaries of today's major stories published in the Arabic press. LBCI does not edit press digest articles for content, giving English-language readers insight into the various views expressed in newspapers across the Arab world.

• President Sleiman suggests a neutral cabinet to avoid presidential vacuum- sources             

Sources close to President Michel Sleiman reported on Friday that the latter has suggested the formation of a neutral government in order to avoid presidential vacuum should the gap broadens between the March 8 and 14 coalitions, preventing the election of a new President.        
The same sources told Al-Hayat daily that Sleiman's concerns over a potential presidential vacuum were fueled by stances issued by leaders of the March 8 coalition indicating that the incumbent government under caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati will stay in office.                 
The sources also reported that President Sleiman fears this possibility since "it will cause further discrepancies among the political parties in Lebanon".         
    

• MP el-Khazen says Lebanon will not be dragged into a Sunni-Shiite strife        

Change and Reform bloc MP Farid Elias el-Khazen said that "opportunistic" groups in Lebanon will try to foment sedition, pointing out to the Daraya network, the ongoing rocket attacks as well as "the movement of Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir which had created the most dangerous security threat over the past weeks".                    

In this regard, MP el-Khazen told the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Anbaa that Lebanon will not be dragged into a Sunni-Shiite strife or even to a civil war, adding that "the exclusion of Hezbollah from the new cabinet leads to the exclusion of the party that represents the majority of the Shiite community in Lebanon".              

In a question directed at MP el-Khazen over the discrepancies between members of the Change and Reform bloc, he pointed out that "disputes with Hezbollah or with the Marada Party Leader MP Sleiman Frangieh are not core issues," adding that tireless efforts are being exerted in a bid to reach a common ground.     
     

• Former singer Fadel Shaker seen in Ain el-Helwe Palestinian Refugee Camp                  

Security sources told Al-Hayat daily that former singer Fadel Shaker was seen during an Iftar in South Lebanon's Ain el-Helwe Palestinian Refugee Camp near the al-Taamir neighborhood.           
The same sources added that Fadel Shaker was accompanied by several fugitives from Jund al-Sham, adding that fugitive Haitham al-Shaabi who is wanted on several arrest warrants was among the suspects.
            
Last week, similar sources told An-Nahar newspaper that Shaker asked a number of persons to sell his properties since "he needs money to travel abroad".