By Alistair Lyon, Special Correspondent, SIDON, Lebanon (Reuters) - Every day bulldozers pile more garbage on to a mountain of waste on the Sidon seafront in a symbol of Lebanon's environmental problems, aggravated, activists say, by politics, mismanagement and greed. The dump, towering about 20 meters (60 feet) high near schools, hospitals and apartment blocks in Lebanon's third biggest city, has partially collapsed into the Mediterranean at least twice, prompting complaints from Cyrpus, Syria and Turkey after currents swept rubbish on to their beaches.

Last year, an oil spill caused by Israeli bombing of fuel tanks at the Jiyyeh power plant south of Beirut during a 34-day aroused international concern. However, most of Lebanon's environmental blight is home-grown. Almost all its sewage is pumped untreated into the sea, with some chemical effluent from relatively small industrial clusters along a 225-km (140-mile) coastline disfigured by uncontrolled land reclamation and haphazard private construction. Lebanese boast of their country's natural beauty, but many dump litter at roadsides and picnic sites without a second thought.

Beirut - Rival Lebanese leaders strived on Thursday to finalise a deal to have the army chief elected as president, but problems over amending the constitution persisted, despite the intervention of the French foreign minister. Parliament is due to convene Friday to elect a president. Army commander general Michel Suleiman has emerged as a candidate acceptable to the rival camps.

opposition leader General Michel Aoun,wants guarantees that his share of seats in the new cabinet will reflect the size of his parliamentary bloc - the biggest of any Christian faction. Aoun said Thursday that "the political vacuum in the country does not scare us" and reiterated that he wants political understanding before amending the constitution. Aoun reiterated he would only endorse Suleiman for two years until the 2009 parliamentary elections, and blamed the ruling majority for the deadlock. "I have made enough compromises and I will add a new demand every day," Aoun told a news conference. The ruling majority "led us to the void. They thought that the void would scare us...but it does not scare us and the presidency will always be there," he said. "If not now, in a week, if not, in a month or in a year. The country will not be destroyed, more than this current government has been destroying it," said Aoun. Kouchner met separately with Aoun, opposition-aligned Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and legislator Saad Hariri, who leads the parliament majority. The diplomat discussed "the current political crisis ... and efforts to complete the presidential election," state-run National News Agency said.

Another leading member of the anti-Syria coalition, former President Emile Gemayel, also indirectly blamed Aoun for the latest haggling, saying that "some have almost brought us back to square one with impossible conditions."Gemayel, whose Christian right-wing Phalange Party backs Suleiman for president, urged a speedy presidential vote.