by Rita Daou, BEIRUT (AFP) – Loretta Beayni works 10 hours a day, six days a week in a Beirut  beauty salon, earning a mere 400 dollars a month, which goes in the blink of an eye on household bills and helping out her parents. Like many Lebanese, she has a hard time making ends meet in a country where inflation is hefty and where many are forced to take on two jobs to survive.

By Maroun Khoury and Nafez Qawas, BKIRKI: The Council of Maronite Bishops called on Wednesday for the immediate implementation of the Arab initiative to solve the deadlock in Lebanon, while sounding the alarm concerning "strenuous" economic conditions faced by the Lebanese. The Maronite bishops said it was unfortunate that a Lebanese president was not able to participate in the recent Arab summit, especially after the Arab League had stressed the need to elect a president in Lebanon.  "We call for internal and external cooperation to implement the Arab initiative to solve Lebanon’s crisis," the bishops said after their monthly meeting in Bkirki.

The three-point Arab initiative calls for the election of the commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces, General Michel Suleiman, as a consensus president, the formation of a national unity government and the drafting of a fair and representative electoral law.  "The situation in Lebanon is preventing the country from recovering on the economic level, and this pushes economic sectors and the working class to complain of declining living conditions and to threaten strikes," the bishops said.

"The present situation could damage summertime tourism. This requires the government to take steps to facilitate the arrival of tourists to Lebanon," they added.  The Maronite bishops said that the government must deal with the problems regarding the standard of living "in a responsible manner."

By CLAUDE SALHANI, UPI Contributing Editor, WASHINGTON, March 31 (UPI) — As expected, there were no surprises at the Arab summit in Damascus that ended Sunday without any breakthrough regarding the Lebanese presidential crisis. If anything came out of the summit — boycotted by 11 of the 22 members of the Arab League — it is the obvious and deep divisions that remain between what is perceived as the pro-Washington countries and Syria. Supporting the Beirut government — and the U.S. position — are primarily Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, whose leaders did not attend the summit in Syria, preferring to be represented by lower-ranking ministers in protest against Syria’s role in Lebanon.

Perhaps the one surprise, strange as it might appear, is that the voice of reason from the Damascus summit was none other than that of Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi, who warned his fellow leaders that they risk being deposed much like former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. "One day, you will see yourselves in a similar situation and at that time no one should blame (anyone) but himself because we did not work sincerely to build a strong and unified Arab nation," said the Libyan leader. "Each one of you hates others. Syria is not on good terms with its neighbors, while Libya has stronger ties with Italy than it has with Tunisia or Egypt," Gadhafi said at the opening of the two-day summit. "No notable development has come out of this summit, as has always been the case with previous summits," said Gadhafi to journalists covering the event.  "The most important point of the summit is the fact that we have recognized the existence of divisions, problems, and animosity between Arab countries and that we have to find the means to overcome these problems," he said.

BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanese authorities reversed on Thursday a decision to ban the prize-winning animated film "Persepolis," following an outcry and claims the measure was aimed at pleasing Iran and Shiite clerics.  The general security department, which initially prohibited the film, said the ministry of interior, of which it is a part, had "decided to authorise the film’s distribution in Lebanon".

It said "personal, political or confessional motivations" had nothing to do with the original banning. On Wednesday, general security chief General Wafiq Jizzini, whose agency handles censorship, told AFP he had decided to ban the film after Shiite officials expressed concern that its content was offensive to Muslims and to Iran. "The office that handles censorship matters informed me in their report that the film attacks Islam and the Iranian regime, and this could spark tension with Iran," Jizzini said. "I can go back on my decision, I respect freedom of expression," he said. "But given the current political crisis in Lebanon , this is not the time to add fuel to the fire."

Jizzini said Hezbollah had not influenced his decision to prohibit the film.The ban drew condemnation in many circles, with some saying it smacked of hypocrisy and showed that some within the government were kowtowing to Iran. Culture Minister Tareq Mitri said he saw no reason why the film should be banned and that he had urged the interior ministry to rescind its decision.

Lebanon’s prime minister accused Syria on Friday of blocking the election of a new Lebanese president and deepening the country’s 16-month political crisis through its interference in the country’s internal affairs. Fuad Saniora said Lebanon decided earlier this week to boycott this weekend’s Arab summit in the Syrian capital of Damascus because Beirut is usually represented by its president.

"The direct reason for not attending this summit is to assert that Lebanon is naturally represented, at any Arab summit, by its president," Saniora said in a televised speech addressed to the Arab leaders on the eve of their two-day summit that begins Saturday. Lebanon has been without a president since pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud’s ended his term last November without a successor elected. Lebanon’s sharply divided parliament has failed to elect compromise candidate army commander Gen. Michel Suleiman as president because the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority and the Syrian-backed opposition remain deadlocked over the shape of the future government.