Spotlight
The central bank chief of crisis-torn Lebanon, Riad Salameh, who is wanted for alleged financial crimes in several European countries, handed over his post Monday with no designated successor in place.
First vice-governor Wassim Mansouri, who will temporarily take over, warned that "we are at a crossroad" and urged politicians to implement reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund in return for a bail-out loan.

At least six people have been killed in Sunday's clashes in south Lebanon's restive Ain al-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp, said Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement and a source at the camp.
The fighting between Fatah and Islamists in the camp, which erupted overnight and subsided by the evening, killed a Fatah military leader and four of his colleagues, the secularist movement said.

Clashes renewed Sunday in the Ain al-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon between the secular Fatah Movement and hardline Islamist groups.
TV networks said the fighting resumed after a senior Fatah commander was killed in an ambush.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday wondered why parliament does not "convene in successive sessions to elect a president in line with Article 49 of the constitution."

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil said overnight that he is "willing to sacrifice" regarding the next president's identity, clarifying that he will not "sacrifice the presidential post or powers."

One person was killed and six others injured in overnight clashes in south Lebanon's restive Ain al-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp, a Palestinian official told AFP Sunday.
Clashes inside the camp left "one dead and six camp residents injured, including children," said Munir Makdah, a senior official in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Movement.

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has stepped up his attacks against the LGBTQ communities in Lebanon and the region.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Saturday warned Israel against committing any “mistake or foolishness,” as he said that his party’s dialogue with the Free Patriotic Movement might lead to a presidential breakthrough.

Higher Islamic Shiite Council deputy head Sheikh Ali al-Khatib on Friday said he rejects that the “Shiite vice governor” of the Central Bank assume Riad Salameh’s duties after the latter’s departure on July 31.

The head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, MP Mohammed Raad, has said that “efforts are being exerted for an agreement among the Lebanese over a certain solution for finalizing the presidential juncture.”
