Following are summaries of some of the main stories in a selection of Lebanese newspapers Thursday. The Daily Star cannot vouch for the accuracy of these reports.

Al-Liwaa: U.S. puts urgent veto on four March 8 [Cabinet] portfolios

Positions espoused Wednesday by Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah regarding the government formation injected some optimism that could lead to a breakthrough.

Despite the letup in the government formation, sources following up on Cabinet talks indicated that recent internal and external developments are likely to break the nearly two-week old freeze.

Meanwhile, sources said Jumblatt was the paving the way to quit his newly-established position in the March 8 coalition to launch a new alliance with President Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati.

Well-informed sources believed that structure and timing of Jumblatt's visits to former Prime Minister Salim Hoss and to MP Tammam Salam come in the context of broadening support for Mikati in his mission within leaders of the Sunni community on the one hand, and within the framework of re-connection between Jumblatt and Sunni leaders on the other hand.

March 14 parliamentary sources said that March 14 decided in a meeting late Thursday not to attend the June 8 legislative session.

What was striking Wednesday was a meeting between Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and U.S. Ambassador Maura Connelly, although Berri had refused to meet with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman during his recent visit to Lebanon.

Parliamentary sources said Connelly discussed with Berri the issue of convening a legislative session, plus the Palestinian protest planned for Sunday at the border with Israel.

Connelly noted in a form of warning the need for Lebanon's commitment to Resolution 1701, in terms of preventing demonstrators from reaching the barbed-wire fence in the south.

Well-informed sources said the parties involved in government formation received word that the U.S. put a veto banning March 8 from getting any of these four Cabinet portfolios – interior, defense, justice and telecoms.

An-Nahar: Open conflict on parliamentary session without quorum

March 14 agrees to boycott Berri’s’ call for a session

Berri and the majority of the members who make up the Parliament Secretariat and who belong to the March 14 alliance Wednesday only agreed on the wording of the Secretariat statement that was read by MP Marwan Hamadeh.

This has opened the door to a legal, constitutional and a broad political battle that has dominated over other marginal battles and is likely to put some pressing issues that require urgent decisions at stake, namely the one concerning the renewal of Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh’s mandate.

An-Nahar has learned that an attempt by March 8 and March 14 leaders to find a way to approve Salameh’s mandate has fallen short. The proposal called for Parliament to authorize the caretaker government to take the necessary measures to ensure that Salameh’s term is renewed.

An-Nahar also learned that March 14 has rejected the principle of Berri’s request to convene a parliamentary session given that the appeal had overstepped the norms and the doctrine of separation of powers.

Caretaker Labor Minister Butros Harb told An-Nahar that March 14 cannot be involved in a process that would inevitably lead to the continuation of the government crisis and ease the pressure on those responsible for the delay in the Cabinet formation.

Al-Akhbar: Quorum of Wednesday’s [legislative] session dependent on Jumblatt

A new gateway – this time constitutional – is now open to add to the political split between the feuding political camps March 8 and March 14.

One camp supports the convening of the session scheduled for Wednesday and another is against, allowing Parliament to join the rest of the crises.

Anyhow, convening Parliament is in Jumblatt’s hands alone. Without him, March 8 cannot secure a 65-member quorum.

Al-Mustaqbal: March 14 urges Berri to turn his talents to helping his divided group, Sleiman prefers use of exceptional decree

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri did not lend open ears to the advice of March 14 to employ his talents to help his divided group form the Cabinet rather than invent substitute battles as shown by his insistence on a general session which he had scheduled for June 8. Berri noted that if a quorum was not secured, he would keep calling for a general session. Since legal and tradition-based considerations clearly state that a legislative session cannot be convened in the absence of a fully functional government; and given that Berri disregarded the views of the Parliament Secretariat Wednesday after the majority of its members tried to convince Berri to go back on his call but to no avail, the Parliament Secretariat refused to approve an agenda for a general session. However, what was surprising was that an agenda was distributed in Parliament even though it had not been approved.

Berri’s insistence on opening battles on the margin in order to cover for Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun’s disabling of the government formation process was deflected by the speaker’s aide, MP Ali Hassan Khalil, who said that there was a campaign aimed at his leader.

Meanwhile, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt did not sing to Berri’s escalatory tune. Instead, he voiced his concerns over what is happening in the country and warned Wednesday that the country could not continue without a government. Jumblatt held the new majority responsible for the failure to form a government and said that consultations could not carry on in this manner because chaos and economic disintegration were filling the political void.

Baabda Palace sources have provided Al-Mustaqbal newspaper with an explanation of President Michel Sleiman’s position in terms of resorting to a decree to extend the term of the governor of the Central Bank. They said such a decree had been used on a single occasion during the term of former President Amin Gemayel and Prime Minister Rashid Karami. The country at the time was in the midst of division and the situation necessitated the signing of a decree by the concerned minister, prime minister and president, meaning that at the time there was no Lebanese government, but a president and prime minister who were both isolated and marginalized.

The source added that situation does not apply to the current circumstances in the country despite the severe political crisis. The president is keen that all Lebanese and that all the means of communication be open among all the parties and Sleiman will continue looking for solutions to the Cabinet formation crisis with the relevant officials according to what is stipulated in the Constitution, and hence the option to use decrees to extend Riad Salameh’s term. This is an option that the president is investigating, has a preference for, and can be resorted to if need be in the event of failure to form a government before the end of July – the end of Salameh’s term. At that point, a roaming decree would be used as a last resort on a single and exceptional basis in order to extend Salameh’s term.