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

Al-Liwaa

Bkirki engaged in political talks with Hezbollah …. Jumblatt senses Russian support for Assad

Bassil plunges Lebanon into darkness

Where exactly is the "hidden switch" in the power crisis, or what might better be termed the "darkness project"?

Information made available to Al-Liwaa said Energy Minister Jibran Bassil is using the threat of blackouts as a means of pressure, with the tacit and at times explicit support of Hezbollah. The aim is to make the government of Prime Minister Najib Mikati enlist Iran's aid in rebuilding Lebanon’s power plants or increasing their production capacity. 

Sources said that this was the reason behind Bassil’s lack of enthusiasm toward accepting Arab funds, despite such funds being responsible for producing electricity before 2000 and rehabilitating power plants since, as well as generating increased production.

Sources close to March 8 accuse what they call the “other government camp” [March 14] of caving in to U.S. pressure to delay dealing with the Iranian proposal, which includes renting electricity-generating ships to compensate for any electricity shortage that would occur as a result of rehabilitating power plants.

While Bassil attributed the delay in fielding bids by the companies that own the electricity ships to the Future Movement’s desire to destroy him politically, the energy minister acknowledged that his position on Arab funds has prevented Arabs from dealing with him.

In an interview with LBCI’s Kalam al-Nass talk show Thursday, Bassil also accused a number of factions, including the Progressive Socialist Party, of holding up for a period of 170 days an electricity plan to boost Lebanon’s power supply by 700 MW.

Al-Mustaqbal

101 million liters distributed to mafias … over $110 million in profit in half an hour

Energy Minister Jibran Bassil will enter the Guinness Book of World Records after he managed in the space of half an hour to distribute more than 101 million liters of subsidized red fuel oil, and not seven million as rumored, which he sold for the standard non-subsidy retail price, thereby raking in more than $110 million in profit.

To all politicians in Lebanon, let it be known that Bassil – who has failed to distribute power fairly between the people – was fair in the distribution of this large quantity of fuel oil to thugs affiliated with the “Aounist Movement" [MP Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement, of which Bassil is a member].

Victims of this “Bassil-made” deal will consist chiefly of the managers of Lebanon’s three oil refineries: Sarkis Hallees, Maan Hamidi and Ahmad Ballout. But there will be others, too.

As-Safir

Nahhas: Wage hikes to take effect in February

Bellemare leaves [Beirut] with no new indictments

The government is involved in behind-the-scenes work on the issue of the Protocol agreement with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which ends in February.

Sources told As-Safir that a series of meetings has been held away from the spotlight in an effort to create a formal Lebanese dossier, to be submitted in a timely manner.

This coincides with a farewell visit to Lebanon by STL Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare.

Ministerial sources told As-Safir that Bellemare did not indicate during his meetings with Lebanese officials that he intends to issue new indictments in the 2005 assassination of statesman Rafik Hariri. 

According to the sources, Bellemare also did not reveal the identity or nationality of his successor.

Meanwhile, the pay hikes saga reached its end Thursday with the issuance of the wage increase decree in the Official Gazette, leaving the fate of transportation and school allowances unknown, as Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas refuses to sign that [separate] decree. The Lebanese will get their salary increase starting Feb. 1.

Al-Joumhouria

Dialogue after, not before, fall of Syrian regime

Hezbollah’s refusal to discuss its weapons has made national dialogue useless

President Michel Sleiman has used every occasion to mention the National Dialogue, primarily in an effort to protect Lebanon from the repercussions of the Syria crisis, while March 14 has bluntly rejected any calls that would lead to the legalization of Hezbollah's weapons.  

Sleiman is aware that March 14’s position on dialogue is not aimed at him, but at the political camp that has violated the spirit of the dialogue and its agenda, either by failing to implement what has been agreed upon by consensus or refusing to tackle the issue of weapons, which is the main problem in Lebanese political life.

But Sleiman’s problem is with Hezbollah, and not with the opposition, which does not mind bilateral talks with the President as long as the President makes the move.

Dialogue seems to be impossible in light of differing positions on the arms’ issue. But this does not mean that the President should not hold bilateral talks with the rival parties in an attempt to generate ideas for relaunching dialogue.