Lebanese PM-designate to hold more talks in faltering bid to appoint cabinet

Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Mustapha Adib said on Thursday he would give more time for talks on forming a new government, after faltering efforts so far have raised doubts about prospects for a French push to lift the country out of crisis.

After meeting President Michel Aoun, Adib said he had agreed “to give more time for consultations”.

“I know full well that we do not have the luxury of time. And we count on everyone’s cooperation,” he said, as the prime minister-designate has tried to compress into about two weeks a process that usually takes months of factional haggling.