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.

An-Nahar: Mikati in Serail amid March 14 storm, U.S. warns of ‘consequences’ if obligations breached
Ministerial sources told An-Nahar that Cabinet’s first meeting appeared to have an intention to intensify work such as the ministerial committee, set to draft the policy statement, would meet twice a week in compensation for the delay in the formation of the government.
According to its Washington-based correspondent Hisham Melhim, An-Nahar quoted a senior U.S. official as saying that Mikati’s government was “disappointing.”
“We see no reason to have confidence that this team will carry out Lebanon's international obligations," the official said.
"There will be consequences [for Lebanon] if Mikati’s government did not fulfill its international obligations," he said, adding that the consequences would not be confined to U.S.-Lebanese relations, but also to Lebanon's international relations, especially with regard to the work of the Special Tribunal.

Al-Akhbar: Ministerial committee [formed]: Government launched, March 14 accuses it of protecting killers
The commemorative picture-taking was scheduled at 10 a.m. But the new Cabinet ministers arrived early, perhaps motivated by awe or fear of arriving late, particularly since some of them hit the Presidential Palace road for the first time.
Arriving 40 minutes early was Education Minister Hassan Diab, followed by four new ministers, then one old minister then again five more new ministers and so on.
Contrary to the protocol, the ministers – upon instructions – arrived to the palace wearing dark suits. Protocol has it that ministers wear white suits for the commemorative photograph.

Ad-Diyar: STL absent from policy statement, false witnesses a key issue
Interests began to focus on the policy statement as Mikati seeks to hold two sessions of the ministerial committee set up to draft the statement. But leaks started to emerge about splits within the majority [March 8] camp on the content of the policy statement, as some insist on the false witnesses issue as a main item with emphasis on the need to prosecute all the perpetrators in the case of the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Also, opinion-makers believe that the absence of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) from the policy statement is to prevent any external or internal embarrassments and the replacement of the STL with a phrase that calls for respecting international resolutions, the Tribunal is therefore not directly mentioned in the content of the statement.
According to information made available to Ad-Diyar, the ideas put forward will lead to some political bickering within March 8. Add to this, the government will begin a confrontation with the international community, knowing that Mikati will maintain an open dialogue between members of the ministerial committee.

Al-Mustqabal: Sleiman, Jumblatt trying to drop accusations against government of "Syrian interference"
Once clues of the policy statement become clear, upon which the government of the “Syrian regime or Hezbollah” will face the Lebanese and the world, the Cabinet will get a “shaken [vote of] confidence" hijacked by a mutinous political team under duress and by means of arms, in an attempt to return Lebanon to the “black era” from which the Cedar Revolution liberated them from.
Perhaps the most outstanding position came from President Michel Sleiman who insisted that the government was “100 percent Lebanese.”
PSP leader Walid Jumblatt also said after meeting Mikati that the Cabinet was “neither one-sided nor imposed by others.”

As-Safir: Sleiman denies Syrian interference ... Mikati rejects malicious [behavior] ... Jumblatt not afraid
On the third day of the birth of the new government, the commemorative photograph was incomplete due to the absence of Talal Arslan, and Cabinet held its first meeting during which a ministerial committee was established to draft the policy statement.
Apart from the different readings on the Cabinet lineup, the government scene at Baabda Palace – which convened after nearly five months in vacuum and almost one year of stagnation and paralysis – has reflected a comfortable climate over a country hungry for the presence of power and authority.
What is important is that Lebanon has a government as any normal country, even if it did not please everybody.