Date: Oct 28, 2011
Source: The Daily Star
Lebanon's Arabic press digest - Oct. 28, 2011

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.


An-Nahar
Security Council urges government to fund tribunal
Pay raise [deal] back to square one, university professors bless agreement
Cabinet amends agreements with France


On Oct. 11, Cabinet agreed to correct wages. On Oct. 27, Cabinet endorsed a decision by the Shura Council that rejected a pay raise for certain considerations, most notably because the agreement excludes employees with salaries exceeding LL 1.8 million.
So now, 17 days later, the controversial issue is back to square one.


However, Cabinet approved a draft law that aims at amending the pay scale of teachers at the Lebanese University. The agreement put an end to the LU strike.


Meanwhile, An-Nahar’s New York-based correspondent said members of the Security Council have urged the Lebanese government to "abide by its commitments concerning the Special Tribunal for Lebanon by paying its share of the funds.”


As-Safir
Lebanese University teachers end strike Friday after demands met by government


Lebanese University professors are expected to call off their strike, which has dragged for 50 days after the government met their demands.
However, the other explosive issue relating to a pay raise deal was back to the forefront after the Shura Council turned down government’s amputated salary increase agreement because it excluded a large section of employees.


Al-Mustaqbal
Shura Council rejects wage increases as Cabinet approves LU teachers’ pay scale
Syrian Mines on Lebanon border ... and in New York


Following a visit by an Arab League delegation to Syria, and following acts of repression and a security crackdown on Syrian civilians, it appears that the regime in Damascus– in a coordinated and planned campaign –has decided to escalate its action toward Lebanon in a bid either to divert attention from its own crisis or to give credibility to its claims that Lebanon does interfere in Syria’s internal affairs or to cover up for its repeated cross-border incursions into Lebanon [...] while the government and its prime minister are the last to know.
In this context, Agence France-Presse, citing a local Lebanese official, said the Syrian Army was planting mines along a region bordering northern Lebanon near Wadi Khaled.


In New York, Syria's ambassador to the U.N. Bashar Jaafari, in a letter to U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon and president of the Security Council commenting on the periodic implementation of resolution 1559, said that attempts to "continue to implicate Syria or to continue to bring in the internal situation in the Secretary-General report regarding the situation in Lebanon is unacceptable.”


Meanwhile, Syria’s Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdel-Karim Ali urged Lebanese security services to “look into the investigation” of smuggled weapons to Syria as the amount of confiscated arms being smuggled into Syria and what the Lebanese probe reveals varies.
In an interview with Al-Manar television channel Thursday, Ali said “provocations against Syria require a review of the cooperation and coordination agreement” between Lebanon and Syria.