US delegation in Qleiat Airport, What For?! Appointments to Forefront

This comes as the next week is expected to open on some vital successive sessions that include both the council of ministers as well as the parliament.

The parliamentary action is supposed to witness an atmosphere of reconciliation led by House Speaker Nabih Berri between "March 14" MPs who boycotted the sessions after a dispute with MP Ibrahim Kanaan.

Meanwhile, Wages are still on top of concern as the Labor minister Charbel Nahhas signed the wages' decree but not the transportation and school bill. Thus, the subject is still locked.

Nahhas Approves Wages, Not Transportation
 
As Nahhas announced Friday that he signed the decree on wage increases which the government has approved, he reflected that his signature doesn't include the "illegal" allowances for transportation and education.
 
"I refused to sign the decree on transportation allowances that had been negotiated in Baabda between the Economic Committees and the Workers Union because it is illegal," the minister stressed in an interview with "al-Joumhorieh" newspaper.

Noting that "the minister represents the state in the frame of his responsibilities, and commitment to apply the law comes in the priorities of these responsibilities," he pointed out that "the decree includes a commitment that the owners are to pay a transport allowance."

Meanwhile, the government assigned the Labor Minister to prepare a separate draft law to set a mechanism for determining the allowance for transportation and education expenses.

For its part, "an-Nahar" daily quoted sources close to minister Nahhas informing that he was present at the Ministry of Labor Friday.
 
According to the sources, Nahhas intentionally remained out of contact after the Council of Ministers' session in order to take time to think about his next move following the fate of his project.
 
"Accordingly, his final decision will be made only following his meeting with General Michel Aoun, which is expected to happen Saturday morning," "an-Nahar" clarified.

State Shura Council President Judge Chucri Sader told the same paper that that "the cabinet's decision to increase the cost of living is a sound one because it is part of its commission to do so."
 
Appointments Back to Top

At another level, the topic of appointments is back to the forefront.

Meeting a delegation from Editors Syndicate, House Speaker Berri confirmed Stage is that of appointments; whether administrative or diplomatic.

"The most important to Berri most is the appointment of members of the of petroleum regulatory authority," "as-Safir" stated.

Addressing the developments in the region, he stated: "Lebanon is affected by the changes in the Arab world and not just those in Syria."

"As long as Lebanon is incapable of affecting these developments, then it should at least keep a distance from them and avoid getting involved in them to avoid any negative repercussions," the speaker viewed.

"The resistance is the secret to our strength and national unity," Berri confirmed.

Similarly, on the appointments issue, Minister for Administrative Affairs Mohammad Fneish told "as-Safir" that "the completion of administrative appointments requires a political consensus on the results of the appointments mechanism and ministers to finalize their files first and foremost."
 
In parallel, sources close to President Michel Suleiman asserted that the president is about to raise the national dialogue issue once again.
 
US in Qleiat, What for?!

Moving to US bold interference in Lebanese internal affairs, "al-Akhbar" Lebanese daily paused on the behind the scenes visit that US embassy's delegations paid to Akkar area.
 
Uncovering that "the first delegation, which was a military one, visited the Qleiat airstrip," "al-Akhbar" highlighted Saturday that "the second delegation, the nature of which remains unknown, visited the al-Nour Public School and the Qobeiyat Public Kindergarten under the pretext of US cooperation project to restore several public schools."
 
According to the paper, "the two visits coincided with the visits paid by US Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly to Public Works and Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi, who was tasked by the Council of Ministers with drafting a report about the conditions of the airstrip, and former President Amin Gemayel."

Source: Lebanese newspapers, Translated and Edited by moqawama.org