Choucair: Will honor Mikati’s proposed wage increase not Nahhas’

General Federation of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture chief Mohammad Choucair told LBC TV on Tuesday that the members of the Union will start implementing the initial wage increase that was proposed by PM Nagib Mikati and approved by the cabinet on December 8. (more…)

Salameh: New wages will raise inflation in Lebanon

Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh told OTV on Tuesday that the cabinet’s latest decision to raise the minimum wage would raise inflation in Lebanon.

Commenting on whether the new wages will negatively affect the exchange rate of the Lebanese lira he said the exchange rate (of the Lebanese lira) is to fixed to the US dollar (more…)

HRW accuses Syria of hiding detainees from monitors

Syrian authorities have moved perhaps hundreds of detainees to military sites to hide them from Arab League monitors assessing whether the government is upholding a commitment to end its crackdown on protesters, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday. (more…)

3 Lebanese killed by Syrian troops along border

Three Lebanese men were shot and killed Tuesday evening by gunfire from the Syrian side of the border with north Lebanon, National News Agency reported.

NNA said the incident happened near the area of Muqaybaleh in the Wadi Khaled area (more…)

Israelis rally against ultra-Orthodox extremism

Thousands of Israelis have rallied in the town of Beit Shemesh against ultra-Orthodox Jewish extremism.

The protest follows two days of clashes after an eight-year-old girl said she had been harassed on her way to school. (more…)

Egyptian court rules against virginity tests

An Egyptian administrative court issued an order Tuesday banning virginity tests for female detainees, months after several women alleged they were subjected to such examinations following a March protest in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. (more…)

Charbel: Al Qaeda terrorist network “is not present in Lebanon”

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told MTV station on Tuesday evening that the Al-Qaeda terrorist network “is not present in Lebanon as an organization, but there may be some people who support its frame of thought.”

Charbel also said that the information which Minister of Defense Fayez Ghosn obtained regarding the presence of Al-Qaeda members in the Lebanese town of Aarsal “is being reviewed.” (more…)

Aoun defends Ghosn and Hezbollah arms

Following the weekly meeting of his Change and Reform bloc MP Michel Aoun defended Minister of Defense Fayez Ghosn ’s statements about the presence of Al-Qaeda members in Aarsal.

The defense minister is the most qualified person to talk about al-Qaida because he is the one following up on the matter and the fact that another minister says that he does not have information on the matter does not mean (more…)

Iran warns could stop oil flow if sanctions imposed

Iran’s first vice-president warned on Tuesday that if foreign sanctions are imposed on its oil exports, the flow of crude will be stopped from the crucial Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf, the country’s official news agency reported. (more…)

Imam Moussa al-Sadr died in Libyan jail, Al-Liwaa

The late Shiite spiritual leader Imam Moussa al-Sadr,, who went missing in Libya during a 1978 visit , died of natural causes in a Tripoli prison 20 years later , Al-Liwaa newspaper reported on Tuesday .

“Imam Moussa al-Sadr, died in his prison cell where he was being held since his disappearance at the hands of security members of the Gadhafi regime in 1978, (more…)