Labor minister says wage increase does not affect the private sector

The recent decision taken by the cabinet to increase wages “does not include the public sector,” Lebanon’s Minister of Labor Charbel Nahhas told New TV television on Saturday

Nahhas who represents the Free and Patriotic Movement (FPM) in the cabinet expressed his hope that the council would accept the new plan to increase the minimum wage. (more…)

Iraq’s Shiite cleric proposes ‘peace code’ as way out of crisis

Iraq’s anti-American Shiite cleric launched Saturday an initiative calling for peaceful coexistence among all Iraqis after the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country.

Muqtada al-Sadr, whose militiamen were blamed for sectarian killings during the worst years of Iraq’s violence, is seeking to assert his political weight in post-U.S. troops Iraq. (more…)

Muslim Brotherhood says Syrian regime orchestrated bombing

Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood on Saturday denied an Internet claim of responsibility that it was behind suicide bombings in Damascus, saying the claim was posted on a fake website created by the regime. (more…)

Lebanon won’t take part in AL’s monitoring mission in Syria

Prime Minister Najib Mikati has decided that Lebanon will not take part in the Arab Leagues’s monitoring mission , aimed at ending the nine months of unrest in Syria, Minister of Foreign Affairs Adnan Mansour announced on Saturday .

Mansour told MTV television that Mikati made this decision after consultations with President Michel Suleiman (more…)

Special report: Assad’s Lebanese Invasion

The Syrian regime wants to crush any expression of dissent in its fragile neighbor. President Bashar al-Assad’s allies in Beirut are only too happy to oblige.

Suicide car bombs kill 44 and wound 166 in Damascus

Twin suicide car bombs blasted outside two buildings of Syria’s powerful intelligence agencies Friday, killing at least 44 people and wounding more than 166, authorities said, in the first such attacks since the country was thrown into turmoil by the 9-month-old uprising against the rule of President Bashar Assad. (more…)

Egypt’s difficult transition to democracy

The rise of the Islamists, in the form of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) followed by the ultra-conservative Al Nour coalition, has shocked the secular-liberal political formations.

Lebanon FM condemns the suicide bombings in Syria

Lebanon’s Foreign Affairs Minister Adnan Mansour called his Syrian counterpart, Walid Mouallem, on Friday to denounce the blasts that rocked Damascus earlier in the day.

“In the name of the Lebanese government, we strongly condemn the inhumane criminal attack on Syria,” Mansour was quoted as telling Mouallem.
(more…)

Russian oil company Tatneft halts production in Syria

Russian oil company Tatneft has halted work in Syria, citing instability in the country, after foreign oil companies including Royal Dutch Shell also stopped operating there due to Europen Union sanctions.

“We intend to continue operations if the situation stabilises,” a Tatneft spokesman said by telephone, citing public remarks by company head Shafagat Takhautdinov. (more…)

Bombers might have crossed from Lebanon; Syrian TV

Syrian state television said the two suicide bombers who blew up their cars in Damascus, killing at least 50 people on Friday, might have crossed the border from neighboring Lebanon. (more…)