Introduction to the evening news 21-12-2011

A gift from the government to the Lebanese: the wages will be raised. This decision finally saw the light after months of labor and talks going back and forth between the cabinet and the Shura Council. The decision finally landed on the cabinet’s table this night when members of the GLC and the economic committees arrived to Baabda Palace. The corridors of the palace witnessed private discussions and negotiations to bring the settlement to fruition, sparing the country the strike scheduled for the holidays.  

While the wages knot was finally untied, the issue of Arsal resurfaced following remarks made by the defense minister on the infiltration of Al Qaeda members from Arsal into Syria.

On the Syrian front and on the eve of the arrival of the first batch of observers, reports of the genocide committed by the Syrian army erupted. These reports prompted Washington to warn Damascus that international measures might be taken against it.

In Iraq, a race between a sectarian Sunnite-Shiite confrontation and an attempt to dodge the fragments left by the explosion between PM Nouri al-Maliki and his deputy Tarek al-Hachimi is underway.