Introduction to the evening news 19-02-2012

“He didn’t tell us a thing… he has nothing.” With these words, Head of the UCC Hanna Gharib summarized the result of the meeting held between a UCC delegation and Prime Minister Najib Mikati one day after the sit-in held on the first day of the open-ended strike launched in protest of the cabinet’s procrastination to refer the ranks and salaries scale to Parliament.       

This expression is entitled to become the slogan of the government which does not care about the fact that it cannot keep its promises in regards to the scale. It cannot even guarantee the ministers' commitment to the draft electoral law it set forth, or at least their responsibility to maintain the remnants of the country’s unity instead of supporting an electoral draft law which deepens divisions among sects and confessions.         

All this resulted in an open-ended strike and an open-ended challenge between the government and the last defender of trade unions in Lebanon. An open-ended crisis also emerged at the Parliament; will the Orthodox Gathering’s Law be submitted to the Parliament’s General Authority? Can it be set up for voting if the representatives of the Future bloc and those of the National Struggle Front boycott the session?          

On another note, the Free Syrian Army interfered, threatening to respond from inside Lebanon to the interventions of Hezbollah in Syria. However, the Free Syrian Army’s Joint Command rushed to deny any relation to this threat.

All these developments and more in our detailed news bulletin.


For the full LBCI News Intro, please click on the VIDEO above.