Introduction to the evening news 26-10-2011

The condolences over the death of Crown Prince Sultan gave a break to the Lebanese political scene and pushed back all pending issues for next week. Both cabinet sessions, scheduled for yesterday and today, were called off because the ministerial quorum was busy expressing its remorse for the death of Crown Prince Sultan. Consequently, both sessions were mashed into one that will be held Thursday in Baabda Palace.  

All other political deadlines were also missed because the occupants of the Grand Serail are all in Riyadh. However, if the pretext to miss all of this week’s deadlines were the condolences in Riyadh, what would be the pretext for next week in light of the piling pending issues?  

Funding the STL is indeed a pressing issue and the U.S. officials are increasing their calls to tackle this thorny matter; The issue of raising the minimum wage is stalled somewhere between the cabinet and the Shura Council; Although one month has passed by and the university’s doors are still closed, the conundrum of the LU full-time professors is at a standstill.

On the international front, it's Syria versus the Arab League in a race against the clock: who will win? The Arab League delegation that visited Syria today will return to the dialogue table with the Syrian authorities on October 30. In light of these developments, the Syrian television quoted Qatar’s PM as saying that a positive atmosphere prevailed over the meeting.

In regard to the latest developments in Libya, Muammar Gaddafi's fugitive son Saif al-Islam and former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi are proposing to hand themselves into the International Criminal Court in The Hague, according to a senior Libyan military official with the National Transitional Council.