Syrian Kurds press hundreds of young men into army
Police in Syria's beleaguered self-ruled Kurdish areas round up hundreds of young men to press them into military...
Wednesday, 15 October 2014
Wanted Lebanese sheikh dismisses arrest warrant
Jumblatt: Nusra Front are not terrorists
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Geagea slams state over Arsal security failures
BEIRUT: The state should warn the public against visiting the restive northeastern town of Arsal, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Wednesday, criticizing the absence of security which has led to a string of recent kidnappings.
Geagea specifically referred to the case of Toufic Wehbe who was kidnapped last week in Arsal and released Tuesday after his family reportedly paid a hefty ransom.
“Wehbe remained in captivity for seven days until he was released yesterday after a ransom worth $50,000 was paid by his family,” Geagea said after meeting with Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk.
Geagea said he did not support the family’s decision to pay the ransom.
“All security forces disavowed the crime,” however, they considered that they “don’t have any influence inside the town of Arsal,” Geagea said.
If security forces can’t ensure the safety of citizens in Arsal, then the defense ministry should have at least warned the Lebanese against visiting the town, since the absence of security forces makes them highly vulnerable to kidnapping, he added.
“The situation in Arsal is not tolerable whatsoever and it’s not acceptable for the culture of kidnapping to spread among the Lebanese.”
Geagea called on the public prosecutor in the Bekaa to find out who transferred the ransom to the captors in order to find out who collected the payment.
“No political faction supports these kidnappers but at the same time they are not acting alone,” Geagea said.
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Private school teachers to be included in Lebanon wage hike: Kanaan
BEIRUT: The parliamentary joint committees has accepted the principle of including private school teachers into the public sector wage hike bill proposal, MP Ibrahim Kanaan said Wednesday.
The committees will at a later session look into the details of the wage hike for private school teachers, especially those pertaining to tuition increases Kanaan said.
The salary scale increase for private school teachers would not influence the state treasury, but it may have an impact on private school tuition, political sources have said.
Kanaan also said that the education minister is looking into a mechanism that would allow the incorporation of private school teachers into the salary scale bill without increasing tuition fees. Clarifications over this mechanism will be discussed at a later meeting, he added.
However, the meeting failed to achieve quorum over a salary increase for the public sector, Education Minister Elias Bou Saab said after the session.
The session also failed to agree on whether or not to provide military personnel with the same wage increases given to civil servants and public school teachers.
The issue of salary hikes for the military will be postponed for another session, Kanaan said. Giving the military the same wage hike as civil servants and public school teachers would require the committee to review revenues he added.
Political sources have said that a military wage hike would require the availability of more revenue, and that the committees would be unable to raise the TVA by more 1 percent, which would not generate adequate funding.
A rise in the overall cost of the draft law, currently estimated at $1.2 billion annually, would force lawmakers to find new ways to increase revenues in the face of higher expenditures, according to the sources.
Lawmakers have overcome massive obstacles to agree on the draft law, including balancing revenues and expenditures, a demand made by several politicians and the Cabinet.
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Speaker Nabih Berri and MP Walid Jumblatt said Monday that the anti-ISIS coalition did not seriously aim at...
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