The Economic Committees, a grouping of the country's businessmen and owners of major firms, on Thursday announced their rejection of “any decision issued by cabinet on the new wage scale,” warning that the government’s plan “will inflict heavy losses on the public and private sectors.”

Following an emergency meeting over “the consequences of the approval of the new wage scale on the economy and Lebanese people,” the Committees voiced “rejection of any decision issued by cabinet on the new wage scale, especially that the circulated numbers about its cost are totally unrealistic and would inflict heavy losses on the public and private sectors.”

Two people were wounded on Thursday in an armed clash in the Tariq al-Jadideh neighborhood in Beirut.

The army soon deployed in the area and contained the situation.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea stated on Thursday that if Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun is keen on ensuring Christians' fair representation at the parliamentary elections, he should agree to the Christian opposition figures' proposal on the electoral law.

He said during a press conference: “We will never forge an alliance with Aoun after he had repeatedly denied facts.”

Prime Minister Najib Miqati announced on Thursday the approval of the new wage scale, amid claims by various ministers that the issue had not been resolved, reported LBCI television.

It said that Ministers Wael Abou Faour and Mohammed al-Safadi had denied the premier's claims, saying that the new scale was not approved.

Syria's Christians do not support the regime of President Bashar Assad, but they do want stability in the war-torn country, Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi told Agence France Presse on Thursday.

"I tell Westerners who say that we (Christians) are with the Syrian regime that we are not with regimes, we are with the state. There is a big difference," al-Rahi said in an exclusive interview, a week before the arrival in Lebanon of Pope Benedict XVI.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi said Thursday that all parties should play a unifying role in Lebanon in the current difficult circumstances, as a Hizbullah delegation criticized from Diman the memo submitted by the March 14 forces to President Michel Suleiman.

During the meeting that was also attended by member of the Muslim-Christian Council Hareth Shehab, al-Rahi called for openness through the coexistence in the country.

The Syndicate Coordination Committee, a coalition of private and public school teachers and public sector employees, held a nationwide strike on Thursday to protest the cabinet’s delay in approving the new wages scale.

“The SCC is stronger than you deem,” Head of Association of Public Secondary School Education Teachers Hanna Gharib said during a sit-in held at the premises of the Ministry of Education in Beirut’s UNESCO area, warning that if the cabinet failed to approve the new salaries hike the start of the academic year will be delayed.

Hizbullah is using a training base established by Iran in northern Nicaragua near the border with Honduras, the Israeli radio reported on Thursday.

“The area is cordoned off and there are around 30 members of Hizbullah being trained in the camp,” the radio quoted intelligence sources as saying.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati tasked Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi to prepare a feasibility study on the possibility of operating the Qlaiaat airport in the North, An Nahar daily reported Thursday.

The suggestion to operate the Rene Moawad airport was made during a cabinet session held at Baabda Palace by Finance Minister Mohammed Safadi to allow Middle East Airlines to use it, it said.

Sharp differences among cabinet members over the new wages scale forced the postponement of the controversial issue as ministers were divided between those holding onto a deal agreed with the public sector and others arguing that the percentage hike should be decreased as the state treasury can’t endure it, local newspapers reported on Thursday.

The cabinet session on Wednesday witnessed sharp debate between Hizbullah and AMAL Movement ministers and President Michel Suleiman, Prime Minister Najib Miqati and National Struggle Front ministers, who are loyal to Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat, over the percentage of the new salaries increase for the public sector employees.