Head of General Labor Confederation Ghassan Ghosn said on Monday that the confederation will stage a strike across Lebanon on December 27 to protest the cabinet wage hike.

According to Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3), Ghosn stressed after a meeting for the executive council that the GLC supports the strike set by the Syndicate Coordination Committee on Thursday but won’t participate.

The cabinet is expected to witness heated debates this week as it is set to hold intensified meetings with several articles on its agenda.

Monday’s session will tackle the new electoral law draft, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported.

Central Bank Governor Riyad Salameh predicted that the rate of inflation in Lebanon would rise by two percent should government’s wage hike decree be implemented, reported As Safir newspaper on Monday.

He told the newspaper that should the inflation reach two percent, then next year’s inflation would be estimated at around seven to eight percent.

The security unrest witnessed in Lebanon in recent weeks, most notably Friday’s attack against the French unit in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, requires diligent governmental work that would prevent future instability, reported the daily An Nahar on Monday.

Security sources told the daily that the attack will likely increase tensions between France and Syria in light of French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe’s accusation on Sunday that Syria was “undoubtedly” behind the assault.

A woman was injured after a rocket fired in southern Lebanon landed in a Lebanese village near the border with Israel, the National News Agency reported on Monday.

The Katyusha rocket, fired from al-Qaysiya valley in Majdal Selem, landed in the village of Houla near the border with Israel.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Sunday that Damascus was “undoubtedly” behind Friday’s bomb attack against a French UNIFIL patrol in southern Lebanon.

However, the top French diplomat noted that he had no evidence to substantiate his claim.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Sunday said he was open to “any discussion” concerning the issue of the controversial wage increase recently adopted by the government, stressing that “we look at the issue from a realistic angle.”

During an inspection visit to the commercial district in downtown Beirut on the occasion of the holiday season, Miqati said: “I stressed yesterday that any matter related to the wage increase and rectification remains short of the major needs, but we look at the issue from a realistic angle and we’re seeking as much as possible to secure balance between needs and assets.”

Speaker Nabih Berri on Sunday noted that “there’s an attempt to depict some towns in the Bekaa” as dens for criminals.

During a meeting with Ahmed Zeidan, the manager of dairy company Liban Lait who was freed Sunday in the Bekaa Valley after a 4-day kidnap ordeal, Berri said some “major and brave towns” are being labeled as criminal, although “these towns are home to honorable people and decent tribes, but unfortunately a few individuals are tarnishing the image of these towns.”

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon praised on Sunday Lebanon’s condemnation of Friday’s attack against the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, confirmed that he will visit Lebanon in January.

He told Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour that he will visit the country on January 13 and 14.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri noted on Sunday that slain MP Gebran Tueni’s call for freedom still resonates among the Lebanese, stressing that they ignited the first spark in the Arab revolts against oppression.

He said in a statement marking the sixth anniversary of Tueni’s assassination: “The struggle for freedom that he died for is achieving unprecedented victories throughout the Arab world.”