The salaries of public employees will be paid this month from “reserve funds” without resorting to parliamentary legislation, officials said on Wednesday, as the controversial issue of the new wage scale remained deadlocked.

Several meetings were held away from the media spotlight at the offices of MPs in parliament. The talks gathered Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, head of al-Mustaqbal bloc MP Fouad Saniora, Mustaqbal bloc MP Ghazi Youssef, Health Minister Wael Abu Faour and Lebanese Forces bloc MP George Adwan.

A Palestinian man who was kidnapped a week ago in the Bekaa's district of Baalbek was freed on Wednesday after the payment of a huge ransom.

"Palestinian Mohammed Jaber, who was abducted last week in Khreibe (in the eastern city of Baalbek), has been released after the payment of a ransom,” al-Jadeed television reported.

The March 14 forces on Wednesday noted that the roadmap proposed by al-Mustaqbal movement leader MP Saad Hariri is “the most suitable” for Lebanon's endurance in the face of the current developments, stressing that the election of a new president has become “more than necessary.”

“In the face of the rapid developments in the region, from the battered Gaza that is standing tall against the Israeli killing machine to Iraq that is reeling under the hammers of terrorism and dictatorship, not to mention Syria, the (March 14) General Secretariat underlines that the election of a new president according to the Constitution and the Lebanese political system's mechanisms has become more than necessary to foil the impending threats,” it said.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Wednesday lashed out at the rulers of Arab countries and their stance on the relentless Israeli assault against the Gaza Strip, noting that “the human remains of martyrs will fire back at them all.”

Jumblat also blasted the stances of Russia, the United States, Germany, Iran and France.

Education Minister Elias Bou Saab stressed on Wednesday that Grade 12 students will be able to enroll at universities despite the failure to reach an agreement between the Syndicate Coordination Committee and officials over the new pay hike for public employees.

“The exams will only be corrected via the SCC, they will not be forced and the students will not be granted statements that they have passed their official exams without correction,” Bou Saab said during a sit-in held by Grade 12 students in Beirut's UNESCO area near the Ministry of Education.

A corporal in the Lebanese army defected and joined the ranks of al-Nusra Front and released a video slamming the military as a Hizbullah tool.

“I am a soldier and I know the assault against the Sunni sect,” Corporal Atef Mohammed Saadeddine said in a Youtube video published on Jul 23, 2014.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam revealed that a solution to the civil servants salaries row is being discussed among the political powers, reported As Safir newspaper on Wednesday.

He expressed to the daily his optimism over resolving the dispute, revealing that the formula being studied will be proposed by Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil during the next cabinet session.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani downplayed on Wednesday the resignation of several members at the Higher Islamic Council he leads, lashing out at former Prime Minister Fouad Saniora.

“Until this moment these resignations are only media material, we haven't received yet anything written,” Qabbani said in comments published in An Nahar newspaper.

Parliament failed for the ninth time on Wednesday in electing a president due a lack of quorum.

Speaker Nabih Berri, who did not attend the session, set August 12 as the date for the tenth session.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat visited Beirut's Southern suburbs recently in a first-of-its-kind move after Hizbullah engaged in the war raging in the neighboring country Syria.

Jumblat visited Dahiyeh to offer condolences to Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's political adviser Hajj Hussein Khalil on the death of his mother, As Safir newspaper reported on Wednesday.