Following are summaries of some of the main stories in a selection of Lebanese newspapers Thursday. The Daily Star cannot vouch for the accuracy of these reports.

Al-Liwaa

Crucial U.S. questions to Kahwaji prior to decision to arm [Lebanese] Army

Pending approval, Cabinet begins next week studying the 2012 state budget draft law proposed by Finance Minister Mohammad Safadi which has been widely criticized.

The first reactions to Cabinet’s decision to appoint a new president for the Lebanese University – former State Minister Adnan Sayyed Hussein – came from the university professors, who committed to hold an open-ended strike and close the college until salary adjustments were implemented as had been done with the case of judges.

Well-informed U.S. diplomatic sources, meanwhile, told Al-Liwaa that Lebanese Army commander Gen. Jean Kahwaji’s visit to the U.S., which kicks off Monday, will focus on three topics related to the U.S. decision to provide the Lebanese Army with new weapons.

1 - What is the guarantee that some of these weapons won’t end up in Hezbollah’s hands?

2 - How does the Lebanese Army plan to handle the border situation with Syria, particularly in terms of dealing with Syrian dissidents coming to Lebanon?

3 - How does the Lebanese Army plan to deal with the political divide and ensure steadfastness and unity of the military and will the army split again?

Ad-Diyar

Lebanon’s decision at U.N. to “abstain” from voting [for or against Syria] stirs up crisis within Cabinet

Majority asks: Did the foreign minister have prior knowledge of Nawaf Salam’s stance?

Lebanon’s decision at the U.N. Security Council to abstain from voting for or against sanctions on Syria will be a crisis added to the crises the government is facing.

But the decision by Lebanon’s Ambassador to the U.N. Nawaf Salam to abstain from voting came contrary to what Syria had expected from Lebanon. Damascus wanted Lebanon – just like China and Russia – to veto a U.N. resolution condemning Syria.

Salam’s choice sparked a wave of questions about who decided to take this position.

While sources at the Foreign Ministry said Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour opened an investigation into the mechanism by which the decision was adopted and led the Lebanese mission to adopt this resolution, other sources confirmed that Mansour had prior knowledge of the decision.

Al-Mustaqbal

Government turns blind eye to Syrian incursion in Arsal … Hamadeh urges Aoun to fund STL from “stolen money”

Lebanese University a “consolation prize” from Sayyed Hasan [Nasrallah] to Sayyed Hussein

The Syrian incursion in the Bekaa town of Arsal has been met with “unofficial” condemnation amid total silence by Lebanese authorities as if nothing had happened, particularly since Cabinet was expected to issue a stance during its meeting Wednesday to protect national sovereignty and dignity.

The government, instead, continued to carry out its policy of burying its head in the sand given that the final statement made no mention of the “Syrian breach."

In parallel, political bickering continued over funding for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon which Cabinet avoided discussing, the priority going instead to appointing Adnan Sayyed Hussein as head of the Lebanese University as a “consolation prize” from Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah after the failure to appoint him as minister in this government and as a reward for moving ahead with the coup against the government of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

Meanwhile, STL funding remained a hot issue and more reactions emerged in response to remarks made by MP Michel Aoun, who urged Lebanon not to pay its share of the funds.

Commenting on Aoun’s remarks in which he called on President Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister Najib Mikati to finance the tribunal out of their own pockets, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said:

“The international tribunal is not an issue that concerns Sleiman or Mikati or Hariri or [Gebran] Tueni or others. This is an issue that concerns us all.”

MP Marwan Hamadeh, for his part, called on Aoun to “donate money to the STL from the money he had stolen and transferred to Paris.”

Al-Balad

Mikati to Syria next week … Borders first

Government sources told Al-Balad that Prime Minister Najib Mikati has informed Syria’s Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdel-Karim Ali of his intention to visit Syria next week.

The sources said security issues and border control will be the focal points in discussions between Mikati and Syrian officials in addition to the need to begin border demarcation between the two countries in the wake of border violations Syria has witnessed since the uprising broke out in March.