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

As-Safir

Lebanese-Cypriot meeting soon to discuss maritime border

Energy Minister Gibran Bassil told As-Safir that the Energy Ministry has up to three months to look into the tenders regarding oil exploration.

He said 2012 is the year to launch contracts and tenders.

Meanwhile, As-Safir has learned that a meeting will take place soon between Lebanon and Cyprus to discuss the maritime border issue. Lebanon is also expected to be briefed by Cyprus on the developments in talks between Cyprus and Israel which are aimed at correcting the error in the agreement signed between Cyprus and Israel which harms Lebanon.

An-Nahar

Sleiman stops ‘package appointments’

New wage increase proposal ignores Baabda agreement

During a meeting Thursday with a delegation from the Press Federation headed by Mohammad Baalbaki President Michel Sleiman rejected the concept of a “basket of [package] appointments,” [in which appointments to all posts in the public sector are made at the same time] and rather insisted on a mechanism agreed upon by the previous government under then Prime Minister Saad Hariri and endorsed by the current government of Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

Sources involved in this issue told An-Nahar that Sleiman’s position aimed at putting an end to ongoing political attempts to make appointments all at once – particularly in top public sector posts – thereby allowing for tradeoffs between ministers over posts.

The mechanism of the previous government stipulates that appointments be made successively whenever the specifications for any vacancy were met.

The sources said that Sleiman’s position is likely to spark controversy and possibly be rejected by some political parties, particularly since some parties have previously threatened to use veto power to torpedo the appointments if their demands for sensitive public posts were not met.

Ad-Diyar

Sleiman: No to package appointments, or environment that harbors terrorism, Middle East toward democracy

Mansour to Libya to inquire about Imam Sadr’s fate

President Michel Sleiman rejected the principle of package appointments and stressed the need for not creating any environment that harbors terrorism. He also said he believed that the Middle East was headed toward democracy.

Sources confirmed that appointments to the public sector would take place in small batches.

They said the first batch of appointments will cover the Interior Ministry where 18 district commissioners are expected to be appointed.

Ad-Diyar has learned that Minister of State for Administrative Development Mohammad Fneish will meet with the head of the Civil Service Council Judge Khaled Qabbani to discuss the mechanism for the appointments.

Ad-Diyar has also learned that Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour will head a delegation that will visit Libya Jan. 10-11 for talks with Libyan officials on the latest developments concerning the fate of Imam Musa Sadr and his two companions.

Al-Mustaqbal

Sleiman clarifies Ghosn’s quotes

Hariri: Al-Qaeda story old ... dates to the days of Abu Adas

The latest in an ongoing controversy over comments made by Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn that Al-Qaeda was present in Lebanon were comments by Future Movement head Saad Hariri.

“Talk about Al-Qaeda in Lebanon is not new,” Hariri said on Twitter. “We have been hearing this for the past seven years and it is similar to the Abu Adas movie [issue]."

[On the day of statesman Rafik Hariri's assassination Feb. 14, 2005, a videotape of Lebanese citizen and apparent Islamist Abu Adas claiming responsibility for the killing was released. However, the authenticity of that tape was rejected by U.N. investigators and Lebanese authorities, casting doubt on claims that Islamists assassinated Hariri.]