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

As-Safir

STL seeks more fingerprints

If the government has ended its search operations for survivors under the collapsed building in Ashrafieh, a fissure of another kind still threatens national sovereignty – the constant request by The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) for fingerprints of Lebanese citizens, a phenomenon repeated time and again.

In this regard, As-Safir has learned that STL investigators have asked Interior Minister Marwan Charbel to provide them with fingerprints of certain Lebanese individuals.

Charbel, however, did not respond to the request, which was made outside legitimate channels. He told the investigators that under the protocol signed with the court, a request of this kind can be made only through the public prosecutor's office.

In remarks to As-Safir, Charbel confirmed that STL investigators had requested certain fingerprints.

“I told them that I cannot go beyond the legal framework governing such matters, and that such a request has to pass through the public prosecutor's office,” Charbel said.

Al-Liwaa

Sleiman to visitors: wage hikes to be settled today

President Michel Sleiman told his visitors Tuesday that the issue of pay hikes will be settled during Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting, which will be held at the Grand Serail following a Dec. 21 consensual agreement reached by representatives of the economic committees and the General Labor Confederation at Baabda Palace.

Al-Anwar

Cabinet begins evacuating cracked buildings ... And residents wait in the street

Search operations at the collapsed building in Ashrafieh ended Tuesday, but the tragedy is not over, particularly since residents who were evacuated from their homes in the vicinity of the disaster site were not provided alternative shelter.

Angered by government’s failure to secure housing, the tenants tried to return to the evacuated building, preferring death to humiliation and displacement, according to the residents’ remarks.

The Interior Ministry on Tuesday called off search efforts at the collapsed building after rescue teams pulled out ?? [27] bodies, despite reports of more bodies being still under the rubble. Nevertheless, the interior minister denied this information and said that the debris has been completely removed.

Al-Mustaqbal

Row over wages unchanged

Al-Mustaqbal has learned that efforts continued well into the night Tuesday by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Mikati to arrive at a final solution to the pay hike crisis that conforms to the Baabda agreement.

Well-informed sources said significant progress has been made in this regard.

The head of the Beirut Chamber of Commerce, Mohammad Choucair, had not been informed of the fate of the wage increases. But he acknowledged that "political efforts were being made at the highest levels to end the stalemate ahead of today’s Cabinet meeting.”

At the same time, Choucair warned in remarks made to Al-Mustaqbal against procrastination.

"We will not accept any new delays because manipulating the lives of hundreds of thousands of Lebanese is shameful,” he said.