BEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman will launch key positions on a number of controversial topics Tuesday evening, particularly the controversial Orthodox Gathering proposal and the Syrian breaches of Lebanon’s sovereignty, sources told The Daily Star.

Sleiman, who will be the first guest of the new TV program “Al-Zaim” to be broadcast later today on al-Jadeed television channel, will also address the wages hike that has paralyzed most government services across the country for over a week, the sources said.

According to the sources, the president will reiterate his rejection of the Orthodox law and will emphasize the need to discuss the electoral proposal endorsed by the Cabinet last year and the possibility of amending it.

The repeated Syrian breaches of Lebanese sovereignty by neighboring war torn Syria over the past two years will also be tackled by the president.

The sources said Sleiman will indicate he requested security officials and the country’s Foreign Ministry to ask Syrian officials for a clarification about the violations, the most recent of which took place over the weekend and led to the death of four Lebanese individuals in North Lebanon border towns.

As for the new wage scale still to be referred by the Cabinet to Parliament, the sources said Sleiman will state that the government is looking seriously for a solution that will satisfy both the civil servants and public school teachers, as well as the country’s economic bodies, who have warned the wage hike could have negative repercussions on Lebanon’s economy.