Mubarak fights Egyptian protest with pay rise in wage

CAIRO: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak tried to buy time in the face of defiant street protests, pledging to raise public sector wages by 15 percent and ordering a probe into recent deadly violence.

The 82-year-old leader met his new-look cabinet for the first time on Monday as the regime battled to get the economy moving despite ongoing demonstrations by pro-democracy activists occupying a Cairo square since January 25.

According to the official MENA news agency, the cabinet approved a plan to increase state sector salaries by 15 percent from April and to spend another 6.5 billion Egyptian pounds ($940 million) boosting pensions.

Mubarak also pledged to launch an "independent" investigation into deadly violence between his supporters and demonstrators Wednesday at Tahrir Square that left 11 dead and nearly 1,000 injured, according to official estimates.

The president "has given instructions for the creation of transparent, independent and impartial investigatory commission," MENA reported.

The commission will investigate "the terrible and unacceptable violations that made some protesters innocent victims", it said.

The pay hike might reassure Mubarak's partisans in Egypt's large bureaucracy and security forces, but there was no sign that the demonstrators were ready to cede ground.