Lebanon

BEIRUT, March 8 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) signed on Monday in partnership with the French Development Agency (AFD) a grant agreement with the Lebanese Health Ministry to renovate a hospital severely damaged in Beirut Port's blasts, Lebanon's National News Agency reported.

The agreement values 2 million euros (2.37 million U.S. dollars).

06 Mar 2021; MEMO: Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab threatened on Saturday to stop performing his duties to pressure politicians to form a new government, citing an incident in which shoppers fought over milk to illustrate the parlous state of the economy, Reuters reports.

BEIRUT, Mar 3 (NNN-NNA) – Protests erupted yesterday across Lebanon, against the unprecedented collapse of the currency, which slipped to a new low of 10,000 Lebanese pounds per one U.S. dollar.

Protests were held in the capital Beirut and other major cities, including Tripoli and Sidon, as well as, some villages and towns, in southern Lebanon, local media reports, said.

03 Mar 2021; MEMO: Lebanon's pound tumbled on Tuesday towards 10,000 to the dollar, a record low for a currency battered by a financial meltdown that has fuelled poverty and unrest, reports Reuters.

The collapse, on a scale Lebanon has never seen, has slashed about 85% of the currency's value in a country relying heavily on imports.

27 Feb 2021; MEMO: Allegations that authorities in Lebanon have smuggled money out of the country have sparked widespread anger here when one considers that Lebanese have not been able to withdraw money from banks since October 17, 2019, Anadolu Agency reports.

BEIRUT, Feb 26 (NNN-NNA) – The Lebanese army received yesterday, medicines, medical equipment and five tonnes of food products from Egypt.

Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon, Yasser Alawi, said on the occasion that, Egypt’s support for Lebanon will continue, as long as there is need for it.

“This is our duty towards Lebanon,” the ambassador said, upon the arrival of the aircraft, carrying the aid to Beirut’s airport.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon’s energy ministry cannot pay for fuel to generate electricity beyond March unless more financing is approved, the caretaker energy minister said on Tuesday.

Lebanon, which is grappling with a deep financial crisis triggered by a mountain of debt, already lacks power generation capacity, so homes and businesses face power cuts for several hours each day, forcing many to turn to private generators.

“We are headed towards a difficult situation, if there is no fuel there will be no electricity,” Raymond Ghajar told Reuters.

23 Feb 2021; MEMO: Lebanon's Ministry of Justice on Friday appointed Judge Tarek Bitar to lead the investigation into the Beirut port blast.

On Thursday the Lebanese court of cassation dismissed Judge Fadi Sawan from the investigation after a request by two former ministers he had charged with negligence.

23 Feb 2021; MEMO: Lebanon's caretaker prime minister Hassan Diab said yesterday he was following up on an oil spill that may have originated from a ship passing near the Israeli coast and has now reached the southern shores of Lebanon, Reuters reported.

Israeli officials said on Sunday they were trying to find the ship responsible for the spill that drenched much of its Mediterranean shoreline with tar, an environmental blow that will take months or years to clean up.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - A Lebanese court on Thursday removed Judge Fadi Sawan from the Beirut port explosion probe after a request from two lawmakers charged over the blast in a move likely to further delay an investigation that has faced fierce political opposition.

Lebanese people are still waiting for answers more than six months since a stockpile of ammonium nitrate, stored unsafely for years at the port, detonated, killing 200 people, injuring thousands and devastating entire districts.