A goodwill gesture over electricity sows discord in Lebanon

By PHILIP ISSA BEIRUT (AP) — It was supposed to be a goodwill gesture from an energy company in Turkey. This summer, the Karadeniz Energy Group lent Lebanon a floating power station to generate electricity at below-market rates to help ease the strain on the country's woefully undermaintained power sector. Instead, the barge's arrival opened a Pandora's box of partisan mudslinging in a country hobbled by political sectarianism and dysfunction. There have been rows over where it should dock, how to allocate its 235 megawatts of power, and even what to call the barge. It has even driven a wedge between Lebanon's two dominant parties among Shiite Muslims: Amal and the militant group Hezbollah.

Amal, which has held the parliament speaker's seat since 1992, revealed sensationally last week it had refused to allow the boat to dock in a port in the predominantly Shiite south, even though it is one of the most underserved regions of Lebanon. Power outages in the south can stretch on for more than 12 hours a day. Hezbollah, which normally stands pat with Amal in political matters, issued an exceptional statement that it had nothing to do with the matter of the barge at Zahrani port. A Hezbollah lawmaker went further to say his party disagreed on the issue with Amal. Ali Hassan Khalil, Lebanon's Finance Minister and a leading Amal party member, said southerners wanted a permanent power station, not a stop-gap solution, in an implied dig at the rival Free Patriotic Movement, a Christian party that runs the Energy Ministry. But critics seized on the statement as confirmation that Amal's leaders were in bed with the operators of private generators, who have been making fortunes selling electricity during blackouts at many times the state price. "For decades there's been nothing stopping them from building a power plant," said Mohammad Obeid, a former Amal party official, in an interview with Lebanon's Al Jadeed TV station. "Now there's a barge that's coming for three months to provide a few more hours of electricity -- and that's the issue?" Hassan Khalil, reached by phone, refused to comment.

Nabih Berri, Amal's chief and Lebanon's parliament speaker, who has long been the subject of critical coverage from Al Jadeed's, sued the TV channel for libel on Wednesday for its reporting. Energy Minister Cesar Abi Khalil, a Christian, lashed out at Amal, saying the ministry even changed the barge's name from Ayse, Turkish for Aisha, a name associated in Lebanon with Sunnis, to Esra Sultan, which does not carry any Shiite or Sunni connotations, to try to get it to dock in Zahrani. Karadeniz said the barge was renamed "out of courtesy and respect to local customs and sensitivities." "Ayse is a very common Turkish name, where such preferences are not as sensitive as in Lebanon," it said in a statement to The Associated Press. Finally, on July 18, the barge docked in Jiyeh, a harbor south of Beirut but north of Zahrani, and in a religiously mixed Muslim area. But two weeks later it was unmoored again, after Abi Khalil, the energy minister, said the infrastructure at Jiyeh could only handle 30 megawatts of the Esra Sultan's 235 capacity. With Zahrani closed to the Esra Sultan, it could only go to Zouq Mikhael, a port in the Christian-dominated Kesrouan region in the north, where it was plugged to the grid Tuesday night, giving the region almost 24 hours of electricity a day.

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Multimedia Lebanese mayor bans plastic bags: 'We need to start somewhere’

by middleeasteye.net --Victoria Yan - JBEIL, Lebanon – In Lebanon, an ancient coastal city has made an ambitious decision to ban single-use plastic bags by the end of 2018. The goal is to decrease plastic consumption and address the country’s larger chronic waste crisis better. “Honestly, this has been on my mind for a while,” Wissam Zaarour, mayor of Byblos, tells Middle East Eye. In a memo circulated in mid-July, the mayor informed the public that plastic bags were to be phased out by 31 December 2018. The plan stipulates "the use of eco-friendly bags made of recycled paper or fabric" instead, according to the memo. No information, however, was provided about penalties for those who do not comply. Speaking to MEE, Zaarour says such plans are still in the works. “I was in Athens three years ago participating in a seminar about marine pollution. I learned that a plastic bag needs around 30 years or more to degrade in the sea. On land, it takes even longer. That’s when I made the decision that we need to phase these bags out.”

Byblos, a quaint and historical city, previously frequented by American icon Marlon Brando, enjoys incoming wealth as a major tourist destination in Lebanon and the Middle East; while it’s not abnormal to spot areas lightly littered with plastic bottles and bags, its main downtown area is well-kept, save the trash floating atop the port’s waters. Lebanon has been struggling to manage its garbage for decades. While waste management laws have been drafted in the past, none have received final approval from parliament. Accordingly, recycling is largely a pipe-dream in a country with no infrastructural or strategic support.

‘You Stink’

In 2015, the capital was overrun with uncollected garbage after a dump was closed. Residents of Beirut and surrounding areas took to the streets in the thousands protesting against the government’s failed policies, under the slogan “You Stink.” The protests were halted after the state blasted peaceful demonstrators with tear gas, water cannons, and rubber bullets. While protests of the same magnitude have yet to resurge, smaller incidents have sporadically taken place. In June, protests broke out in south Lebanon’s city of Sidon, when an over capacitated waste-management facility diffused extensive odours. On the other hand, the port city that is located 40 kilometres north of Beirut, fared better in managing its waste collection and avoided a similar catastrophe in 2015. Still, like the rest of the country, the city’s efforts in waste management have not gone without its challenges. The garbage crisis in Lebanon demonstrates very clearly how those in power have weakened state institutions for the benefit of parallel businesses they have either founded or gained from. While Zaarour may not be able to change this on a national level, “I’m only a mayor,” he jokes, the upcoming ban on plastic bags is one way to tackle the issue. “Let’s say that each person consumes about 300 plastic bags a year. There are around 40,000 people living in my city, so I have around 12 million plastic bags that are going into the sea or in the dump. We need to start somewhere, and we can’t wait," he says. According to a study, the consumption of plastic bags per person in Lebanon is 330-360 bags annually. Only 8 percent of recyclables are treated. ‘Plastic is part of our culture’ Locals, however, who are wary of the country’s political apathy and absence of proper management, feel that the ban will not be upheld. Plus, locals say, they love plastic.

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Prince Alwaleed takes $250m stake in Snap

by tradearabia.com -- Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal has taken a 2.3 per cent stake in Snap, buying $250 million (£194m) worth of shares in the social media company, a BBC report said. Prince Alwaleed called Snapchat "one of the most innovative social media platforms in the world. We believe it has only just begun to scratch the surface of its true potential and we are blessed to be part of it," he said. The investment came even as the company's number of daily active users fell 2% in the most recent quarter to 188 million, from 191 million at the end of March. The firm also faces competition for digital ads from giants like Facebook, BBC said. Despite the fall in the number of users, the firm said revenues were up and its losses had declined in its second quarter. The firm earned revenue of $262 million in the quarter, up 44% from the same period in 2017. Losses were $353 million, down 20% year-on-year. The number of daily active users was about 8% higher than in the same period in 2017.

Lebanon's Hariri denies foreign intervention in gov't formation

BEIRUT, (Xinhua) -- Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri denied Thursday the allegations that the government formation is delayed due to international intervention. "There is no foreign intervention in the government formation and the problem is strictly internal," Hariri was quoted as saying by Elnashra, an online independent newspaper. A senior Hezbollah official accused "embassies of regional countries" of delaying the formation of Lebanese government, the National News Agency reported Monday. The official said that some foreign embassies were "pressing political parties to raise the ceiling of their demands," thus hindering the government formation, the report said. Hariri said that the delay was because every political party is insisting on its cabinet's share. "I call upon all political parties to think about the interest of the country before worrying about their shares in the cabinet," he said following his meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. Hariri also expressed his hope that the government formation would take place in the coming few days because the economic situation has become very difficult. Berri warned last month that the country's economy will deteriorate if the new government is not formed soon. Lebanon held the first general election in nine years on May 6. Despite the big loss of its seats in the parliament by his party, the Future Movement, Hariri is backed by most of the new parliament members to continue to serve as the prime minister.

Asma al-Assad: Syria's first lady treated for breast cancer

by bbc.com -- The wife of the Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Officials confirmed on Wednesday that Mrs Assad was receiving treatment for an early-stage malignant tumour. Born and raised in London, the Syrian first lady has been a highly controversial figure. She was one of twelve people placed under EU sanctions in 2012 over the government's violent response to the Syrian uprising. A photograph of Mrs Assad and her husband was posted on Twitter together with the words: "Mrs Asma al-Assad begins the first stage of treatment for a malignant breast tumour that was discovered early.... the Presidency and its team wish Mrs Asma a speedy recovery."

A dual British-Syrian national, Mrs Assad attended school and university in London before becoming an investment banker. She moved to Syria in 2000 and married former ophthalmologist Bashar al-Assad, just months after he succeeded his father Hafez al-Assad as president. The couple were initially presented as reformers and as a change from the repressive rule of the late president, with a glowing portrait of Mrs Assad published by Vogue in February 2011 - and since deleted - describing her as "the freshest and most magnetic of first ladies". But just a month later, police reacted brutally to protests in the southern city of Deraa, sparking a conflict which has claimed the lives of around half a million people and displaced millions more. In her first public comments on the violence in February 2012, Mrs Assad firmly stood beside her husband. "The president is the president of Syria, not a faction of Syrians, and the First Lady supports him in that role," a statement from her office to The Times newspaper read. The same year, activists released thousands of private emails purportedly from the president and his wife apparently showing that Mrs Assad continued to buy luxury goods even after the uprising had begun. She was also personally sanctioned by the EU. She did not speak to foreign media again until 2016, when she told Russian state-backed television that she had previously rejected offers of asylum abroad.

Report: Deposits in Lebanese Banks Exceed $170 Billion

by dailystar.com.lb -- The financial results of the Lebanese banking sector saw growth in customer deposits and assets in the first six months of 2018 compared to the same period of last year, according to Bank Audi’s Lebanon Weekly Monitor. “Lebanon’s banking sector witnessed healthy activity and earnings growth in this year’s first half amid sound deposit inflows, higher placements at BDL [Banque du Liban] and rising net interest margins on the back of increased capitalization, while lending activity remains contractionary year-to-date even though it somewhat gained some ground in the last couple of months,” the report said.

Customer deposits grew by $4.7 billion in the first half of this year, in line with average first half growth of the previous five years, to reach $173.3 billion at the end of June. “This has been favored by a pickup in deposit collection as banks offered enticing returns on deposits in the local currency and amid higher interest rates cross-currencies in general following the further tightening of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s monetary policy,” the report said. The report was alluding to the fact some Lebanese banks offered their clients attractive returns if they converted their dollar deposits to pound deposits, for maturities ranging from one year to five years. “Latest banking sector figures suggest a yearly increase in the average Lebanese pound deposit interest rate by 114 basis points between May 2017 and May 2018 to reach 6.71 percent and a yearly increase in the average U.S. dollar deposit interest rate by 49 basis points to reach 4.11 percent,” the report said. It added the spread between pound and foreign exchange deposit rates rose from to 2.60 percent at end-May 2018.

“In parallel, the spread between the dollar deposit rate and the three-month Libor rate declined from 2.41 percent to 1.79 percent over the same period. So far this year, deposit growth is being driven almost equally by lira and FX deposits (42 percent and 58 percent of total deposit growth respectively) whereas last year the increase in deposits parked at banks was overwhelmingly driven by FX deposits,” the report said. In addition, the combined assets of all Lebanese commercial banks in the first six months of 2018 went up by 6.71 percent to $234.6 billion. “Also part of the recent Central Bank swap operation, Lebanese banks’ acquisition of sovereign Eurobonds from BDL resulted into an increase in banks’ sovereign FX bond portfolio by $2 billion (circa 13 percent) year-to-date to reach $16 billion at end-June 2018,” the report said.