Beirut (AFP) —  Hundreds protested across Lebanon on Saturday to denounce a crippling economic crisis and the political deadlock that has left the country without a government for over two months. Chanting anti-government slogans in the capital Beirut, the northern city of Tripoli and the southern city of Nabatieh, they also denounced a class of political leaders they deem incompetent and corrupt. In Beirut, hundreds of protesters marched to parliament, making stops at the state-run electricity company and the headquarters of the Association of Banks. “All the reasons that made us take to the streets on October 17 still stand,” said protester Riad Issa, referring to the date Lebanon’s anti-government protest movement started. “Nothing has changed and the political establishment is closing its ears… and shutting its eyes.”

Although protests have declined in size, demonstrations have been ongoing since October, increasingly targeting banks and state institutions blamed for driving the country towards collapse. The movement has been fuelled by a crippling economic crisis, the worst since Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war. The World Bank has warned of an impeding recession that may see the proportion of people living in poverty climb from a third to half the population. To make matters worse, a liquidity crunch has pushed Lebanese banks to limit dollar withdrawals and transfers since September. This has forced depositors to deal in the plummeting Lebanese pound, which has lost nearly two thirds of its black market value against the greenback for the first time since it was pegged at 1,500 to the dollar in 1997. “The country is collapsing. We want a government of independents and a rescue plan,” read a banner carried by demonstrators in Beirut.

by reuters — Iran’s clerical rulers risk a legitimacy crisis as popular anger has boiled up at the way the state handled a passenger plane crash, which the military took three days to admit was caused by an Iranian missile fired in error. Video clips on Twitter showed protesters in Tehran on Saturday chanting “Death to the dictator,” a reference to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Reuters could not independently verify the footage. It followed a welter of criticism in Iran. Iran’s state news agency confirmed protests had erupted. President Donald Trump send out a tweet in Farsi expressing support for the protesters. “To the brave, suffering Iranian people: I have stood with you since the beginning of my Presidency, and my Administration will continue to stand with you. We are following your protests closely, and are inspired by your courage,” read an Enlish version of the tweet.

Amid mounting public fury and international criticism, the belated admission of blame by Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards has squandered the national unity seen after the killing of the country’s most influential commander in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq on Jan. 3. The protests before the revelation of Iran’s culpability had been chanting “Death to America.” Since the Ukraine International Airlines plane crashed Wednesday – an incident Canada and the United States said early on was due to an Iranian missile albeit fired by mistake – social media has been ablaze with criticism of the establishment. All 176 people on board the plane, en route from Tehran to Kiev, were killed.

That mood bodes ill for a parliamentary election in February, when Iran’s rulers typically seek a high turnout to show their legitimacy even if the outcome will not change any major policy. But instead they are now hearing more rumblings of discontent, after anti-government protests in November in which hundreds of people died. “It is a very sensitive time for the establishment,” said a senior former official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “They face a serious credibility problem. Not only did they conceal the truth, they also mismanaged the situation.”

by neweurope.eu By Charles Tannock—The news from Lebanon in recent weeks has been grim. As street protests in Beirut and other cities intensify, so does the country’s economic suffering. A political, economic, and social crisis has taken hold, leading to hard-currency shortages that hinder imports of vital daily commodities such as wheat, medicine, and fuel. Moreover, these problems are occurring against a backdrop of faltering economic growth and huge external debts. Local banks have imposed unprecedented capital controls, and thousands of Lebanese have recently lost their jobs or had their wages greatly reduced. Seen from outside, there is only one viable solution: Lebanon itself needs to resolve its political crisis and implement necessary and overdue economic and fiscal reforms. But to succeed, the country needs the international community to back it financially.

At a conference in Paris in 2018, international donors pledged $11 billion in loans and grants to Lebanon, conditioned on the implementation of various reforms – a message donors recently reiterated. The formation of a functioning cabinet is a first step on that path, so that the international community can see effective government returning to the country. These conditions seem fair and in line with some of the protesters’ demands. At the same time, international support for Lebanon in its hour of need must be firm and unequivocal. It is important to remember why Lebanon is in such economic difficulty. For starters, the country has suffered the consequences of the war in neighboring Syria: it is hosting 1.5 million refugees who have fled the conflict, as well as bearing the enormous economic impact of having a close trading partner at war. By settling and caring for these refugees, Lebanon is shouldering an intolerable burden in the hope of bringing greater security and stability to a very dangerous region. In addition, US sanctions aimed at the Shia political party and militia Hezbollah also affect ordinary Lebanese citizens and businesses. Domestic political discord has also contributed to the current crisis. Lebanon’s presidency was vacant for more than two years until October 2016, and Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s resignation announcement in Saudi Arabia in 2017 shocked the country’s financial markets and triggered capital outflows. Following Lebanon’s May 2018 parliamentary election, a further nine-month delay in forming a new government – again headed by Hariri – highlighted the country’s leadership vacuum and political drift.

by cnet.com — The game is called Ghone is Gone, and in it, you play a former CEO named Loscar Gon who must, according to the Steam description, “slip through the narrowest gaps to escape the country, using bribes and sometimes hiding in a musical instrument case.” If that sounds totally absurd and like the […]

by newsmax — Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani was planning to take out four embassies, including the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, when the decision was made to take him out, President Donald Trump said in an interview recorded Friday. “We will tell you that it was probably going to be the embassy in Baghdad,” Trump told […]

by reuters- Lebanon’s banks will not go bankrupt and deposits are secure, central bank Governor Riad Salameh said on Thursday in remarks aimed at reassuring depositors amid a deep financial crisis that has shaken confidence in the country’s banking system. Speaking to broadcaster MTV in his first extended remarks in nearly two months, Salameh said that foreign support was needed to pull the country from crisis and that Qatar appeared open to offering help. “I believe the Qataris want to support Lebanon,” he said, referencing a recent visit he made to Doha, before adding: “Contact between the two states is not the responsibility of the central bank.” Salameh said that contact with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had so far been limited to talks with the prime minister over technical support. “There has been no negotiation with the IMF by the Lebanese state to really know what conditions they would put,” he said. Foreign donors pledged $11 billion in project finance to Lebanon in 2018 but made it contingent on Beirut carrying out long-delayed economic reforms – something it has failed to do. Salameh said the central bank remains convinced of its fixed exchange rate, which has kept the Lebanese pound pegged to the U.S. dollar at the same rate since 1997.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Carlos Ghosn’s daring escape from Japan to Lebanon may have cast light on his wealth and influence, but in Beirut the ex-Nissan boss can only get a few hundred dollars a week from the bank because of the country’s deep financial crisis. Lebanon, Ghosn’s childhood home, is in the throes of the worst financial and economic emergency in decades, with a shortage of dollars leading the Lebanese pound to slump and banks to tightly restrict savers’ access to their deposits. Asked in an interview with a Lebanese broadcaster on Thursday if he would be willing to transfer his money to Lebanese banks, Ghosn said: “What is this question?” “You know that if we move money to Lebanon we can no longer use it. I have investment in Lebanon and I have money in the Lebanese banks and – like all the Lebanese citizens – I can only withdraw $250 or $300 a week,” he told al-Jadeed TV. “My situation is like the situation of all Lebanese.”

by foxbusiness.com — For the first time since being reunited, former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn and his wife Carole spoke out together on Thursday about the injustices they say they’ve faced since the ex-auto boss was arrested in Japan last year. “Anything is better than Carlos being in Japan,” Carole Ghosn said in an interview on FOX Business’ “Mornings with Maria.” While being held in Japan, Carlos Ghosn said he was interrogated day and night and lied to by Japanese authorities. “What they were looking for was not the truth,” he said. “What they were looking for was just confession. They didn’t care about the truth.”

by reuters –– A Ukrainian airliner that crashed in Iran, killing all 176 people aboard, was likely brought down by an Iranian missile, Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said on Thursday, citing intelligence from Canadian and other sources and reaffirming what U.S. officials were saying earlier in the day. The destruction of the airliner, which carried 63 Canadians, “may well have been unintentional,” Trudeau told a news conference in Ottawa. “We have intelligence from multiple sources, including our allies and our own intelligence. The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile,” he said. The Ukraine International Airlines flight to Kiev from Tehran crashed on Wednesday hours after Iran fired ballistic missiles at two U.S. military bases in Iraq, and Iranians were on high alert for a U.S. military response. Trudeau said his government would not rest until it had obtained closure, transparency, accountability and justice. Earlier on Thursday, a U.S. official, citing an extensive review of satellite data, said Washington had concluded with a high degree of certainty that anti-aircraft missiles brought down the plane. The official said the Boeing 737-800 had been tracked by Iranian radar.

The U.S. government believes Iran shot down the plane by mistake, three U.S. officials told Reuters. The data showed the plane was airborne for two minutes after departing Tehran when the heat signatures of two surface-to-air missiles were detected, one of the officials said. That was quickly followed by an explosion in the vicinity of the plane, this official said. Heat signature data then showed it on fire as it went down. Heat signatures are infrared emissions detected by U.S. military satellites. Iran denied that the airliner had been hit by a missile, government spokesman Ali Rabiei said in a statement. “All these reports are a psychological warfare against Iran … all those countries whose citizens were aboard the plane can send representatives and we urge Boeing to send its representative to join the process of investigating the black box,” he said.

by catholicherald.co.uk — Matt Hadro/CNA —  A new US government report says that human rights abuse in China has worsened in the last year, and specifically highlighted the escalating persecution of Chinese Catholics in the wake of the Vatican-China agreement of 2018. “During its 2019 reporting year, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China found that the human rights situation has worsened and the rule of law continued to deteriorate, as the Chinese government and Party increasingly used regulations and laws to assert social and political control,” stated the commission’s annual report, released on Wednesday. The report said that “After the PRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs signed an agreement with the Holy See in September 2018 paving the way for unifying the state-sanctioned and underground Catholic communities, local Chinese authorities subjected Catholic believers in China to increasing persecution by demolishing churches, removing crosses, and continuing to detain underground clergy.”

by Julia La Roche — finance.yahoo.com — Former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn slammed the Japanese justice system during his first public appearance since fleeing the country. “I did not escape justice. I fled injustice and persecution, political persecution,” Ghosn said at a press conference in Beruit, Lebanon on Wednesday. “You’re going to die in Japan or you’ve got to get out.” During his speech, he described how he was “brutally taken” from his world as he knew it on the day of his arrest in Japan in November 2018. “I have not experienced a moment of freedom since November 19, 2018. It is impossible — it is impossible to express the depth of that deprivation and my profound appreciation to once again be able to be reunited with my family and loved ones,” Ghosn said. The high-profile auto executive was arrested in November 2018 at the airport in Tokyo on allegations of under-reporting his compensation and misusing company funds. “These allegations are untrue and I should have never been arrested in the first place,” he said. Ghosn, who has maintained his innocence and called the charges against him “baseless,” said his treatment by the Japanese judicial system was a “travesty against his human rights and dignity.” While enduring this “nightmare” imprisonment, Ghosn said his only contact with friends and family was through letters his attorneys showed him through a looking glass.

He added that he spent 130 days in detention and upon being granted bail the first time he sought to share his side of the story only to be “thrown back in solitary confinement within 24 hours.” He called this “confinement that flies in the face of global and United Nations standards of justice.” Ghosn escaped Japan to Lebanon on December 30. However, he said he was “not here today to talk about how I l managed to leave Japan, although I can understand that you are interested in that. I’m here to talk about why I left.”