by AFP — BEIRUT — Lebanon’s former foreign minister Gebran Bassil on Sunday said the United States had urged him to sever ties with Shiite movement Hizbollah before targeting him with sanctions over alleged corruption. The punitive measures announced on Friday are the first against a senior Christian ally of Hizbollah, long targeted by US […]

by foxnews.com  — Angelic a Stabile — With Republicans adding House seats in the 2020 election, House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told “Sunday Morning Futures” that it would only take 10 Democrats to block Nancy Pelosi from being reelected as House speaker. McCarthy made the comments after his party flipped at least seven […]

by EPHREM KOSSAIFY — NEW YORK: Gebran Bassil may be the first Lebanese politician to be subjected to sanctions under the Magnitsky Act — designed to punish corruption and human rights violations — but he certainly won’t be the only one. According to a US official source — who asked to remain anonymous — 23 other […]

by reuters — Iran’s vice president said Saturday he hoped for a change in “destructive U.S. policies” after Democrat Joe Biden was declared in the media to have clinched the electoral college, Iranian state media reported. “I hope we will see a change in the destructive policies of the United States, a return to the […]

By Eric Mack newsmax.com — Democrat Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., have declared victory in a national acceptance speech amid a contested presidential election Saturday night in Wilmington, Delaware. “Folks, the people of this nation have spoken,” Biden told his drive-in celebration. “They delivered us a clear victory. A convincing victory. A victory for we the people. We won with the most votes ever cast for a presidential ticket in the history of the nation: 74 million.” “I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide, but unify, who doesn’t see red states or blue states – only sees the United States. “I sought this office to restore the soul of America, to rebuild the backbone of this nation, the middle class, and to make America respected around the world again – to unite us here at home.”

Biden saluted his running mate Harris, potentially the first woman and first woman of color to win on a presidential ticket. “I will have the honor to serve with the fantastic vice president you just heard from, Kamala Harris,” Biden said. “She’ll make history as the first woman, first woman, first black woman, first woman of south descent, first woman of immigrants. “Don’t tell me it’s not possible in the United States. It’s long overdue. “Harris spoke first to introduce Biden in an emotional address to the nation. “You delivered a clear message: You chose hope, and unity, decency, science, and, yes, truth,” she said. “You chose Joe Biden as the next president of the United States of America.” Harris saluted the women and minority candidates before her than blazed a path to the White House. “I reflect on their struggle, their determination, and the strength of their vision to see what can be unburdened by what has been,” she said. “And I stand on their shoulders. And what a testament it is to Joe’s character that he had the audacity to break one of the most substantial barriers that exists in our country and select a woman as his vice president.”

By RAY HANANIA – arabnews.com — CHICAGO: Lebanese political leader Gibran Bassil has been hit by US sanctions, with Secretary of State Michael Pompeo accusing him of being “notorious for corruption.” Bassil, who has held various ministerial roles and heads the Free Patriotic Movement, has had his US assets frozen and is barred from entering the country. Pompeo said Bassil was in violation of President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 13818, which targets rights abuses and corruption under the 2015 Magnitsky Act. The Magnitsky Act gives the president the power to block US entry and impose property sanctions against any foreign person, or entity, who is responsible for extrajudicial killings, torture, or other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights or is engaged in government corruption. “Bassil has served in multiple high-level posts in the Lebanese government, including as minister of foreign affairs and emigrants, minister of energy and water, and minister of telecommunications,” Pompeo said. “Throughout his government career, Bassil has become notorious for corruption and has been linked to the purchase of influence within Lebanese political circles. While minister of energy, Bassil was involved in approving several projects that would have steered Lebanese government funds to individuals close to him through a group of front companies.”

The Daily Star BEIRUT: The Lebanese pound fell against the dollar Thursday, trading at around LL7,150 on the black market as government formation efforts took a back seat to the outcome of the hotly contested US presidential election. Black market exchangers were selling the dollar for LL7,200 and buying it for LL7,100. The pound had […]

by nypost.com — They blew it again. After muffing it spectacularly in 2016, when Hillary Clinton was supposed to cruise to easy victory over Donald Trump, pollsters and the media should be ashamed by how wrong they got this year’s election. Even after their cross-their-hearts-hope-to-die promises to fix flaws in their methodology — which always errs in their preferred, liberal direction. Like Clinton, Joe Biden was supposed to be a sure winner — possibly in a landslide victory over President Trump. Polling “guru” Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight gave Biden a whopping 89 percent chance of winning. RealClearPolitics’ compilation of polls showed Biden with an average 7.2 percentage-point national lead; some polls had the spread in the double digits at various times. In the top battleground states, Biden averaged a 2.3-point lead, according to RCP. Analysts talked of a “blue wave” — with Democrats winning the Senate as well as the White House, and gaining dozens of seats for their House majority. The message, amplified by a feverishly anti-Trump, left-leaning media, was clear: Donald Trump was toast, a one-term president who’d drag the whole party down. Count on it. And it sure is about time. Ha! It’ll be days, maybe weeks, before the vote counts are finalized, and Biden may win — but it’s clear the pollsters couldn’t have been more off. Again.

Their predictions weren’t just wrong — but often wildly so. As of Wednesday morning, Biden had a mere 1.9-percentage point lead over Trump; the prez had a good chance of prevailing overall in electoral votes. Before Election Day, the ABC-Washington Post poll gave Biden a whopping 17-point lead in Wisconsin; on Wednesday, his lead was 0.6 percent. “That’s not a mistake. That’s not an error,” noted pollster Frank Luntz. “That’s polling malpractice, and you have to go to tremendous lengths to be able to get something that wrong so close to the election.” Similarly, Quinnipiac had Biden with a five-point margin in Florida and four points in Ohio; Trump wound up ahead in both states — by three and eight points, respectively. So much for a Biden blowout. Republicans also seem likely to retain control of the Senate, with Democrats having picked up just one net seat by Wednesday morning, and several “endangered” GOP seats proving safe. And Dems lost House seats in New Mexico, Florida and Oklahoma that they picked up in 2018. What went wrong with the polling? Some possible explanations stand out. One of the biggest may be that Trump voters have given up on mainstream media and polling. Yes, it may be “shy voters” in some places it’s considered uncouth to like him, but many others are actively hostile to the institutions that have ignored and insulted them. They show up in droves at Trump rallies and “Donvoys,” but they don’t answer the phone to answer questions. Will these mistakes make pollsters change their ways? Will the media show any humility in the face of again misjudging Trump and his voters? The answer, alas, is probably no. But they aren’t the only ones with egg on their faces:

by newsmax — Former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Joe diGenova on Wednesday called it a “miracle” the Republicans appeared to have retained their control of the U.S. Senate, saying it would be the “bulwark against crazy government” if Joe Biden ultimately claims the presidency. Speaking to Newsmax TV, diGenova referred to the […]

by AFP — BEIRUT: Lebanon’s prosecutor general decided Tuesday not to charge fugitive ex-auto tycoon Carlos Ghosn for visiting Israel in 2008 because the statute of limitations has expired, a judicial source said. Three lawyers filed a motion in January calling for the 66-year-old businessman to be prosecuted over his trip to the Jewish state as Renault-Nissan chairman. Lebanon is technically still at war with Israel and forbids its citizens from traveling there. “Prosecutor general Ghassan Oueidat decided … not to prosecute Ghosn for the crimes attributed to him of entering the enemy country and dealing with it economically,” the source told AFP. “A statute of limitations of ten years had passed since the alleged crime,” the source added.

Ghosn on Jan. 8 apologized to the Lebanese people for having visited Israel to sign a deal to produce electric vehicles, saying he traveled on business for Renault on a French passport. He also holds Lebanese and Brazilian nationalities. The ex-Nissan chief was arrested in Japan in November 2018 on financial misconduct charges and spent 130 days in detention, before he jumped bail and smuggled himself out of the country late last year. Ghosn appeared at a press conference in Lebanon on Jan. 8, denying all charges and claiming he was a victim of a plot by Nissan and Japanese officials.