by AFP — BEIRUT — An adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron met top Lebanese officials on Thursday in a desperate bid to save a plan Paris put forward to rescue the country’s agonising economy. Patrick Durel, who arrived in Beirut on Wednesday, held talks with President Michel Aoun and other key players, including parliament […]

by arabnews.com — NAJIA HOUSSARI — BEIRUT: Lebanon is expected to head into a total lockdown again as the health sector buckles under the pressure of soaring coronavirus cases, with the head of a doctors’ syndicate warning that the spread of the disease among medical professionals meant there would be nobody left to treat infected patients. The Supreme Defense Council meets on Tuesday, under the chairmanship of President Michel Aoun, to take decisive action about a lockdown in light of increasing complaints from doctors and hospital owners that their resources have been depleted. On Monday, the total number of people infected with the virus was more than 95,000, with daily rates sometimes exceeding 2,000, while the number of deaths has reached 725. The number of COVID-19 cases during the first week of November alone hit 13,000, while the total number of cases in October exceeded 42,000 cases, the highest number recorded since the virus was first detected in Lebanon in February. Sharaf Abu Sharaf, who heads the Doctors’ Syndicate, warned: “Lebanon’s continued abandonment of taking strict measures to contain the spread of coronavirus will mean that no one will remain to treat those infected with the virus in hospitals.” He said 17 doctors were in intensive care units, three doctors had died, and that 100 doctors were under home quarantine.

Mirna Doumit, who is head of the Order of Nurses in Lebanon, said the number of people infected in the medical and nursing body had reached 1,500. On Monday it was announced that the director of Tripoli Governmental Hospital was infected with coronavirus. Hariri Governmental Hospital specializes in receiving coronavirus cases. Its general director, Dr. Firas Al-Abyad, said that one infection in every 125 in Lebanon led to death and that this figure rose to one in 10 among the elderly. “Lebanon will enter a new phase of complete lockdown,” he predicted. “Without a complete lockdown, the economic situation will worsen in light of the spread of the virus.” But the idea of a complete lockdown for two weeks, or even a month, has provoked a negative reaction among the Lebanese public. The consensus is that a lockdown is useless without a clear strategy for the next steps.

by By Solange Reyner — newsmax.com — President Donald Trump, should his legal challenges not hold up, is planning to run for president again in 2024, reports Axios. Trump has refused to concede the 2020 presidential election to Democratic challenger Joe Biden, citing voter fraud, though several news outlets, including Fox News, have called the […]

by naharnet — U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea on Monday said Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil had recently expressed to her his “willingness to break with Hizbullah.” “Mr. Bassil may think that it serves his cause to selectively leak information about our exchanges, taken out of context,” Shea said in a video statement. […]

by arabicpost.net —

لى بعد خطوات من إعلان نتائج الانتخابات الرئاسية الأمريكية، باغتت إدارة ترمب لبنان هذه المرة بطريقة مباشرة عبر قرار فرض العقوبات الأمريكية على وزير الخارجية السابق ورئيس التيار الوطني  الحرجبران باسيل والذي كان مرشحاً محتملاً لخلافة عمه رئيس الجمهورية ميشال عون، بعد أكثر من شهرين على فرض عقوبات مماثلة على الوزيرين السابقين والحليفين لحزب الله علي حسن خليل ويوسف فينيانوس، لكن المفارقة أن العقوبات التي شملت باسيل ليست مرتبطة بحزب الله بل مرتبطة باتهامات أمريكية لباسيل في ملفات فساد خلال توليه وزارات مختلفة. العقوبات مستمرة.. وواشنطن لا تنام على ضيم منذ مدة غير قصيرة تلوّح الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية بفرض عقوبات على جبران باسيل، أو على مقربين منه ومن رئيس الجمهورية، وبينهم وزراء سابقون ونواب على علاقة بحزب الله، فيما أكد مساعد وزير الخارجية الأمريكي لشؤون الشرق الأدنى ديفيد شينكر على استمرار بلاده في النظر في العقوبات بموجب قانون ماغينتسكي والذي يحاسب المتورطين بتهم الفساد والاختلاس. وشدد شينكر في مقابلة تلفزيونية على أنّ “العقوبات ستستهدف الموارد المالية الخاصة بباسيل وحساباته المصرفية، ‏وستُظهر كيف تشعر الولايات المتحدة حيال الفساد الذي قام به باسيل خلال السنوات الماضية، ‏بالإضافة إلى علاقته بحزب الله التي سمحت للفساد بالازدهار”

. وأكد على “استمرارية السياسات الأمريكية بغض النظر عن تغيير الإدارة فيها. ورداً على سؤال حول أثر العقوبات المفروضة على باسيل على عملية تشكيل الحكومة العتيدة في لبنان، أبدى شينكر استغرابه قائلاً “لا أرى سبباً لذلك، فهذه العقوبات مستقلة”. من ستشمل العقوبات القادمة؟ تؤكد مصادر دبلوماسية خاصة لـ”عربي بوست” أن العقوبات الأمريكية والتي أكدت واشنطن استمرارها ستشمل مجموعة من القادة والوزراء السابقين وأعضاء البرلمان المتهمين بالفساد وتسهيل سياسة حزب الله التوسعية في هيكل الدولة اللبنانية، ويشدد المصدر على أن لوائح العقوبات تضم وزير الداخلية السابق نهاد المشنوق وهو المقرب من النظامين المصري والإماراتي. حيث ستوجه له تهم متعلقة بتسخير وزارة الداخلية لأغراض شخصية وعقد اتفاقات مع حزب الله في السياسة والأمن والتكتم على معلومات أمنية مرتبطة بحزب الله ونشاطاته في الجغرافيا اللبنانية، وبحسب المصدر فإن التهم ستشمل تغيير نتائج الانتخابات النيابية الأخيرة صيف العام 2018 في مناطق بيروت وبعلبك الهرمل مقابل السماح بتغيير النتائج لصالحه في مدينة بيروت واحتساب أصوات مرشحين آخرين له، كما تضم التهم تهمة منح قوانين التجنيس لمجموعة من رجال أعمال سوريين مرتبطين بنظام بشار الأسد، ويضاف إليها استخدام وزارة الداخلية لمشاريع شخصية له ولمقربين منه وعقد صفقات ومناقصات والاستفادة منها.

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.”