by Najia Houssari — arabnews.com –– BEIRUT: Lebanese Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Monday praised Qatar’s contributions to helping Lebanon through its political and economic crises during a meeting with the Gulf state’s Assistant Foreign Minister for Regional Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulaziz bin Saleh Al-Khulaifi. Mikati also highlighted the strong ties between the two states during talks with the visiting Qatari envoy. Mikati thanked Qatar “once again for supporting the Lebanese army and enabling it to carry out its responsibilities,” according to his media office. The Qatar official’s visit comes within the framework of the French-Arab-American endeavor to find solutions to the presidential vacuum in Lebanon, which has entered its sixth month as Parliament has held 11 failed voting sessions. Meanwhile, the Free Patriotic Movement, the Lebanese Forces, the Lebanese Kataeb, and the Progressive Socialist Party are rejecting the candidate put forward by Hezbollah and its allies, MP Suleiman Frangieh.

In talks with Al-Khulaifi, Mikati discussed the situation in Lebanon and efforts by the caretaker government to tackle emergency cases as permitted by the constitution, his media office said. He added that the solution to the crises affecting Lebanon lies in electing a president as soon as possible. Al-Khulaifi also met Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian, Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi and head of the Kataeb Party MP Sami Gemayel. He later met Hussein Khalil, the political adviser to Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, in the presence of the head of Hezbollah’s Coordination and Liaison Unit, Wafiq Safa.

By Najia houssari – arabnews.com — BEIRUT: Politicians need to commit to serving love, justice, and the good of humanity, Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi said on Sunday. His appeal, which was made during a sermon, came as Christian denominations in Lebanon that follow the Western calendar celebrated Palm Sunday. Economic and political matters were topics in Al-Rahi’s message as children carried candles and olive branches and participated in processions. Al-Rahi began his sermon — after a mass held in Bkerke — by reminding believers of the many children who are denied the joy of the holiday. He said: “The purpose of the power entrusted to politicians is service, not oppression. “Those in power are not lords but servants of the common good. A true politician is a servant. “If they are not, then they are bad politicians. Politics is a noble art in service of the common good. “Politicians are thus called upon to destroy their inner tendencies to be corrupt and selfish and serve personal interests or embezzle public funds.”

Al-Rahi addressed the nation’s MPs by saying that good politicians would promptly elect a president so that order can be restored to constitutional institutions. Al-Rahi is scheduled to meet Christian MPs on Wednesday in an attempt to smooth the way for a presidential candidate to emerge who enjoys broad support among the parties. A presidential vacuum has now prevailed in Lebanon for six months and Nabih Berri, parliamentary speaker, has ended sessions to elect a president after 11 failures. Suleiman Frangieh, the head of the Marada Movement and the presidential candidate supported by Hezbollah and its allies, returned from Paris on Saturday after meeting French officials, most notably Patrick Dorrell, an adviser to the French president. Frangieh’s meetings were held as the French work to overcome obstacles impeding the presidential elections.

By Hande Atay Alam, Tamara Qiblawi and AnneClaire Stapleton, CNN — Two flight attendants claim they were sexually assaulted by then Prime Minister of Lebanon Saad Hariri aboard his private plane, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court in New York. The complaint was filed in US District Court on March 20, against Saad […]

by Hannah Frasure — intpolicydigest.org — The failure of Lebanese politicians to reform the country’s banking secrecy law perfectly highlights how corruption fuels one of the worst financial crisis in the world. Lebanon’s ongoing economic crisis is one of the worst globally since the mid-19th century, according to the World Bank. Among Lebanese households, nine out of 10 earn less than $400 per month and less than 5% of households reported any kind of financial assistance from the government, according to a survey published in December by Human Rights Watch. The current inflation rate of 171% is at its highest since 1987 — when Lebanon’s disastrous civil war was still occurring. The banking secrecy law — which plays a role in this crisis — forbids Lebanese banks from sharing details of any bank account such as its balance or owner. Under the law, anyone can “transfer assets and financial deposits to banks anonymously and in an unregulated manner,” explains Lebanese economist Hussein Cheaito. As a result, critics accuse it of enabling financial crimes like fraud and money laundering.

Michel Aoun resigned as president in late October, which has only worsened the crisis. Since then, political division between Lebanese parliamentarians has prevented them from deciding on Aoun’s successor. Without a president, the interim government has been ineffectual in terms of carrying out any reform, let alone reforming the banking secrecy law. A briefing from the International Crisis Group warned of these consequences last year. “Such a vacuum could leave the government’s hands tied, since under Lebanon’s system the president must approve any new cabinet that forms, and the outgoing incumbent has not done so. In a void, caretaker ministers will struggle to make reforms the country needs to obtain rescue from its economic woes.”

By AFP — BEIRUT: Cash-strapped Lebanon has scrapped a deal for a second terminal at Beirut’s international airport, the transport minister said Thursday, after critics raised transparency concerns in the $122 million project. Lebanon “will not proceed with the contract,” Public Works and Transportation Minister Ali Hamieh said on Twitter, adding that the decision came “following legal controversy.” Some had questioned how a caretaker government with limited powers could announce such a major infrastructure project, in a country where entrenched political barons are accused of systemic corruption.

Civil society organizations and lawmakers noted the absence of a tender process and a lack of involvement of the Public Procurement Authority. Jean Ellieh, head of the authority, said “the contract did not pass through” the regulatory body as required under a 2021 law. Last week 10 civil society groups, including Transparency International Lebanon, warned of “serious abuses” in the procurement law’s application which “open the door to corruption and nepotism.”

By Jessy Bains, Editor at LinkedIn News – A group of high-profile signatories, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, are asking companies to pump the brakes on “giant AI experiments” until there’s confidence that any risks are manageable and the effects are largely positive. A letter published by the nonprofit Future […]

by Elizabeth Hagedorn @ElizHagedorn – almonitor.com –– WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Tuesday unveiled new sanctions aimed at curbing Syria’s production and export of Captagon, an illegal amphetamine that serves as a key source of revenue for the Syrian regime. The sanctions are the administration’s first to target Syria’s Captagon trade and also its first use of so-called Caesar Act, a law that allows for sanctions on persons or companies that do business with the Syrian government. In a statement, Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed the United States would continue targeting Syria’s drug traffickers and “those who provide support to the Syrian regime’s vicious war.”

An estimated 80% of the world’s Captagon supply is produced in Syria, where the stimulant has become the war-ridden country’s main export. The UK government, which unveiled its own sanctions in coordination with the US, described the Captagon trade as a “financial lifeline” for Assad’s regime worth $57 billion. Among those designated by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control was Khalid Qaddour, a Syrian businessman who is a close associate of Maher al-Assad, a brother of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad who heads the Fourth Division of the Syrian Arab Army. According to OFAC, Qaddour is responsible for managing the Fourth Division’s revenues from facilitating the production and trafficking of Captagon. Also designated was Samer Kamal al-Assad, a cousin of the Syrian president who allegedly oversees Captagon facilities in the regime-controlled port city of Latakia in coordination with the Fourth Division and certain associates of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Assad reportedly owns a Captagon production factory in the Qalamoun region near the Syria-Lebanon border.

By Jake Perez, Editor at LinkedIn News — Twitter CEO Elon Musk is offering employees stock grants based on a $20 billion valuation, less than half of the $44 billion Musk paid for the company last year. In an email to staff, Musk said Twitter should be considered “an inverse startup” as the company sheds […]

By Henri Astier BBC News ––  People in Lebanon have woken up in two rival time zones, amid a row between political and religious authorities over when clocks should go forward. Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced that daylight saving would begin at the end of Ramadan next month, allowing Muslims to break their daily […]

By Najia Houssari – arabnews.com — BEIRUT: An abrupt decision by Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati to postpone the start of daylight saving time by one month has turned into a major political dispute, overshadowing the country’s dire economic crisis. Despite repeat IMF warnings over the state of the Lebanese economy, the latest political controversy surrounding the postponement from March 25 to April 21 is dominating debate in the country. The dispute over daylight saving time also involves religious and sectarian differences, and comes as Muslims mark the holy month of Ramadan. It means those fasting must break their fasts an hour earlier than planned. Lebanese institutions on Saturday took divergent positions on the move.Multiple media outlets (MTV Lebanon, LBCI and AlJadeed) said that it “will not abide by the decision and will commit to the universal time.” According to one political observer, the dispute reflects a “political vacuum, given that an absurd decision was explained in a sectarian way.”

This dispute “showed the loss of confidence in the ruling political class and the scale of randomness that political action in Lebanon can slip into.” The postponement caused confusion among institutions working with other states, notably the international airport, banks and mobile phone networks that automatically adjust to daylight savings each year. Airlines were forced to reschedule flights, and the two major mobile networks in the country sent a written message to subscribers, asking them to “manually adjust the time on their mobile phones before the midnight of Saturday-Sunday, to avoid the time change on their screens.” Secretary General of Catholic Schools Father Youssef Nasr said: “Private educational institutions and the Federation of Private Educational Institutions will abide by Mikati’s decision until it is reversed.” Mikati’s move was met with sarcasm on social media platforms. One political activist said: “We are in the republic of wasting time.” Another said: “It looks like Lebanon’s connection to the global system is not important.” Other warned that the decision “was taken by leaders who do not acknowledge the presence of others in the country.”