By Sarah Townsend

Lebanon is in a state of economic paralysis. Crippled by political stalemate (the country has been without a president for two years), an inundation of refugees combined with a region-wide economic slowdown and a subsequent drop in remittances from its sizeable diaspora has hit a nation powerless to implement the reforms needed to change course.

The World Bank’s Spring 2016 Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Economic Monitor puts Lebanon’s real gross domestic product (GDP) growth last year at a “sluggish” 1.5 percent, downgraded from earlier estimates following an unexpected decline in economic activity in the third quarter, when thousands of people held prolonged protests over a rubbish crisis in Beirut that epitomised the country’s gridlock.

Lebanon’s central bank, Banque du Liban, renewed a $1bn stimulus package to shore up parts of the economy, in particular boosting tourism and private lending, said the World Bank.

AP:  Ricky Martin, the world-renowned singer and UNICEF goodwill ambassador, said that the word "refugee" had lost its value but that the international community should "open its heart."

The 44-year-old Puerto Rican spoke during a visit to Lebanon with UNICEF to meet Syrian refugee children."At this point what we want is to make sure children get their rights. Some children unfortunately are not going to school," he said Thursday in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press in Minnieh, north Lebanon. News of the visit was released by UNICEF on Friday because of an embargo.

The singer met with Syrian children in Zahleh, in the Bekaa Valley on Wednesday, and in the Minnieh informal settlement, near the northern city of Tripoli, the following day.

Daily Star.com.lb -- Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese-American businessman detained in Iran last September, is due to appear in court Monday, his organization said Friday. Zakka, founder and Secretary General of the Union of Arab ICT Associations (IJMA3), has been accused by Iranian media of being an American spy.
 Zakka disappeared in Tehran in September after attending a government-sponsored conference at the invitation of Shahendokht Molafrdi, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's vice president for women's affairs, in order to attend the Second International Conference and Exhibition on Women in Sustainable Development, named "Entrepreneurship and Employment".

The IJMA3 statement said that Zakka "is undergoing further physical and psychological pressure by his captors in an attempt to extract confessions out of him before his trial kicks off on June 6, 2016." IJMA3 criticized the Lebanese state for not supporting Zakka, saying "he is alone in facing an illegal trial... due to his arbitrary arrest and the conditions and harsh questioning he went through."