By Doreen Abi Raad -- cruxnow.com -- BEIRUT — Lebanese Cardinal Bechara Rai denounced the launching of “boats of death” from Lebanon following the drowning of nearly 100 migrants who had attempted to flee the crisis-stricken country. The boat reportedly set off toward Europe Sept. 20 from the port of Miniyeh, near Tripoli, carrying between 120 and 170 migrants and refugees, mostly Syrians, Lebanese and Palestinians. Two days later, it sank in the Mediterranean off the coast of Tartus, Syria, about 30 miles north of Tripoli. “Tragedies have become the daily bread of the Lebanese,'” Rai, Maronite patriarch, said in his Sept. 25 homily at Dimane, the patriarchal summer residence in north Lebanon. “We are appalled by the drowning of … people at sea, boarding boats unfit for long-distance sea crossing,” he said.

Rai lamented “immigration at any cost,” the desperate measures taken by those who embark on a risky, perilous sea journey to escape Lebanon’s suffocating economy with the hopes of a decent standard of living abroad. “The search for life sometimes leads to death,” Rai said. “What is more dangerous is that this tragedy is not the first, so where are the deterrent security measures taken by the state to prevent the boats of death from launching?” the cardinal asked. Earlier in September, at least six people, including children, were killed when a boat bound for Europe from Lebanon sank off the coast of Turkey.

In April, a small migrant boat with dozens of people on board sank off Tripoli. More than 40 people were killed, and many are still missing. “The state is responsible for this tragedy by its inability to get the country out of its economic, financial and social crisis,” Rai said. “We express our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims, and we ask God to comfort their hearts with the abundance of his mercy,” he said.

By KAREEM CHEHAYEB Associated Press — BEIRUT — Lebanon’s parliament speaker on Tuesday summoned lawmakers for a session this week to elect …

DUBAI, Sept 26 (Reuters) – Lebanon expects a written offer from U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein concerning the demarcation of a maritime border …

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese army retirees scuffled with parliamentary guard troops as they briefly broke through a cordon leading to Parliament in downtown Beirut during a rally Monday. They were protesting their decimated monthly pay amid the country's economic meltdown. The troops managed to push the crowd back and fired teargas, forcing the elderly retirees to turn away from the street. After a short while, they gathered nearby to continue their protest and demand higher pay. They later dispersed. Hours after the protest, Parliament passed the 2022 budget, a key demand by the International Monetary Fund, with 63 legislators voting in favor, 37 voting against and six abstaining. The new budget will calculate customs tax revenue at 15,000 Lebanese pounds to the dollar at a time when the black market rate is more than double that at about 37,000 pounds to the dollar. Since the meltdown began three years ago, the customs tax revenue was calculated at the official rate of 1,500 pounds to the dollar.

According to the new budget, government expenditures stand at 40.9 trillion pounds ($1.1 billion) at the parallel market rate, while revenue stands at 30 trillion pounds ($810 million). The government also approved a 200% salary increase to civil servants and civilian and military retirees on condition that their monthly income does not exceed 12 million pounds ($324). The rally came as banks in this crisis-hit Lebanon partially reopened Monday following a weeklong closure amid a wave of heists in which assailants stormed at least seven bank branches earlier this month, demanding to withdraw their trapped savings. The Association of Banks in Lebanon had said last Monday it was going on strike amid bank holdups by depositors and activists.