by reuters -- Lebanon's central bank denied on Friday a Swiss newspaper report that alleged the International Monetary Fund had removed information from a 2016 report on the country at the request of central bank governor Riad Salameh. Switzerland's Le Temps said in a report on Thursday that in 2016, as Lebanon was headed towards financial ruin, 14 pages containing vital information were removed from an IMF assessment through the intervention of Salameh. Reuters could not independently verify the report.

Salameh did not respond to a request from Reuters for comment. "This article and everything that was mentioned in it has nothing to do with the truth," the Lebanese central bank said in a statement. "What was reported in Le Temps newspaper makes clear the article is not serious as it says the governor of the central bank of Lebanon personally omitted 14 pages from a report of an international and respectable organisation like the IMF." According to the IMF's transparency policy, deletions to staff reports are generally considered at the request of the authorities of the country the report is about.

"Deletions should be limited to information that is not already in the public domain that constitutes either: Highly market-sensitive material, mainly the Fund's views on the outlook for exchange rates, interest rates, the financial sector, and assessments of sovereign liquidity and solvency," the IMF rules, published in 2014, say. An IMF spokesperson told Reuters the 2016 report had highlighted as an early warning key vulnerabilities facing the Lebanese financial system. "It emphasized the need to reduce economic and financial risks, including the reliance on new deposit inflows to cover large fiscal and external deficits. It also pointed to significant resources that would be needed to ensure banks remained capitalized in the event of a severe shock," the spokesperson said. Lebanon is suffering what the World Bank has described as one of the deepest depressions in modern history. Its economic meltdown has thrown three-quarters of the population into poverty and the Lebanese pound currency has lost 90% of its value in the past two years.

هناك نوعان من الكوتا  واحدة في الترشيح وواحدة في الفوز في المقاعد . لدى اقرار مشروع قانون الانتخابات عام ٢٠١٢ لم تحظى …

By NAJIA HOUSSARI -- arabnews.com -- BEIRUT: Talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia have covered a “good distance,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian told a news conference in Beirut on Thursday, referring to efforts to improve ties. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati welcomed on behalf of his government “the positivity prevailing on the Saudi-Iranian talks, hosted by Iraq.” He stressed the need to “believe in the honest intentions of the interlocutors to put an end to the conflict and pave the way for the establishment of new relationships based on mutual respect, to achieve states’ sovereignty and non-interference of internal affairs and preserve their stability and security and achieve the aspirations of their peoples, which will have positive effects on Lebanon.”

Amirabdollahian held a joint press conference with his Lebanese counterpart Abdullah Bou Habib, during which Amirabdollahian announced that “the dialogue that we believe in aims to address regional and international issues and we have come a long way in our talks with Saudi Arabia.” Amirabdollahian discussed with Lebanese officials the arrival of the first Iranian gasoline shipment to Syria’s Banyas port. This will be shipped to Lebanon by Syrian tankers that Hezbollah will get into the country through illegal crossings. None of the Lebanese officials directly criticized the Iranian fuel shipped into the country despite the sanctions placed on Iran. Instead, President Michel Aoun reiterated “Iran’s solidarity with Lebanon during its crisis and the aids it has provided for the country in the aftermath of the Beirut port blast.”

هناك شعوبٌ مهما حاولَ أعداؤُها تقسيمَها، تعودُ وتتوحّدُ لأنَّ شعورَها القوميَّ الواحِدَ أقوى من التقسيمِ. وهناك شعوبٌ مهما حاول حلفاؤُها توحيدَها، تعود وتَنقسِمُ لأنَّ مشاعرَ مكوّناتِها القوميّةَ مبعثرةٌ وولاءاتِها ضالةٌ تَجوبُ في أوطانٍ أخرى. محاولاتُ التمرّدِ على هذه الحتميّةِ التاريخيّةِ أدّت إلى مآسٍ. المئةُ سنةٍ المنصرمةُ شَهِدَت تغييرَ حدودِ ثمانينَ دولةً في أنحاءِ العالم انفصالًا أو تقسيمًا أو توحيدًا. من التغييراتِ ما حَصَل سلميًّا، منها ما جرى عسكريًّا، والباقي حَصلَ بفعلِ مخطَّطٍ خارجيّ. قد تكون تجاربُ ألمانيا والاتّحادِ السوفياتيِّ والعالمِ العربيّ أكثرَ تعبيرًا عن دورِ الحرّيةِ والقوميّةِ والدينِ والاستعمارِ في تغييرِ الدولِ والأوطان.

في مثلِ هذا اليوم 07 تشرين الأوّل 1949، أعْلنَت الدولُ المنتصرِةُ في الحربِ العالميّةِ الثانية (أميركا، فرنسا، بريطانيا والاتحاد السوفياتي) تقسيمَ ألمانيا رسميًّا دولتين بعد اقتسامِها سنةَ 1945. لكنَّ الشعبَ الألمانيَّ سارعَ واستعادَ وِحدتَه الفدراليّةَ لحظةَ بَدءِ سقوطِ الاتّحادِ السوفياتي سنةَ 1989. ولاحقًا أصبحَت أنجيلا ميركل، ابنةُ ألمانيا الشيوعيّة، مستشارةَ ألمانيا الموحَّدةِ الليبراليّة. المشاعرُ القوميّةُ حيّةٌ.

وفي مثلِ هذه الفترة أيضًا ـــ تشرين الأوّل سنة 1989 ـــ انتفَض الشعبُ الروسيُّ على الاتّحادِ السوفياتيّ، فإذا 15 دولةً، كان النظامُ الشيوعيُّ جَمعَها قَسْرًا طَوالَ أكثرَ من سبعينَ سنةً، بادَرت إلى الانفصالِ والرجوعِ إلى كياناتٍ قوميّةٍ سابقة. وبعضُ هذه الشعوب عاد وانقَسَم إتنيًّا ودينيًّا داخلَ كياناتِه الجديدةِ مثلَ دولِ بلادِ البلقان (تشيكوسلوفاكيا، يوغسلافيا ومقدونيا). لا تَحرّرَ من دونِ استقلالٍ.