by english.aawsat.com -- Sorbonne-educated Chryssoula Fayad spent nearly two decades teaching history and geography at Lebanon's elite French schools, ultimately heading departments. Now she is a substitute teacher in Paris, part of an exodus from an education system on its knees. Fayad left behind her home and life savings in August 2020, at 50 years old. Days earlier, the hospital where her husband worked and his clinic were damaged along with swathes of Beirut when chemicals exploded at the port - the final straw. Corruption and political wrangling have cost the local currency more than 90% of its value in less than two years, propelling half the population into poverty and locking depositors like Fayad out of their bank accounts. Despite her straitened circumstances, she has no regrets. "I always say thank God that we had this chance to come here," she said. "Unfortunately I know I made the right decision when I see how things are in Lebanon now."

Lebanon's educational sector, prized throughout the Middle East as a regional leader, was once ranked tenth globally by the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report. Now it is unclear how schools will manage when the new academic year starts in October. "When the crisis erupted in 2019 it took the educational sector by surprise," Rene Karam, the head of the Association of Teachers of English (ATEL) in Lebanon, said. At the start, some private schools laid off higher-paid teachers, around 30% of staff, to save money, but as time went on many others left of their own accord, with half of the 100 teachers in his association now in Iraq, Dubai and Oman. Salaries starting at 1.5 million Lebanese pounds a month are now worth less than $90 at the street rate in a country where they used to be $1,000. "We are in a real crisis," he told Reuters.

لدى خروجي من احتفال اطلاق الكتاب عن علاقة بكركي بالمملكة العربية السعودية سألتني مراسلة قناة اماراتية، عن السبيل لعودة السعودية الى لبنان …

Beirut (AFP) The French and US envoys to Lebanon are to visit Saudi Arabia, France's embassy said Wednesday, an unusual move amid international pressure to lift Lebanon out of a roiling political and economic crisis. The visit Thursday comes as Lebanese battle shortages and price hikes on basic goods in what the World Bank has called one of the world's worst economic crises since the 1850s. World powers have demanded a new government before any financial aid to the cash-strapped nation, but for around 11 months Lebanese politicians have failed to agree on a line-up. "The (French) ambassador will explain how urgent it is that Lebanese officials form a credible and effective government to work on implementing necessary reforms," the embassy said.

The French envoy would, "with her American counterpart, express France and United States' desire to exert pressure on those responsable for the deadlock", it said. Last month the top diplomats of the United States, France and Saudi Arabia jointly urged Lebanon's squabbling leaders to come together. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held an impromptu meeting with his Saudi and French counterparts in Italy on the sidelines of talks of the Group of 20 major economies. They discussed "the need for Lebanon's political leaders to show real leadership by implementing overdue reforms to stabilise the economy and provide the Lebanese people with much-needed relief," Blinken wrote on Twitter. Saudi Arabia has remained largely out of the current Lebanese political crisis, in contrast with past approaches.

DUBAI,  (Reuters) - Qatar will provide the Lebanese armed forces with 70 tonnes of food a month, the Qatari state news agency QNA reported, as Lebanon seeks assistance amid its worst economic and political crisis since a 1975-1990 civil war. Lebanon's army chief Joseph Aoun had appealed to world powers at meeting in France last month for assistance for soldiers, whose wages have plunged in value as the Lebanese pound has crashed and inflation has soared. read more Qatar's donation was announced on Tuesday during a visit to Beirut by Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani. QNA did not give details about the food aid offered. Sheikh Mohammed urged Lebanese parties to form a new government "to achieve stability", QNA said. Lebanese politicians have spent months wrangling without agreeing on a new government that is needed to unlock international aid.