by NAJIA HOUSSARI -- arabnews.com -- BEIRUT: The Lebanese Ministry of Health’s scientific committee has recommended that flights from London to Beirut be suspended for a few days pending more information on the new strain of COVID-19 found in Britain. The committee recommended that expatriates heading to Lebanon for the holidays change their route if they were traveling through London and commit to mandatory home quarantine for five days, after which they must take a PCR test. The preventive measures were applied during the legislative session of parliament on Monday at the UNESCO palace instead of the parliament headquarters. This is because the palace’s hall is more spacious, allowing for the application of social-distancing measures. In addition, members of parliament and the attendees wore face coverings throughout.

Parliament also passed a law to ratify the proposal to lift banking secrecy for anyone involved in public affairs. Parliament, according to Speaker Nabih Berri, issued a decision that all state bodies, including the Banque du Liban, the ministries, departments and public institutions, are subject to a financial or forensic audit in response to a letter from President Michel Aoun to parliament. Parliament recommended this decision in a previous session. Berri said: “Parliament cannot respond to Aoun’s message with a law.” Parliament referred the bill — aimed at recovering cash and financial portfolios transferred abroad — to the joint committees, provided it was completed within 15 days. The move led to a loss of the impetus on which parliament is counting to recover stolen money transferred abroad. Caretaker Minister of the Displaced Ghada Shreim said: “We had hoped to pass the bill to retrieve the money transferred abroad after Oct. 17 instead of referring it to the committees. Recovering these funds is the first step on a long road.” Parliament also passed a law for the first time punishing sexual harassment, especially in the workplace, and another amending the law to protect women and other family members from domestic violence. Claudine Aoun, president of the National Commission for Lebanese Women, described the move as a positive step to protect women from sexual harassment and domestic violence.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The head of Lebanon’s airline said on Sunday the carrier would at some point need to demand payment for tickets bought in Lebanon using “fresh dollars”, or recently transferred currency that is not subject to restrictions imposed since a financial crisis. Middle East Airlines (MEA) Chairman Mohamad El-Hout did not say when this rule would be introduced, but the warning will raise concerns for holders of dollars who have been virtually locked out of dollar accounts since late 2019. The authorities have limited dollar withdrawals to about $500 a month, with a few exceptions, and imposed an exchange rate of about 3,900 Lebanese pounds, effectively slashing the value of those deposits as the unofficial street rate is now over 8,000. Before the crisis, 1,500 was the freely-used rate.

Buying airline tickets was one way those dollars held in local banks could be used, in a nation with a large diaspora and where hard currency has grown scarce. Dollars transferred to Lebanon in more recent months, known as “fresh dollars”, are held in new accounts and not subject to withdrawal or other restrictions. “If the company wants to ensure its stability, we will reach a time when we will need to have sales in ‘fresh dollars’,” Hout told Reuters, adding that MEA would need to do this because the carrier’s expenses for fuel and other items were in dollars. He said the alternative was to stop operating the carrier, which is majority owned by the central bank. He also told a Lebanese television channel that prices lowered, by about 40%, once payment was in “fresh dollars”.

by AFP -- Lebanese comedians are bringing relief and defying taboos with jokes about dating, partying during the pandemic -- and how even drug dealers are considering leaving the crisis-hit country. Laughter erupts in a venue wedged between two districts devastated by a deadly August 4 explosion that ravaged the Beirut port and swathes of the Lebanese capital. The blast exacerbated a year-long acute financial crisis and political deadlock, as the country also struggled with a surge in novel coronavirus infections. "The situation is so bad that even the flea market has slashed its prices by 50 percent," joked Nicolas Tawk.

Tawk is one of nearly a dozen comedians who took to the stage on a rainy December evening as part of an event organised by the stand-up comedy club aptly named "awk.word". He was followed by a comedy duo who reworked the lyrics of Gloria Gaynor's hit "I Will Survive" to sing about a multitude of frustrations the Lebanese have been struggling. And then, strumming a guitar, they belted out a popular Lebanese hit from the 1980s -- Ummi Ta Nur'os (Let's get up and dance) -- the words changed to convey the challenges of partying during the pandemic. "Get up and dance, young lady, but wait for me to disinfect my hands. Don't freak out, I'll put on my mask," they sang.

by NAJIA HOUSSARI -- arabnews.com --- BEIRUT: Lebanon’s leading Christian cleric has intervened in a last-ditch bid to break the stalemate over the formation of a new government in the country, warning that the Lebanese are “hungry and losing hope.” The move by Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai follows a series of fruitless meetings between President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri that have failed to resolve the political impasse despite a mounting economic crisis and appeals from the international community. More than a week has passed since the 13th meeting between the two political rivals with Hariri yet to receive a response from Aoun on the proposed Cabinet lineup of 18 ministers he had submitted.

Al-Rai, the highest spiritual authority in the Maronite community, visited Aoun on Friday, a day after Hariri held talks with the patriarch. The cleric then met with the head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), Gebran Bassil, who faces accusations of obstructing the formation of the government by insisting on naming Christian ministers. Bassil said after the meeting: “When there is an intention to adopt the same standards, the government will be formed.” However, a source close to Hariri told Arab News that the FPM leader “is holding on to the obstructing third in the Cabinet, and this means the government will not be formed in the near future.” Speaking at Baabda Palace, the president’s residence, Al-Rai said that a final understanding between Aoun and Hariri was urgently needed. “The Lebanese people are hungry, unemployed and without hope or confidence. They cannot bear it anymore,” he warned. The senior cleric added: “People in Beirut are suffering as a result of the Aug. 4 (Beirut port) explosion, and this is a fundamental reason for us to have a government — an executive authority that shoulders its responsibilities. It is one of the constitutional institutions that must be in place. We cannot continue with a caretaker government that might last for six months because the country is paralyzed.”