by newsmax.com — Tauren Dyson — President Donald Trump is in a dead heat with Democrat nominee Joe Biden, according to the …

The Daily Star— BEIRUT: The Lebanese pound fell against the dollar Saturday, trading at around LL8,750 on the black market, a day …

by arabnews.com/node -- NAJIA HOUSSARI -- BEIRUT: Reconstruction is progressing slowly in the area of Beirut devastated by the Aug. 4 explosion in the Lebanese capital’s port. “The first obstacle hindering restoration work is financial. All private and official international bodies have no confidence in the Lebanese government so they’ve refrained from giving aid,” Jad Thabet, head of the Engineers Syndicate, told Arab News. “Any plan assumes the existence of a government, and the international campaign we saw when the explosion happened has withdrawn due to the political situation in Lebanon. Unfortunately there’s total chaos,” he said, adding that winter will make matters worse. “There are people who’ll be displaced and buildings that will collapse. The rain will wash away stones and soil, and block roads and sewers. There will be subsequent disasters for the people.”

The explosion of some 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate that had been stored in Beirut’s port since 2013 killed 195 people, injured about 6,500, displaced 300,000 and caused billions of dollars’ worth of damage. Thabet said he intends to travel to Paris in an attempt to urge UNESCO to provide assistance to Lebanon, but he does not expect much in light of his country’s political situation. Many residents in Beirut are complaining about the lack of repairs to their damaged homes, and have no faith in the government. There is also a lack of progress on the judicial front, with Judge Fadi Sawan saying he “hasn’t yet received any report from any security service that was carrying out investigations in the explosion site.” Among the teams that helped with the investigations were a French one and an American one.

By KHALED ABOU ZAHR -- Arabnews.com -- On June 18, 1940, Gen. Charles de Gaulle made his famous radio appeal from London after the French Army was defeated at the start of the Second World War. It was the beginning of the French Resistance against Nazi occupation. He stood against the French Vichy government, which collaborated with the Nazis and became a client state. Today, any government in Lebanon is a “Vichy government” and the politicians have all become collaborators with the Iranian regime and its “high commissioner” in Lebanon: Hezbollah. As the country is being ravaged by the current occupation by Hezbollah and Iran following decades of Syrian occupation, I cannot help but wonder that shouldn’t it be time for a Lebanese leader to call for true resistance as De Gaulle did? Isn’t it time, as on the ground nothing can change, for a government in exile to be formed and an appeal made for all Lebanese to resist this occupation and its destruction of their country?

It is now clear, with the disappointing failure of the latest French initiative, that Hezbollah will not allow the formation of any government that has the capacity to question its actions — or, more precisely, that it does not completely control. Lebanon will continue to disintegrate into chaos while Iran gambles on a Joe Biden administration to formalize and legitimize its occupation. On the ground, no influential political voice will be left standing if it acts against Hezbollah’s plan. Yet, as we always wonder in election years, how will the next US president impact the Middle East? It is also time to understand that the US looks for strong allies. It cannot save Lebanon unless there are voices ready to fight and to resist. It is also important for the Lebanese not to be a tool or an accessory to any foreign influence. As a small country, it cannot be taken hostage as global powers and Middle Eastern powers fight. Our interests are in our citizens and the prosperity of the country — nothing more and nothing less. In this sense, former French President Jacques Chirac, who loved Lebanon and had pure intentions for the country, misguided Saad Hariri on France’s capacity to impose regional changes and this miscalculation accelerated Hezbollah’s control of the country in 2008. The Lebanese should not make the same mistake twice.