by politicallore.com -- In September, the United Nations will hold its 75th General assembly, and one of its VPs will be a female diplomat from Lebanon. According to Monday vote’s results, the Middle East country’s representative at the UN won the vote for the position. Amal Mudallali who is the Lebanese ambassador to the UN noted she is ‘looking forward’ to work as one of 21 assistant heads of the global forum in September. Meanwhile, current president of the UNGA extended his my sincere congratulations to all vice presidents of the 75th GA. He also addressed the current crisis, saying he avails of this opportunity to express the solidarity with the UN member states who are fighting the novel pathogen. Mrs Mudallali said she looks forward to the task while writing on Twitter.Alongside Lebanon, Jordan and Libya from the region also won the vote.

BEIRUT (AP) — The Lebanese judge who issued a ruling banning foreign and local media from interviewing the U.S. ambassador in Beirut resigned Tuesday, according to state media. Judge Mohammad Mazeh was referred to questioning by the Judicial Inspection Board for the ban, which caused an uproar in Lebanon. Mazeh issued the ban Saturday, a day after Ambassador Dorothoy Shea told Saudi-owned TV station Al-Hadath that Washington has “great concerns” over the role Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group, has in the embattled Lebanese government. Critics viewed Shea's comments as foreign interference in Lebanese affairs, but the judge’s ruling was met with a swift backlash in the country, where the media is often divided along sectarian politics but enjoys more freedom than other countries in the region. Many described Mazeh's ruling as partisan, and said it undermined press freedoms. Minister of Information Manal Abdel-Samad said no one has the right to curtail the press and matters related to the media should be handled relevant authorities, not the courts.

Lebanon is in the throes of a critical economic and financial crisis. In her interview, Shea said successive governments have mismanaged the economy and accused Hezbollah of siphoning off public funds for its own purposes. She accused the group, which backs the current government and has strong representation in Parliament, of blocking needed reforms. Mazeh was referred to Lebanon's Judicial Inspection Board to be questioned on his controversial ban. He threatened to resign if questioned, suggesting the measure was undermining judicial independence. Shea had called the ruling “unfortunate and a distraction" from the country's economic woes and vowed she would not be silenced. After meeting with Foreign Minister Nasser Hitti on Monday, she said a page has been turned. She had earlier said the government had apologized to her for the ruling. The court ruling remains in effect but appears unlikely to be enforced.

by reuters — Lebanese security forces are investigating an explosion 11 days ago that took place near the convoy of former Prime …

By Osama Habib -- The Daily Star --- BEIRUT: The director-general of the Finance Ministry Alain Bifani said Monday the procrastination of the authorities to implement reforms and the smear campaign against him have prompted him to resign. Bifani, who was one of the top Lebanese government negotiators with the International Monetary Fund and one of the drafters of the Cabinet’s economic reform plan, made it clear in his news conference that his resignation should be taken as an alarm bell for officials to take matters seriously. United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jan Kubis expressed his regret for the resignation of Bifani, adding that it is a loss for Lebanon. He added that Bifani’s resignation came at a critical time for Lebanon as the country is currently engaged in direct negotiations with the IMF.

The former official at the Finance Ministry came under harsh verbal attacks from many banking circles as well as politicians who did not approve the government’s approach in tackling the financial crisis with the IMF. Some of these circles tried to dispute the losses mentioned in the government’s economic plan but IMF officials repeatedly said that the figures reported by the Lebanese authorities were close to their numbers. They even tried to give the impression that the government’s economic plan would seize all the deposits of the Lebanese and non-Lebanese. But Bifani assured that the government had no intention to touch the bulk of the deposits. "The approach adopted by the government plan was unanimously approved and received a welcome from the financial institutions for the Lebanese seriousness in approaching matters," Bifani explained. He added that the plan addressed the necessity of recovering the looted funds and the necessity of a comprehensive reform of the system. "It appears that the system used various methods to strike the government plan, and they tried to portray us as corrupt, but the judiciary will have the final say on these cheap accusations,” Bifani said.