by middleeasteye.net -- Adam Chamseddine -- Lebanese waste-management company RAMCO has reached a temporary agreement with hundreds of migrant workers to slightly increase their salaries after a weeks-long strike against a cut in their wages, the Bangladeshi embassy in Beirut has said. Around 400 foreign workers, mostly from Bangladesh and India, took a stand against RAMCO more than a month ago after the company began slashing their wages and paying them in the local Lebanese currency rather than US dollars. Since Lebanon's unprecedented financial crisis late last year, the Lebanese pound has lost a staggering 60 percent of its value.

With the currency currently trading at LL4,200 to the dollar, but RAMCO pegging the conversion to the official exchange rate of LL1,500 Lebanese pounds, it now takes almost three times as many pounds to buy the same amount of dollars. Feeling the pinch, dozens of workers held a protest outside the company's storage site in Beirut last week, blocking waste collection trucks from leaving the building. Video of riot police violently suppressing the protest were widely shared online. Armored police, which were summoned by the company, could be seen beating the foreign workers with sticks and using tear gas to disperse the crowd. "I used to transfer my salary to my family in Bangladesh in dollars, but now that I’m getting paid in Lebanese pound, I have to exchange it at the black market rate, which amounts to very little", one worker told Middle East Eye on condition of anonymity. He said his previous salary of $120, now paid in pounds, was worth just $42.

BEIRUT (AP) — One of Syria’s wealthiest businessmen who is a cousin of President Bashar Assad said Tuesday the government has ordered the seizure of his assets and barred him from doing business with the state for five years, escalating a dispute that has been deeply mixed in family affairs. The latest decisions against Rami Makhlouf come after weeks of highly publicized and unusual disputes over outstanding payments that the government is seeking from the country’s largest telecommunication company, which he heads. In an unprecedented move, Makhlouf took his grievances to social media early this month, challenging claims he owes the state any money and asking Assad to be the arbiter to prevent his business from collapsing. Makhlouf, who was once a close Assad aide, posted several videos and statements on his Facebook page indicating that he has been isolated from the president and can only address him through social media.

Makhlouf said the government decree to confiscate his assets and those of his wife and children comes even though the claims involve the telecommunication company, Syriatel, one of his several businesses and in which 50% of the revenue already goes to the state. Although official bodies have communicated notices to Makhlouf through the media, there was no official statement of the confiscation of assets Tuesday. They “just want to control the company and they see nothing else,” Makhlouf wrote, without elaborating. The public dispute revealed a fallout between Assad and his cousin, who has been one of his main backers in the country’s civil war now entering its tenth year. It is the most public split in the tight-knit Assad family, which has ruled Syria for nearly 50 years. The rift comes as the country, already under Western sanctions, enters a new phase of economic hardship. Syria’s currency has spiraled downward, sending prices of basic commodities soaring. Economic activity is also being hurt by restrictions imposed to combat the coronavirus, coming atop austerity measures taken during the war, which has displaced nearly half the population.

by english.aawsat.com -- Lebanese President Michel Aoun’s son-in-law took a major step towards splitting from his political camp by calling on the people to “rebel” against the ruling authority as the country grapples with its worst economic crisis in decades. Tensions have been high between Chamel Roukoz and Aoun’s other son-in-law and divisive figure, MP Gebran Bassil, who now heads the Free Patriotic Movement, which was founded by the president. Roukoz has been vocal in his support for popular protests that erupted against the ruling elite in October 2019. Bassil had received a lot of the demonstrators’ ire during the rallies. As the economy flounders and more and more people find themselves in poverty, Roukoz appears more committed to the uprising than ever, predicting that a second wave of protests will soon erupt.

At a press conference over the weekend, he severed what appeared to be his last remaining ties with Bassil, calling on the people to rise up against the authority. “Rebelling is a pillar of real freedom, while submission is the basis of slavery,” he said. “The people have grown hungry. When pockets and stomachs become empty and when fathers and mothers can no longer feed their children, then revolution and rebelling become the only means to regain dignity.” Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat after the press conference, Roukoz said that he resorted to harsh rhetoric because the Lebanese have reached a “tragic” point. “No matter how harsh my words get, they will not reach the hardship endured by the people,” he stated.

The Daily Star — BEIRUT: The Lebanese pound rose slightly against the dollar on the parallel market Monday, steadying at around LL3,750 …