by Al Jazeera — Beirut, Lebanon – Lebanese authorities have started using forceful measures to try and bring the country’s rapidly …

by rfi.fr — Drilling off the Lebanese coast has shown some traces of gas but no commercially viable reserves, Energy Minister Raymond …

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri has warned that removing the central bank governor would send the currency tumbling and threaten deposits, after the prime minister slammed Riad Salameh for the pound's fall. Prime Minister Hassan Diab on Friday cast Salameh as responsible for a currency crisis that has threatened to further destabilise a country already in dire financial straits. The pound, which has lost more than half its value since October, slid to record lows on a parallel market last week, nearing 4,000 to the dollar before currency dealers on Friday went on strike. The official pegged pound rate of 1,507.5 to the dollar is available only for certain vital imports. In comments carried by Sunday's An-Nahar newspaper, Berri said Lebanon could not afford to remove Salameh just as it was entering negotiations with foreign bondholders after defaulting on debt obligations last month. "Lebanese will wake up to the price of the dollar at 15,000 pounds," he said. "I am not defending Salameh or anyone, I am defending Lebanon. And if the central bank of Lebanon does not remain, then everyone knows that depositors' funds are gone forever."

The politically influential Maronite Catholic Cardinal patriarch said criticism of Salameh would only hurt Lebanon. "We ask: who benefits from the destabilisation of the central bank governorship?" said Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai. "We know the dire outcome, which is eliminating the confidence of the Lebanese people and (foreign) states in the constitutional foundations of the state." Lebanon is governed according to a sectarian system that parcels out state positions according to religious group. The central bank governor is always a Maronite Christian while the premier is always a Sunni Muslim. Diab's government was formed in January with the support of the powerful Iranian-backed Shi'ite movement Hezbollah, and has struggled to enact the economic reforms demanded by foreign donors.

قال البطريرك مار بشاره بطرس الراعي أثناء القاء عظته في الأحد الثاني بعد القيامة بلبنان، اليوم
"سَارَ يَسُوعُ مَعَهُمَا، واستَمَعَ لَهُمَا، ثُمَّ فَسَّرَ لَهُمَا الكُتُب، فَاضْطَرَمَ قَلْبُهُمَا"، تحت صدمة الصَّلب، غادر تلميذان منهم أورشليم بعد ظهر الأحد عينه، على الرَّغم من تسرُّب خبر قيامة يسوع، وفيما هما يسيران مكتئبَين، ويتحادثان بشأن الحكم عليه بالموت صلبًا، وتحطيم رجاء الشَّعب كلّه،إذا بيسوع الحيّ الدَّائم، يقترب منهما ويَسير معهما. ومن بعد أن استمع لهما، وهما يَسرُدان سبب غمِّهما بشأن صلب يسوع، "الرَّجل النبيّ القدير بالقول والفعل قدَّام الله والشَّعب كلّه" (الآية 19)، راح يفسِّر لهما ما يتعلَّق به في كلِّ الكتب من موسى إلى جميع الأنبياء". ومن بعد أن عرفاه عند "كسر الخبز" وغاب عنهما، قال الواحد للآخر: أمَا كان قلبُنا مضطرمًا فينا، حين كان يُكلِّمنا في الطَّريق ويشرح لنا الكتب؟ وللحال رجَعَا إلى أورشليم لينقُلا بُشرى قيامته (الآيات 27-32).