by middleeastmonitor.com — Lebanese security forces cleared away a protest camp in central Beirut on Saturday and reopened roads blocked by demonstrators …

by middleeastmonitor.com -- The government in Lebanon is preparing to fly citizens stranded abroad by the coronavirus pandemic back to Beirut, Minister of Information Manal Abdul Samad said on Thursday. “Those Lebanese abroad who want to return to Lebanon after 12 April must fill in forms and a mechanism will be devised before 30 March to facilitate bank transfers to them,” she explained. “They should communicate with our embassies to report their situation and needs.” Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti confirmed the news in an interview with local channel MTV, noting that no Lebanese citizen will be allowed to return before they are tested for Covid-19 and it is confirmed that they do not have or carry the disease. “Any infected person can be an unexploded bomb for those returning on the same flight,” he explained. Lebanese students overseas and in financial difficulties will also be eligible to apply for money transfers from the government, added Hitti.

Lebanese banks have been enforcing harsh capital controls on accounts since October, only allowing depositors to withdraw as little as $100 per week as the country faces its worst economic and financial crisis since the end of the civil war in 1990. Hitti noted that students whose families are unable to support them financially because of the current situation will be supported by the government. Lebanon has also extended the state of “general mobilisation” until 12 April and added new measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

by Naharnet -- Information Minister Manal Abdul Samad on Thursday explained what the government intends to do regarding the Lebanese citizens who want to return to their country due to the global coronavirus crisis. “The Lebanese abroad who want to return to Lebanon after April 12 must fill in forms and a mechanism will be devised before March 30 to facilitate bank transfers to them,” Abdul Samad said in remarks reported by MTV. They should “communicate with the embassies to report their situation and needs,” Abdul Samad added.

 by globalnewshut.com -- Germaine K. Curran --PARIS: France’s Lebanese neighborhood speak about confinement throughout the pandemic and the place they might quite be France is dwelling to about 250,000 Lebanese — college students, entrepreneurs, businessmen, bankers, architects, medical doctors, surgeons, restaurateurs, hoteliers, nurses and orderlies. Arab Information requested a variety of them concerning the lockdown in France and whether or not they felt safer in France than in Lebanon. Most of these interviewed felt that the French state was extra involved with the well being and well-being of its residents and extra prepared to compensate firms for losses incurred than the Lebanese state, which is overwhelmed with chapter and money owed and is unable to make sure even the bottom requirements of residing for its residents.

Ziad Asseily, co-owner of the Liza eating places in Paris and Beirut along with his spouse Liza, is now confined to dwelling in Paris. “I used to be in Beirut and I went again to Paris to be with my spouse Liza and my daughter simply earlier than the closure of Beirut airport. I might say that I really feel safer in Paris than in Beirut for the struggle in opposition to coronavirus as a result of in France now we have a complete authorities that manages the state of affairs. In Lebanon, folks should depend on themselves to face this disaster,” he stated. “Throughout my keep in Lebanon, I met some mates who took the initiative to abide by the internationally imposed prevention measures lengthy earlier than the Lebanese authorities imposed them. Residents resorted to dwelling confinement even earlier than the federal government determined to droop worldwide flights. They understood that it was the appropriate step to take, to isolate oneself.”

by Naharnet — A Lebanese coronavirus patient died on Wednesday as four others recovered, the state-run Rafik Hariri University Hospital announced. The …