by AFP --- BEIRUT: Lebanon’s English-language The Daily Star suspended its print edition Tuesday, the latest casualty in the collapse of the country’s once-flourishing press. The newspaper, which is co-owned by the family of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, said on its website the temporary halt of the printing presses was a result of the economic downturn. It cited “the financial challenges facing the Lebanese press which have been exacerbated by the deterioration of the economic situation in the country.” It said the temporary suspension came after “a drop to virtually no advertising revenue in the last quarter of 2019, as well as in January of this year.” In recent months, employees at the newspaper had complained of not being paid, with one departing journalist reporting in December that some were owed up to half a year in wages. A series of prominent dailies in Lebanon have disappeared from print due to funding shortages in recent years.

The Daily Star is the latest media outlet linked to the former premier to be struggling. In September last year, Hariri announced the suspension of Future TV, his ailing mouthpiece whose employees had been on strike over unpaid wages. In January 2019, the Hariri family’s Al-Mustaqbal newspaper issued its last print version, 20 years after it was established. Saudi Oger, a once-mighty construction firm that was the basis of the Hariri business empire, collapsed in 2017, leaving thousands jobless. Hariri stepped down as prime minister in late October following unprecedented natio

By BASSEM MROUE and KATHY McCORMACK -- BEIRUT (AP) — A military investigative judge charged a Lebanese-American man with murder and torture of Lebanese citizens Tuesday, crimes he allegedly committed during Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon, judicial officials said. The accusations could carry a death sentence. Amer Fakhoury is accused of working as a senior warden at Khiam Prison, which was run by an Israel-backed Lebanese militia. The prison has been described by human rights groups as a center for torture. He was detained in September after he returned to his native Lebanon from the U.S., and Lebanon's intelligence service says he confessed during questioning to being a warden. However, Fakhoury's lawyer and family in New Hampshire say that, while he was indeed a member of the Israel-backed militia and worked at the prison, they insist he had no direct contact with inmates and was never involved in the interrogation or torture of prisoners

Fakhoury, 57, is also undergoing cancer treatment, and it remains unclear if he'll be able to stand trial. The restaurant owner from Dover, New Hampshire, became a U.S. citizen last year. “We have a dying American citizen there," said his lawyer, Celine Atallah. “By keeping him there, it's evident they're trying to kill him." The Lebanese judicial officials said Tuesday that the judge, Najat Abu Shakra, referred Fakhoury for trial in a military court. No date was set for the tribunal. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The officials said Abu Shakra charged Fakhoury with "murder and attempted murder of prisoners inside Khiam Prison as well as kidnapping and torture." The prison, run by the so-called South Lebanon Army, was abandoned after Israeli forces pulled out of southern Lebanon in 2000, ending an 18-year occupation.

by middleeastmonitor.com -- Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab has today signed off on the 2020 state budget and referred the plan to President Michel Aoun, with 49 members of parliament voting for the budget, while 13 voted against and eight abstained. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri signed off on the budget earlier today while MPs from Saad Hariri’s Future Movement bloc voted against the budget, despite heading the government that originally drafted the plan. MPs from the Lebanese Forces and Kataeb Party boycotted today’s session over the unconstitutionality of a government yet to gain a vote of confidence from the legislature, adopting a budget that was drafted by a fallen government. The 17-page statement was initially passed by the parliament on 27 January, despite the session being surrounded by anti-government protesters determined to prevent MPs from convening. The plan, approved by Berri today, provides between three and 100-day deadlines to carry out the policy proposals, forecasting a six per cent deficit, plans a $700 million reduction in spending, and intends to maintain public services. However, Lawmaker Ibrahim Kanaan, chairman of the Finance and budget Parliamentary Commission, said there are concerns that projected revenues from the budget might not be realistic after three months of political deadlock has led the country into its worst economic crisis since the end of the civil war in 1990.

BEIRUT, (Xinhua) — Lebanese banks on Monday slashed by 50 percent the U.S. currency amount allowed to be withdrawn by depositors from …