Lebanon's parliament session on government's fate will not lead to new president

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By Jamie Prentis | Nada Homsi  -- thenationalnews.com -- A Lebanese parliamentary session scheduled for Thursday will be a formality following the departure of President Michel Aoun on Monday night, as senior leaders hold background negotiations to find his successor and end a widening leadership vacuum. Before his departure from the Baabda presidential palace on Sunday, Mr Aoun signed a decree recognising the resignation of the current Cabinet. He also sent a letter to parliament notifying them of the government’s resignation. In the letter, Mr Aoun called on parliament to “take the necessary measures or decisions to prevent things from deviating in a direction that is not in the interest of the country”.

Lebanon's Gebran Bassil calls for consensus president as government vacuum looms The letter also called for caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati to resign, stating that he is “uninterested” in forming a new government. But the present government had already gone into caretaker status following Lebanon’s May 15 parliamentary elections. Although parliament could technically dismiss the prime minister with a two-thirds vote, Mr Aoun’s last-minute decree means little, said constitutional expert Wissam Lahham. Parliament is not constitutionally permitted to designate another prime minister. Only a president can do so. “Aoun demanded that we should take away the premiership from Mikati but of course they can’t choose another premier when there is no president any more,” Mr Lahham said. “They can’t do anything. Of course, the government will continue as it is.”

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Lebanon’s outgoing president leaves behind power vacuum, slams judiciary, political opponents (video)

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By Najia Houssari -- arabnews.com -- BEIRUT: Lebanon’s outgoing head of state Michel Aoun on Sunday launched a blistering attack on his political opponents and the country’s judiciary as he bowed out of the presidential palace. In a speech, the departing president said he was leaving behind, “a robbed country, a worn-out state, and institutions that no longer have any value.” Exiting one day before his mandate expired without a designated successor — deepening the country’s political crisis — he blasted the judiciary for failing to do its job and accused judges of taking bribes. He also blamed opponents for preventing him from bringing to justice Lebanon’s Central Bank Gov. Riad Salameh — who is being investigated in several European countries, including Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein for alleged money laundering and embezzlement — who he described as “the perpetrator of all financial crimes.”

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Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the government would continue to carry out all of its constitutional duties, in caretaker mode, in accordance with the provisions of the constitution and regulations. And he claimed influential people had blocked attempts to investigate the deadly Beirut port explosion saying the head of the Supreme Judicial Council had not wanted to appoint anyone to look into the disaster. In addition, Aoun announced that he had signed a final decree formalizing the resignation of Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s caretaker government, exacerbating a months-long power struggle that has paralyzed the government. In a letter to parliament, he called on it not to entrust the caretaker government with the powers of the president, since it had failed to elect a new president within the constitutional deadline. “This government lacks popular legitimacy and thus, constitutional legitimacy,” Aoun said. He also demanded that parliament swiftly select another prime minister-designate to form a government before the presidential term officially ended at midnight on Monday.

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Lebanese divas Elissa, Haifa Wehbe to perform together in Riyadh

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by arabnews.com -- DUBAI: When Lebanese superstars Haifa Wehbe and Elissa started their illustrious careers it would have been unthinkable for either to perform in Saudi Arabia, let alone on the same stage, but now the divas will join forces for their first-ever collaborative performance — and it is set to take Riyadh by storm on Oct. 28. For the latest updates, follow us on Instagram @arabnews.lifestyle Fans seem to be excited about the collaboration, with bronze and silver tickets having sold out. The gig is part of Riyadh Season and will see the singing icons, both with two decades of hits under their designer belts, perform a number of their chart-topping songs. “Can’t wait to see all of you on the 28th of October with my beautiful friend Haifa Wehbe in Riyadh Season,” Elissa wrote to her 18.8 million Instagram followers.

The stars’ supporters quickly took to social media to express their excitement for the highly anticipated concert. “Can’t wait,” wrote one user. Another said: “It will be the night of a lifetime and there is nothing better than Haifa and Elissa being together. (It is) a concert for history to be honest.” This year’s Riyadh Season boasts 15 zones with over 8,500 activities, including 108 interactive experiences, eight international shows, 17 Arabic plays, 252 restaurants and cafes, daily fireworks and more than 150 concerts.

Man dies of heart attack during Lebanese TV show probing corruption

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by english.alaraby.co.uk -- A Lebanese man accused of smuggling subsidised goods out of the country had a heart attack and died live on-air Friday night as he was being questioned on a TV show. Shukrallah Maalouf, a businessman who deals with animal fodder was a guest on a show on Lebanon’s Al Jadeed TV that exposes corruption cases called "Yaskot Hokm al-Fasid", or "Down With The Rule of the Corrupt", hosted by a team of investigative journalists. While being confronted by journalists Riad Kobaissi and Hadi al-Amine with voice recordings of himself, Maalouf seemed to have fallen to the ground. People present started calling out his name to wake him up. His family later said he died, according to local media reports. "Our target isn’t Shukrallah Maalouf, our target is to know who is facilitating this issue [smuggling] for him at the Economy Ministry," Kobaissi said after the live broadcast cut off with Maalouf. "We told him that the only way out for him was to come [on the show] and tell the truth, tell us who was helping him at the Economy Ministry, and he agreed to cooperate and said he is willing to return all the money to the state and admit who was assisting him," added Kobaissi, known for his fiery character.

In a series of previous episodes of the popular television show that has focused on scandals related to subsidies, Maalouf had been accused of benefitting from Lebanon’s financial meltdown by smuggling goods out of the country in collaboration with other traders on the black market, as well as collusion by the Economy Ministry. Lebanese for years have blasted the government and authorities for not doing enough to stop the smuggling of essentials such as fuel, wheat and medicine - which for decades had been subsidised - across the border to war-torn Syria and other destinations. Subsidies have gradually been lifted by the cash-strapped Central Bank, as Lebanese reel under hyperinflation and a currency which has lost 90% of its value since late 2019. Billions of US dollars have been spent on these subsidies in the past three years, while depositors are unable to access their frozen savings at the banks.

Michel Aoun, Lebanon's president who 'never gives up'

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Beirut (AFP) – When Michel Aoun became president in 2016, putting an end to a two-year power vacuum due to political wrangling, he vowed to be the "strong" president Lebanon so desperately needed. But as his mandate draws to a close next week, the country is reeling from an unprecedented economic crisis, with Beirut having been ravaged in 2019 by one of the world's biggest non-nuclear explosions. The blast was preceded by a 2019 mass protest movement that demanded Aoun's departure, along with the rest of Lebanon's entrenched ruling class. "The presidency was a disappointment, even for him," said his nephew, lawmaker Alain Aoun. Yet the 88-year-old leader has repeatedly refused to step down or quit politics, even announcing that he would continue his political fight within his party, the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), upon leaving office. The former army chief ran for the presidency on a platform of fighting corruption, vowing to become "everyone's father", a uniting leader in a country where power is divided among sects. But he also ran on a sectarian agenda, promising to defend Christian "rights", after the community lost some of its political power at the end of the civil war.

In 2019, mass protests gripped the country as it plunged into a financial crisis dubbed one of the world's worst in recent history by the World Bank. The Beirut port explosion of 2020 further compounded anger against Lebanese leaders blamed for their negligence after tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertiliser caught fire and detonated, killing over 200 people and leaving large swathes of the capital destroyed. "He was subjected to a financial and economic atomic bomb and the explosion in Beirut," his nephew said of Aoun. "Even if he was not responsible for this, he found himself on the frontline."

'To hell'

A short, stocky man who presents himself as Lebanon's saviour, Aoun has often responded to popular discontent with detachment. Amid the nationwide protests in 2019, he went as far as telling Lebanese they should emigrate if they are unhappy from the country he said was headed "to hell". Those formerly in his close circle said he was stuck in denial, with one source painting a picture of a power-hungry leader whose "destructive ambition" meant he was "ready to do anything to become president".

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I'm building a life in the UAE that I can't share with my Lebanese family

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by Fatima Al Mahmoud thenationalnews.com -- -- In May 2021, my life changed when I made the decision to move from Lebanon to the UAE. It wasn’t an easy choice, but it was the obvious one. After an economic collapse, a pandemic and one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history, there was only so much more I could take. I began interviewing for my current job at The National immediately after the Beirut blast. Aside from wanting to join an esteemed news organisation, I also really wanted a way out of Lebanon. I remember the editors sensing my despair when my internet completely failed me during our second-stage interview. I made it absolutely clear that I wanted to relocate. Of course I dreaded having to leave my family behind to pursue my career. In fact, it’s one of the toughest things I’ve had to do, but one thing brought me solace — I'd think to myself, they can always come visit. Little did I know, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

The plan was for me to move, get my residency and find a house before brining my mother over to help me get settled in. She was meant to help me furnish the apartment from scratch, teach me a few recipes and maybe even cook a few of my favourite meals that I can keep frozen for when I’m craving a taste of home. But for more than a year now, she has been on an endless waiting list to get her Lebanese passport renewed, and the end is far from near. A lack of funds has crippled Lebanon’s public sector and made it increasingly difficult for people to obtain new travel documents. The earliest available appointment on the General Security’s website is in 2024, with thousands of people waiting for their turn after the demand for a passport surged over the past two years. Many are calling my home country an "open-air prison". Somehow it feels fitting. Lebanon's inability to issue passports is only one outcome of decades of corruption and mismanagement.

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