by upnewsinfo.com — Matilda Coleman — Lebanon’s political instability, failing economy, and the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed the Lebanese pound to lose 80% of its value, since August, according to the Associated Press. Many Lebanese nationals have turned to real estate during this of crisis, in a bid to safeguard their money. According to Bank Audi, in the first five months of 2020, residential real estate sales increased rose more than 50 percent, valuing the overall real estate market at $3.7 billion in May. Moreover, according to Lebanon’s General Directorate of Land Registry, real estate transactions jumped more than 16% in the first quarter of this year. However, August’s port explosion in Beirut led to an estimated 70,000 destroyed houses, 40,000 damaged buildings and 30,000 people being displaced.

Local action: The International Monetary Fund said in April that Lebanon’s economy is expected to shrink 12% in 2020. The government also announced a plan aimed at restoring positive growth in 2022 and promised assistance for the needy, yet many remain skeptical. An IMF emergency bailout for the country is also still pending approval following many rounds of negotiation. In the meantime, local non-profit organisations have been rolling up their sleeves to help rebuild their communities. Some Beirut NGOs have raised around $10 million to help reconstruct the city. Eddy Bitar is the co-founder of Live Love Lebanon, and he estimates that the destruction of residential areas could total $5 billion.

ZEINA KARAM ,Associated Press — BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s prime minister-designate resigned Saturday amid a political impasse over government formation, dealing a blow to French President Emmanuel Macron’s efforts to break a dangerous stalemate in the crisis-hit country. The announcement by Moustapha Adib nearly a month after he was appointed to the job further delays the prospect of getting the foreign economic assistance needed to rescue the country from collapse. Adib told reporters he was stepping down after it became clear that the kind of Cabinet he wished to form was “bound to fail.” The French leader has been pressing Lebanese politicians to form a Cabinet made up of non-partisan specialists that can work on enacting urgent reforms to extract Lebanon from a devastating economic and financial crisis worsened by the Aug. 4 explosion at Beirut port.

An official in Macron’s office, commenting on Adib’s resignation, described it as “a collective betrayal” by Lebanon’s political parties. “It is indispensable to have a government capable of receiving international aid. France will not abandon Lebanon,” said the official, who was not authorized to be publicly named. Macron’s office said he will hold a press conference Sunday to talk about the situation in Lebanon. Lebanon is in desperate need of financial assistance but France and other international powers have refused to provide aid before serious reforms are made. The crisis is largely blamed on decades of systematic corruption and mismanagement by Lebanon’s ruling class. But efforts by the French-supported Adib have hit multiple snags, after the country’s main Shiite groups, Hezbollah and Amal, insisted on retaining hold of the key Finance Ministry. Their insistence emerged after the U.S. administration slapped sanctions on two senior politicians close to Hezbollah, including the ex-finance minister.

by NAJIA HOUSSARI — arabnews — LEBANON: As Lebanon’s Prime Minister-designate Mustapha Adib continues his efforts to form a new government, on Friday he presented to President Michel Aoun a proposal for “distributing the ministries to various sects before setting a final formula on who will be nominated to these ministries,” sources said. The two […]

by Martin Chulov Middle East correspondent — theguardian.com — As the UAE and Bahrain prepared to sign a deal to normalise diplomatic relations with Israel this summer, Saudi Arabia – the regional heavyweight – was quietly urging them on. For several months before the deals were signed at the White House, the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, had been laying out his rationale for a pact that would overturn regional policies towards a long-term foe. There were state-of-the-art fighter jets on offer, political favours with Washington to be won and bigger, better access to Donald Trump’s America, with all the connections a nakedly transactional president saw fit to muster. There was also another inducement: if Saudi Arabia’s allies came to terms with Israel first, it would give the Kingdom cover to follow. Such a move would mark a seismic shift in the region’s geopolitics, easily eclipsing Israeli accords with Egypt in 1978 and Jordan 16 years later.

While a pact between Israel and Saudi Arabia is growing closer, Prince Mohammed is unlikely to give Trump what would be his biggest foreign policy achievement before the US election, according to three sources close to the royal court. Instead, the Kingdom is likely to continue its role of urging regional allies across the line – effectively in its s name. Sudan and Oman are firm favourites to strike a deal before the year is out. But the old guard of the region, Riyadh and Kuwait, are likely to bide their time and hold out for bigger prizes. Both countries are ruled by long-term monarchs, now well into their 80s and ailing, and both remain invested in long-term formulas for Arab-Israeli peace, which have been shredded by the region’s younger leaders, such as Prince Mohammed. Addressing the United Nations general assembly on Wednesday, the Saudi monarch, King Salman, stuck to the script of the 2002 Saudi-sponsored Arab Peace Initiative, which had been seen as a template until the past few years. “The initiative provides the basis for a comprehensive and just solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict that ensures the fraternal Palestinian people obtain their legitimate rights,” said King Salman. “At the forefront of which is establishing their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

by DR. DANIA KOLEILAT KHATIB — .arabnews — In a press briefing on Monday, ailing Lebanese President Michel Aoun, who had problems reading a scripted speech properly, answered a journalist who asked where the country was heading to if a new government was not formed. He answered with a cold tone: “We are heading to hell.” The gimmick of the formation of a new government will not save Lebanon, as French President Emmanuel Macron is promoting. The problems and the solutions do not end with Prime Minister-designate Mustapha Adib or his predecessor Hassan Diab and their Cabinets, as both men are a cover-up for a corrupt power structure that uses every maneuver possible to stay afloat.

The first maneuver is the apparent rift between the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and Hezbollah. The president’s party said it refuses Hezbollah’s claim to the finance portfolio in the next government, stating that the different ministries are not dedicated to a particular confession. However, this show of integrity will not fool a sharp observer. The accord that laid the foundation of the Hezbollah-Aoun alliance will not be broken anytime soon. The FPM is a client of Hezbollah and it is impossible for Aoun to maintain his entourage and his base of supporters without the financial support of the Iran-sponsored group. Nevertheless, as the ghost of potential sanctions comes to haunt Gebran Bassil, Aoun’s son-in-law, the apple of his eye and the head of his political party, some distancing — at least publicly — and a controlled feud are deemed necessary. This will allow for the formation of a government: A government in which Aoun will have his share and that will have the blessing of Macron, who is supposed to offer legitimacy for this botched project among the international community.

by npr.org — California will phase out the sale of all gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035 in a bid to lead the U.S. in reducing greenhouse gas emissions by encouraging the state’s drivers to switch to electric cars. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order Wednesday that amounts to the most aggressive clean-car policy in the United States. Although it bans the sale of new gas cars and trucks after the 15-year deadline, it will still allow such vehicles to be owned and sold on the used-car market. “This is the most impactful step our state can take to fight climate change,” the governor said in a statement. “Our cars shouldn’t make wildfires worse — and create more days filled with smoky air. Cars shouldn’t melt glaciers or raise sea levels threatening our cherished beaches and coastlines.”

Newsom, a Democrat, also threw his support behind a ban on petroleum fracking but called on the California Legislature to make that change. With extreme wildfires still burning in the state, Newsom says fighting climate change is an emergency. However, the state’s efforts have run afoul of the Trump administration, which has sought to revoke California’s authority to mandate zero-emission vehicles – a challenge that has landed in court. Gov. Brown’s Biggest Climate Foe Isn’t Trump. It’s Car-Loving Californians In January 2018, Gov. Jerry Brown signed an executive order setting ambitious targets of 200 hydrogen fueling stations and 250,000 electric vehicle chargers to support 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles on California roads by 2025. The number of zero-emission electric vehicles being sold in the state has been on the upswing in recent years, although they accounted for fewer than 8% of all new cars sold in California last year.

BEIRUT/PARIS (Reuters) – France backed on Wednesday a proposal by a former Lebanese prime minister that could help break a deadlock blocking formation of Lebanon’s new cabinet amid the Middle East nation’s worst crisis since its 1975-90 civil war. Paris has been pressing politicians for the quick formation of a government that will draw up reforms to tackle corruption and help attract international aid to fix an economy drowning in debt and struggling after a massive explosion at Beirut port. Lebanese Deputy Parliament Speaker Elie Ferzli said he now saw “promising possibilities” for an end to the cabinet logjam. The process of forming a cabinet hit the buffers this month after Lebanon’s two main Shi’ite Muslim parties insisted they pick some cabinet posts, including the finance minister, which has been held by a Shi’ite for years.

Prime Minister-designate Mustapha Adib, a Sunni Muslim under Lebanon’s sectarian system of power-sharing, had sought to shake up ministerial positions with a new cabinet of specialists. Former prime minister Saad al-Hariri, a leading Sunni politician, offered a way out by proposing on Tuesday that an “independent” Shi’ite candidate be named as finance minister. “This declaration represents an opening and all parties should understand its importance so that a government of mission can now be established,” the French Foreign Ministry said.

By Doreen Abi Raad • Catholic News Service BEIRUT (CNS) — Lebanese Cardinal Bechara Rai warned that the Christian presence in the Middle East is shrinking and church leaders “are called to face the winds that blow in our homelands.” The assessment by the patriarch of Maronite Catholics during a meeting of the Middle East Council of Churches executive committee Sept. 18 underscored the dire reality facing Christians in the tumultuous region. “The ship threatened by strong winds and waves” that is sinking symbolizes “the witnessing church in the sea of our Middle Eastern countries troubled by the winds of conflicts and wars, political, economic, financial and livelihood crises, and the corona epidemic,” Cardinal Rai said. The cardinal also explained at the meeting he hosted at Bkerke, the Maronite patriarchate north of Beirut, that the threat “reached its climax” in Lebanon with the catastrophic double explosion in the port of Beirut Aug. 4. The disaster left nearly 200 people dead, injured another 6,000, and displaced more than 300,000 people.

He stressed that the MECC is called in such turbulent time to work with churches and their leaders, institutions and the faithful “to face the waves and winds that ravage their homelands … with stances of faith and hope.” “We ask you, Lord, through the intercession of our Mother Virgin Mary, the star of the sea in the storm, to lead our homelands, our churches and our people to the port of safety,” Cardinal Rai pleaded. The MECC in its final statement reiterated its appeal for an end to “the destructive wars and conflicts in the Middle East, to protect human dignity, and build peace on the basis of justice and rights.” Meeting participants expressed their “deep solidarity” with the Lebanese in the “catastrophic tragedy” they are suffering from the Beirut explosions. They called for continued “ecumenical ecclesiastical efforts with all local, regional and international partners to lift the material and psychological repercussions of this tragedy.” They also expressed their solidarity with all those affected by the coronavirus pandemic, especially people who have lost loved ones, offered appreciation to medical and humanitarian aid teams, and assured their continued prayers for an end to the pandemic.

by Al Jazeera — The Lebanese army said the blast occurred in a building in the southern village of Ein Qana, about 50km (30 miles) south of the capital Beirut, on Tuesday and that it was investigating. Hezbollah members imposed a security cordon around the blast area, barring journalists from reaching it. Hezbollah’s media office […]

by arabnews.com — NAJIA HOUSSARI — BEIRUT: Lebanon is “going to hell” if it fails to form a government, the president warned on Monday. A huge explosion on Aug. 4 at the Port of Beirut led to the resignation of Prime Minister Hassan Diab and his administration. Mustapha Adib, the country’s 48-year old ambassador to Germany, was named as his replacement and tasked with assembling a new government. However his mission has stalled, not least because of a dispute over who will lead the Ministry of Finance. Hezbollah and its ally the Amal Movement want Shiite ministers in the cabinet, including the finance minister. The Free Patriotic Movement has objected to their demand and proposed naming ministers from small sects to assume key portfolios.

Lebanon “is going to hell if the situation remains as it is,” President Michel Aoun said. “Neither bullying one another will benefit, nor channeling foreign powers will help. Only understanding each other based on the constitution and balance will take us to stability and recovery. The rigidity of positions will not lead us to any result except for more aggravation, while what Lebanon needs most in light of all its successive crises is some resolution and solidarity so that it can rise and confront its problems.” An initiative from France stipulates that the government comprise specialists who are separate from the parties in power, that portfolios should be rotated, that the government be small, its work team homogeneous and that it carry out a specific reform mission. This mission, based on its implementation, would lead to crucial international aid that would bail Lebanon out of its economic and financial misery. President Emmanuel Macron gave parties a deadline to form a government. It was missed, however, and has been extended until Tuesday. Aoun proposed cancelling the sectarian distribution of key ministries, not allocating them to specific sects but making them available to all sects, and making the ability to accomplish and not sectarian affiliation as the criterion for choosing ministers.