by reuters.com — BEIRUT (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron began his trip to Beirut on Monday by visiting Fairouz, one of the Arab world’s most famous singers whose haunting voice has been Lebanon’s soundtrack from its glamorous heyday through its conflicts and latest trauma. Anger at Lebanon’s political elite over an economic meltdown and this month’s devastating port blast was evident as Macron arrived at the home of the 85-year old artist, feted as a national treasure and symbol of peace, transcending factional and sectarian divides in Lebanon and beyond. Protesters were seen in live television broadcasts gathered outside, carrying placards reading “No cabinet by, or with, the murderers” and “Don’t be on the wrong side of history!”.

Before stepping inside, Macron acknowledged them with a slight bow. Some were screaming “Adib No”, referring to new prime minister Mustapha Adib who was named by Lebanese leaders on Monday under French pressure. Macron is visiting Beirut for the second time in less than a month to press for a new government made up of experts untainted by corruption and capable of rooting out graft, waste and negligence as well as rebuilding after the Aug. 4 explosion that wrecked swathes of Beirut, killing 190 people. Songs by Fairouz dedicated to Beirut played on loop by local broadcasters showing images of the blast and its aftermath.

by middleeasteye.net — Lebanon’s ambassador to Germany Mustapha Adib is poised to be designated prime minister on Monday after winning the support of major parties to form a new government facing a crippling financial crisis and the aftermath of the Beirut port explosion. The nomination followed contacts by French President Emmanuel Macron over the last 48 hours to press Lebanese leaders to agree on a candidate, two senior Lebanese officials said, just ahead of a visit by the French leader to Lebanon this week. Macron has taken centre stage in international efforts to get Lebanon’s fractious leaders to start addressing a financial crisis that had devastated the economy even before the August 4 port blast that killed some 190 people. A French presidency source said Macron had been in contact by phone with the main protagonists on Saturday and Sunday. “The president is informed of the negotiations underway in Beirut,” the source said. Macron arrives in Beirut late on Monday.

Last week, contacts among Lebanese leaders to agree a new prime minister were deadlocked. One of the two senior Lebanese sources said Macron’s role had been essential in clinching the agreement on Adib. The previous government led by Hassan Diab quit on August 10 over the port blast in which a massive amount of unsafely stored chemicals detonated. Adib has a doctorate in law and political science and previously served as an adviser to Najib Mikati, a former prime minister. He has served as ambassador to Germany since 2013. The post of prime minister must go to a Sunni Muslim in Lebanon’s sectarian system. Adib’s candidacy won vital political backing on Sunday from former prime ministers including Saad al-Hariri, who heads the biggest Sunni party, the Future Movement.

by thearabweekly — PARIS- Lebanese novelist Dima Abdallah won the prestigious French prize “Envoyé par La Poste” for the year 2020 for her first novel “Mauvaises Herbes” (Bad Weeds), which narrates events of the Lebanese civil war through the eyes of a young girl and her father. Abdallah, 43, an archaeologist who specialises in late antiquity, will receive the award and a 2,500 euro prize on September 8 at La Poste’s Museum. Created by the French public postal service company La Poste, the “Envoyé par La Poste” prize rewards a manuscript (the first novel or story) sent by mail, without any specific recommendation, that is deemed by the publisher and their reading committee to have the most promise and merit publication.

by reuters — BEIRUT: The Lebanese presidency will convene consultations with parliamentary blocs on Monday to designate a new prime minister, the presidency said, after the government quit earlier this month following the catastrophic explosion at Beirut port. Lebanon’s fractious sectarian parties have so far failed to agree on who should lead the next government. […]

by reuters — PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron will head to Beirut next week to pressure local politicians into pressing ahead with the creation of a government that can implement urgent reforms, a French presidential official said on Friday. “The president has said it he will not give up. He made a commitment to do […]

 Canada’s foreign minister pushed for Lebanon’s president to pursue economic and political reforms as he expressed Canadian solidarity with the embattled Lebanese people. Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne met face to face Thursday with Lebanese President Michel Aoun in Beirut, before taking a close-up look at the burned-out hulk of the city’s decimated port. “My […]

by reuters — BEIRUT ― Lebanese banks that cannot increase their capital by 20 per cent by the end of February 2021 will have to get out of the market, Central Bank governor Riad Salameh told Reuters yesterday. Those leaving would do so by giving their shares to the central bank, Salameh added. He said he could not speculate how many of Lebanon’s nearly 40 banks would exit the market. “We hope all the banks will meet the criteria,” he said in a phone interview. “But after February, those who do not will have to get out of the market…The deposits will be preserved because the bank will not be put into a bankruptcy situation.” The central bank’s foreign currency reserves stand at US$19.5 billion (RM81 billion) and obligatory reserve at US$17.5 billion, he said. Lebanon’s cash-strapped banks have frozen savers out of their dollar deposits and largely blocked transfers abroad since late last year as the country sank into a financial meltdown on a scale it has never seen.

The central bank wants domestic banks to boost liquidity at their correspondent banks abroad, with which they do not have sufficient funds, Salameh said. The state, one of the world’s most indebted, defaulted on its foreign currency debt in March, citing critically low reserves. Inflation and poverty have soared as the crisis wiped out the value of the local currency on the informal market. With the country running out of dollars, the central bank has kept providing foreign currency for fuel, wheat and medicine imports at an official peg. Salameh told Reuters he could not say how long the central bank could keep subsidising essential imports which is “depleting reserves”. He has been cited as saying the bank cannot use its obligatory reserve to finance trade once it reaches the threshold. “We are not about to float the currency and therefore for the time being we are living with these two exchange rates,” he said, adding that this decision also lies with the government.

CNA Staff (CNA).- The Maronite Catholic Patriarch of Antioch has said an international court may need to examine the circumstances that led to a massive explosion in Beirut on August 4. Speaking to media on Aug. 26 after a visit to a Catholic school in Beirut, Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai said that while the Lebanese judiciary must look into the explosion, “if it fails, we must go to the international court.” Boutros called the explosion, which killed at least 180 people and injured thousands, “a major crime and a crime against humanity. After six years of the presence of deadly substances, no one moves a finger. It is unacceptable. They do not have the right to remain idle.”

Thousands of people were left homeless by the explosion, which destroyed entire streets. The Beirut neighborhood of Gemmayze, where the cardinal visited the school Wednesday, was hit particularly hard. The explosion originated after a warehouse storing tonnes of the explosive material ammonium nitrate, fireworks, and other flammable materials, caught fire. The explosive materials had been stored in the warehouse, seemingly unprotected, since 2013. The initial fire is believed to have started from a welding mishap.

by middleeastmonitor.com — French President Emmanuel Macron has sent a roadmap to Lebanese politicians outlining political and financial reforms needed to unlock foreign aid and rescue the country from multiple crises including an economic meltdown, Reuters reports. The two-page “concept paper” delivered by the French ambassador to Beirut, and seen by Reuters, laid out detailed measures, many of them long demanded by foreign donors. They include an audit of the central bank, appointment of an interim government capable of enacting urgent reforms, and early legislative elections within a year. A French Foreign Ministry official declined comment. Macron’s Elysee office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Lebanon’s now-caretaker government, which took office in January with the support of the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement and its allies, failed to make progress in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout due to inaction on reforms and a dispute over the size of financial losses. The government resigned over this month’s huge Beirut port explosion that killed at least 180 people, injured some 6,000 and destroyed entire neighbourhoods, and renewed protests against a political elite over endemic corruption and mismanagement that has led to a deep financial crisis. “The priority must go to the rapid formation of a government, to avoid a power vacuum which will leave Lebanon to sink further into the crisis,” the French paper reads.

BEIRUT (UrduPoint News / Sputnik ) Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said on Tuesday he will not participate in the race to become the head of the government again and said his name should be removed from the list of candidates. “I claim that do not run for the prime minister’s post and call on everyone to remove my name from the list of candidates,” Hariri said, as quoted by the state-run NNA news agency. The former prime minister has explained his decision by the presence of a number of political forces in the country that refuse to recognize that there is a critical situation in Lebanon and it has caused by multiple reasons, including the long-standing economic crisis. “They see only an opportunity in the situation to take an advantage of power in their own interests,” Hariri added. Hariri has also called on the local authorities to accept international assistance to help restore the Lebanese capital following the recent powerful explosion, as well as to conduct reforms and lead the country out of the crisis.