npr.org — DEBORAH AMOS — In Lebanon, cyberspace is the new battle ground between protesters and the security services that have increased measures to curb dissent, intimidating and arresting government critics for online speech. Since October, Lebanese citizens have gathered to protest around the country, uniting across party and sectarian lines against an entrenched political oligarchy that protesters say has made fortunes mostly from government funds at the expense of the country. The massive outpouring was sparked by a proposed tax on calls made through Internet services such as WhatsApp. The government abandoned the tax after protesters paralyzed the country, forcing banks and schools to close. Now, the authorities use WhatsApp to identify protest leaders and arrest them, activists and lawyers say. In the first months of civil disobedience, Lebanon’s mainstream media outlets — largely owned by the state, political parties or politicians — downplayed the unrest, ignored it or suggested the protests were exploited by regional and international enemies. Activists turned to social media platforms to get out their message. They organized and shared updates on WhatsApp, streamed protests live on Twitter and highlighted police abuse on Instagram. New podcasts documenting corruption also launched with the protest movement.

New cat-and-mouse game

Many Lebanese use WhatsApp, a Facebook-owned cellphone app that allows users to send each other encrypted text and voice messages as well as make calls for free, in a country where ordinary phone calls are expensive. Many demonstrators have used WhatsApp chat groups to criticize the government, call protesters to the streets and share videos of arrests and injuries from rubber bullets. The social media and WhatsApp activities also leave activists vulnerable to surveillance by the Internal Security Forces’ Cybercrimes Bureau. Mohamad Najem, executive director of the Social Media Exchange, a Beirut-based digital rights group, says there is a “different kind of cat-and-mouse” game. “Social media is being used as a tool to identify protesters and to know who they are and their networks and all that,” he says. Lebanon’s print media, its newspapers and magazines, are protected by laws that are the envy of the Arab world, but comments posted to social media have little protection, says Najem. “The law is bad, it’s a lot of gray area. It really depends on the mood of the general prosecutor, what he’s doing, what kind of whiskey he is drinking at night, who is talking to him,” he says. “All these issues are really how the decisions processes are made in this country.”

By Dale Gavlak — AMMAN – Lebanon’s government has officially defaulted on its payment of a $1.2 billion Eurobond debt due Monday. This marks the first default in Lebanon’s financial history, as it copes with dwindling foreign currency reserves and inflation running into double digits. In the past, the country once known as the Switzerland of the Middle East managed to repay debt, despite civil war and political unrest. But now it faces the challenge of securing loans amid global economic issues and the coronavirus outbreak. The situation has left many Lebanese concerned, said Habib Malik of the Lebanese American University. The national news agency says 41 coronavirus cases have been reported in Lebanon, one of several Middle Eastern countries grappling with the infection and its economic implications. “People are very, very nervous,” Malik said. “If a global economic recession is going to kick in because of this epidemic, then this will simply mean that there will be less money for countries like Lebanon, ailing for other reasons. “Right now, the Diab government is being very honest and realistic with the people and the debtors that Lebanon would like to negotiate a restructuring of the debts. In the next couple of weeks, we will see the representatives of the debtors and the Lebanese government come together to try work out a deal. It’s going to be slow and rough going,” Malik added.

by Associated Press — Beirut: Lebanon’s prime minister has said the government will suspend payment of $1.2 billion in loans, marking the crisis-hit country’s first-ever default on its sovereign debt amid ongoing popular unrest. Hassan Diab made the announcement in a televised address to the Lebanese people, saying the country will seek to restructure its massive debt. The $1.2 billion Eurobond matures on Monday. The default marks a new chapter in the crisis and could have severe repercussions on the tiny country, risking legal action by lenders that could further aggravate and push Lebanon’s economy toward financial collapse. The currency has already lost up to 60 per cent of its value on the dollar on the black market and banks have imposed crippling capital controls on cash withdrawals and transfers.

Diab said Lebanon’s debt reached $90 billion or 170 per cent of GDP, making it one of the highest in the world. He added that the total debt and interest Lebanon had to pay back in 2020 is at $4.6 billion “Lebanon’s debt is greater than the country can handle,” he said. By saying that Lebanon will suspend paying back the debt rather than directly saying it will not pay it, Diab’s government appeared to be keeping the door open for negotiations with creditors. Late last month, the government appointed Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP as a legal adviser on the country’s Eurobond debt and financial advisory and asset management firm Lazard as a financial adviser. Diab said Lebanon’s foreign currency reserves “have reached a critical stage” leading the government to suspend its debt payment so that it can continue to provide basic commodities to the Lebanese people. “The decision to suspend payment is the only way to stop the attrition and protect our national interests, while at the same time launching a comprehensive reform program,” Diab said.

Bassam Za za, Special to Gulf News — Beirut: Loujain Adada, a well-known Lebanese supermodel and TV presenter, has tested positive for coronavirus following a trip to Britain. The news was reported in various Arabic news outlets. In even more grim news, her two daughters also tested positive. With this, the number of coronavirus cases in Lebanon has gone up to 22. Lebanese Public Health Ministry officials said the woman had just returned from the UK, without naming Adada. On Wednesday, Lebanese health officials had said there were 15 cases, including a 14-year-old girl, all of whom were being quarantined at the Rafik Hariri University Hospital (RHUH). One of the cases discovered on Wednesday was of a man who visited Egypt. “The woman [Adada] suffered high fever and other respiratory symptoms that were bit similar to the coronavirus signs … she was suspected to be suffering from coronavirus disease so we transferred her to the government-appointed hospital [RHUH] as all suspected cases are being referred to it,” an administrator at the American University of Beirut Medical Centre (AUBMC) told Gulf News.

“She was transferred to RHUH for diagnosis and further isolation and treatment measures,” read AUBMC’s media statement on Thursday. Adada married Saudi billionaire businessman Walid Juffali at a Venice ceremony in 2012. Dr Hamad Hassan, Lebanese Minister of Public Health, said hospitals were prepared to tackle coronavirus in the country. All the patients so far were those coming from affected countries or were infected through “close contact” with a family member or neighbour, he said. All patients with Covid-19 are being treated at RHUH, according to Dr Hassan, and more than 140 beds have been designated to isolate and monitor suspected cases.

by bbc.com —Three senior members of Saudi Arabia’s royal family, including the king’s brother, have been arrested for unexplained reasons, US media report. Two of the men were among the kingdom’s most influential figures. The detentions have been linked to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. In 2017 dozens of Saudi royal figures, ministers and businessmen were confined to the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh after the crown prince ordered their arrests. Mohammed bin Salman is considered the de facto ruler of the kingdom, after he was named crown prince by his father in 2016. The detentions took place early on Friday morning, report the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. The three men arrested are the king’s younger brother Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, former crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef, and a royal cousin, Prince Nawaf bin Nayef. Mohammed bin Nayef was interior minister until he was removed from his role and placed under house arrest by Mohammed Bin Salman in 2017.

By Tom Perry – Reuters — BEIRUT (1) – The Lebanese central bank instructed overseas trade dealers on Friday they need to not purchase foreign currency at costs more than 30% past the charges set by the central bank, searching for to carry down the worth being paid for arduous foreign money. The Lebanese pound, pegged in opposition to the greenback on the rate of 1,507.5 kilos for more than 20 years, has slumped because the nation descended right into a monetary disaster final October. Primarily based on the present peg, the central bank’s instruction means foreign money dealers ought to not pay more than round 2,000 kilos for a greenback, in contrast with the two,630 kilos one seller mentioned he was providing for a greenback on Friday. The central bank mentioned overseas foreign money dealers ought to chorus from any commerce that did not stick to this share it had set. The choice applies for six months. It marked the second try since January to management the worth being paid for arduous foreign money by overseas trade dealers. Lebanon’s union of trade dealers mentioned in January it had determined to set the rate at a most of two,000 Lebanese kilos to the greenback in settlement with the central bank governor – a value that did not maintain.

BEIRUT (Reuters) by Samia Nakhoul, Tom Perry — The Lebanese government must swallow its misgivings and reach a rescue deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or risk economic implosion and further turmoil, economists, diplomats and politicians said. Privately, some government officials acknowledge that an IMF bailout is the most logical solution to Lebanon’s economic crisis, according to a source familiar with ongoing discussions. But to get such a rescue program in place, the new government would have to overcome the objections of Hezbollah, the powerful Iranian-backed power broker in Prime Minister Hassan Diab’s cabinet and its Christian and Shi’ite allies, who are concerned about the austerity measures an IMF rescue would involve.

As Lebanon’s financial crisis drags on and government revenues dwindle, the bill to rescue the country is rising. Former economy minister and ex-vice central bank governor Nasser Saidi estimates the economy will need $30 billion, and an additional $25 billion to recapitalise a banking system in hock to the state. “Lebanon needs external liquidity both for the balance of payments but also for the government,” Saidi said. “That’s why the external package and the IMF reform program which comes with all the associated reforms which we need is so necessary”. A $1.2 billion payment on a Eurobond is falling due on March 9 and even though Lebanon is widely expected to restructure its foreign-currency-denominated debt that is unlikely to be enough to deal with the total debt burden, economists and analysts say.

Al Jazeera by Timour Azhari — Beirut, Lebanon – A judge in Lebanon has suspended a decision by a financial prosecutor to freeze the assets of 20 banks and their chairmen and boards of directors The judge, Ghassan Oueidat, said late on Thursday he has issued a stay of the prosecutor’s order so he could study its effects on the country’s monetary situation, bank transactions, depositors’ money, and economic security. The prosecutor, Judge Ali Ibrahim, earlier on Thursday ordered the assets of the banks, their executives and boards of directors to be frozen as part of an investigation into billions of dollars transferred out of the cash-strapped nation.

Ibrahim’s order came amid a worsening economic and financial spiral that has Lebanon staring down the barrel of defaulting on a Eurobond repayment due next week. An acute foreign currency shortage has seen the Lebanese pound devalue on parallel markets to lows unprecedented since it was pegged to the US dollar in 1993. Lebanon’s economy is dependent on inflows of foreign currency from its large diaspora, but they have dried up as the country descends deeper into a crisis rooted in corruption, government mismanagement, a dilapidated power sector that bleeds billions and the civil war next door in Syria. The dollar shortage has made the scenario of a default on the country’s enormous $87bn public debt – the third highest in the world compared with its gross domestic product (GDP) – increasingly likely.

The cabinet will meet on Saturday to decide whether to make good on a much-anticipated $1.2bn Eurobond repayment due on March 9. “Given the negotiations on the Eurobonds with the banks, [Ibrahim’s] decision can be seen as a pressure tool on them to accept government conditions,” Jad Chaaban, an associate professor of economics at the American University of Beirut, told Al Jazeera. A senior banking source told Al Jazeera that they view the decision as a further attempt by politicians to shift blame for the country’s dire situation onto banks and away from a political class that has ruled Lebanon since its 1975-90 civil war. “There is political pressure on the judge to do this. It’s as if we are the ones who stole money and hired thousands of people, and wrecked the electricity sector and wasted money on deals. It’s a scapegoat,” the source said.

by reuters — A majority of Lebanese Parliament members oppose paying looming Eurobond maturities, even if that leads to default, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said on Wednesday. The announcement compounded doubts over whether the heavily indebted country will meet a March 9 repayment deadline. Lebanon is facing an unprecedented economic and financial crisis, which came to a head last year as capital inflows slowed and protests erupted against the ruling elite. Its next debt maturity is a $1.2bn Eurobond due on March 9.

Senior sources close to two of the main parties that back the government – the powerful Hezbollah, and Berri’s Amal Movement – told Reuters news agency that the government was expected to announce a decision not to pay on Friday or Saturday and enter negotiations with bondholders. A source close to the other main backer of the government – the Free Patriotic Movement, founded by President Michel Aoun – said such a declaration may happen unless foreign bondholders made a good offer in time. Berri, one of Lebanon’s most influential leaders, made his comments at a weekly meeting of members of Parliament. “We are with any measure the government takes apart from paying,” Ali Bazzi, a lawmaker from Berri’s parliamentary bloc, cited him as saying.

by naharnet.com — The Lebanese Embassy in Rome called in a statement on all Lebanese nationals in Italy to exercise caution and follow the general precaution guidelines facing the widespread of COVID-19 disease, the National News Agency reported on Tuesday. NNA said the embassy advised Lebanese residing in Italy to avoid travel to Lebanon at […]