BEIRUT Reuters Tom Arnold — Lebanese consumers feeling the pinch from rising living costs amid an economic crisis are likely to be squeezed even tighter as more local pounds and less U.S. dollars come into circulation, pushing up inflation. Lebanon has long relied on a steady flow of dollars from its overseas diaspora to help fund its financial system. But that has been choked off as faith in the political elite crumbled. People have been hit by what economists estimate is a 30% annual rise in inflation during the crisis that escalated in October. The pound has collapsed against the U.S. dollar in the parallel market and a liquidity crunch has bitten. That slashed consumer purchasing power and prompted some to withdraw pounds from banks as unofficial capital controls shattered confidence in the banking system and restricted access to dollars.

Arlette Mattar, 54, a midwife and mother of three, has cut back to basics, eliminating sweets and restricting purchases of items like tissues and toiletries. “The cost of living is high now,” she said outside a supermarket in a middle-class Beirut neighbourhood. “Now when I shop I get only what I need.” While the pound, pegged against the dollar for 22 years, is the official currency, the greenback has long been used as an alternative for transactions. Some consumers who were buying with dollars say they now use pounds. “Today you know the most important thing is food, it is necessary for one to live, so this affected all Lebanese families,” said a beautician and mother of two who asked only to be identified by her surname, Boutros. She had tightened spending on goods like cleaning products. The Lebanese economy relies on imports.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon’s new government must reassure international donors it is serious about reforms to tackle a financial crisis as it looks initially to secure up to $5 billion in soft loans for basic goods, its finance minister said on Thursday. The government that took office on Tuesday faces an emergency in which banks have imposed controls, the Lebanese pound has weakened and protesters have turned to violence which a senior U.N. official described as “politically manipulated”. “The entire international community has its eye on what this government will do,” Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni said in televised comments. “What is its programme, what are the reform steps, is it ready for support or no?” Lebanon is looking to secure $4 billion to $5 billion in soft loans from international donors to finance purchases of wheat, fuel and medicines, The Daily Star newspaper had earlier quoted the minister as saying. “This injection will cover the country’s needs for one year,” said Wazni.

Bank restrictions on access to cash, inflation and job losses have hit people hard. Increasingly violent though more limited protests have replaced jubilant demonstrations against a political elite blamed for driving Lebanon towards collapse. Interior minister Mohammed Fahmi said the state would not tolerate attacks on security forces who he said would protect people’s rights, including freedom of expression. On Wednesday, protesters broke stone slabs off buildings in a luxury commercial district of Beirut to hurl at barricades guarded by security forces blocking paths to parliament. “This looks more like a political manipulation to provoke the security forces, to undermine civil peace, to fan up sectarian strife,” Jan Kubis, U.N. special coordinator for Lebanon, wrote on Twitter, mentioning attacks on security forces and vandalism of state institutions and private property. The new government was set up with backing from the powerful Iran-backed group Hezbollah and its political allies. Major political parties that have Western backing, including that of former premier Saad al-Hariri, are not part of the cabinet.

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  -هذه انتفاضةٌ على كلِّ شيءٍ لأنَّ المواطنين يَنقُصهم كلُّ شيء. وهذه نقمةٌ على جميعِ المسؤولين لأن هؤلاءِ أَهملوا حقوقَ الناسِ مدى ثلاثينَ سنة. ليلةَ 14 تموز 1789، هَروَل الدوق “دو لاروشفوكو” يُبلغ الملِكَ لويس السادس عشر بسقوطِ الـــ”باستيل” فقال له الملِك: “ما هي إلا انتفاضة”، فأجابه الدوق: “بل هي الثورة”. دَهاءُ الثوراتِ أن تُرهِبَ السلطةَ من دونِ أن تُخيفَ الشعب. لذا، كلّما انحرفت الثورةُ في لبنان نحو العنف، بَطُلت أن تكونَ كذلك وأَصبحت “أحداثًا” يُـحَلَّلُ ردعُها. بالمناسبةِ، كان يُستحسنُ بمجلسِ الأمنِ المركزيِّ (20/01) استعمالُ كلمةً أخرى غيرَ “الردع”، فاستذكارُ “قوّاتِ الردع” ممزوجٌ بالحربِ والدمعِ…

مرتكزاتُ لبنان سَقطت، وما بقي منها غيرُ كافٍ ليبقى لبنانُ كما هو شكلًا وضمونًا: لبنانُ الكبير ضَربَته الديمغرافيا. الاستقلالُ ضَربه الانحيازُ. السيادةُ ضربَها تداولُ الاحتلالات. الوِحدةُ الوطنيّةُ ضَربَتها القوميّاتُ المتضارِبة. الدستورُ ضَربَه التخطّي والتعليق. الهويّةُ ضَربها انتحالُ الصِفة. الصيغةُ ضَربها تَعدّدُ الولاءات. المساواةُ ضَربها السلاح. التعدديّةُ الحضاريّةُ ضَربها اتّساعُ الفوارقِ في أنماطِ الحياة. اتفاقُ الطائفِ ضَربه التباسُ موادِّه وسوءُ التطبيق. الديمقراطيّةُ ضَربتها التوافقيّة المعطِّلة. النظامُ الليبراليُّ الاقتصاديُّ والماليُّ ضَربه اختلالٌ في قطاعاتِه وجشعُ أركانِه وغيابُ الطبقةِ الوسطى، ولبنان الرسالةِ ضَربه الخلافُ على دورِه ورسالتِه.

Davos, Switzerland, (APP  – 23rd Jan, 2020 ) :Key Lebanon party leader and former foreign minister Gebran Bassil on Thursday faced accusations over his personal wealth and record at the top of a country mired in corruption, during a hugely uncomfortable appearance at the Davos economic forum. Bassil, the son-in-law of Lebanese President Michel Aoun, […]

by theguardian.com – Stephanie Kirchgaessner — The Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos had his mobile phone “hacked” in 2018 after receiving a WhatsApp message that had apparently been sent from the personal account of the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, sources have told the Guardian. The encrypted message from the number used by Mohammed bin Salman is believed to have included a malicious file that infiltrated the phone of the world’s richest man, according to the results of a digital forensic analysis. This analysis found it “highly probable” that the intrusion into the phone was triggered by an infected video file sent from the account of the Saudi heir to Bezos, the owner of the Washington Post. The two men had been having a seemingly friendly WhatsApp exchange when, on 1 May of that year, the unsolicited file was sent, according to sources who spoke to the Guardian on the condition of anonymity. Large amounts of data were exfiltrated from Bezos’s phone within hours, according to a person familiar with the matter. The Guardian has no knowledge of what was taken from the phone or how it was used.

The extraordinary revelation that the future king of Saudi Arabia may have had a personal involvement in the targeting of the American founder of Amazon will send shockwaves from Wall Street to Silicon Valley. It could also undermine efforts by “MBS” – as the crown prince is known – to lure more western investors to Saudi Arabia, where he has vowed to economically transform the kingdom even as he has overseen a crackdown on his critics and rivals. The disclosure is likely to raise difficult questions for the kingdom about the circumstances around how US tabloid the National Enquirer came to publish intimate details about Bezos’s private life – including text messages – nine months later. It may also lead to renewed scrutiny about what the crown prince and his inner circle were doing in the months prior to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post journalist who was killed in October 2018 – five months after the alleged “hack” of the newspaper’s owner.

by aljazeera.com Farah Najjar– Beirut, Lebanon – Violent demonstrations were witnessed on the streets of central Beirut as protesters gathered in the heart of the capital near the main entrance to parliament, which has been heavily fortified with barbed wire, steel gates and metal plates. Protesters lobbed stones, firecrackers and street signs at riot police, who fired water cannons, tear gas and rubber-coated bullets in a bid to clear the area. Security forces stood behind the fortified wall as reinforcements were sent to block demonstrators from passing through via parallel roads in the area.

Lebanon announced the formation of a new government on Tuesday following three months of political blockade. However, the protesters say the new government comprises the same people they have been rallying against since October 17. “We want the government to work according to our needs. If not, to hell with them,” said Mohammed, a 23-year-old protester who is from Tripoli, in the country’s north, and who was present in the Beirut demonstrations. “If anything, the old cabinet that we rallied against is slightly better than this ‘one colour’ government,” he said, using a term to describe the new cabinet backed by Hezbollah and its allies.

Protesters have been calling for sweeping reforms and a government that is led by independent technocrats and that can deal with the crippling economic crisis and widespread corruption. Protesters reject members belonging to the current political elite, which has ruled Lebanon since the end of its civil war in 1990 and is considered responsible for the country’s economic crisis. “They’re still stealing from us. We don’t have electricity, we don’t have hospitals, and we are starving to death,” Mohammed added. “We’re forced to escalate, the revolution is no longer peaceful … we gave them a chance for 30 years.”

‘They’re playing with us’

 Lebanon has been without an effective government since caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri, under pressure from protests against state corruption and mismanagement, resigned in October. The country’s newly appointed Prime Minister Hassan Diab pledged on Tuesday that his government “will strive to meet their [the protesters’] demands for an independent judiciary, for the recovery of embezzled funds, [and] for the fight against illegal gains”. He also said his cabinet will adopt financial and economic methods different from those of previous governments, amid the country’s worst economic crisis in decades. But protesters insist that only a government of independent experts will have what it takes to save the country. Calls to dismantle ruling parties, which include groups that transitioned into politics since the country’s civil war, have also been a major demand of the protesters. “It’s bullsh*t … they’re playing with us. They are the same people with different faces,” Stephanie, a 30-year-old protester, said of the new government. “People are here because they have no jobs and they’re trying to tell the government that a change if needed. “But nothing is happening … they’re still robbing us, torturing us, [and] treating us like we don’t deserve anything good,” she said.

The Daily Star BEIRUT: Washington does “not know the answer yet” if it will work with the new Lebanese government, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday. “We’ll have to take a look at it. I don’t know the answer to that yet,” the top U.S. diplomat told Bloomberg in an interview from Jamaica. […]

by National —  Lebanon’s new Prime Minister Hassan Diab formed a government late on Tuesday, 34 days after he was nominated. The former university professor will have to address Lebanon’s worst economic crisis since the end of the civil war in 1990, amid nationwide protests. Mr Diab was intent on forming a government of 18 ministers but caved in at the last minute to political pressure and added two more to his Cabinet. Many had already taken to the streets on Tuesday to reject his government, which they consider to be of “one colour”. That meant it is backed by President Michel Aoun and his allies, including Iran-aligned Hezbollah, and does not include western-supported parties such as former prime minister Saad Hariri’s Future Movement.

The National asked three Lebanon experts for their take on the new government. “The government today is an interesting mix between specialists and others who are affiliated with political parties,” including advisers to former ministers, said Maha Yahya, director of the Carnegie Middle East Centre. Ms Yahya said one name stood out: Foreign Affairs Minister Nassif Hitti, a Maronite Christian and formerly Lebanon’s ambassador to the Arab League. “He is quite highly regarded and a good former diplomat,” she said. This is the first Lebanese Cabinet to include six women, including the first female Defence Minister, Zeina Akar. Ms Akar, a Greek-Orthodox Christian, is also the country’s first female Deputy Prime Minister. “Her appointment came out of left field. Nobody saw this coming,” Ms Yahya said. “She has never occupied a public office before.” But she criticised the process of forming the government, which was conducted as usual through back-door negotiations between political parties. “This is just not what protesters were aspiring to so I don’t think it’s going to end well,” Ms Yahya said. She also said the government might not be up to the task of addressing Lebanon’s rapidly deteriorating economic situation. “I cannot underestimate the size of the challenges that the country is facing on economic and fiscal terms, and their repercussions on society, on the standards of living, and in the medium term, on the stability of the country,” Ms Yahya said.

by naharnet.com — Lebanese activists on Monday launched a social media campaign to express outrage and solidarity with anti-government protesters who lost eyes after being hit by rubber bullets fired by riot police. The activists posted pictures of themselves covering one eye under the Arabic hashtag “Our Revolution Is Your Eyes”. Two protesters reportedly lost an eye each after being hit by rubber bullets in Sunday evening’s demo in central Beirut. In another show of defiance, demonstrators who said they took part in the weekend protests used the Arabic hashtag “The Infiltrator Is Me” and disclosed their full personal details in response to accusations by authorities that “infiltrators” are taking part in the demos. More than 540 people, including protesters and security forces, were wounded in the weekend violence in central Beirut, according to a toll compiled by AFP from figures provided by the Red Cross and Civil Defense.

Lawyers and rights groups have condemned “excessive” and “brutal” use of force by security forces, who they said hit protesters on the head, face and genitals. Human Rights Watch accused riot police of “launching tear gas canisters at protesters’ heads, firing rubber bullets in their eyes and attacking people at hospitals and a mosque.” The violence also drew condemnation from the United Nations, which called the crackdown “unacceptable.” A 22-year-old protester, who asked not to be named for security reasons, said he was severely beaten by security forces until he was bleeding in the head. “Four of them were beating me with batons,” said the man, who has been in the hospital since Saturday. “Then they dragged me on the ground before they started kicking me,” he told AFP. “One of them slammed the base of a tear gas launcher against my mouth, another jabbed my face.”

by Tarek Ali Ahmed — arabnews.com — DAVOS: Lebanese have erupted in anger after the country’s caretaker foreign minister was announced as a participant at the World Economic Forum conference in Davos. Activists have started an online petition called “No to Gebran Bassil at WEF”. “It’s a shame that the international community fails to see Gebran Bassil amongst the pool of failed politicians who have lead to the crisis Lebanon witnesses today,” Chermine Haidar, a Lebanese student at SOAS University in London, told Arab News. “He has for years incited sectarian violence in Lebanon, and today he is turning a blind eye to the devastating violence against civilians we’re witnessing,” she added. Bassil, who has been one of the protesters’ main targets, is set to speak in a panel session called “The Return of Arab Unrest” along with Hussain Sajwani, chairman of Dubai-based developer Damac Properties, Rached Ghannouchi, speaker of the Tunisian assembly and the Dutch trade minister Sigrid Kaag.

The panel, moderated by CNBC anchor Hadley Gamble, will discuss the rise of popular protests across the Middle East and how they can “be translated into a practical roadmap for positive change,” according to the session description. “What positive change will Gebran Bassil be talking about?” asked George Azzi on Twitter. “How to ignore protesters and oppress them? “There is a revolution against him in Beirut and he is invited to speak about a ‘practical roadmap to avoid past pitfalls?’ This panel is shameful!”

Another Lebanese expat, Catherine Warde, also reacted with disbelief at Bassil’s appearance. “How can someone who is so hated by their own people go and speak at the World Economic Forum when the people that they should be representing are being shot and tear gassed because of orders they gave out?” she said. The Lebanese protests erupted at the weekend into the worst violence since the demonstrations began in October. Hundreds of people were injured during clashes with riot police and the army. The online petition, which has reached more than 5,000 signatures, says: “We the People urge the World Economic Forum to rethink Mr Bassil’s invite and listen to the People of Lebanon, listen to their voice, the voice of truth, the voice of justice.” “He should not be present at a prestigious international forum such as Davos in our name. He should not be given a legitimate platform to cement his power and to speak on behalf of a nation that has rejected him and accuses him of flagrant corruption.” One Lebanese twitter user, Rula El-Halabi, tweeted a poll that asked Lebanese citizens whether they agree with Bassil representing Lebanon at the forum. Some 76 percent out of the 17,551 who responded voted “No.”