by bbc.com — The US and Iran have conducted a prisoner swap in a rare sign of co-operation between the two countries. The exchange involved a Chinese-American researcher convicted of spying in Iran and an Iranian scientist held by the US. Both deny wrongdoing. Iran’s foreign minister said he was glad as he announced the exchange. Hours later, US President Donald Trump tweeted: “Thank you to Iran on a very fair negotiation. See, we can make a deal together!”

Who were the prisoners?

Xiyue Wang was arrested in Iran in 2016 for “collaborating with foreign governments”. Massoud Soleimani, a stem cell expert, was arrested at a Chicago airport last year. He was accused violating trade sanctions by trying to export biological material to Iran. Iran and the US have had an increasingly strained relationship in recent years and share no diplomatic links. Both have thanked the Swiss government for its assistance as an intermediary facilitator.

What happened?

Mr Wang was flown in a Swiss government plane from Tehran to Zurich, and then to Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where he will undergo medical check-ups before heading home. Mr Soleimani was also flown to Zurich and then on to Iran. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted photos of himself with Mr Soleimani after his release. He was the first to announce the news, via a tweet. “Glad that Professor Massoud Soleimani and Mr Xiyue Wang will be joining their families shortly,” he wrote. In a formal statement, US President Donald Trump said Mr Wang had been “held under the pretence of espionage”. “Freeing Americans held captive is of vital importance to my Administration, and we will continue to work hard to bring home all our citizens wrongfully held captive overseas,” the statement said. Hua Qu, Mr Wang’s wife, wrote in statement: “Our family is complete once again. Our son Shaofan and I have waited three long years for this day and it’s hard to express in words how excited we are to be reunited with Xiyue. “We are thankful to everyone who helped make this happen.” Princeton University, where Mr Wang was studying as a postgraduate, said in a statement it was “overjoyed” with the news of his release and was looking forward to “welcoming him back to campus”.

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s outgoing prime minister called on several Arab and world leaders Friday to help his country secure credit lines for imports from friendly nations as the tiny Mediterranean country passes through its worst economic and financial crisis in decades. According to a statement released by his office, Saad Hariri sent letters to […]

Beirut: Banks in Lebanon could be flouting laws — or at least the spirit of it — by restricting the weekly amount a citizen can debit from his account. And account holders are well within their rights to pursue claims against such banks, legal sources say. “A big part of what banks have been doing are based on unauthorised and unilateral decisions,” said Zeina Mouanness, a lawyer. “They cannot apply such precautionary measures without clear regulations.” Last month, the Lebanese Central Bank set a limit of $1,000 as weekly withdrawals of cash and another limit on online transfers. ATMs have stopped dispensing US dollars even before the popular protests erupted in the country on October 17. Banks have been applying random caps on weekly cash withdrawals, varying between $100 to $500.

Reclaim their rights So, what can the ordinary Lebanese citizen do? They could look at any of three options. “They could launch a bankruptcy lawsuit against the banks for failing to pay them the amounts requested,” said Mouanness. “They could lodge a breach of trust [criminal case] against the bank. “The third type of legal procedure is lodging a lawsuit before a judge on an urgent basis demanding the bank pay their money in cash. As per the first two procedures, a claimant could also request the court to impose a provisional seizure against the bank’s assets to ensure that the claimants’ money remains safe and untouched.” According to Joceline Al-Rai, another Lebanese lawyer, people also need to read the contracts with their banks. “Clients and depositors have the right to take legal action against their banks and reclaim their money … however, they need to review the clauses included in the contracts they signed upon opening their accounts. Unfortunately, the majority of clients sign those contracts blindly and without reading those clauses thoroughly,” Al-Rai told Gulf News.

 BEIRUT(Xinhua) — The French Development Agency (AFD) signed on Thursday a financing agreement valued at 20 million euros (22.2 million U.S. dollars) with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to support Lebanon’s Rafik Hariri University Hospital. French Ambassador to Lebanon Bruno Foucher, AFD Country Director for Lebanon and Syria Olivier Ray, and Christophe […]

BEIRUT, (Xinhua) — Lebanon’s presidency issued a statement on Wednesday, announcing that President Michel Aoun will conduct parliamentary consultations on Dec. 9 to name a prime minister for the formation of the new government, the National News Agency reported. Officials belonging to different political parties announced in the past few days that businessman Samir Khatib […]

By Dany Abu Haidar — gulfnews.com –Beirut: A 40-year-old Lebanese man shot himself dead in Beirut after he was reported to have been sacked from work on Wednesday. Around 10.30am, Lebanese citizen, Dany Abu Haidar, shot himself in the head with a hunting gun at the family house in Al Nabaa area after his employer had reportedly terminated him.

Abu Haidar’s suicide is the second of its kind following Sunday’s first incident when heavily indebted villager, Naji Al Fulaiti, hung himself over a 700,000 Lebanese pound debt and after failing to give his daughter 1,000 Lebanese pounds to buy a flatbread in Arsal. “He returned home at 10.30am. His mother was hanging the laundry and wife was doing the rug. He got his hunting gun … when I asked him if he was going hunting, he said yes. In a second, he shot himself in his head,” the father said. Since October 17, Lebanon has been witnessing ongoing street demonstrations in nationwide protests against widespread political corruption and mismanagement that has been worsening the country’s economic and financial crises. A video of Abu Haydar’s mother went viral and in which she could be heard saying: “He left a family behind. Yesterday he was fine. The supermarket called and asked him to pay a pending Lebanese pounds LBP3m [around $2,000] he got angry and told them he cannot pay and to wait until the protests are over.”

By Kyle Stucker — .seacoastonline.com — WASHINGTON — Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., decried Lebanon’s ongoing detention of Dover restaurant owner Amer Fakhoury Wednesday, calling the three-month detention both “illegal” and suggesting his treatment could constitute a human rights violation. Shaheen made the comments during a U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing that involved Lebanon and Iraq. “I think this is a very serious situation that has not been taken seriously by officials of the Lebanese government and they need to be on notice that we are looking very carefully and very closely at what they are doing,” said Shaheen. Going further, Shaheen outlined her office is working with government departments to do “everything we can” to ensure the Lebanese-American is returned home safely.

Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar and other Middle Eastern outlets have described Fakhoury, 57, the owner of Little Lebanon To Go in downtown Dover, as the “butcher of Khiam.” The reports have alleged Fakhoury tortured inmates and committed other human rights violations while working as a senior warden at Khiam Prison in southern Lebanon in the 1980s and ’90s. Fakhoury’s family and his attorney, Celine Atallah, have denied the claims. Lebanese officials detained Fakhoury, on Sept. 12, eight days after he and his wife, Michelle, arrived in Lebanon for a vacation and to visit family there for the first time in nearly two decades. Amer and Michelle Fakhoury planned a temporary closure of Little Lebanon To Go while they visited Lebanon and other countries on their vacation. The restaurant remains closed. Shaheen said Wednesday that Fakhoury is currently in “very critical” health due to mistreatment, rib fractures, various infections, a 40-pound weight loss and an aggressive form of lymphoma that has developed since he’s been detained “without charge” or due process. Shaheen entered a two-page document into the Senate record Wednesday that she said “clearly indicate(s) that (Fakhoury) is not the individual that the Lebanese and Hezbollah-linked papers allege him to be.”

by AP — Lebanon’s armed forces have deployed near the presidential palace east of Beirut to prevent friction between rival Lebanese protesters as the stalemate over forming a crisis government continues. Anti-government protesters had called for a rally Sunday outside the Presidential Palace in Baabda to press President Michel Aoun to formally begin the process […]

by bloomberg.com — Dana Khraiche — Lebanon’s central bank plans to slash interest rates in an attempt to ease the country’s economic crisis and is considering formalizing temporary capital controls set individually by local lenders. Governor Riad Salameh told the Association of Banks in Lebanon that he will issue a circular within days to lower rates “to revive the economy” and limit the increase in “doubtful” loans, according to a document summarizing the meeting and seen by Bloomberg. The decision may buy much-needed time for Lebanon, which is reeling under its worst financial crisis in decades while authorities struggle to form a government after the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri following weeks of mass protests against corruption and deteriorating living standards.

Salameh said he was considering issuing instructions that would formalize recent restrictions on capital movements imposed by commercial lenders, according to the document. The measures would be temporary until a government is formed and the financial and economic situation returns to normal, the document stipulated. The governor also said that 165 billion Lebanese pounds ($109.2 million) had been withdrawn per day from the central bank in the last two months, and that the bank is waiting for a new batch of pound banknotes to arrive on Dec. 20.

Debt Risk

President Michel Aoun convened a meeting last week that brought together Salameh, the finance minister, the economy minister and the head of the Association of Banks. They tasked the governor with taking “temporary and necessary” steps to protect the stability of the banking system. The crisis has undermined confidence in Lebanon’s ability to repay its vast public debt. The country’s debt risk, measured by credit default swaps, has surged to more than 2,500 basis points, the second-highest after Argentina, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

By Louis Casiano | Fox News — The Trump administration has released $105 million in military assistance to Lebanon after months of delay without providing an explanation. The money for the Lebanese Armed Forces had languished in the Office of Management and Budget since September even after it won congressional approval. No reason was ever given for not releasing […]