by al-monitor.com – Adam Lucente — Lebanese officials devalued their currency on Wednesday amid the ongoing economic crisis. The devaluation is still well below the dollar exchange rate on the street, and multiple rates remain in place in Lebanon. Lebanon’s central bank, Banque Du Liban, lowered the official exchange rate to the US dollar from 1,507 to 15,000 pounds, multiple outlets reported. Bank governor Riad Salameh told Reuters Tuesday that the move constitutes an effort to unify different exchange rates in the country. What it means: The official 1,507 rate for the Lebanese pound was in place from 1997 until now. The rate on the street correlated to the official rate until 2019 when the Lebanese economic crisis began. Since then, the Lebanese pound has lost more than 90% of its value on the parallel street exchange market.

The pound, aka lira, has been falling even more on the street in recent weeks. On Wednesday, one US dollar traded at more than 62,000 pounds. The new official rate therefore does not resemble the rate the public is using, despite the devaluation decision. The official rate and the street rate are two of several dollar-to-lira exchange rates in Lebanon. Banque Du Liban’s Sayrafa rate, which is used for international card payments, ATMs and e-commerce, remains at 38,000 to the dollar, the bank said in a statement Tuesday. There are also separate rates for fuel prices, public sector salaries and other things, according to The Associated Press.

BEIRUT, (Reuters) – Lebanon will adopt a new official exchange rate of 15,000 pounds per U.S. dollar on Feb. 1, central bank governor Riad Salameh said, marking a 90% devaluation from its current official rate that has remained unchanged for 25 years. The shift from the old rate of 1,507 to 15,000 is still far […]

By Nada Homsi — .thenationalnews.com — Two Lebanese MPs charged in connection with the explosion at Beirut port on Monday filed appeals to have the lead investigator dismissed in the latest attempt by those he has charged to stall the probe. MPs Ghazi Zaiter and Ali Hassan Khalil, members of Hezbollah ally the Amal Movement, filed appeals only days after Judge Tarek Bitar resumed his investigation that had been delayed for months by political interference. The resumption led to more judicial paralysis as another judge ordered him to stop and accusations were made by rights groups that officials were obstructing justice. Attorney for the MPs, Samer Hajj, confirmed the latest move and showed The National a copy of the appeals he had filed. “The first appeal I filed was a form on behalf of both MPs requesting the transfer” of the judge leading the investigation, “and the second was a penal complaint against him by Ali Hassan Khalil”, Mr Hajj said. Mr Khalil accused Mr Bitar of “abuse of power and breach of job duties”. “Judge Bitar’s role in the investigation is a violation of his position, provoking sectarian and racial strife,” the complaint stated.

The MP also accused Mr Bitar of “usurping administrative authority” and committing “the crime of impersonating Lebanon’s top prosecutor”. Mr Bitar last week cited legal residence and unexpectedly resumed his investigation after 13 months and charged multiple high-profile officials in connection with the blast ― including Prosecutor General Ghassan Oueidat, head of General Security Gen Abbas Ibrahim and State Security chief Gen Tony Saliba. The backlash to those charges was immediate, leading to challenges from within the judiciary itself and a legal tug-of-war. Mr Oueidat maintains that the investigation is still suspended and says Mr Bitar is “rebelling against the judiciary”. Mr Bitar, however, cited studies that challenge the suspension’s legality. Mr Khalil and Mr Zaiter were charged in December 2020 by the previous judge leading the investigation into the port blast, Fadi Sawan. Both deny wrongdoing and have refused to attend interrogation hearings.

Pretty soon, cheese could be all science, no moo. No-cow companies are building “mega factories” and forming partnerships with food giants such as General Mills and Nestlé to meet demand for dairy and prevent cheese shortages. These startups, which include Perfect Day and Remilk, employ precision fermentation tech that harnesses microbes instead of cows to […]

NNA – Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday threw his support behind the embattled Beirut port blast investigator, Judge Tarek Bitar, calling on him to “continue his work” despite the recusal lawsuits and the latest judicial standoff. “We hope that Judicial Investigator Judge Tarek Bitar will continue his work to unveil the truth and issue […]

Beirut: Lebanon caretaker prime minister HE Najib Mikati described QatarEnergy’s acquisition of 30% exploration rights in two offshore areas off the coast of the Republic of Lebanon as exceptional, given the experience and position that QatarEnergy has reached in the global oil and gas industry. During his meeting on Sunday with the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, President and CEO of QatarEnergy HE Eng. Saad bin Sherida Al Kaabi, the Lebanese caretaker prime minister said that the start of exploration and petroleum activities in the Lebanese waters would have a positive impact on the short and medium terms in regards to providing opportunities for Lebanese companies interested in the petroleum services sector. It would also provide job opportunities for Lebanese youths, especially those working in the technical field. Mikati added that TotalEnergies – which owns a 35% stake, in addition to Eni – which owns a 35% stake, would start drilling operations in Block 9 after completing the environmental surveys, drilling-related operations, and the launch of logistical operations in Beirut Port.

Sources in the Lebanese Ministry of Energy say that Novatek justified its move by saying that the US sanctions imposed on Russia had a negative impact on it, and that it was no longer able to make any financial transfers outside Russia. This is logical, especially since Novatek’s role in the alliance is one of an investment partner, not a technical one.

Could the latest decision have been taken after consultations between the three companies took place, in light of the pressures the Russian company is facing from the United States due to the Russian-American war, so that “Total” and “Eni” can continue the work required of them? Or was there a “settlement” between the three companies, fearing that Total and Eni would be subject to US sanctions because of their dealings with the Russian company? This is highly probable, especially since Total and Eni sent books of similar content to the Ministry of Energy following the Novatek book, in which they confirmed that they would continue their contractual obligations regarding exploration in blocks 4 and 9, and that they are ready to discuss the rights of others in the coalition.

BEIRUT (AP) By Bassem Mroue — Lebanon, two international oil giants and state-owned oil and gas company Qatar Energy signed an agreement Sunday that the Qatari firm will join a consortium that will search for gas in the Mediterranean Sea off Lebanon’s coast. The deal inked in Beirut brings Qatar into Lebanon’s gas exploration market three months after Lebanon and Israel signed a U.S.-mediated maritime border agreement ending a yearslong dispute. Qatar Energy is replacing a Russian company that withdrew from the Lebanese market in September. In 2017, Lebanon approved licenses for an international consortium including France’s TotalEnergies, Italy’s ENI and Russia’s Novatek to move forward with offshore oil and gas development for two of 10 blocks in the Mediterranean. The borders of one of the two blocks were disputed by neighboring Israel until a maritime border deal was reached last year. The companies did not find viable amounts of oil or gas in block No. 4 north of Beirut, and drilling in block No. 9 in the south has been repeatedly postponed because of the dispute with Israel.

By Sarah Glubb – arabnews.com — LONDON: The financial crisis in Lebanon could be resolved within five to 10 years if a “well thought out program” is implemented that takes care of small depositors, addresses the needs of medium-sized ones and brings big depositors on board as partners in new banks, according to a finance industry expert in London. The Lebanese economy has “continued to deteriorate to untenable levels,” according to the International Monetary Fund. Per capita gross domestic product fell by 36.5 percent between 2019 and 2021, and is expected to contract even further this year. “They could have had a quicker recovery had they started earlier,” said George Kanaan, CEO of the Arab Bankers Association, a nonprofit professional organization in London whose members work in banking and related industries in the Arab world and the UK. “But three years have passed and nothing has happened.”

Kanaan, head of the ABA since 2009, has worked for prominent banks in New York, London and Saudi Arabia since 1975. He said it is not unusual that one or two banks might fail in a country, or perhaps a segment of the industry or a specialty sector, “but for a system to fail entirely is almost unique in history.” The Lebanese pound has lost approximately 90 percent of its value during the economic crisis in the country and continues to tumble to record lows, reaching above 60,000 pounds to the dollar on Friday. “We would like to see joint action by the (big) depositors to work with the banks, the government and the IMF, if they can be brought in, to restructure a system that has failed — and the failure of the system was comprehensive,” Kanaan told Arab News during an exclusive interview. He said that corruption and a waste of revenues and resources actually played only a small part in the failure, and that the financial system collapsed mainly as a result of the incompetence of its management, particularly at the nation’s central bank, Banque du Liban.

 by Kyle Wiggers@kyle_l_wiggers — techcrunch — An impressive new AI system from Google can generate music in any genre given a text description. But the company, fearing the risks, has no immediate plans to release it. Called MusicLM, Google’s certainly isn’t the first generative AI system for song. There have been other attempts, including Riffusion, an AI that composes music by visualizing it, as well as Dance Diffusion, Google’s own AudioML and OpenAI’s Jukebox. But owing to technical limitations and limited training data, none have been able to produce songs particularly complex in composition or high-fidelity. MusicLM is perhaps the first that can.

Detailed in an academic paper, MusicLM was trained on a dataset of 280,000 hours of music to learn to generate coherent songs for descriptions of — as the creators put it — “significant complexity” (e.g. “enchanting jazz song with a memorable saxophone solo and a solo singer” or “Berlin ’90s techno with a low bass and strong kick.” Its songs, remarkably, sound something like a human artist might compose, albeit not necessarily as inventive or musically cohesive. It’s hard to overstate just how good the samples sound, given that there aren’t musicians or instrumentalists in the loop. Even when fed somewhat long and meandering descriptions, MusicLM manages to capture nuances like instrumental riffs, melodies and moods.

by Najia Houssari – arabnews.com — BEIRUT: In less than 24 hours, Lebanon’s currency dropped in value by over 10,000 Lebanese pounds, with the exchange rate nearing 70,000 to the dollar — a plunge that comes at a time when Lebanese were dreading the exchange rate reaching 50,000 to the dollar. Economist Jassem Ajaka told Arab News: “We are following in the footsteps of Venezuela. The central bank’s intervention to stop the local currency from depreciating this fast will not work as long as there is no government action.” Ajaka said he believed that the problem lay in the Lebanese structure, lack of confidence in politics and judges, and the conflict with the international community over Lebanon’s failure to pay its debts. To avoid losses, commercial and service institutions priced their products based on a much higher exchange rate, in anticipation of further devaluation. Such action significantly decreased citizens’ purchasing power.

The price of a 20-liter canister of fuel jumped by 147,000 Lebanese pounds within 24 hours, reaching 1,147,000 LBP ($19 based on the exchange rate of 60,000 LBP/USD), which is equivalent to the salary of a public sector employee. The unstable exchange rate pushed the owners of grocery stores to either close for the day or stop selling certain products. More protesters took to the streets in rural Lebanese areas on Friday, blocking roads with burning tires. The Baalbek International Road was completely cut off in protest against the economic situation. Protesters also blocked Al-Minya International Road in northern Lebanon in both directions, in protest against the deteriorating living conditions. The Ministry of Economy issued a decision raising the price of a big bundle of Arab bread to 29,000 LBP (48 cents). With prices soaring, some taxi drivers opted to stay in one region to avoid wasting fuel in traffic jams, constantly changing their fares depending on the exchange rate.

By Story by lloydlee@insider.com (Lloyd Lee) — Bryan Johnson is 45 years old but, according to a new report, his test results show he has the heart of a 37-year-old and the lungs of a young adult. Johnson is a biotech entrepreneur who hopes to game nature’s course of aging and have the organs and health of an 18-year-old by going through an intense data-driven experimental program he’s called Project Blueprint. According to a recent Bloomberg profile of the CEO, Johnson could spend up to $2 million on his body this year and there are early glimpses that show he may be on track to unlocking the secret to age reversal.

Test results from doctors suggest that Johnson has the heart of a 37-year-old, the skin of a 28-year-old, and the lung capacity of an 18-year-old, Bloomberg’s Ashlee Vance reported. ) The program is led by Oliver Zolman, a 29-year-old physician who calls himself the “rejuvenation doctor,” and is supported by a team of more than 30 health experts, according to the report. While it’s still in its experimental stage and is constantly being tweaked, the health program consists of an intense daily regimen of carefully curated supplements, meals, exercise, and a slew of bodily tests.