Lebanon

23 Jan 2023; MEMO: The Judge investigating the 2020 Beirut port explosion has unexpectedly resumed his inquiry, more than a year after it was paralysed by political resistance to his attempts to interrogate top officials, Reuters reports.

The surprise decision was confirmed on Monday by several judicial sources, one of whom said Investigator, Judge Tarek Bitar, had issued new charges against eight senior and mid-ranking officials but did not identify them.

21 Jan 2023; MEMO: Facebook users who search for "Hassan Nasrallah", the head of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement now see a warning message about "Dangerous Individuals and Organisations" and are given the choice between continuing to their search results or cancelling the search.

BEIRUT, Jan 22 (NNN-NNA) – Lebanon said, it will immediately pay its dues to the UN operating budget to preserve the country’s voting rights in the UN General Assembly (UNGA).

“We have completed all the steps to pay the required amount to the UN. After contacting the prime minister and finance minister, it was found that the final payment process will be completed directly, in a way that preserves Lebanon’s voting rights in the UNGA,” Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

BEIRUT (AP) — A building collapsed in a neighborhood in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo early Sunday, killing at least 16 people, including one child, and injuring four others, state media reported.

The five-story building housing about 30 people is in the Sheikh Maksoud neighborhood under the control of the U.S.-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. It collapsed overnight, according to the report, after water leakages weakened the structure’s foundation.

BEIRUT, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) warned on Friday against conducting any works or activities that could lead to tension near the Lebanese-Israeli borders, the National News Agency reported.

The UN agency's spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said that "UNIFIL peacekeepers are on the ground at the works site to monitor if there is any violation of the Blue Line, reduce tension and prevent misunderstandings."

19 Jan 2023; MEMO: The Lebanese army prevented, on Wednesday, an Israeli army bulldozer from completing excavation work after breaching the "technical fence" that separates Lebanon from Israel, Anadolu news agency reported, citing Lebanon's official news agency.

20 Jan 2023; MEMO: The Lebanese parliament held a session on Thursday in which it completed its eleventh attempt to elect a new president for the country but once again failed to accomplish the task.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri did not set a new date for the next session.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati continues to head a caretaker government amid political and constitutional problems as the president position remains vacant.

BEIRUT, Jan 19 (NNN-NNA) – About 37 percent of Lebanese residents and Syrian refugees in Lebanon, or about 1.98 million of them, face “severe food insecurity,” UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Imran Riza, said yesterday.

He made the remarks at a conference held in Beirut, to discuss a UN study about food insecurity in Lebanon.

16 Jan 2023; MEMO: Relatives of those killed in the 2020 Beirut port blast say they have become targets of the Judiciary instead of senior officials who have still not been held to account for the huge explosion that devastated Lebanon's capital and killed 220 people, Reuters reports.

BEIRUT, Jan 14 (NNN-NNA) – The Lebanese pound continued its tumble on the parallel market yesterday, hitting a record low of over 49,000 Lebanese pounds against one U.S. dollar, the local newspaper, Lorient Today, reported on its website.

The new record was reached when the dollar was trading at 49,400 Lebanese pounds to buy, and at 49,200 Lebanese pounds to sell, in the afternoon, said the report.

The last record low of 48,000 pounds against one U.S. dollar occurred on Dec 26, last year, down from 40,000 pounds on Oct 14, last year.