Lebanon

BEIRUT, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon's Health Ministry announced on Saturday that the number of cases of COVID-19 Omicron variant stands at 433 so far.

The ministry added that the number of COVID-19 infections increased by 2,017 to a total of 711,259, while death toll from the virus went up by 15 to 9,027.

The Health Ministry has been urging people to register for vaccination hoping to reduce the surge in cases and protect the community against the Omicron variant.

Only 35.3 percent of the population has been vaccinated so far, according to the ministry.

BEIRUT, Dec 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The World Bank said it agreed with its partners to repurpose $37 million in funds to help Lebanon’s public school teachers survive a crushing economic crisis.

   The World Bank and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office would divert the money from the Lebanon Syrian Crisis Trust Fund, which aims to assist Lebanese communities accommodating Syrian refugees, the bank said in a statement.

20 Dec 2021; MEMO: Lebanese President Michel Aoun said yesterday that Beirut is committed to its full rights to invest its natural resources, especially gas and oil, and is willing to continue indirect negotiations with Israel to demarcate the maritime borders.

15 Dec 2021; MEMO: Lebanon's Parliament Speaker, Nabih Berri, said, Wednesday, his country is under siege, amid a diplomatic crisis with Gulf countries Anadolu News Agency reports.

Speaking during a meeting with the head of Lebanon's Editors-in-Chief Syndicate, Joseph Qossaifi, Berri questioned how Arab countries could open their doors for Israel, while they "close their gates in front of Lebanon, who paid a heavy price to preserve its Arab identity."

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s national currency further collapsed Monday, trading on the black market at nearly 20 times its value two years ago, worsening inflation and people’s despair.

The Lebanese pound was trading at 27,000 to the dollar on the black market, hitting a new low in its downward trajectory since October 2019 as the Lebanese economy went into a tailspin. The currency is officially pegged at 1,500 pounds to the dollar.

13 Dec 2021; MEMO: The Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas said that yesterday's explosion at a refugee camp in southern Lebanon was caused by an electrical short-circuit in a storage area for oxygen bottles used for coronavirus patients.

BEIRUT (AP) — The Palestinian Hamas group said Saturday that explosions that shook a refugee camp in southern Lebanon were caused by an electrical short-circuit in a storage area for oxygen bottles used to treat coronavirus patients.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency had reported that arms stored for Hamas exploded Friday in the Burj Shamali camp, killing and injuring a number of people. A security official also said the explosions caused casualties but did not give a breakdown.

BEIRUT, Dec 10 (NNN-NNA) – Lebanon’s Health Ministry said yesterday that, it has detected the first two cases of the COVID-19 Omicron variant, when passengers were tested, upon arrival at the Beirut airport.

“Two cases detected in airport testing were confirmed to be the Omicron variant,” Health Minister, Firas Abiad, said at a press conference.

The two passengers arrived in Lebanon from the African continent, and had been placed in quarantine, he added.

03 Dec 2021; MEMO: Lebanon's Information Minister, George Kordahi, confirmed his resignation at a news conference today.

"The interests of my country and my people and supporters are above my personal interest. Lebanon is more important than George Kordahi, and the Lebanese interests are more important than a ministerial role," he said.

BEIRUT (AP) — A Lebanese DJ was days away from moving to Riyadh to play for a month in one of the newest entertainment centers in Saudi Arabia’s capital when a brief, polite Whatsapp message informed her that the contract won’t go through.

The head of a Beirut-based communications agency had been negotiating to revive a two-year-old contract derailed by the pandemic for hundreds of thousands of dollars. After two days of silence her Saudi client, in an apologetic call, said now is not the time.