Lebanon

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Rescue workers dug through the rubble of a Beirut building for a second day on Friday, hoping to find someone alive more than a month after it was destroyed by a huge port explosion that shattered the Lebanese capital.

Rescuers said on Thursday that sensors had detected signs of a pulse and breathing under the debris of the building in the Gemmayze district. Mechanical diggers lifted chunks of concrete and masonry as workers used shovels and their hands to dig down.

BEIRUT (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron said Lebanese politicians have committed to a road map that begins with a government of experts to be formed in two weeks and quickly enacts reforms.

Speaking at the end of two days of meetings in Beirut, Macron said France was committed to helping Lebanon get out of its crisis, but failing to implement reforms within a three-month period would result in punitive actions, including withholding vital international assistance.

BEIRUT, Sept 1 (NNN-NNA) – Lebanon named, on Monday, Lebanese Ambassador to Germany, Mustapha Adib, as premier.

Adib succeeded in securing 90 out of 128 parliamentary votes, which will allow him to form a government.

Adib said that, this is the time for work and for all parties to cooperate for the country to heal and restore hope in Lebanon.

01 Sep 2020; MEMO: Lebanon’s prime minister-designate Mustapha Adib called on Monday for the formation of a new government in record time and urged immediate reforms as a step towards securing an agreement with the International Monetary Fund, reports Reuters.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron has warned Lebanese politicians they risk sanctions if they fail to set the nation on a new course within three months, stepping up pressure for reforms in a country collapsing under the weight of an economic crisis.

Visiting Lebanon for the second time in less than a month, Macron marked the country’s centenary by planting a cedar tree, the emblem of a nation that is facing its biggest threat to stability since the 1975-1990 civil war.

31 Aug 2020; MEMO: Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Sunday it was only a matter of time before the group killed an Israeli soldier to avenge the death of one its fighters in Syria and that it would not be drawn into clashes on the Lebanon-Israel frontier, Reuters reports.

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s ambassador to Germany appeared slated to become the crisis-stricken country’s next prime minister after getting the support of senior Sunni politicians on Sunday.

Mustapha Adib was named by four former prime ministers on the eve of binding consultations between the president and parliamentary blocs on their choice for the post.

BEIRUT (AP) — Sara Jaafar joined a group of political activists gathered on Aug. 4 to discuss strategies to challenge Lebanon’s entrenched rulers when their building was shaken and the windows blasted out by the giant explosion that rocked Beirut.

She took cover from the flying debris, thoughts rushing through her head of past political assassinations in Lebanon. Her immediate reaction was that Hezbollah, the militant group that dominates power here, was targeting the dissidents’ meeting.

30 Aug 2020; MEMO: The death toll from this month’s Beirut port blast has risen to 190 with more than 6,500 injured and three people missing, Lebanon’s caretaker government said in a report dated Sunday, Reuters reports.

Lebanese authorities are probing what caused highly explosive material stored unsafely for years to detonate in a mushroom cloud, wrecking swathes of the city and fuelling anger at a political class already blamed for the country’s economic meltdown.

BEIRUT, Aug 29 (NNN-NNA) – Syrian ambassador to Lebanon, Ali Abdel Karim Ali, said, yesterday that, his country will cooperate with Lebanon, by allowing donations from Arab countries to reach Beirut through Syria.

Ali’s remarks came, during his meeting with Lebanese Foreign Affairs Minister, Charbel Wehbi.

Ali said, Syria is keen on cooperating with Lebanon, because both countries have common interests, especially in the security area.

“We should cooperate in the security area, to confront any conspiracies being prepared in both countries,” Ali said.