Spotlight
Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan on Friday met with President Michel Aoun in Baabda and discussed with him the latest developments related to the coronavirus crisis in the country.
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The 2,755 tons of ammonium nitrate that exploded on August 4 at Beirut port and devastated swathes of the capital had been “imported” by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat charged on Friday.
Full StoryThe U.S. administration on Friday announced sanctions on Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil, who is the son-in-law of President Michel Aoun.
MTV said the sanctions were imposed under the Global Magnitsky Act, which targets those who are engaged in human rights abuses and corruption.
Full StoryPresident Michel Aoun met Friday afternoon with PM-designate Saad Hariri and continued with him the discussions over the new government, the Presidency said.
The consultations were held “in a positive atmosphere,” the Presidency added.
Full StoryLebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea urged PM-designate Saad Hariri to push on with his efforts to form a “mission government," but said the PM-designate is unlikely to succeed because the same failed "previous approaches are adopted in the current formation process."
Geagea urged Hariri to insist on forming a non-partisan, mission government. But he voiced regret “because the upcoming government will definitely be formed based on shares.”
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A deserted, blast-damaged building in Beirut neighborhood of Ashrafieh partially collapsed on Friday, two days after the total collapse of a building in the Medawar area, the National News Agency said.
Full StoryThe Progressive Socialist Party of ex-MP Walid Jumblat criticized Syrian President Bashar Assad on Friday, saying his remarks blaming the economic crisis in Syria on Lebanese Banks only confirm a “clear scheme to knock Lebanon’s banking sector.”
Assad's “statement yesterday that Lebanese banks are to blame for the economic crisis in Syria requires a decisive response to this rudeness and perseverance attempting to overwhelm Lebanon with the sinking Syrian regime,” the PSP statement said.
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The Trump administration is expected to impose sanctions on a top pro-Hizbullah Christian politician in Lebanon, in an attempt to diminish Hizbullah’s grip on power, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
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A blaze erupted Thursday on the first floor of the Beirut headquarters of Dar al-Fatwa, Lebanon's highest Sunni Muslim religious authority.
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Caretaker Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni announced on Thursday a three-month extension of a deadline to provide all data required for a forensic audit of the Central Bank’s accounts, after the bank declined to submit all information needed, citing banking secrecy.
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