November 10th, 20220Lebanon faces an indefinite government crisis that further complicates the path out of its financial meltdown, adding to risks of instability as hardship deepens and state institutions teeter on the brink of collapse.
Lebanon has had neither a head of state nor a fully empowered cabinet since Michel Aoun's term as president ended on...
October 21st, 20220BEIRUT — Lebanon's parliament failed to elect a president for the third time on Thursday, bringing the country closer to institutional deadlock amid a deep financial crisis.
Outgoing President Michel Aoun's term ends on Oct. 31 and divisions remain among political blocs over the makeup of a new cabinet.
Lebanon has been without...
September 16th, 20220Savers held up two banks in Lebanon on Wednesday to demand access to their own deposits frozen in the country's paralyzed financial system, underlining desperation among citizens unable to access savings since an economic crisis began in 2019.
There were similar incidents in Beirut in August and in eastern Lebanon in January.
The...
September 14th, 20220Two seemingly armed and desperate Lebanese depositors held up banks on Wednesday to force access to their own money, which has been blocked during a national financial meltdown.
One woman with a gun, that she later said was a toy, and some associates briefly held hostages at a branch of BLOM Bank in the capital Beirut, before leaving...
June 22nd, 20220BEIRUT — Lebanon's caretaker premier Najib Mikati will likely be nominated for a new term on Thursday, political sources said, keeping him at the helm as the country prepares for steep financial and political challenges in the months ahead.
If re-installed, Mikati will have to steer Lebanon through an economic recovery plan that...
May 20th, 20220Lebanon's emboldened opposition goes from protest to parliament
BEIRUT – When Halime El Kaakour enters Lebanon's parliament as a newly elected lawmaker next week, she will step past the same concrete barriers that security forces erected to keep her and other protesters out during massive anti-government rallies in 2019.
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November 30th, 20210WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit), Debbie Dingell (D-Dearborn), House Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) have introduced the Lebanon TPS Act of 2021.
The proposed legislation seeks to grant Lebanese nationals...
November 25th, 20210BEIRUT — More than half of families in Lebanon had at least one child who skipped a meal by October amid a "dramatic deterioration of living conditions," the U.N.'s children's fund said in a report released on Tuesday.
Children have been hit hard by the country's deep economic crisis exacerbated by the global coronavirus pandemic,...
September 10th, 20210BEIRUT - Lebanese leaders agreed a new government led by Sunni Muslim tycoon Najib Mikati on Friday after a year of feuding over cabinet seats that has exacerbated a devastating economic collapse, opening the way to a resumption of talks with the IMF.
The breakthrough followed a flurry of contacts with France, which has led efforts to...
September 9th, 20210BEIRUT — Ibrahim Jaber was laid off when the fast food restaurant where he worked as a chef in Beirut shut down. Unable to find another job, he had to take his daughter out of school to put food on the table at home.
He is one of many Lebanese who have found themselves facing staggering inflation just as their employers, also hit...
August 19th, 20210A group of lawmakers wrote to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and USAID Administrator Samantha Power, calling on U.S. support towards Lebanon’s deteriorating economic and political situation.
U.S. Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-Dearborn), Charlie Crist (D-FL), Darrell Issa (R-CA), and Darin LaHood (R-IL), co-chairs of the...
July 6th, 20210BEIRUT — Lebanon is a few days away from a social explosion, caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab warned on Tuesday, calling on the international community to save a country in deep economic crisis.
The World Bank has called Lebanon's crisis one of the worst depressions of modern history. The currency has lost more than 90 percent...