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...
May 10th, 20220Lebanese living abroad cast 142,041 ballots for parliamentary elections on Friday and Sunday, many backing political newcomers after the worst crisis since Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war led to widespread poverty and a wave of emigration.
Only 225,277 Lebanese living overseas were eligible to participate in the elections in more than 50...
March 21st, 20220BEIRUT — A Lebanese judge charged central bank governor Riad Salameh with illicit enrichment on Monday, adding to the number of graft investigations he already faces.
Judge Ghada Aoun told Reuters the case related to the purchase and rental of Paris apartments, including some to the central bank.
Salameh denied the charge when...
September 1st, 20210BEIRUT — The Lebanese government has received no request for fuel to be imported from Iran, the caretaker energy minister said on Wednesday, appearing to confirm that the Shi'a group Hezbollah has bypassed the state with a move to import Iranian fuel.
Hezbollah, a heavily armed group founded by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in 1982,...
December 16th, 20200BEIRUT — Two former Lebanese ministers charged with negligence over a huge explosion at Beirut port in August that killed 200 people snubbed a judge on Wednesday by not turning up for questioning.
Judge Fadi Sawan charged three former ministers and the caretaker prime minister last week, sparking fierce debate about whether he had...
August 14th, 20200BEIRUT — Another day of unrest and protests in Beirut on Thursday, as Lebanese security forces tried to stop angry protesters from approaching a meeting of MPs. The MPs gathered for the first time since the port side blast that killed 172 people on Tuesday, Aug. 4, with dozens still missing.
The death and injury toll (estimated...
September 5th, 20180BEIRUT — Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said on Wednesday the country was in “intensive care” and the economic situation was “very dangerous”, according to a lawmaker who regularly speaks for him.
Four months after parliamentary elections, Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri has not yet managed to form a...
July 28th, 20180DEARBORN – One of the most prestigious and one-of-a-kind healthcare institutions in the Middle East is in the process of being built in the south of Lebanon.
The nearly 19,400 square foot “mega project,” located in Choukine, a town located about 37 miles from Beirut and just two miles from Nabatieye, is being erected by The...
May 23rd, 20180BEIRUT — Politician Nabih Berri, a close ally of the Hezbollah group, was re-elected for a sixth term as speaker of Lebanon’s parliament in an uncontested vote on Wednesday.
Reflecting a shift in Lebanon’s political landscape in favor of the heavily armed Shi’a Muslim group, another Hezbollah ally, Elie Ferzli, was elected...
November 23rd, 20170Saudi Arabia added this week another political downfall to its long list of successive defeats in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Qatar and Palestine. The last blunder of the immature Saudi Crown Prince was holding the Prime Minister of Lebanon Saad al-Hariri hostage and forcing him to abruptly resign from a discreet place in his fumbling kingdom,...
November 6th, 20170BEIRUT - Lebanon’s president appealed for national unity on Monday after Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri quit in a broadcast from Saudi Arabia, plunging the coalition government and country into political crisis.
After Hariri’s shock announcement, political uncertainty deepened further when Lebanon’s parliamentary speaker said it...