DAILY NEWS

World Bank: Economic Growth in MENA ‘Uneven and Insufficient’
According to Reuters, “Even if this high growth rate for the region as a whole materializes in this context of uncertainty, and there’s no guarantee that it will … (it) will be both insufficient and uneven across the region,’ Daniel Lederman, World Bank lead economist for the MENA region, told Reuters.” [Reuters]

Foreign Minister Says Lebanon ‘Ready’ For Gas Deal with Cyprus
According to Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Abdallah Bou Habib, Lebanon stands ready to work with the government of Cyprus on a potential agreement to exploit gas deposits between their nautical territories in the Eastern Mediterranean  after talks with his Cypriot counterpart in Nicosia, though no formal deal has been formed. [AP News]

UN: Half of Lebanese Children in Need of Humanitarian Aid
According to L’Orient Today, “In a statement Thursday, Save the Children said that about 700,000 children needed aid, ‘with thousands at risk of malnutrition as the war in Ukraine threatens to further exacerbate a national food crisis.’ The US-headquartered organization cited newly released UN figures that said more than 2 million Lebanese people, or 57 percent of the population, are ‘now living in vulnerable situations’ while three in every four households do not have ‘enough money to buy food’.” [L’Orient Today]

OPINION & ANALYSIS

Nature Portfolio
A Grass-Roots Science Movement To Rebuild Lebanon
Benjamin Plackett

Plackett writes, “Najat Saliba is pairing researchers around the world with local communities in Lebanon . . . Najat Saliba is an associate professor of analytical chemistry at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon and co-founder of the Environment Academy.”
Read More Here

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in these articles are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the American Task Force on Lebanon, a non-profit, nonpartisan leadership organization of Lebanese-Americans.