Speaker of Parliament Calls for Session Concerning Presidential Election Lebanon’s Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri today called upon all MP’s to participate in a parliamentary session concerning the selection of Lebanon’s next president, set to take place on Thursday. [AP News]
Lebanon’s Public Debt Reaches 101.1 Billion USD Although calculated at the unaltered exchange rate of 1507.5 LBP to 1 USD, the Finance Ministry published figures measuring Lebanon’s public debt as of April 2022, reaching $101.1 billion USD. [L’Orient Today]
Families of Detainees, Victims of Port Explosion File Hold Simultaneous Protests According to L’Orient Today, “Relatives of victims of the deadly Aug. 4 port explosion organized a sit-in outside the Beirut Courts of Justice Tuesday to protest the appointment of a substitute judge in the investigation. Relatives of detainees in the same investigation held a simultaneous demonstration in support the appointment, because such a judge would be empowered to rule on release requests. Inside the courthouse, the Higher Judicial Council debated the appointment of the new judge.” [L’Orient Today]
Death Toll from Migrant Shipwreck Reported Above 100 After another ship attempting to transport migrants away from Lebanon’s northern coast sank in the Eastern Mediterranean near Syria, Syrian authorities reported recovering 100 bodies out of an estimated 150 passengers. [Naharnet]
OPINION & ANALYSIS
For The Sake Of The Children Jean AbiNader
AbiNader writes, “It is saddening to assess the situation related to children in Lebanon. Two recent studies from UNICEF (UN International Children’s Emergency Fund) and the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies (LCPS) detail how a veritable lost generation has resulted from the pandemic and the Beirut Post blast which exacerbated the dislocation caused by the economic demise of the country. Twice a year, UNICEF carries out an in-depth analysis of both Lebanese and refugee children. Called the Child-Focused Rapid Assessment (CFRA), its most recent finding from this summer found that 84% of households could not cover the basic necessities and that one in four children had recently gone to bed hungry. With jobs evaporating and the value of the currency barely recognizable, household debt was on the rise.”
Reuters Teachers’ Strike And Soaring Fees: Lebanon’s Public School Pupils Miss Class Maya Gebeily
Gebeily writes, “School teacher Claude Koteich, her teenager daughter and 10-year-old son should have all been back in class weeks ago – but a crisis in Lebanon’s education sector has left them lounging at home on a Monday afternoon. Lebanon’s three-year financial meltdown has severely devalued the country’s pound and drained state coffers, pushing 80% of the population into poverty and gutting public services including water and electricity.”
New York Times An Israel-Lebanon Border Deal Could Increase Natural Gas Supplies Clifford Krauss
Krauss writes, “Israel and Lebanon have technically been at war since 1948, but the countries are close to an agreement that could increase production of natural gas, helping energy-starved Europe. Officials from the two countries have said they are close to resolving long-running disputes over their maritime borders, which would allow energy companies to extract more fossil fuels from fields in the Mediterranean Sea. The increased production won’t make up for the gas that Europe is no longer getting from Russia. But energy experts say an Israeli-Lebanese agreement should give a vital push to efforts to produce more gas in that part of the world. Over the last four years, energy production in the eastern Mediterranean has been growing as Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Cyprus have worked together to take advantage of oil and gas buried under the sea.”
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.
