Lebanese Pound Plunges More, People Back to Streets

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by english.aawsat.com -- The rise of the US dollar exchange rate against the Lebanese Lira has brought protesters in the north and south of Lebanon back to the streets. On Thursday, the exchange rate of 1USD was equal to LBP8,800 after it was stable for the past weeks at around LBP8,000 and LBP8,500. In Sidon (south of Lebanon), protesters gathered at Masaref Street to express objection to the chaotic rise of the US dollar exchange rate and the deterioration in living and economic conditions.

In Tripoli, protesters went down to Sahet al-Nour, or Light Plaza, and shouted slogans against the politicians’ practices. They called on the politicians to resign and affirmed that their protests will not stop during the lockdown imposed due to the pandemic. The protesters urged the officials to provide the basic necessities for the people whose living conditions would deteriorate during the lockdown.The deterioration of the Lebanese lira exchange rate against the dollar coincides with the biggest economic crisis that Lebanon has ever encountered. It led to the scarcity of the US dollar, which is needed to import most consumption goods. This situation is likely to aggravate with the plan to lift subsidies provided by the Central Bank of Lebanon, therefore increasing the number of people living in poverty.

Trump Admits all Avenues Exhausted, Calls for National Unity

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by newsmax.com -- In a video released Thursday night, President Donald Trump finally admitted all avenues of his election challenge have been exhausted and he will commit to a "smooth, orderly, and seamless transition of power." He also condemned the "heinous attack" on the U.S. Capitol by some of his own supporters following a rally the previous day at which which he said he'd continue the fight. "My campaign vigorously pursued every legal avenue to contest the election results," Trump said in a taped message from inside the White House. "My only goal was to ensure the integrity of the vote. In so doing, I was fighting to defend American democracy."

He said he still strongly believes election laws must be reformed to verify the identity and the eligibility of all voters and to ensure faith and confidence in all future elections. "Now, Congress has certified the results. A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20th," Trump said. "My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly, and seamless transition of power." The words were in stark contrast to reports that the president was pressuring his own vice president, Mike Pence, not to certify the results — something Pence told the president he was constitutionally bound to do.

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Patriarch Al-Rai resumes mediation between Aoun and Hariri to form government

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By NAJIA HOUSSARI -- arabnews.com -- BEIRUT: Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Thursday met Christian Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, who is unhappy with the delay in forming a government due to the conditions put forward by the president. The meeting took place as Israeli warplanes violated Lebanese airspace following a similar breach of Lebanese waters on Wednesday night, when Israeli soldiers on a gunboat fired at Lebanese fishing boats, according to the Lebanese army command. The Aoun-Al-Rai talks continued for 45 minutes. Afterwards, Aoun said that the purpose of the meeting was to wish each other happy holidays because circumstances prevented them from being at the Patriarchate at Christmas. He said, however, that they had touched on “the general conditions that are still unannounced because all that happened with us is not reported in the media, and unfortunately, everyone in the media writes as they please.”

Aoun spoke of the “possibility” of a meeting between him and the prime minister-designate, Saad Hariri, but did not specify a date for the meeting. There is information that Al-Rai was arranging a meeting between Aoun and Hariri as part of his efforts to accelerate the formation of the government. This has reached stalemate as Aoun has not yet responded to the lineup suggested by Hariri a month ago in accordance with the French initiative — that it does not include ministers affiliated with politicians in power, but rather technocrats. Hariri returned to Beirut on Thursday after spending the holidays abroad. The media bureau of the president said: “There is no truth in the information that a meeting was to be held in Bkerke between Aoun and Hariri, under the auspices of Al-Rai. The truth is that Al-Rai made a similar proposal to the president during their Thursday meeting, and Aoun did not know about it in advance.” The dispute between Hariri and the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), which is headed by the president’s son-in-law, Gebran Bassil, escalated a few days ago when Hariri’s media office announced its rejection of the FPM bloc’s holding “others responsible for the obstacles that the movement deliberately creates” in forming a government.

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Capitol on Lockdown, Reports of Shots Fired, 1 Shot, and Protesters Roaming Building

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by newsmax.com -- Jeffrey Rubin -- The U.S. Capitol is secure once more, hours after supporters of President Donald Trump breached the historic building. The siege, which occurred as lawmakers were beginning to certify Electoral College results showing Joe Biden won the Nov. 3 election, had plunged the capital into chaos, with TV anchors likening videos of surging crowds and broken windows to those more commonly seen in authoritarian and third-world countries. It occurred not long after Trump, convinced voter fraud caused his loss to Biden, urged supporters at a rally in D.C. to oppose the ceremonial counting of the electoral votes. Though the ceremonial count, and associated protests by dozens of Republican lawmakers, were interrupted for hours, in a letter to colleagues House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said congressional leaders had decided to resume the joint session Wednesday night. They aim to do so once the Capitol is cleared for use, she said, after consultation with top lawmakers, the Pentagon, the Justice Department and Vice President Mike Pence.

By some reports, including one from the Washington Post, the surge into the Capitol led to use of tear gas, gunfire, and the death of one woman from gunshot wounds to the chest. National Guard and state troopers from Virginia have been called up, among others, to aid in restoring order. The woman was a “civilian” and officers are investigating, said Chief Robert J. Contee of the Metropolitan Police Department. She’d been pronounced dead at a local hospital, but officials had no further details on who shot her or why. There was much more detail, much of it startling, about the start of the siege. Shortly after 1 p.m. ET Wednesday hundreds of pro-Trump protesters pushed through barriers set up along the perimeter of the Capitol, bumping up against officers in full riot gear, some calling the officers "traitors" for doing their jobs, CNN said. About 90 minutes later, police said demonstrators got into the building and the doors to the House and Senate were being locked.

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Covid-19 hit Lebanese in a desperate hunt for hospital beds

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by AFP -- Beirut: When Rachelle Halabi rushed her 85-year-old father to a Beirut hospital a few days ago with Covid-19, the doctor sent them home as intensive care was full. "The ER doctor told us to go back, get him an oxygen machine and give him his treatment from home," she told AFP from the Lebanese capital. "We went with it for several days, but his condition did not improve." Halabi herself tested positive for Covid-19, one of the thousands of new cases reported in Lebanon following a holiday season where loosened restrictions let infections soar. With 192,000 reported cases and almost 1,500 deaths, Lebanon is not among the world's worst hit countries. But its infrastructure is crumbling, and a small surge in infections is enough to take its health sector to breaking point.

The health ministry has in recent weeks urged private hospitals to make more room for Covid-19 patients, but the pandemic is spreading too fast. "The rise in Covid numbers has outpaced the increase in critical beds," said Firass Abiad, the head of a major public hospital battling the virus. Lebanese Red Cross president Georges Kettaneh told AFP the service was "transporting around 100 patients in need of hospital treatment a day." Halabi said she was turned away by several hospitals, and her hunt for a bed eventually took her outside the capital, to a private hospital in the city of Zahle, in the Bekaa valley. Her father was given a bed in exchange for 15 million Lebanese pounds, equivalent to some $10,000 at the official exchange rate. "What do you do if you can't afford this amount?" she asked. Her father had already had a narrow escape earlier this year, when a mammoth blast at Beirut port in August devastated swathes of the capital.

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Lebanese social media erupts in frustration over Soleimani monument

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by arabnews.com -- LONDON: Lebanese took to social media platforms to express their discontent and frustration with the unveiling of a Qassem Soleimani monument in the Hezbollah district of Ghobeiry on Tuesday. “New Qassem Sulaimani statue in #Lebanon — with Lebanese flags in the background, useful to remind us where we are. Whats next? Sulaimani stamps?” wrote journalist Luna Safwan, who was the subject of a targeted campaign by Hezbollah last year. Another user, Wael Atallah, opposed the step, calling it “a cultural aggression being imposed on Lebanon,” which left the Lebanese people “violated and powerless.” Supporters of the Iran-backed Hezbollah unveiled the statue of the Iranian general a year after he was killed by a US drone strike in Iraq.

Hezbollah supporters gathered in a commemoration ceremony grieving the loss of Soleimani. Recent weeks have seen the installation of scores of Soleimani billboards across Hezbollah-dominated areas in the south Beirut Dahye suburbs and throughout south Lebanon. The move has fueled criticism by local Lebanese, who took to social media to protest Iran’s infringement of Lebanon’s sovereignty to try to counter Iran’s growing influence in the country. Nizar Hassan, a Lebanese researcher, said that it highlighted Hezbollah’s desperation “to make (the) late Iranian General Qassem Suleimani a local hero, despite knowing that for the majority of people in Lebanon, he simply represents a foreign power.” Another Lebanese citizen, Dalia Tarabay, tweeted a picture of the statue, saying: “The day will come when the Lebanese will tear down the statue of this terrorist and tyrant Qassem Soleimani like they have done with many other statues of tyrants before this. Until then, shame on anyone who deems this appropriate.” The erection of the statue comes soon after a top IRGC commander boasted that Lebanon owed its missile capabilities to Iran and that the country was in the front line of Iran’s fight against Israel.