Lebanon is Working as Usual Even Without an Official Cabinet - Hariri in UK Forum

by Asharq Alawsat -- Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri affirmed the Lebanese government’s firm commitment to implementing the necessary legal, financial and economic reforms to improve the business environment and enhance transparency. Hariri was speaking at the opening of the Lebanese-UK Business and Investment Forum at Savoy Palace in London, which was also attended by UK Minister of State for the Middle East and International Development Alistair Burt, caretaker Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, UK Trade Commissioner for the Middle East Simon Penny and the Lebanese ambassador to UK, Rami Mortada, as well as Lebanese ministers and economic officials. The forum saw the signing of an agreement between Rolls Royce and Middle East Airlines. Stalling in the formation of the Lebanese government imposed itself on the agenda of the forum, as a factor that affects the attractiveness of Lebanon to foreign investors and British private sector companies. In this regard, Hariri said: “The delay in government formation has not halted our progress on the implementation of the CEDRE projects and reforms.” “Admittedly, Lebanon’s economy is under tremendous pressure, due partly to continued regional turmoil. Moreover, our economic and social challenges are compounded by the continued presence of one and a half million Syrians displaced for the eighth year in a row,” he noted.

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Senators vote to end US backing for Saudi war on Yemen over Khashoggi’s killing

By Karoun Demirjian ---washingtonpost.com --The Senate on Thursday delivered back-to-back rebukes of President Trump’s embrace of Saudi Arabia, first voting to end U.S. participation in the Saudi-led war in Yemen and then unanimously approving a measure blaming the kingdom’s crown prince for the ghastly killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Together, the dual actions represent an unambiguous rejection of Trump’s continued defense of Saudi leaders in the face of a CIA assessment that concluded Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman likely ordered and monitored Khashoggi’s killing Oct. 2 inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. It suggests a bipartisan majority of senators will pursue broader punitive measures when Congress regroups next year — including sanctions and a halt to weapons transfers — despite the administration’s objections. “What we showed in this vote today is that Republicans and Democrats are ready to get back in the business of working with a president — and sometimes against a president — to set the foreign policy of this nation,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) a longtime advocate for checking Saudi Arabia’s regional expansion. “The United States has said, through the Senate, that our support for the Saudi coalition is no longer open-ended.”

The unanimous vote to hold Mohammed responsible for Khashoggi’s killing reflects the extent to which senators in both parties have grown tired of Trump’s continued defense of Mohammed’s denials. It also puts significant pressure on leaders in the House — where the president’s Saudi policy is far more divisive — to allow for a similar vote to condemn the crown prince before the end of the year. Earlier this week, House leaders maneuvered to block rank-and-file members from forcing a vote on any Yemen-related resolutions, an attempt to stop the Senate’s effort to curtail U.S. involvement in the Saudis’ military campaign by invoking the War Powers Resolution. Senators voted 56 to 41 on Thursday to support the Yemen resolution, put forward by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), after seven Republicans joined all Senate Democrats to back the measure. That figure strongly suggests a majority of the Republican-led Senate will challenge Trump on his Saudi policy next year, alongside a Democratic-led House, whose incoming leaders also have promised to be proactive about demanding changes to the status quo. Senators discuss ending U.S. support for Saudi-led war in Yemen Senators spoke on Dec. 12 after voting to start debate on a measure to end U.S. support for Saudi military actions in Yemen. (Patrick Martin /The Washington Post) “The current relationship with Saudi Arabia is not working for America,” said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), a Trump ally who, nonetheless, is a driving force behind several efforts to punish Saudi Arabia. He often refers to Mohammed as a “wrecking ball.” Graham did not vote for the Yemen resolution Thursday, citing concerns about using the War Powers Resolution as a vehicle to call out Saudi Arabia, but he said resolutely this week that his past defense of the kingdom had come to an end. “I think you’re wrong about what’s going on up here,” Graham said late Wednesday in comments directed toward Trump. “I’m never going to let this go until things change in Saudi Arabia.”

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Time names person of the year

Time magazine has named "The Guardians" — four journalists and a newsroom — as their person of the year for helping to expose “the manipulation and the abuse of truth,” globally. The four include Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist who died inside Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul consulate; Maria Ressa, from the Rappler site for its coverage of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte; Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who were jailed in Myanmar for exposing the murders of Rohingya Muslims, and the staff of the Capital Gazette newspaper in Maryland who were attacked in their own newsroom

Lebanese security forces foil terror attack amid May elections

(MENAFN) Caretaker Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk declared that the Internal Security Forces (ISF) had foiled terrorist attacks during the parliamentary elections in May aimed at places of worship and military posts in Lebanon. Machnouk added: "The ISF protected Lebanon against two huge terrorist attacks by thwarting the smuggling of bombs from Idlib in Syria to Lebanon." Machnouk's statements took place during a televised press conference at the ISF Information Branch's headquarters in Ashrafieh. He confirmed: "Information services in Lebanon are doing an outstanding job and Beirut is considered one of the safest cities in the world due to the efforts of security services." 

In Lebanon, empty flats raise fears of real estate collapse

AFP/ Beirut Ghostly apartment blocks and half-built buildings dot Lebanon, as entrepreneurs and experts fear that the country’s key real estate sector is on the brink of collapse. The small Mediterranean country’s construction sector witnessed an unprecedented boom from 2008, fuelled in part by sales to wealthy Gulf Arabs and Lebanese expatriates. But after civil war broke out in neighbouring Syria in 2011, political insecurity caused these sales to dwindle and local demand to drop. A slump in oil prices from 2014 compounded this slowdown, leaving thousands of apartments unsold across Beirut, and forcing some developers to freeze construction sites. “Some 3,600 unsold apartments exist today in Beirut alone,” says Guillaume Boudisseau, an expert at the Ramco real estate consultancy firm. In front of Beirut’s port, a building dubbed “The Coast” is one of many luxurious apartment blocks desperately looking for buyers.

The tower was completed in 2014, boasting views over the Mediterranean and moored cargo ships from its 500-square-metre apartments. But in the four years since, just two of its 21 flats have been sold. “When we started works in 2010, the context was very different,” said owner Hussein Abdallah, who had hoped to make lucrative sales. Instead, the businessman had to hand over ownership of eight flats in the building to the bank to pay off his debt. Other entrepreneurs have decided to halt building altogether. A road back from the Beirut seafront, the construction of another tower grinded to a halt two years ago, with only the concrete outer shell completed. “We only sold a single apartment off plan,” its owner said, asking to remain anonymous. He reduced the price by 20%, “but it didn’t help”, he added. Near the capital’s iconic Martyrs’ Square, the foundations of another high-brow project — “Beb Beirut” — stand frozen in time, concrete pillars jutting out from the ground, and rusty rebar rods protruding from them. Still cranes loom overhead, while all around the stunted construction site sparkling new apartment blocks appear completely empty. Owner Mireille Choufany decided to stop building two years ago. “Demand is almost non-existent,” she said.

Outside the capital, real estate sales have also dwindled. Sales dropped by 19% during the first 10 months of the year in southern Lebanon, and by the same percentage in the north, according to the country’s real estate registry. Multi-confessional Lebanon has been without a government since May, threatening to derail an already fragile economy. The deadlock is the latest in a series of political crises that make Lebanese reluctant to invest in apartments — both luxury and smaller-scale. To make matters worse, at the start of the year, the central bank suspended a subsidy to real estate loans for less well-off Lebanese. Among them, 33-year-old bank employee Marwan, who signed a contract to buy a flat in January. “The next day, I learnt that the subsidised loans had been suspended”, he said, asking that his family name be withheld. Marwan paid 20% of the apartment’s cost when he signed, but “was counting on the loan to pay the rest”, he said. “Now I risk losing the amount I already paid, without even getting a flat.”

To avoid a devaluation of the Lebanese pound — which has been trading at a fixed rate of 1,500 against the dollar since the mid-1990s — banks increased deposit rates, causing lending rates to jump more than 10%, which further discourages buyers from taking out loans. A banking source said they feared any collapse of the real estate sector could have repercussions on the banking sector. Builders and home buyers owe $24bn to banks, which is equivalent to more than a third of credits to the private sector, the source said. To avoid disaster, bank and real estate companies launched an investment platform in October that aims to raise $250mn to purchase some of the unsold properties. “The aim is to buy up more than 200 flats in greater Beirut and sell them on the foreign market,” focusing on Lebanese expatriates, said Massaad Fares, head of the Legacy One platform. But Wael el-Zein, chief of Lucid Investment Bank which is taking part in the project, says that it will not even cover 10% of unsold dwellings. “It’s a lifebuoy to avoid drowning, while waiting for political respite,” he said. Jihad Hokayem, a real estate investment expert at the Lebanese American University, agreed such initiatives were only temporary fixes. “These measures cover up existing or potential bankruptcies. It’s the beginning of a total collapse” of the real estate sector, he said.

Lebanese President Seeks to Find Ways to End Cabinet Deadlock

by aawsat.com-- Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat President Michel Aoun is working on a solution to the cabinet crisis, and has informed his visitors that he might send a letter to Parliament for examining constitutional measures that could push all parties to assume responsibility in resolving the stalemate, informed sources in Beirut told Asharq Al-Awsat on Thursday. “Aoun believes that there should be an exit (to the cabinet crisis) soon, because he believes that the latest developments began to damage his powers and are driving the country towards bigger crises,” the sources said.

A proposal to form a 32 instead of a 30-member cabinet has so far failed to produce a breakthrough. Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri has not yet expressed his stance, although both Aoun and Speaker Nabih Berri have backed the idea. The initiative, which was first made by caretaker Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, stipulates adding two ministers to the proposed 30-member line up - One representing the Christian minorities and the second the Allawite sect.

Commenting on the proposal, caretaker Education Minister Marwan Hamadeh, who is close to Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat, said: “We have not been given the proposal’s details. We are still attached to our position of supporting a national unity government, which includes all parties.” MP Michel Moussa from Berri’s parliamentary bloc denied reports saying the March 8 alliance was planning to withdraw its nomination for Hariri to form the next government. “No such article in the Lebanese Constitution allows this measure,” he said.