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Two Lebanese public hospitals to shut as crisis pushes sector to the edge

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Two Lebanese public hospitals to shut as crisis pushes sector to the edge

By GEORGI AZAR -- arabnews.com -- DUBAI: Two public hospitals in Lebanon have threatened to shut their doors from Thursday, July 15, if officials fail to disburse urgently needed supplies, funds and materials as the healthcare sector inches closer toward a collapse. Lebanon has been hit with an unprecedented financial, economic, and monetary crisis that has wiped out life savings coupled with a crippling liquidity crunch. Shahar Gharbi Governmental Hospital, located in the heart of Aley district, announced Tuesday that it would stop receiving patients as of Thursday. “We’re facing crisis after crisis. Fuel shortages, medicine shortages and unsustainable wages,” Nawal Al Hasaniya, a member of the hospital’s secretary administration, told Arab News.

The health sector, as with virtually all other sectors across the country, has been reeling under the burden of the country’s severe financial crisis, prompting medical practitioners to repeatedly sound the alarm. The national currency has lost more than 91 percent of its value since October 2019, causing the value of the minimum wage to plummet to around $35 per month. At Sibline Government Hospital on the southern outskirts of Beirut, managing doctor Ali Al Barraj echoed Hasaniya’s concerns. “It’s an extremely tough situation. Starting tomorrow we’re going to shut down,” he said. Just like Shahar Hospital, his facility will limit its activities to only treating life-threatening conditions such as dialysis and heart conditions. Employees, they explained, now earn as little as $40 per month, with Barraj calling on the Health Ministry to disperse LL3 billion while raising their wages. A similar plea was made by Sibline Hospital, yet both have fallen on deaf ears. “Until now, we haven’t heard anything, and we are headed toward an escalation,” Hasaniya said.

Ex-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn: How I escaped Japan in a box

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American Tells Tokyo Court He Regrets Helping Carlos Ghosn Flee Japan

by bbc.com -- Dearbail Jordan & Simon Jack -- At 10.30pm on a cold December night in 2019, a former titan of the global car industry lay bundled inside a box on board a plane, waiting to flee Japan. "The plane was scheduled to take off at 11pm," recalls Carlos Ghosn. "The 30 minutes waiting in the box on the plane, waiting for it to take off, was probably the longest wait I've ever experienced in my life." Now, for the first time, the man who was once the boss of both Nissan and Renault has detailed his daring escape. In an exclusive interview with the BBC, Mr Ghosn tells how he disguised himself to slip unnoticed through the streets of Tokyo, why a large music equipment box was chosen to smuggle him out of Japan and the elation he felt when he finally landed in his native Lebanon. "The thrill was that finally, I'm going to be able to tell the story," he said.

Mr Ghosn was arrested in November 2018 over allegations by Nissan that he had understated his annual salary and misused company funds, which he denies. At the time, Mr Ghosn was the chairman of the Japanese carmaker. He was also chairman of France's Renault and the boss of a three-way alliance between both carmakers and Mitsubishi. His cost-cutting at Nissan - initially controversial - was ultimately seen to have saved the carmaker and he became a highly respected and recognisable figure. But he insists he was "collateral damage" in a fight back from Nissan against the increasing influence of Renault which still owns 43% of the Japanese company. Documentary series Storyville details his extraordinary rise and sudden fall in Carlos Ghosn: The Last Flight which will be shown on BBC 4 on Wednesday 14 July.

President: Lebanon parliamentary elections on time in 2022

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Lebanese President Micheal Aoun in Beirut, Lebanon on March 17, 2021 [Lebanese Presidency/Anadolu Agency]

by middleeastmonitor.com -- Lebanese President Michel Aoun confirmed Tuesday that the country's parliamentary elections will be held as scheduled in 2022, Anadolu Agency reported. According to a statement issued by the Lebanese Presidency, Aoun told the former Head of the European Union delegation, Elena Valenciano, that "parliamentary elections will take place on time, in spring of 2022." Aoun, who met with Valenciano in the Presidential Palace in Baabda east of Beirut, also welcomed the EU to monitor the polls. "Lebanon welcomes the presence of European observers to follow-up, as happened in 2018," Aoun said. The Lebanese state "will take appropriate measures so that elections take place in an appropriate democratic and secure atmosphere," to ensure widest popular participation in elections, he added. Lebanon is still stuck in the formation of a new government amid differences between Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri. The Arab country is facing a severe economic crisis, with the local currency losing nearly all its value against US dollar. Streets across the country have been blocked by protests and rallies over the crisis, the worst since the country's civil war.

President Michel Sleiman: بالاضافة الى عدم تسديد سندات الدين لم نلتزم تعهداتنا بتحييد لبنان

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وزير فرنسيّ: نحترم إلتزاماتنا على عكس السلطة اللبنانية

http://alhadeel.net/article/178253

الجميع يشير الى عدم احترام الدولة اللبنانية التزاماتها. صح بالاضافة الى عدم تسديد سندات الدين لم نلتزم تعهداتنا بتحييد لبنان بعد ان التزمت الامم المتحدة والدول الصديقة بناء لطلبنا ( اعلان بعبدا ) كما لم نلتزم بمناقشة الاستراتيجية الدفاعية التي تعهدنا مناقشتها ( اليوم لا لزوم لها وفق الصيغة المطروحة منذ ٩ سنوات ).

الله يرحم الرئيس جاك شيراك كان يقول لي : " يتميز اللبناني بانه يفي دينه "

ماكرون والعالم اجمع يقولون اليوم : اللبناني "ينفي" التزاماته ....ودينه !

Tiffany Trump's Reported Wedding Plans Suggest She's Leaning In to Dad Donald Trump More Than Ever

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a man wearing a suit and tie

By Louisa Ballhaus -- msn.com -- While Ivanka Trump and husband Jared Kushner seem to be distancing themselves more and more from former president Donald Trump, younger daughter Tiffany Trump may be thinking this is her moment to shine — and her wedding plans suggest that Marla Maples’ daughter, at least, has no problem aligning herself with the Donald Trump brand. Recent moves by Ivanka like her vaccine selfie and midsummer trip to Aspen amid Trump’s Dallas CPAC appearance seem geared at showing just how different from her dad Ivanka can be, but Tiffany — who has long remained more at the outskirts of Trump’s orbit than her older sister — is reportedly considering a family wedding ceremony with fiancé Michael Boulos (Lebanese originally) at her dad’s very favorite place: Palm Beach’s Mar-a-Lago. “They both want to marry in a big ceremony, your basic international spectacle,” a source tells People of Tiffany’s plans. Boulos, whom she started dating in 2018, proposed in January 2021 and has since begun eagerly planning with his fiancée. “Tiffany likes the idea of a glamorous and glitzy affair and, surprisingly, so does Michael.”

Ivanka Trump Didn’t Join Her Siblings in Posting a Father’s Day Tribute to Donald Trump This Year “I don’t know if they will have two big deal weddings but there could be a smaller celebration somewhere if relatives can’t make the big one,” the source added. “Mar-a-Lago would make sense even though so many people marry there…It depends when it happens and what is going on around them at the time.”

Judge in Beirut blast probe 'rejects MPs' immunity move

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Relatives of the victims of Beirut Port blast gather during a protest demanding the fair conduct of the investigation and the discovery of those responsible for explosion in the Port of Beirut on Aug 4th in 2020, outside the Parliament building in Beirut, Lebanon on 10 July 2021. The EU is developing a sanctions regime against Lebanon’s leaders.

by AFP --- BEIRUT: The judge investigating last year's deadly Lebanon port blast on Monday rejected a request by MPs for more evidence before immunity for three ex-ministers can be waived, a judicial source said. Hundreds of tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertiliser exploded on the dockside at Beirut port last August 4, killing more than 200 people, injuring thousands and ravaging swathes of the capital. Afterwards, it emerged that officials had known about the explosive substance being stored there unsafely for years. Coming less than a month before the first anniversary of the tragedy, Monday's move may mean a new standoff, with fears that the probe could be derailed by political interference. Earlier this month, lead judge Tareq Bitar said he had demanded that parliament lift the immunity of ex-finance minister Ali Hasan Khalil, former public works minister Ghazi Zaiter and ex-interior minister Nohad Machnouk. Bitar said he was looking at possible charges of "probable intent to murder" and "negligence".

Deputy speaker Elie Ferzli said parliament's administration and justice committee on Friday decided to "request all evidence available in the investigation, as well as all documents that prove suspicions". He said the committee would reconvene once it had received a reply, to decide whether or not to waive immunity. On Monday, the judicial source said no further documents would be forthcoming. "The investigating judge rejected parliament's request ... In an official letter he explained that he had already handed over all the documents that needed to be handed over," the source told AFP. - Protests - Lawyer and activist Nizar Saghieh said the committee's request on Friday went against the separation of powers between the judiciary and the legislature, and "violated the confidentiality of the investigation". "They're just trying to buy time," he alleged.

EU wants Lebanese sanctions regime framework by end July

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PARIS (Reuters) - The European Union said on Monday it wanted to agree by the end of July the legal framework for a sanctions regime targeting Lebanese leaders, but cautioned that the measure would not be immediately implemented. Led by France, the EU is seeking to ramp up pressure on Lebanon’s squabbling politicians after 11 months of a crisis that has left Lebanon facing financial collapse, hyperinflation, electricity blackouts, and fuel and food shortages. The move is part of broader international efforts to force a stable government capable of carrying out crucial reforms to emerge from nearly a year of political chaos and economic collapse following a blast that ravaged Beirut port. “I can say that the objective is to complete this by the end of the month. I am not talking about the implementation of the regime, just the building of the regime according to sound legal basis,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters in Brussels.

Nearly a year after the Aug. 4 explosion, which killed more than 200 people, wounded thousands and devastated swathes of the capital, Lebanon is still headed by a caretaker government. “Lebanon has been in self-destruct mode for several months,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters in Brussels. “Now there is a major emergency situation for a population that is in distress.” The EU first needs to set up a sanctions regime that could then see individuals hit by travel bans and asset freezes, although it may also decide to not list anybody immediately. Le Drian said there was now a consensus among the bloc’s 27 nations for a regime.