BEIRUT: Lebanon’s parliament sat Tuesday in a conference hall to allow for social distancing between lawmakers amid the coronavirus pandemic, while outside anti-government protesters demonstrated in a car convoy.
As the country struggles with a battered economy, MPs approved the re-allocation of $40 million from the World Bank to help fight COVID-19, which has officially infected 677 people and killed 21 nationwide.
It also passed a law to fight corruption in the public sector and set up a national body in charge of stamping out graft.
On the agenda of the three-day session were proposals for a divisive general amnesty, to legalize cannabis for medical use, and to lift immunity for ministers and lawmakers to allow prosecutions for corruption.
Outside the venue, dozens of protesters drove a noisy convoy of cars covered in slogans, drivers honking their horns and passengers brandishing the national flag and leaning out of the windows in face masks.
They took to the streets on wheels to protest deteriorating living conditions while maintaining social distancing, as they kept up the pressure on a political elite under fire since mass protests erupted last October.
“Today, instead of passing a general amnesty law... they could pass a law on the independence of the judiciary,” Jad Assaileh, a young demonstrator said.
“We want to recover the stolen money,” he said, referring to allegations that Lebanon’s ruling elite transferred billions out of the country while regular citizens were prevented from withdrawing their savings by the banks.
Similar protests took place in the cities of Saida and Tripoli.
Lebanon’s worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war is now compounded by the lockdown. Poverty has risen to 45 percent of the population, according to official estimates.
Protests had petered out after a new government took office in January, and demonstrators have largely remained at home since the coronavirus lockdown started mid-March.
But on Friday, hundreds again protested in Tripoli to mark six months since the street movement started to demand an overhaul of a ruling class widely deemed inept and corrupt.
The lawmakers met in a 1,000 seat conference hall at the UNESCO Palace in Beirut, as part of measures to halt the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Among their 66 items to discuss, legalizing growing marijuana for medical purposes was expected to be approved by a majority as it could generate revenue for the indebted state.
Lebanon bans growing, selling and consuming cannabis, but illicit production in the country’s east has developed over decades into a multi-million-dollar industry.
No consensus was in sight, however, for a general amnesty to free thousands of detainees and to suspend arrest warrants for thousands more.
Supporters — which include Shiite movements Hezbollah and Amal as well as the Sunni Future Movement — say an amnesty could lessen overcrowding in jails housing 9,000 prisoners.
But its detractors, including the president’s Christian parliamentary bloc, say the bill is merely an attempt to boost popular support.
The amnesty has long been a demand of the families of some 1,200 so-called “Islamist detainees,” most of whom hail from the Sunni-majority city of Tripoli, where the former premier’s Future Movement is dominant.
They are accused of carrying out crimes including fighting and assaulting the army, taking part in clashes in the city, and planning explosives attacks.
Families have also clamoured for the release of thousands more detainees from the eastern regions of Baalbek and Hermel, where Hezbollah and the parliament speaker’s Amal Movement are powerful.
Most of these are accused of drug-linked crimes including growing hashish illegally, or other offenses such as stealing cars.
Lebanon, one of the most indebted countries in the world with a debt equivalent to 170 percent of its GDP, defaulted on payments for the first time last month.
As the country faces an acute liquidity crisis, banks have banned transfers abroad and gradually restricted dollar withdrawals until suspending them last month.
The Lebanese pound has for decades been pegged to the dollar, but in recent months lost half of its official value on the black market.
The official exchange rate remains 1,507 Lebanese pounds to the dollar.
The banks earlier this month set their rate at 2,600 pounds to the dollar, but money changers were offering more than 3,200 pounds for the greenback on Tuesday on the black market.
On Tuesday, the central bank asked banks to allow depositors with foreign currency accounts to withdraw their savings in Lebanese pounds at the “market rate,” likely to signify 2,600 pounds to the dollar.
Lebanon MPs meet in hall as protesters stage car convoy
https://arab.news/gycb2
Lebanon MPs meet in hall as protesters stage car convoy
- MPs approved the re-allocation of $40 million from the World Bank to help fight COVID-19
Venezuela’s Maduro sworn in for third term as US raises reward for his capture
- Venezuela’s opposition says ballot box-level tallies show a landslide win for its former candidate Edmundo Gonzalez
- The outgoing Biden administration increased its reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Maduro on drug trafficking charges to $25m
CARACAS: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose nearly 12 years in office have been marked by deep economic and social crisis, was sworn in for a third term on Friday, despite a six-month-long election dispute, international calls for him to stand aside and an increase in the US reward offered for his capture.
Maduro, president since 2013, was declared the winner of July’s election by both Venezuela’s electoral authority and top court, though detailed tallies confirming his victory have never been published.
Venezuela’s opposition says ballot box-level tallies show a landslide win for its former candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, who is recognized as president-elect by several countries including the United States. International election observers said the vote was not democratic.
The months since the election have seen Gonzalez’s flight to Spain in September, his ally Maria Corina Machado going into hiding in Venezuela, and the detentions of high-profile opposition figures and protesters.
In the latest in a series of punitive steps, the outgoing Biden administration increased its reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Maduro on drug trafficking charges to $25 million, from a previous $15 million.
It also issued a $25 million reward for Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and a $15 million reward for Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino, as well as new sanctions against eight other officials including the head of state oil company PDVSA Hector Obregon.
The US indicted Maduro and others on narcotics and corruption charges, among others, in 2020. Maduro has rejected the accusations.
The US move coincided with sanctions by Britain and the European Union each targeting 15 officials, including members of the National Electoral Council and the security forces, and Canadian sanctions targeting 14 current and former officials.
The Maduro government has always rejected all sanctions, saying they are illegitimate measures that amount to an “economic war” designed to cripple Venezuela.
“The outgoing government of the United States doesn’t know how to take revenge on us,” Maduro said during his inauguration speech, without directly mentioning sanctions.
The Venezuelan communications ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the sanctions.
Maduro and his allies have cheered what they say is the country’s resilience despite the measures, though they have historically blamed some economic hardships and shortages on sanctions.
OPPOSITION TO SPEAK
Gonzalez, who has been on a whistle-stop tour of the Americas this week, has said he will return to Venezuela to take up the mantle of president, but has given no details.
The government, which has accused the opposition of fomenting fascist plots against it, has said Gonzalez will be arrested if he returns and offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to his capture.
Opposition leaders Gonzalez and Machado are each expected to speak later on Friday.
Both are being investigated by the attorney general’s office for alleged conspiracy, but only Gonzalez has a public warrant out for his arrest.
Machado’s first public appearance since August at an anti-government march in Caracas on Thursday was marred by a brief detention.
Her Vente Venezuela political movement said guns were fired and Machado was knocked off the motorcycle on which she was leaving the event. She was then held and forced to film several videos, it said.
One video shared on social media and by government officials showed her sitting on a curb and recounting losing her wallet.
The government scoffed at the incident and denied any involvement.
Some 42 people have been detained for political reasons since Tuesday, judicial NGO Foro Penal said.
Maduro was sworn in at the national assembly in Caracas and said he was taking his oath in the name of sixteenth-century Indigenous leader Guaicaipuro and late President Hugo Chavez, his mentor, among others.
“May this new presidential term be a period of peace, of prosperity, of equality and the new democracy,” Maduro said, adding he would convene a commission dedicated to constitutional reform.
“This act is possible because Venezuela is peaceful, in full exercise of its national sovereignty, of its popular sovereignty, of its national independence,” Maduro said.
Some 2,000 invitees from 125 countries attended the inauguration, according to the government.
Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega, staunch allies of Maduro, attended as did Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament.
ECONOMIC TROUBLES
Venezuela closed its borders and airspace to Colombia for 72 hours starting at 0500 local time (1000 GMT), the foreign ministry in Bogota said in a statement, adding the border on the Colombian side would remain open.
The opposition, non-governmental organizations and international bodies such as the United Nations have for years decried increasing repression of opposition political parties, activists and independent media in Venezuela.
US President-elect Donald Trump has said the country is being run by a dictator.
Meanwhile the government has repeatedly accused the opposition of plotting with foreign governments and agencies including the Central Intelligence Agency to commit acts of sabotage and terrorism.
The government said this week it had detained seven “mercenaries,” including a high-ranking FBI official and a US military official.
Venezuela’s economy has experienced a prolonged crisis marked by triple-digit inflation and the exodus of more than 7 million migrants seeking better opportunities abroad.
Many of Machado’s supporters, among them retired Venezuelans who would like to see their children and grandchildren return to the country, say jobs, inflation and unreliable public services are among their top concerns.
The government, meanwhile, has employed orthodox methods to try to tamp down inflation, to some success. Maduro said this month that the economy grew 9 percent last year.
About 2,000 people were arrested at protests following the election. The government said this week it has released 1,515 of them. Gonzalez, 75, said his son-in-law was kidnapped on Tuesday while taking his children to school.
Saudi Arabia takes up position as secretariat of global coral reef body
- Coral reefs sustain 25 percent of the world’s marine biodiversity and generate an estimated $9.9 trillion annually in ecosystem services
JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia on Friday officially assumed its position as secretariat of the International Coral Reef Initiative, an organization that works to protect the planet’s coral reefs.
Representing 102 members and 45 countries responsible for 75 percent of the world’s reefs, ICRI plays a role in tackling environmental and economic challenges facing these vital ecosystems.
The virtual handover ceremony was attended by international representatives, including Peter Thomson, the UN’s special envoy for the ocean, as well as representatives from organizations such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the US State Department.
The Kingdom’s tenure as head of the body was confirmed during the ICRI’s 38th General Meeting in September 2024 and will be led by the Kingdom’s General Organization for the Conservation of Coral Reefs and Turtles in the Red Sea, also known as SHAMS.
“Saudi Arabia’s role as ICRI secretariat underscores our unwavering commitment to a sustainable future for coral reefs worldwide,” said Dr. Khaled Asfahani, CEO of SHAMS and chair of ICRI. “Through science, innovation, and collaboration, we aim to protect these vital ecosystems, ensuring their resilience for future generations while maintaining their invaluable contributions to the global economy.”
Coral reefs sustain 25 percent of the world’s marine biodiversity and generate an estimated $9.9 trillion annually in ecosystem services, from fisheries to tourism.
Yet, they are under siege from climate change, pollution, and overfishing. With Saudi Arabia at the helm, ICRI will craft its 2025–2027 Action Plan to address these threats.
The plan seeks to expand membership to include countries representing 90 percent of global coral reefs, strengthen regional collaborations in the Red Sea, South Asia, and East Africa, and integrate reef resilience into global biodiversity policies.
Police ban pro-Palestine march near BBC headquarters over ‘disruption’ concerns
- Planned Jan. 18 march was set to pass near a synagogue
- Organizers criticized decision, saying it ‘rejects the implication that our marches are somehow hostile to or a threat to Jewish people’
LONDON: UK police have banned a planned pro-Palestine march from taking place outside the BBC headquarters in London, citing concerns over potential “serious disruption” to a nearby synagogue.
The decision, announced on Friday, prevents the rally — originally scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 18 — from gathering in the area under the Public Order Act.
The Metropolitan Police said that it consulted with local community and business representatives, including members of the synagogue’s congregation located “very close” to the proposed starting point of the march, before making the decision.
The ban follows an earlier request by authorities for the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, or PSC, the march’s organizers, to amend their planned route to avoid disrupting worshippers at the synagogue on Shabbat, the Jewish holy day.
The PSC strongly criticized the move, stating: “The Palestine coalition rejects the implication that our marches are somehow hostile to or a threat to Jewish people.
“The Met police have acknowledged there has not been a single incident of any threat to a synagogue attached to any of the marches.”
In an open letter issued on Friday, more than 150 cross-party MPs, trade union leaders, writers, cultural figures and civil society organizations condemned the police’s actions, accusing them of “misusing public order powers to shield the BBC from democratic scrutiny.”
“The route for the march was confirmed with the Police nearly two months ago and, as agreed with them, was publicly announced on 30 November. This route, beginning at the BBC, has only been used twice in the last 15 months of demonstrations and not since February 2024,” the PSC said in its statement.
“With just over a week to go, the Metropolitan Police is reneging on the agreement and has stated its intention to prevent the protest from going ahead as planned.”
The rally was expected to begin outside the BBC’s headquarters before marching to Whitehall.
Organizers said that the demonstration was intended to protest about the “pro-Israel bias” that they claim dominates the broadcaster’s coverage.
Govt. minister says England should play Afghanistan, despite growing calls for boycott amid women’s rights concerns
- The ICC’s policy requires nations granted Test-playing status, which Afghanistan was given in 2017, to support women’s cricket
LONDON: World cricket’s governing body is coming under increasing scrutiny for its stance on Afghanistan’s inclusion in the upcoming Champions Trophy tournament, despite the Taliban’s restrictions on women’s rights and sports participation.
The International Cricket Council has so far resisted calls to ban Afghanistan’s men’s team or press the Taliban regime to uphold its own rules surrounding the establishment of a women’s cricket team, citing a strategy to influence change through engagement.
The ICC’s policy requires nations granted Test-playing status, which Afghanistan was given in 2017, to support women’s cricket.
However, Afghanistan was accepted as a full member without an already functional women’s cricket program, citing religious and cultural reasons.
Despite efforts by the Afghanistan Cricket Board to establish a women’s team in 2020 “adhering to the traditional Afghan and Islamic values,” the Taliban’s resurgence in 2021 halted progress, with women and girls increasingly banned from sports and public life since.
More than 160 British MPs and peers have recently called for the England and Wales Cricket Board to boycott their match against Afghanistan, set to be played next month in Pakistan, Sky News reported.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer refused to commit to such action, but said: “The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is in touch with our international counterparts on this issue. I welcome the England and Wales Cricket Board making strong representations to the International Cricket Council on Afghanistan’s women’s cricket team.”
South Africa’s Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie has also supported calls for a boycott, but Cricket South Africa has deferred to the ICC, emphasizing adherence to tournament regulations.
However, British Culture and Sport Secretary Lisa Nandy has rejected the idea of a boycott, stating that such actions could penalize athletes and alienate fans.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Nandy said: “I’m instinctively cautious about boycotts in sports. I think they deny sports fans the opportunity that they love, and they can also very much penalize the athletes and the sports people who work very, very hard to reach the top of their game and then they’re denied the opportunities to compete.
“They are not the people that we want to penalize for the appalling actions of the Taliban against women and girls,” she added.
Instead, Nandy pointed to diplomatic measures to bring about change, highlighting past UK efforts to withhold symbolic support at sporting events, such as avoiding dignitary attendance at the Winter Olympics in China.
“When China hosted the Winter Olympics, I was very vocal, many of us were very vocal about making sure that we didn’t send dignitaries to that event, that we didn’t give them the PR coup that they were looking for when they were forcibly incarcerating the Uighurs in Xinjiang,” she said.
The ICC has reiterated its commitment to engaging with Afghanistan to foster inclusivity in cricket.
“The ICC remains closely engaged with the situation in Afghanistan and continues to collaborate with our members,” a spokesperson told Sky News.
“We are committed to leveraging our influence constructively to support the Afghanistan Cricket Board in fostering cricket development and ensuring playing opportunities for both men and women in Afghanistan.
“The ICC has established an Afghanistan Cricket Task Force, chaired by deputy chairman Mr. Imran Khwaja, who will lead the ongoing dialogue on this matter,” they added.
However, the ICC’s approach has drawn sharp criticism from Afghan women’s rights activists.
Khalida Popal, former captain of Afghanistan’s women’s football team, expressed disappointment in the governing bodies’ lack of action.
“The governing bodies have failed to stand by their own policies. There’s clear gender discrimination in sport, and they’ve ignored the women of Afghanistan,” she told Sky News.
England’s match against Afghanistan remains scheduled, and the ICC continues to engage with the ACB. But the Champions Trophy, set to take place next month, has become a focal point for global scrutiny of Afghanistan’s policies and the ICC’s role in upholding its principles.
Pakistani PM, OIC chief urge global push for Gaza ceasefire
- The OIC leader is currently in Islamabad to attend a global conference on girls’ education in Muslim countries
- Shehbaz Sharif also met with the secretary general of the Muslim World League, the co-host of the conference
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taha agreed on Friday the OIC must intensify pressure on the international community to secure an immediate ceasefire in Gaza during their meeting in Pakistan’s federal capital.
The top OIC official arrived in Islamabad earlier in the day to attend a two-day global conference on girls’ education in Muslim countries, set to begin on Saturday. He was received by Education Minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui upon arrival.
During the meeting, the prime minister thanked the OIC for its consistent support regarding the Kashmir dispute with his country’s nuclear rival, India.
Sharif strongly condemned Israel’s ongoing “genocidal campaign” in Gaza and stressed the need for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, unrestricted humanitarian aid for Palestinians and global accountability for Israel’s conduct of war.
“Both leaders agreed that the OIC must maintain its pressure on the international community for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza,” read an official statement released by Sharif’s office after the meeting. “They emphasized that the resolution of the Palestine issue must align with UN resolutions and the aspirations of the Palestinian people.”
The meeting also touched on combating Islamophobia and other global and regional matters of mutual interest.
GIRLS’ EDUCATION
The OIC secretary general expressed gratitude for Pakistan’s warm reception and praised the country’s leadership role in addressing critical issues facing the Muslim world.
“The hosting the international conference on girls’ education in the Muslim world is an example of Pakistan’s leadership role in addressing important issues,” he said.
Separately, the prime minister also met with Sheikh Dr. Mohammad bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, the secretary general of the Muslim World League (MWL).
Sharif commended the MWL’s partnership in co-hosting the two-day conference and emphasized that the event would send a strong global message about the Muslim world’s commitment to advancing girls’ education.
Dr. Al-Issa informed Sharif the conference would culminate in the Islamabad Declaration, a consensus document promoting girls’ education in Muslim countries.
He also informed the conference would feature renowned scholars, educators, and thought leaders from around the globe to address a wide range of issues affecting the Muslim world.
