Lebanon

BEIRUT (AP) — A ship bringing corn to Lebanon’s northern port of Tripoli normally would not cause a stir. But it’s getting attention because of where it came from: Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa.

The Razoni, loaded with more than 26,000 tons of corn for chicken feed, is emerging from the edges of a Russian war that has threatened food supplies in countries like Lebanon, which has the world’s highest rate of food inflation — a staggering 122% — and depends on the Black Sea region for nearly all of its wheat.

BEIRUT, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon called Friday on the European Union (EU) to cooperate on a roadmap aimed at securing a safe return for Syrian refugees to their homeland.

The country's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that "Lebanon and the EU have a common interest in finding a sustainable solution to the Syrian displacement issue, which protects Lebanon socially, economically and on a security level, in addition to preemptively protecting European countries from the consequences of any possible deterioration."

04 August 2022; MEMO: Lebanon has been rated as the angriest country in the world, followed by Turkiye and other countries in the region, according to newly-released data from the American company, Gallup, for the end of 2021 to mid-2022.

In Gallup's Global Emotions Report, which analyses emotions in over 100 countries around the world, 49 per cent of people surveyed in Lebanon were found to experience anger on a regular basis, even on the day prior to the survey.

05 August 2022; MEMO: Thousands of protesters marched tearfully in the Lebanese capital on Thursday, marking two years since a cataclysmic explosion at the Beirut port, with chants denouncing the government's failure to uncover the truth behind the blast, Reuters reports.

04 August 2022; MEMO: Independent UN experts and human rights groups have called on the UN Human Rights Council to launch an international investigation into the 2020 Beirut Port explosion. The call has been made on the second anniversary of the massive blast that killed more than 200 people and wounded thousands more.

The explosion on 4 August 2020 was apparently caused by a stockpile of ammonium nitrate in a port warehouse. A large area of the Lebanese capital was damaged by the blast.

04 August 2022; MEMO: The International Support Group for Lebanon expressed its "concern" on Wednesday at the lack of progress in the judicial process related to the Beirut port explosion that killed more than 200 people and injured 6,500 others in August, 2020. The explosion damaged 50,000 homes, with financial losses estimated at $15 billion.

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese and international organizations Wednesday called on the U.N. Human Rights Council to send a fact-finding mission to investigate the Beirut port blast two years ago, as a domestic probe continues to stall.

The call by groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International came as the Lebanese investigation has been stalled since December following legal challenges by charged and accused officials against the judge leading the investigation. The Aug. 4, 2020 blast killed nearly 220 people, injured over 6,000 and caused widespread damage in Beirut.

BEIRUT (AP) — It’s been two years since his 3-year-old daughter, Alexandra, was killed in a massive explosion at Beirut’s port — and Paul Naggear has lost hope that outrage over the disaster will bring justice and force change in Lebanon.

The investigation into one of the world’s biggest non-nuclear explosions has been blocked for months by Lebanon’s political powers. Many blame the Lebanese government’s longtime corruption and mismanagement for the tragedy, but the elite’s decades-old lock on power has ensured they are untouchable.

BEIRUT, July 30 (Reuters) - Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri said on Saturday he would not call for a session to elect a new president until the legislature passes reforms that are preconditions for an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout.

An IMF deal is seen as the only way for Lebanon to recover from a financial meltdown that has plunged the country into its most destabilising crisis since the 1975-90 civil war.

BEIRUT (AP) — A section of Beirut’s massive port grain silos, shredded in the 2020 explosion, collapsed in a huge cloud of dust on Sunday after a weekslong fire, triggered by grains that had fermented and ignited in the summer heat.

The northern block of the silos toppled after what sounded like an explosion, kicking up thick gray dust that enveloped the iconic structure and the port next to a residential area. It was not immediately clear if anyone was injured.