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Tuesday, 16 February, 2021 - 07:30
Diab will not hold cabinet session to approve the state budget. (NNA) Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat
Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab announced Monday that his cabinet will not hold a meeting to approve the 2021 draft budget. The budget was supposed to be approved in fall last year.
This means the state will continue to spend based on the Constitution’s “provisional twelfth of the preceding financial year”, which allows government spending outside the budget.
“We noticed that the caretaker PM does not want to convene a cabinet session before the issuance of an explicit opinion from parliament to interpret the Constitution regarding holding sessions under the caretaker government,” Hussein Obeid from the Association of Full-time Professors at the Lebanese University, said following a meeting with Diab on Monday.
explosion that occurred in 2011 in Japan
Several containers of sodium sulfide that were shipped from China to Syria on MSC MASHA 3 vessel could be offloaded at a Lebanese port (Beirut or Tripoli) , with the aim of transferring it later to Syria overland through Lebanon ,
This prompted MP Georges Okais of the Lebanese Forces to warn the Lebanese authorities that storing explosive chemicals at Lebanese ports could lead to a repeat of the Aug 4, 2020 catastrophic explosion.
“It seems that this ruling authority does not want to learn from the August 4 massacre,” Okais warned in a statement.
“Ten containers of this material will be off a Lebanese port in the coming days ” Okais added.
Friday, 22 January, 2021 - 11:30
A man collects goods from a garbage bin in Lebanon s northern city of Tripoli on December 12, 2019. (AFP) Beirut - Inas Sherri
The head of Lebanon’s General Labor Union, Bechara Al-Asmar, said that contract workers were severely hit by the repercussions of the Covid-19 lockdowns and the deteriorating economic situation.
In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Asmar noted that there were around 120,000 contract workers who are hired by state institutions, such as the state-owned power company (EDL), who depend in their living on their daily income.
He said most contract workers earn no more than LBP 50,000 per day, that is, USD 33 on the official exchange rate, and USD 6 on the current black market rate, “making them mainly among the poorest groups in society, especially after the economic crisis.”
‘People are definitely not OK’: Lebanon struck by self-immolation and other suicide attempts
Weight of economic crisis, trauma from Beirut blast and stringent lockdown could increase risks of self-harm, experts say
BEIRUT, LEBANON - MARCH 07: Beirut skyline is covered by a thick layer of toxic Nitogen Dioxide pollutants on March 07, 2016 in Beirut, Lebanon. PHOTOGRAPH BY Amer Ghazzal / Barcroft Media UK Office, London. T +44 845 370 2233 W www.barcroftmedia.com USA Office, New York City. T +1 212 796 2458 W www.barcroftusa.com Indian Office, Delhi. T +91 11 4053 2429 W www.barcroftindia.com (Photo credit should read Amer Ghazzal / Barcroft Media / Barcroft Media via Getty Images)
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A man died after setting himself on fire in Lebanon, while two others attempted suicide through similar acts over the past seven days, as the country spirals deeper into economic crisis.