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Parliament approves a $246 million World Bank project for needy families as the lira falls and hundreds protest

BEIRUT — Parliament approved a $246 million loan from the World Bank Friday that will fund a controversial stopgap program to provide cash to impoverished Lebanese families amid the country’s...

Omar Tamo, 12 March 2021

Lebanon has registered 2,930 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours. Forty-eight more people have died, bringing the total death toll to 5,278

12 March 2021

As prices for sanitary products soar, some women and girls are turning to riskier options to manage their periods

BEIRUT — In the midst of Lebanon’s economic collapse and faced with soaring inflation, women and girls are being forced to change the way they manage their periods, a new UN study has found. “Many...

Emily Lewis, 12 March 2021

Hundreds of protesters have gathered near Parliament in downtown Beirut, calling for a transitional salvation government unaffiliated with any political party. Some protesters told L’Orient Today they had come from north and south Lebanon and the Bekaa

12 March 2021

The Lebanese government and UN agencies and NGOs working to respond to the Syrian refugee crisis under the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan are appealing for $2.75 billion in international aid in 2021 to continue supporting refugees as well as Lebanese affected by the Syrian crisis

12 March 2021

After gathering in front of the Interior Ministry in Sanayeh, a group of hundreds of protesters is marching toward the Parliament building in downtown Beirut. Parliament held a session at the separate UNESCO Palace site earlier

12 March 2021

For the first time in Lebanon’s history, the dollar’s selling price on the parallel market rose above LL11,000. The national currency has lost about 22 percent of its value since the beginning of the year

12 March 2021

The Parliament session has ended. An emergency proposal to give an additional payment of LL1 million a month for six months to soldiers and members of security agencies was not discussed, nor was an emergency proposal for a LL1.5 trillion payment to EDL, mostly to import fuel

12 March 2021

Lebanon's Parliament approved a $246 million loan agreement with the World Bank to strengthen the social safety net, with most of the funds going to cash transfers for vulnerable households. They also approved a separate measure to raise the ceiling for subsidized housing loans

12 March 2021

Lebanon's Parliament has approved the allocation of $5.5 million from an existing World Bank loan to support small and medium enterprises. Parliament has convened to discuss a three-item agenda that includes a $246 million World Bank loan

12 March 2021

The International Support Group for Lebanon has reiterated its “urgent call” for Lebanon’s leaders to form a government amid the deepening economic and political crisis. Senior US and French officials yesterday strongly condemned Lebanon’s political inertia

12 March 2021

Firass Abiad, head of Rafik Hariri University Hospital, has praised Denmark and Norway’s caution in suspending use of the AstraZeneca vaccine but has said its expected arrival in Lebanon “is good news” as its less demanding storage requirements will help speed vaccine rollout

12 March 2021

Parliament to examine World Bank loan, blackout warning, protests: Everything you need to know today

Want to get the Morning Brief by email? Click here to sign up . Lebanon’s Parliament will meet at 1:30 p.m. today, with the main item on its agenda being approval of a $246 million World Bank...

12 March 2021

Cabinet formation faces a new potential obstacle as politicians link funding for electricity to reforms

BEIRUT — As negotiations over the formation of a new government drag on, top politicians appear to have added a new angle: a high-stakes game of chicken over electricity supply — with the Lebanese...

Omar Tamo, 12 March 2021