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What started the fateful fire at Beirut port on Aug. 4? An investigation into the leading theories

Almost nine months have passed, yet the Lebanese continue to wait for answers on what triggered 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate to explode in the heart of the Beirut port on Aug. 4. The blast, one...

Marie Jo SADER, 26 April 2021

Lebanon has registered 642 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours — the lowest number of newly recorded cases since Sept. 16, though this coincided with extremely low local PCR testing. Twenty-nine more people have died, bringing the death toll to 7,171

26 April 2021

The Narcotics Control Bureau is investigating four people suspected of involvement in the Captagon pills shipment that led Saudi Arabia to ban Lebanese produce, caretaker Interior Minister Mohamed Fehmi told Al Arabiya, adding that all exports will now be closely inspected

26 April 2021

Locusts have also swarmed orchards in the border town of Al-Qasr in Hermel, the NNA reports. Local residents have entered "a state of panic," appealing to the Lebanese authorities to intervene to combat the hoards

26 April 2021

The Lebanese electric vehicle manufacturer EV Electra test-drove its new car, Rise, from Hazmieh to Khaldeh today, the NNA reports. EV Electra's executive director said a team of Lebanese and Palestinian engineers at the company plans to produce hundreds more of the model

26 April 2021

Farmers from the Jardiya area in northern Dinnieh say swarms of locusts have now arrived to their area, calling on the army and the Agriculture Ministry to prevent the insects from damaging their crops, according to local media reports

26 April 2021

Al Jadeed reports that the shipment containing Captagon pills was done through a fictitious company that had brought the pills from Syria, and that the shipment's certificate of origin was reportedly forged to look Lebanese

26 April 2021

Lebanon asks Saudi Arabia to reconsider ban on its produce

BEIRUT — Lebanon said on Monday it hoped Saudi Arabia would reconsider a ban on its produce that was imposed over what Riyadh called a rise in drug smuggling, and tasked its caretaker interior...

26 April 2021

Aoun also asked the caretaker finance, economy, industry and trade ministers to amend the procedures for foreign trade goods passing through Lebanon. The Tripoli port head previously told L’Orient Today that the produce shipment had originated in Syria and transited in Beirut

26 April 2021

After a meeting at the Presidential Palace to discuss the Saudi ban on Lebanese produce, Michel Aoun asked the kingdom to reconsider its decision, while assigning the caretaker interior minister to coordinate with Saudi authorities on the Captagon pills case that led to the ban

26 April 2021

President Michel Aoun has called on security forces to crack down on drug smuggling following Saudi Arabia’s decision to ban Lebanese fruit and vegetable imports after more than 5 million captagon pills were found inside a shipment of pomegranates to the kingdom

26 April 2021

George Brax, a spokesperson for the gas station owners’ syndicate, has announced that fuel prices will again be published once weekly on Wednesdays rather than twice weekly, the NNA reports. Brax said the change was due to the present “stability of the dollar’s exchange rate”

26 April 2021

Despite a fall in the daily number of coronavirus cases, a total lockdown planned for Saturday through Monday of the Orthodox Easter holiday weekend will go ahead, Petra Khoury, the head of the national COVID-19 task force, told L’Orient Today

26 April 2021

Ten vaccination centers have had to cancel scheduled appointments following a delay in a shipment of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, the Health Ministry announced

26 April 2021

Produce ban, electricity funding challenge, Bassil to Moscow: Everything you need to know to start your Monday

Want to get the Morning Brief by email? Click here to sign up . Officials and stakeholders will meet at noon today at the Presidential Palace to discuss Saudi Arabia’s ban of fruit and...

26 April 2021