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People are increasingly at risk of being priced out of their homes as precrisis rental contracts come up for renewal, experts say

BEIRUT — Until recently, Nariman Attar lived with her two children in a humble, 110-square-meter apartment in Beirut’s Noueiri area — two bedrooms and a bathroom, a kitchen, salon and dining room....

Rana Tabbara, 8 June 2021

A "Pfizer marathon" will take place across Lebanon on Saturday and Sunday for residents aged 55 and older and people with special needs who want to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, the Health Ministry announced

8 June 2021

Nasrallah said Iran is prepared to strike a deal that would provide Lebanon with fuel without requiring the central bank to use its dwindling dollar reserves, but that this would require "a political decision"

8 June 2021

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech that he still supports an initiative launched by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to solve the government formation deadlock. Berri has called for a 24-member cabinet with no party gaining a "blocking third" veto power

8 June 2021

Lebanon has registered 173 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. Five more people have died, bringing the total death toll to 7,774

8 June 2021

BDL has ordered banks to repay clients up to $800 a month for dollar deposits. Here’s how the repayment scheme works

BEIRUT — Banque du Liban on Tuesday issued a circular instructing commercial banks to gradually repay foreign currency deposits made before the end of October 2019. The move would at least...

Omar Tamo, 8 June 2021

Lebanese Army units in the Bekaa and north Lebanon on Monday seized 18,300 liters of diesel and 4,200 liters of gasoline as part of efforts to combat fuel smuggling to Syria, the army said in a statement. An army spokesperson told L’Orient Today that no arrests have been made

8 June 2021

Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan has temporarily suspended the import of medications for which there is a local or generic alternative. Medicine for chronic conditions, vaccines, anesthetics, psychiatric drugs and infant formula are excluded from the suspension

8 June 2021

Adwan also criticized a meeting last week between President Michel Aoun, BDL Gov. Riad Salameh and the head of the State Shura Council that led to BDL making a U-turn on abiding by the suspension of “lollar” payouts at the LL3,900 rate, saying it did not follow legal procedures

8 June 2021

Parliament’s Administration and Justice Committee has submitted a draft law on the independence of the judiciary to the head of the Supreme Judicial Council and the caretaker justice minister seeking their comments, committee head Georges Adwan (LF/Chouf) said following a session

8 June 2021

Beirut Bar Association head Melhem Khalaf said lawyers will keep striking as part of what he called “the great lawyers’ uprising” against ongoing attacks on them, and called on MPs to pass a law on judicial independence within 20 days. Lawyers have been on strike for over a week

8 June 2021

Fadi Abou Chakra, the head of the fuel distributors’ syndicate, has called for security services to provide protection for gas stations as increasingly long queues form at stations across the country amid an ongoing fuel shortage, LBCI reported

8 June 2021

The private laboratory owners’ syndicate will meet later today to set new increased prices for lab tests, syndicate head Mirna Haddad has told L’Orient Today. The move comes amid medical supply shortages that importers say are caused by delayed payments from the central bank

8 June 2021

Loyal to their ‘zaim’ until their last breath

Elie,* a man in his 60s with long, tied-back hair, is sitting in his living room in a small apartment in Batroun. On the table in front of him is a cup, on which is printed a photo of him and the...

Alexandre KHOURI, 8 June 2021

Residents of Shaath, Barqa and other neighboring towns near Baalbeck have blocked the Baalbeck–Homs international road in protest of power cuts caused by increased electricity rationing, the NNA reports

8 June 2021

Pharmaceutical importers are still awaiting a promised $180 million payment from the central bank in order to release into the market medicines presently held in warehouses, a Health Ministry spokesperson has told L’Orient Today. The payment was expected more than a week ago

8 June 2021

The parallel market exchange rate for buying and selling dollars has risen above LL13,500. The sell rate last hit LL13,500 in late March

8 June 2021

Capital control law progress, dollar transfer requested for EDL, COVID-19 cases fall: All you need to know today

Want to get the Morning Brief by email? Click here to sign up . Parliament’s Finance and Budget Committee approved a long-awaited draft law on capital controls that will formalize...

8 June 2021