Just days after Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri stuck an upbeat tone about forming a new cabinet in the next 10 days, Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri dashed hopes by saying negotiations were back at square one.
Five months after the country’s first election in nine years, Mr Hariri has been working to hammer out a power-sharing deal acceptable to the major Lebanese political factions.
Last Thursday’s televised address, after another meeting with President Michel Aoun at Baabda Palace, wasn’t the first time he’s been optimistic. Underlying his promises of a speedy formation have been the increasingly urgent warnings about an impending economic crisis in a bid to push Lebanese parties to set aside their differences and accept compromise.
But a simmering and vicious spat between the two main Christian political parties, the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) – founded by Mr Aoun – and Lebanese Forces over the number and position of ministers in the new government has again sunk Mr Hariri’s latest offer and left him few option.
“We’re back to zero”, the speaker of Parliament told Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar on Saturday. “There was a glimmer of hope, but … I’m pessimistic”.
In Lebanon, power is divided between the country’s 18 denominations represented in parliament and government by a plethora of parties largely defined by sect. The need to represent all major religions in government is a recurring source of tension that has delayed previous cabinets by month and in some cases years.
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The aging president Aoun’s – now 83 years old – has increased the competition between Christian leaders who want to succeed him, argues Michael Young, editor the Carnegie Middle East program’s Diwan blog. “That’s why nobody is making concessions”. Lebanon’s President is always Maronite Christian.
However, FPM MP Alain Aoun downplayed the recent tensions. “Mr Hariri made real progress during his last meeting with President Aoun [on Wednesday]. I believe he will be working on a new version of the government over the next 10 days. We are in the final rounds of negotiations”.
It’s not the first time Mr Hariri has had trouble forming a cabinet. When he was first designated as Prime Minister in June 2009 and tasked with forming a government, he resigned when faced with a deadlock after three months later when talks fell apart.
He was then immediately re-appointed prime minister-designate and succeeded in forming a government in November.
This time, Lebanese politicians say, he has no other choice other than to keep trying to strike a deal.
“Even within our Parliamentary bloc, we don’t think it’s wise to pressure Hariri to resign”, MP Yassine Jaber, who is affiliated with the speaker’s Shiite Amal Movement, told The National. Mr Berri’s a close ally of the powerful Hezbollah militia-cum-political party.
“It would be catastrophic. There is no credible replacement. He is the one who has worked out the Cedar agreements and who represents most of the Sunni MPs”, he said in reference to a major donor summit in April.
The international community pledged over $11 billion in loans and grants during the CEDRE conference in Paris for projects detailed by the Lebanese government under a plan driven forward by Mr Hariri. The project aims to supporting Lebanon’s fragile economy and see investment and reform in a country with the world’s third highest debt-to-GDP ratio.
Talk of a devaluation of the Lebanese pound, which has been pegged at a fixed rate to the dollar since 1997, has become an openly-discussed possibility. “An economic crash could destabilise a country already swamped with refugees and plagued by sectarian divides”, wrote The Economist in late August.
In addition to the country’s economic woes, regional concerns could also push Lebanese politicians to reach a consensus.
The full re-imposition of US sanctions against Hezbollah’s main backer, Iran, on November 4, is the Prime Minister’s most important impending challenge said Bassem Chab, a former MP with Mr Hariri’s Future Movement.
“The last thing the Iranians want is disorder in Lebanon when that happens. Hezbollah has a majority in Parliament and the President is on their side. It’s a good opportunity that they don’t want to waste”, he told The National. Hezbollah controls around 15 seats in the 128 seat Parliament but through alliances and deals can rely on the vote of other MPs.
Mr Chab added that they expect US President Donald Trump to sign the “Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Amendments Act of 2018” before the anniversary of the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing on October 23. This, he says, would ramp up existing restrictions on the group to include a clause regarding Hezbollah MPs, associates and affiliates.
“This kind of pressure is far greater than internal bickering”.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League, last-16. first leg
Atletico Madrid v Juventus, midnight (Thursday), BeIN Sports
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
Changing visa rules
For decades the UAE has granted two and three year visas to foreign workers, tied to their current employer. Now that's changing.
Last year, the UAE cabinet also approved providing 10-year visas to foreigners with investments in the UAE of at least Dh10 million, if non-real estate assets account for at least 60 per cent of the total. Investors can bring their spouses and children into the country.
It also approved five-year residency to owners of UAE real estate worth at least 5 million dirhams.
The government also said that leading academics, medical doctors, scientists, engineers and star students would be eligible for similar long-term visas, without the need for financial investments in the country.
The first batch - 20 finalists for the Mohammed bin Rashid Medal for Scientific Distinction.- were awarded in January and more are expected to follow.
Temple numbers
Expected completion: 2022
Height: 24 meters
Ground floor banquet hall: 370 square metres to accommodate about 750 people
Ground floor multipurpose hall: 92 square metres for up to 200 people
First floor main Prayer Hall: 465 square metres to hold 1,500 people at a time
First floor terrace areas: 2,30 square metres
Temple will be spread over 6,900 square metres
Structure includes two basements, ground and first floor
SHALASH%20THE%20IRAQI
%3Cp%3EAuthor%3A%20Shalash%3Cbr%3ETranslator%3A%20Luke%20Leafgren%3Cbr%3EPages%3A%20352%3Cbr%3EPublisher%3A%20And%20Other%20Stories%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
How it works
Each player begins with one of the great empires of history, from Julius Caesar's Rome to Ramses of Egypt, spread over Europe and the Middle East.
Round by round, the player expands their empire. The more land they have, the more money they can take from their coffers for each go.
As unruled land and soldiers are acquired, players must feed them. When a player comes up against land held by another army, they can choose to battle for supremacy.
A dice-based battle system is used and players can get the edge on their enemy with by deploying a renowned hero on the battlefield.
Players that lose battles and land will find their coffers dwindle and troops go hungry. The end goal? Global domination of course.
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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How much of your income do you need to save?
The more you save, the sooner you can retire. Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.com, says if you save just 5 per cent of your salary, you can expect to work for another 66 years before you are able to retire without too large a drop in income.
In other words, you will not save enough to retire comfortably. If you save 15 per cent, you can forward to another 43 working years. Up that to 40 per cent of your income, and your remaining working life drops to just 22 years. (see table)
Obviously, this is only a rough guide. How much you save will depend on variables, not least your salary and how much you already have in your pension pot. But it shows what you need to do to achieve financial independence.
