Lebanon
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BDL reportedly inclined to completely stop funding state as of Monday

The Central bank is inclined to stop funding the state completely as of Monday, MTV said, after the government and parliament failed to pass a law that would allow the government to borrow foreign currency from the central bank.

First central bank vice-governor Wassim Mansouri, who took over as BDL's acting governor on Tuesday, had urged parliament and the government to cooperate in order to legalize spending during a transitional period before the central bank stops funding the state completely.

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Haniya urges Nasrallah, Berri and Mikati to halt Ain al-Helweh clashes

Hamas leader Ismail Haniya has contacted Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker PM Najib Mikati, urging them to exert efforts to halt the deadly clashes that have been raging for six days at the Ain al-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp in south Lebanon.

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Mikati says no Cabinet session in Diman but ministerial meeting

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has clarified that no Cabinet session will be held at the summer seat of the Maronite patriarchate in Diman but rather a ministerial meeting.

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Renewed clashes break out at Ain al-Helweh ending brief cease-fire

Heavy clashes resumed Wednesday night in a Palestinian refugee camp in south Lebanon, ending a cease-fire there following a day of relative calm.

The clashes between Palestinian factions at the Ain al-Helweh camp have pitted members of President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party against Islamist groups accused of gunning down Palestinian military general Abu Ashraf al Armoushi on Sunday.

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Mikati meets al-Rahi, says Cabinet session to be held in Diman

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati held talks Wednesday in Diman with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi.

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Berri reportedly upset with Mikati over government debt law

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri is upset by caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati's attempt to evade passing a law that would allow the government to borrow foreign currency from the central bank, al-Akhbar newspaper said Wednesday.

First central bank vice-governor Wassim Mansouri, who took over as BDL's acting governor on Tuesday, urged parliament and the government to cooperate in order to legalize spending during a transitional period before the central bank stops funding the state completely.

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Mawlawi denies presence of terror plot behind Ain al-Helweh clashes

Caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi has denied the presence of a “terror plot” behind the deadly clashes that rocked the Ain al-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp over the past four days.

There is no “terror plot being implemented in Lebanon as some are saying,” Mawlawi said in a TV interview, calling on politicians to “perform their duties to the fullest, especially that security and military forces are carrying out their duties.”

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Bassil says decentralization and trust fund demand not a 'bargain or deal'

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil said overnight that his call for broad administrative and financial decentralization and for establishing a trust fund is not part of any “bargain or deal.”

“The equation of decentralization at the regional and local level and the trust fund at the national level is an equation for rescuing Lebanon at the financial, economic and social levels, regardless of any constitutional juncture,” Bassil said at a dinner for FPM expats.

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Ceasefire takes hold in Ain al-Helweh after overnight violations

Calm was engulfing the Ain al-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp on Wednesday after a ceasefire entered into effect following four days of deadly clashes between the Fatah Movement and hardline Islamist militants.

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Still no answers three years after Beirut mega-explosion

One of history's biggest non-nuclear explosions rocked Beirut on August 4, 2020, destroying swathes of the Lebanese capital, killing more than 220 people and injuring at least 6,500.

Three years on, the probe into the traumatic disaster caused by a huge pile of poorly-stored fertiliser remains bogged down in legal and political wrangling, to the dismay of victims' families.

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