Lebanon
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'Close the windows': Zouk power plant sparks cancer fears

After losing four relatives to respiratory illness, Zeina Matar fled her hometown north of Lebanon's capital where she says a decaying power plant generates little electricity but very deadly pollution.

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Parliament approves some banking law changes demanded by IMF

Lebanon's parliament has approved some amendments to a banking secrecy law that has been a key demand of the International Monetary Fund before it agrees to a bailout program amid the country's economic meltdown.

Despite the changes, legal advocacy groups say the alterations to the law will likely not be enough to please the IMF because it restricts moves to lift banking secrecy provisions to judicial authorities. The decades-old law is seen by many as a way to hide the widespread corruption that brought the small nation to bankruptcy over the past three years.

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Douaihy announces withdrawal from Change bloc

MP Michel Douaihy on Tuesday announced his withdrawal from the reformist, 13-member Change bloc, citing disagreements within the nascent grouping of MPs.

“I’m permanently outside the 13-member Change bloc in its current format. I support turning the bloc into a monthly (or according to need) consultative gathering, while granting a margin of freedom to all MPs in all issues,” Douaihy tweeted.

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Aoun asks TotalEnergies to quickly begin exploration in Block 9

President Michel Aoun on Tuesday told a delegation from French oil giant TotalEnergies that exploration for gas in Lebanon’s offshort Block 9 “should start quickly to make up for the time that was lost during the indirect negotiations for the demarcation of the southern maritime border.”

According to the state-run National News Agency, the delegation briefed Aoun on the procedural and administrative preparations that TotalEnergies is carrying out in Lebanon ahead of the start of exploration in Block 9.

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Change MPs lose in committee elections, Berri says they broke agreement

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Tuesday accused the Change MPs of breaking an agreement for consensus in the elections of parliamentary committees, as the Change lawmakers lost several key seats.

The National News Agency said the structure of most parliamentary committees remained unchanged, except for a few members.

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Aoun: Those who ruined Lebanon can't rescue it

President Michel Aoun noted Tuesday that “those who contributed to ruining Lebanon cannot be able to rescue it.”

“And those who put obstacles in the way of combating corruption and achieving reform cannot be trusted in the phase of reviving the country. Accordingly, the change that the Lebanese aspire for must be realized,” the President added.

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Possible govt. solution emerges as Hezbollah reportedly presses Bassil

The so-called Druze seat obstacle that is part of many hurdles delaying the new Cabinet’s formation might be resolved through replacing caretaker Minister of the Displaced Issam Sharafeddine with former minister Manal Abdel Samad, a media report said on Tuesday.

“The current format that is being discussed calls for replacing six ministers: three Christians, including Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib and Administrative Development Minister Najla Riachi, in addition to the Druze minister and two other ministers – Youssef Khalil (Shiite) and Amin Salam (Sunni),” unnamed sources told the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper.

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Ibrahim meets Mikati and Arslan prior to 'Mikati-Jumblat meeting'

General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim has met with Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati and Lebanese Democratic Party leader Talal Arslan as part of his mediation in the government formation file, a media report said on Tuesday.

Al-Liwaa newspaper also said that Mikati might meet with Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat as part of the efforts to resolve the so-called Druze obstacle.

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Efforts ongoing to form 11th hour govt., says mediator

The government formation efforts are nearing conclusion and we are in a race with time, a mediator said.

“There is an ongoing attempt to form a government and things are not totally deadlocked. There is still hope that a government will be formed in the eleventh hour and I don’t believe that the president’s term will end without the formation of a government,” the mediator told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Tuesday.

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Mikati says 'working in silence' is better

Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati said Tuesday that “working in silence” is better, when asked about the cabinet formation developments.

“We have nothing to say and working in silence is better,” Mikati told al-Jadeed television.

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