Middle East Experience

Lebanon’s parliament on Monday extended a law that lifts banking secrecy regulations to facilitate a forensic audit of the country’s central bank, a key condition for foreign aid that has hit a roadblock, MPs said after the session.Such an audit is on a list of reforms that donors have demanded before helping Lebanon climb out of a financial crisis that has locked most savers out of dollar-denominated bank accounts and left four in five Lebanese poor, according to UN agencies. For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.These reforms include steps to tackle corruption, a root cause of the meltdown that has crashed the currency and triggered a sovereign default.The Lebanese parliament adopted a law in December 2020 that lifts banking secrecy in regard to the central bank audit for one year. The law expired at the end of last year.MP Ibrahim Kanaan, head of parliament’s finance committee, said the law had now been extended until the completion of the audit. “This law puts the forensic audit on the final track,” Kanaan said in televised remarks.Restructuring consultancy Alvarez & Marsal (A&M), which the Lebanese government has hired to carry out the audit, initially withdrew in November 2020 saying it had not received the information it required. A second contract was signed in September 2021, but the audit has not yet commenced amid requests by A&M for more information from the central bank.A central bank spokesperson told Reuters earlier this month that the central bank had provided “all info” and urged A&M to commence. Read more:Contracts show Lebanon’s central bank obscured recipients of commissionsDraft reform plan for Lebanon electricity sector sees 24-hour power by 2026Lebanon awards CMA CGM contract for Beirut port container terminal: Minister
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Lebanon parliament extends lifting of bank secrecy to audit central bank 

Blue and White Party refuses to participate in Knesset votes due to disputes over pensions for IDF officers.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Gantz boycotts coalition votes, threatens survival of Bennett-led gov't

Israeli researchers analyzed cargo from a 3,200-year-old shipwreck which demonstrated previously unknown elaborate trading links in the Mediterranean basin during the Late Bronze Age.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Shipwreck reveals previously unknown Mediterranean metal trade routes

“We played a good game and we only gave up 65 points which was the key and that will be the key all season long,” Halperin explained, says Interim coach Yotam Halperin.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Hapoel Jerusalem buckles down to top Galil Elyon

The more-for-more approach could kickstart the deadlocked political process, but it won't resolve the conflict in Syria. Assad must go. Any strategy that fails to bear this in mind long-term is not only unfair to Syrians and humanity as a whole, but will plant the seeds for the next conflict in the region. By Karam Shaar..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: What to do with Assad?: Taming Syria’s rogue man

Tourists will be allowed to enter Israel with or without proof of vaccination, and will be required to present a negative PCR test ahead of boarding the flight and one after landing.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: What will Israel's new COVID-19 travel rules look like?

Increasingly, conservatives are pushing back against a burgeoning feminist movement and what they see as an unravelling of traditional Kuwaiti values..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: In Kuwait, conservatives’ hostility triggers battle over women’s rights

Belonging to the LGBTI community in Chechnya — or anywhere else for that matter — is not a crime..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Russia: LGBTI siblings facing up to 8.5 years in a Chechen jail must be released

Skiing in Lebanon has long been a luxury for the well-off, but the country's financial meltdown has thrown most people into poverty..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Skiing grows too steep for cash-strapped Lebanese

Nancy Pelosi has invited Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy for a weeklong visit to the US where he'll meet with members of Congress and Jewish leaders in Washington and New York.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Knesset speaker going to DC after Pelosi invitation