Lebanon marchers mourn port blast victims three years on, angry at stalled probe
Beirut, LebanonReuters Thousands of mourners and protesters marched in the Lebanese capital on Friday to remember those killed in a huge port blast three years ago, as religious leaders and rights groups decried the lack of accountability amid a stalled investigation. The explosion killed at least 220 people and wounded thousands when hundreds of tonnes […]
Beirut port blast: three years on, victims still await accountability
Beirut, LebanonReuters Lebanon on Friday marks the third anniversary of the Beirut port explosion which killed at least 220 people, wounded thousands, and damaged swathes of the city. Despite the devastation, an investigation has brought no senior official to account. Here is a summary of what happened and how the investigation has been stymied: Smoke […]
Lebanon’s top Christian cleric says judge probing port blast must be allowed to pursue truth
Amman, Jordan Reuters Lebanon’s top Christian cleric called on Sunday for the judge struggling to investigate the Beirut port explosion to be able to pursue his work and get help from any outside authority to pinpoint those responsible for the devastating blast. Long-simmering tensions over the investigation have boiled over since Judge Tarek Bitar brought […]
Beirut port blast justice postponed as renewed probe is rejected
Beirut, LebanonReuters Lebanon’s top public prosecutor on Wednesday charged the judge investigating the Beirut port blast and ordered the release of those detained in connection with the explosion, derailing an attempt to resume the probe into the devastating event. The moves by Ghassan Oweidat signal escalating opposition by Lebanon’s ruling establishment to efforts by Judge […]
Judge unexpectedly resumes frozen Beirut blast investigation
Beirut, LebanonReuters The judge investigating the 2020 Beirut port explosion has unexpectedly resumed his inquiry and charged top security officials, three judicial officials said on Monday, more than a year after his probe was frozen by political resistance. Judge Tarek Bitar’s efforts to interrogate top officials over the explosion that killed 220 people and shattered […]
School’s out – forever?: Lebanese pull plug on education
TALA RAMADAN, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on the choices Lebanese families are facing between food and education…
Lebanon in crisis: Emergency numbers and suicide hotlines falter
TALA RAMADAN, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on the impacts of Lebanon’s ongoing economic crisis with people there now at risk losing access to two more essentials – their mobile phones and the internet…
Northern part of damaged Beirut grain silos collapses – media
Beirut, LebanonReuters The northern section of the grain silos damaged two years ago by a blast at the Beirut port collapsed early on Tuesday after warnings the structure was leaning too far to stay up. The crash sent a cloud of brown-grey dust billowing over the waterfront, the LBCI television station reported. There were no […]
“Shameful” delay in cabinet formation causing Lebanon’s decay, top Christian cleric says
Beirut, LebanonReuters Lebanon’s top Christian cleric said on Sunday it is “shameful” that politicians have yet to form a new cabinet nearly three months after elections, blaming their chronic feuding for the country’s “decay”. Many Lebanese see the long-entrenched governing elite as hamstrung by corruption and dysfunction, and blame it for pushing Lebanon into a […]
Thousands of protesters mark two years since Beirut blast
Beirut, LebanonReuters Thousands of protesters marched tearfully in the Lebanese capital on Thursday, marking two years since a cataclysmic explosion at the Beirut port, with chants denouncing the government’s failure to uncover the truth behind the blast. In a grim reminder of the disaster, several grain silos that were left heavily damaged by the blast collapsed on […]