World Bank redirects funds toward Lebanon emergency aid

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Mohamed Abdallah Amer, 40, visits his wife and children at a women's dormitory in the temporary shelter for migrants at St. Joseph Church in Beirut, Lebanon, on October 1, 2024. (REUTERS)
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A staff member works in a storage room with aid in a displaced migrant shelter at St. Joseph Church in Beirut, Lebanon, on Oct. 1, 2024. (REUTERS)
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Updated 04 October 2024
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World Bank redirects funds toward Lebanon emergency aid

  • The multilateral institution currently has $1.5 billion in funding for programs in Lebanon. Part of the amount will be redirected

WASHINGTON: The World Bank announced on Thursday that it was redirecting funds originally earmarked for development programs in Lebanon toward emergency aid for people displaced by Israeli bombardment of the country.
“The World Bank is activating emergency response plans to be able to repurpose resources in the portfolio to respond to the urgent needs of people in Lebanon,” said a statement from the US-based multilateral institution.
The multilateral institution currently has $1.5 billion in funding for programs in Lebanon. Part of this amount will be redirected.
Since September 23, more than 1,000 people have been killed in an Israeli air-and-ground campaign on Lebanon that has targeted armed group Hezbollah in the south and east of the country, with strikes expanding to include the capital Beirut.

The fighting has driven nearly 1.2 million people from their homes in Lebanon, the country’s crisis unit said Thursday.

Thousands have been displaced since the bombing began, and the funds would be used to provide aid to those populations, the World Bank said.
“This would include emergency support to displaced people that could be deployed through a digital platform the World Bank helped put in place during the Covid epidemic,” the statement said.
Hezbollah has engaged in cross-border exchanges of fire with Israel since October last year, when its Palestinian ally Hamas launched an unprecedented attack that sparked Israel’s war in Gaza.
Lebanon, already facing difficult economic conditions and sky-high inflation before the latest hostilities, has lost more than 40 percent of its GDP since 2018, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said in a report last week.


Iraq’s parliament elects a new speaker to end a nearly yearlong vacuum

Updated 01 November 2024
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Iraq’s parliament elects a new speaker to end a nearly yearlong vacuum

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s parliament has elected a new speaker after a nearly yearlong vacuum.
Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani, who served a previous stint as speaker from 2006 to 2009, was elected by 182 of the 269 legislators who attended the session, a surprise move after months of deadlock between political factions.
Former Speaker Mohammed Al-Halbousi was dismissed by a Federal Supreme Court last November against the backdrop of a lawsuit filed by then-lawmaker Laith Al-Dulaimi.
Al-Dulaim claimed that the speaker had forged Al-Dulaimi’s signature on a resignation letter, an allegation Al-Halbousi denied.
The court ruled to terminate both Al-Halbousi and Al-Dulaimi from their parliamentary posts.
It did not elaborate on why it was issuing the decision.
The speaker is an intermediary between the various political blocs and will be critical to the government’s efforts to achieve economic reforms and reduce internal tensions.
The election of a new parliament speaker comes at a time when Iraq is facing significant challenges — chief among them attempting to navigate the repercussions of the wars in the Middle East.
Iraq’s government has sought to avoid alienating the US, upon which it has relied for economic and military support, including in the fight against Daesh.
The country also faces rampant corruption and internal divisions.
The new speaker will have to deal with some controversial legislation, notably a proposed amendment to Iraq’s personal status law governing family matters, which critics say would effectively legalize child marriage.


WATCH: Rebuilding of Mosul’s famous leaning minaret nears completion

Updated 01 November 2024
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WATCH: Rebuilding of Mosul’s famous leaning minaret nears completion

  • The 12th-century Al-Nuri Mosque and its distinctive tower were destroyed by Daesh in June 2017
  • Restoration work on the mosque, part of UNESCO’s Revive the Spirit of Mosul project, is expected to be completed next month

LONDON: UNESCO has shared dramatic footage of a historic mosque minaret that has been rebuilt in Iraq, seven years after it was destroyed by Daesh.

Known as Al-Hadba, or “the hunchback,” the leaning 12th-Century minaret at Al-Nuri Mosque in Mosul was one of the city’s most famous landmarks. But it was destroyed when the extremist group blew up the mosque in June 2017.

The video from the UN’s cultural agency features drone footage that shows the minaret nearing completion. Though the rebuilt tower is still covered in scaffolding, the footage clearly shows that its famous lean has been retained.

“Watch as the iconic Al-Hadba minaret in Mosul rises once again,” UNESCO said in a message posted with the video on social media platform X.

“Soon, this historic landmark will reclaim its rightful place in the city’s skyline — standing tall, leaning, and proud.”

UNESCO said the restoration of the mosque and its 51-meter-tall minaret is expected to be completed by December.

The mosque was built in the second half of the 12th century and the minaret began to lean several centuries ago. After Daesh seized control of parts of Iraq in 2014, the group’s leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, declared the establishment of its so-called caliphate from inside the mosque.

Three years later, it was destroyed by the militants as Iraqi forces battled to expel them from the city. Thousands of civilians were killed in the fighting and much of Mosul was left in ruins.

The restoration of the mosque is part of UNESCO’s Revive the Spirit of Mosul project, which also includes the rebuilding of two churches and other historic sites.


Delayed Gaza polio vaccinations to resume on Saturday, agencies say

Updated 01 November 2024
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Delayed Gaza polio vaccinations to resume on Saturday, agencies say

  • The final phase of the campaign had aimed to reach an estimated 119,000 children under 10 years old

GAZA: The third phase of a delayed polio vaccination campaign in Gaza will begin on Saturday, aid organizations said on Friday, after the rollout was derailed by Israeli bombardments, mass displacement and lack of access.
The polio campaign began on Sept. 1 after the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed in August that a baby was partially paralyzed by the type 2 polio virus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years.
The humanitarian pause to conduct the campaign had been agreed but WHO and the UN children’s agency UNICEF said the area covered by the agreement had been substantially reduced from the previous pause in September, and would now cover only Gaza City.
The final phase of the campaign had aimed to reach an estimated 119,000 children under 10 years old in northern Gaza with a second dose of novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2). However, achieving this target is now unlikely due to access constraints, the statement said.
COGAT, the Israeli army’s Palestinian civilian affairs agency, said it was helping to coordinate the three-day campaign and once it was complete, there would be an assessment to decide whether the schedule would be extended.
“This coordination will ensure that the population can safely reach medical centers where the vaccines will be administered,” it said in a statement.


Macron recognizes French soldiers killed Algerian independence hero in 1957

Updated 01 November 2024
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Macron recognizes French soldiers killed Algerian independence hero in 1957

  • France’s century-long colonization of Algeria and viciously fought 1954-62 war of independence left deep scars on both sides

PARIS: President Emmanuel Macron on Friday acknowledged that Larbi Ben M’hidi, a key figure in Algeria’s War of Independence against France, had been killed by French soldiers after his arrest in 1957, the French presidency said.
“He recognized today that Larbi Ben M’hidi, a national hero for Algeria... was killed by French soldiers,” the presidency said on the 70th anniversary of the revolt that sparked the war, in a new gesture of reconciliation by Macron toward the former colony.
France’s more than a century-long colonization of Algeria and the viciously fought 1954-62 war of independence have left deep scars on both sides.
In recent years, Macron has made several gestures toward reconciliation while stopping short of issuing any apology for French imperialism.
Since coming to power in 2017, Macron has sought “to look at the history of colonization and the Algerian War in the face, with the aim of creating a peaceful and shared memory,” the presidency said.
Ben M’hidi was one of six founding members of the National Liberation Front (FLN) that launched the armed revolt against French rule that led to the war.
The presidency said that according to the official version, Ben M’hidi after his arrest in February 1957 attempted to commit suicide and died during his transfer to the hospital.
But it said he had in fact been killed by soldiers under the command of General Paul Aussaresses, who admitted to this at the beginning of the 2000s.
In 2017, then-presidential candidate Macron dubbed the French occupation a “crime against humanity.”
A report he commissioned from historian Benjamin Stora recommended in 2020 further moves to reconcile the two countries, while ruling out “repentance” and “apologies.”
But Macron, who has sought to build a strong relationship with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, in 2022 questioned whether Algeria existed as a nation before being colonized by France, drawing an angry response from Algiers.


Israel cabinet approves 2025 wartime budget

Updated 01 November 2024
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Israel cabinet approves 2025 wartime budget

  • Israel has been locked in a war with Hamas in Gaza, and since September it has been fighting the Lebanese group Hezbollah

JERUSALEM: Israel’s cabinet on Friday approved a 2025 national budget, a wartime financial package that far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said supported the country’s ongoing wars and encouraged economic growth.
For more than a year, Israel has been locked in a war with Hamas in Gaza, and since September it has been fighting the Lebanese group Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“The main objective of the 2025 budget is to maintain the security of the state and achieve victory on all fronts, while safeguarding the resilience of the Israeli economy,” Smotrich said.
The budget, totalling about 607.4 billion shekels ($162 billion), includes a nine billion shekel package to support reserve soldiers.
It will now move to the Knesset, or parliament, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition holds a majority, making approval likely.
Netanyahu welcomed the cabinet’s approval of the budget, saying Smotrich had put together “an important, difficult but necessary budget in a year of war.”
Additional allocations would be made for the defense ministry, as the military fights the two wars, as well as Iran and the groups it backs.
“This budget will help and support the needs of the war so that it will lead to a victory that will allow the strong Israeli economy to grow and prosper for many years,” Smotrich said.
The budget projects a fiscal deficit of about 4.3 percent.
But former prime minister and key opposition leader Yair Lapid criticized the budget, saying it would “increase the expenditure of every family in Israel by 20,000 shekels per year.”