|   | Shou el akhbarâLebanon woke up with a lot to chew on: the central bank finally named an auditor to trace billions of dollars that vanished into the system between 2019 and 2023, a Beirut hospital pulled off something no Lebanese operating room had done before, and the education minister told parliament to kindly stay out of the exam schedule. Big accountability moves, quiet medical breakthroughs, and the eternal Lebanese tradition of politicizing absolutely everythingâlet's get into it. |
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 | | Lebanon's Central Bank Hires Alvarez & Marsal for Forensic Audit of BillionsBanque du Liban has finally named an auditor to scrutinize years of financial transfers that sit at the heart of Lebanon's economic collapseâbillions of dollars that moved through the central bank between 2019 and 2023, and whose fate has never been fully explained.
- BDL awarded the forensic audit contract to Alvarez & Marsal, covering the period from Octâ ober 1, 2019 to Decâ ember 31, 2023âyears marked by widespread financial interventions on behalf of public and private sector entities.
- The audit's scope includes a government-approved support program involving transfers and payments of several billions of US dollars, funds placed at public institutions' disposal, and international transfers made to commercial banks' accounts abroad.
- The work was conducted in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice, with findings on the support program to be formally submitted to both ministries upon completion.
- BDL stated it will regularly update the public on audit progressâa transparency commitment that will itself be closely watched given the institution's history.
What to watch: Whether the audit's findings actually reach prosecutorsâand whether anyone with access to those billions faces legal consequencesâwill determine if this is accountability or another exercise in the appearance of it. HĂŽtel-Dieu de France Performs Lebanon's First Robotic HysterectomyA Beirut hospital just did something no Lebanese hospital had done before: a fully robotic hysterectomyâand it signals that precision minimally invasive surgery is no longer just a Western import.
- The Department of Gynecology and Abnormal Placentation at HĂŽtel-Dieu de France performed the procedure using the CMR surgical system, led by department head Professor David Atallah.
- The robotic technology offers faster recovery, significantly reduced post-surgical pain, and fewer side effects compared to traditional approachesâwithout increasing operation duration versus conventional laparoscopic surgery.
- The hospital described the achievement as a "qualitative advance" in precise minimally invasive gynecological surgery in Lebanon, reaffirming its focus on excellence and patient safety.
The bigger picture: Even as Lebanon's health system strains under years of economic and wartime pressure, individual hospitals are still managing to introduce frontier surgical technologyâa quiet counternarrative worth noting. Education Minister Karami Pushes Back on Exam PoliticizationLebanon's official exams have become the latest arena for political and sectarian jostlingâand Education Minister Rima Karami is pushing back hard, arguing that the country's ability to hold credible national exams after the recent war is itself a statement worth defending.
- Karami defended her decision to hold three exam sessions without optional subjects, rejecting parliamentary pressure to change the format, and insisting that decisions rest with educational specialists, not MPs.
- Registration data challenged the "federalization" framing: students from the South disproportionately chose the first session, with roughly 87 percent of Sarfand Secondary School students and nearly all of Kfara Secondary School students opting in early.
- The ministry will not announce a national top-scorer until both sessions are completeâa deliberate move to avoid rewarding students who had more stable revision time over those who lived through displacement or war interruption.
- After 16 months in office, Karami called education "the most politicized ministry" in government, noting that political and sectarian interference expanded as state administration weakened.
Zooming out: The row over exam structure is really a proxy debate about whether Lebanese state institutions can apply uniform national standards after a conflict that hit communities very unevenly. |
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 as of 7:â 02 Aâ M GMT · Source: Polymarket |
 | | - Dam close to disaster: Israeli strikes hit the road adjacent to Lebanon's Qaroun Damâthe country's largest, storing 220 million cubic meters of waterâprompting the Litani Authority to warn that any direct hit could cause catastrophic flooding downstream and urge diplomatic intervention to protect the civilian facility. Read
- Lira's deceptive calm: Lebanon's pound has barely flinched despite two wars and losses nearing $20 billion, but economists warn the real pressure hits during reconstructionâwhen the import bill surges and the dollarized economy's fragile equilibrium faces its first serious test since the 2019 collapse. Explained
- Lebanon's top cleric breaks ranks: Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian called Hezbollah's military approach "unsuccessful and disastrous" in a statement marking Eid al-Adha, saying that every confrontation leaves Lebanon with "less land, less lives, and less stability"âand explicitly backing the state's negotiation track with Israel. Statement
- Aoun dials Amman: President Joseph Aoun called King Abdullah II to discuss consolidating the ceasefire and the ongoing Lebanese-American-Israeli negotiations in Washington, with Jordan reaffirming its support for Lebanon's sovereignty and the steps Beirut is taking toward security and stability. Call
- Fishermen, meet the future: Environment Minister Tamara el-Zein toured North Lebanon as part of the Nassim al-Bahr coastal protection project, led by Agence Française de Développement and the Fair Trade Lebanon association, which supports fishermen and cooperatives with sustainable practices, shrimp cage income diversification, and reduced marine pollution along Lebanon's northern coast. Tour
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 | â | Parallel Rate | 89,550 LBP | 0.00% | | â | Official Rate | 89,500 LBP | 0.00% | | ⌠| Gold | $4,482.2 | -0.40% | | ⌠| Bitcoin | $75,752 | -1.43% | | âČ | S&P 500 | 7,519.12 | +0.99% |
as of 6:â 52 Aâ M GMT · Source: lbprate, BDL, Yahoo Finance, CoinGecko |
 | | Former ICC Prosecutor Says Mossad Chief Threatened Her to Drop Palestine InvestigationThe woman who opened the ICC's Palestine investigation says Israel's spy chief warned her to stopâand that unidentified men showed up at her home to make sure she understood the message.
- Former ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told Al Jazeera that then-Mossad chief Yossi Cohen met her multiple times, confirmed he warned that proceeding could compromise her family's security, and that the meetings began friendly before hardening into explicit demands to halt the Palestine investigation.
- Unidentified men arrived at her home in The Hague and left an envelope containing $500; investigators later traced phone numbers associated with the visitors to Israel, though she said no further action appeared to have been taken.
- In Sepâ tember 2020, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on Bensoudaâfreezing assets, blocking her UN bank account, and causing Dutch banks to close her mortgage accountâafter she pursued investigations into both US forces in Afghanistan and Israeli forces in occupied Palestine.
What to watch: Bensouda has called on the EU to trigger its blocking statute to shield ICC officials from foreign sanctions, a request that puts European governments in the position of choosing between institutional solidarity and diplomatic convenience. LEGO Foundation Commits $97 Million for Play-Based Learning in Conflict ZonesâLebanon IncludedA $97 million partnership between the LEGO Foundation and the International Rescue Committee aims to reach 5 million children across East Africa and the Middle East over five yearsâwith Lebanon among the countries currently under consideration.
- The five-year agreement will expand IRC's PlayMatters program, which trains teachers of children aged 3 to 12 to integrate play-based learning into lessons for kids traumatized by conflict, with Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Syria, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda under consideration.
- IRC President David Miliband framed early childhood education as a humanitarian essential, warning that aid cutsâincluding the dismantling of US international development fundingâhave already contributed to consequences such as an under-detected Ebola outbreak in Congo.
- The LEGO Foundation previously committed $100 million in 2019 for "Ahlan Simsim," a program supporting children affected by the Syrian and Rohingya refugee crises, and separately announced a $30 million partnership with Co-Impact for locally led child wellbeing solutions.
The bigger picture: Education funding remains one of the most chronically underfunded parts of humanitarian responses globally, and this partnership is designed to be flexible enough to follow conflict wherever it moves rather than locking grants to fixed locations. Iran Training Thousands of Militia Members to Use Anti-Aircraft Missiles Against US JetsSince the ceasefire with the US and Israel, Iran has been scaling up a nationwide training program teaching Basij militia members to shoot down American and Israeli aircraft with shoulder-launched missilesâand a US Congressional report says at least 42 American aircraft were already destroyed or damaged during the recent war.
- According to France 24, videos and training materials for Iran's Misagh-series MANPADSâportable missiles effective within a 5 to 10 kilometer rangeâhave been circulating widely among Basij members on social media since mid-Aprâ il, with a PDF guide distributed to thousands of members.
- A US Congressional Research Service report published Mayâ 13 documented that among the aircraft destroyed or damaged, at least one F-15, one F-18, and one MC-130 were hit by Iranian MANPADS or low-altitude surface-to-air systems during the conflict.
- Iran's latest Misagh-3 missiles use laser proximity fuses that detonate nearânot just on impact withâa target, reducing a pilot's ability to evade; training has since expanded to include VR headset simulators, with one IRGC Telegram channel captioning a session "training volunteers how to use the F-18 hunter."
Zooming out: Military analysts note the tactical threat is real but limited in scopeâthe greater risk would emerge in any future ground-war phase requiring aircraft to fly at low altitude in support of troops. |
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 | | - Saint Levant's morning moment: Palestinian-French artist Saint Levant dropped "Sabah El Ward," a nostalgic, nay-and-violin-laced love song filmed in Amman featuring Miss Lebanon 2022 Yasmina Zaytounâit trended in Lebanon, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia within days of release, racking up over 707,000 YouTube views and a Billboard Arabia rating of 9 out of 10.
- Lebanon's World Cup scramble: President Aoun is personally overseeing negotiations with beIN Sports to broadcast the 2026 World Cupâwhich expands to 48 teams and 104 matches starting Junâ e 11âfree on TĂ©lĂ© Liban, so Lebanese families won't have to fork out $90 in subscriptions just to watch the opening goal.
- Saturâ day morning, forever: An-Nahar's ode to early-2000s Lebanese childhoodâTiji, TĂ©lĂ©toon, Lucky Luke, and the sacred ritual of racing home to catch cartoons at their exact broadcast timeâis the most nostalgic read you'll have all week, and your family WhatsApp group absolutely needs it.
- Karol G's double night: Colombian superstar Karol G won best Latin album for Tropicoqueta and received the International Artist of Excellence honor at the 2026 AMAsâa prize last given to Whitney Houston in 2009âafter her Viajando Por El Mundo tour sold 2 million tickets in just four days.
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That's your Wednesâ dayâgo make it a good one. |
 | âA. Stringed instrument |
The kanun is a large zither. |
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