English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For April 25/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest
Luke 10/01-07: “After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, “Peace to this house!” And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the labourer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 24-25/2020
Eight New Coronavirus Cases in Lebanon
Bcharre Hospital: One positive case in PCR examination results performed on April 23
Cabinet Approves Five-Phase Reopening Plan
Lebanon extends coronavirus lockdown as PM rebukes central bank governor
Report: 'Dismissal' of Central Bank Governor ‘Not on the Table’
Diab Slams Salameh's 'Suspicious' Performance, Vows State to 'Strike Firmly'
Diab Hails Army’s Role
Hariri Says Some Seeking Revenge, Economic System Destruction through Diab
Money Exchange Houses Suspend Trading Until Monday
Israel Warns Hezbollah to Stay Clear of its Strike Targets in Syria
The only message to send Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, “is that he must not try us,” Cohen said in a discussion with Israel’s military chiefs.
Security Around East Lebanon Refugee Camp Tightened over Virus
Berri Slams Lebanese Govt. Inaction over Financial Chaos
Lebanese pound: exchange rate lowered more than 50%
Protests grip Lebanon as currency crash spells deeper turmoil for millions
U.N. Offers Support to Education Authorities in Lebanon
Sami Gemayel meets US Ambassador, UN’s Kubis
LAU: Donation by Ambassador Gilbert Chagoury will cover 10,000 PCR Tests
Nothing is normal this year': Lebanon readies for difficult Ramadan/Sunniva Rose/The National/April 24/2020
Recent killing in Lebanon sheds light on honor killings in the country
Lebanon, Hezbollah, and COVID-19/Tony Badran/FDD/April 24/2020

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 24-25/2020
Guterres: Human rights ‘uplift everyone’; must guide COVID-19 recovery response
UK Virus Death Toll Climbs to Over 19,000
U.S. Nears 50,000 Virus Fatalities after 3,176 Deaths in 24 Hours
Brexit Talks End with Scant Progress
Unprecedented Virus Lockdown as Muslims Mark Ramadan
Venezuela Turns to Iran for Fuel Supplies and Workers
Iran to launch more military satellites: IRGC commander
Britain: Iran’s ballistic missile launch “of significant concern”
AFP, United Nations/Thursday 23 April 2020
Rouhani urges Iran military to ‘remain vigilant’ amid US tensions in the Gulf
Pompeo: West Bank annexation plans an ‘Israeli decision’
Saudi Arabia coronavirus cases surpass 15,000
The UAE confirms new cases as Spain shows more new recoveries than infections
The UAE confirms new cases as Spain shows more new recoveries than infections
Greenblatt: COVID-19 Did What Negotiations Couldn’t Do for Israelis, Palestinians
Coronavirus Pandemic, Inflation Compound Syrians’ Suffering
German Court Tries ISIS Militant over Yazidi Genocide
Arab Coalition Extends Yemen Ceasefire by One Month
Government Formation of Iraq’s Kadhimi Excludes Security Portfolios
Syrian regime representatives and opposition delegates along with other
Aboul Gheit Condemns US Statements on Annexation of West Bank

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 24-25/2020
Coronavirus: More Palestinian Libels Against Israel/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/April 24, 2020
Returning from Space to a Different Planet/Elias Harfoush/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 24/2020
Have the Prices of Oil Collapsed?/Salman Al-Dossary/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 24/2020
Don't Worry About China Taking Over the World/Nisid Hajari/Bloomberg/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 24/2020
Hit by coronavirus, Iran should beware of Donald Trump's threats/Con Coughlin/The National/April 24/2020
Washington Uses Sanctions and Indictments Inconsistently When Combating Malicious Cyber Activity/Trevor Logan/Pavak Patel/FDD/April 24/2020
Data Visualization: U.S. Sanctions Against Malicious Cyber Actors/Trevor Logan/Pavak Patel//FDD/April 24/2020
Explaining Iran’s coronavirus cataclysm/Ray Takeyh/New York Daily/April 24/2020

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 24-25/2020
Eight New Coronavirus Cases in Lebanon
Naharnet/April 24/2020
The Health Ministry announced eight new cases of coronavirus on Friday, raising the total number of people who retracted the virus to 696. The Ministry said that 1127 tests were conducted in the past few hours, noting that no new fatalities were recorded. Health Ministry teams are meanwhile conducting PCR testing for medical teams and healthcare workers at Al Rassoul Al Azam Hospital, LBCI TV station reported.

Bcharre Hospital: One positive case in PCR examination results performed on April 23
NNA /April 24/2020
The Bcharre Governmental Hospital administration announced, in a statement on Friday, that the PCR examinations performed on 23/4/2020 resulted in one new coronavirus infection.

Cabinet Approves Five-Phase Reopening Plan
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 24/2020
The Cabinet on Friday endorsed a five-phase plan to reopen the country and end the coronavirus lockdown, following a recommendation from the Higher Defense Council and directions from Lebanon's anti-coronavirus committee. The first phase will begin on April 27, the second on May 4, the third on May 11, the fourth on May 25 and the fifth on June 8, the Cabinet said. The first phase of the plan involves the reopening of the food and agriculture sectors, small and retail shops, sweets shops, hotels, some factories and the electricity and water sectors, the Cabinet added in its decree. The second phase will see the reopening of the remaining factories, restaurants and cafes (30% capacity, no shisha), children parks, outdoors sports courts, barber and hairdressing shops and car repair shops. The third phase will entail the reopening of nurseries (below 3 years), institutions for people with special needs, Casino du Liban (70% capacity for gambling, 30% for restaurants) and car agencies. The fourth will meanwhile witness the resumption of the Brevet and Baccalaureate classes at schools, the reopening of universities, malls and shopping centers while allowing cafes and restaurants to raise their capacity from 30 to 50%. The fifth and last phase will see the reopening of nurseries (3 to 6 years), schools and vocational institutes, pubs, nightclubs, touristic sites, pools, beaches and promenades, gyms and spas, museums, theaters, cinemas, places of worship, religious events, construction sites and entertainment centers (50% capacity) while buses and planes will be allowed to operate. Conference halls and concert and festival venues will meanwhile remain closed "until further notice."Cabinet also extended the so-called state of general mobilization by two weeks, revised the night curfew hours to start at 9pm instead of 8pm, asked citizens above 65 years of age to stay home until May 11 unless it is urgent to go out, and said private firms can reopen on May 11 while abiding by distancing, hygiene and other health instructions.The public sector will meanwhile continue to operate with the minimum number of required employees while respecting distancing measures and barring overcrowding. Health Minister Hamad Hasan had earlier told the Defense Council that the government's measures have spared the country a health crisis but noted that the preparedness of the health sector will continue."There is a constant need to provide hospitals with the necessary equipment and to maintain PCR tests to reach 75,000 tests according to the international standards," Hasan added, expecting the results of these tests to be ready by May 10 at the latest.

Lebanon extends coronavirus lockdown as PM rebukes central bank governor
Reuters/April 24/2020
*Diab said the country had suffered $7 billion in additional losses since the start of the year
*New infections have largely tapered off in recent weeks
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s government extended a coronavirus lockdown by two weeks until May 10 on Friday. Already hit by a financial crisis that has prompted a sovereign debt default and cut its currency’s value, Lebanon has ordered most businesses to close, shut the airport and imposed an overnight curfew to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Meanwhile, Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab rebuked central bank governor Riad Salameh on Friday, questioning his performance after a steep fall in the pound currency and calling on him to clearly explain to Lebanese where policy was headed.
Diab said the crisis-hit country had suffered $7 billion in additional losses since the start of the year and that liquidity in the banking system was running out, with $5.5 billion in Lebanese deposits exiting in the past three months. Diab said it was urgent that an economic reform plan, a draft of which emerged earlier this month, be quickly passed to avert further crisis.  New infections have largely tapered off in recent weeks. Lebanon has recorded 696 coronavirus cases and 22 deaths so far, with the ministry of health reporting eight new cases on Friday. The defense council said that the lockdown must be extended in order to “avoid a second wave from the epidemic that would constitute an unbearable catastrophe.”It laid out a five-stage timetable, with the first beginning on April 27 and the last on June 8, for the government to gradually reintegrate different sectors as it saw fit.

Report: 'Dismissal' of Central Bank Governor ‘Not on the Table’
Naharnet/April 24/2020
Reports claiming that the Cabinet plans to “dismiss” Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh from his post are “inaccurate,” Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported on Friday. The daily quoted Baabda Palace sources as saying that “laying off Salameh is not put for discussion because Article 19 of the Monetary and Credit Law prevents the possibility of dismissal,” they said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press. “Moreover, President Michel Aoun does not have such plans at present, particularly that his last meeting with him was good,” they added, referring to the two men’s meeting in Baabda on Thursday. “Someone is trying to mess the situation up, but their schemes won’t work,” assured the source. On the other hand, al-Joumhouria daily said a “crackdown campaign” launched against Salameh in line with Lebanon's monetary and financial crisis coincided with rumors “the Cabinet plans to dismiss him from his post during its convention Friday.”But a government source noted that drastic “measures like this can only be taken based on accusations of exploitation of power as per the Monetary and Credit Law.” Lebanon's currency continued its downward spiral against the dollar on Thursday, reaching a new low amid financial turmoil in the crisis-hit country compounded by the coronavirus outbreak. New Central Bank rules allowing only cash withdrawals in the local currency deepened the panic among Lebanese, pushing hundreds of protesters to the streets in Beirut and other cities to denounce the policies of the Central Bank, ignoring regulations for social distancing because of the coronavirus. The Cabinet is expected to meet on Friday to discuss an economic and financial rescue plan that has sparked a political debate.

Diab Slams Salameh's 'Suspicious' Performance, Vows State to 'Strike Firmly'
Associated Press/Naharnet/April 24/2020
Prime Minister Hassan Diab on Friday launched a scathing attack on Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh and said there is “suspicious ambiguity” in his handling of the monetary situation. “There is suspicious ambiguity in the central bank governor's performance as to the lira's dramatic deterioration,” Diab said in an address to the nation that followed a Cabinet session and a ministerial financial meeting at the Baabda Palace. “There are gaps in the central bank's performance, strategies, clarity and monetary policy and the bank's losses have reached USD 7 billion this year,” Diab added. “Let the central bank governor declare the facts to the Lebanese,” he urged. Lamenting that some are “insisting on deepening the financial crisis,” the premier emphasized that the government is “firm in its decision to protect the country.” “We will not allow any tampering with the interests and food security of the Lebanese,” he vowed. Diab concluded his speech with a stern warning that “the state will strike firmly against those who think that we'll stand idly by as they plot to steal people's money through hiking the dollar exchange rate.”Diab added that the government has agreed with President Michel Aoun to hire an independent international auditing company to review the central bank's performance. The Lebanese pound has been on a downward trajectory for weeks amid a worsening liquidity crunch and an economic slump. But it appeared to be in a free fall over the last few days, selling as low as 3,800 pounds to the dollar, down from a fixed peg of 1,500 pounds to the dollar in place for 30 years. "The central bank is either incapable, absent or directly inciting this dramatic depreciation," Diab charged. The central bank's decision earlier this week requires local banks to convert cash withdrawals from foreign currency accounts to the Lebanese pound, at a market rate determined daily by the banks. It also applies for money transfers, which was first implemented Friday, when Lebanese media said the rate was 3,625 pounds to the dollar.
The decision sucked dollars out of the market, driving up the black market price, as well as panic among depositors. Protesters took to the streets on Thursday to denounce the governor's decision in rallies that had all but disappeared since movement restrictions were put in place because of the spread of the coronavirus. Experts say the central bank's decision is likely to swamp the market with the Lebanese pound and appeared designed to replenish the local banks' foreign currency reserves and reduce the gaps in their balance sheets. Salameh, governor since 1993, was a key player in Lebanon's post-war economy. For the past few years, he has been criticized by Hizbullah for his implementation of U.S. sanctions against the Iran-backed group. The Lebanese, who have relied on a stable national currency that was pegged to the dollar since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war, are facing the worst economic and financial crisis in decades. The tiny Mediterranean country of about 5 million people is one the most indebted in the world. Nationwide protests broke out in October against the government because of widespread corruption and mismanagement of resources. Diab's government came to office in January and was quickly engulfed in a nationwide health crisis over the novel cornavirus, a crisis that deepened the country's economic recession. Lebanon has a large diaspora that sends foreign currency home -- an income that was already dwindling since last year -- and relies on transfers from here to Lebanese students studying abroad. Also, many Lebanese keep their savings in foreign currency.

Diab Hails Army’s Role
Naharnet/April 24/2020
Prime Minister Hassan Diab praised the Lebanese Army’s role in maintaining the country’s stability and "deterring any attempt to tamper with security." Diab’s remarks came during a meeting he held with Defense Minister Zeina Akar at the Defense Ministry in al-Yarzeh. The meeting was held in the presence of Army Chief Joseph Aoun. “The Lebanese Army is the guardian of national unity and the safety valve that maintains stability,” said Diab. "I am committed to protecting the army because I believe in its role. We count on it to prevent those who tamper with the homeland’s security from achieving their goals," added the PM.

Hariri Says Some Seeking Revenge, Economic System Destruction through Diab
Naharnet/April 24/2020
Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri lashed out Friday at Prime Minister Hassan Diab and the rival political parties, accusing them of seeking revenge against “an entire era” while attempting to destroy “the free economic system.”In a strongly-worded statement responding to Diab's speech earlier in the day, Hariri accused the PM of delivering an “uncalculated” address and declaring a “coup” with a “military language.” “These are dangerous remarks seeking to manipulate people's sentiments and their social concerns and fear for their livelihood with the aim of distancing himself from the government's blatant dereliction,” Hariri charged. “This is the phase of revenge against an entire era and they have tasked the premiership with leading the attack,” the ex-PM said. He added: “Bravo, Hassan Diab. You did a good job. Here you are fulfilling their dreams in destroying the free economic system. They are clapping for you at the (presidential) palace.” “How can you ignore the party responsible for half of the public debt through subsidizing electricity and seven years of paralyzing state institutions? How can you not ask about the policies that harmed Lebanon's Arab and international ties? How can you disregard the responsibilities that should be borne by those practicing a new tutelage over the premiership? Is the central bank governor to blame for all of this?” Hariri asked, addressing Diab. In his speech, Diab said he is holding Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh responsible for the downward spiral of the national currency, accusing him of pursuing "opaque" policies that sent the pound crashing against the dollar. The government has agreed with Lebanon's president to hire an independent international auditing company to review the Central Bank's performance, Diab said. The move, and the premier's speech, were an indication of a widening rift with the country's longtime chief financial decision-maker. Diab urged Salameh to speak openly to the public about the financial crisis, hinting that the governor has intentionally engineered the crash of the pound. The Lebanese pound has been on a downward trajectory for weeks amid a worsening liquidity crunch and an economic slump. But it appeared to be in a free fall over the last few days, selling as low as 3,800 pounds to the dollar, down from a fixed peg of 1,500 pounds to the dollar in place for 30 years. "The Central Bank is either incapable, absent or directly inciting this dramatic depreciation," Diab said in a televised speech. Salameh, governor since 1993, was a key player in Lebanon's post-war economy. For the past few years, he has been criticized by Hizbullah for his implementation of U.S. sanctions against the Iran-backed group. He has also been criticized by the Free Patriotic Movement.

Money Exchange Houses Suspend Trading Until Monday
Naharnet/April 24/2020
The Syndicate of Money Changers in Lebanon led by Mahmoud Mrad announced late on Thursday suspension of trading from Friday until Monday in a “warning” measure against the continued downward spiral of Lebanese Pound to the US dollar. The Syndicate assured that “legal” exchange houses “who play the role of mediator, have no role in this crazy chaos of the dollar price, fueled by rumors and erroneous electronic platforms that give reckless economic analysis most of the time to only reap fame.” They said it has “led to panic amid an alarming economic environment making people and traders rush to buy dollars.”Legal exchange traders are finding themselves as a “hostage” between the demand and supply of dollars, and have therefore decided to stop trading in an attempt to the deterioration of the Lebanese pound. The Syndicate urged related authorities to “suppress impersonators of the profession of money trading and other negative factors leading to a deterioration in the exchange rate. On Thursday, Lebanon's currency continued its downward spiral against the dollar, reaching a new low amid financial turmoil in the crisis-hit country compounded by the coronavirus outbreak. The Lebanese pound traded between 3,500 and 3,700 to the dollar on Thursday, a sharp jump amid general currency depreciation that began in March. It had been pegged to the dollar at 1,500 pounds since 1990, the end of the country's civil war.

Israel Warns Hezbollah to Stay Clear of its Strike Targets in Syria
London - Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 24 April, 2020
Israel had deliberately avoided killing Hezbollah members during a strike on Syria last week, reported the New York Times on Thursday.
According to several current and former Israeli and Middle Eastern officials, Israel has adopted a policy of warning Hezbollah operatives in Syria before bombing their convoys to avoid killing them and risking a devastating war in Lebanon. Hezbollah operatives in Syria have received surprise phone calls from Israeli officials warning them to evacuate their bases before they are bombed, according to an official from the pro-Iran regional alliance, reported NYT. And the first missile fired at the Hezbollah Jeep last week was a deliberate miss, a warning shot aimed at forcing the men to flee so their gear could be destroyed, an intelligence official said. The plan failed in this case because the men retrieved their bags before the car was hit.
Last August, Israel sent an exploding drone into the heart of the Hezbollah-dominated southern suburbs of Beirut to destroy what Israeli officials described as machinery vital to the precision-missile production effort. But in order to avoid killing Hezbollah members, the attack took place before dawn when no one was around, the senior Middle Eastern official said. The tactic has caused a rift between Israel’s military leadership and its spy service, the Mossad. The military brass believe that warning Hezbollah operatives, while destroying their equipment creates a “balance of deterrence” while avoiding a spiral into war. But the Mossad chief, Yossi Cohen, doubts that Hezbollah, Iran and their allies could muster a significant military threat to Israel and argues that Israel should not establish a balance of deterrence with a militia that Israel and the United States consider a terrorist organization. Terrorists, he argues, should be killed based on operational needs and not spared because of fear of a response.

The only message to send Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, “is that he must not try us,” Cohen said in a discussion with Israel’s military chiefs.
Lebanon Crisis Obstructs Aid to The Underprivileged
Beirut - Sanaa Al-Jack/Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 24 April, 2020
The holy month of Ramadan comes this year amid two major crises that cast a hefty shadow over Lebanon. The outbreak of the novel coronavirus imposes social distancing measures, preventing families from reuniting around Iftar banquets, while banking procedures stop the more fortunate to withdraw sufficient funds to support those in need. Despite all these obstacles, preparations for the holy month continued with the available capabilities. In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Sharia Judge and head of Mount Lebanon Zakat Fund, Sheikh Mohammed Hani al-Jouzou said: “The charitable kitchens in Dar Al Iftaa have opened their doors to prepare fresh meals to be delivered to needy families by the municipalities.” He added that charitable organizations, which are affiliated to the endowments or to civil society groups, launched a complete census of underprivileged families, to provide them with food supplies.
Fida Attar, official at Ashghalouna – an entity within the Social Welfare Institution (Dar al-Aytam) - told Asharq Al-Awsat that the association was committed to helping the registered families, but underlined the presence of financial difficulties due to the scarce donations as a result of banking restrictions on withdrawals. “There are difficulties in individual assistance. A large number of Lebanese have been donating to needy families during the month of Ramadan. But banking measures have prevented depositors from obtaining the necessary funds,” Attar noted.
The director of the Lebanese Center for Research and Consulting in Sidon, Hassan Qutub, said that the relevant organizations have adapted their operations to the measures imposed by the curfew. He explained that banquets that used to gather needy families in restaurants would be canceled. Instead, fresh meals would be delivered right to their doorstep. Some associations sought to provide other supplies, including infant milk, he said. Qutub stressed that the financial situation and the outbreak of the coronavirus would prevent families from reuniting around Iftar dinners during the holy month.

Security Around East Lebanon Refugee Camp Tightened over Virus
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 24 April, 2020
Authorities closed all entrances to a Palestinian refugee camp in eastern Lebanon on Friday after four people tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing total cases in the settlement to five and heightening concerns the disease could further spread among its overcrowded population.
The four infected with the virus are relatives of a woman who tested positive earlier this week and are isolating inside their home, according to a statement from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. It said they were so far not in need of hospitalization.
The Palestinian woman, who is a refugee from Syria, was taken to Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut this week. She became the first displaced living in a camp in Lebanon to contract the virus, a finding that triggered a spate of testing in the camp.
The five confirmed cases are residents of the Wavel camp in the city of Baalbek, known locally as the Jalil, or Galilee camp. On Friday, Palestinian fighters in charge of the camp security wore face masks as they patrolled the narrow streets and alleyways of the camp with an estimated population of up to 3,000. Camp residents hunkered down at home after being asked to stay indoors, while paramedics in protective suits sprayed down the few vehicles that were permitted to enter with disinfectant and took people's temperatures. Lebanese Health Minister Hamad Hassan told reporters that the authorities were working together with the UN and other agencies “to avoid an outbreak in the coming days.” Lebanon has officially announced 696 infections including 22 deaths from COVID-19 across the country.

Berri Slams Lebanese Govt. Inaction over Financial Chaos
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 24 April, 2020
Lebanese parliament Speaker Nabih Berri criticized Thursday the government over its inaction to address the spiraling financial crisis and sharp fall of the local currency, which hit a record low of 4,000 pounds against the dollar, while the official rate remained at 1,507.
The government cannot remain an “observer and witness” to financial chaos, he said. “The government must take the initiative and exercise its legal and executive powers to stop the dramatic deterioration of the Lebanese pound,” he demanded. The currency crash came as hundreds of Lebanese crowded outside money transfer offices Thursday, the last day that authorities allowed dollars to be dispensed to customers following new Central Bank rules. Protesters rallied outside the Central Bank in Beirut and the southern city of Sidon in protest against the banking policies and hike in the dollar exchange rate. Protesters in Jiyeh and the Bekaa blocked road with rocks and burning tires. The new rules, detailed in a bank circular released this week, require banks to convert cash withdrawals from foreign currency bank accounts to the local currency, the Lebanese pound, at market rates determined daily by the bank. Some politicians predicted an inevitable economic and financial collapse. “We expect a big breakdown and more poverty, bankruptcy and unemployment. May God help the people,” former minister Richard Kouyoumjian wrote in a tweet.
President Michel Aoun met Thursday Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh, who briefed him on the country’s monetary situation and on the Central Bank’s plan to address them. Prime Minister Hassan Diab is expected to address the crisis during a cabinet meeting on Friday.

Lebanese pound: exchange rate lowered more than 50%
Reuters/April 24, 2020
The new rate, which applies to money sent through wire transfer offices, amounts to a devaluation.
The Lebanese central bank set an exchange rate of 3,625 Lebanese pounds to the US dollar to be applied by money-transfer firms on Friday, 58 per cent weaker than the official peg as the country grapples with its financial crisis, a central bank source said. The new rate is seen as part of wider moves by the central bank away from a peg in place since 1997, bankers said. Though the official pegged rate of 1,507.5 pounds is still in place, it amounts to an effective devaluation of the pound, they said. The new rate applies to money sent through wire transfer offices, which are used by many Lebanese abroad to send money to family at home. The Lebanese pound has slumped on a parallel market since October, when the country's long-brewing economic troubles came to a head, prompting a financial and banking crisis considered the biggest risk to stability since the 1975-90 civil war.
The authorities are still applying the official pegged rate for essential imports - fuel, wheat and medicine - in an effort to slow spiralling inflation in the import-dependent economy. "Prices may change every day and will be set the day before," the central bank source said, adding that the rate reflected the price dollars were fetching at foreign exchange offices. "In the event that there are major fluctuations during the day, the price may be set again during the same day." A senior banker said central bank governor Riad Salameh was effectively devaluing the currency without announcing it. With dollars in short supply, the central bank earlier this month said the money-transfer services must issue cash in the local currency at a "market rate". Earlier this week, the central bank also said depositors with dollar accounts in Lebanon would be paid cash in pounds, also at a "market rate", within each bank's withdrawal limits. Banking sources said they expected the rate applied to such withdrawals to be close to the rate set by the central bank for wire transfer firms. Banks, exchange dealers and the central bank will meet on Monday to make a decision. Parliament speaker Nabih Berri urged the government on Thursday to use its legal powers to halt the pound's "dramatic collapse" before it is "too late". Foreign currency dealers are on strike until Monday "to warn about the continued deterioration of the exchange rate", their syndicate announced late on Thursday.

Protests grip Lebanon as currency crash spells deeper turmoil for millions
The New Arab & agencies
Protests took place across Lebanon on Thursday amid mounting economic uncertainty. Anti-government protests in Lebanon continued on Thursday amid mounting uncertainty as the Lebanese pound dramatically dropped against the US dollar. Protesters blocked the Dbaye and Jiye highways, according to reports on social media, as well as in Tripoli's al-Nour Square, among other places. At Lebanon's central bank, protesters demanded the sacking of the institution's governor, Riad Salameh, in a show of disapproval of recent policies. The Lebanese pound recorded its biggest drop in a single day against the dollar as hundreds of Lebanese – most of them wearing face masks but few keeping a safe distance - crowded outside money transfer offices on Thursday. New Central Bank rules meant that Thursday was the last day for dollars to be dispensed in cash to customers. The new rules, detailed in a bank circular released this week, require banks and money transfer offices to convert foreign currency transfers and cash withdrawals from foreign currency bank accounts to the local currency, the Lebanese pound, at market rates determined daily by the bank. The change is meant to ease demand on the dollar but has instead caused panic among the Lebanese, who have relied on a stable national currency that has been pegged to the dollar for nearly 30 years. Lebanon is facing its worst economic crisis in decades, including unprecedented unemployment levels and a severe liquidity crunch. The crisis has been compounded by a nationwide general lockdown, in place for over a month, to combat the spread of coronavirus. Lebanese have been taking to the streets since October denouncing the government and banks for their inability to address the liquidity crunch and the general economic malaise, and accusing them of corruption. The coronavirus pandemic has only intensified the economic slump.

U.N. Offers Support to Education Authorities in Lebanon
Naharnet/April 24/2020
The COVID-19 outbreak has “translated into a major education crisis” and while many countries, including Lebanon, switched to distance teaching and learning to mitigate the effects of such disruption, challenges related to preparedness, infrastructure and capacity, as well as the digital gaps, have put additional strains on students, parents, teachers, principals and the educational authorities, the U.N. said Friday.
School closure has widened learning inequalities, affecting the most vulnerable children and youth disproportionately. In this context, the U.N. urged collective action to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on children and youth and is providing support to the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE) and the Ministry of Agriculture, among other partners in Lebanon, by developing alternative solutions to school closure to ensure that learning never stops, it said in a statement.
In close collaboration with MEHE, U.N. agencies are assisting in preparing and deploying inclusive distance learning solutions, utilizing hi-tech, low-tech and no-tech approaches. Distance learning support includes activities for the production of pre-primary and basic education lessons, as well as well-being materials, the Gender-Based Violence approach and health awareness for students and parents.
The U.N. is also providing assistance for developing communication learning materials and special TV episodes, targeting teachers and parents, to raise their awareness on addressing the stress and psychosocial needs of children during remote learning.
UNESCO’s Regional Director for Education in the Arab States, Dr. Hamed al-Hamami, said: “Never before have we witnessed educational disruption at this scale. Despite the crisis, learning should never stop. While Lebanon is developing alternative solutions for school closure, we have a special responsibility to ensure inclusion and equity for all learners, so that no one is left behind. Our collective actions not only can help ensure continuity of education but can also contribute to building a more resilient education system for the future.”
“From school closures, to isolation, to a persistent sense of fear and anxiety, the effects of this pandemic are impacting children worldwide,” said Yukie Mokuo, UNICEF Representative in Lebanon. “We need to come together and explore every avenue to keep children learning and help them through this difficult time. The Ministry of Education and Higher Education has been able to swiftly deploy innovative, scalable solutions for children and youth. The adaptations made are a powerful reminder of what we can achieve together for children as the crisis is far from its end.”
The school closures have also affected youth enrolled in vocational and technical education and training. The U.N. in Lebanon, with its partners, is supporting the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) in upgrading the agriculture education system in Lebanon, which offers Lebanese and displaced Syrian youth the opportunity of acquiring necessary technical skills to access improved career opportunities in agriculture and agribusiness in Lebanon or Syria upon their return. The assistance provided by the U.N. and its partners also includes distance online learning for students enrolled in the Technical Baccalaureate programs (BTA) at the seven agricultural technical schools in Lebanon. Teaching Programs are posted on the Ministry’s website for students’ access at this link and taken further with schoolteachers through virtual education.
“FAO has always played an important role in the production, and dissemination of knowledge and technical educational materials to face the challenges of food security, sustainable agricultural and rural development,” said FAO Representative in Lebanon, Dr. Maurice Saade. He underscored FAO’s commitment for continued support to the Ministry of Agriculture in upgrading the agricultural education system and in expanding distance learning opportunities for both Lebanese and Syrian students enrolled in agricultural schools.
U.N. support to school children includes the extension of distance learning to the second shift and non-formal education programm, aiming at reaching the most vulnerable communities, including the refugee communities. U.N. teams in the Bekaa developed remote learning solutions and created a virtual learning community (WhatsApp, Skype) contributing to guarantee children’s continued access to education.
In Palestinian camps, U.N.-paid teachers and education cadres are currently implementing a Self-Learning Program and using educational materials that the U.N. developed specifically to support student learning during this COVID-19 emergency, the U.N. said in its statement
A Learning Readiness Rapid Assessment has been completed with the U.N. support and the participation of over 10,000 Syrian families with children enrolled in suspended non-formal and formal education programs. This assessment provides critical information to determine the ability of these families to access and manage distance learning opportunities. With this information, education providers will be able to tailor content and implementation modalities given the current lockdown.
The U.N. has also developed a series of regional webinars to strengthen teachers’ capacities in distance/online teaching and build their skills to use ICTs in education. Several awareness raising information materials, including flyers and infographics have been prepared targeting teachers and parents.
“Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the U.N. has been monitoring the impact of the crisis on the sector and providing MEHE with technical expertise, sharing of information and good practices. Monitoring support is also focused on the progress of remote learning, identifying gaps and providing technical support,” the U.N. said. “With a chief aim to keep children and their families safe and informed about how to protect themselves, the U.N. engaged in a series of preventative actions that included the development of Cleaning and Disinfection Protocol for schools, the provision of hygiene and medical kits to schools and health clinics. As schools are expected to re-open at one point, the U.N. is providing advice and recommendations for education planners and decision makers who are anticipating the reopening of schools after lockdown measures are lifted,” it added.

Sami Gemayel meets US Ambassador, UN’s Kubis
NNA/April 24/2020
Lebanese Kataeb Party Chief, MP Sami Gemayel, received this Friday at the “Kataeb House” in Saifi, US Ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy Shea, in the presence of former Minister Alain Hakim and the Party's Foreign Relations Coordinator, Marwan Abdullah. Discussions reportedly touched on the latest developments.MP Gemayel met also with the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jan Kubis, with most recent developments featuring high on their talks.

LAU: Donation by Ambassador Gilbert Chagoury will cover 10,000 PCR Tests
NNA/April 24/2020
In a press release by the Lebanese American University (LAU) on Friday, it said: "Lebanese businessman and philanthropist, Ambassador Gilbert Chagoury, has made a generous donation to LAU’s Gilbert and Rose-Marie Chagoury School of Medicine (SOM), which bears his and his wife’s names. The substantial gift is allocated to support the LAU Mobile Clinic launched by the SOM and the LAU Medical Center-Rizk Hospital in its mission to conduct free-of-charge PCR tests to the disadvantaged, namely in remote areas of Lebanon.
Ambassador Chagoury stressed that solidarity, especially among Lebanese citizens, was critical as the world grapples with the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic. “This humanitarian gift will allow those in remote rural areas who need laboratory tests to preserve their health and safety.”
In this first-of-its-kind initiative, the LAU Mobile Clinic last week visited several areas including Nabatiyeh, Tripoli, Kobayat, Zgharta, the Batroun coast, Tannourine, Chekka and Byblos, where it conducted between 50 to 100 PCR tests per day.
LAU President Joseph G. Jabbra spoke of Ambassador Chagouryas a remarkable individual who “gives generously and embodies the gift of giving, which we, at LAU, know for a fact. If it weren’t for his profound caring for the future of Lebanese youth, LAU would have no medical or nursing schools. He always speaks about the joy of giving without any strings attached. For him, helping others is a consummate passion.” Dean of the SOM Michel Mawad, who is in charge of the clinic, said the donation will ensure 10,000 PCR tests over a period of about 10 months, a significant contribution to the efforts made at the national level to tackle the pandemic. The gift, noted Dr. Jabbra, epitomized Ambassador Chagoury’sreadiness to help his beloved Lebanon and those in need, particularly as it was unsolicited. “He learned that LAU had put a mobile clinic on the road for those who live in remote villages across Lebanon,” said Dr. Jabbra, “and offered to buy the PCR kits, without us even asking for help.”Thanking Ambassador Chagoury, his wife Rose-Marie, and their family on behalf of LAU and those who will be tested, Dr. Jabbra pledged to use the gift effectively to help all Lebanese."

Nothing is normal this year': Lebanon readies for difficult Ramadan
Sunniva Rose/The National/April 24/2020
The Lebanese have deserted supermarkets as economic trouble means the price of goods traditionally consumed during Ramadan has skyrocketed.
The lively bustle that usually marks the beginning of Ramadan in Beirut as people stockpile food has all but disappeared this year as the price of goods continues to increase, leaving shops empty with little prospect of recovery. “You see that bottle of Jallab there?” gestures a cashier at a popular supermarket chain in Koraytem, in the east of the capital, referring to a thick, dark brown syrup that is traditionally consumed during Ramadan. “Last year, it cost 9,500 Lebanese pounds. Now its price is 19,500 Lebanese pounds,” he says.
Idle employees wait for rare customers, who are given gloves before entering as part of efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Aside from the occasional beggar, the streets are mostly empty in Koraytem and neighbouring Hamra. The value of the local currency has been in freefall for the past six months, losing over half its value, though the official peg of 1,500 Lebanese pounds to the US dollar remains officially in place.
Money exchange houses went on strike on Friday, and it will last until Monday, as fears mount that the Lebanese pound could drop as low as 4,000 to the dollar after hitting 3,600 on Thursday evening. Although dollars were used interchangeably with the local currency until late 2019, the US currency has all but disappeared from the local market. As the value of people’s salaries plummet, so does their purchasing power. Most locally sold goods are imported and paid for in dollars, which means that the overheads of retail outlets have risen dramatically, leaving little room for manoeuvre.
“You think we can do special Ramadan offers? Come on, the Lebanese pound is now worth almost 4,000,” jokes an employee at another branch of the same supermarket chain a few blocks away. “Nobody buys iPhones anymore. The cheapest is worth $800. People purchase cheap brands, and only when they really have to,” says the owner of an electronics shop, who stopped buying from importers last October when the value of the pound started to fall on the parallel market. “The situation is catastrophic,” he says.
Figures from the World Food Programme show that the price of imported Egyptian rice, a staple food in Lebanon and the region, has risen by 40 per cent in a year, from 1,853 Lebanese pounds per kilo in March 2019 to 2,630 pounds last month.
Because of Lebanon’s dependence on imports, even of raw materials, inflation has also hit the price of locally produced fruit and vegetables. In one shop selling fresh produce, a man said the price of tomatoes had gone up by 20 per cent. “Nothing is normal this year," says the shop owner.
Last year, farmers bought less imported fertilisers and seeds as importers asked to be paid upfront in cash instead of at the end of the season as they usually do, says Antoine Howayek, the head of the Lebanese farmer’s association. As a result, production decreased by roughly 50 per cent, driving prices up. Thankfully, the Lebanese buy less, too, otherwise the price of tomatoes would have more than tripled, says Mr Howayek.
“If the Lebanese could access their money and there wasn’t this level of poverty, demand would have been at least three times higher than it is today,” he says. Small shops with not enough reserves have little choice but to shut down. Many had already closed over the last six months, but containment measures implemented due to the coronavirus pandemic means that only a few types of stores are allowed to remain open, including supermarkets, bakeries and phone shops. “I’ve been losing money since January. I only had enough money set aside for six months. I’ll be closing soon,” says the owner of the electronics shop, which opened in 2009. However, there is one positive in all of this, he says: that the anti-government protests that began in October but were forced to suspend demonstrations because of coronavirus have started to pick up again. On Thursday afternoon, a big crowd gathered in front of the central bank in Hamra. “I’d rather not protest now with the threat of coronavirus as I live with elderly members of my family, but as soon as the virus is over, I’ll be on the streets again. My shop will be closed, and there’ll be nothing else to do,” he says.

Recent killing in Lebanon sheds light on honor killings in the country
Mona Alami, Al Arabiya English/Thursday 23 April 2020
This week’s mass murder in the Lebanese area of Baakline is a reminder that honor killings, while less frequent in Lebanon compared to other Arab countries, are more commonplace in Lebanon than is typically thought.
A man from the Harfouch family was detained today over the killing of 10 people including his wife, two brothers, and two Syrian children, a security sourced told Al Arabiya. “The man claimed it was an honor killing as he suspected his wide of cheating on him, although it seems his suspicions were misplaced,” adds the security source. While less reported than in other Arab countries, honor killings take place in Lebanon but groups who deal with such cases classify them as violence against women. Honor-based violence includes all acts of violence committed against a family member, often a woman, with the justification stated to defend the family honor.“We refuse to label these crimes as honor killings, because this means that we are giving justification to a man’s actions against women. We prefer to call them women’s killings. We have had previous cases where men legitimized the use [of] violence against their partner over suspicions of infidelity,” says lawyer Leyla Awada from Kafa, an organization that fights violence against women. That was the case of Manal Assi who was tortured in 2014 by her husband before she was killed, said Awada. According to Kafa, there were nine reported completed or attempted killings against women last year in a country with a local population of around 4.5 million. The security source explains that honor-linked killings can be underreported in Lebanon, especially in certain areas such as refugee camps, where families hide such deaths from the public when relatives are involved.
Gruesome killings and honor-linked crimes take place intermittently across all Lebanese regions and there have been a handful of especially violent cases over the last several years. In 2013, a man from Akkar was beaten and castrated after eloping with a girl from a different community. That same year, a man killed his pregnant teenage sister in south Lebanon in what was seen as an honor crime. Baghdad Khaled Issa was stabbed by her brother in the coastal area of al-Wazzani. The investigation revealed that the girl’s pregnancy was the result of repeated rape by her brother.
In 2018, a mother killed her daughter in the coastal area of Khalde. The woman strangled her daughter before electrocuting and smothering her with a pillow, claiming it was to defend the family honor. Earlier in the same year, the body of a woman was also found stoned to death. According to Islamic law, sexual relations between a man and woman outside of a valid marriage are a crime punishable by death by stoning.
“Lebanon is a patriarchal society and the label honor killings… provides men with the right of defining their wife’s crime and punishing them, when they have other options they can resort to, such as divorce. We need to start defending the victim and not the criminal,” points out Awada.
On August 4, 2011, parliament annulled article 562 of the criminal code, which mitigated the sentence of people who claim they killed or injured their wife, daughter, or other relative after witnessing a transgression, such as an extramarital affair, to protect the family “honor,” according to a report by Human Rights Watch on honor crimes. Yet Awada believes that another article of the criminal code, article 252, still allowed for sentence mitigation for crimes committed against women, often used by judges to shorten sentences, such as in Assi’s 2014 case.
Nonetheless, Lebanon seems to fare much better than other countries in the region. A 2019 survey undertaken by the BBC News Arabic by the Arab Barometer research network, showed that honor killings were considered acceptable by 27 percent of Algerians, 25 percent of Moroccans, 14 percent of Sudanese, 21 percent of Jordanians, compared to 8 percent of Lebanese. Seham Khodr head of the Baakline women’s association fears nonetheless that as the economic and social situation worsens in Lebanon, violence and killings of women could multiply, and domestic violence against women is already on the rise in the country.

Lebanon, Hezbollah, and COVID-19
Tony Badran/FDD/April 24/2020
طوني بدران/مؤسسة الدفاع عن الديموقراطية: لبنان وحزب الله وجائحة الكورونا
In response to the pandemic, the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah has waged an aggressive public relations campaign aimed at displaying its primacy within Lebanon. This campaign has also demonstrated Hezbollah’s full integration with the organs of the Lebanese state.
Situation Overview
Lebanon reported its first confirmed case on February 21. In mid-March, the Hezbollah-backed government imposed a lockdown, followed up by a nighttime curfew. The government took advantage of the curfew in downtown Beirut to remove tents belonging to Lebanese citizens protesting government corruption.
As of April 23, authorities have reported 688 confirmed cases, including 22 deaths. Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health, which is controlled by Hezbollah, provides these numbers.
It is unclear whether these statistics tell the whole story. While hospitals in Lebanon have not been overwhelmed, Hezbollah likely increased Lebanon’s exposure to the virus by bringing home personnel operating abroad with Iranian forces. The government also allowed flights from Iran, the pandemic’s regional epicenter, well into March. It is possible that Hezbollah is quarantining and treating infected personnel at its own private hospitals. However, videos and voice recordings circulated via social media, which depict a catastrophic situation at Hezbollah-owned hospitals, remain unverified.
COVID-19 in the Greater Middle East
Country Cases Deaths
Turkey 98,674 2,376
Iran 87,026 5,481
Israel 14,592 191
Saudi Arabia 12,772 114
Pakistan 10,513 224
UAE 8,756 56
Qatar 7,764 10
Egypt 3,659 276
Morocco 3,537 151
Algeria 2,910 402
Kuwait 2,399 14
Bahrain 2,027 7
Iraq 1,631 83
Oman 1,614 8
Afghanistan 1,226 40
Tunisia 909 38
Lebanon 688 22
W. Bank & Gaza 480 4
Jordan 435 7
Somalia 286 8
Sudan 162 13
Libya 60 1
Syria 42 3
Yemen 1 0
Source: JHU Coronavirus Resource Center
Data current as of 9:15 AM, April 23, 2020.
Implications
Hezbollah has a long history of using the media to its advantage, and the COVID-19 crisis has been no exception. The group’s crisis response campaign has followed a familiar template: Hezbollah put on display its Islamic Health Association (IHA) workers and medical units. The group also paraded for the media a fleet of ambulances and showcased various Hezbollah-run hospitals and health centers. The campaign, which has generated overall positive coverage in several prominent Western outlets, is designed to portray Hezbollah’s pandemic response as a parallel endeavor to its military “resistance” operations: “community-based resistance.”
The most prominent public faces during the crisis have been Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, who makes regular video addresses in which he issues guidelines as a quasi-head of state, and the Hezbollah-appointed Minister of Public Health, Hamad Hassan. Mirroring its broader position in the country, Hezbollah’s crisis response campaign reflects seamless integration between the group and the state.
Indicative of this integration are the Hezbollah-run municipalities featured in the group’s campaign. For example, many of the ambulances paraded for the media belong to Hezbollah’s IHA, while others belong to various municipalities run by Hezbollah figures. Likewise, some of the health centers featured on the media tour belong to Hezbollah-controlled municipalities, which are government-funded. The government paid arrears to municipal councils last month, at Hezbollah’s urging.
Similarly, Hezbollah’s campaign has worked synergistically with public hospitals in Bint Jbeil, Nabatieh, Hermel, and Baalbek, all Hezbollah strongholds. These public hospitals are not experiencing a flood of COVID-19 patients, particularly compared to Beirut’s main government hospital, so generating publicity may be their primary role in Hezbollah’s campaign.
International institutions are also lending a hand to Hezbollah’s efforts. Hezbollah-led municipalities in south Lebanon have received medical and protective equipment directly from UN peacekeepers. The World Bank, meanwhile, authorized $40 million to strengthen the Hezbollah-run Ministry of Public Health’s “capacity to respond to the crisis by equipping governmental hospitals.”
What to Watch for
As Lebanon’s ongoing financial and economic crisis takes its toll, some protests are resurfacing in defiance of the government’s lockdown. In late March, people took to the streets in a Hezbollah-dominated neighborhood south of Beirut, protesting the curfew, the lockdown, and economic mismanagement. In recent days, protests erupted in the northern city of Tripoli. Baalbek has also seen limited demonstrations against rising prices and the depreciation of Lebanon’s currency.
Hezbollah’s public relations campaign notwithstanding, Lebanon’s disintegrating economy and the resulting public outcry will continue to pose a significant challenge for the terror group and government in the weeks and months ahead.
*Tony Badran is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where he also contributes to FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP). For more analysis from Tony and CMPP, please subscribe HERE. Follow him on Twitter @AcrossTheBay. Follow FDD on Twitter @FDD and @FDD_CMPP. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.
https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2020/04/23/lebanon-hezbollah-and-covid-19/

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 23-24/2020
Guterres: Human rights ‘uplift everyone’; must guide COVID-19 recovery response
UN News/April 24/2020
The coronavirus pandemic is not only a critical public health danger, it is also a human, economic and social emergency that is “fast becoming a human rights crisis”, the UN chief said on Thursday, releasing a new policy brief on shaping an effective, inclusive response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Noting his February Call to Action to put human dignity and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the core of the UN’s work, Secretary-General António Guterres pointed out that today the world is facing “the biggest international crisis in generations”, stressing that human rights “cannot be an afterthought”.
He emphasized that “people and their rights must be front and center”, and that human rights “can and must guide COVID-19 response and recovery”. Human rights responses cannot only help beat the pandemic by putting a focus on the imperative of healthcare for everyone, but also serve as an essential warning system — highlighting who is suffering most, why, and what can be done about it. “We are all in this together”, the UN chief declared, adding that while the virus “threatens everyone, human rights uplift everyone”.
Disproportionate impacts
One of the report’s key messages is that as a global threat, the COVID-19 response needs to be inclusive, equitable and universal to effectively beat the virus. “We have seen how the virus does not discriminate, but its impacts do — exposing deep weaknesses in the delivery of public services and structural inequalities that impede access to them,” Guterres stated. “We must make sure they are properly addressed in the response.”
All hands on deck
The report also underscores that everyone, across the entire globe, should be involved in the response. Advocating for “transparent, responsive and accountable” government during the pandemic, the UN chief upheld that civil society organizations and the private sector, also have “essential roles to play” and that civic space and press freedom are “critical”.
Threat: Virus, not people
Against the background of rising ethno-nationalism, populism, authoritarianism, and a pushback against human rights in some countries, Guterres feared that the crisis may “provide a pretext to adopt repressive measures for purposes unrelated to the pandemic”.
The report underscores that the virus is the threat, not the people, and emphasized that any emergency and security measures be temporary, proportional and aimed at protecting individuals. “We see the disproportionate effects on certain communities, the rise of hate speech, the targeting of vulnerable groups, and the risks of heavy-handed security responses undermining the health response,” detailed the UN chief. Heavy-handed security responses will undermine everyone’s ability to stay healthy and can exacerbate existing threats to peace and security, or even create new ones, which is simply “unacceptable”.
No country alone
To beat the virus, the report recognized that the world cannot afford to leave any nation behind. And as some countries are better equipped to respond than others, international solidarity is essential. “A human rights lens puts everyone in the picture and ensures that no one is left behind,” asserted the secretary-general. “Human rights responses can help beat the pandemic, putting a focus on the imperative of healthcare for everyone.”
Rebuilding stronger
Although the crisis has uncovered weaknesses in public service deliveries and inequalities that impede access to them, today’s response can help to shape that future — for better or worse, according to the report.
“The best response is one that responds proportionately to immediate threats while protecting human rights and the rule of law,” Guterres stated. While examining the immediate crisis, the report holds that it is also critical to consider the long-term — with a human rights focus for both the priorities at hand and in developing future prevention strategies. “Looking ahead, we need to build back better,” argued the UN chief, pointing out that, underpinned by human rights, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) “provide the framework for more inclusive and sustainable economies and societies”.
And strengthening economic and social rights bolsters resilience for the long haul — for future generations, climate action and biodiversity protection. “By respecting human rights in this time of crisis, we will build more effective and inclusive solutions for the emergency of today and the recovery for tomorrow,” concluded the secretary-general.—UN News

UK Virus Death Toll Climbs to Over 19,000
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 24/2020
Britain's health ministry on Friday said that 684 more people had died after testing positive for COVID-19 in hospital, taking the death toll to 19,506. The figure, for the 24-hour period to 1600 GMT on Thursday, is more than the 616 reported the previous day and comes after the government claimed the virus had hit its peak.
Britain is one of the worst-hit countries in the world by the virus, and has been under a national lockdown for more than a month.
But there are fears the true figures could be higher when deaths in the community, particularly at care homes, are taken into account.
The government is coming under pressure to reveal its plans for lifting the restrictions, as well as boost testing capacity and plug gaps in the supply of protective equipment for health and social care workers.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock on Thursday detailed expanded community testing for the virus in the coming weeks but said it would depend on lower rates of transmission of the virus.
Meanwhile, a new website to offer testing for up to 10 million key workers and their families was overwhelmed on Friday, the government said. "Within two minutes of the portal opening this morning, 5,000 testing kits had been ordered," Prime Minister Boris Johnson's official spokesman told reporters. "And that's the available capacity for today."
Up to 18,000 home testing kits per day will be available by the end of next week. Another 15,000 tests were expected to take place at drive-through testing centers on Friday, he added.
Britain's chief medical officer Chris Whitty has warned that some of the stringent social distancing measures could last for the rest of the year until a vaccine is found. Researchers at Oxford University this week began a human trial of a potential vaccine, with the hope it could be available as early as September. Other scientific tests are taking place to determine whether existing drugs could be used. Johnson is recuperating after a spell in intensive care with COVID-19 but his former employer the Daily Telegraph said he could be back at work as early as next Monday.
Hancock said Johnson, 55, was "in very good shape" and was "clearly recovering" but the ultimate decision for him to return to Downing Street would depend on his medical team. U.S. President Donald Trump described Johnson as being full of "tremendous energy" when he spoke to him by phone this week.

U.S. Nears 50,000 Virus Fatalities after 3,176 Deaths in 24 Hours
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 24/2020
The novel coronavirus has killed nearly 50,000 people in the United States, after one of the deadliest days of the pandemic which saw 3,176 deaths, according to a tally Thursday from Johns Hopkins University.
The deaths were recorded in the 24 hours up to 8:30 pm (0030 GMT Friday), bringing the overall coronavirus death toll in the United States to 49,759, according to the Baltimore-based university. The US, the worst-hit country in the world, now has 866,646 confirmed cases of coronavirus, up 26,971 from the previous day. Due to a lack of testing, the actual number of infections is likely to be much higher. Last week, the country recorded two consecutive days of high death tolls -- 4,591 on Thursday and 3,856 on Friday. But those numbers were believed to include "probable" coronavirus deaths that had not been previously included in the count. Outside of those two days, Thursday's toll of 3,176 marked the deadliest day yet in any country amid the global pandemic which has claimed nearly 190,000 lives. Despite the alarming figures, several US states such as Georgia and Texas were preparing to reopen some businesses as they started lifting lockdown measures.

Brexit Talks End with Scant Progress
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 24/2020
EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier deplored a lack of progress in the latest round of post-Brexit trade talks on Friday, accusing Britain of stalling negotiations. Barnier reported his concern at the end of a week of negotiations, which came amid the added urgency of the coronavirus pandemic that has shattered the economy in Europe.
"To tell you the truth.. the objective that we had for tangible progress, this objective has only been partially achieved," a testy Barnier told a news conference after the talks. "The United Kingdom did not want to engage seriously on a certain number of fundamental issues." Britain left the European Union on January 31 and both sides have until the end of the year to forge a new basis for relations, barring an extension that Barnier confirmed London still refuses.
"We need real progress by the month of June if we want to find a deal by the end of the year that meets the level of our interdependence and our geographic proximity," Barnier said. Britain "cannot refuse to extend transition and at the same time slow down discussions on important areas," he added. In its response, London called the discussions "full and constructive" but also said there had been "limited progress in bridging the gaps between us and the EU". "The UK remains committed to a deal with a Free Trade Agreement at its core," Downing Street said in a statement but noted there were "significant differences of principle in other areas".
The trade talks entered high gear with a first round in March, but quickly fell victim to the COVID-19 crisis when Barnier and his UK counterpart David Frost both tested positive for the virus.
Talks were suspended for six weeks as each side focused on the deadly virus and explored ways to hold the talks that involve more than 100 negotiators on each side. The lack of progress will feed fears that no deal will be reached by December 31, meaning that WTO rules with high tariffs and customs barriers would come into force between the UK and EU. That prospect is especially alarming given the cataclysmic recession already facing the continent that cross-Channel chaos would only make worse. But British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has been hospitalized because of the virus, refuses to be swayed, with his government insisting that the current deadline must stand.
'Crystal clear'
Unacceptable for Johnson is that an extension would also prolong the so-called transition period, in which Britain must obey EU rules and regulations during the course of negotiations. The thorny topics remain as they have been from the start of talks: fishing and maintaining fair and open trade standards, known as a "level playing field". London is trying to negotiate a series of packages in different domains including fishing, goods, aviation, justice and energy. But EU leaders want a single overarching accord. The thorny problem of fishing rights alone -- hugely important to several key EU states, notably France -- could derail the whole process. "There will be no agreement on a trade deal without a deal on fishing. That should be crystal clear to the UK," Barnier said. London criticized the EU's insistence on maintaining existing fishing quotas.

Unprecedented Virus Lockdown as Muslims Mark Ramadan
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 24/2020
Muslims around the world began marking Ramadan under coronavirus lockdown on Friday with unprecedented bans on family gatherings and mass prayers, while a pushback in some countries has sparked fears of a surge in infections. This year, the holy daytime fasting month will be a sombre affair for many across Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. Widespread rules have been imposed banning praying in mosques or meeting relatives and friends for large "iftar" meals at dusk -- a centrepiece of the month-long fast. The restrictions have put a damper on spirits in Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslim majority nation, where national religious organisations have called on the faithful to stay at home. "This Ramadan is very different -- it's just not festive," said Indonesian housewife Fitria Famela. "I'm disappointed that I can't go to the mosque, but what can we do? The world is different now." However, some religious leaders in Asia -- home to nearly a billion of the world's Muslims -- have waved off fears about the spread of COVID-19. The top Islamic organisation in Indonesia's conservative Aceh province publicly bucked a national order to stay at home. Several thousand worshippers attended evening prayers Thursday at the biggest mosque in the region's capital Banda Aceh, though crowds were smaller than usual. "I'm not worried because I'm wearing a face mask and keeping my distance," said Cut Fitrah Riskiah, one of those taking part.
'We must accept it'
The threat of large religious gatherings has been highlighted in recent weeks by waves of infections in Asia linked to separate, massive Islamic congregations in Malaysia, Pakistan and India. Regional COVID-19 death tolls have been lower than in Europe and the United States but are rising steadily, sparking fears the virus may overwhelm often underfunded healthcare systems. And the World Health Organization has called for a stop to some Ramadan activities to limit exposure. But in Bangladesh, clerics have pushed back at attempts to shrink the number of people going to mosques.
And Pakistan has seen its mosques crammed in the lead-up to Ramadan with the faithful sitting shoulder-to-shoulder and paying little heed to social distancing. Mohamad Shukri Mohamad, the top Islamic cleric in the conservative Malaysian state of Kelantan, planned to skip public prayers and family meals -- even if it meant not seeing his six children and 18 grandchildren. "This is the first time in my life that I've been unable to go to the mosque," he told AFP. "But we must accept it and obey the rules of social distancing to protect our lives." Muslim-majority Malaysia has extended a strict lockdown until mid-May with mosques, schools and most businesses closed -- and police checkpoints set up to catch rulebreakers. Even popular Ramadan bazaars, where Muslims buy local delicacies before breaking their fast, have been banned. Instead, Malaysians can only order from so-called "e-bazaars", where people order goods online and have them delivered to their homes.
'Sinful'
In neighbouring Indonesia, Amalia Nur Istigfarin considered skipping Ramadan's daytime fast over fears it could weaken her immune system. "But it would be sinful to miss it because fasting is mandatory," the bank employee said. "So I'll try other things to boost my immune system like exercise and taking vitamin C," she added. Fears of a spike in coronavirus cases when millions travel to hometowns and ancestral villages at the end of Ramadan has forced Indonesia -- a country of some 260 million -- to issue a ban on the annual exodus. The government has also announced a clampdown on all air and sea travel across the 17,000-island archipelago. Jakarta resident Erik Febrian said he was relying on a computer to allow him to keep in touch with his out-of-town parents until he can see them in person at the end of Ramadan. "Thanks to technology I can video-call my parents every day during Ramadan," he said. "And keep an eye on their health."

Venezuela Turns to Iran for Fuel Supplies and Workers
Fabiola Zerpa and Ben Bartenstein/Bloomberg/April 24/2020
*Private Iranian carrier has delivered technicians and parts
*Venezuela is rapidly running out of fuel amid pandemic
Strangled by U.S. efforts to isolate it from financial markets, Venezuela is getting help from another country crushed by American sanctions: Iran. As armed soldiers in Caracas guard the city’s last drops of fuel and state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA struggles to maintain its operations, Tehran has started delivering blending components used for producing gasoline, according to people familiar with the matter. The Islamic Republic is also supplying workers and equipment for oil refining, and the countries have discussed bringing actual gasoline cargoes into Venezuela, the people said. The support comes at a critical time. While the rest of the world grapples with a massive supply glut that has hammered energy prices, Venezuela is rapidly running out of fuel. U.S. sanctions on Russian traders last month abruptly halted key supplies to the nation, which is already contending with hyperinflation, food shortages and the coronavirus. The crisis has brought Venezuela even closer to longtime ally Iran, whose economy has also taken a hit after U.S. restrictions cut off much of its foreign trade. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani last week reaffirmed their plans to cooperate on energy, agricultural and financial projects, as well as on the Covid-19 pandemic, Venezuela’s foreign ministry said. Since then, sanctioned Tehran-based carrier Mahan Air has been flying aircraft to Venezuela’s northern coast to deliver gasoline blendstock, as well as transport technicians and spare parts to help repair one of the world’s largest refineries, PDVSA’s Amuay plant, the people said. Maduro’s regime is also considering buying cargoes of finished gasoline from the Islamic Republic via intermediaries, said the people. The fuel supplies are crucial to Venezuela, as its limited gasoline inventories get rationed to the military as well as to medical and food suppliers. That leaves most Venezuelans -- accustomed to filling up practically for free -- paying sky-high prices on the black market to get a little gas in their tanks. “What is outrageous and inconceivable is that a country with the largest oil reserves in the world has to receive ‘humanitarian aid’ from Iran,” said Carlos Vecchio, the U.S. envoy for Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, in an interview. He said that Maduro allies are using the gasoline trade to enrich themselves and that those involved in shipments put themselves at risk of sanctions. The U.S. Treasury Department declined to comment. The Iranian Oil Ministry didn’t respond to a request for comment on the matter. PDVSA and Venezuela’s Information Ministry didn’t respond to emails seeking comment. Mahan Air, Iran’s first private airline, launched a 16-hour direct flight to Caracas last year. The latest trips appear to be some of its first to a smaller Venezuelan airport. One plane arrived at the local airport in Falcon state on Wednesday and another touched down Thursday, flight logs tracked by Sweden-based flightradar24.com show. More Mahan jets are expected to arrive in the coming weeks, the people said. The airline has been sanctioned several times by the U.S. Treasury Department, which accuses the carrier of shipping military equipment to Yemen on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Venezuela has faced chronic shortages of gasoline since 2017, when the U.S. escalated financial sanctions on PDVSA, but the situation got worse after additional measures targeting subsidiaries of Russia’s state oil giant Rosneft Oil Co PJSC. Rosneft Trading SA and TNK Trading International SA had been supplying gasoline and gasoline components to PDVSA in exchange for cargoes of crude oil. The two companies halted deals with Venezuela last month.
**With assistance by Lucia Kassai

Iran to launch more military satellites: IRGC commander
Yaghoub Fazeli, Al Arabiya English/Friday 24 April 2020
Iran will be launching more military satellites, a commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Thursday, a day after the country launched its first military satellite. The IRGC said it launched Iran’s first military satellite on Wednesday. It said the satellite, named “Noor,” had reached orbit. The satellite launched on Wednesday is part of a “super project,” IRGC commander Ali Jafarabadi told state TV Thursday evening, adding: “We have larger satellites with higher orbits.”This was Jafarabadi’s first media appearance. He is a commander at the IRGC aerospace force. The satellite was launched from Iran’s Central Desert to the Sea of Oman and its signals were received in the north-western city of Tabriz, he said.

Britain: Iran’s ballistic missile launch “of significant concern”
Reuters/April 24/2020
*A 2015 UN resolution “called upon” Iran to refrain for up to eight years from work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons
*“Reports that Iran has carried out a satellite launch – using ballistic missile technology – are of significant concern and inconsistent with UN Security Council Resolution 2231,” a British Foreign Office spokesman said.
LONDON: Britain said on Friday Iran’s launch of a military satellite using ballistic missile technology this week was “of significant concern” and inconsistent with a United Nations Security Council resolution. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on Wednesday for Iran to be held accountable for the launch, and said he believed it defied the Security Council resolution. A 2015 UN resolution “called upon” Iran to refrain for up to eight years from work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons following an agreement with six world powers to limit its nuclear program.
“Reports that Iran has carried out a satellite launch – using ballistic missile technology – are of significant concern and inconsistent with UN Security Council Resolution 2231,” a British Foreign Office spokesman said. “The UN has called upon Iran not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons. Iran must abide by this.” Tehran denies US assertions that such activity is a cover for ballistic missile development and says it has never pursued the development of nuclear weapons. In a tweet, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif reiterated Iran’s position that its missiles are not “designed” to carry nuclear arms, as required by UN Security Council resolution 2231. “US has been bullying all against UNSC Resolution 2231 since 2017... Neither (Europe or the United States) can lecture Iran based on flimsy misreadings of UNSCR 2231,” Zarif said in the tweet. “Iran neither has nukes nor missiles ‘DESIGNED to be capable of carrying such horrific arms.”Amirali Hajjizadeh, the head of the aerospace division of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, was quoted as saying the force planned to launch a new satellite soon. “The commander (Hajjizadeh) noted that the (Revolutionary Guards) is trying to launch the next satellite into space in the not-too-distant future, saying it will be placed into a higher orbit and have greater efficiency,” the semi-official news agency Tasnim reported. A senior US administration official said on Thursday that a declassified assessment of this week’s launch determined that it was overseen by Hajjizadeh at a site in eastern Iran. The official, ho spoke on condition of anonymity, said Hajjizadeh has also been behind other missile launches. Hajjizadeh has not responded to the official’s remarks.
                                                                                                           
AFP, United Nations/Thursday 23 April 2020
The UN’s special Middle East envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, on Thursday warned Israel not to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, saying such a move would be a “devastating blow” to the internationally backed two-state solution. In a video briefing with the Security Council, which holds a meeting each month on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Mladenov hailed what he called “inspiring examples of cooperation across conflict lines” in the coronavirus battle. But he warned that in the past month, there has also been “continued confrontation and fighting, as the human toll of war continues to rise.” “The dangerous prospect of annexation by Israel of parts of the occupied West Bank is a growing threat,” Mladenov said, warning that such a move would violate international law. The envoy said annexation would also “deal a devastating blow to the two-state solution, close the door to a renewal of negotiations, and threaten efforts to advance regional peace.” A peace plan unveiled earlier this year by US President Donald Trump -- which was rejected by the Palestinians and condemned by much of the international community -- gave Israel the green light to annex Israeli settlements and other strategic territory in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and parliament speaker Benny Gantz struck a power-sharing deal this week, after three inconclusive elections in less than a year. Netanyahu has heralded the Trump plan as a historic opportunity for Israel but Gantz has been more cautious.
Mladenov called on Israeli and Palestinian leaders to “seize this moment to take steps towards peace.”He also urged them to “reject unilateral moves that will only deepen the wedge between the two peoples and undermine the chances for peace.”

Rouhani urges Iran military to ‘remain vigilant’ amid US tensions in the Gulf
Reuters/Friday 24 April 2020
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Friday called on Iran’s armed forces to seek regional stability while maintaining vigilance and a strong presence, state TV reported, as a war of words escalated with arch-enemy the United States. The head of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday that Tehran would destroy US warships if its security is threatened in the Gulf, a day after US President Donald Trump warned Tehran over “harassment” of US vessels. “We must carefully follow strategies ensuring the sustainable stability of the region while maintaining vigilance and authoritative presence in the area,” state TV quoted Rouhani as telling Iran’s defense minister by telephone. Britain said on Friday Iran’s launch of a military satellite using ballistic missile technology this week was “of significant concern” and inconsistent with a United Nations Security Council resolution. A 2015 UN resolution “called upon” Iran to refrain for up to eight years from work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons following an agreement with six world powers to limit its nuclear program.

Pompeo: West Bank annexation plans an ‘Israeli decision’
Ray Hanania/Arab News/April 24/2020
CHICAGO: The Trump administration has no public comment to make about Israel’s plans to push forward with its annexation of the West Bank, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said on Wednesday. After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Benny Gantz on Monday formed a coalition government, following the country’s third election in a year, they announced that the annexation of major parts of the West Bank will begin on July 1.Gantz said this would be subject to American support. However, Pompeo on Wednesday said annexation is an Israeli decision that the US will monitor. “We’re happy … a new government is formed. A fourth election, we think, wouldn’t have been in Israel’s best interest … We think it’s not in the world’s best interest,” he added. “As for the annexation in the West Bank, the Israelis will ultimately make those decisions. That’s an Israeli decision, and we’ll work closely with them to share with them our views of this in a private setting.” Pompeo was speaking at a press conference that began with him wishing Muslims a happy Ramadan, and during which he mentioned the first anniversary of the killing of hundreds Christians in Sri Lanka last Easter, and Israel’s commemoration of the Holocaust. He also revealed that the US is sending $5 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority to help combat coronavirus. He reiterated that the Trump administration had halted other financial aid because of concerns about where the money would end up. “The reason we stopped providing assistance previously was that these resources weren’t getting to the place they needed to (go), to the Palestinian people,” Pompeo said. “We hope that this money, this $5 million, will get where it needs to go to provide real assistance to the Palestinian people, who … are going to need a lot of help as they move through this.” He said the Trump administration will evaluate whether the aid has been used properly and whether there are any additional resources “that are appropriate or can be delivered in a way that actually gets to the Palestinian people.”The administration began to suspend financial aid to the Palestinians in January 2018 when it halted all funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency, which supports Palestinian refugees displaced by Israel’s wars in 1948 and 1967. The following August, US President Donald Trump ordered further cuts of more than $200 million to funding for aid programs in the West Bank and Gaza, saying the money would instead be used to fund projects elsewhere.This was seen by many analysts as an attempt to apply pressure on the Palestinians in an attempt to force them back to the negotiating table with Israel. In February 2019, the US pushed through legislation that would potentially expose Palestinian aid recipients to lawsuits filed by Jews in America over acts of alleged terrorism in the Middle East.As a result, the Palestinians asked that the aid they were still receiving from the US, which was provided by the US Agency for International Development, be suspended to avoid exposure to legal action.

Saudi Arabia coronavirus cases surpass 15,000
The National/April 24/2020
Saudi health authorities announced on Friday six new deaths from the coronavirus and 1,172 cases during the last 24 hours.
Authorities in the kingdom have so far registers 127 deaths from the pandemic and 15,102 cases, the highest death and infection number reported in the GCC. The Health Ministry said that 124 people recovered bringing the number of recoveries to 2,049. The Health Ministry reported that the new cases were discovered after an intensified testing process across the country.

The UAE confirms new cases as Spain shows more new recoveries than infections
The National/April 24/2020
The World Health Organisation on Friday formed a glonal alliance to ensure coronavirus vaccines and treatments are distributed fairly. In an online briefing WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said "the world needs these tools and fast. The past they have not been available to all. That cannot be allowed to happen again." The UAE has announced a further 525 new coronavirus cases, taking the country’s total to 9,281. There was also eight deaths and 123 recoveries over the last 24 hours. Muslims around the world began marking the start of Ramadan with movement restrictions in place. World Health Organisation forms global vaccine and diagnostics alliance
The World Health Organisation has formed an international alliance to ensure that Covid-19 vaccines and treatments are distributed fairly. French President Emmanuel Macron, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are involved in the alliance. “The world needs these tools and it needs them fast,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in an online briefing. “In the past they have not been available to all. That cannot be allowed to happen again. "This is a landmark collaboration to accelerate the development, production and equitable distribution of vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics for Covid-19.
"Our shared commitment is to ensure all people have access to all the tools to defeat Covid-19. The ACT Accelerator brings together the combined power of several organizations to work with speed and scale. Each of us are doing great work, but we cannot work alone. We’re coming together to work in new ways to identify challenges and solutions together." The UAE has announced a further 525 new coronavirus cases, taking the country’s total to 9,281. There was also eight new deaths and 123 new recoveries over the last 24 hours.

Greenblatt: COVID-19 Did What Negotiations Couldn’t Do for Israelis, Palestinians
Tel Aviv, London - Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 24 April, 2020
US President Donald Trump’s former Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt has co-published an article with Palestinian journalist Bishara Bahbah in the Israeli newspaper, Israel Hayom. Under the title “Israelis and Palestinians Work Together Against Coronavirus,” the article stresses that the “pandemic reminds Palestinians and Israelis how intertwined their fate is.”“The border between Israel and what some call the West Bank and others call Judea and Samaria is porous, with tens of thousands of people crossing daily from one side to the other.”It pointed out that the dangers posed to Israelis are the same as those posed to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. “If they are not vigilant, and if they do not fight this virus diligently together, they will both suffer,” both writers noted. According to the article, the response to the pandemic by both Israel and the Palestinian Authority is an indication that Israelis and Palestinians are capable of overcoming some of the seemingly insurmountable impasses that have characterized their relationship over the past decades. Perhaps President Reuven Rivlin expressed it properly when he called PA President Mahmoud Abbas and declared that cooperation between both sides is vital to ensure the health of both Israelis and Palestinians.In return, Abbas offered his full cooperation in the fight against this deadly disease. “Whether this newfound cooperation leads to good-faith negotiations of a comprehensive peace agreement remains to be seen,” the article read, adding that no one can predict what will happen when life returns to whatever the new normal will be when the immediate danger of the pandemic passes. “It is our hope that the lessons learned from this pandemic and the spirit of respect and cooperation will continue, so that movement toward a peace agreement can be built on similar goodwill, respect and cooperation.”It is time for a new Israeli-Palestinian dynamic. It is time for a new future for Israelis and Palestinians and the region around them, the article concluded.

Coronavirus Pandemic, Inflation Compound Syrians’ Suffering
Damascus - Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 24 April, 2020
Naima, 52, who cleans houses in Damascus to make a living, laments losing her job because of the measures taken to fight the pandemic. She usually starts planning for Ramadan three months in advance, stocking food, preservable vegetables, macaroni, groats, greens, and peas.
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, she says this year she couldn't do this as she has not been working since quarantine measures were announced banning public transportation since March 22. Naima says she cannot bear the costs of private transportation that would amount to a third of her daily wage of 6,000 Syrian pounds. “I don’t know if I will be able to fast this year," she says. Naima is one of thousands of the Syrian women widowed by the war and forced to become breadwinners. During the war, she fasted Ramadan even while living under siege, but these restrictions seem even more difficult as there is no work or aid and prices are swelling. "If a kilo of onions costs 1,000 pounds, what are we going to eat to break our fast?" she wonders. Damascene merchants expect further increases in the prices of some basic imported items like sugar and rice, which may increase up to 30 percent as demand grows on these materials during Ramadan. However, Hassan Azkoul, a member of the board of directors of the Damascus Chamber of Commerce, predicts the opposite: “The prices of basic consumer goods have now peaked because of the coronavirus crisis, so they will not increase during Ramadan”, as reported by the Al-Watan newspaper. Naima, who spoke about the rising prices of onions, garlic and a few vegetables, did not mention the price of meat, especially red meat, which most Syrians have replaced with chicken. Their prices are expected to keep rising as the costs of producing them and smuggling them out of the county continue to rise. The price of a kilo of chicken soared to 3,000 pounds from 2,000 pounds at the beginning of the month, the price of veal went from 5,000 pounds to 9,000 pounds, while the price of sheep meat jumped from 8,000 pounds to 12,000 pounds; thus, many items have become too expensive for Syrians to buy, as the average salary is no more than 60,000 pounds in the public sector.
The government in Damascus is trying to control prices this Ramadan, by taking vegetables and fruits directly from farms and selling them at cost price, in addition to increasing imports of basic items that it sells at subsidized prices via the smart card.
Abo Khodor, a vegetable merchant at the Damascus Central Market, tells Asharq Al-Awsat that the prices of fruits and vegetables in the capital are 50 percent higher than they are in other provinces because of the increased transportation costs and that he expects demand for fruits and vegetables this Ramadan to be lower than it was last year because of the lack of liquidity as people have stopped working. He adds: “The exacerbation of poverty and the fears over the virus will force the majority to spend austerely”.
It seems that austerity will not be limited to the poor who make up more than 83 percent of the Syrian population and may be imposed on the well-off minority, as a Damascene engineer who has a good salary says. Explaining that “the quarantine measures will lead to canceling many Ramadan festivities, there will be no big family gatherings for Iftar on the first few days of fasting, and families won't also dine in restaurants. The engineer says that the rituals of Ramadan were a source of relief from war suffering for Syrians, it was an escape from the crises of power outages to shortages of water and gas and many other basic goods and utilities. “But this year we will miss this breathing space due to quarantine measures that have compounds psychological pressure, starting with fears of the spread of coronavirus and obsessions with sterilization and in addition to family tensions."

German Court Tries ISIS Militant over Yazidi Genocide
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 24 April, 2020
An Iraqi man believed to have belonged to ISIS went on trial in Germany on Friday accused of genocide and murdering a child belonging to the Yazidi minority who he held as a slave. Taha al-Jumailly, 27, also stands accused of crimes against humanity, war crimes and human trafficking in the case which is being heard before judges in Frankfurt, Agence France Presse reported. Wearing a white shirt in court, he gave no initial response after being formally advised of the charges against him, AFP said. Jumailly's wife, a German woman named Jennifer Wenisch, has been on trial for a year at a Munich court.
She too is charged with murdering the young Yazidi girl who the pair are believed to have allowed to die of thirst in the Iraqi city of Fallujah in 2015. The start of Wenisch's trial in April last year appeared to be the first formal proceeding anywhere in the world related to ISIS’ persecution of the Yazidi community.The mother of the young girl, identified only by her first name Nora, has repeatedly testified in Munich about the torment visited on her child, named as Rania. Court documents allege that Jumailly joined ISIS in March 2013, holding different positions within its hierarchy in the Syrian city of Raqqa, as well as in Iraq and Turkey. German prosecutors say the accused bought a woman belonging to the Yazidi minority and her five-year-old daughter as slaves at the end of May or beginning of June 2015. He then took them to Fallujah, where they were seriously maltreated and at times deprived of food, the prosecutors allege. "Both were regularly beaten. The woman has suffered pain in her shoulder ever since. The child once had to stay in bed for four days after being beaten,” chief prosecutor Anna Zadeck said Friday. In the summer of 2015, after a string of such abuses, the young girl was chained by Jumailly to the window of a house where she lived with her mother, as "punishment" for having wet the bed, prosecutors said. She died of thirst in temperatures as high as 50 degrees Celsius. The couple also forced her mother to walk barefoot on the scorching ground outside, inflicting severe burns, the prosecution claims. Mother and daughter had been kidnapped in the summer of 2014 after ISIS invaded the Sinjar region of Iraq. They were repeatedly sold on "slave markets", prosecutors say. The Frankfurt case is expected to last until at least August, and is being heard under tight police guard. Jumailly was arrested in Greece in May 2019, before being extradited to Germany in October, where he has since been held in pre-trial custody. Both Lebanese-British lawyer Amal Clooney and Yazidi activist Nadia Murad -- herself a survivor of ISIS sexual slavery and a 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner -- have represented the mother of the young girl at Wenisch's trial.

Arab Coalition Extends Yemen Ceasefire by One Month
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 24 April, 2020
The Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen announced on Friday that it was extending a unilateral ceasefire in the country by one month. The announcement was made by Arab Coalition spokesman Col. Turki al-Malki and carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency. The two-week ceasefire in Yemen announced by the Coalition expired on Thursday. It had gone into effect on April 9 to support the UN-led peace process and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ call for a ceasefire. The move aims to facilitate talks sponsored by UN special envoy Martin Griffiths for a permanent ceasefire, and to confront the coronavirus outbreak during the holy month of Ramadan, Malki said Friday. He reiterated his call for exerting all efforts to reach a permanent ceasefire in Yemen and agree on “serious and tangible” steps to alleviate the suffering of the Yemeni people.

Government Formation of Iraq’s Kadhimi Excludes Security Portfolios
Baghdad - Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 24 April, 2020
Four forged ministerial lists were circulated and were said to represent the composition of Iraqi Prime Minister designate Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s government, yet it was reported that the fifth list that has been circulating for the past two days is the legitimate one. The list which includes 14 ministers could be passed by the parliament, while the rest of the portfolios are to be discussed between Kadhimi and the political blocs that represent the three main components in the country (Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds).The PM-designate has not yet named figures who would head the defense and security portfolios.
Reasons behind this postponement vary. Some say differences over the interior and defense portfolios are limited between Sunnis and Shiites, while others suggest that Kadhimi wants to nominate both ministers himself without resorting to blocs or components. This approach, however, raises doubts among parties close to Iranian-backed militias who fear Kadhimi would take strict measures against them on weapons control, which could also strips Sunni and Shiite blocs from their influence in the security and military institutions. Many political blocs, especially Shiites, were quick to disavow the leaked names, which sources claimed that Kadhimi has presented during his meeting with the key Shiite leaders. Iraq's three Shiite blocs Hikma, Sairoon, and the State of Law have affirmed that they didn’t propose any of the figures included in the PM-designate’s lists.The proposed composition includes several new figures, including Harith Hassan for foreign affairs, Hisham Daoud for culture, Mohammed Shiaa al-Sudani for agriculture, Khalid Battal for planning, Nizar Qahtan for electricity, Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulum for higher education, Jabbar Laibi for oil, Maher Hammad for trade, and Kadhim al-Sahlani for transportation, among others.
A well-informed political source told Asharq Al-Awsat that “some of the figures included in the new government formation are true,” adding that “changes in names might take place because they are still in the negotiation phase.”
Astana Guarantors Prepare for Virtual Trilateral Summit

Syrian regime representatives and opposition delegates along with other
Moscow - Raed Jaber/Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 24 April, 2020
The foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey and Tehran have agreed to hold a virtual summit of the guarantors of the Astana process to discuss upcoming steps in Syria and the work of the constitutional committee, which is on hold over the COVID-19 outbreak.
During a video conference, the three ministers agreed to re-launch the joint work for a trilateral summit, which was scheduled in Tehran last March. The event was postponed due to the pandemic, although it is still on the agenda. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that work on preparations for the Russian-Turkish-Iranian summit on a Syrian settlement is in progress, while its date is yet to be agreed on. Sources told the Nezavisimaya Gazeta that the three countries expressed a desire not to hold a teleconference, but to meet in Tehran as planned. However, Russian circles believe that steps were taken to urgently hold the meeting given the possibility of a prolonged wait for containing the virus. During their teleconference, the Russian, Iranian and Turkish ministers reviewed the developments in Syria’s Idlib province where a ceasefire has been holding since early March as a result of the Ankara-Moscow deal. The Astana partners expressed their satisfaction with the reduced tensions in Idlib thanks to the Additional Protocol of March 5 to the Memorandum on Stabilization of the Situation in the Idlib De-escalation Area.
They also discussed developments on the ground, particularly in Idlib and east of the Euphrates, the political process, humanitarian situation and the return of refugees. The parties stressed the importance of furthering the political process in line with UN Security Council Resolution 2254 and expressed their desire that the third round of the Constitutional Committee meetings could be held the earliest possible. The Astana partners also agreed on the importance of increasing coordinated international efforts in light of the spread of the coronavirus in Syria. Separately, the Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel held a telephone conversation on Wednesday discussing the developments in Syria.

Aboul Gheit Condemns US Statements on Annexation of West Bank
Ramallah - Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 24 April, 2020
Arab League (AL) Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit has condemned US statements which considered the annexation of occupied lands in the West Bank an Israeli decision.
He said these statements acknowledge and legitimize the occupation in violation of the principles of the international law that do not allow seizing lands by force. Earlier, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said it was an Israeli decision whether to annex parts of the West Bank, confirming that the Washington will inform the new Israeli government about its stance over the issue. “As for the annexation of the West Bank, the Israelis will ultimately make those decisions,” Pompeo told reporters. “That’s an Israeli decision. And we will work closely with them to share with them our views of this in (a) private setting.”An official source at the AL General Secretariat has quoted Aboul Gheit as saying that the new Israeli government’s approaches threaten to ignite regional tension. He stressed that the occupation authority is taking advantage of the global preoccupation with facing the coronavirus pandemic to impose a new reality on ground.
Aboul Gheit also called on the international community to shoulder its responsibilities and send a clear message to the new Israeli government on the seriousness of its plans and their consequences that would affect regional security and stability. According to the source, Aboul Gheit sent letters to the UN Secretary-General, foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the Security Council, Germany and the High Representative for the EU foreign affairs, during which he warned of the dangers of Israel’s policies.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian state on Thursday called on the AL General Secretariat to hold an emergency virtual meeting at the level of foreign ministers, to discuss measures that should be taken against the annexation plans. In a statement, the Permanent Delegation of Palestine to the Arab League has requested a meeting to discuss Pompeo’s statements, which encourage the far-right government in Israel to persist in its aggressive policy of confiscating more Palestinian lands and building settlements.
Palestine's permanent representative to the Arab League Diab al-Louh said the implementation of Israel’s plot contradicts with the relevant international legitimacy resolutions and the Fourth Geneva Convention, violates the international law and disregards international peace references.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 24-25/2020
Coronavirus: More Palestinian Libels Against Israel
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/April 24, 2020
By talking falsely about sick workers being smuggled through water drainage systems and Jews walking around and spitting, the Palestinian leadership is seeking to create the impression that Palestinians are under attack and must therefore defend themselves -- by launching violent attacks against Israelis on the pretext of attempting to stop them from spreading a deadly disease.
The international community, meanwhile, appears blithely unperturbed about the Palestinian leadership's continued libels against Israel and their continuing incitement to murder.
The indifference of the international community does not bode well for any future talk of peace or coexistence between Israel and the Palestinians. After all, why would any Palestinian want to make peace or live next to a Jew who, according to Palestinian leaders, is spreading a deadly disease and professedly trying to kill him?
The fabricated stories spread about sick workers being smuggled through water drainage systems and Jews walking around and spitting are part of a new Palestinian campaign of incitement against Israel, using as a pretext the outbreak of coronavirus. The campaign's main message: Israel (or, to be more accurate, Jews) is deliberately spreading coronavirus among Palestinians. Pictured: An employee at the Palestinian Authority ministry of health sprays disinfectant on workers returning from Israel through the Tarqumiah crossing near Hebron, on April 6, 2020.
The heavy downpour of rain last week prompted the Israeli authorities to open some water drainage systems in the West Bank to avoid flooding Palestinian-owned agricultural lands. Israel, in other words, wanted to prevent damage to Palestinian farmers, whose crops would have been destroyed in the flooding.
Some Palestinian officials, however, have exploited the Israeli move to claim , falsely, that this was one of Israel's methods to spread the coronavirus among Palestinians.
What is the connection between the water drainage systems and the coronavirus?
According to the Palestinian officials, Israel opened the drainage systems to allow Palestinian workers (in Israel) to "infiltrate" back to their homes without having to undergo tests for the virus and be placed under quarantine by the Palestinian Authority. (The PA assumes that most of these workers contracted the disease after coming into contact with Israelis.)
"Israel opened the water systems to facilitate the movement of the workers," said Osama Qawassmeh, a spokesperson for the Palestinian ruling Fatah faction. "Our people are fighting two epidemics: coronavirus and Israeli colonialism."
The PA recently announced that all Palestinian workers in Israel who wish to return to their homes must undergo tests for coronavirus and place themselves in quarantine for 14 days. Israel has allowed tens of thousands of Palestinians to work in various sectors, particularly construction and agriculture.
On the eve of the Jewish Passover Holiday early this month, thousands of Palestinian workers began returning to their homes. Some of these workers, however, sought to avoid Palestinian checkpoints to avoid being forced into a two-week quarantine. Those workers chose to return to their homes by hiding in the trunks of vehicles or walking through fields to avoid Palestinian checkpoints manned by health and security officials.
The false claim about the water drainage systems is part of a new Palestinian campaign of incitement against Israel, using as a pretext the outbreak of the coronavirus. The Palestinian campaign's main message: Israel (or, to be more accurate, Jews) is deliberately spreading coronavirus among Palestinians.
Why would Israel do such a thing? The Palestinian officials claim it is because Israel wants these workers to spread the disease in Palestinian cities and villages.
Israeli officials vehemently denied the charge as a new libel, lie and fabrication. If Israel had facilitated their return to their homes through water drainage systems because the Palestinian workers supposedly carry the virus, wouldn't Israel be afraid that when they returned to their jobs in Israel, they would bring the disease back with them and transmit the disease to Israelis?
These workers already have permits to return to their workplaces in Israel. If they are infected with the virus, why would Israel not just revoke their permits and ban them from coming back?
Moreover, if these workers were allowed to return to their homes in West Bank as part of an Israeli scheme to "spread the disease," wouldn't the hundreds of thousands of Jews living near Palestinian villages and cities also get infected? What about the thousands of Israeli soldiers and policemen stationed there? Wouldn't Israel be worried that the Palestinian workers could also transmit the virus to them?
Even at this moment of global crisis, the Palestinian leadership does not wish to be "confused with the facts" -- especially when these facts contradict the particular narrative the Palestinians are seeking to market to the world.
The fabrication about Israel allowing infected workers to crawl back to their homes through water drainage systems came after yet another false charge: that Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers were going around spitting in public places in Palestinian cities and villages to spread the coronavirus among Palestinians.
The false story about the purported spitting, like the one about the water drainage systems, was echoed by senior Palestinian officials, including Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh and his spokesman, Ibrahim Milhem. Needless to say, the Palestinians have yet to provide any proof of these allegations, which come at a time when Israel and the PA are working together to curb the spread of the virus.
One might have hoped that the Israeli-Palestinian cooperation against the coronavirus would usher in the beginning of a new era in relations between the two sides.
One might have hoped that this cooperation and Israel's assistance to the Palestinians would have had a moderating effect on the Palestinians, especially their leaders, who have long been engaged in vitriolic anti-Israel rhetoric. Sadly, it seems that even the joint war on the pandemic has not changed the hearts and minds of most of the Palestinians' leaders.
"Israel is not only exporting the virus to the Palestinians," a defiant PA government spokesman, Ibrahim Milhem, told reporters this week, "but it is an agent of this epidemic, which is called the occupation."
By repeating such allegations every day, Palestinian leaders are not only libeling Israelis and Jews, they are also seriously endangering the lives of Israelis and Jews by depicting them as responsible for spreading the deadly virus. This is the kind of talk that prompts a Palestinian to go out and murder the first Jew he meets. By talking falsely about sick workers being smuggled through water drainage systems and Jews walking around and spitting, the Palestinian leadership is seeking to create the impression that Palestinians are under attack and must therefore defend themselves -- by launching violent attacks against Israelis on the pretext of attempting to stop them from spreading a deadly disease.
The lies spread about Israel will undoubtedly pave the way for more violent attacks against Jews. The next time a Palestinian goes out to kill a Jew, he or she will say: "I had to do that in order to prevent these evil Jews from spreading coronavirus among my people. My own leaders told me that Jews are spreading the virus."The international community, meanwhile, appears blithely unperturbed about the Palestinian leadership's continued libels against Israel and their continuing incitement to murder.
"Make no mistake about it: the belief that Jews or Israel is responsible for the coronavirus is a deadly serious threat," warned Dr. Harold Brackman, senior consultant for the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
The indifference of the international community does not bode well for any future talk of peace or coexistence between Israel and the Palestinians. After all, why would any Palestinian want to make peace or live next to a Jew who, according to Palestinian leaders, is spreading a deadly disease and professedly trying to kill him?
*Khaled Abu Toameh, an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem, is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
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Returning from Space to a Different Planet
Elias Harfoush/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 24/2020
What would the earth look like from above right now, from a spaceship or another planet, for example, those planets that humans have reached or flown in their orbits? How would the empty city streets look like? And the empty tourist sites? The silent buildings crowded together as if their tenants had built them a long time ago to live in and have now turned into dens for them to hide inside out of fear of the unknown roaming in their neighborhoods?
These questions occurred to me while I was reading the news of the International Space Station’s return to Baikonur in South Kazakhstan last Friday morning. The astronauts unboarded the ship to find everything on earth had changed. No hugs. No handshakes. Human bodies standing at a distance from one another with their mouths and noses covered with masks. A scene that the three astronauts had not seen when they had left on their ship six months ago. Life was normal back then, and health precautions were normally taken to protect those leaving earth to explore other planets and not those on earth. Now things are reversed, precautions that are taken on earth are much harsher than those undertaken by astronauts inside their ships, where there is neither a need nor capacity for social distancing and where precautions are limited to a specified and known period.
The three astronauts, two Americans, Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir, and a Russian, Oleg Skripochka, were surprised to see the technical team at the station on earth where they had landed hiding their faces behind masks and wearing gloves. The medical team that was assigned to take care of the astronauts and to rehabilitate them for life on earth, was forced to quarantine and undergo medical monitoring for an entire month to ensure that they were free of COVID-19, the stage name of the famous pandemic. This scene was reversed in the past: those going to space were the ones who needed precautions, isolation and hand sanitizing. Earth before coronavirus was fit for human interactions while space was the unknown world that we needed to take precautions against. Understandably then, Jessica Meir noted that returning to earth as it is now was difficult. Drawing from her experience, she advised people living in quarantine to find ways to spend their time with the least harm possible: working out daily, being nice to people around you and trying to fill up time with hobbies that you love.
Jessica said: “It looks like we’re coming back to a different planet. We were the only three people that did not have to undergo the precautionary measures and isolation that were imposed on billions of people today.”
The harshness of the situation that people on earth are living through and that are open to the unknown makes leaving to space in a spaceship sound like a dream. Of course, earth has been struck by pandemics and disasters before, and after it took the lives of millions around the world, humanity was able to overcome them. However, for some reason, we believed that the scientific advancements that we are living through in our era would save us from imminent dangers like coronavirus, or at least, provide a roadmap to see the end of this nightmare.
On the contrary, the more opinions we see on the screens, from scientists, experts and physicians, the more anxiety we have before the painful sentence being repeated: “We are doing our best to find a vaccine or treatment, but do not expect a magic solution or a near end. The problem will go on for a while, and we are facing a dangerous pandemic that humanity has never witnessed before.”
You turn off the screen after hearing this agonizing warning and go to bed. You dream of the days where you used to plan to wake up in the morning and go to work, avoiding traffic, finding a table in a restaurant to meet with your friends or family, a seat at a music club, or to plan a trip to a city you’ve never been to before. All of this is now part of the past.
The only activities we can engage in today are inside the narrow rooms of our houses or on nearby streets, where we walk like guilty thieves sneaking around to avoid being seen or being near others.
On the ship that was launched to space from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, after the three astronauts’ ship had landed, there was an American space scientist named Chris Cassidy, who said: “I cannot hide how happy I am to have this chance to leave earth during these difficult times that I have never witnessed before”.Cassidy and his two Russian colleagues will spend six months in their spaceship. They will be asking themselves the same question that we’re all asking: Will our planet have succeeded in defeating the virus by then, or will it still be fighting to control it?

Have the Prices of Oil Collapsed?
Salman Al-Dossary/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 24/2020
Our generation is destined to witness unprecedented historic developments. The world had not yet recovered from the coronavirus crisis and its impact on human interactions and behavior, before it was confronted with a historic drop in oil prices. For the first time ever, the prices plummeted below zero and entered what is called negative pricing after some contracts were priced at -37 dollars. Tankers loaded with oil barrels are now stranded at sea and have not moved in days.
The world was reminded that the chaos in the global oil markets is caused primarily by the drop in demand on crude oil after services and industries throughout the world have come to a standstill over the coronavirus. This has led to a 30 percent drop in demand in just a few weeks. Hundreds of millions of people are not leaving their homes for work, tens of thousands of factories have stopped production, people are rarely using their cars and travel by planes and trains has virtually come to a halt. After all this, have the prices of oil really collapsed and has the black gold become a thing of the past?
The observer does not need to be a genius to realize that the chaos in the global oil market is caused by the coronavirus crisis. This will not mark the end of oil, because the world cannot live without it. It does not take a genius to also realize that the drop in prices will be short-lived and that it will be connected to containing the coronavirus. True, no one can predict when it will be contained and it is also true that the gradual revival of the world economy will continue to result in increased supply and less demand. This is all a matter of time, even if it will be a long time.
I believe there are four main reasons that will help oil retain its label as black gold: first, the low prices will encourage great consumption and immediately raise strong demand. These are economics basics and do not need a miracle to happen. Second, any oil field in the world has estimated reserves and their production will gradually drop, which will eventually turn oil into depleted goods. Third, for the first time in 30 years, an American president has supported the rise in the price of oil in order to transform the US from a consumer to a producer that creates job opportunities for millions of people. Fourth, in light of the drop in prices, governments and oil companies will refrain from investing in new oil fields or even expanding and maintaining existing projects. Who will possibly invest in a sector that does not yield desired profits? This will lead to several efforts by exporters to strike a balance in the market.
The question remains over the world’s greatest oil exporter: Will it be severely harmed, as it is being claimed? Saudi Arabia will definitely suffer, just as other exporters are, but we should not overlook the vast foreign currency reserves it boasts. We should also take into account is low public debt compared to its GDP. The Public Investment Fund is also using the current crisis in the best possible way by seizing investments at low prices.
This all allows Saudi Arabia to stand on solid ground in withstanding the record drop in prices. Moreover, with such low prices, it will not struggle in meeting the global demand in the near future.
Some firm facts cannot suddenly be eliminated by tensions in the global economy.
Ultimately, those expecting the shock from the price collapse to last forever are ignoring that the world will eventually witness another shock, this time in the opposite direction, when oil prices will skyrocket. The world too cannot support such a rise, neither can it support the persistence of the current drop.

Don't Worry About China Taking Over the World
Nisid Hajari/Bloomberg/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 24/2020
Among the many threats posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, Washington’s national-security hawks have fixated on one: China, they warn, is exploiting the crisis to further its goal of replacing the US as the globe’s preeminent leader. But what should be even more worrying than a China that’s aspiring to global leadership is a China that isn’t.
And so far, the signs point more to the latter.
Take China’s reaction to US President Donald Trump’s decision this week to suspend funding for the World Health Organization for 60 days. The move was ostensibly driven by Beijing’s suborning of WHO officials, who took at face value many of China’s initially misleading statements about the spread of the new coronavirus. China piously joined others in condemning the US decision, warning about the consequences for poorer nations struggling to cope with the pandemic.
Yet China could easily fill in the funding gap if it wished. While even US officials don’t seem clear how much money is going to be withheld from the WHO, Washington has committed $893 million to the agency over its current two-year funding cycle, or roughly $37 million per month. China’s contributions are less than one-tenth that. Making up a two-month US shortfall would be an easy way for China to score points among developing countries—and far cheaper than increasing its regular contributions to levels comparable to those of Europe or Japan.
If China wanted to do more than engage in PR stunts, too, there’s no shortage of areas where it could demonstrate true leadership. It’s sought to win goodwill (and distract from its early mishandling of the crisis) by selling or donating masks, ventilators and other medical supplies to more than 100 countries. A few aid flights, however, aren’t going to solve a growing problem: Developing nations face huge hurdles to procuring critical supplies—from personal protective equipment (PPE), to ventilators to testing swabs and reagents—as richer countries outbid them.
Some public-health experts recommend creating a new vehicle, coordinated through the G-20 or the United Nations Secretary-General if not the WHO, that ropes in rich and poor countries, major manufacturers and donor organizations such as the Gates Foundation, to mobilize production and allocate PPE and testing supplies globally, based on agreed criteria. The same system might later be used to distribute therapeutic drugs and, once they’re approved, vaccines. China, whose factories churn out many of these supplies, would seem well-positioned to lead such an effort.
Similarly, as one of Africa’s top creditors, China should arguably be at the forefront of negotiations to offer debt relief to the neediest countries so they can free up resources to confront the coronavirus. Instead, while joining other major creditors in a $20 billion debt moratorium for poor nations, China has promised only “to study the possibility” of a wider relief package “jointly with the international community,” and to engage in bilateral discussions with debtor nations where appropriate.
Countless other challenges would benefit from better international coordination—from lowering barriers to trade in medical supplies to establishing new travel and trade guidelines as countries begin to lift their lockdowns. Indeed, if China aspired to true global leadership, it might even agree to a UN expert investigation into how the initial Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan transpired. More than anything else, that step would rebuild China’s credibility in countries in Europe and elsewhere that will otherwise never believe what Beijing has to say about its handling of the virus, no matter how many free masks it offers or how many times it revises its death tolls.
Of course, Chinese leaders wouldn’t dream of allowing such an inquiry, for the same reason they likely won’t seek a greater role on other issues. They would never risk an investigation that might raise questions about their management of the crisis or responsibility for the virus’s origins. Nor, given the shocking slowdown in the Chinese economy and rising xenophobia at home, do they have much incentive to offer financial aid abroad instead of to their own citizens. Whether successful or not, their efforts to recast China as a global benefactor in this crisis have at least come cheap.
In some respects, we should surely be grateful that China isn’t demonstrating greater ambition, given how malign its influence over international institutions has sometimes been. But that failure of statesmanship nevertheless leaves the world even more unmoored at a moment of profound crisis. Ironically enough, this drift will hurt China as much as anyone. The country is already seeing a spike in new imported virus cases, a trend that will continue if the virus spreads unchecked around the world. And the longer China’s trading partners remain in lockdown, the harder it’ll be to revive growth and employment.
For the Trump administration, fighting Beijing’s global propaganda campaigns makes sense on several levels, not least as a base-stoker for Trump’s re-election. But the US would hardly need to worry about China exploiting this crisis if it simply filled the need for global leadership itself, building consensus for action within the G-7 and G-20, and resuming support for key multilateral institutions, including the WHO. Such an effort would surely be welcomed even now, and even by China, given how difficult any coordinated action is without American buy-in. But sadly, and bizarrely, the US appears to have even less interest than China in playing such a role.

Hit by coronavirus, Iran should beware of Donald Trump's threats
Con Coughlin/The National/April 24/2020
The regime in Tehran is in the midst of a major crisis, one where provoking a fresh confrontation with the US is not going to help its chances of survival.
US President Donald Trump’s warning to the Iranian government that he has ordered the US Navy to destroy any of its gunboats caught harassing American warships comes at a time when the regime in Tehran is facing arguably its greatest crisis since the 1979 revolution.
Mr Trump’s threat intensifies the pressure on Iran when it is already struggling to contend with a number of major challenges, from the coronavirus pandemic to the collapse of the economy.
Now the regime finds itself facing the prospect of a fresh military confrontation with the US following Mr Trump’s warning, which came after accusations that Iranian gunboats have been harassing American warships in the Gulf. Mr Trump’s latest threat, which is said to have taken senior US military commanders by surprise, was made in a tweet and came after Iran had announced the successful launch of a military satellite.
“I have instructed the United States navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea,” Mr Trump wrote.
The President’s warning follows a series of incidents in the Gulf this month where gunboats operated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have been accused of conducting operations against shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. In one incident, they mistakenly seized a Chinese tanker, a deeply embarrassing move as China is one of the few countries still prepared to trade with Tehran.
The US Naval Forces Central Command also reported that Iranian vessels had, on April 15, “repeatedly conducted dangerous and harassing approaches” while American warships were conducting standard training exercises in the area.
It has become a familiar ploy for the Iranian regime, when confronted with a domestic crisis, to attempt to deflect attention away from its domestic troubles by seeking to increase international tensions.
And the recent escalation follows a pattern of hostile activity undertaken by the IRGC that dates back to last summer, when hardliners in Tehran sought to respond to the impact of US sanctions on the Iranian economy by seeking to disrupt and intimidate Gulf shipping.
There has been a noticeable decline in Iranian activity in the region following its disastrous confrontation with the US at the start of the year, when an attack by an Iranian-sponsored militia in Iraq resulted in Mr Trump authorising the assassination of Qassem Suleimani, the head of the IRGC’s Quds Force and one of the regime’s leading hardliners. Iran’s attempts to retaliate resulted in the shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger jet over Tehran with the loss of all 176 people on board.
The latest attempt to escalate tensions in the Gulf is therefore fraught with risk, not least because Mr Trump has already proved, with Suleimani’s killing, that he is perfectly willing to act on his threats of military action.
And Iran, while it might regard this week’s successful satellite launch as a demonstration of its mounting military prowess, is currently in no position to initiate a fresh confrontation with Washington.
For all Tehran’s bluster that it can withstand the economic impact of American sanctions, the fact that the regime has applied to the IMF for a £5 billion emergency aid package – the first time the Islamic Republic has made such a move since 1979 – suggests the government is facing a dire economic predicament.
With inflation running at around 35 per cent and the country experiencing mass unemployment, the government is facing mounting anger from ordinary Iranians over its handling of the economy. Moreover, it now faces further economic hardship following this week’s dramatic collapse in the global oil market, which at one point saw prices enter negative territory for the first time in history.
Prior to this week’s dramatic events, Iran's oil sector had already seen exports decline from their pre-sanctions level of two million barrels a day to around 300,000 – a decline of more than 80 per cent. In order to meet the government’s 2020 budget requirements, the IMF estimates Iran needs oil prices to reach the unlikely figure of $195 a barrel, whereas, in the wake of the recent turbulence in the oil markets, prices are hovering around the $19 a barrel mark.
President Hassan Rouhani has tried to put a brave face on Iran’s predicament, claiming that his country would not be as badly affected by the price collapse because it was less reliant on oil exports than other countries.
The reality, though, is that the economy is in a tailspin, one that is only likely to intensify following this week’s developments, and will only increase public disapproval with the government’s performance.
Then there is the criticism the regime has faced over its handling of the pandemic, where the authorities have recorded nearly 90,000 cases of Covid-19 and more than 5,000 deaths, making Iran the worst-affected country in the Middle East.
Claims that the government has deliberately tried to conceal the true extent of the outbreak have added to Tehran’s woes, especially after satellite images appeared to show the authorities preparing mass graves at a cemetery on the outskirts of the holy city of Qom. Further concerns that Tehran was trying to cover up its mishandling of the pandemic have been raised by Michelle Bachelet, the United Nation’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, who has warned that Tehran could be accelerating the execution of prisoners who took part in protests over fears that the coronavirus was spreading through crowded and unsanitary prisons.
Whether this is true or not, the fact remains that the Iranian government is in the midst of a major crisis, one where provoking a fresh confrontation with the US is not going to help its chances of survival.
**Con Coughlin is the Telegraph’s defence and foreign affairs editor

Washington Uses Sanctions and Indictments Inconsistently When Combating Malicious Cyber Activity
Trevor Logan/Pavak Patel/FDD/April 24/2020
Over the past decade, the United States has relied heavily on sanctions and indictments to combat malicious cyber activity that originated in China, Russia, North Korea, or Iran. An analysis (see “Data Visualization,” above) of the frequency with which the United States has employed sanctions and indictments, however, reveals inconsistencies in their application against these four adversaries. This uneven approach may lessen Washington’s ability to deter hostile cyber actors who do not face consistent consequences for their behavior.
Since 2013, the United States has issued cyber-related sanctions or indictments against more than 190 individuals and entities. The Treasury Department has used a range of authorities, including but not limited to the cyber executive order of April 1, 2015, the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (which mainly targets Russian actors associated with interference in the 2016 presidential election), and specific regional executive orders, such as those targeting the government of North Korea and entities that use technology to violate the human rights of the Iranian people. Justice Department indictments against malicious cyber actors generally focus on the alleged use of “fraud and related activity in connection with computers,” and/or on “conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud the United States.”
An analysis of the data reveals that the Trump administration has employed these tools more aggressively than its predecessor has. Between 2013 and 2016, the Obama administration issued 28 indictments and five sanctions against malicious actors from Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. In contrast, between 2017 and 2020, the Trump administration significantly increased the number of indictments and sanctions to 106 and 110, respectively.
There also appear to be discrepancies in the frequency with which the United States uses these tools against actors from different foreign countries. For example, cyber actors working on behalf of the North Korean regime are often considered more innovative and capable than their Iranian counterparts; North Korean operations, including Wannacry and the Bangladesh bank heist, far outweigh Iran’s largest attacks, known as Shamoon and Shamoon 2, in terms of sophistication and impact. Yet the six sanctions and indictments levied against actors from the DPRK pale in comparison to the 30 such actions targeting actors from Iran. This difference may reflect a matter of policy, or it may simply reflect the fact that there are fewer North Korean individuals to target, because North Korean operatives are primarily working as part of Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups, such as the Lazarus group. In contrast, Iranian operatives tend to be semi-professional actors who may not have allegiance to one particular APT group. While it is difficult to ascertain the exact cause for the numerical differences between the sanctions and indictments levied against the two groups, the numbers do point to greater room for collaboration between Treasury and the Justice Department.
The greatest disparity in Washington’s use of sanctions and indictments against different adversaries is the infrequency with which the United States employs sanctions to combat Chinese hackers. By the numbers, Washington has sanctioned the majority of Iranian, North Korean, and Russian individuals and entities indicted for cyber-related crimes. In contrast, the Treasury Department has used sanctions against only two Chinese actors, who allegedly engaged in money laundering for the Lazarus Group. In short, while the Justice Department has accused 38 Chinese individuals and entities of conducting cyber-enabled economic and political espionage against the U.S. government and private companies, 36 of these operatives have escaped financial sanctions.
This discrepancy does not reflect a lack of authorities to punish Chinese cyber-enabled economic warfare. The April 2015 cyber executive order authorizes the Treasury Department to issue sanctions to disrupt the operations of entities engaged in “the receipt or use for commercial or competitive advantage … of trade secrets [of U.S. companies] misappropriated through cyber-enabled means.” Instead, it may indicate that the United States is reluctant to issue sanctions against malicious Chinese actors due to the fear of escalation or economic retaliation against American companies. In contrast, the relative weakness of the Iranian, North Korean, and Russian economies means that Washington can act more freely without fear of blowback.
Sanctioning all indicted cyber operatives is unlikely to end malicious activities from these nation-states. However, by constraining access to financial resources and changing the aggressor’s cost/benefit dynamics, sanctions likely would help establish a stronger deterrence posture. Published last month, the final report from the congressionally mandated Cyberspace Solarium Commission advocates a strategy of “layered deterrence,” which entails a whole-of-government effort to mobilize all available instruments of state power. The Solarium report acknowledges that a layered deterrence strategy “will not eliminate state-sponsored cyber operations or cybercrime, but consistently enforced consequences and rewards can begin to erode the incentives for bad behavior.”
An enforcement regime applied consistently to all foreign actors would signal to adversaries what the United States considers acceptable behavior in cyberspace. Without a clear deterrent from the United States, foreign hackers likely will continue to feel emboldened as they attack the United States while enjoying safe harbor in their home countries. Until Washington develops a coordinated response to such threats, the U.S. economy, along with America’s national security and international footing, will continue to suffer.
**Trevor Logan is a cyber research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where Pavak Patel is an intern. They both contribute to FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation (CCTI) and Center on Economic and Financial Power (CEFP). For more analysis from Trevor, Pavak, CCTI, and CEFP, please subscribe HERE. Follow Trevor and Pavak on Twitter @TrevorLoganFDD and @PavakPatel. Follow FDD on Twitter @FDD and @FDD_CCTI and @FDD_CEFP. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.

Data Visualization: U.S. Sanctions Against Malicious Cyber Actors
Trevor Logan/Pavak Patel//FDD/April 24/2020
Introduction
The following graphics illustrate the frequency with which the U.S. government deploys sanctions and indictments to combat malicious cyber activity conducted for the benefit or at the behest of China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea. This dataset can help analysts understand how the United States employs these tools and why it does so against certain cyber threat actors but not others. The dataset facilitates the discussion of questions such as, “Why are both sanctions and indictments used against some targets but not others? Are the differences in usage related to the type of cyber operation, the evidence available, the nature of the U.S. relationship with the relevant nation-state, or some other consideration?” Through such discussion, analysts can assess more effectively whether sanctions and indictments are effective tools to punish or deter malicious cyber activity.
FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation created these visualizations and is making the underlying data publicly available so that others can build on this effort by pairing these data and graphics with additional tools and information. The visualization is interactive and can be filtered according to the nationality and type of the malicious actors. Users can also export the data in their desired format.
This data includes only those cases that have an explicit cyber component and excludes those in which cyber was a tangential or negligible part of the operation. For example, this dataset does not include instances of intellectual property theft conducted nearly exclusively through physical access to systems and personnel. This dataset does not distinguish between malicious actors operating independently from state authorities and those acting under the express order of a foreign government. Attribution, particularly as it relates to determining who ordered an operation, requires information beyond what may be included in public statements accompanying the sanctions or indictments. Additionally, cyber operatives may work for government entities while concurrently engaging in criminal activities. For example, the Department of Justice made no mention of state-sponsorship in its indictment of the Iranian individual responsible for the hack and extortion of HBO, but he was also later indicted as part of an espionage operation conducted by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Where possible, the dataset makes note of cyber operations that the U.S. government has expressly attributed to nation states.
Enforcement Actions Against Malicious Cyber Operators from Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea
The data itself reveals interesting patterns. To date, it appears that the United States has used Treasury’s financial sanctions authorities and Department of Justice indictments in different ways for different threat actors. For example, while North Korean hackers are often considered more prolific and capable than their Iranian counterparts, the number of sanctions and indictments against actors from the DPRK is far less than the number of actors from Iran that the U.S. has targeted. Additionally, in the case of Chinese-backed cyber operations, Washington appears to have chosen to rely nearly exclusively on criminal indictments rather than pairing indictments with financial sanctions as the Trump administration has done particularly in the case of Russian operations. Cross-analysis using multiple variables such as the country of origin, type of actor, year, type of sanctions, and type of statute may reveal additional patterns.
The data itself does not provide an answer as to whether particular statutes or executive orders are used more often than others to punish or prosecute cybercrimes because a certain type of cybercrime is more prevalent or because the evidentiary threshold is easier to meet. That type of analysis rests upon the judgment of the policymakers and legal scholars. For the purposes of this dataset, the term “malicious cyber operations” encompasses cybercrime, cyber espionage, cyber-enabled economic warfare, information warfare, and other types of cyberattacks. For a deeper discussion on the definitions of types of cyberattacks, see “Framework and Terminology for Understanding_ Cyber-Enabled Economic Warfare.”

Explaining Iran’s coronavirus cataclysm
Ray Takeyh/New York Daily/April 24/2020
A woman wearing a protective face mask and gloves to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus walks through the Qazvin old traditional bazaar some 93 miles (150 kilometers) northwest of the capital Tehran Iran, Wednesday, April 22, 2020.
A woman wearing a protective face mask and gloves to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus walks through the Qazvin old traditional bazaar some 93 miles (150 kilometers) northwest of the capital Tehran Iran, Wednesday, April 22, 2020.(Vahid Salemi/AP)
Why has Iran so terribly botched its response to the outbreak of the coronavirus? The regime has had no consistent policy, at first denying the scale of the outbreak and then dealing with it in a haphazard way. The number of the infected and dead remains underreported, as the regime basks in its own campaign of misinformation. The Western commentariat may blame all this on sanctions, but the clerical oligarchs have once more proved that they are unfit for the task of governance.
The Islamic Republic’s handling of the epidemic should not surprise those familiar with revolutionary governments. Such regimes are adept at instigating crises, not managing them. Even as its citizens were dying, Iran was busy provoking attacks on the United States in Iraq while its Revolutionary Guards’ speedboats once more menaced the American armada patrolling the Gulf waters.
In a gesture that can only be considered ironic, Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, visited Bashar Assad in Syria and condemned the United States for its inhuman practices. Iran’s imperial rampage across the Middle East has hardly abated even as it faces both economic and health calamities. Such is the callousness of revolutionary leaders as they routinely put their ideological mission ahead of the welfare of their people.
Conspiracy theories are the life-blood of the Islamic Republic. The Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has not only rejected American aid but weaved an intricate plot about why such assistance was offered in the first place: “I do not know how real this accusation is but when it exists, who in their right mind would trust you to bring them mediation. Possibly your medicine is a way to spread the virus more.”
Khamenei’s protégé Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami went one step further and claimed that “America produced the coronavirus as a means of confronting Iran and China.” The problem with such absurd assertions is that Iran’s clerical rulers actually believe them. By taking refuge in conspiracy tales, they can exempt themselves from responsibility and blame nefarious outside forces for Iran’s misfortune.
Mendacity is the essential complement to conspiracy theories. The Iranian leaders have used their podiums throughout the crisis to offer conflicting and false stories. As the virus began ravaging Iran, they initially insisted that all was under control. President Hassan Rouhani would often claim that Iran has all the medical supplies it needs to handle the situation but then petition the IMF for a loan so he can purchase the necessary equipment.
Khamenei used the crisis to extol the virtues of the revolution and how Iran was handling the epidemic far better than the West. Instead of providing information to his constituents, Khamenei used his speeches to mock America and how it could not contain the virus that it supposedly created in the first place.
The Islamic Republic’s response to the outbreak of the virus also revealed how hampered it is by factionalism and poisonous politics. At times, health officials understood the scope of the problem and even attempted to nudge the politicians in the right direction. The virus first revealed itself in the shrine city of Qom, the place where pilgrims from across the Shia world gather.
Some in Tehran wanted to close down mosques and impose a quarantine before it lost control. But the mullahs would have none of this. They insisted that the mosques were sanctuaries where both mind and body were healed. Thus, those suffering from the virus could find magical cures through prayer and devotion. In the meantime, Iranians still took the roads in large numbers to celebrate the New Year in late March. For too long, Rouhani refused to impose limits on such irresponsible conduct as he saw the crisis as a means of breaking the American sanctions. Instead of pleading with the grand ayatollahs to curtail mass congregations and for Iranians to stay home, he implored Europeans to defy American sanctions and reinvest in his country.
The outbreak of the pandemic has revealed all of the Islamic Republic’s pathologies: its relentless pursuit of ideological missions whose costs are more apparent than benefits, its manufacturing of absurd conspiracies to justify its inaction and deflect blame, and the propensity of its leaders to lie to each other and to their constituents. In the end, the primary victims of the mullahs’ misrule are once more the Iranian people.
*Takeyh is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.