HaLim Via Online Covid Update Public sector strike cripples cash-strapped Lebanon 2022

 arek Younes was once solidly middle class and felt he helped contribute to society as an inspector in the Lebanese government’s consumer protection agency. But the country's economic free-fall has eroded his income and civic pride.

Such worries are coming on top of concerns about inflation and what central banks might do to curb that trend. Higher interest rates tend to work as a minus for share prices.

Shares fell in Tokyo and Hong Kong but rose in other regional markets. U.S. futures edged higher. Oil prices fell.

Japan's technology investor SoftBank Group Corp. dropped more than 4% in Tokyo trading. On Monday it reported a record quarterly loss of $23 billion. A global nose-dive of technology-related issues, such as Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, dragged on its sprawling portfolio of investments.

Analysts monitoring Asian markets said regional tensions also remain a risk, because of the flareup between China and Taiwan after the recent visit of U.S. House Speak Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan.

In his desperation, Younes has joined tens of thousands of public sector employees across the country in an open-ended strike that has already lasted for six weeks.

The protest of the civil servants who form the backbone of government signals a further erosion of Lebanon’s public institutions, already struggling to afford their most basic operating costs.

The strike gives a bleak preview of how Lebanon could sink even deeper, should officials continue to delay decisive action on key financial and administrative reforms sought by the International Monetary Fund to make Lebanon's comatose economy viable again.

While polling stations have opened peacefully in most parts of north-eastern Kenya, there are reports of raids and voter intimidation in some areas by al-Shabab Islamist militants.

The region’s proximity to Somalia’s border makes it vulnerable to attack by al-Shabab, notorious for raiding the region’s Garissa University in 2015.

Last night, suspected militants are believed to have attacked villages and settlements in parts of Mandera county along the border.

Communication lines have been cut to the area - where it is thought Arabia town, around 70km (40 miles) east of Mandera town, was targeted.

There have also been reports of militants preventing people from travelling to their respected polling stations in parts of Wajir East, another constituency along the border.

In Qarsa village, residents - who spoke to the BBC on condition of anonymity - described how militants had ordered passengers onboard a truck ferrying voters to disembark and later set it on fire.

They say the insurgents have been issuing warnings to locals not to take part in the election.

Contacted for comment, Wajir County police commander, Hilary Toroitich, did not pick up the BBC’s calls or respond to text messages.

There are also been reports of incidents that have forced electoral officials to delay despatching voting material to polling stations:

• In Konton village, also Wajir East constituency, shots – thought to be coming from al-Shabab fighters – were being fired from the bush
• In Eldas constituency, west of Wajir town, there are reports of violence as supporters of a parliamentary candidate are said to be blocking electoral officials.

Meanwhile, the protest further disrupted life in Lebanon, with even the most basic government services on hold. Court cases have been delayed. Identity cards, birth certificates and school transcripts are not being issued. Air traffic controllers announced that they would stop working nights in August.

 

Over the past year, public transportation drivers and public school teachers held unsuccessful sporadic strikes and protests, which they hoped would be a wake-up call for government.

“I don’t know how we’re thinking about economic recovery, if you have that many people who were once middle class now living in poverty,” Younes told The Associated Press. “We are extending our hand and making compromises, but the government needs to do so as well and give us some of our rights.”

Many point to decades of corruption and nefarious financial management as a cause for Lebanon’s economic downward spiral, now in its third year. They say a handful of members of Lebanon’s ruling elite caused the world's worst economic crisis since the mid-19th century, with three quarters of the population now considered poor.

The government has not increased wages for public sector workers since the onset of the country’s fiscal crunch in late 2019, during which the Lebanese pound lost over 90% of its value against the dollar. On top of that, food, gasoline and medicine prices are up sharply due to high inflation.

Younes, who heads the Association of Public Administration Employees, said public sector wages once secured a middle class lifestyle at around $1,300 per month. But that value has rapidly plummeted to the equivalent of under $70. In a country of about 6 million people, some 350,000 Lebanese work in the public sector and their salaries account for a huge chunk of the national budget.

 Israeli troops killed two Palestinian gunmen in a shootout Tuesday during an arrest operation in the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, police said.

Palestinian health officials said one person was killed and at least 40 people wounded in the gun battle, a day after a cease-fire ended three days of fighting between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli police said forces encircled the home of Ibrahim al-Nabulsi, who they say was wanted for a string of shootings in the West Bank earlier this year. They said al-Nabulsi and another Palestinian militant were killed in a shootout at the scene, and that troops found arms and explosives in his home.

Israel has conducted near nightly arrest raids in the West Bank in recent months as part of a crackdown on Palestinian militant groups, foremost Islamic Jihad, in the aftermath of a string of deadly attacks targeting Israelis earlier this year that left 19 people dead. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israeli troops during these arrest raids.

 

Last week, Israel arrested Bassam al-Saadi, a senior Islamic Jihad militant in the West Bank city of Jenin, during one of the nightly operations. The group said it was going “on alert,” and on Friday Israel said it had launched a series of strikes on Islamic Jihad targets in the Gaza Strip in response to an “imminent threat” by the militant group.

During the three days of Gaza fighting, at least 46 Palestinians were killed, including 16 children and four women, and 311 were wounded, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. Twelve of those killed were Islamic Jihad militants, one was from a smaller armed group, and two were Hamas-affiliated policemen who were not taking part in the fighting, according to the armed factions.

Israel estimated that a total of 47 Palestinians were killed, including 14 killed by misfired Islamic Jihad rockets. It said 20 militants and seven civilians died in Israeli airstrikes and that it was still investigating six deaths.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war and the Palestinians seek it as the heartland of their future state. Israel views the West Bank as the biblical and historical heartland of the Jewish people, and has constructed dozens of settlements, now home to over 400,000 Israelis.

The Palestinians and much of the international community consider Israel’s West Bank settlements a violation of international law and an obstacle to a peaceful resolution of the decades-long conflict.

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South Korea's top diplomat, Park Jin, arrived in the eastern port city of Qingdao on Monday for meetings with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in the first high-level visit to China by President Yoon Suk-yeol's administration.

Park said he will propose joint action plans to strengthen the relationship, which marks its 30th anniversary this year, reinforce strategic communication and discuss the issues of denuclearising North Korea and stabilising global supply chains.

The Yoon administration has been seeking to curb North Korea's weapons tests and bring it back to denuclearisation talks, which have stalled since 2019.

Also high on the agenda is boosting cultural and people-to-people exchanges as well as restarting K-pop exports, which have been effectively banned amid tension over the THAAD U.S. missile defence system stationed in South Korea, Park said.

"I would like to discuss ways to promote communication and exchanges between the younger generations who will carry the future of both countries," Park said on Twitter.

"Considering the global popularity of the Korean wave, I will discuss ways to widely introduce K-pop and cultural content including movies, dramas and games to China."

The talks come amid intensifying Sino-U.S. rivalry, and Park is also expected to reassure Beijing about bilateral ties despite stronger ties with Washington and tensions over Taiwan.

Park said before leaving for China on Monday that South Korea's position of respecting one China remains unchanged, but maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is essential to regional security and prosperity.

Both sides also face a potential flare-up over THAAD and Seoul's possible participation in a U.S.-led chip alliance involving Taiwan and Japan, which China opposes.

China argues THAAD's powerful radar could peer into its airspace, and sharply cut trade and cultural imports with South Korea after Seoul announced the system's deployment in 2016, dealing a major blow to bilateral relations.

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