Source: Xinhua|
Editor: huaxia
by Dana Halawi
BEIRUT, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) Tarek Malaeb, a mechanical engineering student at the American University of Beirut (AUB), may have to postpone his graduation as he is incapable of registering for his last semester given the U.S. dollar crisis and the increase in tuition fees in Lebanon. I will probably have to postpone my last semester because my father may not be able to secure dollars for my last tuition at AUB, Malaeb told Xinhua, whose tuition is valued at over 150 million Lebanese pound a year at the official rate of one dollar against 1,515 Lebanese pound.
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Sources connected to talks between the coalition’s Likud and Blue and White party tell the Ynet news site that they’re optimistic a deal can be reached to avert new elections.
The unnamed sources it is possible to quickly pass a budget that runs through the end of the month and then pass a budget for 2021 by the end of January. The deadline to pass a budget or postpone doing so is Tuesday night.
Both Channel 12 news and the Kan public broadcaster say the agreement would see the deadline to pass a budget further delayed.
Blue and White has insisted a budget that also covers next year be passed, as part of the coalition agreement between the parties, which included a loophole allowing Prime Minister Netanyahu to retain the premiership in the case of new elections.
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BIRMINGHAM, Alabama The United States adds a record of nearly a quarter million coronavirus cases in the past day.
Health experts says the record could increase as cases surge in various parts of the country and health care systems struggle to keep up.
Along with 249,709 new cases, there are an additional 2,814 reported deaths nationwide in the past 24 hours. That pushes the confirmed US death toll past 313,000, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University.
California leads the case surge with 48,221 more infections. Almost 17,000 people are hospitalized in California and health officials are scrambling to find enough beds for patients. Texas, Florida, New York and Tennessee all register more than 10,400 new cases.
LONDON: As a young man, Lebanese artist Hanibal Srouji was forced to flee his homeland as the violence of the civil war took hold. Eventually, the siren call of his country lured him back home, only for him to become embroiled once again in its turbulence. “I chose to come back, but I don’t know how long I can last,” he tells Arab News. “I wake up every morning and ask myself ‘How far can I go today?’”
Arabic calligraphy: Ancient craft, modern art
For the Saudi Ministry of Culture s Year of Arabic Calligraphy in 2020/21, we take an in-depth look at how the craft has developed from ancient to modern times.
By : Baria Alamuddin
This August 5, 2020 file photo, is the scene of an explosion that hit the seaport of Beirut, Lebanon. 200 killed , several still missing , 6500 Injured after 2,750 Tonnes of Ammonium Nitrate Exploded . They were stored there for nearly 7 years. The shelf life of the product is supposed to be 6 months according to experts . After 6 months it starts solidifying and becomes more explodable . President Michel Aoun and PM Diab knew about the Ammonium Nitrate 2 weeks before the explosion but did nothing about it . Judge Fadi Sawan who is in charge of the investigation charged Diab , former finance minister Ali Hassan Khalil, and former public works ministers Ghazi Zeaiter and Youssef Finianos with negligence over the explosion . The politicians behind the charged politicians attacked the judge and accused him of politicizing the issue (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, Beirut, Lebanon(Photo by Anwar Amro/AFP)