Lebanon’s two-week lockdown begins
beirut — Lebanon started a new two-week lockdown on Saturday after coronavirus infections crossed the 100,000 mark in a country where hospital capacity has become saturated.
The capital’s roads were largely empty and police checkpoints had been set up at several locations, while the seaside promenade often thronging on weekends was deserted. The airport however remained open, as did essential businesses.
Under the measures announced, during the day people were to stay home unless they were granted an exception, and only cars with certain number plates were allowed on the roads. A nightime curfew will be from 5pm to 5am.
Lebanon, with a population of around six million, has been recording some 11,000 coronavirus infections on average each week, the health ministry said on Thursday. —
tunis — Libyans at UN-led talks agreed on Friday to hold national elections in December next year, the United Nations said, raising hopes for an end to a brutal decade-old conflict.
Friday’s announcement came on the fifth day of political talks in Tunisia, involving 75 delegates from existing state bodies and groups from across Libya’s political and social spectrum. Participants at the talks agreed that national elections should take place on December 24, 2021, acting UN envoy Stephanie Williams told journalists in a virtual news conference.
“It’s a very important date for Libyans,” she said. “It will be a day when they can ... renew the legitimacy of their institutions.”
She said Libyans feared an entrenched foreign presence in their country and “very much want to reclaim their sovereignty”.
“You can restore it through the ballot box,” she said. The announcement marked the first concrete decision at the Tunisia talks, and the elections announced for December next year would be the first polls in Libya since 2014.—