Beirut - The African Mirror

Aug

2020

Countries rally round Lebanon after Beirut blast

COUNTRIES and international organisations have lined up to help Lebanon after a massive warehouse explosion sent a blast wave across Beirut, killing at least 145 people and injuring nearly 5,000. Below are details of some of the international assistance offered. BANGLADESH - Emergency food, medical supplies and a medical team. BRITAIN - A 5 million pound ($6.6 million) aid package including search and rescue help and expert medical support. The Royal Navy's HMS ENTERPRISE will help asses damage at Beirut port. CYPRUS - Two helicopters, 10 rescuers and eight rescue dogs. The Cypriot foreign minister said Nicosia had chartered a…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

#OurHomesAreOpen: Lebanese offer spare beds to Beirut blast victims

WORLD

BAN BARKAWI USING social media, hundreds of Lebanese have offered shelter to strangers displaced by a devastating blast, which Beirut's governor said may have left 250,000 people homeless. Tuesday evening's explosion in port warehouses storing explosive material was the most powerful ever to rip through the capital, killing some 110 people, injuring about 4,000 and tearing the facades off buildings and overturning cars. Using the hashtag #OurHomesAreOpen in Arabic and English, social media users have freely offered up spare beds and empty properties to victims, providing their names, phone numbers and details on the size and location of the accommodation.…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

100 die, over 3000 injured in massive Beirut blast

NEWS

SAMIA NAKHOUL and YARA ABI NADER A HUGE huge explosion in a port warehouse district near the centre of Beirut has killed more than 100 people, injured over 3000 others and sent shockwaves across the Lebanese capital, shattering windows and causing apartment balconies to collapse. Officials expected the death toll to rise sharply as emergency workers dug through rubble across a swathe of the city to rescue people and remove the dead. It was the most powerful blast to hit Beirut in years, making the ground tremble. "What we are witnessing is a huge catastrophe," the head of Lebanon's Red…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

Ethiopian maids ‘dumped’ in the streets in Lebanon as COVID hits

COVID-19

ETHIOPIAN mother Alemtsehay Nasir went to Lebanon dreaming that her maid's job would let her earn money to make a better life for her young son. But she was fired when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and her employers dumped her on the streets. The 32-year-old was left on the curb outside the Ethiopian consulate in a suburb of Beirut, one of hundreds of women abandoned by employers without the means to get home after the pandemic hit, on top of a financial crisis that has devastated the Lebanese economy. Lebanese labour laws offer little protection for migrant workers. The best…