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BEIRUT:Lebanon has announced that it will reopen Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut in early July.

Prime Minister Hassan Diab said during a meeting of the tourism sectors representatives on Tuesday: We will work to resume flights to the Arabian Gulf region, and we will focus on countries conducting PCR tests to detect coronavirus infections.

The Cabinet Office said on Tuesday that all public-sector employees should return to their workplaces while taking the necessary measures to prevent coronavirus.

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Lebanon reached 1,368 as of Tuesday after 18 new cases were recorded. All of the new cases had been in contact with infected people. The death toll stands at 30.

The government is trying to improve the economic situation, which has worsened with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, by promoting medical tourism, Diab told the heads of tourist establishments, restaurants and hotels.

The leaders of the tourism sectors syndicates complained of the decline in their businesses due to the deterioration of the lira. The president of the Union of Owners of Restaurants, Cafes, Amusements and Patisseries, Tony Al-Rami, said that 80 percent of restaurants, including top restaurants and establishments, have not been able to open.

The president of the Syndicate of Tourist Establishments in South Lebanon, Ali Tabajah, said that 95 percent of the establishments in the south could not open because they were unable to pay rent or even buy goods.

The head of the Syndicate of Car Rental Agencies, Mohammed Daqduq, highlighted that 25 percent of car rental companies have closed, and there are 700 unemployed families because this sector depends 76 percent on expatriates and foreign tourists.

The head of the Syndicate of Maritime Firms, Jean Beiruty, said: Domestic tourism is not possible due to the high exchange rate of the dollar, and 80 percent of maritime firms did not open because their maintenance licenses have not been completed.

Jean Abboud, president of the Association of Travel and Tourist Agents, warned that the inability to transfer money abroad will lead companies to withdraw from Lebanon.

Ibrahim Al-Zaidi, head of the Syndicate of Restaurants in the Southern Suburbs of Beirut and Mount Lebanon, said that the main problem lies in the dollar exchange rate.

The victim is not the restaurant sector alone, but also the employees who lost their salaries, he said.

Following the disturbances during the protests on Saturday former Prime Minister Saad Hariri attended a meeting held on Tuesday by the Supreme Islamic Legislative Council in Dar Al-Fatwa. Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian presided over the meeting. The council, which includes Sunni figures, called on the government to impose control on the entire Lebanese territory, including stopping smuggling through the Lebanese-Syrian border, adjusting the exchange rate of the dollar, and addressing the random price hikes that are burdening citizens.

The council accused infiltrators, who were among the peaceful protesters last Saturday, of attacking the security forces and carrying out acts of sabotage of public and private property. The council demanded that an investigation be held and the instigators of the riots that took place in Beiruts streets be held accountable.

The council warned against igniting the fire of sectarian strife in light of the offensive slogans that targeted a religious figure, demanding that the perpetrators be held accountable. It also called on Muslims in Lebanon to rise above the strife-inciting hate speech and adhere to the spiritual and patriotic values that make Lebanon the country of coexistence.

In the Palace of Justice in Beirut, the head of the Beirut Bar Association, Melhem Khalaf, stressed that dialogue is the only way to restore what has been destroyed by the crises. He said: We will not allow our unity to be targeted.

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'We want to breathe, too': Solidarity from Iraq - Arabnews

A C-130H caught fire after it overran a runway at Camp Taji, Iraq, on June 8 and struck a wall. Four service members received non-life-threatening injuries and are being treated at the bases medical facility, according to Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve.

The C-130, which is deployed to the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing at Ali Al Salem Air Base, Kuwait, crashed around 10:10 p.m. Iraq time.

The airfield crash, fire, and rescue team were on the scene within four minutes, extinguished the fire, and assisted an evacuation of the plane, states the release.

It is not clear what service the injured troops belonged to or how badly the aircraft is damaged. Videos posted online show the aircrafts tail hanging over a cement barricade along the flight line.

The quick actions of the airfield crash, fire, and rescue team helped patients, and limited damage to equipment and infrastructure, states the release.

Two Americans and one coalition service member were killed and many more were wounded in a March 11 rocket attack on Camp Taji, however, officials say enemy activity is not suspected in the incident, which remains under investigation.

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4 Injured When C-130 Overruns Runway in Iraq - Air Force Magazine

A series of Facebook polls carried out by IWPR in Iraq has revealed concerns over the rise in fake news circulating in the country due to the coronavirus crisis.

The 27 polls were published on around a dozen high-profile Iraqi Facebook pages between April 19 and 23, gathering over half a million votes in total.

Asked whether they believed that there had been a spike in fake news since the start of the crisis, 87 per cent of 23,100 respondents agreed that there had been.

Respondents also did not display much trust in official figures on infection rates. Asked whether they believed the government data on coronavirus, 65 per cent of 43,500 respondents said they believed the numbers were inaccurate.

A significant proportion of respondents appear to believe, however, that the pandemic was a conspiracy. Asked whether the pandemic was a genuine crisis or not, 38 per cent of 42,000 respondents said that it had been fabricated for political purposes.

Nonetheless, 74 per cent of 21,500 respondents said that they supported the government measures to stop the spread of coronavirus.

As in many other places around the world, rumours and misinformation about the pandemic, the virus itself and possible treatments have spread widely in Iraq.

One persistent theory was that the virus had been invented or exaggerated by the government to put an end to the popular public demonstrations that had been ongoing in Iraq since the autumn of 2019.

Another rumours include that the virus had been created by the US, or was being exploited as a way to allow Islamic State (IS) to return to Iraq.

Most of those who participated in the polls had rigorously observed the curfew instructions, with 75 per cent out of 26,200 voters keeping to the restrictions.

Nonetheless, 67 per cent of 18,600 people who responded to a question about social distancing said that they continued to follow the same greeting habits, such as handshaking, kissing and hugging friends and relatives.

Iraqs strict curfew measures, which ban public gatherings and travel, have not been sufficient to stop rising cases of the virus.

According to the most recent figures from the ministry of health, the total number of infections reached 13,481, including 370 deaths, while 7,539 active cases were being treated.

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Fake News in Iraq - Institute for War and Peace Reporting

DUBAI:One of the UAEs best-known master developers, Meraas, is to be folded into the government-owned conglomerate Dubai Holding, the emirates media office said Tuesday.

The merger is an effort to sustain and advance growth through a unified and integrated vision, according to an official statement. It is in line with a directive from Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and vice president of the UAE who owns both companies.

The merger comes as Dubai grapples with the economic downturn resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, which has hit business in the emirate and globally. The collapse in travel and tourism and the slowdown in trade have had a big effect on Dubai, which is the leisure and commercial capital of the Gulf.

The combined entity will continue to be run by Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, the rulers uncle, who is also head of the Emirates aviation group.

A closer relationship between Meraas and Dubai Holding had been expected for some time since Sheikh Ahmed was put in charge of both companies in an executive reshuffle last year, but could signal a new wave of consolidation in the region under pressure from the pandemic fallout.

The statement said the merger would build on gains and support Dubais global competitiveness.

Meraas is the developer of some of Dubais most extravagant real estate and projects, like the Bluewaters hotel and leisure complex as well as other waterside developments. Dubai Holding is one of the emirates biggest conglomerates, owning the Tecom free zones and the Jumeirah hotels and leisure chain, in addition to a big property portfolio.

Some experts believe the pandemic will accelerate a trend toward consolidation across the Gulf.

The Dubai government is setting the tone for what needs to happen across the region, Tarek Fadlallah, CEO of Nomura Asset Management in the Middle East, told Arab News.

Leading from the top like this sends a positive message.

Ali Maabereh, head of mergers and acquisitions at KPMG in Saudi Arabia, expected a wave of corporate activity in the Kingdom and across the region.

The current pandemic is creating a lot of uncertainties and contradictions in what to expect after the dust settles, he said. The expected key impacts on companies are shortages of liquidity and working capital requirements. Though companies might be running a healthy profit and loss account, there will be significant pressure on working capital requirements.

Some analysts believe Dubai is preparing for a round of debt renegotiation ahead of some big repayments due in the next three years. Efforts to contain the coronavirus will cause Dubais economy to contract sharply, exacerbating overcapacity in key sectors and making it more difficult for the emirates government-related entities (GREs) to service their large debts, Capital Economics, the London-based consultancy, said recently.

Dubai Holdings debt levels are estimated to be a relatively small proportion of the $21 billion repayment falling due in the next three years, ahead of a significant total $30 billion of maturities due in 2023. There are no available estimates for Meraas liabilities.

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Iraq confirms commitment to reduce production in OPEC + deal - Arab News

By Javier Blas and Grant Smith on 6/4/2020

LONDON (Bloomberg) --OPEC+ is set to extend production cuts to prop up the oil market after a breakthrough in high-stakes negotiations, and the cartel could meet as soon as this weekend to sign off on the deal.

After almost a week of wrangling, OPEC+ leaders Russia and Saudi Arabia clinched a tentative deal with holdout member Iraq, according to a delegate. The pair were pushing Iraq to stop shirking its share of cuts and even to compensate for failure to comply with cuts in the past.

The agreement -- though still to be ratified -- means OPEC+ will extend its record production curbs for another month until the end of July. Brent crude, the global benchmark, edged higher, nearing $40 a barrel.

The 23-nation partnership between the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other major producers has helped engineer a doubling in Brent prices since April. The oil price surge has revived the fortunes of major energy companies like Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, and reduced the fiscal hole in the budgets of oil-rich nations.

Failure to reach an agreement this month could have brought millions of barrels of oil onto the market, undermining a tentative recovery as the coronavirus lockdown eases. With U.S. shale production starting to come back online, OPECs careful management of the demand recovery is crucial.

The kingdom and the Kremlin, who were on opposite sides of a vicious price war until a peace deal in April, are now united against those in OPEC who have consistently failed to shoulder their share of the burden. Russia, a habitual laggard, has complied punctiliously with the historic deal brokered by President Donald Trump in April, and wants to make sure others are too.

Reunited in leadership of OPEC+ and grimly facing many more months, if not years, of oversupply, Russia and Saudi Arabia had little to lose and much to gain by imposing concrete measure to improve compliance by the laggards, especially Iraq, said Bob McNally, founder of consultant Rapidan Energy Group and a former White House official.

The details of the deal between OPEC+ and Iraq on compliance werent clear late on Thursday. A delegate said countries were waiting for a formal letter from Baghdad spelling out the details before calling for an official meeting. OPEC+ is used to dramatic glitches endangering deals at the last minute, so delegates said nothing would be agreed until formal communications take place.

Tougher conditions will be difficult for Iraq to accept. It made less than half of its assigned cutbacks last month, so compensating fully would require it to slash production by a further 24% to about 3.28 million barrels a day, according to Bloomberg calculations.

For a country still rebuilding its economy following decades of war, sanctions and Islamist insurgency, thats a tall order. The government risks a backlash from parliamentarians and rival political parties by acceding to foreign pressure and foregoing crucial oil sales.

Three other nations -- Angola, Kazakhstan and Nigeria -- also produced above their OPEC+ quotas in May. The three had earlier on Thursday already agreed to bring their production in line with the agreement.

The Deal. Enforcing better compliance among OPEC+ nations has been a motif since Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman was appointed.

In his first public outing after becoming energy minister, in Abu Dhabi last September, the prince was literally applauded for securing loud pledges of atonement from Iraq and Nigeria.

His tenure has also been stormy. In March, the princes attempt to force Russia to make deeper output reductions backfired spectacularly, splintering the entire alliance and igniting a destructive price war.

Two months ago, Prince Abdulazizs achievement in successfully restoring the OPEC+ coalition and forging an agreement for historic production cuts was overshadowed -- and delayed -- by a spat over Mexicos contribution.

The final deal in April set out historic cuts of 9.7 million barrels a day, or roughly 10% of global oil supplies, to offset the unprecedented collapse in demand caused by the virus lockdowns. Then a few weeks later, Saudi Arabia and its closest allies in the Persian Gulf promised additional supply restraint of 1.2 million barrels a day in June.

If a new accord is signed this weekend, the impact on the oil market could be dramatic. After the massive oversupply earlier this year, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak predicts there could be a supply deficit of 3 million to 5 million barrels a day next month, Interfax reported. Thats roughly in line with projections from an OPEC committee that met on Wednesday, a delegate said.

That would provide a stronger foundation for the crude price recovery, and also allow the cartel to start chipping away at the billion-barrel stockpile thats built up during the crisis.

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OPEC+ extends production cuts through July on deal with Iraq - WorldOil