Reporter Raquel Camila

Bahaa’s younger brother, Saad Hariri, said earlier this week that he would not run in a forthcoming parliamentary election and was suspending his role in political life, calling on his political party to do the same. Lebanon’s Bahaa Hariri said on Friday that  he will continue  the journey of his father, the late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and would “enter the battle to take back” the country. Bahaa’s younger brother, Lebanon’s veteran Sunni Muslim leader Saad Hariri, a three times prime minister, said earlier this week that he would not run in a forthcoming parliamentary election and was suspending his role in political life, calling on his political party to do the same. Bahaa Hariri Saad’s decision opened a new phase in Lebanon’s sectarian politics and will accelerate the fragmentation of the Sunni community which his family dominated for 30 years with Saudi support. Bahaa, 55, who has not held public office before and largely kept away from politics, said in...

White House officials’ stock divestments and recusals are hidden from public view, thanks to ethics law gaps and a lack of transparency from the Biden administration. Deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology Anne Neuberger and Homeland Security adviser and deputy national security adviser Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall speak at the daily press briefing at the White House WHEN HOMELAND SECURITY adviser Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall joined the White House in January 2021, she held vested employee stock options at two growing companies in the cybersecurity industry. Cybersecurity was poised to be front and center for the Biden administration, given the massive breach of software company SolarWinds in 2020 that raised alarms about vulnerabilities in the U.S. government and economy. Sherwood-Randall signed a financial disclosure form pledging to divest her assets at Dragos and Resilience, for which she had served on the advisory boards, and had a recusal arrangement in p...

​ AS THE TALIBAN was approaching Kabul  this past summer, Afghanistan’s independent central bank called an emergency meeting. Whatever happened next, the board members knew, at least one thing was certain: a shock to the country’s economy was coming. The U.S. had spent nearly two decades building a sophisticated, professional central banking institution designed to help the country weather such shocks. By law, the bank operated independently of the government and was essential to keeping the export-import economy and the local banking sector liquid. As an occupying power, the United States controlled Afghanistan’s foreign currency reserves — over $9 billion largely denominated in U.S. dollars — and doled it out to the central bank. One tranche of $300 million was set to be delivered on August 14, but the central bankers learned the U.S. had ordered it halted, according to board member Shah Mehrabi, an economics professor at Montgomery College who continues to serve on the central b...

Dozens killed, more than 700 homes damaged in the western Badghis province after 5.3-magnitude earthquake. At least 26 people have been killed after an earthquake hit western Afghanistan , an official said. The victims died when roofs of their houses collapsed on Monday in Qadis district in the western province of Badghis, spokesman for the province Baz Mohammad Sarwary told news agencies. Map of Qadis district in Afghanistan's western province of Badghis The shallow earthquake was magnitude 5.3, according to the US Geological Survey. “Five women and four children are among the 26 people killed in the earthquake,” said Sarwary, adding that four more people were injured. He said the first rescuers have arrived at some of the affected areas under heavy rain, but warned that the number of casualties could increase as Badghis, bordering Turkmenistan, is a mountainous province and one of Afghanistan’s most impoverished and underdeveloped regions. A second quake, at magnitude 4.9, struck...

Sethurathnam Ravi(S Ravi Bse) founded Ravi Rajan & Co. Presently, Mr. Ravi holds the position of Non-Executive Chairman of Tourism Finance Corp. of India Ltd. and Director & Managing Partner at RRCA & Associates. Mr. Ravi is also Associate Member at Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, Member of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Director & Managing Partner at Ravi Rajan & Co. and Member-MOU Department at India Department of Public Enterprises and on the board of 15 other companies. In his past career he held the position of Chairman for BSE Ltd. and Union Finance & Revenue Secretary at India Ministry of Finance.Mr. Ravi received a graduate degree from Rani Durgavati University. S Ravi Bse Sethurathnam Ravi (S Ravi Bse) is a chartered accountant (CA) based in India, promoter and managing partner of Ravi Rajan & Co and the former Chairman of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). He also serves as an Independent Director of Tourism Finance Corporati...

  GEORGE NADER, an American adviser to the government of the United Arab Emirates, convicted sex offender, and frequent visitor to the White House during President Donald Trump’s first year in office, has pleaded guilty for his role in helping the UAE pump millions of dollars in illegal campaign contributions into the U.S. political system during the 2016 presidential election, according to documents submitted in federal court last month. Federal prosecutors disclosed in a December sentencing memo that Nader had agreed months earlier to plead guilty to a single count of felony conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government by funneling millions in donations to Hillary Clinton’s campaign and concealing the funds’ foreign origin. Nader’s plea has not been previously reported. George Nader A lawyer for Nader did not respond to a request for comment: ​ Nader conspired to hide the funds “out of a desire to lobby on behalf and advance the interests of his client, the government of the United ...

Federal government agencies are preparing to take increasingly harsh steps against unvaccinated employees in order to implement   President Biden ’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal workers.    Some agencies plan to send letters warning of possible suspensions to employees who have not complied with the mandate. Many are also prepared to fire employees who don’t follow the rule, though such moves would be further down the road. The rate of compliance is high across the federal government, and agencies say they do not expect the suspensions or firings to cause disruptions. Joe Biden The White House in November told agencies to hold off on harsher penalties until after the new year and to focus on education and counseling for those who had not complied with the mandate. Now, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) says agencies can move forward with stricter measures at their discretion.    “Agencies continue to move forward with the process, including ...