In most countries Covid19 is majorly affecting the economy.
But in Lebanon the economic meltdown is affecting the battle against Covid19.
I spoke to Dr. @firassabiad who is the Dr. Fauci of Lebanon.
"In my hospital we have up to 8 hrs power cuts a day."
Dr. Firas heads Rafiq Hariri hospital in #Beirut. This is biggest hospital treating covid19 patients with space for 180 Corona patients.
Currently 36 of 180 beds occupied. Total hospitalized Corona patients in Lebanon now at: 52.
At height of crisis: 90 hospitalized patients.
With "only" 52 Corona patients hospitalized, the #coronacrisis isn't currently Dr. Firas' biggest worry. Biggest worry: Lebanon's economic meltdown.
"Recently our hospital had power cuts 20 hrs per day! We only had fuel for our generators for 5 days. Very difficult situation."
Due to 20 hrs power cuts and limited fuel for generators, Dr. Firas decided to turn off air conditioners in his hospital. Also operations on non-corona related patients were postponed. "Eventually (oil company) Total &politicians helped us out. But this only a temporary solution"
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1/ The last hours of a killed ISIS leader's life looked like a Hollywood movie. Not only did he escape twice, also villagers tell @akhbar US forces killed 2rebels who had nothing to do with ISIS.
2/ As the story is published in Arabic on the website of my company @akhbar, I will post the main points in English in this thread. Of course, you can also open the Arabic page and use google Translate. tinyurl.com/2t3yccaa
3/ The US raid took place last Monday around 0130 AM near Jarablus. I sent 2 sources to the area. They spoke to witnesses; neighbors, relatives &villagers. They also exclusively visited the targeted house where the ISIS leader secretly lived. This is a drone shot of that house:
1/ Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate tells @akhbar: “Yes, I regret that I ever said during 1979 Revolution: Long live Khomeini.” Watch my exclusive interview with Dr. Shirin Ebadi on current uprising in Iran. Powerful words. I'll tweet some parts out.
2/ Dr. Ebadi tells me: “We admit that [1979 protests] were a mistake when we see what's happening 2day in Iran. (...) those who were in jail say torture now is worse than during prev regime [of Shah]. Agents of current regime more bloodthirsty & violent.”
3/ I asked Dr. Ebadi about Iran's nuclear program. "The moment a democratic government is established in Iran, work on nuclear program will stop," she said. "It has cost Iran so much. (…) nuclear program isolates Iran from region & from world.” @akhbar
1/ Interesting. @akhbar interviewed Omar bin Laden, son of Osama bin Laden. His father took him as a child to Afghanistan. Now he +wife live in Normandy, France. “French landscape helps me to relax,” he says, “I started painting &I'm enjoying it a lot.”
2/ Omar bin Laden explains he paints the mountains of Afghanistan in red & black. “I lived there for almost a year," he says, "Big mountains, tough terrain. Red represents the suffering, pain & blood. Black, the darkness, no electricity, height & depth of the mountains.”
3/ “End of my period with my father was in Tora Bora,” Omar bin Laden continues, “there was lots of bombing, killing, many lives were lost. Whether they were innocent or not, fighters &non-fighters, but I was effected by these bloody scenes. That's why I paint these mountains.”
1/ Eight yrs ago ISIS launched a terror campaign against Iraq's Yazidis. Leila was enslaved by ISIS. Today she still lives in a camp. “Most ISIS women live better than me,” she tells me on my show on @akhbar, “Many came back to Iraq & some even to Europe.”
2/ ISIS terror started in August 2014. Leila now is 28 yrs old. She's from Sinjar, heart land of Iraq's Yazidis. She was 20 when ISIS attacked. She was kidnapped by ISIS &enslaved for 5 years. In 2019 she escaped. 10 family members still missing among them her father & brothers.
3/ Leila says: "Years passed & I still don't know what happened to my family! Someone should do something. We all want bodies of our martyrs back or if they're alive we want news about them. They keep on saying, be patient. We have no patience anymore.”
1/ Guest on my show on @akhbar is French-Syrian singer @MennelOfficial (22). 4yrs ago she was 1st hijabi woman on The Voice in France. This led to huge criticism from conservative Muslims and Islamophobes. She pulled out.
Now she has taken off her veil.
2/ When @MennelOfficial sang in 2018 in The Voice, she wore a veil/turban. Some Muslims criticized her for singing while veiled. Islamophobes criticized her for "appearing as a Muslim on the show".
"I thought people would judge my voice," Mennel tells me.
3/ Mennel tells me: "24 hrs after my appearance in 2018 on The Voice, everyone on social media was talking about me, mostly by people who are extremist in their ideas. People were non-stop harassing me. So after one week, I decided to leave the program."
1/ My show on @akhbar discusses increasing number of Arab women freezing their eggs. Also here in MidEast more women marry later, have careers or can’t find husband on time. But freezing eggs is frowned upon by society. Some women now break the silence.
2/ One guest is Zena from Jordan (top left on screen). She’s 36 &froze her eggs recently. Until now she couldn’t find right husband. She’s worried that when she finds him, her fertility has decreased. She is one of 1st Arab women publicly talking about it.
3/ Zena said that freezing your eggs is not very much known in Arab World. She wanted to publicly talk about it “because sadly in our society women don’t own their body, our lives are not ours – it’s all for society. We lack the awareness on such topics.”