The US canceled the tripartite meeting between the US Ambassador Dorothy Shea, Minister of Energy Walid Fayyad, and World Bank representatives concerning the Egyptian gas & Jordanian electricity, after not agreeing to grant Lebanon any exceptions to the sanctions they imposed.

Central bank Governor, Riad Salameh, has announced that the official USD exchange rate (pegged since the early 90s) will be changed from 1507LBP=1$ to 15000LBP=1$ starting from February 2023.
He also said that he is giving the banks 5 years only to restructure their losses.

⋯ Snow is predicted to fall at a minimum altitude of 1,100 meters during the day, decreasing to 900 meters by dawn this coming Thursday, especially in the north and the interior.

Caretaker PM Najib Mikati is planning to call for a cabinet session this week or early next week to deal with the education file.

Sources say the PM is waiting on the Lebanese University's file to transfer to the Ministry of Finance to study ways of securing funding beforehand.

🚨 Rocket attack on Sderot.

⋯ Video of the iron dome intercepting a rocket

🪤 Bush ordered the CIA to find replacement for Arafat

US President George W Bush, after his inauguration in 2001, ordered the CIA to search for a replacement for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat—the BBC said, quoted by Al-Jazeera today.

The reason was the failure of the July 2000 Camp David Summit between Arafat & Israeli PM Ehud Barak, and the start in Sept 2000 of the Second Intifada—due to Ariel Sharon's illegal incursion in Al-Aqsa. During a lengthy phone call, British PM Tony Blair told Bush that Arafat “no longer has anything to offer”. Bush replied that he had asked the CIA; it searched “thoroughly” but concluded that “there is no successor available”.

⚛ Arafat died in 2004 from cerebral hemorrhage induced by polonium. He acknowledged “Israel's right to exist” & received the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the 1993 Oslo Accords.

🗓 On this day, 1 Feb 1979, after 14 years of exile, Imam Ruhollah Khomeini returned to his Iranian homeland, and changed the face of West Asia forever.

After Egypt's surrender to Israel, this scholar from Qom vowed to fight injustice at home and abroad, with emphasis on oppressed peoples such as the Palestinians.

The Central Bank announces that the exchange rate on the Sayrafa platform will be increased from 38,000 LBP/USD to 42,000 LBP/USD.

Senior financial sources predict that the exchange rate will soon skyrocket, especially because there are no real solutions on the horizon.

Unconfirmed reports that Gaza's Lions' Den group claims responsibility for the rocket fired towards Sderot, in retaliation for the Israelis' cruel treatment of female Palestinian prisoners.

The paper reads “Lions' Den "Gaza" A response for our imprisoned sisters 1/2/2023 5:26pm”

Touch and Alfa's latest prepaid line costs in accordance to the Sayrafa exchange rate.

Last price increase, both removed the 30 free minutes of talk time that were given with line recharges without informing customers. Thankfully, there are no benefits left to remove this time.

The Dept of Economy in South Lebanon, with help from security forces, confiscated 400 litres of fresh cow's milk which contained insects, and 190 Kg of labneh which failed to meet health requirements in a dairy and cheese factory in Sidon.

Samples were taken to labs for testing.