Beirut explosion leaves migrant domestic workers without income or way home

Beirut, Lebanon: Migrant domestic workers protested outside the Kenyan Consulate in the Lebanese capital on Monday and Tuesday after being expelled by their employers without documents and no way to return home.

On the top of an economic crisis that has suffocated the income of one of the most vulnerable sectors of Lebanese society, the massive blast that rocked Beirut on August 4 has brought with it a new obstacle for migrant workers. According to Amnesty International, Lebanon is home to approximately 250,000 migrant domestic workers, mostly women, who come from African and Asian countries.

"These women are among the most marginalised people in society, and are bearing the brunt of the economic crisis exacerbated by COVID-19," said Heba Morayef, Amnesty International's MENA Regional Director in a press release.

During the pandemic, some of these women have been abandoned in front of the Ethiopian Consulate after their employers were not able to provide their regular income. Some of them have even been denied their own passports, which remain in the hands of their former bosses.

Physical abuse has also increased during the lockdown, according to Al Jazeera which documented the case of 23-year-old Faustina Tay who was found dead after she contacted an activist group for domestic abuse in March. The port explosion has now pushed many migrant domestic workers into homelessness.

"Even if they get enough money to buy a ticket back home, they will not be allowed to leave the country as the Lebanese government refuses to let them go," activist Dara Foi Elle told Reuters. "The Nigerian Embassy is trying to get laissez-passer papers to let them go, but we need help from the Lebanese government."

World powers promised not to fail the Lebanese people as the capital, Beirut, recovers from the blast that killed 158 people and destroyed swathes of the city last Tuesday. But foreign countries demanded transparency over how the aid is used, wary of writing blank checks to a government viewed by its own people as deeply corrupt. Some are concerned about the influence of Iran through the Shi'ite group Hezbollah.

'It's important that reforms be implemented' said UN chief Antonio Guterres on Lebanon

In a virtual meeting before Lebanon's prime minister announced the government's resignation on Monday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for "a credible and transparent investigation determine the cause of the explosion and bring about the accountability demanded by the Lebanese people."

The Aug. 4 detonation at a port warehouse of more than 2,000 tons of ammonium nitrate killed at least 163 people, injured more than 6,000 and destroyed swathes of the Mediterranean capital, compounding months of political and economic meltdown. President Michel Aoun accepted the resignation and asked Prime Minister Hassan Diab's government - formed in January with the backing of Iran's powerful Hezbollah group and its allies - to stay as a caretaker until a new cabinet is formed, a televised announcement said.

Ahead of Diab's announcement, demonstrations broke out for a third day in central Beirut, with some protesters hurling rocks at security forces guarding an entrance leading to the parliament building, who responded with tear gas. Diab's government was under severe pressure to step down. Some ministers had already resigned over the weekend and Monday while others, including the finance minister, were set to follow suit, ministerial and political sources said.

Aoun has said explosive material was stored unsafely for years at the port. In later comments, he said the investigation would consider whether the cause was external interference as well as negligence or an accident.

Anti-government protests in the past two days have been the biggest since October, when angry demonstrations spread over an economic crisis rooted in pervasive graft, mismanagement and high-level unaccountability.

Heavy security presence outside of White House following shooting

Washington DC Metropolitan Police and the Secret Service set up heavy security around the White House on Monday, August 10 after a shooting incident disrupted U.S. President Donald Trump's news briefing.

The U.S. Secret Service abruptly escorted Trump out of the White House press room in the middle of a briefing on Monday because of a shooting outside the White House. Trump returned to the media room several minutes later and said a person had been shot by law enforcement and taken to the hospital. He said he understood the suspect had been armed. He said the shooting was near the fence at the edge of the White House grounds.

The Secret Service said in a tweet "the investigation into a USSS officer involved shooting is ongoing. A male subject and a USSS officer were both transported to a local hospital. At no time during this incident was the White House complex breached or were any protectees in danger." The doors to the White House briefing room were locked shortly before Trump was escorted out.

Nobody else was wounded in the shooting, Trump said. He praised the Secret Service response and said the agency would have more details on the event later. The president had been speaking about the stock market when a Secret Service agent interrupted him at the podium only minutes into the briefing.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought were also taken out of the room.

Trump told reporters he had been taken to the Oval Office, which is in the West Wing near the briefing room, after he was escorted out.

Lebanon after explosion: Resignation of entire government including Prime Minister

Beirut: Lebanon's health minister Hamad Hassan confirmed the government would resign following an emergency cabinet meeting on Monday amid allegations of corruption and negligence.

The health minister said, after a devastating explosion in Beirut that has stirred public outrage and spurred a string of ministers to step down. The August 4 port warehouse detonation of more than 2,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate killed at least 163 people, injured over 6,000 and destroyed swathes of the bustling Mediterranean capital, compounding months of political and economic meltdown.

The cabinet, formed in January with the backing of the powerful Iranian-backed Hezbollah group and its allies, met on Monday, with many ministers wanting to resign, according to ministerial and political sources.

For many ordinary Lebanese, the explosion was the last straw in a protracted crisis over the collapse of the economy, endemic corruption, waste and dysfunctional governance, and they have taken to the streets demanding root-and-branch change. The information and environment ministers quit on Sunday as well as several lawmakers, and the justice minister followed them out the door on Monday.

Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni, a key negotiator with the IMF over a rescue plan to help Lebanon exit a financial crisis, prepared his resignation letter and brought it with him to the cabinet meeting, a source close to him and local media said.

Lebanon's president had previously said explosive material was stored unsafely for years at the port. He later said the investigation would consider whether the cause was external interference as well as negligence or an accident.

Anti-government protests in the past two days have been the biggest since October, when angry demonstrations spread over an economic crisis rooted in pervasive graft, mismanagement and high-level unaccountability. Protesters accused the political elite of siphoning off state resources for their own benefit.

Lebanon: ''They are not just numbers'': family of missing silo employee pleads for help

Beirut, Lebanon: Before he went missing on August 4, Ghassan Hasrouty, an employee at Beirut's silos for the past 38 years, thought he was working in the safest place in the city.

The giant silos' reinforced concrete walls and underground rooms where his shelter for many hours and days during Lebanon's long civil war. He used to tell his family that he was more worried for them than himself when he set out to work every morning during the civil war of 1975-1990. At 17:30 Beirut local time on Tuesday, Hasrouty called his wife Ibtissam saying that he will be sleeping at the silo that night because a shipment of grains was arriving and he could not leave. He told her to send him a blanket and pillow. She has not heard from him since.

Hasrouty's family believe that he and six of his colleagues are somewhere under the silos and they are holding out the hope that they are still alive. They say that Lebanon's rescue response has been too slow and too unorganised that whatever chance there is for them to be alive is being lost.

The family says that despite giving the authorities the exact location of where he is believed to have been at the time of the explosion, the actual rescue effort did not start until 40 hours later.

At their home in Beirut, the family has gathered every day since watching the news and anxiously await any information. 

"These people who are missing are not just numbers,'' says Elie, Hasrouty's 35 year old son. "We need to highlight the mediocrity of management of this disaster, of this situation, how bad it is managed...not to repeat such a horrible disaster and horrible management afterwards."

Tuesday's blast, the biggest ever to hit Beirut, injured more than 6,000 people and left an estimated 300,000 Lebanese effectively homeless as shockwaves ripped miles inland. Officials have said the blast was caused by 2,750 tonnes of highly explosive ammonium nitrate, a substance used in manufacturing fertilizers and bombs, which had been stored for six years in a port warehouse without adequate safety measures.

The government has promised to hold those responsible to account, but residents are seething with anger. The health ministry on Saturday said 21 people were still missing. At least 158 have been killed and the entire face of the city changed.

Hasrouty, whose own father worked at the same silos for 40 years, was a man dedicated to his job, his family says. His daughter Tatiana, 19, flits between resignation and hope. "We did not even get a chance to say goodbye. But we are still waiting for them...to all come back."

US will give substantial aid to Lebanon, but declines to give a dollar figure, said Trump

New Jersey: U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday said the U.S. will give "substantial" aid to Lebanon, although he did not specify how much the United States would provide.

An emergency donor conference on Sunday for blast-stricken Lebanon raised pledges worth nearly 253 million euros ($298 million) for immediate humanitarian relief, the French presidency said. World powers promised not to fail the Lebanese people as the capital, Beirut, recovers from the massive explosion that killed 158 people and destroyed swathes of the city last Tuesday. Lebanon was already mired in political and financial crisis before the blast.

But foreign countries demanded transparency over how the aid is used, wary of writing blank checks to a government viewed by its own people as deeply corrupt. Some are concerned about the influence of Iran through the Shi'ite group Hezbollah. 

The explosion gutted entire neighborhoods, leaving 250,000 people homeless, razing businesses and destroying critical grain supplies. Rebuilding Beirut will likely run into the billions of dollars. Economists forecast the blast could wipe up to 25 percent off of the country's GDP.