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Tear gas, fireworks and a new government in Lebanon

Beyond the Headlines
Beyond the Headlines
Episode • Jan 23, 2020 • 15m
After more than three months of protests, Lebanon's politicians agreed on a new government. But this has done little to ease anger on the streets after three months of mass uprisings. Hassan Diab announced the formation of his 20-member government on Tuesday and vowed to get to work on fixing the country's mounting problems. Lebanon faces a huge economic crisis – debt has topped $85 billion, growth is flat, unemployment is rising and the currency has lost nearly 40 per cent of its value in the past three months.




On this week's Beyond the Headlines, The National's Willy Lowry reported from the tear gas-filled streets of Beirut. He spoke to young people angry at what they've called Mr Diab's "one-colour" government. We also spoke to Nasser Saidi, a former Lebanese economy minister and former vice governor of the central bank of Lebanon. He laid out plainly the scale of the crisis and his recommendations of what the new government should do.




Previous coverage of the Lebanon protests: https://www.thenational.ae/podcasts/beyond-the-headlines/beyond-the-headlines-politics-protests-and-partying-on-the-streets-of-lebanon-1.927718




Bonus Episode: https://www.thenational.ae/podcasts/beyond-the-headlines/beyond-the-headlines-the-musicians-contributing-to-the-lebanese-protests-1.928328

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