BEIRUT: The Lebanese government will resume negotiations with the International Monetary Fund while beginning reforms demanded by donors, according to a draft policy program that aims to tackle one of the worst financial meltdowns in history.
New Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s government will also resume negotiations with creditors over a restructuring of public debt on which Lebanon defaulted last year, the draft seen by Reuters on Wednesday said.
The government was agreed on Friday after more than a year of political conflict over seats in cabinet that left the country rudderless as more than three-quarters of the population fell into poverty and shortages crippled normal life.
The cabinet is due to meet on Thursday to approve the draft, which will then go to a vote of confidence in parliament.
Underscoring the gravity of the situation, the policy program was drawn up in a matter of days, much faster than the weeks the process has taken in the past.
The draft said the government was committed to resuming talks with the IMF for a short- and medium-term support plan.
Donors want to see Lebanon enact reforms, including measures to tackle the corruption and graft that led to the economic collapse, before they will unlock billions of dollars of assistance already earmarked for the country.
Talks with the IMF broke down last summer when Lebanon’s political elite and banking sector objected to the scale of financial losses set out in a recovery plan drawn up by the previous government.
The draft program said the Mikati government would renew and develop the previous financial recovery plan, which set out a shortfall in the financial system of some $90 billion — a figure endorsed by the IMF.
The government will also draw up a plan to “correct the situation of (the) banking sector,” which has been paralyzed since late 2019, the draft said.
Lebanon’s financial system unraveled in late 2019.
The root cause was decades of profligate spending by the state and the unsustainable way in which it was financed.
As dollars dried up, depositors were frozen out of their accounts. The value of hard currency savings has plummeted by up to 80 percent since then, with the Lebanese pound collapsing by 90 percent from a peg that had existed for more than two decades.
The program draft said the government was committed to all the articles set out in a reform initiative drawn up by France, which has been at the forefront of efforts to help Lebanon.
The government will work with parliament to pass a capital control law, the draft document said.
It also said parliamentary elections due next spring would be held on time.
Lebanon to resume IMF talks, begin reforms, draft policy statement says
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Lebanon to resume IMF talks, begin reforms, draft policy statement says
- New government will also resume negotiations with creditors over a restructuring of public debt
- The draft said the government was committed to resuming talks with the IMF for a short- and medium-term support plan
Home to centuries of heritage, Sudan’s biggest museum is looted and wrecked by a 2-year war
CAIRO: Inside Sudan’s biggest museum, the exhibition halls once filled with statues and relics from centuries of ancient civilizations are trashed, littered with debris. The display cases stand empty and shattered. A mummy lies exposed in an open storage box. All the gold artifacts have been looted.
The Sudan National Museum has been wrecked by two years of war in Sudan, with most of its artifacts stolen. Authorities blame the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which held this district of Khartoum along the banks of the Nile River for most of the conflict.
Since the Sudanese military regained control of the capital last month, officials have been working to assess the damage and loss in hopes of one day restoring the museum.
“The losses are extremely big and saddening. A significant number of antiquities were stolen,” Gamal ElDeen Zain Al-Abdeen, a senior official at the National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums, told The Associated Press. “The RSF destroyed everything ... concerning the civilization of the Sudanese people.”
The National Museum had thousands of pieces, dating back to the Paleolithic era well before the development of agriculture, and through the kingdoms of ancient Sudan. Many came from the Napatan era in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C., when pharaohs from Sudan ruled over much of ancient Egypt, or from the later Meroitic kingdom that built pyramids in Sudan. Other halls had later Christian and Islamic material.
Some pieces too heavy to carry remain in place. In the museum’s garden, a line of stone lions remains, as do the Colossi of Tabo, two large pharaonic-style statues. Also remaining are three pharaonic temples that were moved from northern Sudan and reassembled at the museum in the 1960s to escape the rising waters of Lake Nasser from Egypt’s construction of the High Dam.
But many objects are gone. Looters broke into the locked storerooms and made off with all the gold artifacts, Zain Al-Abdeen said. But it was too early to know how much of the museum’s collection had been stolen, he said.
Museums paid a heavy price in the war
He blamed the RSF for the destruction, saying they had fighters in the museum at some point during the war.
The war in Sudan broke out in April 2023, after tensions between the Sudanese army and the rival RSF turned into battles in the streets of Khartoum and rapidly spread around the country. The RSF held much of Khartoum during the war, including the district of the museum.
Now that they have been driven out, the extent of the destruction from fighting and looting is coming clear.
“Khartoum in general has been destroyed, particularly the center of Khartoum,” Zain Al-Abdeen said. “No building was spared from the bloodshed and theft, and this is what I saw with my own eyes.” He said all the city’s museums were damaged, particularly the Ethnography Museum, where walls were demolished and halls and offices burned.
The ransacking is a blow to a country with a rich heritage, one that has deep resonance among Sudanese but is often overlooked abroad because of Sudan’s decades of instability.
‘Erasing history’
UNESCO said in September it was concerned about looting at the Sudan National Museum, which it helped renovate in 2019. It warned that sale or removal of artifacts “would result in the disappearance of part of the Sudanese cultural identity and jeopardize the country’s recovery.”
A UNESCO spokesperson said Friday that damage, looting and destruction of museums and cultural sites happened across Sudan’s states of Khartoum, River Nile, Northern State, Gezeira and the Darfur region. An accurate assessment isn’t possible due to the ongoing fighting.
The Sudan National Museum is among several that have undergone “extensive looting and substantial damage,” according to UNESCO.
Sedeeq Mohamed Sedeeq, who lives near the museum, said the RSF vowed democracy and liberation but instead they are “erasing the oldest nation in history, erasing its history.”
Reconstruction plans for destroyed museums will begin after committees assess the damage and recommend proposals for rehabilitation, Zein Al-Abdeen said. The plans are expected to include building repairs, restoration of the antiquities storage areas and fixing the museum’s surrounding grounds.
At least 20,000 people have been killed since the war broke out, though the number is likely far higher. The war has also driven more than 14 million people from their homes and pushed parts of the country into famine.
Afghanistan women’s team gets funding from the International Cricket Council
- The International Cricket Council released a statement late Sunday saying it reached an agreement with the sport’s national associations in Australia, India and England to support the displaced Afghan women’s players
- An Afghanistan Women’s XI played a Cricket Without Borders XI at Melbourne’s Junction Oval in an exhibition match supported by the Australian government in January
MELBOURNE: Afghan women cricketers will finally get high-level support in a bid to rejoin international competition after the sport’s world governing body created a taskforce to coordinate direct funding, elite coaching and facilities for displaced players.
Dozens of players from Afghanistan’s national women’s team relocated to Australia after the Taliban retook control of the country in 2021 and enforced bans on women’s sports. The players have been seeking official support ever since.
The International Cricket Council released a statement late Sunday saying it reached an agreement with the sport’s national associations in Australia, India and England to support the displaced Afghan women’s players.
ICC chairman Jay Shah said his organization is “deeply committed to fostering inclusivity and ensuring every cricketer has the opportunity to shine, regardless of their circumstances.”
“The ICC believes this (support fund) will not only help preserve the sporting careers of Afghan women cricketers but also reinforce the sport’s role as a unifying force that transcends borders and adversity,” he said.
An Afghanistan Women’s XI played a Cricket Without Borders XI at Melbourne’s Junction Oval in an exhibition match supported by the Australian government in January, bringing together 21 female players who were formerly contracted to the Afghanistan Cricket Board.
Since leaving Afghanistan many of the women cricketers have been based in the Australian capital and in Melbourne and playing for club teams in local competitions.
Firooza Amiri said ahead of that exhibition match in January that her team “represents millions of women in Afghanistan who are denied their rights.”
Amiri fled her home country with her family and first traveled to Pakistan before being evacuated to Australia.
Under Taliban rule, the Afghanistan Cricket Board cannot field a national women’s team because the country’s laws forbid women from playing sport, studying and medical education, moves that have been criticized by world groups including the International Criminal Court.
Afghanistan is a full member of the International Cricket Council and a condition of that status should require it to have a women’s national team.
England and Australia have refused to participate in direct series against Afghanistan in protest, but continue to play against the Afghan men in ICC events.
It was the Afghanistan men’s historic run to the semifinals of the Twenty20 World Cup last year that sparked the women’s team members to again approach the ICC about funding.
The group first approached the ICC in 2023, asking for support for a refugee team based in Australia to rejoin international cricket.
Pakistan’s pink-salt themed pavilion ‘global crowd-puller’ at Osaka Expo
- Pakistan Pavilion features design inspired by the country’s iconic salt mines amid a broader effort to promote exports
- Expo officially opened Sunday, with Japan hoping event will help restore global unity in time of conflicts and trade wars
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Pavilion is a “global crowd-puller” at the World Expo 2025 that opened in Osaka, Japan, on Sunday, with an official statement saying crowds were lining up to visit “one of the most unique pavilions” on site.
Expo 2025 Osaka was officially inaugurated by Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Sunday with the theme of life, world and the future, with Tokyo hoping that the event will help restore global unity in a world plagued by conflicts and trade wars. Pakistan’s national pavilion features a design inspired by the country’s iconic salt mines amid a broader effort to promote exports of the globally popular pink salt.
During the six-month event on the reclaimed island and industrial waste burial site of Yumeshima, which means dream island, in the Osaka Bay, the city is hosting some 180 countries, regions and organizations showcasing their futuristic exhibits inside of about 80 pavilions of unique designs.
It is Osaka’s second world expo after the 1970 event that scored a huge success and attracted 64 million visitors — a record until Shanghai in 2010.
“Pakistan offers something refreshingly grounded. Here, visitors don’t just look— they run their hands across majestic pink rock salt formations, feel the textures, and reconnect with nature in a way that’s rare in today’s fast-paced world,” the official Instagram page for the Pakistan Pavilion said.
Aligned with the Expo’s theme, “Designing Future Society for Our Lives,” the Pakistan pavilion “reimagines progress through the lens of harmony with the earth.”
The pavilion’s design, inspired by the Khewra Salt Mines in Pakistan’s Punjab province, incorporates a tranquil “salt garden” meant to offer visitors a multi-sensory experience reflecting both the country’s natural beauty and economic potential. The Pakistani salt mines are among the oldest and largest in the world, renowned for producing pink Himalayan salt, which is prized worldwide for its distinctive color and health benefits.
Pakistan also seeks to export more of its products by leveraging platforms such as the Osaka Expo.
“This pavilion belongs to all of you,” Muhammad Naseer, Project Director of the Pakistan Pavilion, said while addressing the soft launch of the pavilion earlier this month. “Your stories, contributions, and connection to Pakistan are part of this journey.”
“Over the next months, this space will be a place of discovery, dialogue, and celebration, where we invite the world to experience Pakistan’s culture, innovation, and aspirations.”
Messi and Miami fire blanks in front of record Chicago Fire crowd
- Chicago, coached by former USA boss Gregg Berhalter, limited Messi and his former Barcelona strike partner Luis Suarez to just a handful of opportunities
- The Fire should have grabbed all three points in the 88th minute when Bamba’s shot was parried out by Ustari but Maren Haile-Selassie put the follow-up shot wide
WASHINGTON: Inter Miami failed to score for the first time this season in Major League Soccer as they were held to a goalless draw by the Chicago Fire on Sunday.
A club-record crowd of 62,358 packed into Soldier Field for the visit of Lionel Messi and his Inter team to witness a gutsy display from the home side.
Chicago, coached by former USA boss Gregg Berhalter, limited Messi and his former Barcelona strike partner Luis Suarez to just a handful of opportunities.
The best effort from Messi, who played the full game, came in the third minute when he unleashed a snap shot from outside the box which was denied by a fine, diving save from Fire keeper Chris Brady.
There was no sense of Chicago being overawed by the big crowd at the stadium they share with the NFL’s Bears and they went close twice in the opening half with Mauricio Pineda forcing Oscar Ustari into a full stretch save and then Philip Zinckernagel striking the outside of the post from a narrow angle.
Suarez had a great chance to put Miami ahead just before the break when Noah Allen floated a ball in but the Uruguayan puts his shot over the bar.
After the break, Chicago enjoyed plenty of pressure with much of the creativity coming from former Lille winger Jonathan Bamba.
The Fire should have grabbed all three points in the 88th minute when Bamba’s shot was parried out by Ustari but Maren Haile-Selassie put the follow-up shot wide.
Bamba was denied again by Ustari moments later but in a frantic finale, Miami also could have stolen a win but, from a promising position, Tadeo Allende dragged his shot wide.
Miami had looked tired after their midweek exertions in their CONCACAF Champions Cup win over Los Angeles FC on Wednesday and coach Javier Mascherano appeared relieved they had picked up a point.
“We came with a very, very big load not only physically, but also mentally. So not losing is always important, too,” he said.
“I’ll take the positives, which is that we didn’t concede a goal. We’d been conceding goals for three games, and today we kept a clean sheet. ... Now, luckily, we have a long week of work, which is a bit of a break for us, after the start of the season we’ve had,” he said.
Former Miami coach Phil Neville saw his improving Portland Timbers team enjoy a 4-2 win at Sporting Kansas City with Venezuelan forward Kevin Kelsy scoring twice.
Portland are unbeaten in five games and move up to fourth in the Western Conference.
The Columbus Crew fought back from a goal down to enjoy a 2-1 win at St. Louis City.
Brazilian Joao Klauss opened the scoring for the home side before Crew defender Steven Moreira levelled with a side-footed volley.
Uruguayan Diego Rossi secured the win with a low drive from outside the box in the 55th minute.
‘Spiritual home’: Sikh pilgrims mark Baisakhi at Pakistan’s Panja Sahib shrine
- Pakistan has issued more than 6,500 visas to Indian Sikh pilgrims for the Baisakhi festival from April 10-19
- Sikhism’s founder Guru Nanak was born in 1469 in village in Nankana Sahib near eastern Pakistani city of Lahore
HASAN ABDAL, Pakistan: For much of the year, Hasan Abdal, a small town about 45 kilometers northwest of Islamabad, remains quiet and uneventful. But this week, its narrow streets have come to life with color and devotion as Sikh pilgrims from India and other countries gather at Gurdwara Panja Sahib in their vibrant turbans and flowing beards to mark Baisakhi, one of the holiest days in the Sikh calendar.
The festival, held every April 14, commemorates the founding of the Khalsa, the Sikh order established by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699, and coincides with the spring harvest.
For many pilgrims, the journey to Pakistan, which is home to some of Sikhism’s most sacred sites, is a once-in-a-lifetime spiritual experience.
“What Makkah and Madinah are for Muslims, Pakistan is for Sikhs,” Sardar Sartook Singh, president of the temple in Hasan Abdal, told Arab News.
“Every year, around 3,000 pilgrims come from India, along with many more from other parts of the world, to Gurdwara Panja Sahib for the Baisakhi celebrations,” he continued. “This year, the Government of Pakistan issued over 6,000 visas to Indian pilgrims. Out of these, around 5,800 have arrived.”
In recent years, Pakistan has stepped up efforts to promote religious tourism by providing easy access to historic sites linked to Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism.
A key initiative is the Kartarpur Corridor, launched in November 2019, which allows Sikhs from India to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur without a visa. The site holds deep significance as the place where Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, spent his final years.
The temple in Hasan Abdal also holds immense importance. According to legend, Guru Nanak once stopped a boulder, thrown at him by a local saint, with his hand, leaving behind the imprint, or panja, that gives the shrine its name.
Today, the site draws pilgrims from India, the United Kingdom, Canada and beyond, many of whom also visit two other important Gurdwaras of Kartarpur Sahib and Nankana Sahib.
“I had always dreamt of visiting Guru [Nanak] Ji’s shrine,” said 60-year-old Jaranjeet Kaur, who traveled from Patiala in India with her niece. “Seeing it made me happier than the birth of my first child.”
Her niece Sugdeep Kaur also expressed her emotions about their ongoing journey.
“Since childhood, we heard of the imprint of Guru Nanak’s hand on a boulder with flowing water,” she said. “But witnessing it in person brings immense peace. I’ll return next year with my children from Canada.”
One of Sikhism’s features is selfless service, or sewa, which is also central to this spiritual gathering. Pilgrims from India and other places can be seen working in the kitchen or helping others. One of them, Sukhpal Kaur, washes dishes with a smile.
“Without sewa, there is no mewa [reward],” she said. “No one has asked us to help, but it’s a blessing to serve.”
Amarjeet Kaur, another Indian pilgrim from Barnala, said her trip to Pakistan was like a dream come true.
“I used to pray daily to see Baba Guru Nanak’s shrine,” she said. “This year, he has listened. The care shown by Pakistani pilgrims also compelled us to join in sewa.”
Speaking to Arab News, Saifullah Khokhar, additional secretary of shrines at the Evacuee Trust Property Board, said there was a marked increase in the number of Sikh pilgrims every year.
“Religious tourism has grown 72 percent in the past seven months,” he said. “Visitors leave with a changed view of Pakistan, one of hospitality and peace.”
As Sikh pilgrims at the temple chanted hymns, shared meals and bathed in the sacred water at Panja Sahib, their presence transformed the quiet town into a vibrant expression of faith, community and cross-border connection.
“Pakistan is more sacred to Sikhs [living abroad] than to Pakistanis themselves,” Singh, the Gurdwara’s president, said. “Our faith began here. It is our spiritual home.”
