A Syrian girl hoards her livestock near a garbage dump at the entrance of Joubb Jannine, in Lebanon's west Bekaa valley. Joseph Eid / AFP
A Syrian girl hoards her livestock near a garbage dump at the entrance of Joubb Jannine, in Lebanon's west Bekaa valley. Joseph Eid / AFP
A Syrian girl hoards her livestock near a garbage dump at the entrance of Joubb Jannine, in Lebanon's west Bekaa valley. Joseph Eid / AFP
A Syrian girl hoards her livestock near a garbage dump at the entrance of Joubb Jannine, in Lebanon's west Bekaa valley. Joseph Eid / AFP

Garbage crisis continues to heap misery on Lebanese people


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In 2015, Lebanon hit the international headlines because its streets, public spaces and shores were covered with garbage. The scale of the crisis was illustrated by a memorable photograph depicting a river of trash, winding through the Beirut suburb of Jdeideh. Today, the situation may have improved slightly, but it is far from resolved.

The crisis began in July 2015 with the closure of a landfill in Naameh, 18km south of the capital, which had reached capacity. The shutdown of that one site left the waste-collection company Sukleen without anywhere to put the tons of garbage it collected and forced it to halt operations. Beirut was overcome by the stench of a broken system. Rotting waste piled up on the streets and angry citizens marched on parliament. Directing their anger at politicians, whose inaction now threatened to bury the country in its own filth, they rallied under the slogan "You stink!" and demanded an overhaul of the entire political system.

But how did rubbish collection become such a hot-button issue in the first place? The root of the problem is that there has never been a concerted effort to properly manage this vital public service in Lebanon. Since the end of the country’s civil war in 1990, the nation relied on a plan that boiled down to dumping half of its refuse – mainly that produced by the capital – in Naameh. Cash-strapped municipalities elsewhere were left to fend for themselves, often working with illegal dumping sites and openly burning vast amounts of garbage. This situation has been clearly unsustainable for many years. The limited capacity of the Naameh landfill, for instance, was well known to experts and members of the government, but contingencies for its eventual closure were never drawn up.

Unfortunately, that is not surprising. Like many other public services in Lebanon – most notably electricity and water – waste disposal is rife with mismanagement and corruption. In fact, it has a long and unenviable history as such. In 1987, at the height of the civil war, the right-wing Lebanese Forces party took millions of dollars from the Italian mafia to dispose of toxic waste in the heavily populated Mount Lebanon area. After an amnesty on crimes committed during the war was passed in 1992, the culprits were absolved, while the party now sits in the Lebanese government.

Lebanon is a nation dominated by sectarian politics and a confessional parliamentary system. This makes consensus difficult to reach on even the most basic matters. Its public services are crumbling and the government is preparing to impose an austerity budget, which includes pay cuts for public-sector employees. The prospect of this has brought workers at the national bank out on strike this week.

Successive iterations of Lebanon’s government have failed to provide a long-term solution to the country’s waste-management crisis. Measures such as an effective recycling programme that limits the amount of refuse that has to be dumped have barely even been discussed. Instead, a quick fix has been agreed. The opening of new regulated landfill sites has been announced and, in September, a law was passed allowing the use of incinerators.

Plans for the construction of these facilities, which have been postponed until next year, have been met with widespread public concern. Managing them is a costly, high-maintenance task. Then there is the fact that most of Lebanon’s waste, which is not sorted or processed in any way, is not suitable for burning and could create serious health hazards if it were to be handled in this manner.

That much is already known, though. The September law also banned the open dumping and the burning of waste. Yet, 900 illegal landfills still operate in Lebanon, and the burning of rubbish remains common practice for private individuals and some municipalities. The resulting fumes are highly toxic, contain a range of carcinogens and have been shown to increase the incidence of respiratory problems in those who live nearby.

In a recent report titled "As If You're Inhaling Your Death": The Health Risks of Burning Waste in Lebanon, Human Rights Watch stated that 150 landfill sites across the country are openly burning garbage every week. "We are coughing all the time, unable to breathe," said Othman, a man who lives near one such dump. "Sometimes we wake up and see ash in our spit." The NGO also found that the open burning of waste disproportionately affects the poorest areas in Lebanon, where many residents lack proper access to healthcare.

Just last week, large garbage fires were lit in Dinnieh, east of Tripoli, following the closure of the area's only illegal landfill site. The owner told The National that he was forced to cease operations, thanks to an unpaid Dh1.2 million bill racked up by the local authorities. The closure of the dump has fuelled a wider problem in north Lebanon, with uncollected rubbish now piling up in streets and town squares.

Beirut has not fully addressed its waste issues, either. Last August, parliament decided to widen landfills in the districts of Bourj Hammoud and Jdeideh, which dealt with nearly half of the waste produced by the capital and the Mount Lebanon area. However, both of those sites will reach capacity by August 2019.

This, in turn, raises the question of what to do with landfill sites that have outlived their usefulness. The infamous 52-metre “garbage mountain” that towered over the southern coastal city of Sidon provides a perfect example. In 2016, this colossal heap of rubbish, which could once be smelled from miles away, was turned into a verdant public park, in a Dh91m project overseen by the United Nations Development Programme.

This successful initiative could be replicated in other areas of Lebanon and the blight of illegal landfills and burning sites removed from the lives of thousands of citizens. However, right now, the public has little faith in the government’s ability to safely manage the new incinerators and draw up a workable plan to keep yet more piles of putrefying waste off the nation’s streets.

Day 1, Dubai Test: At a glance

Moment of the day Sadeera Samarawickrama set pulses racing with his strokeplay on his introduction to Test cricket. It reached a feverish peak when he stepped down the wicket and launched Yasir Shah, who many regard as the world’s leading spinner, back over his head for six. No matter that he was out soon after: it felt as though the future had arrived.

Stat of the day - 5 The last time Sri Lanka played a Test in Dubai – they won here in 2013 – they had four players in their XI who were known as wicketkeepers. This time they have gone one better. Each of Dinesh Chandimal, Kaushal Silva, Samarawickrama, Kusal Mendis, and Niroshan Dickwella – the nominated gloveman here – can keep wicket.

The verdict Sri Lanka want to make history by becoming the first team to beat Pakistan in a full Test series in the UAE. They could not have made a better start, first by winning the toss, then by scoring freely on an easy-paced pitch. The fact Yasir Shah found some turn on Day 1, too, will have interested their own spin bowlers.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
BRAZIL SQUAD

Alisson (Liverpool), Daniel Fuzato (Roma), Ederson (Man City); Alex Sandro (Juventus), Danilo (Juventus), Eder Militao (Real Madrid), Emerson (Real Betis), Felipe (Atletico Madrid), Marquinhos (PSG), Renan Lodi (Atletico Madrid), Thiago Silva (PSG); Arthur (Barcelona), Casemiro (Real Madrid), Douglas Luiz (Aston Villa), Fabinho (Liverpool), Lucas Paqueta (AC Milan), Philippe Coutinho (Bayern Munich); David Neres (Ajax), Gabriel Jesus (Man City), Richarlison (Everton), Roberto Firmino (Liverpool), Rodrygo (Real Madrid), Willian (Chelsea).

Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi

From: Dara

To: Team@

Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT

Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East

Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.

Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.

I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.

This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.

It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.

Uber on,

Dara

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While you're here
Is it worth it? We put cheesecake frap to the test.

The verdict from the nutritionists is damning. But does a cheesecake frappuccino taste good enough to merit the indulgence?

My advice is to only go there if you have unusually sweet tooth. I like my puddings, but this was a bit much even for me. The first hit is a winner, but it's downhill, slowly, from there. Each sip is a little less satisfying than the last, and maybe it was just all that sugar, but it isn't long before the rush is replaced by a creeping remorse. And half of the thing is still left.

The caramel version is far superior to the blueberry, too. If someone put a full caramel cheesecake through a liquidiser and scooped out the contents, it would probably taste something like this. Blueberry, on the other hand, has more of an artificial taste. It's like someone has tried to invent this drink in a lab, and while early results were promising, they're still in the testing phase. It isn't terrible, but something isn't quite right either.

So if you want an experience, go for a small, and opt for the caramel. But if you want a cheesecake, it's probably more satisfying, and not quite as unhealthy, to just order the real thing.

 

 

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets