Family of Amer Fakhoury Who Was Held in Lebanon Builds Support for Hostages

In this Nov. 5, 2019, photo, from left, Guila, Macy and Zoya Fakhoury, three of Amer Fakhoury's four daughters, gather in US. (The Associated Press)
In this Nov. 5, 2019, photo, from left, Guila, Macy and Zoya Fakhoury, three of Amer Fakhoury's four daughters, gather in US. (The Associated Press)
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Family of Amer Fakhoury Who Was Held in Lebanon Builds Support for Hostages

In this Nov. 5, 2019, photo, from left, Guila, Macy and Zoya Fakhoury, three of Amer Fakhoury's four daughters, gather in US. (The Associated Press)
In this Nov. 5, 2019, photo, from left, Guila, Macy and Zoya Fakhoury, three of Amer Fakhoury's four daughters, gather in US. (The Associated Press)

Four sisters who started a foundation in the name of their father, an American who was jailed in his native Lebanon for months before he died, are reaching out to help the families of other hostages and were invited to share their story in Washington.

The goal of the Amer Fakhoury Foundation is to be a support network for people like their dad and their families, “just to amplify their voice, share their story with as many people as we can, and help them financially,” Zoya Fakhoury, one of his four daughters, told The Associated Press in an interview Saturday.

The daughters returned from a visit Thursday to Washington, where they met with State Department officials and US Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who had worked with New Hampshire Democrat Jeanne Shaheen on a bill to ban visas and freeze assets of Lebanese officials involved in Fakhoury’s detention.

“We saw our dad when he came back, how difficult it was for him to even function,” daughter Guila Fakhoury said. “He would wake up in the middle of the night screaming. So, the recovery is very important with hostages.”

Amer Fakhoury, a restaurant owner in Dover, New Hampshire, made his first trip to Lebanon in 2019 in nearly 20 years to see family. His passport was seized and he was accused of decades-old murder and torture charges that he and his family always denied. He was released in March 2020 and died of cancer in August at age 57.

The family is still running the restaurant, which has displays a photo of Fakhoury and a “Hostage Spotlight” on cases.

The foundation also is helping the family of Paul Whelan, a former corporate security executive from Novi, Michigan, who was arrested in Moscow in 2018. His lawyer said Whelan was handed a flash drive that had classified information on it that he didn’t know about. Whelan was convicted in June and sentenced to 16 years in prison.



Egypt Needs to Import $1.18 Billion in Fuel to End Power Cuts, PM Says

The moon is seen after the day of Strawberry Moon over old houses in Cairo, Egypt, June 22, 2024. (Reuters)
The moon is seen after the day of Strawberry Moon over old houses in Cairo, Egypt, June 22, 2024. (Reuters)
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Egypt Needs to Import $1.18 Billion in Fuel to End Power Cuts, PM Says

The moon is seen after the day of Strawberry Moon over old houses in Cairo, Egypt, June 22, 2024. (Reuters)
The moon is seen after the day of Strawberry Moon over old houses in Cairo, Egypt, June 22, 2024. (Reuters)

Egypt needs to import around $1.18 billion worth of mazut fuel oil and natural gas to end persistent power cuts exacerbated by consecutive heat waves, its Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said in a televised address on Tuesday.

It hopes the shipments will arrive in full around the third week of July, by which point the government aims to stop cutting power during the remaining summer months, he added.

It has already started contracting for 300,000 tons of mazut worth $180 million to boost its strategic reserves which are expected to arrive early next week.

Egypt's government on Monday extended daily power cuts to three hours from two hours previously in response to a surge in domestic electricity consumption during the latest heat wave.

These three-hour cuts will continue until the end of June, before returning to two hours in the first half of July with the aim of stopping completely for the rest of the summer, Madbouly said on Tuesday.

Egyptian social media has lit up with complaints about the impact of the blackouts, with some saying they have been forced to purchase private power generators.

The problem has particularly affected teenagers preparing for the crucial high school certificate, with some posting about students studying by candlelight and others in coffee shops.

A wedding hall owner in the coastal city of Port Said said he would turn one of his ballrooms into a study hall.

Since July last year, load shedding linked to falling gas production, rising demand and a shortage of foreign currency has led to scheduled two-hour daily power cuts in most areas.

"We had said that we planned to end load shedding by the end of 2024... we do not have a power generation problem or a network problem, we are unable to provide fuel," Madbouly said on Tuesday.

"With the increase in consumption related to the major development and population increase, there has been a lot of pressure on our dollar resources," he added.

He said production in a neighboring country's gas field had come to a full halt for 12 hours leading to an interruption in the supply, without naming the country or the gas field.

Egypt's Abu Qir Fertilizers said on Tuesday three of its plants had halted production because their supply of natural gas was cut.