World Bank Redirects Funds Towards Lebanon Emergency Aid

Flames rise from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Flames rise from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
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World Bank Redirects Funds Towards Lebanon Emergency Aid

Flames rise from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Flames rise from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

The World Bank announced on Thursday that it was redirecting funds originally earmarked for development programs in Lebanon towards emergency aid for people displaced by Israeli bombardment of the country.

"The World Bank is activating emergency response plans to be able to repurpose resources in the portfolio to respond to the urgent needs of people in Lebanon," said a statement from the US-based multilateral institution.

The multilateral institution currently has $1.5 billion in funding for programs in Lebanon. Part of this amount will be redirected.

Since September 23, more than 1,000 people have been killed in an Israeli air-and-ground campaign on Lebanon that has targeted armed group Hezbollah in the south and east of the country, with strikes expanding to include the capital Beirut.

Thousands have been displaced since the bombing began, and the funds would be used to provide aid to those populations, the World Bank said.

"This would include emergency support to displaced people that could be deployed through a digital platform the World Bank helped put in place during the Covid epidemic," the statement said.



Iran's Currency Falls to Record Low against the Dollar as Tensions Run High

A man counts Iranian rials at a currency exchange shop in Basra, Iraq. (Reuters file photo)
A man counts Iranian rials at a currency exchange shop in Basra, Iraq. (Reuters file photo)
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Iran's Currency Falls to Record Low against the Dollar as Tensions Run High

A man counts Iranian rials at a currency exchange shop in Basra, Iraq. (Reuters file photo)
A man counts Iranian rials at a currency exchange shop in Basra, Iraq. (Reuters file photo)

Iran’s rial currency traded Saturday at a record low against the US dollar as the country returned to work after a long holiday.

The rial had plunged to over 1 million rials during the Persian New Year, Nowruz, as currency shops closed and only informal trading took place on the streets, creating additional pressure on the market, Reuters reported.

But as traders resumed work Saturday, the rate fell even further to 1,043,000 to the dollar, signaling the new low appeared here to stay.

On Ferdowsi Street in Iran’s capital, Tehran, the heart of the country’s money exchanges, some traders even switched off their electronic signs showing the going rate as uncertainty loomed over how much further the rial could drop.