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Fitch Ratings warns of elections' impact on Lebanese economy

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BEIRUT -- A leading international credit ratings agency warned Friday that the results of this month’s parliamentary election s in Lebanon make it difficult for any coalition to have a governing majority, potentially complicating implementation of reforms. Shortly after the warning from Fitch Ratings, the Lebanese pound briefly hit new lows against the dollar, causing chaos in markets around the country. Lebanon is in the grips of the worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history. By late afternoon Friday, the pound made gains of nearly 20% after the central bank governor said those who have pounds and need dollars will be able to buy U.S. currency through local banks as of next week at a rate lower than that of the black market. Gov. Riad Salameh's announcement appears to be another attempt to temporarily ease markets amid chaos related to the sharp drop of the pound, which has hit new lows on almost daily basis since the May 15 parliamentary election s brought a deepl...
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New head of Italian bishops launches sex abuse query

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VATICAN CITY - - The new president of the Italian Conference of Bishops on Friday said he would launch an independent inquiry on sex abuse by Catholic clergy in Italy , but the announcement disappointed victims advocates because it will only go back 20 years. The Italian church is coming under mountain pressure to confront its legacy of clerical sexual abuse. Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who was appointed this week by Pope Francis, said the investigation will limit its scope to two decades in order to be “more accurate and accountable.” Zuppi promised a report would be delivered by Nov. 18 by a panel of independent experts selected among university professors. “We are starting from them (the victims),’’ Zuppi told a news conference. “It is clear that their suffering drives us, and it should stimulate us to give responses that are trustworthy and serious.” Victims’ advocates say the initiative does not go far enough. They want investigations to span 50 years, and they want to be directly in...
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2 killed, 9 injured in ice fall in southern Swiss Alps

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BERLIN -- Two climbers were killed Friday and nine others injured by falling blocks of ice in the Alps in southern Switzerland, police said. Police in Valais canton (state) were alerted shortly after 6 a.m. to the emergency in the Grand-Combin massif. Seven rescue helicopters were dispatched. Seventeen climbers, in different groups, were in the area when the ice blocks broke off at an altitude of 3,400 meters (11,150 feet). Two people — a 40-year-old French woman and a 65-year-old Spanish man — died at the scene. Police said another nine people were taken to hospitals in Sion and Lausanne, and that two of them were seriously hurt. Other climbers were evacuated by helicopter.
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Building collapse death toll in southwest Iran rises to 26

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TEHRAN, Iran -- Rescue teams at the site of a 10-story collapsed building in southwestern Iran pulled seven more bodies from the rubble on Friday, bringing the death toll in the disaster to 26, Iranian state TV reported Friday. A tower at the Metropol Building that was under-construction in the city of Abadan, collapsed on Monday. Thirty-seven people were rescued, three of them are still being treated in hospital. It remains unclear how many more people are buried beneath the rubble. Iran’s senior vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, traveled to Abadan and visited the site of the incident on Friday. Authorities have arrested 11 suspects in a widening probe, including the city’s mayor. The deadly collapse has raised questions about the safety of similar buildings in the country and underscored an ongoing crisis in Iranian construction projects that has seen other disasters in this earthquake-prone nation. Abadan provincial officials have cited “disregard for technical standards” and “”ove...
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