Lebanon in freefall as France announces aid conference

Lebanon in freefall as France announces aid conference

PARIS: Lebanon was hit by fresh protests Friday after premier-designate Saad Hariri failed to form a government, and as France prepares to host an aid conference on the first anniversary of the country's port blast. Hariri's exit Thursday comes amid a financial collapse branded by the World Bank as one of the planet's worst since the 19th century.

His departure leaves the country rudderless as Lebanon faces soaring poverty, a plummeting currency, angry protests and shortages of basic items from medicine to fuel. Protests on Friday flared in the northern port city of Tripoli over the deepening crisis, sparking clashes with the army that the Lebanese Red Cross said left at least 19 people wounded.

The army said young men lobbed a hand grenade towards its forces, wounding five soldiers, while 10 others were wounded by stones thrown by protesters. Tripoli, a port and Lebanon's second city, is the country's poorest and many residents live below the poverty line. The protests came as the Lebanese pound, officially pegged at 1,507 to the dollar, plunged to new lows on the black market Friday, selling for more than 22,000 to the greenback. Earlier Friday, caretaker health minister Hamad Hassan said the government would scrap