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Beirut port blast: Five months on

The search for truth, and repairing the physical, political and psychological damage after the blast.

On 4th August last year 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate blew up in a Beirut port warehouse. The explosion killed 200 people, injured thousands, and destroyed the port. Last month the public enquiry into the blast charged four politicians with negligence, including Prime Minister Hassan Diab. ѿý Arabic’s Carine Torbey got an exclusive interview with him.

Cuba’s “sovereign” vaccine
Cuba has entered a new partnership with Iran to trial a new coronavirus vaccine. Its high hopes are summed up in the name, Soberana O-2, or "sovereign". ѿý Monitoring's Luis Fajardo in Miami considers what the vaccine and its name mean to Cubans.

Kashmiri papier-mâché 
Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir used to be famous for its papier-mâché artefacts. But decades of insurgency and lockdowns have left producers struggling to survive, as ѿý reporter Aamir Peerzada discovered.

The beach that lost the sun
The ѿý’s Fernando Duarte tells us about Balneário Camboriú in Brazil, where shadows cast by the skyscrapers that line the sands make it impossible to sunbathe for most of the afternoon. Is the answer to widen the beach?

South Africa’s alcohol ban
Following South Africa's re-imposition of an alcohol ban as part of Covid-19 restrictions, the ѿý's Vumani Mkhize reflects on the impact this is having, and the background to his country’s toxic relationship with drink.

(Image: Lebanese army member by damaged grain silo, Beirut port blast site (August 7, 2020)
Credit: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo)

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Sat 16 Jan 2021 03:06GMT

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