Getting back on topic, Help is coming in from the entire world.
By the way, the news is reporting that so far one American was killed in the blast.
BEIRUT (AP) — The Latest on the explosion in Beirut (all times local): 6 a.m. Thursday The Australian government has pledged an initial 2 million Australian dollars ($1.4 million) to the relief effort in Lebanon following the deadly blast that ripped across the capital Beirut.
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The Latest: American citizen killed in blast, embassy says
19 minutes ago
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This satellite image taken on Wednesday Aug. 5, 2020 shows the port of Beirut and the surrounding area in Lebanon following a massive explosion on Tuesday. Residents of Beirut confronted a scene of utter devastation a day after a massive explosion at the port rippled across the Lebanese capital, killing at least 100 people, wounding thousands and leaving entire city blocks blanketed with glass and rubble. (Planet Labs Inc. via AP)
BEIRUT (AP) — The Latest on the explosion in Beirut (all times local):
9 p.m.
The U.S. Embassy in Beirut says at least one American citizen was killed and several more were injured in Tuesday’s massive explosion in Beirut’s port.
“We offer our sincerest condolences to their loved ones and are working to provide the affected U.S. citizens and their families all possible consular assistance. We are working closely with local authorities to determine if any additional U.S. citizens were affected,” the embassy said in a statement Wednesday.
The embassy says all of its employees are safe and accounted for.
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8:55 p.m.
The World Food Program says it is quickly assessing the situation in Lebanon to be ready to provide emergency support for those who were left “homeless overnight, lost loved ones, were injured or anyone who needs assistance in these difficult times.”
The U.N. humanitarian organization said in a statement Wednesday from its Rome headquarters that the explosion and port damage “will exacerbate the grim economic and food security situation” in Lebanon, noting that the country’s economic crisis was already being compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic.
It also expressed concern that the damage to Beirut’s port “would push food prices beyond the reach of many.”
The organization cited a recent World Food Program survey that found that 50% of Lebanese saying over the past month they “felt worried they would not have enough food to eat.”
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8:40 p.m.
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro extended his condolences to Lebanon at an event on Wednesday and highlighted that the South American nation is home to millions of Lebanese people. He added his administration intended to provide aid, without specifying how.
“Brazil will do more than a gesture. Something concrete to attend, in part, to those tens of thousands of people who are in a rather complicated situation because, in addition to injuries, many homes were hit,” Bolsonaro said.
On Tuesday, he said on Twitter that because Brazil is home to the world’s largest Lebanese population, the tragedy feels as though it happened on Brazilian soil.
Brazil already has a ship on a peace mission in Lebanon. The defense ministry previously said it would remove the vessel by the end of this year, citing budgetary restrictions.
The Lebanese consulate in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, said in a statement it is in the process of asking local authorities to provide assistance. All fundraising must be “swift and transparent,” it said.
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8:27 p.m.
The Tel Aviv municipality has lit up City Hall with the Lebanese flag in solidarity with the people of Beirut after Tuesday’s devastating explosion, drawing an outcry from some in Israel.
Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai wrote on Twitter earlier on Wednesday that “humanity takes precedence over every conflict, and our hearts are with the Lebanese people following the horrible disaster that befell it.”
Israel and Lebanon are officially in a state of war and do not have diplomatic relations. Israel fought a monthlong war in 2006 against the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, and the sides remain bitter enemies. Current and former lawmakers criticized the decision to project the Lebanese flag.
Yair Netanyahu, the prime minister’s son, also lashed out against the decision on Twitter, calling it “simply insane. Lebanon is officially an enemy state. By law, it is a criminal offense to fly an enemy flag.”
No such law exists in the Israeli legal code.
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8:00 p.m.
Britain is promising a 5-million-pound ($6.6 million) humanitarian support package for Lebanon following Tuesday’s devastating explosion in Beirut.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Wednesday that search and rescue teams and expert medical support are ready to be sent. He added that a Royal Navy ship already in the area can also be deployed to help assess the damage to Beirut’s port.
Raab said he spoke Wednesday to Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab, who he said promised a “full, thorough and rigorous” investigation into the blast, and accountability for those responsible.
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7:30 p.m.
A U.N.-backed tribunal has postponed the delivery of judgments in the trial of four members of the militant group Hezbollah charged with involvement in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.
The move was a mark of respect to victims of the devastating explosion that rocked Beirut late Tuesday.
The verdicts were to have been read out in the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s courtroom in the Netherlands on Friday, but will now be delivered on Aug. 18.
In a statement, the tribunal says the decision to delay Friday’s court hearing was made “out of respect for the countless victims of the devastating explosion that shook Beirut on Aug. 4” and the three days of public mourning announced in Lebanon.
The court has expressed “its solidarity with the Lebanese people in these difficult times.”
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7:10 p.m.
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are participating in a blood donation drive to try and help victims of the explosion in Beirut that has wounded thousands.
Dozens took part in a blood drive in the city of Khan Younis on Wednesday, which was sponsored by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. Organizers said they will coordinate with the International Committee of the Red Cross to try to get the blood donations delivered to Lebanon.
“I donated my blood in a moment of loyalty to the Lebanese people,” said Khan Younis resident Abu Diab Ouida.
The Gaza Strip has been under a joint Israeli-Egyptian blockade since 2007, after the Islamist militant group Hamas took power from Palestinian rivals in an armed coup. It remains unclear whether the donated blood will be able to reach Lebanon.
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6:50 p.m.
The Hungarian government says it is donating 1 million euros ($1.2 million) for rescue, salvage and reconstruction efforts in Lebanon.
The donation to be made through the Hungary Helps program, which provides assistance mainly to charities of Christian churches and other religious organizations around the world, will be given to Lebanon’s Maronite Church.
State Secretary Tristan Azbej said Wednesday that “the good friend is known in trouble and the Hungarians are good friends of the Lebanese people.”
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6:25 p.m.
Two U.S. officials say there are no indications that the massive explosion Tuesday evening in Lebanon’s capital was the result of an attack by either a nation state or proxy forces.
A senior Defense Department official and a member of the U.S. intelligence community told The Associated Press that, at the moment, the explosion appears to have been caused by improper storage of explosives.
Both individuals spoke Wednesday to the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss intelligence briefings publicly.
The senior Defense Department official told the AP that they had “no idea” what President Donald Trump was referring to when he said during a press briefing at the White House on Tuesday that the explosion “looks like a terrible attack. Trump later said that his “great generals” told him that they felt like it was an attack.
Inquiries to the Pentagon on Tuesday about President Trump’s attack remarks were referred to the White House.
— By James LaPorta in Delray Beach, Florida
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6:21 p.m.
The Paris prosecutor’s office says a first assessment has established that 21 French nationals were among those injured in the Beirut port explosion.
In a statement Wednesday, the office said it is opening an “unintentional injuries” investigation into the blast and its causes.
The investigation will be carried out by the French National Gendarmerie, one of the country’s two national police forces.
The prosecutor’s statement said the group France Victimes is working to bring help and assistance to the French who were wounded, as well as their loved ones.
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6:12 p.m.
Tunisian President Kaïs Saied has ordered the dispatch of two military planes loaded with medical equipment, medicine and food to Lebanon following the deadly Beirut port explosion.
A statement from the presidency Wednesday said that the Tunisian head of state gave instructions to ministers of defense Imad Hazgui and interim Social Affairs and Health Minister Mohamed Habib K’chaou, to deliver this aid “urgently.”
According to the statement, a team of Tunisian doctors and nurses will also be sent to Lebanon to help treat the wounded, 100 of whom will be flown back to Tunisia aboard the two planes to be treated in Tunisian hospitals.
The Tunisian president sent a note of condolence to his Lebanese counterpart Michel Aoun on Tuesday, in which he assured him of Tunisia’s support and solidarity in this ordeal.
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5:36 p.m.
The Lebanese government has declared a two-week state of emergency, effectively giving the military full powers during this time after a massive explosion devastated the capital, Beirut.
The government announced the measure during a Cabinet meeting Wednesday.
It said it was putting an unspecified number of Beirut port officials under house arrest pending an investigation into how 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate came to be stored at the port for years.
The move comes amid speculation that negligence was to blame for the explosion that killed more than 100 people.
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5:20 p.m.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has extended his condolences to the Lebanese people and repeated an offer to send humanitarian aid to the country in the aftermath of the devastating explosion in Beirut that killed at least 100 people and injured 4,000.
Netanyahu addressed lawmakers in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, on Wednesday and said the Israeli government stood ready to assist the Lebanese “as human beings to human beings.” Netanyahu on Tuesday reached out to the UN to offer aid through indirect channels.
Opposition lawmakers heckled the prime minister during his remarks, and several were ejected from the Knesset hall.
Israel and Lebanon remain officially in a state of war and do not have formal diplomatic relations.
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5:00 p.m.
The World Health Organization says it is airlifting medical supplies to Lebanon to cover up to 1,000 trauma interventions and up to 1,000 surgical interventions following the explosion in Beirut.
WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said supplies airlifted from a “humanitarian hub” in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates would be used to treat burns and wounds caused by broken glass and other debris from the explosion.
The airlift follows a request from the Lebanese health minister, and the supplies were expected to arrive in Lebanon later Wednesday.
Jasarevic said in an email that the WHO will “stand ready to also provide other urgent support.”
Meanwhile, Russian emergency officials said the first plane with medical workers and equipment for a make-shift hospital had left the country and was en route to Beirut. Four more flights were due to follow in the next 24 hours with more rescuers and medical workers, as well as equipment for a coronavirus testing lab and protective gear.
Some 150 Russian personnel will be deployed to Lebanon to help deal with consequences of the explosion that devastated Beirut.
Part 1
