The judge leading the investigation into the Beirut port blast has issued an arrest warrant for a former minister after he failed to appear for questioning, the state-run National News Agency said.
The warrant issued on Tuesday for ex-finance minister Ali Hassan Khalil, who is charged with criminal negligence in connection with the explosion, is the second to be issued by judge Tarek Bitar against a senior official.
Mr Hassan Khalil and former agriculture minister Ghazi Zeiater last week asked Lebanon's supreme court to remove Mr Bitar from the case, accusing him of breaking the law. Mr Bitar was notified on Tuesday and is set to suspend the investigation pending the court's ruling, the NNA said.
The accused officials argued that Mr Bitar had no authority to prosecute them in line with the national constitution.
The supreme court will also rule over two previous requests filed by for former interior minister Nouhad Mashnouq and ex-public works minister Youssef Finianos to dismiss Mr Bitar over doubts of his impartiality.
The court ousted Mr Bitar’s predecessor Judge Fadi Sawan on similar grounds after he indicted former prime minister Hassan Diab in the case.
Mr Bitar had previously issued an arrest warrant for Mr Finianos who had snubbed his summons.
Mr Hassan Khalil and Mr Zeiater, both members of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri’s bloc, asked that they be tried before a special body comprising senior judges and parliamentarians but their requests were dismissed by the court of appeal, which argued it had no authority to rule on the matter.
The families of victims of the explosion, which rocked Beirut on August 4 last year, accuse politicians of stalling and seeking to block the investigation after Parliament failed to authorise the questioning of officials who face charges.
Mr Bitar has also been the target of criticism from Hezbollah. Hassan Nasrallah, the Iran-backed group's leader, on Monday called for Mr Bitar to be replaced, accusing him of bias and of politicising the case.
More than one year on from the blast, it remains unclear who owned the hundreds of tonnes of ammonium nitrate that were stockpiled at the port for more than six years before they exploded, killing more than 216 people and destroying large parts of Lebanon's capital.
What triggered the detonation is also still under investigation.
Media reports have linked the shipment of the ammonium nitrate to businessmen close to Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, a close ally of Hezbollah.
The explosion led to Mr Diab’s resignation as prime minister and plunged Lebanon into political paralysis, accelerating the country’s financial meltdown, which the World Bank described as one of the three most severe crises since the 1850s.
Since late 2019, the national currency has lost more than 90 per cent of its value against the US dollar, while the majority of the population is now below the poverty line.
What is Reform?
Reform is a right-wing, populist party led by Nigel Farage, a former MEP who won a seat in the House of Commons last year at his eighth attempt and a prominent figure in the campaign for the UK to leave the European Union.
It was founded in 2018 and originally called the Brexit Party.
Many of its members previously belonged to UKIP or the mainstream Conservatives.
After Brexit took place, the party focused on the reformation of British democracy.
Former Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson became its first MP after defecting in March 2024.
The party gained support from Elon Musk, and had hoped the tech billionaire would make a £100m donation. However, Mr Musk changed his mind and called for Mr Farage to step down as leader in a row involving the US tycoon's support for far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson who is in prison for contempt of court.
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Tributes from the UAE's personal finance community
• Sebastien Aguilar, who heads SimplyFI.org, a non-profit community where people learn to invest Bogleheads’ style
“It is thanks to Jack Bogle’s work that this community exists and thanks to his work that many investors now get the full benefits of long term, buy and hold stock market investing.
Compared to the industry, investing using the common sense approach of a Boglehead saves a lot in costs and guarantees higher returns than the average actively managed fund over the long term.
From a personal perspective, learning how to invest using Bogle’s approach was a turning point in my life. I quickly realised there was no point chasing returns and paying expensive advisers or platforms. Once money is taken care off, you can work on what truly matters, such as family, relationships or other projects. I owe Jack Bogle for that.”
• Sam Instone, director of financial advisory firm AES International
"Thought to have saved investors over a trillion dollars, Jack Bogle’s ideas truly changed the way the world invests. Shaped by his own personal experiences, his philosophy and basic rules for investors challenged the status quo of a self-interested global industry and eventually prevailed. Loathed by many big companies and commission-driven salespeople, he has transformed the way well-informed investors and professional advisers make decisions."
• Demos Kyprianou, a board member of SimplyFI.org
"Jack Bogle for me was a rebel, a revolutionary who changed the industry and gave the little guy like me, a chance. He was also a mentor who inspired me to take the leap and take control of my own finances."
• Steve Cronin, founder of DeadSimpleSaving.com
"Obsessed with reducing fees, Jack Bogle structured Vanguard to be owned by its clients – that way the priority would be fee minimisation for clients rather than profit maximisation for the company.
His real gift to us has been the ability to invest in the stock market (buy and hold for the long term) rather than be forced to speculate (try to make profits in the shorter term) or even worse have others speculate on our behalf.
Bogle has given countless investors the ability to get on with their life while growing their wealth in the background as fast as possible. The Financial Independence movement would barely exist without this."
• Zach Holz, who blogs about financial independence at The Happiest Teacher
"Jack Bogle was one of the greatest forces for wealth democratisation the world has ever seen. He allowed people a way to be free from the parasitical "financial advisers" whose only real concern are the fat fees they get from selling you over-complicated "products" that have caused millions of people all around the world real harm.”
• Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.org
"In an industry that’s synonymous with greed, Jack Bogle was a lone wolf, swimming against the tide. When others were incentivised to enrich themselves, he stood by the ‘fiduciary’ standard – something that is badly needed in the financial industry of the UAE."
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
First Person
Richard Flanagan
Chatto & Windus
