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MORNING BRIEF

Saudi dissident killed, factory fire, banking secrecy session: Everything you need to know to start your Tuesday

Here's what happened over the holiday weekend, and what to expect today, Tuesday, July 12, and this week

Saudi dissident killed, factory fire, banking secrecy session: Everything you need to know to start your Tuesday

Saudi political dissident Manea al-Yami, who was killed in Lebanon on Saturday. (Credit: @The_NAAS/Twitter)

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Saudi political dissident Manea al-Yami was killed in Lebanon on Saturday, according to state security services and the Saudi opposition National Assembly Party (NAAS). In a statement on Sunday NAAS said Yami was “assassinated in suspicious circumstances” and demanded a “just, clear and transparent investigation” of the killing. The Internal Security Forces said in a statement that a 42-year-old Saudi citizen, confirmed to Reuters by a security source to be Manea al-Yami, was stabbed to death by his two brothers during a family dispute. According to the ISF the two brothers have confessed to the killing. The Saudi ambassador to Lebanon Walid al-Bukhari praised the Lebanese authorities’ efforts to “uncover the facts and bring the perpetrators to justice” in a Twitter post. Yami had been living in Lebanon since 2015.

A major fire at a Nabatieh factory was extinguished Sunday after burning for 42 hours over the weekend. The Kabalan carpet factory in Zefta, Nabatieh, suffered millions of dollars in damage. The fire could also impact the livelihoods of the more than 250 people who work there. Nabatieh Governor Hassan Fakih called the fire a “disaster and a tragedy,” and thanked the firefighters from the Civil Defense, army, and United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon for their efforts. The cause of the blaze is still unknown, with Civil Defense only saying it started in the basement of the factory. Unrelated fires broke out, and were later extinguished, on Monday, in the forest near Roumieh, Metn. A Civil Defense official on the scene told MTV the fire was of criminal origin.

The Finance and Budget Committee will hold a session devoted to amendments to the banking secrecy law tomorrow. In a session last week, committee chair Ibrahim Kanaan (FPM/Metn) had said the amendments to the law approved by the government in April contained factual errors that needed to be worked through. The amendments aim to make it easier to tamp down on corruption and financial crimes.

Want to get the Morning Brief by email? Click here to sign up. Saudi political dissident Manea al-Yami was killed in Lebanon on Saturday, according to state security services and the Saudi opposition National Assembly Party (NAAS). In a statement on Sunday NAAS said Yami was “assassinated in suspicious circumstances” and demanded a “just, clear and transparent investigation” of the...