Lebanon has stressed that the endorsement of the US Congress of the so-called 'Syria Accountability Act' reflects flagrant American bias. In a statement yesterday, President Emil Lahoud of Lebanon said that if the region needs an accountability act, it should be called "Israel Accountability act" owing to the "brutal Israeli massacres and crimes against the Palestinians and Israel's rejection of international resolutions which stipulate the Israeli withdrawal from all the occupied Arab territories." He called on the United States to "liberate itself from the hegemony of the Zionist Lobby which constitutes dangerous threat to the interests of the American people."

Lebanon's poverty rate is among the highest in Western Asia, while its middle class is facing a serious threat of extinction, UN Development Program (UNDP) officials said yesterday. UNDP program manager Zeina Ali Ahmed said: "Unfortunately, Lebanese poverty is mainly related to income. There are enough human resources and capacities in this country. The distribution of wealth has changed over the years, causing the government to lose its sense of resource management". She added that Lebanon's middle class is gradually disappearing.

She spoke on the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty at UN House in Beirut, which was attended by representatives of UN agencies and academics, chiefs of diplomatic missions in Lebanon, and delegates from local, Arab, and international non-governmental organizations. The meeting was divided into three panels: regional food security, rights-based approaches to poverty, and combating poverty in Lebanon.

Social Affairs Ministry representative Mayssa Nehlawi introduced a new project to be launched in collaboration with UNDP in January 2004. "This project prepares the ground for an accurate picture of living standards that we must have to start combating poverty," Nehlawi said. She described the project as a multipurpose household survey (MPS) that will consider household income and expenditure, providing policy-makers with comprehensive data about socioeconomic disparities in Lebanese society to facilitate planning and implementation. It will measure social and economic indicators of over 14,000 households in different areas of Lebanon, to help the government develop national targets and programs. These households will also provide income and expenditure diaries.