2019-11-04_Time

20 Time November 4, 2019

HOLDING ON Pastor Matt Younger (right) hugs facilities associate Robert Lusk inside the heavily

damaged Northway Church in Dallas on Oct. 20, after a tornado ripped through the area. Three

twisters—one with maximum wind speeds of 140 m.p.h.—tore roofs off buildings, toppled trees and

destroyed homes and businesses. No deaths and only a handful of injuries were reported in Texas,

but the pattern of violent storms across the region led to four deaths in Oklahoma and Arkansas.

TheBrief News

NEWS

TICKER

State Dept.

closes Clinton

email inquiry

The State Department

ended a three-year

inquiry into Hillary

Clinton’s use of a

private email server

during her time as

Secretary of State, con-

cluding there was no

“systemic, deliberate

mishandling of classi­

fied information,”

according to a report

made public on Oct. 18.

Trudeau

re-elected but

loses majority

Justin Trudeau’s Liberal

Party won the most

seats in Canada’s

general election

on Oct. 21 but lost

its parliamentary

majority, so it will have

to seek opposition

votes to pass legisla-

tion. The Prime Min-

ister’s campaign was

rocked by revelations,

first reported by TIME,

that he had worn brown-

face and blackface

makeup in the past.

Ohio opioid

settlement

reached

Four drug companies,

including McKesson

and Cardinal Health,

reached a $260 million

settlement with two

Ohio counties on

Oct. 21, hours before

a federal trial was to

begin. The counties

would have been the

first of hundreds to go

to trial over allegations

that drug distributors

contributed to the

opioid epidemic.

on a wall ouTside The u.n. offices in

central Beirut, protesters have posted the

names of every lawmaker in Lebanon’s par-

liament, the word thief under each one. The

protests—the largest to sweep the Middle

Eastern nation in 14 years—began Oct. 17

after the government unveiled new taxes,

including a $6 monthly fee on calls from

messaging apps like WhatsApp. Authorities

quickly dropped the taxes, but hundreds of

thousands marched for several days in cities

across Lebanon, voicing anger at decades of

corruption, nepotism and dysfunction.

THE PEOPLE’S PAIN The same parties have

dominated Lebanese politics since a civil

war ended in 1990, when the country re-

stored a complex power- sharing system that

guarantees positions to each of Lebanon’s

many religious groups. Many party leaders

today are former warlords, and sons often

take over seats vacated by fathers. Protest-

ers say corruption and mismanagement

divert money from weak public services. A

new austerity budget, passed in July in re-

sponse to an economic crisis and spiraling

public debt, has fueled greater anger.

RESCUE PLAN Prime Minister Saad Hariri,

the son of a former Prime Minister who was

assassinated in 2005, has tried to appease

the protesters. On Oct. 21, he announced

a package of reforms, including assistance

for poor families and improvements to the

dilapidated state electric system. He also

pledged to halve politicians’ salaries, launch

a corruption commission and recover any

stolen public funds. But protesters have

continued to pour into the streets, saying

they don’t trust a corrupt system to change.

EXTRAORDINARY REVOLT The most striking

aspect, analysts say, is that protesters have

risen above Lebanon’s sectarian divides.

Lebanese people of all religious backgrounds

have come together for a mostly peaceful re-

jection of politicians from all groups. Stay-

ing so united will be a challenge. But with

economic problems likely to hamper Hariri’s

ability to quickly improve the quality of life,

some think the government has a revolu-

tion on its hands. “They don’t understand,”

one protester told TIME. “The people aren’t

sheep anymore.”

—Rebecca collaRd/beiRuT

THE BULLETIN

Lebanon’s biggest protests in a decade

threaten to topple the government

TORNADO: JEFFREY MCWHORTER—AP; INGREDIENTS: GETTY IMAGES (3)