Beirut bank standoff exposes desperation of economic crisis

By BASSEM MROUE
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — A judge has ordered a gunman who took up to 10 hostages at a Beirut bank to force the release of his trapped savings to stay behind bars. It’s apparently a bid to prevent copycats as desperation deepens over Lebanon’s economic meltdown. Relatives said Friday that keeping him in custody breaches an agreement that had him surrender after a seven-hour standoff in return for $35,000 and promises that he would be questioned then set free. It was the latest reminder of the pain created by Lebanon’s nearly three-year economic and financial crisis, described by the World Bank as one of the world’s worst since the 1850s.