This is Beirut

Foot-and-Mouth Disease: Lebanon’s Livestock Under Pressure as a Health Emergency Takes Hold

Makram Haddad, 08:50 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Lebanon Europe Middle East Foot-and-mouth disease

Nearly two-thirds of the country’s cattle are believed to be infected with a fast-spreading viral fever that slashes milk production and devastates farmers. Veterinarians describe the outbreak as “extremely dangerous but not transmissible to humans”, yet it lays bare the weaknesses of Lebanon’s preventive systems—at a time when another ...

“Advent:” Another Kind of Waiting

Sana Richa Choucair, 14/12 15:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Europe United States Calendar Christmas

Just ten days to go before Christmas! December seems to accelerate: candles are lit, calendars are opened, and houses fill with quiet rituals marking the slow march toward the holiday. This stretch of days, with its familiar traditions and its particular rhythm, bears a name rooted in centuries of language and custom: Advent. A word that carries ...

From Porcelain to Tweed, EU Opens Protected Label to Crafts

This is Beirut, 01/12 18:00 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Europe European Union Porcelain Tweed Culture

Traditional crafts, from French Limoges porcelain to Irish Donegal tweed, became entitled to EU protected status as of Monday, placing them on par with agricultural products such as Champagne and Parma ham. Europe’s glassblowers, potters, jewellers, and other artisans will now be able to register their product names under the bloc’s new ...

‘End of an Era’: MTV Pulling Plug on Global Music Channels

This is Beirut, 01/12 10:30 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Farewell Culture MTV Music Music Europe

MTV kick-started a new era of music and pop culture in 1981, when it went on air for the first time, emblematically playing Video Killed the Radio Star as its debut music video. More than four decades later, the channel, now owned by US media giant Paramount Skydance, will wind down its international music broadcasting by the end of the year as ...

Raggi Open to Negotiations With Israel

This is Beirut, 21/11 00:15 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Israel Lebanese Forces Lebanon Europe Hezbollah

Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi said Thursday evening that he was open to negotiations with Israel while urging Lebanese expatriates to quickly register on the platform for the upcoming parliamentary elections. Speaking on MTV’s Sar el-Waet program, Mr. Raggi said that if he were given a mandate by the government, he would be ready to enter ...

What the US Plan for Ukraine Entails

This is Beirut, 20/11 18:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Ukraine USA Europe Kyiv New York

The United States reportedly sent Ukraine a new peace proposal with Russia on Wednesday, according to Axios, the Financial Times, and the New York Times. A senior Ukrainian official told AFP that the 28-point plan appears to incorporate several of Russia’s demands. While the proposal may be acceptable to Moscow, Ukrainian authorities view it as ...

Repairing the Spine Without Opening the Body: The Promise of Surgical Robotics

Bélinda Ibrahim, 20/11 10:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Spine Surgical Robotics Europe Innovation

The spine has always symbolized human fragility. Operating on it once meant risking pain, complications, or even paralysis. Spine surgery traditionally involved large incisions, long recoveries, and deep scars. Now, in Nancy, a trio of pioneering doctors is redefining the rules with minimally invasive robotic spine surgery: a breakthrough that ...

Sayyid Qutb: From the Muslim Brotherhood to Global Influence

Marie de La Roche Saint-André, 18/11 15:00 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Europe United States Muslim Brotherhood Sayyid Qutb

Born in 1906 into a devout family in a village of Upper Egypt, he studied educational sciences, much like Hassan al-Banna, the Muslim Brotherhood’s founder. Alongside his career as a teacher and civil servant in the Ministry of Education, Sayyid Qutb gained recognition as a literary figure, moving within Egypt’s intellectual circles, including ...

UNIFIL Begins Withdrawal as Europe Weighs Replacement Force

Bassam Abou Zeid, 18/11 10:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Europe Lebanon Hezbollah Israel Palestine UNIFIL

No one can predict what southern Lebanon will look like after UNIFIL withdraws at the end of 2026. Will Lebanon have succeeded in disarming Hezbollah? Will it be able to fully control the south, particularly the area south of the Litani River? And what role will the international presence play in the region? UNIFIL has already begun reducing its ...

Drone Alert Temporarily Shuts Danish Airport

This is Beirut, 17/11 11:15 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Europe Denmark Russia Drones Airport

The Aalborg airport in northern Denmark closed for several hours late Sunday after drones were reported in nearby airspace, airport authorities said, the latest in a spate of unexplained drone flights across Europe. "The airport was closed for landings and take-offs between 9:30 pm and 11:15 pm (2030 and 2215 GMT) last night after suspicious ...

Disarmament and the End of the Militia’s Whims

Michel Touma, 17/11 08:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Donald Trump Lebanon Europe Hezbollah Middle East

In a moment of deep existential crisis, there is no space for hesitation, for diluted choices or for timid calculations. When a nation’s future is pulled apart by forces bent on destabilization and backed blindly by regional powers with sweeping ambitions, the responsibility is clear. One must choose a side and do so without wavering. The ...

The Epigraphs of Our Lady of Ilige

Amine Jules Iskandar, 15/11 10:30 - Reading : 7 minute(s)

Europe USA

Following Saint John Maron of Kfar-Hay (685–770) and Saint George of Yanouh (770–1120), Patriarch Peter I established his seat at Our Lady of Ilige in 1121. Ilige lies in a valley of the Mayfouq region, high above Byblos, annually cloaked in a thick mantle of snow. The monastery of Our Lady was built upon the remains of a Phoenician temple, ...

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