united states

Lebanon: Exports on the Rise, Trade Deficit Worsens

According to data from the Higher Council of Customs, Lebanese exports rose by 21% between January and May 2025, reaching 1.5 billion dollars compared to 1.2 billion a year earlier. This increase reflects renewed competitiveness for “Made in Lebanon” products, which are seen as better suited to local purchasing power and more reliable in ...

Ceasefire Order Fails to Halt Fighting in Syria's Druze Heartland

Syrian Bedouin and their allies fought Druze fighters in the community's Sweida heartland for a seventh day Saturday despite a ceasefire ordered by the government following a US-brokered deal to avert further Israeli military intervention. AFP correspondents reported clashes in the west of the provincial capital as Druze fighters battled ...

Trump Threatens To Sue WSJ Over Story on Alleged 2003 Letter to Epstein

US President Donald Trump threatened to sue The Wall Street Journal Thursday over a story about an alleged off-color letter he wrote to Jeffrey Epstein, amid lingering political fallout over his administration's handling of the late financier's sex trafficking case. The Journal story says the letter featuring a sketch of a naked woman and ...

US Lets Staff Return to Iraq Weeks After Iran Strike

The United States said Thursday it would allow its diplomats to return to Iraq, nearly a month after they were ordered out as a precaution following US strikes on neighboring Iran. While the State Department did not explain its reasons, such shifts in staffing generally indicate Washington sees a lower risk of conflict. "Personnel who are ...

World-First IVF Trial Reduces Risk of Babies Inheriting Diseases

Eight healthy babies have been born in the UK using a new IVF technique that successfully reduced their risk of inheriting genetic diseases from their mothers, the results of a world-first trial said Wednesday. The findings were hailed as a breakthrough which raises hopes that women with mutations in their mitochondrial DNA could one day have ...

France Court Orders Release of Lebanese Militant After Four Decades in Prison

A French appeals court Thursday ordered the release of pro-Palestinian Lebanese militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, who has been imprisoned for 40 years for the 1982 killings of two foreign diplomats. Abdallah, 74, was sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for his involvement in the murders of US military attaché Charles Robert Ray and Israeli ...

Ukraine's Wartime Reshuffle: What We Know

Following weeks of rumours, President Volodymyr Zelensky this week unveiled a government reshuffle, replacing his prime minister and defence minister as he aims to inject fresh energy into his team, with no end in sight to the war. Here are the main points to know about the shake up, which comes as ceasefire talks with Russia stall and with the ...

Trump Slams Own Supporters as Epstein Row Grows

US President Donald Trump blasted his own supporters and "stupid" Republicans Wednesday as he went on the attack against anyone questioning his administration's handling of the case of dead sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein. Trump took his most combative tone yet to try and shut down the issue, after days of struggling to brush off a conspiracy theory ...

International Community Reacts to Israeli Strikes in Syria

The United States' special envoy for Syria on Wednesday called on all parties to step back and engage in dialogue for a lasting ceasefire in Syria following clashes with Druze factions in the south and Israeli strikes in Damascus. "We unequivocally condemn violence against civilians in Sweida... All parties must step back and engage in ...

Russian Strikes Continue in Ukraine Despite Trump’s Ultimatum

A Russian strike on a commercial area in eastern Ukraine killed at least two people and injured around twenty others on Wednesday, local authorities reported, just days after U.S. President Donald Trump issued an ultimatum to Moscow to end the war. On Monday, President Trump gave Russia 50 days to reach a peace agreement with Ukraine or face ...

Trump Says Not Firing Fed Chair, but Not Ruling Out

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he was not currently planning to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell but added that he did not rule it out. Trump's mixed messaging, after months of escalating attacks on the independent central bank chief, sent the yield on the 30-year US Treasury bond surging above five percent. Asked about ...