This is Beirut 13/11 09:55 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Donald Trump USA Politics Budget Shutdown
President Donald Trump signed a bill Wednesday to end the longest government shutdown in US history -- 43 days that paralyzed Washington and left hundreds of thousands of workers unpaid while Republicans and Democrats played a high-stakes blame game. The Republican-led House of Representatives voted largely along party lines to approve a ...
This is Beirut 13/11 09:40 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Europe Paris Islamic State Attacks
A decade on from deadly attacks in Paris, the world's two most notorious jihadist groups Islamic State (IS) and Al-Qaeda have significantly evolved and their branches still pose a global security threat, especially from Africa, analysts say. With strong central leadership, the groups were once able to train and then send commandos into Europe ...
This is Beirut 12/11 22:23 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Iraq Mohammed Shia al-Sudani Elections Iraq Parliament
Incumbent Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani claimed victory for his coalition on Wednesday in Iraq's general election after preliminary results showed it had secured a decisive lead. Supporters of Sudani, who is vying for a second term, flocked late in the evening to Tahrir Square in Baghdad to celebrate with fireworks and music, ...
This is Beirut 12/11 22:09 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
USA Donald Trump Republicans Democrat shutdown
Congress looked set Wednesday to end the longest government shutdown in US history, 43 days that paralyzed Washington and left hundreds of thousands of workers unpaid while Donald Trump's Republicans and Democrats played a high-stakes blame game. The House of Representatives was expected to rubber-stamp a contentious Senate-passed funding ...
This is Beirut 12/11 19:51 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky Corruption
Ukraine's energy and justice ministers resigned on Wednesday over their alleged involvement in a sweeping corruption scandal in the country's energy sector. Investigators alleged a key ally of President Volodymyr Zelensky orchestrated a $100 million kickback scheme to siphon off funds, triggering public anger at a time of widespread power ...
This is Beirut 12/11 18:45 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
Prosecutors in Austria on Wednesday said they have charged two officials of Syria's former government for allegedly abusing detained civilians during the country's brutal civil war. Austria hosts one of the biggest Syrian diasporas in Europe, and several similar cases related to crimes committed during the Syrian civil war have been heard in the ...
Seth J. Frantzman 12/11 16:00 - Reading : 8 minute(s)
Nawaf Salam Syria Washington United States Donald Trump Ahmad al-Sharaa
Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa visited the White House on Monday for a historic meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump that capped a year in which Damascus has rapidly come in from the cold and reintegrated into the international community. Sharaa has helped steer Syria through this complex path, beginning with pushing the Assad regime out of ...
This is Beirut 12/11 14:20 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Libya Migration Refugee Accident UN IOM
The United Nations said Wednesday that 42 migrants were missing, presumed dead, after a rubber boat capsized off the Libyan coast last week. It was the latest in a series of similar disasters in a stretch of the Mediterranean Sea that has claimed the lives of more than a thousand people so far this year. Only seven survivors were rescued after ...
This is Beirut 12/11 12:35 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
The list backing incumbent Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has scored a big win in parliament after elections, sources close to his alliance told AFP on Wednesday. Sudani's "Reconstruction and Development list has secured a major victory" following the vote on Tuesday, an official close to the premier told AFP. Another two sources ...
This is Beirut 12/11 11:20 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Nawaf Salam Palestine United Nations Crossing
Israel said it had opened a key crossing into northern Gaza on Wednesday to allow the entry of humanitarian aid supplied by the United Nations and other international organizations. "Today, the Zikim crossing has been opened for the entry of humanitarian aid trucks into the Gaza Strip," COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry body that ...
Bélinda Ibrahim 12/11 10:30 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Neural Nostalgia Music Science Feel Good
Tuning into an FM station, an old hit slips in between news flashes, and suddenly everything comes rushing back: the taste of an adolescent summer, the warmth of a first love, the carefree lightness of youth. Why do these songs, sometimes simple or even innocent, have such a powerful effect on our mood? In a world where nostalgia seeps into ...
This is Beirut 12/11 09:55 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Nawaf Salam Benjamin Netanyahu Hamas Palestine
Israel's strategic affairs minister, Ron Dermer, who also led negotiations for the Gaza ceasefire, has announced his resignation from his ministerial post following the return of hostages held in the Palestinian territory. Dermer, a close aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, spearheaded months of intense negotiations that resulted in the ...