World

Israeli Hostage Videos: Standoff Between Netanyahu and Hamas

This is Beirut 03/08 22:25 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Benjamin Netanyahu Hamas Palestine European Union Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross on Sunday to aid hostages in Gaza, as outrage built at videos showing two of them emaciated. The premier's office said he spoke to the ICRC coordinator for the region, Julien Lerisson, and "requested his involvement in providing ...

Iran Sets up New Defense Council After War With Israel

This is Beirut 03/08 21:45 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Israel UN Security Council United States

Iran's top security body has approved the creation of a new defence council, state media reported on Sunday, more than a month after a ceasefire ended a 12-day war with Israel. "The Supreme National Security Council approved the establishment of the National Defence Council," state television said. The new body -- which will be ...

Renewed Sectarian Clashes in South Syria Kill Four

This is Beirut 03/08 17:41 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Syria Sweida SOHR

Renewed sectarian clashes in southern Syria's Druze-majority Sweida province killed at least four people on Sunday, a war monitor said, in the first deadly incident since a ceasefire last month. The province witnessed deadly clashes between Druze fighters and Sunni Bedouins in July that drew the intervention of government forces and tribal ...

Eight OPEC+ Countries Raise Production by 547,000 Bpd

This is Beirut 03/08 17:20 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

OPEC+ Oil & Gas

Saudi Arabia, Russia and six key members of the OPEC+ alliance said Sunday they will increase production by 547,000 barrels a day in a move that analysts say aims to regain market share amid resilient crude prices. Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman, along with the Saudis and Russians, together nicknamed the ...

Israel Says Ground Troops Conducted Raids in Syria

This is Beirut 03/08 14:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Israel Syria

Israel's military said Sunday ground troops had operated in southern Syria, seizing weapons and questioning individuals suspected of arms trafficking, in the latest cross-border raid since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December. A military statement said that troops had completed overnight "a mission involving on-site questioning of several ...

Ukrainian Drones Spark Fire at Sochi Oil Depot

This is Beirut 03/08 12:45 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Ukraine Russia Sochi Drone Attack

An overnight Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire at an oil depot in Sochi, the Russian resort that hosted the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, around 400 kilometers (250 miles) from the Ukrainian border, authorities said Sunday. Ukraine has regularly hit Russian oil and gas infrastructure in response to attacks on its own territory since Russia began ...

Lebanese-American Appointed to Top Federal Judicial Post in Washington

This is Beirut 03/08 10:40 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Washington Donald Trump New York Republicans United States

The US Senate confirmed the appointment of Lebanese-American Jeanine Ferris Pirro as the federal Attorney General, the highest judicial position. The nomination, put forward by President Donald Trump in May 2025, was approved by a 50-to-45 vote after a direct appeal from the White House to Republican senators to expedite the process. Born in 1951 ...

US Envoy Meets Israeli Hostage Families in Tel Aviv

This is Beirut 02/08 19:15 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

United States Steve Witkoff Gaza Israel Israeli Hostages

US envoy Steve Witkoff met anguished relatives of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza on Saturday, as fears for the captives' survival mounted almost 22 months into the war sparked by Hamas's October 2023 attack. Witkoff was greeted with some applause and pleas for assistance from hundreds of protesters gathered in Tel Aviv before going into a ...

Elation as Pope Arrives by Helicopter to Open-Air Youth Vigil in Rome

This is Beirut 02/08 18:05 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Vatican Pope Leo XIV

Hundreds of thousands of young faithful cheered Pope Leo XIV Saturday as he arrived by helicopter for an open-air prayer vigil outside Rome, in a rock star welcome for the new head of the Catholic Church. Pilgrims began crying and cheering when the white military helicopter descended over the sprawling, dusty, open-air site in Rome's eastern ...

Humanitarian Aid to Gaza: Berlin Says Progress Remains “Highly Insufficient”

This is Beirut 02/08 16:05 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Israel Germany Gaza Humanitarian Aid Famine

The German government said Saturday that the “limited initial progress” in delivering humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip remains “highly insufficient,” though it has not proposed any sanctions against Israel despite increasingly stern rhetoric. Following a visit by Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul to the region on Thursday and Friday, ...

Turkey Starts Supplying Azerbaijani Gas to Boost Syria's Power Output

This is Beirut 02/08 13:30 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Turkey Azerbaijan Syria Energy

Turkey on Saturday began supplying natural gas from Azerbaijan to Syria, whose infrastructure has been ravaged by a long civil war, with annual deliveries expected to reach up to two billion cubic meters. Syria's Islamist authorities, who toppled Bashar al-Assad in December, are seeking to rebuild the battered country where power cuts can ...

Trump Orders Firing of US Official as Cracks Emerge in Jobs Market

This is Beirut 02/08 13:19 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

United States Donald Trump Economy

President Donald Trump said Friday he has ordered the firing of a key economic official, accusing her of manipulating employment data for political reasons after a new report showed cracks in the US jobs market. US job growth missed expectations in July, Labor Department data showed, and revisions to hiring figures in recent months brought them ...