Culture

SpotlightAlcohol at School: The Untouchable Taboo in Anglo-Saxon Countries

Bélinda Ibrahim 18:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

United Kingdom United States Alcohol School Culture

Some contrasts say everything about a nation. While France long poured wine into schoolchildren’s glasses, Anglo-Saxon societies have always firmly and unequivocally banned any form of alcohol at school. This difference is not merely legal: it reflects distinct national histories, collective beliefs, and radically different views of childhood ...

YouTube Star MrBeast Brings 'Beast Land' to Riyadh Season Festival

This is Beirut 17:40 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

YouTuber Superstar MrBeast Entertainment Saudi Culture

MrBeast, the world's most followed YouTuber with over 450 million subscribers, opened a temporary amusement park in Riyadh on Thursday, the latest celebrity drawn to Saudi Arabia as it aspires to become a major entertainment hub. Eager for a chance to meet the social media star, families and teenagers gathered at "Beast Land," a venue featuring ...

StoryI Sing to The God of Israel

This is Beirut 13:25 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Lebanon Peace

Like many Lebanese of her generation, Carine Bassili was traumatized by civil war, loss, and a patriarchal culture, hardships that forged her personality and shaped her journey from Lebanon to the U.S., where she would come to form a religious bond with Israel. Bassili’s journey—a spiritual one based on her faith and reading of the Bible—led ...

How Embracing ‘Ickiness’ Helped Writer Szalay Win Booker Prize

This is Beirut 13:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Literature David Szalay Booker Prize Winner Hungary Britain Culture

Writer David Szalay deliberately dared his readers to face up to the "ickiness" of an affair between a 15-year-old boy and his much older married neighbor in the first chapter of his new book, Flesh. And it worked, winning him Britain's top literary award, the Booker Prize, this week with his "extraordinary" story of a Hungarian immigrant who ...

The LAP Turns Back Time: Lebanon’s First International Stamp Exhibition

Makram Haddad 11:20 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Lebanon Exhibition Stamps

A Century of Stamps, a Memory on Gummed Paper The Lebanese postage stamp appeared for the first time in 1924–1925, with the issue of a series featuring the eternal cedar of Lebanon, but inscribed with the words “Grand Liban” (“Greater Lebanon”). Until 1918, the year the Ottoman armies withdrew, the territory used Ottoman stamps or ...

Bad Bunny Dominates Latin Grammys With Landmark Wins

This is Beirut 10:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Music Culture Art Bad Bunny Prize Grammy Latino

Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny enjoyed a victory lap Thursday night at the Latin Grammys, the biggest celebration of Spanish- and Portuguese-language music. The reggaeton star won five awards from 12 nominations, including the coveted Best Album prize — a category in which he is also competing at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards in February. Bad ...

Spotify to Launch Music Videos in North America for Premium Members

This is Beirut 13/11 17:35 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Music Spotify Streaming Videos USA Canada Culture

Audio streaming platform Spotify will be adding music videos "in the coming weeks" for paying subscribers in the United States and Canada, a spokesperson said Wednesday. The development marks a significant expansion by the Sweden-based audio platform into video, which until now has primarily been limited to video podcasts. The Spotify ...

Nintendo Marks 40 Years of Mario with New Movie Trailer

This is Beirut 13/11 13:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Entertainment Games Film Nintendo Japan Culture

Super Mario fans got a first look on Wednesday at the sequel to the megahit movie based on Nintendo's top video game franchise that turned 40 this year. US star Brie Larson joins Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Jack Black in the voice cast of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, a CGI animation set for release in April 2026. It follows the huge ...

Pope Leo XIV Shares His Favorite Films Ahead of Vatican Hollywood Audience

This is Beirut 13/11 10:30 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Film Pope Leo XIV Vatican Italy Culture

Pope Leo XIV has revealed his four favorite films ahead of a special audience with Hollywood celebrities and Oscar-winning directors at the Vatican. Leo, the first pope from the United States, picked tearjerkers, including Frank Capra's classic 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life with James Stewart, in which an angel is sent from heaven to help a ...

Behind the Charts: The Real Cost of Brexit and AI for UK Artists

This is Beirut 12/11 19:55 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Music AI Growth Britain Culture

Britain's music industry contributed £8 billion ($10.5 billion) to the UK economy in 2024, but the effects of Brexit and AI have clouded the sector's outlook, an industry report showed Wednesday. UK tours by Taylor Swift and Take That helped lift the industry's contribution to the UK economy last year, according to the annual report from UK ...

'Intersections': The Uk Film Festival in Lebanon Launches its First Edition in Beirut

This is Beirut 12/11 14:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Cinema Beirut Film Culture UK Metropolis

Beirut welcomes a new landmark cultural event this November: Intersections – The UK Film Festival in Lebanon, a major collaboration between the British Council, the British Embassy in Beirut, and the Metropolis Cinema Association, supported by the UK Government’s Great Britain and Northern Ireland Campaign. Running from 13 to 19 November 2025 ...

Rise of an AI Country Star Shakes the Music Charts

This is Beirut 12/11 10:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

AI Music Singer Country Culture Art

An artist suspected of being virtual, with a voice generated by Artificial Intelligence, has reached the top of one of the most popular country-music download charts in the United States, marking a first. Walk My Walk, by Breaking Rust, an act with no known identity, is now the most downloaded country track, according to the data published on ...