Economy

Syria: The New Battleground for Influence and Investment

Liliane Mokbel 2025-06-12 12:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Lebanon European Union Saudi Arabia Syria economy reconstruction Qatar

The international community appears determined to reintegrate Syria both economically and politically after decades of isolation. This momentum stands in stark contrast to neighboring Lebanon, which fears that Syria’s reconstruction will monopolize international attention, pushing its own geopolitical and economic challenges into the ...

Lebanon’s Public Debt Exceeds $100 Billion

This is Beirut 2025-06-11 15:40 - Reading : less than a minute

Lebanon debt economy

According to official statistics and reports from several local banks, Lebanon's public debt has exceeded the $100 billion mark. This historic level reflects years of accumulated budget deficits, inefficient public management, poor financial governance and a lack of structural reforms. This debt includes both domestic and external debt incurred ...

Nvidia Marks Paris Tech Fair with Europe AI Push

This is Beirut 2025-06-11 14:50 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Europe USA Nvidia

Drawing high-powered tech CEOs and a presidential visit, the Vivatech trade fair opened in Paris on Wednesday with a bang as Nvidia boss Jensen Huang announced a major push into Europe. “In just two years, we will increase the amount of AI computing capacity in Europe by a factor of 10,” Huang told a packed hall in a southern Paris convention ...

Op-edLebanon Meets the IMF: An Exercise in Masochism

This is Beirut 2025-06-11 11:40 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Lebanon IMF Economy Reform

The latest round of kabuki theater between Lebanon’s government and the IMF has produced what all such high-level summits inevitably do: a mixture of forced smiles, indecipherable jargon, and the vague scent of scorched-earth diplomacy. It also revealed something everyone in the room knew but no one had the courage—or funding—to fix: Lebanon ...

Nintendo’s Switch 2 Becomes Fastest-Selling Console in History

This is Beirut 2025-06-11 09:25 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Nintendo Japan Gaming Switch 2

The Switch 2 has smashed records to become the fastest-selling console ever after gamers snapped up 3.5 million units in its first four days, Nintendo said Wednesday. Featuring a bigger screen and more processing power, the console is an upgrade to the original Switch – the third best-selling console of all time. It was released last Thursday ...

Adha in Lebanon: Full Hotels, Bustling Streets and a Resilient Spirit

Christiane Tager 2025-06-11 09:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Beirut International Airport

Many expected the bombings to deter visitors. But in true Lebanese fashion, the country delivered a weekend of Eid al-Adha that rivaled its best tourism seasons. The numbers speak for themselves: nearly 300,000 travelers passed through Beirut Airport in May, which is the highest monthly total since 2019. The atmosphere was festive, the coast ...

EU Adds Lebanon to High-Risk Money Laundering Watchlist

This is Beirut 2025-06-10 21:35 - Reading : less than a minute

Lebanon European Union Money Laundering UAE

In an official announcement on Tuesday, the European Commission stated that it had added Lebanon, Algeria, Angola, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Laos, Monaco, Namibia, Nepal and Venezuela to the list of jurisdictions that require enhanced monitoring of their anti-money laundering efforts. At the same time, the Commission removed the United Arab ...

Huawei Founder says Chips Still Lag 'One Generation' Behind US

This is Beirut 2025-06-10 11:55 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

United States USA Washington Huawei

Chinese tech giant Huawei's chips still "lag behind the United States by one generation", state media quoted its founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei as saying in a rare interview on Tuesday. Washington last month unveiled fresh guidelines warning firms that using Chinese-made high-tech AI semiconductors, specifically Huawei's Ascend chips, would put ...

US and China Begin Key Trade Talks in London

This is Beirut 2025-06-09 18:45 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

United States China Tariffs

China and the United States began a new round of trade talks in London on Monday, Beijing's state media reported, as the world's two biggest economies seek to shore up a shaky truce after bruising tit-for-tat tariffs. The two sides are meeting in the historic Lancaster House, run by the UK Foreign Office, following a first round of talks ...

Global Cybercrime Losses Hit $9.5 Trillion in 2024

This is Beirut 2025-06-09 15:15 - Reading : less than a minute

Artificial Intelligence Cost of Data Breaches SoSafe

The global cost of cyberattacks soared to an estimated $9.5 trillion in 2024, underscoring an alarming rise in digital threats facing businesses, governments and critical infrastructure, according to a new report by cybersecurity firm BD Emerson. IBM’s annual Cost of Data Breaches report revealed that the average data breach cost surged to ...

Finance Ministry Responds as Garbage Crisis Resurfaces

This is Beirut 2025-06-09 12:15 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Lebanon Finance Ministry Beirut Mount Lebanon Waste garbage

As mounting piles of uncollected garbage reappear in several districts of Beirut and Mount Lebanon, the long-standing controversy over the state’s management of the waste sector has flared up once again. At the center of the debate are delayed payments to the companies responsible for waste collection, treatment, and landfill operations, delays ...

NATO Chief Urges 400% Increase in Alliance's Air Defense

This is Beirut 2025-06-09 10:15 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Donald Trump Ukraine USA NATO

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Monday was due to urge a "400-percent increase" in the transatlantic alliance's air and missile defence capacities in response to the threat from Russia. "We see in Ukraine how Russia delivers terror from above, so we will strengthen the shield that protects our skies," Rutte was due to say in a speech to the ...