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Italy Says Wants Military to Stay in Lebanon After UN Peacekeepers Leave

Italy said Monday it intends to keep a military presence in Lebanon even after the UN peacekeeping force it belongs to leaves as planned on December 31, 2026. "Even after (the peacekeeping force) UNIFIL, Italy will continue to do its part, supporting with conviction the international presence and supporting the capacity development of the ...

French Indie Title 'Clair Obscur' Dominates Game Awards

French indie title "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33" dominated the annual Game Awards in Los Angeles, winning a record of nine categories, including best video game of the year. "What a weird timeline for us," Guillaume Broche of video game studio Sandfall Interactive quipped, thanking his team as he accepted the top award. "And also I want to ...

Lebanon Signs Deal to Purchase Natural Gas from Egypt

Lebanon said Monday it plans to purchase natural gas from Egypt, seeking to reduce its reliance on fuel oil for its ageing power plants in a country hamstrung by regular electricity cuts. The electricity sector has cost Lebanon more than $40 billion since the end of its 1975-1990 civil war, and successive governments have failed to reduce losses, ...

Football: At 38, Champion and Two-Time MVP, Messi Refuses to Slow Down

At 38 years old, Lionel Messi has just delivered the first title in Inter Miami’s history in Major League Soccer, while also securing a second consecutive MVP trophy. Champion, best player, record-breaker: even in exile in Florida, the Argentine continues to push the limits of time and statistics. Lionel Messi did not cross the Atlantic to ...

Pope Leo Calls for Peace in South Lebanon in Departing Speech

“Mr President,  Presidents of the Council of Ministers and of Parliament,  Your Beatitudes and Brothers in the Episcopate,  Civil and religious authorities,  Sisters and brothers,  Departing is often more difficult than arriving. We have spent time together, and in Lebanon, this spirit of encounter is contagious. Here, I have found ...

“iCloud” by Julie Bou Farah on View at Janine Rubeiz Gallery

With “iCloud,” Julie Bou Farah transforms the gallery into a space where memory takes on tangible form, navigating between presence and absence, gentleness and pain, reverie and reality. Rooted in childhood and imagination, her pictorial world offers a sensory re-reading of memory, intimacy, and the passage of time. Describing her approach, ...

Jaber’s Blunt Truth: The Law that Destroys Banks and Wipe Out Savings

Finance Minister Yassine Jaber did not mince words: “The banks will be the first losers” if the Financial Gap Law is enacted. And if the banks lose, depositors inevitably lose too. The draft law places the full burden of repaying deposits on the banks alone — a move that would inevitably destroy the Lebanese banking sector and wipe out ...

Syria to Start Replacing Currency from Jan 1: Central Bank Chief

Syria's central bank chief said Thursday that the country's currency would start to be replaced with a revamped version from January 1, as Damascus tries to relaunch its economy after emerging from the rule of ousted leader Bashar al-Assad last year. Improving the standing of the Syrian pound is among the greatest challenges for Syria's new ...

Louvre Museum Closed as Workers Strike

The Louvre Museum closed its doors to thousands of disappointed visitors on Monday as staff launched a strike to protest working conditions at the Paris landmark, two months after a shocking robbery. Workers are demanding extra staff and measures to tackle overcrowding, adding to the woes of the world's most visited museum just as France is ...

Pope Leo XIV Praises Sisters of the Cross During Visit to Jal el-Dib Convent Hospital

Pope Leo XIV paid tribute Tuesday morning to the Sisters of the Cross during a visit to their convent hospital in Jal el-Dib, thanking them for “the joy, light, and compassion” they offer daily. He lauded their century-old mission, founded by Abouna (Father) Yaacoub, as a “living witness to Christ’s love for the poor ...

Iran Refusing to Allow Independent Medical Examination of Nobel Winner

Iranian authorities are refusing to allow an independent medical examination of Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi after she was beaten during her arrest last week, her family said on Tuesday. Her brother Hamid Reza Mohammadi, who lives in Norway, told reporters in Paris via video link that she had informed her other brother in Iran in a ...

Kurds at a Crossroads as Middle East Shifts

Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander Mazloum Abdi’s November 19 trip to the autonomous Kurdistan region of northern Iraq was an important moment, underscoring that Kurdish leaders now appear to understand the importance of cooperation amid sweeping changes in the region. Abdi—a close partner of the US military in Syria who spent ...

Pressures and Calculations on Lebanon's Southern Border

Israeli defense officials increasingly fear that the relative quiet along the northern border may mask conditions for a rapid escalation. According to Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth, on Monday, senior Israeli army officers say Hezbollah has continued to reinforce its military infrastructure in Lebanese villages deeper inside the country, despite almost ...

Libya's Top Military Chief Killed in Plane Crash in Turkey

The head of Libya's armed forces and four other passengers died on Tuesday when their business jet crashed shortly after taking off from Ankara, officials in Turkey's capital and Tripoli said. The wreckage of their Falcon 50 aircraft was located by Turkish security personnel in the Haymana district near Ankara, Turkish Interior Minister ...

Yacoubian Defends “Gap Law” as Depositors Decry Losses

In a video shared by the page El Haweyah, MP Paula Yacoubian defended the so-called “gap law” bill, presenting it as an indispensable reform and an “achievement” of Nawaf Salam’s government in the context of a prospective agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). According to her, the bill would constitute the third ...

Israel says Hamas 'Will be Disarmed' After Group Proposes Weapons Freeze

Israel said on Thursday Hamas "will be disarmed" as part of the US-sponsored peace plan for Gaza, after a top leader from the Palestinian Islamist movement suggested a weapons freeze. The ceasefire, in effect since October 10, halted the war that began after Hamas's deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. But it remains fragile ...

US Senator Accuses Hamas and Hezbollah of Rearming

US Senator Lindsey Graham accused Hamas and Hezbollah of rearming during a visit to Israel on Sunday and charged that the Palestinian Islamist group was also consolidating power in Gaza. After two years of war between Israel and Hamas in the Palestinian territory, a fragile ceasefire has held since October, despite both sides trading accusations ...

Israel Strikes Two Vehicles in Southern Lebanon, One in Rare Chouf Attack

An Israeli drone strike on Tuesday killed one Hezbollah member in Marjayoun after targeting a Rapid vehicle, and in a rare move, the IDF also struck a vehicle in Chouf’s Siblin–Jadra road, reportedly killing another Hezbollah member and injuring five others. The IDF declared on Wednesday that the Hezbollah operative killed in an ...

Iran Says Dual National Arrested During 12-day War on Trial for Spying for Israel

Iran's judiciary said Monday that a dual national arrested during the recent 12-day war with Israel has been referred to trial on charges of spying for the enemy. The judiciary's Mizan Online news agency did not name the defendant, describing him only as a "dual national who lives in a European country" and was arrested in Iran during the June ...

Lebanon and the Vatican: A Centuries-Old Bond

Lebanon and the Vatican share a relationship that predates modern diplomacy by nearly a millennium. One is a Mediterranean nation long defined by religious diversity; the other, the global center of the Catholic Church. Yet together, these two small states have forged a partnership with influence far beyond their size spiritually, culturally, and ...

Lebanon Probes Officer’s Disappearance Amid Suspected Mossad Involvement

Lebanese security is conducting investigations under the supervision of Public Prosecutor Judge Jamal Hajjar into the disappearance of retired General Security officer Ahmad Shukr, who has been missing for a week, amid conflicting information about his fate, according to a judicial source quoted by Saudi daily Asharq al Awsat. The source ...

Israel Reveals Details About Hezbollah's Secret Maritime Unit

Israel on Friday disclosed new details about its “Behind the Back” operation, a November 2, 2024 raid in northern Lebanon that led to the capture of Imad Amhaz, whom the Israeli army described as a senior figure in Hezbollah’s secret maritime apparatus and a member of the coastal missile unit (Unit 7900). Training and Expertise During his ...

Three Turkish Police, 6 Islamic State Militants Killed in Clash: Minister

Three Turkish police were killed and nine other people wounded in an operation Monday against the Islamic State group in the northwest of the country, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said. The fighting took place at Yalova on the Sea of Marmara during one of scores of raids against the militant group, the minister said, adding that six Islamic ...

A Historic Decision by Joseph Aoun… Lebanon on the Path to Joining the Abraham Accords

The news of appointing former ambassador Simon Karam to head the Lebanese delegation to the “Mechanism” meetings—and the Presidency’s confirmation of his participation in today’s session in Naqoura—can only be understood within the context of the bold steps President Joseph Aoun is taking to move toward direct negotiations to resolve ...

Israel Says Received Presumed Remains of Gaza Hostage

Israel announced Wednesday it had received hostage remains found in Gaza from the Red Cross, which were being transported to the morgue for identification. It comes as the US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas remains fragile, with both sides accusing each other of violating the terms. Under the first phase of the deal, which came into ...

Disney’s 'Zootopia 2' Leaps to the Top of the North American Thanksgiving Charts

Disney's feel-good animated sequel Zootopia 2 ruled the Thanksgiving box office in North America, taking in $156 million over the five-day holiday weekend, industry estimates showed Sunday. Zootopia 2, the buddy cop comedy featuring a menagerie of talking animals battling stereotypes, is the much-anticipated follow-up to the 2016 hit, which won ...

UN Security Council Makes Historic First Visit to Syria Ahead of Assad Ouster Anniversary

A United Nations Security Council delegation arrived in Syria on Thursday, state media reported, the first-ever visit to the country just days before the anniversary of the ousting of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad. The delegation arrived via the Jdeidet Yabus border crossing between Lebanon and Syria and "is scheduled to meet a number of Syrian ...

Hezbollah’s Ammar Al-Moussawi Makes Secret Visit to Saudi Arabia

Hezbollah official Ammar Al-Moussawi has been on a secret three-day visit to Saudi Arabia, coordinated through Turkish mediation following his trip to Istanbul for the “Al-Ahd for Jerusalem Conference,” according to Nidaa Al-Watan. Sources cited by the newspaper said the meetings focused on providing “reassurances” regarding the recent ...

Pope Leo XIV and Bartholomew Mark 1,700 Years Since Nicaea in Turkey

Pope Leo XIV will join the leader of the world's Orthodox Christians Friday to celebrate 1,700 years since one of the early Church's most important gatherings, on the second day of his visit to Turkey. The American pope began his four-day visit on Thursday in Ankara, where he urged President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to embrace Turkey's role as a ...

As Pope Leo XIV’s Visit Nears, Hope Runs Deep in Beirut

In Beirut, residents are awaiting Pope Leo XIV’s visit, scheduled from November 30 to December 2, with a mix of hope and caution, anticipating a unique moment for a capital suspended in uncertainty. Across Beirut, in cafés, malls, offices, and homes, the pontiff's expected arrival is sparking a wide range of feelings. Between hope, devotion, ...