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White House Withdraws Joel Rayburn’s Nomination for Deputy Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs

The White House has withdrawn the nomination of Joel Rayburn for the position of Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, according to the American media outlet Axios. Rayburn’s nomination had stirred controversy over his alleged role in concealing U.S. troop levels in Syria from then-President Donald Trump during his first term, ...

Israeli Airstrikes Intensify Across Lebanon

Israeli air raids escalated sharply on Monday, striking multiple regions across Lebanon from the eastern border near Baalbek to the southern border. Warplanes launched two raids on the outskirts of Nabi Sheet (Bekaa) and the Shaara area near Janta (Baalbeck-Hermel), while additional strikes targeted the Rihan hills (Jezzin), Qatrani, and ...

Hezbollah’s Financing Network: Another Arsenal to Dismantle

In an article published this week in Foreign Policy, Michael Jacobson and Matthew Levitt of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy argue that urging the Lebanese Army to disarm Hezbollah is not enough; the international community must also work to dismantle the group’s financial network. Although Israeli strikes have severely damaged ...

Suspect in 1994 Panama Plane Bombing Arrested in Venezuela

Panamanian authorities announced Sunday the arrest in Venezuela of the suspected mastermind behind a 1994 plane bombing that killed 21 people, mostly Jewish, in an attack attributed to Hezbollah. The aircraft, Alas Chiricanas Flight 901, exploded shortly after takeoff from an airport in Panama’s Colón province on the night of July ...

Zohran Mamdani Elected Mayor of New York

New Yorkers elected Zohran Mamdani as their next mayor Tuesday as U.S. voters took part in several key local and state elections ahead of the 2026 midterms. Mamdani’s victory came after a highly watched campaign in which he faced strong criticism from business elites and conservative media commentators. The Democratic Party also secured ...

Young Iranian Dies after Self-Immolation in Southwest

A young Iranian man who set himself on fire after the municipal government tried to evict him from his store died of his injuries on Tuesday, official media reported. Ahmad Baledi, 20, had doused himself in petrol and lit himself ablaze on November 2 in Ahvaz, the capital of southwestern Khuzestan province, the newspaper Etemad previously ...

Israeli Drone Strikes Kill Two Hezbollah Members in Southern Lebanon

Israeli drone strikes killed two Hezbollah members on Monday, in southern Lebanon. Mohammad Ali Hadid, a Hezbollah official, was reportedly targeted in an Israeli strike in the Nabatiyeh district of southern Lebanon. Media sources reported that Hadid, who had allegedly survived an assassination attempt the previous day, was traveling in a car ...

North Korea Announces Missile Test Hours Before Trump Due in South

North Korea test-fired cruise missiles off its western coast in a message to Pyongyang "enemies", state media announced Wednesday just hours before US President Donald Trump begins a visit to South Korea. The sea-to-surface missiles were launched vertically on Tuesday from the Yellow Sea and flew for more than two hours, state news ...

Brussels Airport to Resume Flights After Drone Sightings

The main airport in Belgium's capital is expected to resume normal operations on Wednesday, after halting some 80 flights after suspected drone sightings, a spokeswoman said. Some 400-500 passengers had to spend the night at Zaventem airport because of the sightings, Brussels Airport spokesman Ariane Goossens told AFP. "The situation will return ...

Aquathlon of the ATCL: Splash & Dash in Kaslik

The Automobile and Touring Club of Lebanon (ATCL) sets the clock straight this Sunday, November 9, with the 7th edition of its aquathlon (swimming + running), held under the supervision of the Lebanese Triathlon Federation. Precise start at 7:00 a.m. from the ATCL beach in Kaslik; awards ceremony announced for 10:00 a.m. at the club’s ...

Cabinet Approves Electoral Law Amendment and Praises Army Plan

The Council of Ministers decided to transmit to Parliament a bill bearing the status of double urgency, aimed at suspending, for one time only, the implementation of Article 112, in accordance with the formula adopted in 2022. This measure will allow Lebanese expatriates to vote for all 128 members of Parliament in the 2026 elections, without ...

United States Lifts Sanctions on Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa

The United States on Friday lifted sanctions imposed on Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, a day after the United Nations Security Council made a similar decision, ahead of his scheduled meeting next week with U.S. President Donald Trump. According to a notice published on the U.S. Treasury Department’s website, Washington removed the ...

US Govt to Become Shareholder in Rare Earths Processing Firm

The US government will become a shareholder in a startup specializing in rare earth processing, the company announced Monday, as the United States looks to reduce its dependence on China. Vulcan Elements, based in North Carolina, said the US government is to partner with private investors who will inject $550 million into the firm's capital. The ...

Explosions Heard Near Sudan Capital

Explosions were heard near the army-controlled Sudanese capital Khartoum on Friday, witnesses told AFP, a day after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces said they agreed to a humanitarian truce. Following the RSF's capture of El-Fasher, the army's last major stronghold in western Darfur, less than two weeks ago, the paramilitaries appear to be ...

Boualem Sansal: Germany Appeals to Algeria for Franco-Algerian Novelist’s Pardon

Steinmeier's office said he had asked Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to pardon Sansal as "a humanitarian gesture." "Given Sansal's advanced age and fragile health condition," Steinmeier also "offered Sansal's relocation to Germany and subsequent medical care in our country." A pardon for Sansal ...

Russian Reservists Face Call-Ups as Ukraine Hits Refineries

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday signed a law that allows using reservists to guard oil refineries after Ukrainian drone strikes led to gasoline shortages in some regions. Kyiv has been targeting Russian refineries in retribution for Moscow's drone and missile strikes in Ukraine, and in an attempt to cut off energy revenues that ...

Mali’s Fuel Crisis: A Nationwide Standstill

Since early September, queues at gas stations in Bamako have been endlessly growing. The jihadist group JNIM (Jamaʿat Nuṣrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin) has blocked fuel convoys from Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire, destroying nearly 100 tanker trucks, according to the Associated Press (AP). As a landlocked country, Mali relies on imports for more ...

Universal Music and Udio Partner to Launch Licensed AI Music Platform

Recording industry giant Universal Music Group said Thursday it had struck a licensing deal with AI music generation startup Udio, in an industry-first tie-up aiming to launch an AI creation platform next year. Universal and Udio said in a statement that their platform, as yet unnamed, "will be powered by new cutting-edge generative AI technology ...

Aoun Calls on Media to Defend Truth Amid Global Misinformation

President Joseph Aoun on Wednesday warned that truth is losing its place as a universal value in an age dominated by misinformation and digital noise, urging media professionals to reclaim their role as guardians of honesty and accountability. “The truth is dull, the rumor is seductive,” Aoun said, quoting a communications expert as he ...

Syria Foils Two Islamic State Plots to Assassinate Sharaa

According to Reuters, Syrian authorities have thwarted two separate Islamic State (IS) plots to assassinate President Ahmed al-Sharaa in recent months, in what officials described as a direct threat to the leader as he prepares to join a U.S.-led coalition against the militant group. Two senior officials, one Syrian and one from the broader ...

Swiss Town Returns Sacred Artefacts to South Africa

The Swiss town of Neuchâtel on Tuesday handed over to South Africa three artefacts that had spent more than a century in one of its museums. The set of 30 divining bones in a woven basket, a bull's foot bone used as an amulet, and a walking staff were purchased by Swiss missionary and ethnographer Henri-Alexandre Junod. The items came from the ...

How Spotify Shapes Global Music Culture Amid Record Growth

Music streaming giant Spotify said Tuesday that it had 713 million active users at the end of the third quarter, while paying subscribers rose 12 percent to reach 281 million. Revenue rose by seven percent to 4.3 billion euros ($4.9 billion), beating the company's guidance of 4.2 billion euros. The increase was driven by the growth of its paying ...

Oil Tanker Changes Course Towards Iran After 'State Activity'

An oil tanker suddenly changed course towards Iranian waters after suspected "state activity," monitors said on Friday, raising concerns following previous ship seizures by Iran. The Marshall Islands-flagged vessel was heading south through the Strait of Hormuz when it was approached by three small boats, Ambrey said. The tanker "was observed ...

Graham: Disarm Hezbollah to End Israeli Attacks in Lebanon

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham said Thursday that Israeli military operations in Lebanon would end “if Hezbollah were disarmed,” describing the ongoing cross-border strikes as a direct response to the militant group’s continued armed presence. Graham argued that Israel’s incursions into Lebanese territory are intended to “suppress ...

Voluntary Return of Displaced Syrians from Lebanon Enters Seventh Phase

The seventh wave of voluntary returns of displaced Syrians was launched Thursday from the former offices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Zahlé, in Lebanon’s Bekaa region. Convoys departed for several areas in Syria, including Homs, Aleppo, Damascus, and surrounding regions. The operation is part of a voluntary ...

Berri Adjourns Parliamentary Session Over Lack of Quorum

Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri on Tuesday adjourned a scheduled legislative session after failing to secure the required quorum, with only 63 of the 128 lawmakers in attendance. The plenary session had been set to resume discussion of draft laws and proposals carried over from the September 29, 2025, agenda. However, it was boycotted by ...

Israel Returns 45 Palestinian Bodies to Gaza

Israel returned the bodies of 45 Palestinians to Gaza on Monday, bringing the total number handed over under the ceasefire deal to 270, the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said. Under a ceasefire deal brokered by US President Donald Trump, Israel was to turn over the bodies of 15 Palestinians for every deceased Israeli ...

Qassem: “We Will Not Surrender our Arms”

Hezbollah’s deputy secretary-general, Naim Qassem, on Tuesday affirmed the group’s support for the Lebanese Army, saying it “is part of our people, our families, and our nation” and that Hezbollah “supports anyone who wants to defend this country.” Speaking on the occasion of Hezbollah’s Martyrs’ Day, Qassem said the movement ...

Prosecutor Files 142 Charges Against Istanbul Mayor, a Top Erdogan Critic

  Turkish prosecutors on Tuesday charged Istanbul's jailed mayor Ekrem Imamoglu with 142 offences that could carry a penalty of hundreds of year in prison, court documents showed. The nearly 4,000-page indictment charges the popular opposition mayor, who was arrested on March 19, with offences including running a criminal organisation, ...