Saudi Arabia’s Shadow Over Lebanon's Path to Peace

Ralph Atrach 25/05 08:55 - Reading : 8 minute(s)

Lebanon Saudi Arabia Nawaf Salam Lebanese Army Banque du Liban

As Lebanon prepares for new rounds of security and political talks with Israel in Washington in the coming two weeks, Saudi Arabia’s position on peace with Jerusalem looms over decision makers in Beirut. In a May 10 interview with Al-Arabiya, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said that Lebanon is open to peace with Israel within the framework ...

Oil Rises on Renewed Middle East Fears, Equities Advance

This Is Beirut 2024-01-29 12:55 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Oil prices rose on Monday due to fresh Middle East fears, as President Joe Biden pledged to retaliate after blaming Iran-backed rebels for a deadly attack on US troops, while equities were boosted by China's latest move to support its troubled markets. The drone strike on a base in Jordan, which came days after the Houthis struck a vessel in the ...

City of Paris Unveils 'Rue David Bowie' in His Honor

Béatrice Moreau 2024-01-06 18:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Paris is set to honor the legendary rock music icon David Bowie by naming a street after him, a first-of-its-kind tribute to the artist since his passing eight years ago. The inauguration of Rue David Bowie will take place in the capital's 13th district on the left bank of the city, officials announced. The street, approximately 50 meters long, ...

'Back to Black:' Relating Amy Winehouse’s Backstage Struggles

2024-01-16 13:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Back to Black is an upcoming drama film about the renowned singer Amy Winehouse, soon to be released in cinemas. The film chronicles the life and musical journey of Amy Winehouse, from adolescence to adulthood, and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time. Back to Black is a musical drama directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson. It ...

'May December:' Portman, Moore Navigate Controversial, Intricate Love Story

Béatrice Moreau 2024-01-21 13:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

May December, the latest feature film from acclaimed American director Todd Haynes, offers an immersion into a complex and provocative narrative. This 1 hour and 57-minute film, which competed at the Cannes Film Festival last May, is distinguished by its bold storytelling and exploration of controversial themes. The film marks a significant ...

Samy Gemayel: Hezbollah Should Not Decide the Future of the Lebanese People

This Is Beirut 2024-01-23 18:50 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Palestine

“We refuse for Hezbollah to decide the future of the Lebanese people and destroy their country,” said Samy Gemayel, leader of the Kataeb party, on Tuesday. In a speech to the Kataeb party members, he stated that “Lebanon will not be dragged into a major war, not today nor in a thousand years.” Gemayel denounced Hezbollah for “deceiving ...

Deserted Singapore Mall Revived Into Urban Art Oasis

2024-01-24 13:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

In Singapore, a city-state where graffiti is typically prohibited, an abandoned shopping center unexpectedly morphed into a vibrant hub for artistic expression. Young creatives commandeered the nearly half-century-old Peace Centre, adorning its walls with vivid murals and organizing art workshops, infusing the space with newfound vitality. Peace ...

Finance: Deadline Extension for Some Payments

2024-01-24 21:08 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

On Wednesday, the caretaker Minister of Finance, Youssef Khalil, announced four decisions pertaining to the extension of deadlines for some tax payments. These measures grant taxpayers an additional period to fulfill their obligations, thereby avoiding late payment penalties. The deadline for the annual flat and proportional fee imposed on ...

Persistent Fighting in Khan Younis, New Mediation Efforts

This Is Beirut 2024-01-27 23:03 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Palestine Hamas

The war between Israel and Hamas entered its 113th day on Saturday, January 27. While in Gaza, Khan Younes remains the epicenter of the fighting, the Israeli government is now lashing out at the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). Deadly fighting between the Israeli army and Hamas raged on Saturday in the southern Gaza Strip, where ...

Elissa's 'It's Ok' or the Fruition of Rage

2024-02-01 21:22 - Reading : 9 minute(s)

On January 25, Elissa launched on Netflix a documentary about her professional and personal journey titled It’s OK, consisting of three episodes and produced by ‘Different Production.’ The series could have been called ‘The Confessions of Elissa,’ but the title It’s OK immediately immerses us in the life of the singer with a ...

The Unconscious in the Digital Age: What Freud and Lacan Would Have Seen on Our Screens

David Sahyoun 2025-09-10 18:00 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Psychoanalysis Freud Lacan Social Media Culture Unconscious

Freud repeatedly insisted that the unconscious cannot be grasped directly; it reveals itself instead through slips of the tongue, dreams, fantasies, and symptoms. Today, the web provides a stage where these formations of the unconscious assume new forms. Each Google search, each video watched on repeat, each story posted—or deleted—becomes the ...

Contribution for a Recovery

Riad Obégi 2024-02-08 09:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

This document does not claim to be exhaustive, rather it aims to give a few ideas that might help in finding solutions to Lebanon’s current crisis. 1 – Diagnosis: Lebanon’s GDP has fallen from 55 billion dollars to around 20 billion. Whole economic sectors have been damaged. State debt has been reduced by over 50 billion dollars due to ...

Eagles’ 'Hotel California' Lyrics Battle Unfolds in New York Court

Béatrice Moreau 2024-02-27 14:08 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Eagles frontman Don Henley embarks on a legal battle against three men accused of attempting to sell stolen notes from the iconic 1976 album Hotel California. In a courtroom drama that sounds like the plot of a Hollywood movie, Eagles frontman Don Henley took the stand to testify against three men accused of trying to sell what he claims are ...

Finance: Extension of Certain Payment Deadlines

This Is Beirut 2024-03-05 19:40 - Reading : less than a minute

On Tuesday, the caretaker Minister of Finance, Youssef Khalil, published four decisions extending the payment deadlines for certain taxes. The aim is to give taxpayers additional time to pay their dues, and thus avoid late payment fines. The payment deadline for the annual flat-rate and proportional tax levied on establishments selling alcoholic ...

Akira Toriyama's Legacy: Shaping Global Manga and Anime Culture

Béatrice Moreau 2024-03-09 18:15 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Akira Toriyama, the legendary creator of the immensely popular Dragon Ball manga and anime series, passed away at the age of 68. His untimely death has left a profound impact on the world of manga and anime, as fans and fellow artists mourn the loss of a visionary storyteller. Toriyama’s journey began in the early 1980s with his comedy manga ...

Stamp Black Market Thriving More than Ever

Liliane Mokbel 2024-03-15 19:34 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

The stamp black market thrives openly, with prices soaring to somehow astronomical heights, even within ministries, occasionally. The crux lies in the necessity of affixing the fiscal stamp to almost all accounting formalities, under applicable laws. In the “digital age,” the ordinary taxpayer rightfully wonders why the Ministry of Finance, ...

Achieving Stability in the LBP-Dollar Exchange Rate?

Liliane Mokbel 2024-03-18 18:50 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Central Bank of Lebanon

For nearly one year now, the Central Bank of Lebanon (BDL) has withdrawn around 32% of the Lebanese pound's circulating supply from the market. This action has successfully stabilized the black-market dollar exchange rate at approximately 89,500 Lebanese pounds to the dollar, an action that has also triggered a simultaneous increase in interbank ...

Agatha Christie’s Typewriter: Crime Fiction's Century Celebration

2024-03-24 14:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

  On the precipice of a new revelation in the realm of literary exhibitions, Cambridge University Library opens its doors to an unprecedented showcase titled "Murder by the Book: A Celebration of 20th Century Crime Fiction." This seminal exhibition, initiated on March 21, 2024, in the historical enclave of Cambridge, eastern England, offers ...

Elvis Evolution: AI Show Resurrects Rock King in London

Béatrice Moreau 2024-01-04 13:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

London is gearing up for an extraordinary event as Elvis Evolution, a state-of-the-art immersive show featuring the King of Rock ’n’ Roll, Elvis Presley, is set to open later this year. Developed by British company Layered Reality, this groundbreaking spectacle will use artificial intelligence (AI), holographic projections, augmented reality, ...

Forget Stocks: Your Next Investment Could Be a Handbag

Christiane Tager 2025-08-20 09:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Covid-19 New York United Kingdom

Buying a Hermès or Chanel bag is no longer just a style statement – it has become a serious investment. Take the legendary Birkin. A Baghunter study found it delivered average annual returns of 14.2% over 35 years, outpacing the S&P 500’s 11.7% in the same period. Even more remarkable, some rare or exotic models have doubled in value in just ...

The Lebanese Wars Through Photojournalism

This Is Beirut 2024-04-13 14:18 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Take a journey through Lebanon's history with these compelling images captured by photojournalists between 1975 and 1990.  Agop Abousefian and Angela Avetisian pose on their wedding day in front of their house in East Beirut – September 17, 1989.   A militiaman plays "Trick-Track" with a child among ruins and debris in the Dora ...

Behind Netanyahu’s Calculus on Lebanon Escalation Amid Potential U.S.-Iran Deal

Claudia Groeling 26/05 19:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Benjamin Netanyahu Lebanon Donald Trump Hezbollah Israel

Israel launched a widespread wave of overnight strikes across southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, targeting more than 100 Hezbollah sites, according to the Israeli military. The IDF said the strikes hit weapons storage facilities, command centers, observation posts, and infrastructure allegedly used by Hezbollah militants to coordinate attacks ...

U.S. Says Iran Deal Still Possible, as Trump Tempers Expectations

This is Beirut 25/05 09:15 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

USA Iran Trump Negotiations Hormuz Lebanon Hezbollah Pakistan Gulf

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a deal to end the war with Iran could materialize on Monday, as President Donald Trump tempered expectations. The United States and Iran have observed a ceasefire since April 8 while mediators push for a negotiated settlement, although Iran has imposed controls on Gulf shipping and the U.S. has blockaded ...

Iran Warns Deal With U.S. Not Yet Close, Despite Some Progress

This is Beirut 25/05 13:30 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

USA Donald Trump Benjamin Netanyahu US Secretary of State Bahrain

Iran warned Monday that, while some progress had been made, it was not yet close to striking a deal with the United States to end the Middle East war, after a weekend of mixed messages from Washington and Tehran. World oil prices tumbled on renewed optimism about an agreement, after top US diplomat Marco Rubio suggested a deal could be reached ...

Iranian Officials in Qatar for Peace Talks, Frozen Funds

This is Beirut 25/05 17:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Banks Gulf Hamas Israel Tehran

A high-level Iranian delegation that includes the country's top negotiator and central bank chief were in Doha on Monday to discuss an agreement with the U.S. and the release of frozen funds, a source briefed on the matter told AFP. "Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Doha earlier ...

Qassem Escalates Against Lebanese State as Hezbollah Faces Growing Pressure Over Weapons and Negotiations

Kaline Antoun 25/05 20:40 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Hezbollah Lebanon Amal Israel Lebanese Forces

Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem sharply escalated his rhetoric against the Lebanese government on Sunday, openly rejecting direct negotiations with Israel, defending the group’s weapons, and warning that “the people have the right to overthrow the government if authorities fail to protect Lebanon’s sovereignty.”  The speech, ...

Iran Supreme Leader Says Region Will 'No Longer Serve as Shields' for U.S. Bases

This is Beirut 26/05 11:25 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Israel Tehran United States USA Washington Khamenei USIranWar Hormuz

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, said on Tuesday that regional countries would no longer be shields for U.S. bases in a written statement carried by state television. "What is certain in this regard is that the hands of time will not turn backwards, and the nations and lands of the region will no longer serve as shields for ...

Iran Media Says Negotiators Seek $24bn Asset Release in U.S. Deal

This is Beirut 26/05 14:25 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Iran USA Qatar Hormuz USIranWar

Iranian media said Tuesday that Tehran's negotiators were seeking the release of around $24 billion in frozen assets abroad as part of a process aimed at ending the war with the United States. The report by Tasnim news agency came as a top Iranian delegation was in Qatar and after Tehran said it was finalizing a 14-point framework for a deal on ...

Trump to Meet Cabinet at Camp David on Iran

This is Beirut 26/05 18:00 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Donald Trump Israel Middle East New York Tehran

U.S. President Donald Trump is set to hold a rare cabinet meeting at the Camp David presidential retreat on Wednesday as Iran talks near a critical point, a White House official told AFP. The choice of the secluded retreat in the Maryland mountains -- which Trump hardly ever visits, in a break with previous presidents -- reflects the sensitive ...

Israeli Forces to Expand Past ‘Yellow Line’ As Operations in Lebanon Intensify

This is Beirut 26/05 19:45 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Lebanon Benjamin Netanyahu Amal Hezbollah Israel

The Israeli Army has started to operate on the ground past the “Yellow Line” in southern Lebanon on Tuesday as Israeli officials express their intent to intensify operations against Hezbollah amid persistent threats. According to AFP, citing an Israeli military official, the Israeli Army began to expand its operations in southern ...