French Cinema Legend Brigitte Bardot, 91, Returns Home After Brief Hospitalization

This is Beirut 2025-10-18 10:30 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Film Brigitte Bardot Icon Health France Culture

Former French screen icon Brigitte Bardot was briefly hospitalized for an operation but is back home and convalescing, her office told AFP in a statement on Friday. The health of the 91-year-old, who lives in Saint-Tropez in the south of France, had been the subject of persistent rumors in recent days. The former actor spent a few days at the ...

Verstappen Takes Pole for Sprint Race, Keeps Pressure on McLaren Duo

This is Beirut 2025-10-18 12:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

United States Max Verstappen Formula One Lando Norris Ferrari

Four-time champion Max Verstappen maintained the pressure on McLaren's nerve-wracked title duellists on Friday when he beat them both to claim pole position for Saturday's sprint race at the United States Grand Prix. The 28-year-old Dutchman left his best lap to the last seconds of a closely contested session when he outpaced Lando Norris by ...

Israel Identifies Dead Hostage Returned on Friday

This is Beirut 2025-10-18 12:25 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Gaza Hamas Israeli Hostages

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Saturday that the body of a deceased hostage Hamas returned overnight has been identified as 75-year-old Eliyahu Margalit. The Israeli military "informed the family of the abductee Eliyahu Margalit... that (the body of) their loved one has been returned to Israel and his identification ...

Israel Returns 15 Palestinian Bodies to Gaza

This is Beirut 2025-10-18 14:28 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Gaza Hamas Palestinian Prisoners

Israel returned the bodies of 15 Palestinians to Gaza on Saturday, bringing the total number handed over to 135, the health ministry in the Palestinian enclave 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 returned. Late on Friday, Hamas handed ...

Gaddafi Released on $11 Million Bail

This is Beirut 2025-10-17 14:15 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Lebanon Libya Hannibal Gaddafi Muammar Gaddafi Musa al-Sadr

Hannibal Gaddafi, the son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, was released on Friday by Investigative Judge Zaher Hamadeh of Lebanon’s Court of Justice after posting $11 million in bail, with a travel ban preventing him from leaving the country. Gaddafi’s lawyer denounced the bail amount as “illogical,” saying his client “does not ...

Postecoglou Sacked by Forest After Chelsea Defeat

This is Beirut 2025-10-18 19:00 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Football Chelsea Premier League

Nottingham Forest manager Ange Postecoglou was sacked on Saturday after just eight matches in charge -- just minutes after a 3-0 home defeat to Chelsea. "Nottingham Forest Football Club can confirm that after a series of disappointing results and performances, Ange Postecoglou has been relieved of his duties as head coach with immediate effect," ...

Pakistan to Hold Talks with Afghanistan in Qatar after Latest Strikes

This is Beirut 2025-10-18 19:05 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Pakistan Afghanistan Qatar

Pakistani and Afghan officials were due to meet in Qatar on Saturday, a day after Islamabad launched air strikes that killed at least 10 people in Afghanistan and broke a ceasefire that had brought two days of calm to the border. The strikes targeted what Pakistani security sources said was a militant group linked to the Pakistani Taliban in the ...

US Envoy Witkoff Felt 'Betrayed' by Israeli Attack on Hamas in Qatar

This is Beirut 2025-10-18 19:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam United States Qatar Steve Witkoff

US envoy Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump's chief negotiator on the Middle East, has said that he felt "betrayed" when Israel launched a strike targeting Hamas negotiators in Qatar last month. In a CBS interview alongside Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law who worked with Witkoff on the brokering of a Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and ...

US Vice President JD Vance to Visit Israel as Trump Administration Pushes Gaza Ceasefire Implementation

This is Beirut 2025-10-18 20:25 - Reading : less than a minute

Nawaf Salam Donald Trump Palestine Ceasefire White House

US Vice President JD Vance is expected to visit Israel on Monday as part of efforts by the Trump administration to accelerate the implementation of the agreement ending the recent Gaza war, Axios reported Friday, citing US and Israeli sources. While US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff was initially expected to lead the delegation, the White House ...

Dembele Set for PSG Return After Six Weeks Out

This is Beirut 2025-10-20 15:50 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Ousmane Dembele Champions League Football

Ballon d'Or winner Ousmane Dembele is in line to make his return from injury for Paris Saint Germain against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League, a source close to the club told AFP on Monday. The news will come as a welcome boost for PSG coach Luis Enrique, whose side has been struggling with injuries this season. Dembele, 28, has been out ...

Prince Andrew: The Monarchy’s Lasting Burden

Ali A. Hamadé 2025-10-20 16:00 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

United Kingdom Prince Andrew London Prince William King Charles III

On Friday evening, Prince Andrew, long embroiled in scandal, announced he would relinquish all his royal titles and honors under pressure from his brother, King Charles III, and heir apparent Prince William. Accused of sexual abuse dating back to 2001, involving a 17-year-old and linked to his controversial friendship with billionaire Jeffrey ...

France's Former President Sarkozy Jailed, Proclaiming his Innocence

This is Beirut 2025-10-21 12:45 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Emmanuel Macron European Union Nicolas Sarkozy France

France's former president Nicolas Sarkozy became the first former head of an EU state to be jailed Tuesday, proclaiming his innocence as he entered a Paris prison. France's right-wing leader from 2007 to 2012 was found guilty last month of seeking to acquire funding from Moammar Kadhafi's Libya for the campaign that saw him elected. AFP ...

Trump Urged Ukraine to Give Up Land in 'Tense' Talks

This is Beirut 2025-10-21 19:10 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

United States Ukraine Donald Trump Donbas

US President Donald Trump pressured his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to give up the eastern Donbas region in exchange for peace during "tense" talks last Friday in Washington, a senior Ukrainian official told AFP. The source added that the talks with Trump were "not easy" and that diplomatic efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war felt ...

Prince Andrew Faces New Pressure Following Virginia Giuffre’s Memoirs

This is Beirut 2025-10-21 20:20 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Virginia Giuffre Prince Andrew Jeffrey Epstein

The posthumous memoirs of American Virginia Giuffre, the main accuser of Prince Andrew in the Epstein case, went on sale Tuesday, increasing pressure on the disgraced brother of King Charles. In Nobody’s Girl, Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, recounts in detail being exploited as a sex slave by the late financier and sex offender ...

Trump and Putin's Budapest Summit Shelved

This is Beirut 2025-10-21 23:10 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

United States Donald Trump Vladimir Putin Russia

US President Donald Trump put plans to meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Budapest on hold Tuesday, as efforts to end the war in Ukraine ran into yet another roadblock. Trump said just days ago that he would meet Putin within two weeks, while at the same time pressuring Ukraine to give up the eastern Donbas region in exchange for peace, a ...

UK King to Be First to Pray With Pope in Five Centuries

This is Beirut 2025-10-22 12:45 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Pope Francis United Kingdom King Charles III Vatican History

King Charles III leaves for a state visit to the Vatican Wednesday, where he will meet Pope Leo XIV and make history as the first head of the Church of England to pray publicly with the pontiff since the schism between the churches 500 years ago. The visit comes at a delicate time for the British king following new revelations about his brother, ...

NATO Chief Brushes Off Concerns of Trump-Zelensky Rift

This is Beirut 2025-10-22 21:20 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Volodymyr Zelensky Kyiv Ukraine NATO

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Wednesday downplayed concerns about tensions between Donald Trump and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, while reiterating his belief that "only" the US president could achieve peace between Moscow and Kyiv. Rutte, visiting Washington just days after Trump hosted Zelensky for tense talks, met with lawmakers on ...

Brigitte Bardot Silences Death Rumors With Defiant Message

This is Beirut 2025-10-23 11:00 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

"I'm doing well," the French 91-year-old film icon Brigitte Bardot said on Wednesday evening, seeking to quell persistent speculation over her health on social media while criticizing "idiot" internet users. "I'm doing well," the ’60s star and outspoken animal rights activist posted on X. "I don't know which idiot started this 'fake news' story ...

Giant Kermit Sculpture Set to Lighten Mood at Art Basel Paris

This is Beirut 2025-10-23 16:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Fair Art Basel Paris France Culture

A huge inflatable Kermit the frog will be the star of the Art Basel Paris contemporary art fair this week in the French capital, unnerved by a daring heist at the Louvre. "Kermit the Frog, Even" is a 20-metre (66-foot) blow-up figure by Venezuelan-US artist Alex Da Corte, with its head deflated at the artist's request. The beloved Muppet Show ...

Fashion’s Glass Runway: Women Designers Missing from Top Roles in SS26

This is Beirut 2025-10-17 15:30 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Fashion Women Lead designers France Italy Culture

In fashion at the moment, as seen on catwalks: frills, corsets, big shoulder pads, and "naked dresses". Out of fashion: employing women as chief designers. In the most recent Spring-Summer 2026 womenswear Fashion Weeks in Paris and Milan, the effects of a huge reshuffle at the top of the European luxury clothing industry were plain to see. From ...

Hermès’ Designer Veronique Nichanian to Step Down after 37 Years

This is Beirut 2025-10-17 12:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Culture Hermès Mode Art Fashion

Hermes chief menswear designer Veronique Nichanian is to step down after 37 years in charge and will present her final show for the luxury house in January, the company announced on Friday. Hermes announced the change "with heartfelt emotion", paying tribute to Nichanian's "eye, her vision, her generosity, her energy and her curiosity" in a press ...

Burning Issues in the Syrian Visit to Beirut

Mario Chartouni 2025-10-10 16:55 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Lebanese Army Banks Damascus Hezbollah Saudi Arabia

Syrian Foreign Minister Assaad al-Shaibani is visiting Beirut this Friday for his first official trip since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Long postponed, the visit marks a symbolic step toward restoring ties between Lebanon and Syria after a decade of mistrust. It follows a series of technical missions by Syrian officials exploring ...

Multiple Dead, 19 Missing after Blast at US Explosives Plant

This is Beirut 2025-10-11 17:20 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

United States Tennessee Explosion

Nineteen people were missing and an unspecified number were killed after a massive blast tore through a US military explosives plant on Friday, prompting emergency responders to scour the ravaged site for any survivors, officials said. Aerial footage broadcast by US media showed smoldering debris at the factory in Hickman County, Tennessee, with ...

Estevao Scores Twice As Five-Star Brazil Thrash South Korea

This is Beirut 2025-10-10 17:15 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Rodrygo Brazil

Eighteen-year-old Chelsea winger Estevao scored twice as an impressive Brazil thrashed fellow World Cup qualifiers South Korea 5-0 away in a friendly on Friday. Home captain Son Heung-min made his 137th appearance for South Korea, a record for the country's men's team, in wet conditions in Seoul. But apart from that it was all about Carlo ...

Israel Ceases Fire and Gazans Start Returning Home

This is Beirut 2025-10-10 17:50 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Ceasefire Donald Trump Benjamin Netanyahu Gaza

Israel declared a ceasefire in Gaza and began to pull back its forces on Friday, as tens of thousands of exhausted Palestinians made their way back to their devastated homes. After two years of brutal war, the families of Israel's remaining hostages in the territory were also hoping the truce -- pushed by US President Donald Trump -- would ...

Foreign Press Group Urges Immediate Access to Gaza After Ceasefire

This is Beirut 2025-10-10 18:50 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Palestine Hamas Gaza Press

An organization representing international media in Israel and the Palestinian territories on Friday urged Israel to grant journalists immediate, independent access to Gaza following the declaration of a ceasefire. Since the Gaza war broke out in October 2023, Israeli authorities have prevented foreign journalists from entering the devastated ...

Trump Says No Reason to Meet Xi, Threatens 'Massive' China Tariffs

This is Beirut 2025-10-10 18:55 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Donald Trump United States China Tariffs Xi Jinping

US President Donald Trump said Friday he no longer feels a summit is necessary with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping this month, slamming Beijing for hostile trade practices and threatening "massive" tariffs. "Some very strange things are happening in China! They are becoming very hostile," Trump said in a long post on Truth Social that railed ...

UK, France, Germany Aim to Restart Iran Nuclear Talks

This is Beirut 2025-10-10 19:45 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam United Kingdom Tehran Nuclear France Germany

Britain, France, and Germany will seek to restart stalled nuclear talks with Iran and the United States, the three European countries said in a joint statement on Friday. Their announcement came nearly two weeks after UN sanctions were reimposed on Iran, under a "snapback" process the three European nations had initiated and which became ...

María Corina Machado Wins the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize

Moncef Ait-Kaci 2025-10-10 19:45 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Donald Trump Republicans Washington White House Venezuela

At 58, María Corina Machado became the first Venezuelan woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. The announcement from Oslo recognizes her steadfast and nonviolent fight for democracy in a country where opposing the government carries great risk. Born in Caracas in 1967, she is an industrial engineer and a graduate of the Andrés Bello Catholic ...

Morocco King Calls for Social Reforms Amid Youth-Led Protests

This is Beirut 2025-10-10 22:35 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Morocco Mohammed VI protests GenZ

Morocco's King Mohammed VI on Friday said improving public education and healthcare was a priority but made no reference to the youth movement that has been staging nationwide protests for sweeping social reforms. "We have set as priorities... the creation of jobs for young people and the concrete improvement of the education and health sectors," ...