Middle East

Seoul Warns North Korea Holds Enough Uranium for Dozens of Nuclear Bombs

This is Beirut 2025-09-25 11:40 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Kim Jong Un North Korea South Korea Nuclear

North Korea is believed to possess up to two tonnes of highly enriched uranium, South Korea's unification minister said Thursday. The North has long been known to hold a "significant" amount of highly enriched uranium, the key material used to produce nuclear warheads, according to South Korea's defense ministry. But in a rare public ...

Netanyahu Rejects Palestinian Statehood as He Heads to UN and Trump Meeting

This is Beirut 2025-09-25 11:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Benjamin Netanyahu Palestine United Nations

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced leaders who had recognized a Palestinian state, as he headed to the United States on Thursday for White House talks and an address to the UN General Assembly. His remarks came three days after France led a special summit on the sidelines of the General Assembly, which saw a slew of Western ...

ExplainerColostrum: The Newborn’s Most Precious First Milk

Bélinda Ibrahim 2025-09-25 11:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Colostrum Milk Baby Feeding Newborns

Colostrum, a word that carries a trace of mystery, evokes a long-forgotten legacy. It is the very first maternal milk, secreted in the days immediately following birth, before mature milk takes over. Produced in small quantities, this golden fluid is rich in antibodies, enzymes, growth factors, and essential nutrients. Despite its biological ...

French Navy Seizes Nearly 10 Tonnes of Cocaine Worth $600 Million off West Africa

This is Beirut 2025-09-25 10:55 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Cocaine France West Africa

The French navy has seized nearly 10 tonnes of cocaine worth more than $600 million from a fishing vessel off the coast of West Africa, French authorities said on Thursday. The seizure by two navy ships on Monday followed a tip-off by anti-drug and maritime intelligence authorities and British police, authorities in France's northwestern Atlantic ...

Aalborg Airport Shut for Hours After Drone Sightings Across Denmark

This is Beirut 2025-09-25 10:35 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Denmark Drones Russia

Drones flew over multiple airports across Denmark and caused one of them to close for hours, police said Thursday after a similar incident this week prompted Copenhagen airport to shut. The latest incidents in Danish skies follow similar events in Poland and Romania and the violation by Russian fighter jets of Estonia's airspace, which have ...

Op-edThe United Nations: A Global Stage Without Teeth

Salam El Zaatari 2025-09-25 10:00 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

UN Syria Iraq United States

When Donald Trump addressed the UN General Assembly yesterday, his words reignited an old debate: Is the United Nations an effective institution for peace and security, or merely a costly theater where leaders posture? Trump called the UN “obsolete,” echoing his long-standing skepticism about multilateral organizations. But behind the bluster ...

Washington Lifts Broad Sanctions on Syria but Maintains Pressure on Assad Allies

This is Beirut 2025-09-25 09:55 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

State department United States Sanctions Syria Bachar el-Assad

The US Department of the Treasury has announced a sweeping overhaul of its sanctions' regime targeting Syria. In a statement released Wednesday, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced the publication of a final rule amending the regulations on sanctions related to Syria. This update, which implements two presidential executive ...

Venezuela: Caracas Rocked by 6.3-Magnitude Quake Felt Over 600 km Away

This is Beirut 2025-09-25 09:20 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Venezuela Earthquake Caracas

A 6.3-magnitude quake shook northwestern Venezuela late Wednesday, following a slightly smaller tremor in the area, the US Geological Survey reported. The epicenter of the quake was at a depth of 14 kilometers (8.7 miles), 27 kilometers from Mene Grande, an oil town in a sparsely populated area of the state of Zulia. The most recent earthquake ...

EditorialThe UN: Paralyzed and Powerless

Marc Saikali 2025-09-25 08:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Donald Trump United Nations Europe Gulf Hezbollah

This week, heads of state are taking the stage at the United Nations General Assembly. The routine is familiar: solemn speeches, pledges for peace, calls for multilateralism. Yet behind the diplomatic pomp and cameras focused on New York, everyone knows the real negotiations are happening elsewhere – in hushed corridors and behind closed ...

Escalatorgate: Trump Demands Probe Into UN ‘Triple Sabotage’

This is Beirut 2025-09-25 05:35 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

UN Donald Trump United States

US President Donald Trump demanded an investigation Wednesday into what he called "triple sabotage" after an escalator, teleprompter and sound system malfunctioned as he addressed the United Nations. The UN has said the events that happened while Trump was at its headquarters in New York on Tuesday were accidental, and partly blamed ...

Iran Claims to Hold Documents Related to Israeli Nuclear Program

This is Beirut 2025-09-24 22:40 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Iran Israel Israeli Nuclear Program

State television in Iran aired documents and images Wednesday evening that it claims are linked to Israel’s nuclear program, which has never been officially confirmed or denied by its longtime adversary. In a documentary, the Iranian broadcaster revealed, with passport copies as evidence, the identities of individuals presented as Israeli ...

Trump Envoy Witkoff Expects Mideast 'Breakthrough' in Coming Days

This is Beirut 2025-09-24 22:15 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Steve Witkoff Gaza United States

US envoy Steve Witkoff said Wednesday he expected a breakthrough related to Gaza in the coming days, saying President Donald Trump had presented a plan to regional countries. Witkoff, a real estate friend of Trump who has become his roving ambassador, said the US president shared ideas when meeting with a group of Arab and Islamic countries ...