Middle East

Zelensky says Russia Trying to 'Wriggle Out' of Peace Talks

This is Beirut 22/08 09:30 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Volodymyr Zelensky Donald Trump Kyiv Ukraine USA

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow on Thursday of shirking a meeting between him and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, despite US-led attempts to arrange a summit to end the war. US President Donald Trump is trying to end Russia's three-and-a-half year invasion of Ukraine by bringing both Zelensky and Putin to the negotiating ...

SpaceX Launches Secretive US Military Spacecraft

This is Beirut 22/08 09:25 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

USA SpaceX Elon Musk

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted into space on Thursday night carrying the US military's secretive X-37B drone. The rocket successfully launched at 11:50 pm (0350 GMT on Friday), according to SpaceX's livestream of the event. The Falcon 9 lit up the night sky over NASA's Kennedy Space Center, where it was launched from. The US Space Force has ...

US Says all 55 Million Visas Fair Game for Review

This is Beirut 22/08 09:20 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

USA Donald Trump visa

All 55 million foreigners who hold visas for the United States are subject to continuous review, the State Department warned Thursday as President Donald Trump ramps up his crackdown on visas and immigration. "The Department's continuous vetting includes all of the more than 55 million foreigners who currently hold valid US visas," a State ...

Five Dead as ‘Thunderous’ Bomb Attack Hits Colombian City

This is Beirut 22/08 05:25 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Colombia Attack Police

Colombian authorities said five people were killed and dozens more injured when a truck bomb tore through a busy street in the city of Cali on Thursday, deepening the country's most serious security crisis in decades. Police said the explosion targeted a military aviation school in the city's north -- a fresh challenge to Colombia's fragile peace ...

Top US, Europe Officers Develop Military Options for Ukraine Peace Push

This is Beirut 21/08 22:25 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Europe Ukraine USA Volodymyr Zelensky Donald Trump

Top officers from the United States and Europe held talks this week to develop military options as part of efforts to broker an end to the devastating war in Ukraine, the US military said Thursday. US General Dan Caine and his counterparts from Finland, France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom and Ukraine met Tuesday and Wednesday in Washington, a ...

Israel PM Orders Start of Immediate Negotiations to Release 'All Our Hostages'

This is Beirut 21/08 20:35 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Benjamin Netanyahu Hamas Palestine

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said he had ordered the beginning of immediate negotiations to release the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza. The announcement comes a day after the defence ministry approved a plan authorising the call-up of roughly 60,000 reservists to help capture Hamas's last major strongholds in Gaza ...

Sweden Picks Mini-Reactors for First Nuclear Expansion in 50 Years

This is Beirut 21/08 19:20 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

sweden energy nuclear britain

Sweden said Thursday that it had selected so-called small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) for its first nuclear power expansion in a half-century. The government said three or five of the next-generation reactors would be built at the Ringhals plant in southwestern Sweden, providing around 1,500 megawatts -- the equivalent of two classic ...

21 Countries Sign Joint Statement Condemning Israel's West Bank Settlement Project

This is Beirut 21/08 19:10 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam West Bank United Kingdom United Nations

Britain and France were among 21 countries to sign a joint statement Thursday calling Israel's approval of a major settlement project in the West Bank "unacceptable and a violation of international law". Israel approved the plans for the roughly 12-square-kilometre (five-square-mile) parcel of land known as E1 just east of Jerusalem on ...

Indian, French Leaders Agree to Strengthen 'Strategic Partnership'

This is Beirut 21/08 18:45 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

India France Russia Ukraine Diplomacy

India and France agreed to strengthen their strategic partnership and economic exchanges in a phone call between the two countries' leaders on Thursday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said. Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron also coordinated their positions on the war in Ukraine and the conflict in Gaza. India is staring down an ...

SpotlightType 1 Diabetes: A Step Toward a Cure?

Bélinda Ibrahim 21/08 18:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Type 1 Diabetes Stem-Cell Cure Diabetes China Transplant

Type 1 diabetes, a chronic autoimmune disease, forces millions of people to rely on daily insulin injections. Despite advances in treatment, the prospect of a real cure has long remained out of reach. Yet a research team in Tianjin, China, has taken a major step forward: a 25-year-old patient, diabetic since childhood, has been insulin-free for ...

Record EU Wildfires Burnt More Than 1 mn Hectares in 2025

This is Beirut 21/08 17:40 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

European Union Fire Wildfires

Wildfires have so far ravaged more than one million hectares (2.5 million acres) in the European Union in 2025, a record since statistics began in 2006, according to an AFP analysis of official data. Surpassing the annual record of 988,524 hectares burnt in 2017, the figure reached 1,015,731 hectares by midday Thursday, representing an area ...

Israel Army Calls on Hospitals, Aid Groups in North Gaza to Prepare for Evacuations

This is Beirut 21/08 16:30 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam NGO Hospitals Gaza

The Israeli military on Thursday said it had informed medical personnel and aid groups in northern Gaza to start making evacuation plans ahead of a military offensive to seize the area. Israeli military officials this week informed "medical officials and international organizations in the northern Gaza Strip... to prepare for the evacuation of ...