This is Beirut 25/05 12:50 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Russia said Sunday it had exchanged another 303 Ukrainian prisoners of war for the same number of Russian soldiers held by Kyiv -- the last phase of the largest-ever such swap between the warring countries. "In accordance with the Russian-Ukrainian agreements reached in Istanbul on May 16, the Russian and Ukrainian sides have (over the ...
This is Beirut 25/05 12:20 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Syria United States Tom Barrack
Syria's new authorities have agreed to help the United States locate and return Americans who went missing in the war-ravaged country, a US envoy said on Sunday, in another sign of thawing bilateral ties. The announcement came a day after the United States formally lifted sanctions on Syria, ending more than a decade of diplomatic ...
This is Beirut 25/05 05:35 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Social media platform X was hit by a two-hour outage Saturday, prompting owner Elon Musk to say he needs to spend more time focusing on his companies. His statement echoed comments earlier this month suggesting he would reduce his role in US President Donald Trump's administration. The world's richest person has an extraordinarily full ...
This is Beirut 24/05 20:55 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Syria Interior Ministry Damascus
Syrian authorities on Saturday announced an interior ministry restructuring that includes fighting cross-border drug and people smuggling as they seek to improve ties with Western nations that have lifted sanctions. Keen to reboot and rebuild nearly 14 years after a devastating civil war broke out, the new authorities in Damascus have hailed ...
This is Beirut 24/05 20:30 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
Ahmed al-Sharaa Thomas Barrack Syria United States
The US ambassador to Turkey, who has assumed the role of Syria envoy, said Saturday he had met the country's interim leader following Washington's lifting of sanctions on the war-torn country. Tom Barrack, who met with interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Istanbul, said in a statement: "I reiterated the United States' support for ...
This is Beirut 24/05 19:08 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Houthi Movement Yemen Al-Qaeda United States
The number of Al-Qaeda members killed in strikes on southern Yemen blamed on the United States increased to nine, a Yemeni security source told AFP on Saturday. The official in Abyan province, which borders the seat of Yemen's internationally recognised government in Aden, said the strikes killed nine members of the group including a local ...
This is Beirut 24/05 18:55 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Syria Kurds Al-Hol Refugee Camp
A Syrian government delegation visited a notorious camp in the Kurdish-administered northeast that hosts families of suspected Islamic State group jihadists, the new authorities' first visit, both sides said Saturday. Kurdish-run camps and prisons in the northeast hold tens of thousands of people, many with alleged or perceived links to the ...
This is Beirut 24/05 17:42 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
France Cannes Electricity Cannes Film Festival
A power substation and an electricity pylon were vandalized overnight in the region around France's Cannes, which has been hit by a major blackout on the final day of its film festival, officials said. A substation in the village of Tanneron, which supplies Cannes, was targeted by a suspected arson attack, while the legs of a pylon carrying a ...
This is Beirut 24/05 17:18 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Syria Syrian Intelligence Bashar al-Assad
Syria's interior ministry spokesman Noureddine al-Baba said Saturday that around a third of the population had been wanted by the intelligence and security services of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, who was ousted in December. Baba told a press conference in Damascus that "the number of people wanted by the former regime for political ...
This is Beirut 24/05 17:00 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
United Arab Emirates Climate Climate Change
The United Arab Emirates breached its May temperature record for the second day in a row, hitting 51.6 degrees Celsius on Saturday, according to the National Center of Meteorology. "The highest temperature recorded over the country today is 51.6C in Sweihan (Al Ain) at 13:45 UAE local time (0945 GMT)," the office said in a post on X, ...
This is Beirut 24/05 15:33 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
A German woman accused of a mass stabbing attack that wounded 18 people at a train station in Hamburg suffers from mental illness, police said Saturday. The suspect, a 39-year-old woman, is accused of going on a stabbing spree on Friday at the main station in Hamburg, stunning the northern city in the middle of the evening rush hour. The woman ...
This is Beirut 24/05 15:15 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Pope Leo XIV took his message of building bridges and promoting dialogue to the Roman Curia on Saturday in his first audience with members of the Catholic Church's governing body. The late Pope Francis had sometimes difficult relations with the Curia and Vatican officials, accusing them early in his papacy of "spiritual Alzheimer's" and a lust ...