World

Reactions Against US President Donald Trump's Controversial Plan for Gaza

This is Beirut 12/02 10:45 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Donald Trump USA Palestine Banks West Bank

Arab League secretary-general Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Wednesday rejected any displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and West Bank, calling it "unacceptable" for the region. "The focus today is on Gaza today and tomorrow it will shift to the West Bank with the objective of emptying Palestine of its historical inhabitants," he said at the ...

Islamic State Group Claims Suicide Bombing of Afghan Bank

This is Beirut 12/02 10:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Banks Islamic State Afghanistan

The Islamic State group claimed Wednesday a suicide bombing of a bank in north Afghanistan which killed five people a day earlier, saying it was targeting Taliban government employees collecting salaries. Violence has waned in Afghanistan since the Taliban surged back to power and ended their insurgency in 2021, but the Islamic State (IS) group ...

Trump Insists US to Own Gaza, Jordan King Pushes Back

This is Beirut 12/02 09:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

United States Gaza Donald Trump Israel Jordan

President Donald Trump on Tuesday doubled down on his idea of exiling Palestinians and placing a rebuilt Gaza under "US authority," but faced pushback from visiting Jordanian King Abdullah II. "I reiterated Jordan's steadfast position against the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. This is the unified Arab ...

Zelensky Says Ready to Swap Lands With Russia

This is Beirut 12/02 04:10 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Volodymyr Zelensky Vladimir Poutine Donald Trump Ukraine Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was ready to swap land in negotiations with Russia, which freed an American prisoner in a gesture President Donald Trump described Tuesday as a goodwill gesture on ending the war. Zelensky, who will meet Friday at the Munich Security Conference with US Vice President JD Vance, a vocal critic of US ...

Israel Threatens to Resume Gaza Fighting If No Hostages Released

This is Beirut 11/02 20:25 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Benjamin Netanyahu Gaza Israel Hamas

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said Israel would resume "intense fighting" in Gaza if Hamas did not return hostages by Saturday noon, without specifying whether he was referring to all captives. "If Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon, the ceasefire will end, and the Israeli military will resume ...

Palmyra, ‘The Desert Jewel,’ Rises Again

Vanessa Kallas 11/02 19:00 - Reading : less than a minute

Palmyra Syria

Visitors are returning to Palmyra, “the Desert Jewel,” as it slowly recovers from years of conflict.

UN Projects Gaza Reconstruction Costs to Exceed $53 Billion

This is Beirut 11/02 18:10 - Reading : less than a minute

United Nations Gaza

More than $53 billion will be required to rebuild Gaza and end the "humanitarian catastrophe" that has gripped the war-ravaged territory, including $20 billion in the first three years, according to a United Nations estimate released Tuesday. "While it has not been possible in the current environment to fully assess the totality of needs that ...

StoryThe Hasanlu Lovers: An Embrace That Defies 3,000 Years of History

Bélinda Ibrahim 11/02 18:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Iran Archaeology Culture Story

In 1973, a team of archaeologists excavating the ancient site of Teppe Hasanlu in Iran uncovered a discovery both startling and poignant. Amid the ruins of a city destroyed around 800 BCE, two skeletons lay locked in a final embrace, frozen in time by tragedy. Known as the Hasanlu Lovers, their remains continue to spark debate about their ...

Rushdie Tells Trial of 'Lake of Blood' after Stabbing

This is Beirut 11/02 17:45 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Salman Rushdie Hadi Matar

Novelist Salman Rushdie described Tuesday the moment a knife-wielding attacker stormed on stage and attempted to kill him with a frenzied attack that left him blind in one eye. "The Satanic Verses" author told jurors at the trial of his alleged attacker, 23-year-old American-Lebanese Hadi Matar, that Matar "was stabbing and slashing" at him. "I ...

Vance Puts Europe, China on Notice over AI Regulation

This is Beirut 11/02 17:25 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

JD Vance United States Artificial Intelligence Paris

US Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday warned European allies against over-regulating the US-dominated artificial intelligence sector and China against using the technology to tighten its grip on power. The confrontational remarks by Donald Trump's deputy to world leaders gathered in Paris to discuss AI punctured the unity that host France had ...

Gaza Truce Under Strain After Trump Warning

This is Beirut 11/02 16:14 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Gaza Hamas Donald Trump Israël

The Gaza ceasefire appeared increasingly fragile Tuesday after Hamas said US President Donald Trump's latest warning "further complicates" the agreement with Israel, which has so far led to five hostage-prisoner swaps. Trump said that "all hell" would break out if Hamas failed to release all Israeli hostages by the ...

Kurds Seek to Empty Refugee Camps of Syrians, Iraqis by Yearend

This is Beirut 11/02 14:45 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Syria Kurdish camps refugees SDF

Syria's semi-autonomous Kurdish administration aims to empty camps in the northeast of thousands of displaced Syrians and Iraqi refugees, including suspected relatives of jihadists, by the end of the year, an official said. "The autonomous administration is working to empty the camps" of Syrians and Iraqis "in 2025... in coordination with the ...