Middle East

US Asked France to Speak to Iran Before Israel Truce

This is Beirut 2025-06-25 12:15 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Donald Trump US Secretary of State

France conveyed to Iran the terms of a US-proposed ceasefire with Israel at the request of Washington in the hours leading up to the truce, a French diplomatic source said Wednesday. On Monday night, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called his French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot to "inform him of the US wish for a ceasefire provided there ...

Iran-Israel War: Latest Developments

This is Beirut 2025-06-25 11:30 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Donald Trump Benjamin Netanyahu Tehran USA

Classified US intelligence suggests that American strikes on Iran set back its nuclear program by just a few months, contradicting President Donald Trump's claim of total destruction. Here are the latest developments as a truce between Iran and Israel appeared to be holding early Wednesday: 'Significant hit' The Israeli ...

Gaza Rescuers say Israeli Forces Kill 20 Including Six Aid Seekers

This is Beirut 2025-06-25 10:35 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Palestine United Nations Hamas

Gaza's civil defense agency said Israeli fire killed at least 20 people on Wednesday, including six who were waiting to collect food aid in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory. The latest in a string of deadly incidents near aid distribution sites came after the United Nations had condemned the "weaponization of food" in the Gaza Strip, where a ...

NATO Chief: US 'Totally Committed' to Collective Defense Pledge

This is Beirut 2025-06-25 09:40 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

USA NATO Mark Rutte

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Wednesday that the United States was "totally committed" to the alliance's mutual defense clause, after President Donald Trump appeared to cast doubt on it. "For me, there is absolute clarity that the United States is totally committed to NATO, totally committed to Article Five," Rutte told reporters ...

US Judge Backs Using Copyrighted Books to Train AI

This is Beirut 2025-06-25 09:20 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

USA AI Judge Book Copyright

A US federal judge has sided with Anthropic regarding training its artificial intelligence models on copyrighted books without authors' permission, a decision with the potential to set a major legal precedent in AI deployment. District Court Judge William Alsup ruled on Monday that the company's training of its Claude AI models with books bought ...

ExplainerWhat Does NATO's 5% Spending Deal Really Mean?

This is Beirut 2025-06-25 09:10 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Donald Trump USA NATO

NATO leaders are set to sign off Wednesday at their Hague summit on a defense spending pledge to satisfy US President Donald Trump's demand for a headline figure of five percent of GDP. Here are the details of what NATO is signing up to: Five percent? Not really Trump has insisted NATO countries hit the five-percent bar -- well beyond the ...

Israeli Army says Seven Soldiers Killed in Gaza

This is Beirut 2025-06-25 09:05 - Reading : less than a minute

Nawaf Salam Hamas Army Soldiers

The Israeli army on Wednesday said seven of its soldiers were killed in combat in Gaza, where the war with Palestinian militant group Hamas continued. The army's website listed the names of five soldiers and a platoon commander from the same battalion who "fell during combat in the southern Gaza Strip". It added that a seventh soldier was also ...

Iran Hangs 3 Men Accused of Spying for Israel

This is Beirut 2025-06-25 06:45 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Iran

Iran said Wednesday that it executed three men accused of spying for Israel, the day after a truce between the two countries came into effect. "Idris Ali, Azad Shojai and Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul, who attempted to import equipment into the country to carry out assassinations, were arrested and tried for... cooperation favouring the Zionist ...

Trump Whirlwind to Test NATO Summit Unity

This is Beirut 2025-06-25 06:40 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Donald Trump Nato Diplomacy Conflict

Will he play nice? That's the question for NATO leaders nervously waiting to see if a carefully choreographed show to please US President Donald Trump will pay dividends when the alliance summit gets down to business on Wednesday. Every precaution is in place to avoid a Trump blow-up at the Hague summit, from giving him credit for a historic ...

US Intel Says Strikes Did Not Destroy Iran Nuclear Program

This is Beirut 2025-06-25 06:05 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

United States Iran Nuclear Strikes

A classified preliminary US intelligence report has concluded that American strikes on Iran set back Tehran's nuclear program by just a few months -- rather than destroying it as claimed by President Donald Trump. US media on Tuesday cited people familiar with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) findings as saying the weekend strikes did ...

Israel's Netanyahu Vows to Block Iran 'Nuclear Weapon' as He Declares Victory

This is Beirut 2025-06-24 22:56 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Iran Benjamin Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a "historic victory" on Tuesday after agreeing to a ceasefire with Iran and insisted that his country's arch-foe would never achieve a nuclear weapon. The premier's comments, delivered in an address to the nation, came after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country ...

Trump Rattles NATO Allies as He Descends on Summit

This is Beirut 2025-06-24 22:55 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Donald Trump Volodymyr Zelensky USA Europe Kyiv

US President Donald Trump swept into NATO's Hague summit Tuesday, with allies hoping a pledge to ramp up defence spending will keep the mercurial leader of the military superpower committed to protecting them. Trump joined leaders from NATO's 31 other members to kick off the two-day gathering with a dinner hosted by Dutch King Willem-Alexander in ...