This is Beirut 15/02 13:55 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Iran said Saturday that it had received messages from the new government in Damascus following the ouster of its longtime Syrian ally, former president Bashar al-Assad. "The Islamic Republic of Iran is indirectly in contact with Damascus," Tehran's special envoy for Syrian affairs, Mohammad Reza Raouf Sheibani, was quoted as saying by the ...
This is Beirut 15/02 12:50 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
Antonio Guterres Republic of Congo Rwanda African Union
UN chief Antonio Guterres on Saturday demanded that the Democratic Republic of Congo's "territorial integrity" be respected and a regional war avoided at an African summit the day after Rwandan-backed fighters seized a second DRC provincial capital. With international pressure mounting on Rwanda to curb the fighting in eastern DR Congo (DRC), the ...
This is Beirut 15/02 05:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Donald Trump New York US Supreme Court Republicans USA
The US Justice Department filed court papers Friday to dismiss a corruption case against New York Mayor Eric Adams, despite a barrage of resignations from prosecutors who refused to drop the charges. Adams, who pleaded not guilty in September to charges of fraud and bribery, has denied allegations he asked for the case to be dropped in exchange ...
This is Beirut 14/02 22:28 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Hamas Israel Palestine Hostages
A Hamas official said on Friday that he expects the second phase of indirect negotiations on the Gaza Strip ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel to begin "early next week." "We expect the second phase of ceasefire negotiations to begin early next week, and mediators are continuing discussions on the matter," said the ...
This is Beirut 14/02 20:39 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Pope Francis was admitted to hospital on Friday for tests and treatment for bronchitis, the latest in a series of health problems for the 88-year-old pontiff. Francis, who has been breathless in recent days and has delegated officials to read his speeches, held his morning meetings as planned before heading to Rome's Gemelli hospital, the ...
This is Beirut 14/02 20:25 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Europe Donald Trump Ukraine JD Vance
US Vice President JD Vance pledged Friday that Washington sought to secure a "lasting" peace as he held a first meeting with Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss Donald Trump's push for a deal with Moscow. The talks in Munich were seen as a key moment for Kyiv as it tries to keep Washington on its side after Trump ...
This is Beirut 14/02 17:10 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
In a mountainous region between Syria and Lebanon, once controlled by smugglers linked to the Lebanese Hezbollah, a Syrian security official has a padlock broken on an abandoned building, revealing a newly discovered drug factory left to deteriorate. In the Qousseir region, located in the Homs province in eastern Syria, the new authorities ...
This is Beirut 14/02 16:55 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Donald Trump Palestine Israel Saudi Arabia
Riyadh is set to host a summit on February 20, bringing together five Arab countries to develop a common response to Donald Trump’s plan, which envisions emptying Gaza of its inhabitants and rebuilding the territory under U.S. control, a Saudi source told AFP on Friday. This summit, which will gather the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the ...
Elie Valluy - Paris correspondent 14/02 12:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Jacques Chirac Rafic Hariri Lebanon France
February 16, 2005. Jacques Chirac arrived at Beirut airport with his wife, Bernadette, to pay tribute to former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, who had been killed in a massive bombing two days earlier. As he stepped off the plane and delivered a speech on the airport tarmac, Chirac condemned the “abominable crime, one that seemed like it ...
This is Beirut 14/02 09:20 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Tiktok Donald Trump USA China Ban
TikTok has returned to Apple and Google app stores nearly a month after a new security law forced its removal, AFP journalists confirmed on Thursday. The Chinese-owned social media platform faces being banned in the United States over national security concerns about the data it gathers on users. The popular video-sharing app briefly went dark ...
This is Beirut 14/02 09:00 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
President Donald Trump's plan for "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners is set to spark a flurry of negotiations that could reduce levies. But analysts warn that it also risks painful retaliation. "This is every country, and essentially, when they treat us fairly, we treat them fairly," Trump told reporters. What ...
This is Beirut 14/02 05:40 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Volodymyr Zelensky Ukraine Vladimir Putin Russia United States
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Westerners on Thursday of Vladimir Putin's real intentions and called for Russia to be “stopped” before anything else, despite Donald Trump's assurances that the Russian president “wants peace”. The Europeans, shocked by the announcement of a first telephone ...