Middle East
Trump Signs His "Beautiful Bill" for US Independence Day
This is Beirut 2025-07-05 05:50 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Donald Trump United States Politics
US President Donald Trump signed his flagship tax and spending bill into law Friday, capping a grandiose White House Independence Day ceremony featuring a stealth bomber fly-by. "America is winning, winning, winning like never before," Trump said before signing the so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill" while flanked by Republican ...
Hamas Says Ready to Start Gaza Ceasefire Talks 'Immediately'
This is Beirut 2025-07-04 23:25 - Reading : less than a minute
Nawaf Salam Ceasefire Hamas Palestine Gaza
Hamas said Friday it was ready to start talks "immediately" on a proposal for a ceasefire with Israel in Gaza, after holding consultations with other Palestinian factions. "The movement is ready to engage immediately and seriously in a cycle of negotiations on the mechanism to put in place" the terms of a draft truce proposal received from ...
Syrian Authorities Evacuate Citizens Amid Major Forest Fires
This is Beirut 2025-07-04 21:25 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Syrian rescuers were evacuating residential areas in the coastal Latakia province because of major forest fires, authorities said on Friday. Fires have been spreading across large parts of Syria, particularly the coast, for several days, with firefighters struggling to control them due to strong winds and an intense drought. Abdulkafi Kayyal, ...
EU, US to Hold Last-Ditch Trade Talks Through Weekend
This is Beirut 2025-07-04 20:25 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
European Union USA Donald Trump
EU and US negotiators will hold final stretch talks through the weekend as Brussels chases a deal before a July 9 deadline to avoid the return of steep tariffs, diplomats said on Friday. If the European Union does not clinch an agreement with the United States by Wednesday next week, higher levies will snap back in and unleash economic pain on ...
Rio to Host BRICS Summit Wary of Trump
This is Beirut 2025-07-04 20:20 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Donald Trump BRICS Xi Jinping Vladimir Putin Rio
The BRICS nations will convene for a summit in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday and Monday, with members hoping to weigh in on global crises while tiptoeing around US President Donald Trump's policies. The city, with beefed-up security, will play host to leaders and diplomats from 11 emerging economies, including China, India, Russia, South Africa, and ...
Syria Ready to Work With US to Return to 1974 Disengagement Deal With Israel
This is Beirut 2025-07-04 17:15 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Nawaf Salam USA United Nations Damascus New York Syria
Syria said on Friday it was willing to cooperate with the United States to reimplement the 1974 disengagement agreement with Israel, which created a UN-patrolled buffer zone separating the two countries' forces. In a statement after a phone call with his US counterpart Marco Rubio, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani expressed Damascus's ...
New Wildfire Near Athens, Crete Blaze 'Retreating': Firefighters
This is Beirut 2025-07-04 16:20 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Athens Wildfires Crete Climate change
A wildfire on the island of Crete that forced the evacuation of 5,000 tourists and locals is "retreating", Greek firefighters told AFP on Friday, but a new blaze fanned by strong winds is spreading east of the capital, Athens. Hot, dry weather in Greece—not unusual for this time of year—has heightened the risk of summer wildfires, and ...
VideosIn Sudan, the War Cuts off Water and Kills Agriculture
This is Beirut 2025-07-04 15:50 - Reading : less than a minute
In northern Sudan, farmland is dying in silence. Since the beginning of the conflict in April 2023, electricity has been cut off. Without power, the pumps have stopped, and water from the Nile no longer reaches the crops. With AFP
Nuclear Inspectors Have Left Iran: UN Nuclear Watchdog
This is Beirut 2025-07-04 15:30 - Reading : less than a minute
Tehran United Nations IAEA Nuclear
UN nuclear watchdog inspectors left Iran on Friday, the agency said, after the Islamic republic officially suspended its cooperation with the agency. "An IAEA team of inspectors today safely departed from Iran to return to the agency headquarters in Vienna, after staying in Tehran throughout the recent military conflict," the International Atomic ...
Dozens Hurt in Fuel Station Blast Heard Across Rome
This is Beirut 2025-07-04 15:19 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
A huge explosion at a petrol station in a Rome suburb on Friday injured nearly 30 people, two of them seriously, and rattled windows across the Italian capital. The blast around 8:20am (0620 GMT) was preceded by a fire caused by a gas leak during refuelling, according to Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri, who provided the toll of injured. Gualtieri ...
Firefighters Master one Turkey Wildfire as Two Others Rage On
This is Beirut 2025-07-04 12:05 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Firefighters early Friday gained control over a major wildfire in the western Turkish province of Izmir but two others continued to ravage forests there, a minister said. Although Turkey was spared the recent heatwaves that hit the rest of southern Europe, firefighters have been battling more than 600 fires in the drought-hit nation over the past ...