US Special prosecutor Jack Smith ends his investigation into Trump

This is Beirut 12/01 12:40 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Donald Trump United States US Congress USA

Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed to investigate Donald Trump for his alleged effort to overturn results of the 2020 election, has left the US Department of Justice, prosecutors said Saturday in a court filing. "The Special Counsel completed his work and submitted his final confidential report on January 7, 2025, and separated from the ...

Iran Expands Military Drills to Additional Nuclear Sites

This is Beirut 12/01 12:25 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Tehran USA

Iran has expanded military drills to cover two additional nuclear facilities in the west and centre of the country, state media reported on Sunday. The drills -- dubbed Eqtedar, or "might" in Farsi -- began last week and are set to continue until mid-March. They involve the army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the ideological ...

Deadly Strikes in Gaza as a New Negotiation Round Starts in Qatar

This is Beirut 11/01 22:30 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Palestine Donald Trump Benjamin Netanyahu United Nations Hamas

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a delegation of senior officials to Qatar for negotiations on a hostage release and Gaza ceasefire deal, which remains plagued by deadly clashes. Netanyahu held a meeting in Jerusalem with US president-elect Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, a representative of current US President ...

Sudanese Army Retakes Key City From Paramilitary Forces

This is Beirut 11/01 16:40 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Sudan

The Sudanese military and allied armed groups launched an offensive Saturday on key Al-Jazira state capital Wad Madani, entering the city after more than a year of paramilitary control, the army said. The armed forces "congratulated" the Sudanese people in a statement on "our forces entering the city of Wad Madani this ...

Syrian Authorities Foil ISIS Attack on a Shiite Mausoleum

This is Beirut 11/01 14:10 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Damascus

Syrian authorities foiled an attempt by Islamic State group jihadists to blow up a revered Shiite shrine in a Damascus suburb, a source within Syria's intelligence agency told state news agency SANA Saturday. Intelligence and security forces "succeeded in thwarting an attempt by IS to carry out a bombing inside the Sayyida Zaynab shrine", the ...

Less Than a Month After Chido, Mayotte Is Once Again Placed on Cyclone Alert

This is Beirut 11/01 13:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Less than a month after the devastating passage of Cyclone Chido over Mayotte, the archipelago was once again placed on orange cyclone alert on Saturday, in anticipation of Cyclone Dikeledi passing south of this French territory in the Indian Ocean. The orange alert level immediately means "the suspension of barge traffic," the local ferries, as ...

Venezuela: Nicolas Maduro Sworn In for a 3rd Term, Opposition Denounces a "Coup d'État"

This is Beirut 11/01 13:05 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Venezuela Nicolas Maduro

"I swear": Venezuela's outgoing president Nicolas Maduro, backed by the military and a loyal administration, was sworn in on Friday for a third six-year term during a ceremony described as a "coup d’état" by his rival, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia. The latter considers himself the elected president and has called ...

Malala Yousafzai Attends Muslim Girls' Education Conference Snubbed by Taliban

This is Beirut 11/01 10:05 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Malala Yousafzai Education Nobel

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai said she was "overwhelmed" to be back in her native Pakistan on Saturday, as the prime minister launched a global summit on girls' education in the Islamic world. The summit has brought together education leaders from Muslim-majority countries, but has been snubbed by Pakistan's neighbor Afghanistan, ...

Turkey Raps France, Says US Only Counterpart in Northeast Syria

This is Beirut 10/01 22:55 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Turkey USA France Syria

Turkey's top diplomat on Friday ruled out a role for French troops in Syria, saying it was only negotiating with the United States which has sought to head off Turkish military action against Kurdish fighters there. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan accused Paris of turning a blind eye to Turkey's security concerns, and called on France to take back ...

Iran TV Shows Missile Base After Paramilitary March Against ‘Threats'

This is Beirut 10/01 22:50 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Donald Trump Palestine Hamas Hezbollah Israel

Iranian state TV on Friday showed the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps touring an underground missile base used in an attack against Israel, hours after fighters marched through Tehran. The footage of the missile base at an undisclosed location "in the mountains" and the parade by paramilitary Basij volunteers come after the ...

Supreme Court Looks Poised to Uphold TikTok Ban

This is Beirut 10/01 22:20 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

TikTok ByteDance United States China

The US Supreme Court appeared likely on Friday to uphold a law that would force TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance to sell the wildly popular online video-sharing platform or shut it down. A majority of the conservative and liberal justices on the nine-member bench appeared skeptical of arguments by a lawyer for TikTok that forcing a sale was a ...

Israel Strikes Yemen Houthis, Warns It Will 'Hunt' Leaders

This is Beirut 10/01 21:41 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Houthi Movement Yemen Israel Benjamin Netanyahu

Israel struck Huthi targets in Yemen on Friday, including a power station and coastal ports, in response to missile and drone launches, as it warned it would hunt down the group's leaders. Since the war in Gaza broke out in October 2023, the Iran-backed Yemeni rebel group has fired dozens of missiles and drones at Israel in what it says is a ...