This is Beirut 2024-12-24 17:50 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Iran's top council responsible for safeguarding the internet voted Tuesday to lift a ban on the popular messaging application WhatsApp, which has been subject to restrictions for over two years, state media reported. "The ban on WhatsApp and Google Play was removed by unanimous vote of the members of the Supreme Council of ...
This is Beirut 2024-12-24 17:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
A few hundred worshippers gathered in and around the Church of the Nativity in the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, the birthplace of Christianity, where Christmas celebrations are overshadowed for the second consecutive year by the war in the Gaza Strip. At the Vatican, Pope Francis is inaugurating the Catholic Church's "Holy Year" ...
This is Beirut 2024-12-24 15:01 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
Syria's new authorities announced Tuesday that they had reached an agreement with the country's rebel groups on their dissolution and integration into the regular defense forces. Photos published by the state-run SANA news agency showed the country's new leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, surrounded by the heads of several armed factions -- but ...
This is Beirut 2024-12-24 14:40 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
Qatar syria sanctions Damascus
Qatar called on Tuesday for the quick removal of sanctions on Syria following the ousting of president Bashar al-Assad by Islamist-led rebels. "We call for intensified efforts to expedite the lifting of international sanctions on Syria," foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari told a regular briefing. Qatar's call came a day after a ...
This is Beirut 2024-12-24 14:05 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
Italian police said Tuesday they had dismantled a cell which promoted jihadist propaganda online, with five suspects of foreign origin targeted including their alleged leader, a Pakistani woman. Four of the suspects are accused of having "formed a terrorist association of Salafist-jihadist inspiration" through which they promoted Al-Qaeda and the ...
This is Beirut 2024-12-24 13:45 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
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US group Hostage Aid Worldwide said Tuesday that it believes journalist Austin Tice, who went missing in Syria in 2012, is still alive, though it did not offer concrete information on his whereabouts. "We have data that Austin is alive till January 2024, but the president of the US said in August that he is alive, and we are sure that he is alive ...
This is Beirut 2024-12-24 13:05 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
A Russian court on Tuesday sentenced a US man to 15 years in a penal colony for "espionage", Russian news agencies reported. Russia has detained and sentenced a number of US citizens and dual-nationals in recent years, some of whom have been freed in prisoner exchanges. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was convicted of espionage in ...
This is Beirut 2024-12-24 13:00 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
More than 25,000 Syrians have returned home from Turkey since Bashar al-Assad was overthrown by Islamist-led HTS rebels, Turkey's interior minister said Tuesday. Turkey is home to nearly three million refugees who fled the civil war that broke out in 2011, and whose presence has been an issue for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government. "The ...
This is Beirut 2024-12-24 09:35 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Ukraine Vladimir Putin russia estonia
In heavy snowfall and high winds, around 200 people wearing rain ponchos and fur hoods queued in the Estonian border town of Narva to cross into neighboring Russia. Arriving at the crossing in taxis or buses, some dragged suitcases through thick snow, and others walked up and joined the line with just a single plastic shopping bag. Checks have ...
This is Beirut 2024-12-24 09:25 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Covid-19 United Kingdom london
UK families of some 240,000 people who died from Covid-19 have hung festive lights on a London wall, a symbol of love, anger and pain ahead of another Christmas overshadowed by loss. As the fifth anniversary of the global pandemic approaches, emotions still run raw across the UK amid lingering accusations that the then government responded too ...
This is Beirut 2024-12-24 05:15 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
For the first time since the fire in 2019, Notre-Dame de Paris is celebrating Christmas again on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the traditional Nativity Masses expected to attract thousands of worshippers. ‘We are now back at Notre-Dame, which has just been opened to worship and visitors. Our hearts are in celebration,’ said the archbishop of ...
This is Beirut 2024-12-24 05:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
The ministers in François Bayrou's government will take up their duties on Tuesday, on the eve of Christmas, as they hand over power to the Prime Minister, who is confident in his ability to avoid censure. ‘I am convinced that the action I am defining before you and the government team will ensure that we will not be ...