This is Beirut 2025-11-13 11:05 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Ukraine Russia Conflict EU Budget Loan
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen insisted Thursday that using frozen Russian assets to fund a new loan was the "most effective way" to finance Ukraine, as she laid out other options after opposition from Belgium. The 27-nation bloc is scrambling for funds to help Kyiv plug looming budget black holes as Russia's war drags on towards a ...
Bélinda Ibrahim 2025-11-13 10:30 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Benzodiazepines Alzheimer Memory Anxiety Science Medicine
In the dim aisles of pharmacies, small boxes of benzodiazepines change hands almost furtively, daily companions for millions of people living with anxiety, insomnia, or age-related fragility. Sedatives, anxiolytics, and muscle relaxants, they calm restless minds, ease worry, and help induce sleep. Yet for over a decade, unease has grown: could ...
Salam El Zaatari 2025-11-13 10:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Nawaf Salam Lebanon Joseph Aoun Palestine
In early November 2025, Israeli bulldozers began erecting a concrete wall on Lebanese soil—a seven-meter-high scar from Maroun al-Ras to Aitaroun—cutting through farmland, razing homes, and casting a shadow over what remains of Lebanon’s sovereignty. Israel calls it “defensive fortification,” while Lebanon calls it “occupation.” But ...
This is Beirut 2025-11-13 09:55 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Donald Trump USA Politics Budget Shutdown
President Donald Trump signed a bill Wednesday to end the longest government shutdown in US history -- 43 days that paralyzed Washington and left hundreds of thousands of workers unpaid while Republicans and Democrats played a high-stakes blame game. The Republican-led House of Representatives voted largely along party lines to approve a ...
This is Beirut 2025-11-13 09:40 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Europe Paris Islamic State Attacks
A decade on from deadly attacks in Paris, the world's two most notorious jihadist groups Islamic State (IS) and Al-Qaeda have significantly evolved and their branches still pose a global security threat, especially from Africa, analysts say. With strong central leadership, the groups were once able to train and then send commandos into Europe ...
This is Beirut 2025-11-12 22:23 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Iraq Mohammed Shia al-Sudani Elections Iraq Parliament
Incumbent Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani claimed victory for his coalition on Wednesday in Iraq's general election after preliminary results showed it had secured a decisive lead. Supporters of Sudani, who is vying for a second term, flocked late in the evening to Tahrir Square in Baghdad to celebrate with fireworks and music, ...
This is Beirut 2025-11-12 22:09 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
USA Donald Trump Republicans Democrat shutdown
Congress looked set Wednesday to end the longest government shutdown in US history, 43 days that paralyzed Washington and left hundreds of thousands of workers unpaid while Donald Trump's Republicans and Democrats played a high-stakes blame game. The House of Representatives was expected to rubber-stamp a contentious Senate-passed funding ...
This is Beirut 2025-11-12 19:51 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky Corruption
Ukraine's energy and justice ministers resigned on Wednesday over their alleged involvement in a sweeping corruption scandal in the country's energy sector. Investigators alleged a key ally of President Volodymyr Zelensky orchestrated a $100 million kickback scheme to siphon off funds, triggering public anger at a time of widespread power ...
This is Beirut 2025-11-12 18:45 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
Prosecutors in Austria on Wednesday said they have charged two officials of Syria's former government for allegedly abusing detained civilians during the country's brutal civil war. Austria hosts one of the biggest Syrian diasporas in Europe, and several similar cases related to crimes committed during the Syrian civil war have been heard in the ...
Seth J. Frantzman 2025-11-12 16:00 - Reading : 8 minute(s)
Nawaf Salam Syria Washington United States Donald Trump Ahmad al-Sharaa
Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa visited the White House on Monday for a historic meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump that capped a year in which Damascus has rapidly come in from the cold and reintegrated into the international community. Sharaa has helped steer Syria through this complex path, beginning with pushing the Assad regime out of ...
This is Beirut 2025-11-12 14:20 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Libya Migration Refugee Accident UN IOM
The United Nations said Wednesday that 42 migrants were missing, presumed dead, after a rubber boat capsized off the Libyan coast last week. It was the latest in a series of similar disasters in a stretch of the Mediterranean Sea that has claimed the lives of more than a thousand people so far this year. Only seven survivors were rescued after ...
This is Beirut 2025-11-12 12:35 - Reading : 1 minute(s)
The list backing incumbent Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has scored a big win in parliament after elections, sources close to his alliance told AFP on Wednesday. Sudani's "Reconstruction and Development list has secured a major victory" following the vote on Tuesday, an official close to the premier told AFP. Another two sources ...