World

TikTok Restores Service in US, Thanking Trump

This is Beirut 20/01 09:50 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Donald Trump Tik Tok US Supreme Court Europe Los Angeles

TikTok restored service in the United States Sunday after briefly going dark, as a law banning the wildly popular app on national security grounds came into effect. The video-sharing platform credited President-elect Donald Trump, who retakes power on Monday, for making the reversal possible – though the outgoing administration of President ...

Inauguration Day, Trump-Style: What Will Happen?

This is Beirut 20/01 09:40 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Donald Trump USA Republicans Tik Tok US Supreme Court

Every four years America's president is sworn in on Inauguration Day, whether newly elected or returning to office, in a long-established ceremony held amid pageantry shaped by the incoming leader's personal flourishes. What does that mean for the inauguration of Donald Trump? Cue the Village People and social media titans – and leave the ...

Israeli Hostages, Palestinian Detainees Freed on first Gaza Truce Exchange

This is Beirut 20/01 09:08 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

Hamas Israel Palestine Donald Trump Benjamin Netanyahu

Israel released 90 Palestinian prisoners on Monday after Hamas handed over three Israeli hostages, completing the first exchange under a long-awaited truce aimed at ending more than 15 months of war in Gaza. The three hostages released Sunday, all women, were reunited with their families and taken to hospital in central Israel where a doctor said ...

Trade Wars, Culture Wars, and Anti-Immigration: Trump's Big Promises

This is Beirut 20/01 09:06 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Donald Trump Tik Tok Pope Francis Republicans United Kingdom

A sweeping deportation program, "drill, baby, drill," and peace for Ukraine: President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to move big and fast when he returns to the White House on Monday. Here is a look at his sensational but frequently vague promises for a second term -- much of them likely to be enacted through executive ...

AnalysisThe Deferred Normalization

Charles Chartouni 20/01 09:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Lebanon Syria USA Gaza Ceasefire

The election of a president and the nomination of a new prime minister in Lebanon were good omens, but the process of political normalization doesn’t seem to be moving in the right direction. The ongoing negotiations in Gaza about the release of Israeli hostages and the swap of Palestinian prisoners are stumbling as well. The smooth transition ...

Restoring The Health System In Gaza ‘Will Be a Complex And Difficult Task’, Warns The WHO

This is Beirut 20/01 03:10 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Hamas Palestine

Restoring the health system in the Gaza Strip will be ‘a complex and difficult task’ after more than 15 months of war, the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned on Sunday. ‘Meeting the enormous health needs and restoring the health system in Gaza will be a complex and ...

Trump Lays Wreath Ahead of Inauguration

This is Beirut 19/01 22:20 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Donald Trump Middle East New York Palestine Republicans

US President-elect Donald Trump laid a wreath Sunday in a symbolic trip to the most hallowed place for America's war dead, before holding a huge victory rally on the eve of his return to power. Already involved in negotiations to restore the TikTok app at home and in peace efforts in the Middle East, Trump finds himself embroiled in world ...

US Calls Houthi Claim of New Attacks ‘Disinformation'

This is Beirut 19/01 22:15 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

USA Houthi Gulf Hamas Israel

The United States military on Sunday dismissed claims by Houthis that they had attacked an American aircraft carrier, saying Washington would not engage in the Iran-backed group' "disinformation campaign." The denial from US Central Command (CENTCOM) came after the Houthis said they had carried out the attack earlier Sunday and ...

Iran Sentence Pop Singer, Tataloo, to Death

This is Beirut 19/01 20:55 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Iran Police Singer

An Iranian court has sentenced popular singer Amir Hossein Maghsoudloo, known as Tataloo, to death on appeal after he was convicted of blasphemy, local media reported on Sunday. "The Supreme Court accepted the prosecutor's objection" to a previous five-year jail term on offences including blasphemy, reformist newspaper Etemad reported online. It ...

First Israeli-Hamas Prisoner Exchange as Gaza Truce Begins

This is Beirut 19/01 20:34 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Ceasefire Hamas Palestine West Bank Gaza

The Israeli military said on Sunday that the three released hostages had crossed into Israeli territory accompanied by its troops. "A short while ago, accompanied by IDF (military) and ISA (security agency) forces, the released hostages crossed the border into Israeli territory. The released hostages are currently on their way to an initial ...

UN Races to Feed One Million Gazans After Truce

This is Beirut 19/01 19:55 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

United Nations Hamas Israel Palestine Humanitarian aid

The UN's World Food Programme said Sunday it was moving full throttle to get food to as many Gazans as possible after border crossings reopened as part of a long-awaited ceasefire deal. "We're trying to reach a million people within the shortest possible time," the WFP's Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau told AFP, as the Rome-based UN agency's ...

The World Reacts to the Release of Hostages in Gaza

This is Beirut 19/01 19:45 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

Gaza Hostage Reactions Ceasefire

As a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect on Sunday morning, and the first exchange of prisoners took place by late afternoon, here are the first reactions at local and international level: United States US President Joe Biden on Sunday welcomed the fact that the Middle East is a “fundamentally transformed region” ...