This is Beirut 2025-05-02 18:35 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
US President Donald Trump unveiled the first budget blueprint of his second term Friday, with a big increase on defense and homeland security while radically slashing other areas of government. Trump's 2026 budget proposal eyes a 22 percent non-defense spending cut amounting to $163 billion -- doubling down on cost-cutting efforts under Elon ...
Bélinda Ibrahim 2025-05-02 18:30 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
United Arab Emirates Louvre Abu Dhabi Louvre Abu Dhabi Culture
Just off the coast of Abu Dhabi, at the entrance to Saadiyat Island, a steel dome perforated with 7,850 geometric stars filters sunlight like a futuristic mashrabiya. Designed by Jean Nouvel, this architectural marvel shelters a museum unlike any other in the world: the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Born of an unprecedented partnership between France and the ...
This is Beirut 2025-05-02 18:20 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Iran said Friday continued US sanctions on its trade partners will not alter its policy, after President Donald Trump threatened to impose penalties on countries or individuals dealing in Iranian oil. "The continuation of these illegal behaviours will not change Iran's logical, legitimate and international law-based positions," a ...
This is Beirut 2025-05-02 13:55 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
TikTok was hit with a massive EU fine of 530 million euros ($600 million) Friday, accused of sending personal data of Europeans to China and failing to guarantee it was shielded from access by Chinese authorities. The Chinese-owned social media giant, which is also in the crosshairs of the United States, acknowledged during a probe that it has ...
This is Beirut 2025-05-02 12:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Pope Francis Vatican elections
Firefighters at the Vatican installed a chimney on top of the Sistine Chapel to be used during the conclave that begins May 7, an AFP reporter witnessed Friday. Cardinals vote in secret in the chapel for a new pope and reveal to the waiting world the outcome by burning the ballots in a special stove, with the chimney emitting black smoke if no ...
This is Beirut 2025-05-02 11:55 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Nawaf Salam Hamas Palestine Cyprus Gaza
A group of activists organizing an aid boat for Gaza said it was attacked on Friday by Israeli drones in international waters off Malta as they headed towards the Palestinian territory. "At 00:23 Maltese time, the Conscience, a Freedom Flotilla Coalition ship, came under direct attack in international waters," the group said in a ...
This is Beirut 2025-05-02 11:35 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
US President Donald Trump on Thursday expressed his intent to rename both May 8 and November 11 "Victory Day" in his latest attempt to alter the country's nomenclature. "I am hereby renaming May 8th as Victory Day for World War II and November 11th as Victory Day for World War I," he wrote on his Truth Social platform. Victory Day, observed by ...
This is Beirut 2025-05-02 11:25 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Donald Trump Mike Waltz United Nations
US President Donald Trump on Thursday replaced his national security advisor, Mike Waltz, following a scandal over a chat group leak, saying he would appoint him as ambassador to the United Nations instead. In the first major cabinet shake-up of Trump's new term, the president said Secretary of State Marco Rubio would now also serve as his ...
This is Beirut 2025-05-02 11:20 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
In war-ravaged Khartoum, donkey carts clatter over worn asphalt, the smell of tomatoes wafts from newly reopened stalls, and pedestrians dodge burnt-out cars left by two years of war. Life is slowly, cautiously returning to the Sudanese capital, weeks after the army recaptured the city from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who had ...
Ali A. Hamadé 2025-05-02 11:00 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
Donald Trump Canada Liberals Mark Carney
On April 28, Canadians went to the polls to elect a new Assembly and, indirectly, to choose their next head of government. While the latest polls predicted a tight race, the final result confirmed an ongoing trend: the Liberal Party, led for the first time by former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney, once again triumphed over Pierre ...
This is Beirut 2025-05-02 10:55 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Nawaf Salam Palestine United Nations Gaza
The Red Cross warned Friday that the humanitarian response in Gaza was on the "verge of total collapse" after two months of Israel blocking aid to the war-torn Palestinian territory. "Without an immediate resumption of aid deliveries, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will not have access to the food, medicines, and life-saving ...
This is Beirut 2025-05-02 09:40 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
United Nations United States USA Syria Druze
The United States on Thursday confirmed meeting Syria's top diplomat and called on the country's interim authorities to take action on sectarianism as violence flares against the Druze minority. Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani last Friday raised his country's flag at the UN headquarters, marking a new chapter after the December ...