This is Beirut 2025-05-08 11:15 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Cardinals from all over the world began voting Wednesday to elect a new pope – but what's the cost of finding a new leader for the Catholic Church? The Holy See has not disclosed how much the conclave will weigh on its shaky finances. But arranging it is understood to be an expensive affair, running into the millions of euros. More ...
This is Beirut 2025-05-08 10:50 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Anticipation gripped the Catholic world Thursday as the cardinals tasked with choosing a new pope prepared to retreat behind the heavy doors of the Vatican's Sistine Chapel for their second day of voting. A plume of black smoke rose over the crowds thronging St. Peter's Square late Wednesday, confirming that the conclave's first ballot had not ...
This is Beirut 2025-05-08 10:25 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Indian and Pakistani soldiers exchanged gunfire overnight in Kashmir, New Delhi said Thursday, a day after the worst violence between the nuclear-armed rivals in two decades. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to retaliate after India launched deadly missile strikes on Wednesday morning, with days of repeated gunfire along their border ...
This is Beirut 2025-05-08 09:55 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Port-Sudan Sudan United Nations
Drones targeted army-held areas of eastern and southern Sudan for a fifth straight day Thursday as paramilitaries kept up their attacks on areas formerly regarded as safe, an army source said. Attacks targeted the main naval base outside Port Sudan, seat of the army-backed government, as well as fuel depots in the southern city of Kosti, the ...
This is Beirut 2025-05-08 09:45 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Nawaf Salam Iran Israel Katz Hamas
Israel will do to Iran what it has done to Hamas in Gaza, Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Thursday, days after an attack on Ben Gurion Airport by Iran-backed Houthis. "I warn... Iranian leaders who finance, arm, and exploit the Houthi terrorist organization: the proxy system is terminated, and the axis of evil has collapsed," Katz said in a ...
Nicolas Beau 2025-05-08 09:15 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Nawaf Salam Emmanuel Macron Hezbollah Saudi Arabia United States
More than ten key players, including states and militias, have been present for many years on Syrian soil: the Syrian army, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Hezbollah, Russia, the Turkish and American armies in the northwest of the country, the Kurds of Rojava, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) led by Commander Mazloum Abdi, a former member of ...
Salam El Zaatari 2025-05-08 09:00 - Reading : 6 minute(s)
USA Donald Trump United States Middle East
Don't listen to what he says if you want to understand how foreign policy works under Donald Trump in 2025. Watch who gets fired, what trip doesn’t happen, and where the “very good news” is going to land. Because when President Trump teased an “earth-shattering” announcement ahead of his May 13 Middle East visit—skipping Israel in ...
Marc Saikali 2025-05-08 08:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)
Nawaf Salam Donald Trump Houthi Yemen Saudi Arabia
Amid the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East, patterns emerge that we pretend to understand, only for them to slip through our fingers. The latest example: repeated missile launches by Yemen’s Houthis targeting Israel. In this absurd drama, the Houthis have spent the past several months directing their attacks at Israel. Why? To support Gaza, ...
This is Beirut 2025-05-08 05:30 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Russian President Vladimir Putin's order for a three-day truce with Ukraine took effect Thursday, a move the Kremlin said would "test" Kyiv's readiness for peace but that Ukraine has slammed as a farce. It was not immediately clear whether either side was observing the ceasefire, even with world leaders -- including China's ...
This is Beirut 2025-05-07 22:31 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
Nawaf Salam Ahmed al-Sharaa Syria
President Ahmed al-Sharaa said Wednesday that Syria was holding "indirect talks" with Israel to calm tensions between the two countries, following Israeli strikes and threats against Syria since Bashar al-Assad's ouster. "There are indirect talks (with Israel) taking place through mediators to calm the situation and try to ...
This is Beirut 2025-05-07 22:30 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
Thick black smoke emerged Wednesday from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel in a sign that cardinals had failed to elect a new head of the Catholic Church in their first conclave vote. Tens of thousands of people gathered in St Peter's Square to await the smoke, which came around three hours and 15 minutes after the 133 cardinals were closed ...
This is Beirut 2025-05-07 22:00 - Reading : less than a minute
Nawaf Salam Emmanuel Macron Ahmad al-Sharaa Syria France
Emmanuel Macron called on Wednesday for the United States to "rush to lift sanctions" against Syria, "with conditions," and to "maintain" its military operations against the Islamic State in the country. "The interest of everyone, including the Americans, is today (...) to act in support of lifting sanctions against the Syrian people," and "to ...