Lebanon

Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, is currently meeting at the Grand Serail with Jordan’s Energy Minister, Saleh Al-Kharabsheh, Syria’s Energy Minister, Ghassan Al-Zamil, and Lebanon’s Energy Minister, Walid Fayyad, on the occasion of signing the agreement of importing electric power from Jordan via Syria. Fayyad had signed the agreement with the two Arab […]

Lebanon signed a deal with Jordan on Wednesday that aims to ease crippling power shortages by transmitting electricity across neighboring Syria. , after Washington assured Beirut it should not fear https://www.reuters.com/article/lebanon-crisis-energy-usa-idAFL1N2TU11N its sanctions on Damascus. The agreement is part of a wider plan that also aims to pump […]

Official negotiations kicked off on Monday afternoon between the Lebanese government and the International Monetary Fund over the economic recovery program. Chairing the aforementioned negotiations on the Lebanese side is Deputy Prime Minister, Saadeh Shami, and Ernesto Ramirez, on the IMF’s side. The first round of negotiations is being held online due […]

The Cabinet convened today in a session chaired by President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, and attended by Prime Minister, Najib Mikati and ministers. The Council of Ministers approved the 2021 draft budget law and decided to hold consecutive daily sessions to approve the 2022 draft budget law, in preparation to referring the budget ...

The Lebanese ministry of public health issued on ًMonday its daily report in which it announced 1665 new coronavirus cases, raising total to 866894. The report added that 31262 PCR tests were conducted during the past 24 hours, adding that the number of cases of recovery from the coronavirus rose to 701760. According to the ...

The Zionist circles followed up the Yemeni attacks on Abu Dhabi and Riyadh on Friday, considering that ‘Israel’ must be worried and concerned about the possibility of similar Houhi offensive against the Zionist entity. The Israeli media indicated that the IOF senior officers studied the various aspects of the attack and concluded that the offensive ...

The former Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri announced on Monday the suspension of all the political activities of Al-Mustaqbal party which he leads, including running for the parliamentary elections. During a press conference at his residence in Beirut, Hariri went over the main stages of his political life, claiming that he made numerous concessions for […]

Kuwait’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs, Sheikh Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah held meetings with high-ranking Lebanese officials on Sunday. President Michel Aoun received the Kuwaiti FM, who was at the head of a delegation, in the Presidential Palace n Baabda. The meeting was in the presence of Foreign Minister […]

The Lebanese ministry of public health issued on ًSaturday its daily report in which it announced 5596 new coronavirus cases, raising total to 858848. The report added that 31618 PCR tests were conducted during the past 24 hours, adding that the number of cases of recovery from the coronavirus rose to 697649. According to the ...

With the advent of the former prime minister Rafik Hariri, Lebanon adopted the rentier economy policy which is based on supporting the services sectors at the expense of the productive ones. According to that policy, the banking sector was prioritized to the extent of raising the interest rates in order to attract capital. Thus, the ...

Drama deftly switches across generations and time to explore the traumas inflicted by the civil warLike their previous cinema and gallery-based collaborations, this latest work by co-directors Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige (A Perfect Day, I Want to See) tackles the painful legacy of the civil war and ongoing troubles of their homeland Lebanon. But […]

Lebanese film-makers Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige explain how their experiences of war shaped their new film – and how art freed themOn 4 August 2020, a catastrophic explosion ripped through Beirut’s main port and into the city. In total, 218 people were killed. At the time, around 6pm, the artist and film-maker Joana Hadjithomas was in a cafe […]

While vaccinations are not compulsory in Lebanon, authorities are clamping down as cases growCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageHundreds of people rallied in Beirut on Saturday to protest against measures imposed against the unvaccinated, saying individuals should have the right to decide whether to be inoculated.Vaccination is […]

With telecoms barely working, a plunging currency and young people emigrating, it’s a bleak Christmas for weary LebaneseIn Lebanon’s year of loss and deprivation, simple pleasures have steadily drained away along with its fortunes. But amid a crisis renowned for breaking new ground, few Lebanese had thought their ability to stay in touch was at risk – […]

Ex-head of Renault and Nissan insists colleague held in Japan is innocent as he works to refute his own chargesCarlos Ghosn knows how compelling his story is. Born in Brazil to Lebanese parents, he scaled the corporate ladder to the very top of global industry to be crowned head of Renault and Nissan, before suffering a spectacular downfall: arrested in […]

A roundup of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Pakistan to Poland Continue reading...

New tourism catchphrase will be splashed on Lebanon’s national airline and in social media campaignsLebanon’s tourism minister has announced a new slogan for the crisis-swept country that aimed to portray the precarity of life there as a point of pride, roughly translating to “I love you in your madness”.Lebanon is suffering a financial and economic […]

Documentary-maker who captured East Timor atrocities on film and left behind his earlier career as a Blue Peter presenterThe documentary-maker Max Stahl, who has died of throat cancer aged 66, exposed the atrocities of the Indonesian government in East Timor. But he first found fame under his birth name of Christopher Wenner as a presenter of the BBC […]

With her images of models on the streets of Paris and refugees fleeing the Algerian war of independence, the 96-year-old blazed a trail for female photographers Continue reading...

A new collection of photography aims to capture the upbeat, joyous side of life in the Arab world, away from war and suffering. Fouad Elkoury talks us through his projectOn 4 August 2020, Fouad Elkoury was sitting in his home in Beirut when an enormous explosion at the port shattered his windows and blasted through his living room. Miraculously, the […]

As a doctor, I believe turning away from desperately ill kids – be they in Palestine or elsewhere – is a far greater crime I have never walked away from a fight involving the wellbeing of children. I have never abandoned the right for Palestinian health workers to train in Israel for the benefit of those same children.Why is this something I need to […]

Expulsion ordered a day after similar move by Saudi Arabia in response to criticism of the Riyadh-led interventionKuwait has given Lebanon’s envoy to the emirate 48 hours to leave, a day after Saudi Arabia made a similar move over a minister’s criticism of the Riyadh-led military intervention in Yemen.The diplomatic row, in which Saudi Arabia has also […]

World leaders appeal for peace in Lebanese capital as militia groups prepare to bury deadA day after the worst sectarian violence in Beirut in more than a decade, a fraught calm hung over the city on Friday with streets largely empty and government offices closed as militia groups started to bury their dead.Gunfire briefly resounded through areas that on […]

Armed clashes erupt at demonstrations demanding end to judge’s investigation of huge blast last yearAt least six people have died in Beirut’s worst street violence in 13 years, as hundreds of armed militia men took to the streets and much of the city was forced into lockdown by heavy fighting.The bloody violence took on a sectarian tone that invoked […]

Five people have died in armed clashes that broke out in Beirut during a protest demanding an end to a judicial investigation into the massive blast in the city’s port last year. The rally was led by members of Amal and Hezbollah, whose respective leaders have increasingly opposed the investigation, which is seen by many Lebanese as a make-or-break event […]

Country’s two main power stations stop working due to fuel shortage plunging cities into darknessLebanon’s electricity grid collapsed on Saturday after its two main power plants ran out of fuel, plunging much of the crisis-ridden country into darkness for at least two days.The nationwide blackout marks a new low for the crumbling state, which has […]

Israel prime minister tells Knesset of ‘bold’ mission concerned with fate of missing navigator Lt Col Ron AradThe Israeli spy agency, the Mossad, launched a complex intelligence operation last month to find information on the whereabouts and fate of an Israeli airman who was shot down over southern Lebanon in 1986.The existence of the operation to find […]

Serious themes are undercut by the flippant tone of this story about a Syrian refugee who becomes a conceptual art objectHere is a muddled caper of movie that doesn’t know what it wants to say; it doesn’t work as a satire of the international art market, nor as a commentary on the racism of white European culture. And its attitude to Syria is undermined […]

After 10 years of bloodshed, foreign allies are seeking to rehabilitate the Syrian leaderFor almost a decade he was a pariah who struggled to get a meeting abroad or even to assert himself on his visitors. Largely alone in his palace, save for trusted aides, Bashar al-Assad presided over a broken state whose few friends demanded a humiliating price for […]

Administration greeted with little enthusiasm by Lebanese people desperate for slide into chaos to stopAfter a 13-month feud, a catastrophic economic collapse and in spite of demands for reforms required to unlock desperately needed aid, Lebanon’s politicians have finally agreed to a new government that suggests more of the same.The formation of an […]