Lebanon News — AKHBAR.COM

Ecuador's Ivonne A-Baki, a diplomat who represented Quito in the United States, has entered the race to lead the U.N., the head of the General Assembly said in a letter Tuesday.

Israel presses to seize Ali al-Taher Hill as US efforts to contain the escalation face resistance, raising fears of a wider confrontation in south Lebanon. The latest escalation points to the possibility of the situation in the south sliding into war, amid Israel’s insistence on imposing new security realities and Benjamin Netanyahu’s drive to capi…

From battlefields to factories, chips and supply chains, drones are reshaping military power and turning technology into a strategic arena. The wars of recent years have shown that drones have changed the balance of military power. Military technology is no longer the preserve of expensive fighter jets or complex defense systems. Relatively low-cos…

Observers warn that stalled progress on disarmament, growing tensions between political forces and the authorities, and regional pressures are fueling concerns over Lebanon’s fragile internal stability. So far, it appears that Hezbollah may be content simply with the stalled progress in the pilot areas and the lack of agreement on a mechanism to ve…

Growing differences over Iran, Gaza and Lebanon are putting the once-strong relationship between the US president and the Israeli prime minister under increasing strain as key elections approach. Are there really signs of a major crisis of trust between US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, amid growing difference…

Around 2018, campaigns calling for a boycott of tourism in Turkey flourished across Gulf social media, claiming that Turks were hostile and aggressive toward Arabs. If life were a dramatic Gulf television series requiring a perfect and joyful ending, by 2026 we would have reached the 30th and final episode: agreements would be signed, leaders…

Sheikh Naim Qassem cited Jewish intellectual Moshe Ya'ir to criticize the Lebanese state and its negotiating delegation, claiming that an article he supposedly published in Yediot Ahronoth said that the Lebanese "are helping Israel, in their stupidity, to rid itself of the resistance and occupy their country." We found no trace of Ya'ir's article i…

Hezbollah on Friday hit back at the U.S. administration over its announcement that the group is under the control of Iran’s Quds Force, the expeditionary arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Paris Saint-Germain's opening game of its title defense in the French league against Rennes has been relocated at short notice because of damage to the champion's pitch following a heatwave this summer.

The United States has demanded that Cuba open up to private investment, and Cuba has passed sweeping reforms to encourage just that. So Cuba's U.N. ambassador says he wants to know why Washington keeps piling on sanctions that stymie the very economic opening it has sought for decades.

Tehran's grocery stores are well-stocked, but many families can barely afford the basics. Unemployment is soaring and those with jobs are working more hours for money worth half as much as a year ago, putting food, medicine and everything else — except for heavily subsidized gasoline — further out of reach.

President Joseph Aoun is leading an effort, in cooperation with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, to pursue a military cooperation agreement between Lebanon and the European Union with the aim of bringing in a European military force to replace UNIFIL, whose mandate expires at the end of this year, al-Akhbar newspaper reported.

Amid conflicting reports about the situation in the Ali al-Taher area, which continues to come under Israeli airstrikes, a prominent Hezbollah source confirmed that the group "has no intention of surrendering the Ali al-Taher hill to the Lebanese Army, the enemy, or any other party.”

A summer of extreme heat has left many Tunisians short of water and electricity — and full of anger at the country's leadership. Protesters rallied in the capital Tunis on Thursday, many calling on President Kais Saied to leave power.

The world is increasingly turning to Brazil to explore for rare earth minerals that are crucial for technology and renewable energy. The country's large reserves are second only to China and have attracted investors, many of them with foreign support.

Nearing the six-month mark of the Iran war and facing diminishing stockpiles of key weapons, the Trump administration is touting a crushing financial campaign against Tehran, promising an "economic D-Day" against a country that has so far withstood nearly five decades of punishing American sanctions.

A collection of football fan groups from around the world launched a petition Thursday calling for Gianni Infantino to resign as FIFA president after he tried to sell future World Cup profits to private investors.

Millions more people may be able to get smaller, lightweight Amazon packages delivered by drones by the end of the year under a plan the company announced Wednesday to expand the airborne shipping to suburban areas in nearly 500 U.S. cities.

The American University of Beirut (AUB) hosted the first Lebanese Mathematics Day, bringing together 341 participants from more than ten universities, high schools, industry, and the international mathematical community for a full day of talks, workshops, poster sessions, and discussion on the AUB campus.

A former engineering director at Meta who has testified before Congress about child safety on Instagram told jurors Wednesday at a landmark trial that the company took a "don't ask, don't tell" approach on kids under 13 on its platforms.

U.S. President Donald Trump “has said that he would be willing to talk to Hezbollah if it would lead to an end of conflict, or peace,” Ed Gabriel, the head of the American Task Force on Lebanon, said.

Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri has emphasized the importance of UNIFIL forces' presence in southern Lebanon and their assigned role, both in “maintaining security in the south and in supporting the Lebanese Army's deployment across all Lebanese territory up to the international border, as stipulated in Resolution 1701.”

President Donald Trump played White House tour guide on Wednesday, showing off the helipad he is building on the lawn before leaning over to autograph a piece of it and bragging about the ballroom he's rushing to complete despite legal challenges.

The Lebanese designer opens up about the evolving identity of Maison Rami Kadi, the role of technology and AI in couture, the importance of Lebanese craftsmanship, and his creative journey beyond fashion.

One of FIFA's vice presidents has withdrawn his support from the world football body's embattled president Gianni Infantino, saying the "unexpected dismissal" of critic Kevin Lamour was the "final straw".

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish families are an unmissable facet of Israeli life. Immediately recognizable, the men dress in black suits and hats, the women in modest long sleeves and skirts with wigs, turbans or scarves covering their hair, and numerous children tag along, often in matching outfits.

OpenAI is launching a version of ChatGPT designed for teenagers — the first generation to grow up with artificial intelligence — who are already using it for schoolwork, questions about daily life and even companionship.

Colombian superstar Shakira announced Monday that she will help rebuild at least 10 schools and restore a local university in a remote and hard-hit region of her home country after it suffered a devastating earthquake last week that killed hundreds and affected thousands of educational sites across western Colombia.

FIFA's removal of the senior official who said Gianni Infantino deceived staff with his World Cup sell-off plan was unacceptable, Norway soccer president Lise Klaveness said on Tuesday while urging other leaders at the governing body to resist potentially damaging orders.

The new sensation among some Chinese moviegoers is an animated film whose characters appear to have been created with rudimentary 3D animation and have been described as "ugly" and "eerie."

From New York to the forefront of Mahjar literature, Afifa Karam preceded Mohammed Hussein Heikal and Gibran in the development of the Arabic novel. It is widely believed that the Egyptian Mohammed Hussein Heikal (1888–1956) was the pioneer of the Arabic novel and the first Arab novelist, with his novel Zaynab (1914). This is not…

Ahead of tonight’s opening at Faqra Castle, Caracalla’s “Phoenicia” brings Lebanon’s history, culture, colors and enduring spirit to the stage. Tonight, as the stage of Faqra Castle in Kfardebian lights up, it will not simply mark the opening of a festival or a new show by the Caracalla troupe. Lebanon itself—with all its history, stories,…

The heads of six Arab football federations expressed their "full support" and "confidence" in Gianni Infantino on Thursday as the embattled FIFA president fights to keep his job after his failed World Cup private investment plan.

Sister Mayela wears her black veil and habit as she walks to work near where another Catholic nun was violently attacked in Jerusalem's Old City — but she's now accompanied by a Jewish volunteer for protection.

Italian authorities recovered three paintings by Renoir, Cézanne and Matisse worth millions of euros that were stolen earlier this year from a private museum near the northern city of Parma, police said Friday.

Daniel Arcila scored twice, including the go-ahead goal in the 83rd minute, and Club León advanced to the Leagues Cup knockout stage with a 3-2 win over Inter Miami, which saw star Lionel Messi return following the death of his father.

Millions of Shiite Muslims observed the annual Arbaeen pilgrimage Tuesday in the Iraqi holy city of Karbala, under the shadow of ongoing regional tensions and fears of another round of escalation in the U.S.-Iran war.

Pope Leo XIV will make his first trip to Latin America as pontiff in November, returning to a region where he spent much of his ministry, with visits to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, the Vatican announced Wednesday.

Assassinated in Lebanon by Israel in 1972, Palestinian intellectual Ghassan Kanafani is mostly renowned for his anti-colonial resistance, political writings and works of literary fiction. Palestinian Resistance Literature Under Occupation: 1948 – 1968 (Verso Books, 2026) brings another aspect of Kanafani’s work to an English-speaking public; a deep historical critique of Palestinian literature in the…

Lebanon is on the verge of creating a Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Technology. The government has been pushing to advance the draft law quickly, but Parliament just decided to slow things down, referring the proposal to joint parliamentary committees for deeper review. We think that’s the right call, and we want to explain why.…

Lebanon’s digital landscape has grown more volatile with every year of crisis. Financial collapse, a rise of disinformation, the spread of hate speech, and the ongoing pressures of instability have all left their mark on how people in Lebanon experience the internet. Several cases of disinformation have been documented by SMEX’s digital safety Helpdesk, highlighting…

Shafaqna India: The Bi-quarterly Journal of “Religion, Management & Governance” has published the paper “Ethnography of Arbaeen March as a Model of Human Dignity” written by Mohammad Asaadi, Hossein Amadeh and Khalil Noruzi in 2023. According to Shafaqna, this paper analyzes and describes Arbaeen culture and decision-making strategies to promote it. The Arbaeen March is…

A Palestinian took the invaders’ weapon, turning it against them to defend his homeland. Immediately hordes of settlers attacked Palestinian towns throughout the occupied West Bank. This is a common pattern in Palestine and Lebanon, especially after the launch of the Al-Aqsa Flood. And it is a calculated one. The occupation imposes as much domination…

Today, as the flags fly at half-staff over the United States Capitol, Benjamin Netanyahu sits in the pews of Washington’s National Cathedral, paying his respects to the late Senator Lindsey Graham. The irony is as suffocating as the incense: the man who spent decades lobbying for American blood to be spilled in Israel’s name has…

Trafficking in persons remains one of the most pervasive and devastating crimes of our time. In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), the scale and complexity of the challenge continue to grow, driven by conflict, economic inequality, and complex migration flows. The fight against trafficking often focuses on those trapped in degrading work environments,…

Recently, the law for an AI and IT Ministry was sent back to committees after failing to pass a vote in parliament. Meanwhile, the Office of the Minister of State for Administrative Reform (OMSAR) is leading some of the digital transformation work in Lebanon, and there is a structural conflict of interest happening, as I’ve…

Russia's main domestic security agency said Wednesday that Pavel Durov, founder and owner of the messaging app Telegram, has been charged with aiding terrorism and put on an international wanted list.

A photograph is circulating from the Farnborough International Airshow in England, held from 20 to 24 July. It shows Lieutenant General Rui F.G.P. Duarte, a senior Indonesian defence official, posing in front of the stand of Elbit Systems. Elbit is Israel’s largest privately owned arms company, and one of the main manufacturers arming the assault…