As parliamentary elections inch closer, doubts over them taking place seem to wane, Speaker Nabih Berri indicated Wednesday. “The collective determination by the Lebanese affirms the need and duty for parliamentary elections to take place as scheduled and this has become a reality that can’t be doubted,” Berri was quoted ...

President Michel Aoun met German Ambassador to Beirut Martin Huth Thursday to discuss the German president’s anticipated official visit to Lebanon, set to take place next Monday. During their meeting, Huth briefed Aoun on preparations for President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s visit, stressing the importance Germany places on developing the relationship between ...

Prime Minister Saad Hariri returned to Beirut Thursday night after concluding his official meetings on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum. According to a statement from his office, in his final day at the major international summit in the Swiss alpine town of Davos, Hariri discussed Lebanese-Iraqi relations Iraqi ...

More than 3,000 boys and girls recruited by militias and armed groups over past year   At least 1.3 million people have been displaced in the Democratic Republic of Congo by inter-ethnic violence and clashes between the regular army, militia and armed groups, according to a Unicef report. More than 800,000 ...

The former Secretary of State also reportedly hinted at a run for president   Former US Secretary of State John Kerry has reportedly said he believes President Donald Trump will not make it another year in office. Mr Kerry recently met with Hussein Agha, a close associate of Palestinian President ...

  The road to Sinjar passes through dozens of bleak, damp, wrecked villages. Their houses have crumpled under shellfire, the gateways lie in the street, a mosque sprawls half way across a road, its silver metal crescent resting on its side on the pavement. So swiftly have the Islamist al-Nusra group ...

On balance, it could be argued that, one year in, Trump has continued large swathes of Obama’s foreign policy, with more purpose, a lot more noise, but also – to a limited degree – more success   You can understand why Donald Trump might have baulked at flying halfway around ...

Billionaire says social media companies’ ‘days are numbered’ Soros warns of ‘far-reaching adverse consequences’ for democracy   Facebook and Google have become “obstacles to innovation” and are a “menace” to society whose “days are numbered”, said billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros at the World Economic Forum in Davos on ...

  Giant disco ball dubbed ‘Humanity Star’, launched by startup Rocket Lab, will interfere with scientific study of the universe, experts say   Astronomers across the world have criticised a privately owned, New Zealand-based space company after it secretively put a satellite likened to a giant disco ball into orbit. ...

  MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) has warned disaster risk reduction and local government officials to brace for an explosive eruption of Mayon Volcano in the coming days. Phivolcs’ warning came as Mayon spewed a huge column of ash at 12:45 p.m. last Monday, ...