Lebanese dance troupe crowned winners of “America’s Got Talent”
September 16th, 20220 A Lebanese dance troupe has won the top prize on the popular American television show America’s Got Talent, becoming the first Arab participants to do so. Mayyas, an all-female dance act, won the $1 million prize, and the chance to headline a Las Vegas show, after they received the most votes from the public, beating the other 10...
Factbox: Just how bad is Lebanon’s economic crisis?
September 16th, 20220 Savers held up two banks in Lebanon on Wednesday to demand access to their own deposits frozen in the country's paralyzed financial system, underlining desperation among citizens unable to access savings since an economic crisis began in 2019. There were similar incidents in Beirut in August and in eastern Lebanon in January. The...
Syria may “return to larger-scale fighting,” U.N. warns in new report
September 16th, 20220 Syria's simmering 11-year war is at risk of boiling up once again with a return to large-scale combat after several frontlines across the country flared up in recent months, the United Nations warned on Wednesday in a new report. "Syria cannot afford a return to larger-scale fighting, but that is where it may be heading," said Paulo...
“Avenging Sabra and Shatila”: On Israeli massacres and Palestinian resistance
September 14th, 20220 September 16 marks the 40th anniversary of the Sabra and Shatila massacre, the killing of around 3,000 Palestinians at the hands of Lebanon’s Phalangist militias operating under the command of the Israeli army. Four decades have passed, yet no measure of justice has been received by the survivors of the massacre. Many of them have...
Depositors hold up two Lebanese banks to grab their own money
September 14th, 20220 Two seemingly armed and desperate Lebanese depositors held up banks on Wednesday to force access to their own money, which has been blocked during a national financial meltdown. One woman with a gun, that she later said was a toy, and some associates briefly held hostages at a branch of BLOM Bank in the capital Beirut, before leaving...
Lebanon-Israel maritime talks to conclude in “days”, official says
September 13th, 20220 Maritime border talks between Lebanon and Israel that could help allocate oil and gas resources are close to concluding after around two years of negotiations, a top Lebanese security official told Reuters on Tuesday. "We're talking about weeks — actually, days — to finish the delineation issue," the head of Lebanon's General...
The road to fascism: How the war in Ukraine is changing Europe
September 11th, 20222 As soon as I landed in Rome, I discovered that I was no longer able to access any Russian media whatsoever. Unfortunately, threats by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that Europe should sever all links with “Russia’s propaganda machine” were taken seriously by the Italian government. As a journalist, having...
Chances of accountability remain slim, as Biden administration welcomes Israeli report on Shireen Abu Akleh’s killing
September 9th, 20220 This week, the U.S. State Department officials said they "welcome" a report by Israel’s occupation forces that there was a "high possibility" renowned Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was "accidentally" killed by Israeli gunfire last May. Though the Biden administration has made gestures towards accountability over...
Qatar World Cup organizer says country has faced “unfair” criticism
September 9th, 20220 DOHA - Qatar has faced a lot of unfair criticism over its hosting of soccer's World Cup that was not based on facts, but it has responded to any fair criticism, Qatar 2022 Chief Executive Nasser Al Khater said on Thursday. He told a news conference, the first held by organizers in months, that 70 days prior to the tournament's...
Queen Elizabeth II dies at 96, ending an era for Britain
September 8th, 20220 Queen Elizabeth II, Britain's longest-reigning monarch and the nation's figurehead for seven decades, died at her home in Scotland at 96 on Thursday. "The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon," Buckingham Palace said in a statement. "The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to...
Investigating the victim: On Abbas’ “holocaust” and the depravity of Israeli Hasbara
September 4th, 20220 “There was no Massacre in Jenin” was the title of a Haaretz editorial on April 19, 2002, one week after Israel ended its deadly onslaught on the besieged Palestinian refugee camp in the northern West Bank. The unwarranted conclusion by Haaretz, other Israeli media and, ultimately, numerous Western outlets was not the outcome of a...
U.S. will never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon, Biden tells Israel’s Lapid
September 3rd, 20220 WASHINGTON, D.C. - President Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Wednesday the U.S. will never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon, the White House said, as Tehran seeks stronger guarantees from Washington for the revival of a nuclear deal with world powers. Israel opposes a return to the 2015 deal, which imposed curbs on...
Deadly clashes rage in Baghdad in Shi’a power struggle
August 30th, 20220 BAGHDAD — Iraq is seeing a fresh wave of violence in a power struggle between the powerful Shi'a cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and Shi'a parties and paramilitary groups. On Thursday, clashes among rivals in the Iraqi city of Basra killed at least four people, as violence from a worsening political crisis hit the south of the country. Heavy...
Fake neutrality: How Western media language misrepresents Palestinians, shields Israel
August 27th, 20220 While U.S. and Western mainstream and corporate media remain biased in favor of Israel, they often behave as if they are a third, neutral party. This is simply not the case. Take the New York Times' coverage of the latest Israeli war on Gaza as an example. Its article on August 6, “Israel-Gaza Fighting Flares for a Second Day” is...
Lebanese chess champion withdraws from international competition
August 23rd, 20220 LEBANON — Nadia Fawaz, a Lebanese chess champion, was matched with an Israeli player, Elia Grozman, in the fourth round of the 28th Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival. Lebanese outlet The961 has reported that Fawaz, however, decided she did not want to play with an Israeli and has withdrawn from the international chess......
Israel’s premature “victory” celebration: The defining war in Gaza is yet to be fought
August 20th, 20220 For years, Palestinians, as well as Israelis, have labored to redraw the battle lines. The three-day Israeli war on Gaza, starting on August 5, clearly manifested this reality. Throughout its military operation, Israel has repeatedly underscored the point that the war was targeting the Islamic Jihad Movement only, not Hamas or anyone...
Israel raids Palestinian rights groups it labeled terrorists
August 19th, 20220 Israel raided the offices of several Palestinian advocacy groups it had previously blacklisted as terrorist organizations early Thursday, sealing entrances and declaring them closed. Western diplomats visited one of the offices hours later in a show of support for the outlawed groups. The U.S. State Department expressed concern about......
Without Palestine, there is no Arab unity: Why normalization with Israel will fail
August 14th, 20220 It seemed all but a done deal: Israel is finally managing to bend the Arabs to its will, and Palestine is becoming a marginal issue that no longer defines Israel’s relations with Arab countries. Indeed, normalization with Israel is afoot, and the Arabs, so it seems, have been finally tamed. Not so fast. Many events continue to...
Stabbing attack on Salman Rushdie was “preplanned,” prosecutor says; judge denies bail
August 13th, 20220 NEW YORK — The man accused in the stabbing attack on Salman Rushdie pleaded not guilty Saturday to attempted murder and assault charges in what a prosecutor called a "preplanned" crime, as the renowned author of The Satanic Verses remained hospitalized with serious injuries. A judge refused to grant bail Thursday to Hadi Matar, 24...
If you’re planning to travel to the U.S. with food items from overseas, read this
August 13th, 20220 United States border officials have a message for travelers who bring food items from overseas: Violations will cost you. In the past year alone, U.S. border officials have fined passengers for bringing a wide range of undeclared food items in their luggage, including balut eggs, pork bologna and turkey ham. Border officials...
Israel army, Palestinian fighters set for truce from Sunday night
August 7th, 20220 Israel and Palestinian soldiers agreed to a Cairo-mediated truce to take effect late on Sunday, sources said, raising hopes of an end to the most serious flare-up on the Gaza frontier in more than a year. Israeli forces pounded Palestinian targets through the weekend, triggering longer-range rocket attacks against its cities and......
Saudis open airspace to more flights serving Israel
August 5th, 20220 RIYADH - Cathay Pacific and Air Seychelles have overflown Saudi Arabia for Israel flights for the first time, aviation data showed on Thursday, after Riyadh announced last month it would open its airspace to all airlines, paving the way for more overflights to and from Israel. Opening Saudi airspace to flights to and from Israel was a...
U.N.: Yemen’s warring parties agree only to renew two-month truce
August 4th, 20220 Yemen's warring sides agreed to renew a two-month truce expiring on Tuesday, the U.N. envoy said, despite international pressure for an extended and expanded deal that would build on the longest stretch of relative calm in over seven years. "This truce extension includes a commitment from the parties to intensify negotiations to reach......
Lebanese woman sees son for first time since blast two years ago
August 4th, 20220 Lebanese mother Liliane Cheaito, stuck in the hospital since the Beirut blast two years ago, saw her son for the first time on Thursday following a court ruling in a protracted family dispute with her husband. Cheaito has not left the American University of Beirut's Medical Center since August 4, 2020, when she was brought in bruised...
Anti-boycott laws are an affront to free speech. They also don’t address anti-Semitism
July 29th, 20220 — This article by Hamzah Khan, legal intern at the the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ New Jersey Chapter, was first published by the New Jersey Record and USA TODAY Network. It has been edited for style In a world where there are hundreds of companies manufacturing and selling the same product, the freedom to choose a......
