Latest Lebanon News

Laure Ghosn, whose husband Charbel Zogheib has been missing for the past 37 years, speaks as she holds their wedding portrait during an interview at her home in Sarba, north of Beirut, Lebanon. Ghosn said her husband is held in Syria and hopes that a new wave of sanctions imposed by the U.S. against the Syrian government will force Damascus to reveal the fate of hundreds of Lebanese citizens held in Syria, including that of her husband. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Families of Syria detainees hope for news amid US sanctions

Jul. 4, 2020 8:42 AM EDT

BEIRUT (AP) — Alaa Arnous and his family found the photo of his father Mohammed online last week, the first proof of his fate since he was seized by Syrian government forces seven years ago. The image showed his corpse, his face battered and bruised, his mouth hanging open. The elder Arnous was among...

A police officer gives instructions to people to observe social distancing, as people walk outside a court in Istanbul, Friday, July 3, 2020, where the trial began for defendants accused of smuggling former Nissan Motor Co. chairman Carlos Ghosn out of Japan. A private airline official, four pilots and two flights attendants are on trial in Istanbul, accused of smuggling former Nissan Motor Co. chairman Carlos Ghosn out of Japan to Lebanon, via Turkey. Turkish prosecutors are seeking up to eight years in prison each for the four pilots and the airline official on charges of illegally smuggling a migrant, for helping Ghosn escape to Lebanon while he awaited trial in Japan. (AP Photo/Mehmet Guzel)

Turkey: pilots on trial over Ghosn escape released from jail

Jul. 3, 2020 1:00 PM EDT

ISTANBUL (AP) — A Turkish court on Friday released four pilots and a private airline official from jail, pending the outcome of their trial on charges of smuggling former Nissan Motor Co. chairman Carlos Ghosn out of Japan to Lebanon, via Turkey. The court, however, barred the five from leaving Turkey and...

Anti-government protesters scuffle with Lebanese policemen after they removed a part of a concrete wall that was installed by security forces to prevent them from reaching the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, July 2, 2020. Major retailers in Lebanon announced Thursday they will temporarily close in the face of an increasingly volatile currency market and their inability to set prices while the local currency tumbles before the dollar. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Lebanese major retailers to shut down amid economic crisis

Jul. 2, 2020 2:35 PM EDT

BEIRUT (AP) — Major retailers in Lebanon announced on Thursday they will temporarily shut down in the face of an increasingly volatile currency market and their inability to set prices while the Lebanese pound plunges against the dollar. Later in the day, owners of the businesses rallied in central Beirut...

Health officials disinfect an area around a hospital after one of the hospital's patients tested positive for the new coronavirus in Gwangju, South Korea, Wednesday, July 1, 2020. South Korea is considering including religious facilities on the same list with nightclubs, hostess bars and karaoke rooms as

The Latest: South Korea worries as virus resurgence spreads

Jul. 1, 2020 10:41 PM EDT

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea says it has confirmed 54 more COVID-19 cases as the coronavirus continues to spread beyond the capital region and reach cities like Gwangju, which has shut schools and tightened social restrictions after dozens fell sick this week. The figures reported Thursday brought the...

Lebanese soldiers stand guard as a woman leaves the Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, July 1, 2020. Beirut's airport is partially reopening after a three-month shutdown and Lebanon's cash-strapped government is hoping that thousands of Lebanese expatriates will return for the summer, injecting dollars into the country's sinking economy. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Lebanon’s plea to skeptical expats: Come visit, bring cash

Jul. 1, 2020 7:45 AM EDT

BEIRUT (AP) — With Beirut’s airport partially reopening from a three-month virus shutdown, the government is hoping thousands of Lebanese expatriates will return for the summer — and bring dollars desperately needed to prop up the crashing economy. But Lebanon’s far-flung diaspora,...

A woman passes in front of burned tires and garbage containers set on fire by anti-government protesters to block roads, during a protest against the economic crisis, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, June 30, 2020. Protesters closed several major roads in the Lebanese capital amid rising anger as the currency hit a new record low on the black market, electricity cuts increased and the government raised the price of bread for the first time in more than a decade. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Protests as currency slides, price of bread rises in Lebanon

Jun. 30, 2020 2:33 PM EDT

BEIRUT (AP) — Protesters closed several major roads in the Lebanese capital Beirut on Tuesday amid rising anger as the currency hit a new record low on the black market, electricity cuts increased and the government raised the price of bread for the first time in more than a decade. Reflecting the...

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell waits for the start of a meeting, Supporting the future of Syria and the Region, in videoconference format at the European Council building in Brussels, Tuesday, June 30, 2020. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, Pool)

Donors: $7.7 billion to tackle Syria humanitarian crisis

Jun. 30, 2020 12:53 PM EDT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union and dozens of donor nations pledged a total of $7.7 billion Tuesday to help tackle the humanitarian crisis deepening in Syria and neighboring countries hosting millions of Syrian refugees as the coronavirus pandemic and economic crises compound the misery of nearly a...

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea, gestures after her meeting with Lebanese Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, June 29, 2020. Hitti and Shea discussed a court ruling issued over the weekend in which a Lebanese judge banned local and foreign media outlets in the country from interviewing the ambassador for a year over comments she made regarding the powerful Hezbollah group. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Lebanon judge who banned interviews of US envoy resigns

Jun. 30, 2020 12:21 PM EDT

BEIRUT (AP) — The Lebanese judge who issued a ruling banning foreign and local media from interviewing the U.S. ambassador in Beirut resigned Tuesday, according to state media. Judge Mohammad Mazeh was referred to questioning by the Judicial Inspection Board for the ban, which caused an uproar in Lebanon....

Alain Bifani, the director general of Lebanon's Finance Ministry and a member of the country's team negotiating with the International Monetary Fund, speaks during a press conference, at the Press Club, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, June 29, 2020. Bifani who had held the post for 20 years resigned on Monday amid a worsening economic and financial crisis, the ministry said. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Senior Lebanese finance official resigns amid crisis

Jun. 29, 2020 11:55 AM EDT

BEIRUT (AP) — The director general of Lebanon’s Finance Ministry, who was on the team negotiating an emergency bailout from the International Monetary Fund, resigned from his post on Monday amid a rapidly worsening economic and financial crisis. Alain Bifani, a veteran civil servant who held his...

FILE - In this Sunday, May 8, 2016 file photo, Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, center, leader of Lebanon's parliamentary majority, waves to his supporters after he voted at a polling station during the municipal elections in Beirut, Lebanon. An explosion occurred earlier in June 2020 near the convoy of former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri when he was on a visit in a mountainous region in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley, a Saudi-owned TV station reported Sunday, June 28. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)

Missile hit near convoy of ex-Lebanon PM Hariri, report says

Jun. 28, 2020 3:16 PM EDT

BEIRUT (AP) — A missile exploded earlier this month near the convoy of former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri while he visited a mountainous area in the eastern Bekaa Valley, a Saudi-owned TV station reported Sunday. Hariri’s office in a statement said most of the report carried by Al-Hadath TV...

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