Lebanon's central bank Thursday instructed banks and financial institutions to extend exceptional dollar loans at zero interest to individuals and firms impacted by the Beirut port explosion. Money transfer houses should distribute transfers from abroad to Lebanon in dollars, the...

A plane carrying 20 tons of World Health Organization health supplies has landed in Beirut to support the treatment of patients injured by the massive explosion that rocked the city, the WHO said Thursday. “The supplies will cover 1,000 trauma interventions and 1,000 surgical interventions...

Israel on Thursday confirmed another 1,689 infections and three fatalities from the coronavirus outbreak. According to the Health Ministry, the total count of cases in the country has risen to 78,514, including 569 deaths, since the virus was first detected on Feb. 21. A total of 53,362...

French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Lebanon Thursday, the first world leader in Beirut after the port blast that wreaked destruction across the capital, and called for the country's political elite to make swift and urgent reforms. The blast on Tuesday – blamed on an unsecured store...

In Beirut's beloved bar districts, hundreds of young Lebanese ditched beers for brooms on Wednesday to sweep debris in the absence of a state-sponsored cleanup operation following a deadly blast. "What state?" scoffed 42-year-old Melissa Fadlallah, a volunteer cleaning up the hard-hit Mar...

After Turkey turned Istanbul's Hagia Sophia museum back to a mosque, Muslims in Athens fear their own official place of worship, delayed for over a decade, will be held back again. The project to open a state-sanctioned mosque in Athens, the only European capital that does not have one, was...

President Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party is considering whether to pull Turkey out of an international accord designed to protect women, party officials said, alarming campaigners who see the pact as key to combating rising domestic violence. The officials said the AKP is set to decide by next...

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a call with Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab on Wednesday reiterated ‘steadfast’ commitment to assist the Lebanese people, the State Department said on Wednesday, after a massive warehouse blast killed 135 people and injured thousands. Around 5,000...

Lebanon's flag was to be projected onto Tel Aviv's city hall later Wednesday after the devastating Beirut blasts, in Israel's latest gesture towards a country with which it is technically at war. "Tonight we will illuminate the city hall with the Lebanese flag," Tel Aviv's Mayor Ron Huldai...

Lebanon’s main grain silo at Beirut port was destroyed in a blast, leaving the nation with less than a month’s reserves of the grain but enough flour to avoid a crisis, the economy minister said on Wednesday. Raoul Nehme told Reuters a day after Tuesday’s devastating explosion that Lebanon...

Oman will on Saturday lift a domestic ban on travel between governorates, imposed on Jul. 25 to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus during the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, the state news agency ONA said on Wednesday. From Saturday it will also reduce its curfew for a week to the period...

France will send three planes to Beirut Wednesday with rescuers, medical equipment and a mobile clinic, followed by a visit Thursday by President Emmanuel Macron to the city devastated by a massive blast, the government said. The presidency announced that two military planes would leave...

Initial investigations indicate years of inaction and negligence over the storage of highly explosive material in Beirut port caused the blast that killed over 100 people on Tuesday, an official source familiar with the findings said. The prime minister and presidency said on Tuesday that...

Iran’s president offered on Wednesday to send medical aid to Lebanon and treat people injured in the massive blast that killed at least 100 people in Beirut. “Iran announces its readiness to send medical aid to Lebanon and also offers treatment of the injured and other necessary medical...

The death toll from a massive explosion in the Lebanese capital of Beirut has risen to 73, the country's Health Ministry said early Wednesday. A fire at a warehouse containing explosives at the Port of Beirut led to the blast, which leveled a three-story building and was heard across the...

In Iraq's Kurdistan region and at the country's Muslim Shiite holy sites, trading US dollars for rials from Iran was once big business. But the money exchange trade has been hard hit by lockdown restrictions to stop the spread of COVID-19, and by deep economic woes in both countries....

Residents of Beirut awoke to a scene of utter devastation on Wednesday, a day after a massive explosion at the port sent shock waves across the Lebanese capital, killing at least 100 people and wounding thousands. Smoke was still rising from the port, where a towering grain silos had...

A massive explosion rocked Beirut on Tuesday, flattening much of the city's port, damaging buildings across the capital and sending a giant mushroom cloud into the sky. More than 70 people were killed and 3,000 injured, with bodies buried in the rubble, officials said. The blast struck...

The death toll from a massive explosion in Beirut on Tuesday has risen to more than 50 killed and over 2,700 injured, Lebanon’s health minister said in televised remarks. The minister earlier said more than 25 people had been killed and more than 2,500 injured.

A massive explosion rocked downtown Beirut on Tuesday, flattening much of the port, damaging buildings and blowing out windows and doors as a giant mushroom cloud rose above the capital. Lebanese Red Cross official Georges Kettaneh said there were dead and wounded, but did not have an...