Nearly 65% of adults in the Arab region remain excluded from formal financial systems, according to a new report by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). The Annual SDG Review 2025 paints a sobering picture of persistent financial exclusion that is undermining the region’s ability …
Rubbish is again accumulating on some Beirut streets after protesters blocked access to a dump, raising fears that last summer's garbage crisis, which provoked unprecedented street protests, could return. The return of trash piles is among a number of signs of how dysfunctional Lebanon's paralysed political system has become, made …
Lebanon's government is so dysfunctional, Beirut stinks. And now it's getting dangerous. Six months ago, the authorities shut the main landfill site for garbage from the capital, without providing an alternative. Since then, rubbish collection has halted and festering trash has piled up in the city streets, causing what researchers …
More than 80 percent of Lebanon's potable water doesn't meet health standards, Industry Minister Hussein Hajj Hasan and Health Minister Wael Abu Faour revealed Wednesday in a joint news conference.
Lebanon's cabinet on Monday agreed to export the country's waste in a move that could end a crisis that led to a wave of protests and threatened the downfall of the government. The government has awarded two foreign companies 18 month contracts to transport Lebanon's waste by sea in a …
A heavy sandstorm swept across parts of the Middle East on Tuesday, killing two people and hospitalising hundreds in Lebanon and disrupting fighting and air strikes in neighbouring Syria. Clouds of dust also engulfed Israel, Jordan and Cyprus where aircraft were diverted to Paphos from Larnaca airport as visibility fell …
Lebanon's interior minister said on Wednesday any future sit-ins by protesters in government institutions will be broken up by force if needed, a day after demonstrators briefly occupied the environment ministry. Lebanon has been hit by a series of protests over a trash crisis that has led to piles of …
Locals residents from the Bekaa Valley town of Hawsh al-Rafqa briefly blocked the main road to their village, protesting against the pollution of the Litani River
Lebanese anti-government protesters stormed the environment ministry in the capital Beirut, calling on Environment Ministry Mohammad Machnouk to resign, a Reuters witness said. Lebanon has been hit by a series of protests against the government ignited by a waste crisis in the country.
BEIRUT: Pressure was growing Sunday on Lebanon’s government after a protest campaign spurred by a trash crisis gave political leaders a deadline to meet their demands. “Your time is up,” the “You Stink” campaign behind Saturday’s huge demonstration in downtown Beirut said on its Facebook page. At a mass rally …
Israeli water firms head to California to help combat drought New British ambassador announces water research programs for UK, Israeli scientists Of the 33 countries and regions likely to be most waterstressed by the year 2040, 14 of them – including Israel – are located in the Middle East, according …
Lebanon's cabinet has failed to reach an agreement on how to tackle the country's rubbish crisis, which has sparked violent protests in Beirut. The "You Stink" campaign has been demanding the resignation of the government. Rubbish has been piling up on the streets of Beirut since Lebanon's largest landfill shut …
Protests against the Lebanese government turned violent for a second day on Sunday, and Prime Minister Tammam Salam threatened to resign as public discontent brought thousands into the streets. Anger at the Salam-led unity cabinet grouping Lebanon's fractious politicians has come to a head over its failure to resolve a …
BEIRUT, Lebanon — On a normal weekend night, the revelers at Floyd the Dog, a bar in one of this city’s rowdiest party neighborhoods, spill onto the sidewalk, drinks in hand, to smoke cigarettes in the warm Mediterranean air. But on Saturday night, the few patrons at the bar remained …
The stench of uncollected refuse in the streets of Beirut is a stark reminder of the crisis of government afflicting Lebanon, where politicians divided by local and regional conflicts have been unable to agree on where to dump the capital's rubbish. Mounting piles of garbage festering in the summer heat …
Much of the Middle East and North Africa is set for acute water shortages and the region must do more to conserve water while expanding a series of pilot program including solar-powered water pumps, scientists and officials said on Tuesday. "The situation is critical," Essam Khalifa, a senior official from …
Genes From Wild Plants In Region Vital For Crops Millions of people could in future face starvation as an indirect result of the violent turmoil in the Middle East, which has the highest concentration of wild crop plants needed to produce new food varieties, scientists said. Civil wars raging in …
The Environmental Protection Ministry will be allocating NIS 2 million for the purpose of maintaining cleanliness at beaches in 19 local authorities this summer, the ministry announced on Monday. Under the framework of the ministry’s “Clean Beach” program, the funds will be administered with the purpose of maintaining the purity …
The Middle East's driest winter in several decades could pose a threat to global food prices, with local crops depleted and farmers' livelihoods blighted, U.N. experts and climatologists say. Varying degrees of drought are hitting almost two thirds of the limited arable land across Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, the Palestinian territories …
King Solomon used them in the construction of the temple that would bear his name, the Phoenicians used them to build their merchant ships and the ancient Egyptians used their resin in the mummification process. But now Lebanon's cedar trees (Cedrus libani), described in the Scriptures as "the glory of …
German agricultural authorities on Sunday identified locally grown bean sprouts as the likely cause of the deadly E coli outbreak that has killed 22 people and sickened over 2,200 others in Europe. The Lower Saxony agriculture ministry sent an alert on Sunday warning people to stop eating the sprouts, Ministry …
