For weeks, Beirut's new leadership - President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam - assured the international community that Hezbollah had disarmed south of the Litani River. The message was reassuring. It was also, as it turns out, either dangerously naive or deliberately false.

Spain has taken an extraordinary step. Defence Minister Margarita Robles announced Monday that Madrid has closed its airspace to American military aircraft involved in operations against Iran, going even further than its earlier refusal to allow the use of jointly-operated bases. 

Israel has had friends in the White House before. Harry Truman recognized the Jewish state at its birth. Richard Nixon understood during the Yom Kippur War that delay could be fatal. Those were consequential acts, and history rightly honors them.

Nearly 200 participants in the Venice Biennale have signed an open letter calling for the exclusion of the Israeli pavilion, according to The Art Newspaper. 

Parisian brasseries are more than restaurants. They are part of France’s cultural fabric, places where time slows, waiters glide between tables in long aprons, and the menu rarely strays from the classics. 

Phuket, Thailand’s flagship island destination, is stepping up efforts to diversify its tourism markets.