Bruno Finel

Something broke in the markets on Thursday, and it wasn't just another bout of volatility. Stocks fell. Bonds fell. Oil rebounded sharply. Commodities tightened across the board.

Lebanon and Israel will hold a third round of direct discussions in Washington next Thursday and Friday, a US State Department official confirmed, speaking on condition of anonymity. 

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian announced Thursday that he had met Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, at some point, on some unspecified date, in some undisclosed location. 

Lebanon's Maronite bishops have thrown their weight behind the ongoing Lebanon-Israel negotiation process, declaring that direct talks could help "consolidate security and stability" in the country, and delivering a stinging indictment of the path that Hezbollah's strategy has led Lebanon down for decades.

Samir Geagea has had enough. The leader of the Lebanese Forces party fired back Tuesday at Hezbollah's blanket rejection of direct Lebanon-Israel negotiations, delivering one of the sharpest rebukes yet from within the Lebanese political establishment.

Let us start with the facts. A man violently shoved a nun in an alleyway in Jerusalem's Old City. Israeli police arrested him swiftly. 

Speaking before the Security Council, UAE Minister of State Khalifa bin Shaheen Al Marar called Iran fully accountable for what he described as unlawful obstruction of international navigation — as more than 90 countries united behind the same demand.

A message attributed to Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since being gravely wounded on 28 March, has been broadcast by Iranian state television. The regime's credibility problem is hiding in plain sight.

In most democracies, a centre-left politician forming an electoral alliance with a right-wing nationalist would require some explanation. 

The president of the Syrian Liberal Party issues a firm rebuttal to an i24NEWS report suggesting back-channel dealings between Syrian opposition figures and Israel.

Speaking at the World Policy Conference in Chantilly, the UAE's top diplomatic adviser delivered a blunt verdict on Tehran, and a striking signal of shifting regional allegiances.

Cardinal Béchara Raï throws his full weight behind President Joseph Aoun's diplomatic outreach to Jerusalem, voicing what a growing majority of Lebanese feel but have long been afraid to say.