Middle East

Saudi Gazette report RIYADH — King Salman Energy Park (SPARK) announced its success in attracting more than 60 investors and explained that the current investment amount amounts to more than $3 billion. SPARK has 7 factories currently operating, including 14 factories under construction. The “SPARK” project is one of the …

PARIS — Marine Le Pen, long-time leader of France’s far-right National Rally and presidential hopeful, goes on trial in Paris on Monday accused of misusing European parliamentary funds. More than 20 other senior figures in the party are also facing the same charges. They are accused of hiring assistants who …

TOKYO — A mere three days after being elected as the new leader of Japan’s ruling party, incoming Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has announced plans for a snap election on 27 October. Ishiba, 67, replaced outgoing prime minister, Fumio Kishida, as chief of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Friday, …

BEIRUT — Hezbollah’s deputy leader says his group is ready for an Israeli ground offensive, as Israel continues air strikes across Lebanon. In the first speech by a high-ranking official since Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Sheikh Naim Qassem says the battle “may be long”. Qassem now says Hezbollah …

Death toll from the Israeli aggression on Lebanon has surged 105, in addition to 359 wounded in the past 24 hours, Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health announced.The airstrikes launched by the Israeli entity on various villages and towns of southern Lebanon, Beqaa, Baalbek-Hermel and the southern suburbs of Beirut left …

Israeli warplanes launched an airstrike targeting central Beirut in its first attack on the Lebanese capital beyond the southern suburbs since the beginning of its expanded offensive.Field sources reported that the Israeli air raid on the Kola area of Beirut early Monday left a number of dead and wounded.Earlier today, …

Four Palestinians were martyred in Israeli airstrikes on the northern and central Gaza Strip at dawn Monday.Local sources reported that the Israeli occupation warplanes bombed a school sheltering displaced people west of Beit Lahia, killing to Palestinians and injuring others, Palestinian news agency (WAFA) reported.The occupation warplanes also bombed a …

HONG KONG — Suga from K-pop boy band BTS has been fined 15 million won ($11,500; £8,600) for driving an electric scooter while intoxicated, according to media reports. The singer, whose real name is Min Yoon-gi, was indicted in August after police found him trying to get up after …

LOS ANGELES — Kris Kristofferson, the award-winning country singer and actor who worked with Johnny Cash and Martin Scorsese, has died aged 88. A representative said he passed away “peacefully” at his home in Hawaii on Saturday, surrounded by family. The statement described Kristofferson as “a peacenik, a revolutionary, an …

By Orla Guerin BEKAA VALLEY — In the hills of the Bekaa Valley — as in swathes of Lebanon — death can come from the sky these days, at any moment. Israel has been bombing the area through the day, with more than 30 air strikes in just an hour. …