Source: Reuters
Security & Justice
Southern Lebanon Endures Massive Damage: 40,000 Homes Leveled Across 37 Towns
Israeli forces have systematically destroyed entire neighborhoods in southern Lebanon, leveling more than 37 towns and wiping out over 40,000 residential units, according to Lebanon's National News Agency.
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Gaps in Coastal Radar Enabled Israeli Raid in Batroun, Army Commander Says
Lebanon’s army chief, General Joseph Aoun, detailed to Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati how Israeli forces likely exploited gaps in the country's coastal radar system during the recent raid carried out in Batroun. The briefing comes as Lebanese officials seek answers on how Israel’s elite Shayetet 13 unit carried out the landing undetected.
Monday, November 4, 2024
Opinion
The Emptying of Baalbek Is a Moment to Take Stock
“Large numbers of people continue to flee their homes every day, as Israel’s military operations in Lebanon have been going on unabated.” These disturbing words could be from almost any news report about Israel’s invasion of its northern neighbour over the past month. However, they can be found in a report by the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre issued on July 27, 2006.
Saturday, November 2, 2024
A Future Without Hezbollah
At the end of September, when Israel’s campaign to destroy Hezbollah was reaching its height, I met one of the group’s supporters in a seaside café in western Beirut. He was a middle-aged man with a thin white beard and the spent look of someone who had not slept for days. He was an academic of sorts, not a fighter, but his ties to Hezbollah were deep and long-standing.
Thursday, October 31, 2024
Sports
Tottenham Forward Son Heung-min Crowned Asia’s International Player of the Year
Tottenham forward Son Heung-min was crowned as Asia’s International Player of the Year for the fourth time by the Asian Football Confederation at its annual awards ceremony Tuesday.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Real Madrid Launch Investigation into Racist Insults After El Clasico Defeat
Real Madrid has launched an investigation into racist insults directed at players during Saturday’s 4-0 home loss to Barcelona in LaLiga, it said on Sunday.
Monday, October 28, 2024
Wednesday 8 November 2023 16:27:51
Lebanese Painter Says Christie's Withdrawal of His Works from Auction Is 'Discrimination'
Christie's auction house has removed two paintings by Lebanese artist Ayman Baalbaki from its London sale this week following complaints, according to emails seen by Reuters, with the artist criticising the decision as a form of "discrimination".
"Al Moulatham", which stands 2 meters tall, features a figure wrapped in a red-and-white scarf resembling a keffiyeh, the headscarf worn commonly around the Middle East. "Anonymous", part of a series by Baalbaki on protesters around the Arab world, depicts a figure in a gas mask and a red bandana with the Arabic word for "revolutionaries" written on it.
Both are no longer available on the website for Christie's auction on modern and contemporary Middle Eastern Art. A third piece by Baalbaki, depicting red flags seemingly on fire, remains on sale.
A Christie's spokesperson said: "Decisions relating to sales remain confidential between Christie's and our consignors."
An email dated Oct. 30 from Christie's and seen by Reuters said the "decision to remove" the two pieces was "based on complaints", without specifying what the complaints were or who they were from.
The email said it was "normal policy" to remove pieces "if a work receives multiple complaints" in order to avoid "damaging press".
Baalbaki, 48, said he suspected a link between the decision and the unfolding war between Israel and Hamas. Israeli bombardment has killed more than 10,000 people in Gaza since Oct. 7, when Hamas gunmen killed 1,400 people in Israel and took some 240 hostages.
"Unfortunately, it's beyond sad that it would get to this point of violating freedom of expression – that there would clearly be this type of racial discrimination between one community and another," he told Reuters at his Beirut home.
Baalbaki drew comparisons with a move last month to postpone an award ceremony in Frankfurt for a Palestinian author. It said it had decided to hold the award ceremony at a different time in a "less politically charged atmosphere".
"When we start to mess with freedom of expression in art, in novels, in anything that has cultural significance, it snowballs fast," Baalbaki said.
"People feel it's their image that's been withdrawn ..."