Source: BBC
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
Monday 30 May 2022 15:13:16
Top Gun: Maverick Gives Tom Cruise First $100 Million Opening Weekend
The new Top Gun movie has given Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise his first $100 million (£79m) opening weekend at the box office.
Top Gun: Maverick sees him reprise his role as US navy pilot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell from the original 1986 film.
In its first three days in North American theatres, the sequel earned an estimated $124 million (£98m) in ticket sales, Paramount Pictures said Sunday.
Worldwide, that figure is raised to an estimated $248 million (196m).
"These results are ridiculously, over-the-top fantastic," said Chris Aronson, Paramount's president of domestic distribution.
"I'm happy for everyone. I'm happy for the company, for Tom, for the filmmakers."
Cruise's previous biggest opening weekend for a movie came in 2005 with War of the Worlds, which raked in $64 million (£50m).
The 59-year-old's second outing as Maverick also had the fourth biggest opening of any film in the Covid-era, behind the best-selling Spider-Man: No Way Home, second-placed Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and then The Batman.
He was joined by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge for the new film's UK premiere recently.
The original movie flew high above the competition, topping last Wednesday's weekly UK film chart, as fans - young and old - prepared for the official release of the sequel last Friday.
Becca Monahan, commercial director of the Official Charts Company said it was "fantastic to see Tom Cruise back in the skies again after 36 years".
"That the original Top Gun has made history by getting to number one on the Official Film Chart and that many of those sales were digital downloads is a great achievement," she noted.
Liz Bales, chief executive of the British Association for Screen Entertainment agreed, saying she expects that the sequel "takes cinema audience's breath away on the big screen" - a nod to the original film's Oscar-winning song.
Critics praised the return of Top Gun: Maverick earlier this month, calling it a "barrier-breaking sequel".
The Independent called it "as thrilling as blockbusters get", praising it as a "true legacy sequel".
The Telegraph called it "absurdly exciting" and "unquestionably the best studio action film in years".
