The Beiruter
Editors' pick
Lookout for the future Lebanon, an exclusive interview with ATFL president Ed Gabriel
An Exclusive interview with Edward Gabriel, president of the American Task Force on Lebanon (ATFL) and former US ambassador discussing the path forward, the main obstacles to ending the current cycle of hostilities, Washington’s willingness to engage directly with Hezbollah, and the state’s sovereignty.
By Joanne Naoum
Politics
Site 99: Syria’s nuclear legacy
A forgotten nuclear legacy from the Assad era is back in focus: this investigation explores Syria’s Site 99, the undeclared nuclear material discovered by the IAEA, and the regional security concerns surrounding what remains of Damascus’ secret nuclear program.
By The Beiruter
Economy
The crop Lebanon legalized but never built
Parliament legalized cannabis cultivation in 2020. Six years later, Lebanon has not issued a single cultivation license. The regulatory framework is reportedly close to completion, but the sector remains blocked by an implementation failure that has left farmers outside the law and the promised industry on paper.
By Michel Tawk
The productivity gap dividing advanced economies
Productivity growth has slowed sharply across advanced economies, but widening gaps among countries show that investment, technology adoption and the ability to put capital and workers to productive use can determine how much growth is ultimately lost.
By The Beiruter
Final steps before banking reform approval
Lebanon's Finance and Budget Committee is nearing completion of amendments to the banking reform law, with only a handful of issues still under discussion. The proposed changes are key to advancing reforms sought by the IMF and reshaping the country's banking sector.
By The Beiruter
Lebanon’s human capital is no longer enough
Through the lens of the Belgium Business Council's "From Crisis to Continuity: Safeguarding Lebanon's Economy" conference, business leaders and policymakers argue that Lebanon's greatest economic assets cannot overcome a deficit of confidence in its financial institutions.
By The Beiruter
Recovery scenarios: How Lebanon could rebuild by 2030
A new IMF-backed report highlights how Lebanon’s economic future hinges on the implementation of the U.S.-Israel framework agreement, domestic reforms, and the resolution of frozen deposits, with recovery scenarios ranging from fragile growth to robust stabilization by 2030.
By Rana Saarti
The global competition for the world's wealthiest residents
As private wealth becomes more globally mobile, governments are competing to attract the entrepreneurs and investors behind it through tax incentives and residency policies, transforming the competition for investment into a competition for people.
By The Beiruter
The B
The Small Serail: The landmark lost to modernization
Once a symbol of Beirut’s transformation into a modern capital, the Small Serail was demolished in the 1950s, leaving behind a lasting absence in the city’s architectural memory. This article retraces the story of the lost landmark, its Ottoman-era design, its role in shaping Martyrs’ Square, and the question of whether Beirut can modernize without erasing its past.
By Fadi Badran
A healthcare system on life support
Lebanon’s healthcare system, once considered one of the country’s strongest sectors, is facing a growing financial and operational crisis as hospitals struggle with unpaid dues, rising costs, inflation, and declining support from insurers and state institutions.
By Zizi Stephan
Before “I Do”: Living together before marriage
Can you really know your partner until you live with them? Young Lebanese share why they would or would not choose cohabitation before marriage, while analyst psychotherapist Martine Zoghbi explores what happens psychologically when two people begin sharing a home.
By Yara Saliba
Understanding the thoughts behind OCD
OCD is often mistaken for a love of cleanliness and order. But behind the neat rooms and repeated checks can be a much deeper struggle. Psychologist and psychotherapist Dr. Wadih Nassour explains what OCD really looks like, how intrusive thoughts and compulsive behaviors can take over daily life, and why understanding the disorder means looking beyond the surface.
By Yara Saliba
Heart or brain? The battle behind every difficult decision
When emotions and rational thinking pull us in opposite directions, making a decision can feel impossible. Clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst Mario Abboud explains why our past experiences, unconscious reactions, overthinking and fear of loss shape the choices we make and why there may never be a perfectly “right” decision.
By Yara Saliba
Technology
The solar boom Africa’s statistics are missing
A new report finds that solar installations are surging across Africa far faster than official statistics suggest, driven by cheap Chinese panels and a largely decentralized boom that is allowing businesses to generate their own electricity beyond the reach of national grids.
By The Beiruter
The internet’s most important infrastructure is underwater
More than 99% of international data traffic travels through submarine cables, but their concentration along narrow maritime routes, dependence on a small repair fleet and growing control by technology giants are turning the infrastructure beneath the internet into an issue of economic security and geopolitical power.
By The Beiruter
The strange market keeping the old internet alive
The internet exhausted its supply of new IPv4 addresses 15 years ago, but a global market for existing addresses shows how scarcity, compatibility and sunk investments can keep an aging technology valuable long after its successor arrives.
By The Beiruter
The question of "singularity" in AI
Sam Altman says humanity has entered the technological singularity, but evidence that AI is beginning to accelerate its own development raises a harder question about what would prove that threshold has actually been crossed and whether AI could ever realistically be switched off.
By The Beiruter
When books became AI's most valuable resource
Court documents made public during the Anthropic copyright lawsuit revealed how the AI company purchased and digitized millions of books, exposing a wider industry shift as developers turn to high-quality human writing to train the next generation of language models.
By The Beiruter
China’s bid to lead the global AI order
Through a new international AI governance body and a call for greater international AI cooperation at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference, Beijing is positioning itself as an alternative leader in the global governance of artificial intelligence.
By The Beiruter
The court ruling testing the limits of AI Liability
A German court's decision holding Google liable for defamatory AI-generated content is becoming one of the first major legal tests of corporate responsibility for AI-generated information as generative AI becomes embedded in everyday services.
By The Beiruter
