catholicherald.co.uk

ISIS militants have blown up the 2,000 year triumphal arch in Palmyra, it has been reported.

The latest act of destruction was reported by Syria’s head of antiquities, Maamun Abdulkarim, who reported that the terror group had detonated a bomb they had laid several weeks ago.

“We have received news from the site that the Arch of Triumph was destroyed yesterday (Sunday). ISIS booby-trapped it several weeks ago,” antiquities director Maamun Abdulkarim told AFP.

ISIS has already destroyed the shrine of Baal Shamin and the 2,000-year-old Temple of Bel. The group also murdered the city’s 82-year-old former antiquities chief.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – A bomb went off in Lebanon on Monday targeting a minibus transporting passengers to Syria, and a second explosive …

Reuters

BEIRUT, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Rival Lebanese lawmakers nearly came to blows on live TV on Monday, shoving and shouting at each other in a vivid illustration of political conflict that is paralysing decision-making and fuelling public discontent.

After arguing for several minutes at a parliamentary committee on public works and energy, one MP threw a water bottle, before scuffling with another. The fight was quickly broken up and the meeting abandoned.

Monday's altercation began when MP Ziad Aswad, a member of Christian politician Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement, objected to corruption allegations raised against the minister of energy - who belongs to his political bloc - by a member of a rival alliance led by Sunni politician Saad al-Hariri.

Naharnet

Pope Francis has reportedly sent a letter to Christian Lebanese leaders appealing for unity to elect a new president and fill the vacuum at Baabda Palace.

As Safir daily on Monday quoted high-ranking sources as saying that the pope sent the letter to the unidentified Maronite officials around ten days ago.

He asked them to “unite for the sake of electing a Lebanese president,” said the sources.

As Safir also quoted high-ranking French diplomatic sources as saying that President Francois Hollande's visit to Beirut, which was scheduled to take place in October, has been postponed indefinitely.