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Sonia Beiruti Dies Aged 89

Sonia Beiruti.
Sonia Beiruti.
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Sonia Beiruti Dies Aged 89

Sonia Beiruti.
Sonia Beiruti.

Lebanese media figure Sonia Beiruti passed away quietly on January 16 at the age of 89, after she spent her last days with her eldest son, Antoine, who embraced her with his wife and children, offering her a last refuge.

She gave up on hosting many years ago, and rarely answered phone calls. She never liked social media and refused to own a cellphone, or use WhatsApp and other electronic services.

Beiruti worked in several newspapers and magazines, and served as an advisor for many media personalities and esteemed organizations. She started her journey at Dar Assayad, then worked in several institutions including Annahar newspaper and Al-Hasnaa magazine.

Later, she met late director Simon Asmar in the elevator at Annahar building, where he made her an offer: “I have a new artistic program. Are you interested in such an experience?” When she said that she never worked in art-related journalism, he replied: “you are a journalist with a thirst for knowledge and curiosity, you will find a way to explore stars”.

At that moment, Sonia started her life of fame. She was a petite woman known for her short hair, attractive voice, smart questions, and elegant appearance.

In a previous interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, she said: “After my participation in this program which marked a turning point on Lebanese TV, I walked on the street like I was flying in the sky. People recognized me all the time, they stopped me to ask questions and I answered nicely. A beautiful connection was built between me and the audience thanks to this popular, super successful program.”

Many Lebanese generations knew Sonia Beiruti, but she rarely appeared as a guest in TV programs although many TV hosts raced to interview her to learn from her experience.

Beiruti wrote several books including The Mills of Sectarianism, which highlights the writer’s experiences during the Lebanese civil war; she also wrote The Cords of Air which features the stories of 24 women who escape to beauty, youth, dream, fragility, and motherhood, and then discover that it was an illusion.

Sonia adored Beirut and always said: “I am Beiruti and I love Lebanon from head to toe.” She also liked swimming in Beirut’s sea even during the winter.

“I adore Beirut, its streets, neighborhoods, and houses, especially the alleys of Achrafieh where I was raised. Its sea has always been my closest friend in the summer and winter,” she said. “I remember when Samira Khashoggi offered to take me with her to Egypt, to escape the war and run Asharqiya magazine. I accepted on one condition, I wanted to visit Lebanon every 10 days,” she added.

The late media figure was passionate about her work in journalism. When she spoke about it, she said: “I wasn’t one of the journalists who use their instinct to judge a star, or a politician in a certain situation. Research, observation, and questions were my only way to investigate incidents and people. During my career, I was surprised with the potential of many people I met by coincidence, like Majida El Roumi, the little lady that entered the studio and shocked us with her powerful voice and turned the place upside down. We were all proud of her.”

About the media and television of today, Sonia believed that they have completely changed. “My advice to those working in today’s media is never to be afraid of telling the truth because it is the only way to build a country. I feel bored while watching TV today, only the political subjects interest me,” she said.

“He had remarkable humor. Once, we were talking, then he jumped to his library and grabbed a newspaper to confirm what he was saying. He changed the conversation repeatedly in a funny way that never bores you,” she said about Raymond Eddé, the funniest personality she hosted during her career.

About politics in Lebanon, she said: “Even the understanding of politics has changed today. everyone wants his share of the country like if it was an inheritance. Lebanon needs saviors to rescue it from its fall.”

The Lebanese bid a sad farewell to Sonia Beiruti on Tuesday in a funeral held in a church in Haret Sakhr. She was a media icon that reminded them of the golden days of television; she wasn’t a regular journalist, she established her own media school.

Once, Beiruti said “A human could not get enough of his love for life but one day, they have to respect its limits. Time is a school that we should not skip any of its lessons.”

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Varieties

UN Reports Warn of Large-Scale Damage to Earth’s Ice from Climate Change

Melting of glaciers and sea ice, the thawing of permafrost and the accelerating rise in sea levels, will have widespread repercussions, from flooding to water shortages. (AFP)
Melting of glaciers and sea ice, the thawing of permafrost and the accelerating rise in sea levels, will have widespread repercussions, from flooding to water shortages. (AFP)
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UN Reports Warn of Large-Scale Damage to Earth’s Ice from Climate Change

Melting of glaciers and sea ice, the thawing of permafrost and the accelerating rise in sea levels, will have widespread repercussions, from flooding to water shortages. (AFP)
Melting of glaciers and sea ice, the thawing of permafrost and the accelerating rise in sea levels, will have widespread repercussions, from flooding to water shortages. (AFP)

Exceeding 1.5C of global warming will have "irreversible" consequences for glaciers, sea ice and the Earth's frozen regions, two UN reports warned on Monday, calling for urgent action.

The landmark 2015 Paris Agreement commits the world to limiting warming to well below 2C and pursuing efforts to hold it at 1.5C to try to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

One of the reports said overshooting the 1.5C target "will bring large-scale and in many cases irreversible impacts" for the cryosphere -- Earth's ice in all its forms.

Melting of glaciers and sea ice, the thawing of permafrost and the accelerating rise in sea levels, will have widespread repercussions, from flooding to water shortages.

Some of the effects of the rise in temperature are already visible, such as the 20-percent loss in glacial mass in Switzerland.

But even if the 1.5C target remains relevant, it is already too high for the cryosphere, as current levels of warming were "already unsafe" for the Arctic, Antarctic, mountain glaciers and polar oceans, the UN warned.

"Although returning to 1.5 C will slow ice loss, a truly 'safe' temperature for Earth's ice is now thought to be closer to 1C or even below over the coming centuries," it added.

Global warming has already reached 1.37C above pre-industrial levels and according to the European Copernicus network, the 1.5C threshold could be exceeded around 2030.

"There are no good outcomes in exceeding 1.5C," said glaciologist James Kirkham, lead author of one of the reports, entitled "Overshoot and the Cryosphere", which was written with 80 scientists.

"To contain the global fallout and damage from ice loss in the world's polar and mountain regions, overshoot needs to be kept to the absolute minimum," he said.

"Every extra fraction of a degree and every year spent in overshoot means more devastating impacts."

- Urgency -

Scientists warn in particular about the risks of crossing certain tipping points and say that, even if temperatures were to return to below the 1.5C threshold, recovery would be very slow.

Reducing warming to under 1.5C and even 1C could see some glaciers partially regenerate, while there could also be benefits for sea ice.

But Matthew England, an oceanographer and climatologist at the University of New South Wales in Australia, said recovery could take "decades to centuries".

The second report -- "State of the Cryosphere 2026. The Cost of Overshoot" -- shows that exceeding 2.8C into the next century would have significant consequences.

Sea levels could rise by up to five centimeters a year by 2150, compared to the current 0.45 centimeters while the thawing of permafrost could release as much carbon dioxide each year as the United States, the world's second-largest polluter.

A worst-case but not-so-improbable scenario is that the world is heading towards warming of 2.6C by 2100 even if countries meet their climate commitments.

"Temporarily exceeding 1.5C does not mean that the goals of the Paris Agreement are irrelevant but instead makes them more urgent," argued Kirkham.

"Returning to 1.5C or below by 2100 remains possible with sufficient political ambition and urgency, specifically by speeding the transition away from fossil fuel use to reach net zero by mid-century," he said.

"Such urgent action can prevent and even reverse some cryosphere loss."

Gunjan Silwal, a Nepali glacier researcher, said decisions made in the next few years "will lock in the scale of the damage", warning that August's mountain and glacier collapse that killed more than 1,400 and left over 5,000 missing, was "only a foretaste".

Varieties

Challenging Scientific Assumptions: Blood Remnants Found in 115-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Bones

An artist's impression of a giant dinosaur (Curtin University, Australia)
An artist's impression of a giant dinosaur (Curtin University, Australia)
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Challenging Scientific Assumptions: Blood Remnants Found in 115-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Bones

An artist's impression of a giant dinosaur (Curtin University, Australia)
An artist's impression of a giant dinosaur (Curtin University, Australia)

An international research team has discovered fossilized red blood cells, hemoglobin-derived biomolecules and amino acids from collagen protein inside the bones of a dinosaur that lived approximately 115 million years ago in Brazil. The unprecedented discovery opens new avenues for studying ancient life and challenges existing assumptions about how long fossils can preserve their biological components.

The researchers, led by Australia's Curtin University, said the remains were discovered inside the limb bones of a theropod dinosaur known as Aratasaurus museunacionali, whose fossils were found in northwestern Brazil. The findings were published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Analyses revealed large numbers of preserved red blood cells within the bones' vascular canals. For the first time, researchers were able to establish the presence of hemoglobin-derived chemical compounds inside these cells by detecting heme, the component of hemoglobin responsible for binding and transporting oxygen.

The finding provides confirmed chemical evidence of fossilized blood remnants, unlike previous studies that identified structures resembling red blood cells in fossils but could not conclusively establish their chemical nature.

The discovery surprised researchers because the preservation of delicate biological components, such as red blood cells and hemoglobin molecules, over 115 million years challenges scientific assumptions about how long these materials can survive degradation.

The researchers described the identification of heme-derived molecules within red blood cells of such extraordinary age as a remarkable discovery and a significant milestone in paleontology.

They added that the findings not only expand the fossil record of blood remnants but also provide a direct molecular window into the physiological characteristics of extinct animals, helping scientists better understand their biology and the environments in which they lived.

The study explained that the red blood cells had been mineralized by hausmannite, a mineral that acted as a natural time capsule, helping stabilize cellular structures and biological components, including amino acids associated with collagen protein, and protecting them from degradation over millions of years.

Researchers believe this exceptional preservation resulted from the dinosaur's carcass being rapidly buried after death in a low-oxygen environment rich in microorganisms. These conditions may have helped preserve the biological components within the bones.

The researchers said the findings challenge long-standing scientific assumptions that biomolecules such as hemoglobin could not survive over extended geological timescales.

They also open new avenues for investigating the evolution of blood and metabolic processes, potentially offering insights into the activity levels of ancient animals.

According to the team, the study redefines the limits of molecular preservation across vast periods of time, even under harsh environmental conditions.

The findings may also have implications for astrobiology, potentially helping scientists develop methods to search for evidence of ancient life beyond Earth.

Varieties

Charles Left without Umbrella in Rainstorm Fit for a King

Britain's King Charles III arrives alongside Chief of Defense Staff, Brigadier General Telbert Benjamin in the rain for a military parade marking Antigua and Barbuda's 45th Independence anniversary at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua and Barbuda, on November 1, 2026. (AFP)
Britain's King Charles III arrives alongside Chief of Defense Staff, Brigadier General Telbert Benjamin in the rain for a military parade marking Antigua and Barbuda's 45th Independence anniversary at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua and Barbuda, on November 1, 2026. (AFP)
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Charles Left without Umbrella in Rainstorm Fit for a King

Britain's King Charles III arrives alongside Chief of Defense Staff, Brigadier General Telbert Benjamin in the rain for a military parade marking Antigua and Barbuda's 45th Independence anniversary at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua and Barbuda, on November 1, 2026. (AFP)
Britain's King Charles III arrives alongside Chief of Defense Staff, Brigadier General Telbert Benjamin in the rain for a military parade marking Antigua and Barbuda's 45th Independence anniversary at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua and Barbuda, on November 1, 2026. (AFP)

King Charles flung up his hands in despair as he was caught in a tropical rainstorm in Antigua, while his wife Queen Camilla strolled off with the only available umbrella.

The couple's Caribbean tour has been dominated by the debate over Britain's role in the slave trade, but it was the sight of the soaked monarch which made headlines on Sunday.

As the rain hammered down on Charles, ‌77, he ‌was seen gesturing and turning round to ‌try ⁠to attract the ⁠attention of someone who might help, while Camilla was shielded from the downpour.

Locals taking part in the Antigua and Barbuda independence day parade did not flinch as they were lashed by the storm.

Charles was eventually given an umbrella and was seen joking about ⁠his experience with Prime Minister Gaston ‌Browne. "I think I'm about to ‌grow watercress on my suit," he said in a ‌video posted on the royal family's Instagram account.

It ‌is not the first time the frustration of the famously short-fused Charles has been captured in public.

Not long after he became king in 2022 in an incident which went ‌viral on social media, he reacted grumpily when a pen leaked ink onto ⁠his ⁠hand at an event in Northern Ireland.

"Oh God, I hate this," he cursed.

"I can't bear this bloody thing... every stinking time," he continued.

He has since made fun of himself, quipping at a subsequent event, "I'm hoping that my pen is going to work. It doesn't usually."

He is due to make a speech to Commonwealth leaders on Tuesday. Since becoming king, he has expressed sorrow for the suffering caused by slavery without crossing a line that Britain has long resisted: an apology.