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'El Nar Bel Nar'…Racist Dialogues Spark Controversy

A snapshot from the episode 5 of the series, which sees a racist argument between main characters Caresse Bashar and Georges Khabbaz.
A snapshot from the episode 5 of the series, which sees a racist argument between main characters Caresse Bashar and Georges Khabbaz.
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'El Nar Bel Nar'…Racist Dialogues Spark Controversy

A snapshot from the episode 5 of the series, which sees a racist argument between main characters Caresse Bashar and Georges Khabbaz.
A snapshot from the episode 5 of the series, which sees a racist argument between main characters Caresse Bashar and Georges Khabbaz.

The drama “El Nar Bel Nar”, screened on LBC and Shahid platform, is leading the trend on social media. Since its first episodes, it lured the audience for exposing a real struggle that affects the Lebanese and Syrians alike. Its fifth episode, which included a racist dispute between stars Caresse Bashar and Georges Khabbaz, sparked a huge debate on social media.

The episode featured a scene that highlighted the tension between the two sides, and turned the series into a headline overnight. Views were divided, some saw that the drama is sparking racism between the Syrian and Lebanese people, while others said it exposes a bitter reality that must be accepted.

Sadek Sabbah, owner and chairman of Al Sabbah Group, the production company behind “El Nar Bel Nar”, told Asharq Al-Awsat that he expected this hustle, noting that drama, which is supposed to be a reflection of the society, must play this role.

“In this series, we have drawn an accurate picture of a reality that we live, and it’s too soon to judge the work. As of the 20th episode, there will be many developments with deep and honest messages,” he added.

Sabbah believes that the series highlights facts that cannot be overlooked, and “people who see otherwise shall tell us.”

During the interview, Sabbah noted that racism between the Lebanese and Syrian people and all its implications can be seen between many neighboring countries. “The same situation could apply to the French and Belgians, or the Mexicans and Americans. We didn’t mean to offend anyone, all we wanted to do is to highlight facts. The right answers will emerge in the last episodes,” he said.

Director Mohammed Abdelaziz agrees with the producer, noting that we should admit our mistakes loudly, and wounds would never heal without dialogue.

“The work in balanced and diga deep in a sensitive topic for the two sides. This sensitivity is not nascent, its roots date back to the past,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“El Nar Bel Nar” is written by Rami Koussa, and starred by many Syrian and Lebanese stars including Abed Fahd, Caresse Bashar, Georges Khabbaz, Tony Issa, Zeina Makki, Tarek Tamim, and Sacha Dahdouh.

Abdelaziz sees “El Nar Bel Nar” as an unavoidable dramatic step, saying that “we didn’t mean to offend the Syrian or Lebanese people, or spark racism. In my opinion, the audience should wait till the end of the series before judging.”

For the first time, the Syrian-Lebanese partnership in drama takes a different direction with “El Nar Bel Nar”.

The director wasn’t surprised by the fanfare surrounding the work, noting that “we already knew that the series will invite divergent reactions, and that the audience will express their mind on social media. I personally saw that the spectators supporting the work are far more that those opposing it. Both the Syrian and Lebanese people deserve to open up because many huge mistakes were committed. Today, with the displacement of over one million Syrian refugees to Lebanon, the past tensions are back and looming.”

Abdelaziz believes that it is time to discuss these mistakes and start an honest dialogue between the two people. “We didn’t make this work to provoke Syrians of Lebanese, but to urge them to discuss these matters. Whether we like it or not, the two countries are historically and geographically connected. The solution of the Syrian crisis should not be at the expense of the Lebanese people. Lebanon is a small country that lives heavy crises, and the Syrian asylum has only aggravated it,” he explained.

Abdelaziz confirms that the coming episodes includes major shifts and turning points that will change the path of the events. “The humanitarian scenery will erase the ugly one. Lebanon, this small country has been coping with two million refugees. The mistakes are many and we have to admit them, which will lay the ground for a healthy relationship between the two peoples,” he concluded.

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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.