US envoy to discuss Israel ceasefire as Lebanon commits to disarming Hezbollah
Mr Barrack is also set to meet with prime minister Nawaf Salam and speaker Nabih Berri, who often negotiates on behalf of Hezbollah with Washington.
'I think the Lebanese government has done their part. They've taken the first step,' said Mr Barrack, who is also the US ambassador to Turkey.
'Now what we need is for Israel to comply with that equal handshake.'
Lebanon's decision last week to support a plan to disarm Hezbollah angered the Iran-backed group and its allies, who believe Israel's military should first withdraw from the five hilltops it has occupied in southern Lebanon since the end of its 14-month war with Hezbollah last November and stop launching almost daily airstrikes in the country.
Naim Kassem, Hezbollah's secretary-general, has vowed to fight efforts to disarm the group, sowing fears of civil unrest in the country.
Mr Barrack warned Hezbollah that it will have 'missed an opportunity' if it does not back the calls for it to disarm.
Mr Aoun and Mr Salam both want to disarm Hezbollah and other non-state armed groups, and have demanded Israel halt its attacks and withdraw from the country.
Mr Aoun said he wants to increase funding for Lebanon's cash-strapped military to bolster its capacity. He also wants to raise money from international donors to help rebuild the country.
The World Bank estimates that Hezbollah and Israel's months-long war in late 2024 cost 11.1 billion dollars in damages and economic losses as larges swaths of southern and eastern Lebanon were battered.
The country has also faced a crippling economic crisis since 2019.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Spectator
14 hours ago
- Spectator
Childfree zealots are anti-humanity
Few things in life are more French than a dispute animée about holidays. While the Spanish enjoy an easy relationship with mañana and the Italians savour il dolce far niente (sweet idleness), the French will incite a riot over any threat to their leisure time faster than you can say faire une pause. It's therefore little surprise to witness the ardourof government officials in condemning childfree resorts, a rare but growing feature of French holidaymaking. Saint-Delis in Normandy is but one hotel offering an 'ever more exclusive and peaceful experience' with 'absolute relaxation' for only €334 a night. The existence of such facilities has prompted Laurence Rossignol, a former families minister, to propose that adult-only venues should be banned. The Socialist party senator claimed that they 'institutionalise and legitimise intolerance', adding for good measure that 'to not like children is to not like humanity itself'. With rates of childlessness only climbing worldwide, it's a debate that will only become more pertinent. France's fertility rate is a mere 1.66 births per woman, according to the World Bank, with birthrates at their lowest ebb since the second world war. In Britain (1.56 births per woman), the Office for National Statistics recently revealed that a slender majority of women turned 30 without having had their first child in 2020, for the first time in history. Such is the scale of the childlessness that even the bien pensants are spooked. Last year French president Emmanuel Macron called for 'demographic rearmament', offering six months parental leave for both parents, free fertility checks for 25-year-olds, and more funding for reproductive technology. The vogue for childfree hospitality indicates this is as much a cultural problem as a financial or even technological one. Earlier this year France's high commissioner for childhood, Sarah El Haïry, felt obliged to publicly rebuke anti-child attitudes, arguing that the country must resist the notion 'that children aren't welcome on a restaurant terrace'. To some degree the reaction is overwrought. One travel company group reckons that only 3 per cent of France's hotels and resorts qualify as childfree, and many of those visiting will be parents who have dropped Josephine and Gabriel off at the in-laws for a weekend of amour – or at least a few nights of unbroken sleep. Having the odd pub that bars patrons still in primary school is likewise no great crisis if there's a more family-friendly alternative nearby, nor should there be any objection to the curfews imposed in many British venues, ordering children home for bedtime. Even if we're allowing kids to vote, there's no need to have them hogging the barstools. But there is a darker side to these reasonable requests. While the decision not to have children is a legitimate exercise of personal agency, the emboldened childfree movement – who dislike the more exposing 'childless' description – are increasingly arguing that other people's children should be neither seen nor heard. I've visited cafes – a trade heavily reliant on mothers of young children – who will post signs declaring that dogs are allowed, but children merely tolerated. See also the growth in childfree weddings: as if a marriage without children isn't basically a tax avoidance scheme. Public transport is another battleground, with a viral TikTok clip from April 2023 showing a man throw a hissy fit over a baby crying on a plane stuck in a holding pattern. This June an American sports pundit called for parents to 'brain rot the baby on TikTok' if it starts crying in the sky, and only a few days ago the Standard reported that a fight broke out on a Ryanair flight in response to infant tears. This is all to say that childfree zealots are as prone to temper tantrums as the toddlers they despise. Much of this comes downstream of intellectual attempts to paint child-rearing as a quirky personal interest, rather than the only reason any of us are alive. No doubt all parents enjoy a slither of solipsism in replicating their genes. But this is rather undercut by the self-sacrifice of raising the pickles, as many childless people cite when justifying their decision not to have any. Still, the childless are happy to draw from the welfare state when they reach their autumn years, funded, naturally, by other people's children. All of that is anyway besides the point. At the risk of sounding like a heartbleeder, what matters is that children are people like any other. They can be loud, annoying and inconsiderate, much like adults. Both deserve a place in public, even if it upsets those with dual incomes and no kids.
Time Out
18 hours ago
- Time Out
Australia has a higher median wealth than nearly every nation on Earth, second only to Luxembourg
Wealth means different things to different people – while most measure it in dollars, many would argue that true wealth is also about living a long and fulfilling life. But today, we're sticking with the value of one's financial assets to unpack a new study of the world's richest countries based on median wealth. This year, Australia ranked second out of 56 countries, beaten only by Europe's Luxembourg. This ranking comes from Swiss bank UBS's 16th annual Global Wealth Report, built on data from the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund and central banks worldwide. Instead of solely relying on GDP per capita, the report focuses on median wealth per adult – the total value of assets and investments (minus debts) held by the person in the middle of a country's wealth distribution, built over time rather than in a single year. This paints a better picture of where money is made and kept, and isn't skewed by the extreme wealth of billionaires. Australia currently stands as the second-wealthiest country in the world, with a median wealth per adult of US$268,000 (AU$413,000). In other words, half the population has more than this amount and half has less. Meanwhile, Australia ranks fifth out of 56 countries for average wealth per adult at US$620,000 (AU$955,000). But it's not all about the cash money Down Under. Australia has the lowest proportion of wealth held in cash, securities and deposits at just over ten per cent – roughly half the amount in Switzerland, Singapore and the United Kingdom. The majority of our nation's wealth is tied up in non-financial assets, with real estate alone accounting for 53 per cent. For comparison, the share of wealth in real estate in the United States is just 30 per cent. Perhaps the most mind-boggling fact is that one in ten Australians is a millionaire in US dollars (equating to AU$1.54 million). This puts us eighth on UBS's Millionaire Index, with 1.9 million Aussies sitting on a seven-figure fortune. Leading the pack is the US with 23.8 million millionaires – more than four times as many as mainland China in second, and beating the combined total of France, the UK, Germany, Canada, Japan and Australia. The 10 richest countries in the world by median wealth Luxembourg (US$395,340 / AU$609,000) Australia (US$268,424 / AU$413,000) Belgium (US$153,539 / AU$237,000) Hong Kong SAR (US$222,015 / AU$342,000) Denmark (US$216,098 / AU$333,000) New Zealand (US$207,707 / AU$320,000) Switzerland (US$182,248 / AU$281,000) United Kingdom (US$176,370 / AU$372,000) Canada (US$151,910 / AU$234,000) France (US$146,017 / AU$225,000) All currency conversions from USD to AUD are approximate, based on exchange rates on 19 August 2025. RECOMMENDED FOR YOU: 🤑 💰
Daily Record
a day ago
- Daily Record
Paraag Marathe teases Rangers transfer timeline as signing rush predicted in 'last few days of the window'
It's a big night for the American who has a unique dual role as chairman at Leeds and vice-chairman at Ibrox Mischievous Paraag Marathe teased plenty of 'activity' in the closing days and weeks of the transfer window. And while the Leeds chairman was primarily talking about what's to come at the Elland Road club, it was a not-so-subtle indication that things are set to ramp up at Rangers too. It's a big night for the American who has a unique dual role as chairman at Leeds and vice-chairman at Ibrox, and after months of Rangers being at the top of his agenda, the real stuff starts for the Yorkshire club tonight when they face Everton in the Premier League curtain-raiser. Marathe and the San Francisco 49ers-backed ownership group have brought Leeds from the doldrums of the Championship back to the big time and, having spent £70m on eight new players already, he was asked in an interview on Sky Sports what he's planning for the rest of the window. And his response indicated there's plenty to be expected – at both clubs under his stewardship. He said: "History shows there's always a lot of activity in the last few weeks of the window, certainly the last few days of the window. We'll exercise every day that we can. "I can't speak for other American owners, I can only speak for myself. I've been in sports for almost three decades now. I love winning, I hate to lose, that's what drives me. "I don't think about the commercial side of it, I think about making this club as successful on the pitch as it can be. "It matters to me. There's no hours in a day or weeks in a year that limit me, it's win or go home. And I just want to do everything I can to get this club as good as it can be." You can get all the news you need on our dedicated Rangers page, and sign up to our newsletters to make sure you never miss a beat throughout the season.
