Latest news with #Amal
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
George and Amal Clooney's twins set for big life change ahead of 8th birthday
It's been a busy time for the Clooneys. George, 64, and his wife, Amal, 47, have spent the last few months living Stateside in New York City where the Ocean's 11 actor has been performing multiple times a week at the Winter Garden Theater in the critically acclaimed Broadway show Good Night, and Good Luck. Though the husband and wife, who wed in 2014, are fortunate to own multiple homes in the UK, France and Italy, Amal and George settled their family, specifically seven-year-old twins Alexander and Ella, into life in the Big Apple to accommodate George's theater work. The move was no doubt a big change for the family, who are used to living a quiet life in France, though it seems as if another major shift is on the horizon. George and Amal's twins, Alexander and Ella, will be celebrating their eighth birthday next month, and we can imagine that the proud parents have plenty of exciting plans in place to mark their special day. Not only that, but next month marks the end of George's run on Broadway as officially closes on June 8. With George's show closing, and it being the summer, it's likely that the Clooneys will head back to Europe, where they spend most of their time. After months of living in the bustling city, the twins will have to adapt to moving once again. What's more, it's safe to say that their home life in Europe is worlds apart from city living. George and Amal do have a swish condo in NYC that they likely made the most of in recent times, however, the actor shared that farm life is where he feels most at home. He told the New York Times: "Growing up in Kentucky, all I wanted to do was get away from a farm, get away from that life. "Now I find myself back in that life. I drive a tractor and all those things. It's the best chance of a normal life." George and Amal are highly successful at keeping their children private and have never shared photos of their children's faces to protect their identity. Life in rural France, no doubt, means that privacy is even more accessible. According to locals, the family is normally left alone and is described as "down-to-earth". Named Domaine Le Canadel, the $8.3 million home is located on a breathtaking 18th-century vineyard in the gorgeously picturesque town of Brignoles in Provence. It boasts more than 400 acres of land and the chateau itself sounds incredible with multiple bedrooms and bathrooms, plus an outhouse and garages for their vehicles. The Clooneys' idyllic French estate is just a 25-minute drive from Chateau Miraval, which was formally co-owned by Brad and his ex-wife Angelina Jolie.
Al Jazeera
5 days ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Hezbollah holds firm in Lebanon's municipal elections
Beirut, Lebanon – As southern Lebanon continues to suffer from sporadic Israeli attacks despite a ceasefire signed in November between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah, establishment parties have emerged as the biggest winners of municipal elections. Voting took place over four weeks, starting in Mount Lebanon – north of the capital, Beirut – followed by the country's northern districts, Beirut and the eastern Bekaa Valley, and concluding on Saturday in southern Lebanon. While Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim political and armed group, suffered setbacks to its political influence and military capabilities during 14 months of war with Israel, the group's voter base was still intact and handed it and Amal, its closest political ally, victories across dozens of municipalities. 'The Hezbollah-Amal alliance has held firm and support among the Shia base has not experienced any dramatic erosion,' Imad Salamey, a professor of political science at the Lebanese American University, told Al Jazeera. Despite establishment parties winning the majority of seats across the country, candidates running on campaigns of political reform and opposition to the political establishment also made inroads in some parts of the country, even winning seats in municipalities in southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah historically has enjoyed strong support. In Lebanon, there is no unified bloc of reformists although political actors and groups that emerged during the 2019 antigovernment protests over the economic crisis are referred to locally as 'el-tagheyereen', or change makers. 'Alternative Shia candidates in some localities were able to run without facing significant intimidation, signalling a limited but growing space for dissent within the community,' Salamey said. The fact the elections were held at all will be seen as a boon to the pro-reform government of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, who came to power in January, say analysts. The polls, initially set for 2022, were delayed three times due to parliamentary elections, funding issues and the war with Israel, which started in October 2023. Critics, however, argued the elections favoured established parties because the uncertainty over when they would be held meant candidates waited to build their campaigns. As recently as March, there were still proposals to delay the elections until September to give candidates a chance to prepare their platforms after Lebanon suffered through the war and a two-month intensification by Israel from September to November, which left the country needing $11bn for recovery and reconstruction, according to the World Bank. The war left Hezbollah politically and militarily battered after Israel killed much of its leadership, including longtime Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and his successor Hachem Safieddine. The war reordered the power balance in Lebanon, diminishing Hezbollah's influence. Many villages in southern Lebanon are still inaccessible, and Israel continues to occupy five points of Lebanese territory that it has refused to withdraw from after the ceasefire. It also continues to attack other parts of the south, where it claims Hezbollah still has weapons. With their villages still destroyed or too dangerous to access, many southerners cast ballots in Nabatieh or Tyre, an act that recalls the 18-year Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon that ended in 2000. During the occupation, elections for southern regions under Israeli control were also held in other cities still under Lebanese sovereignty. Hezbollah has given up the majority of its sites in the south to the Lebanese army, a senior western diplomat told Al Jazeera and local media has reported. The recent post-war period also brought to power a new president, army commander Joseph Aoun, and the reform camp's choice for prime minister, Salam, former president of the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Municipal elections are not seen as an indicator of the country's popular sentiment due to low voter interest and local political dynamics differing from those at the national level. Some analysts dismissed the results, calling them 'insignificant' and added that next year's parliamentary elections would more accurately reflect which direction the country is headed. Voter turnout was lower in almost every part of the country compared with 2016, the last time municipal elections took place. The places it fell included southern Lebanon, where 37 percent of the population voted. In 2016, 48 percent of its voters cast ballots. This was also true in most of the Bekaa Valley, an area that also was hit hard during the war and where Hezbollah tends to be the most popular party. In the north, voter turnout dropped from 45 percent in 2016 to 39 percent in 2025. In Beirut, the turnout was marginally higher – 21 percent in 2025 compared with 20 percent in 2016. Many people in southern Lebanon are still living through the war as Israel continues to carry out attacks on areas like Nabatieh. While some in and from the south have questioned Hezbollah's standing and decision to enter into a war with Israel on behalf of Gaza when they fired rockets on the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms territory on October 8, 2023, others still cling to their fervent support for the group. 'The municipal elections confirmed that Hezbollah and the Amal Movement remain strong,' Qassem Kassir, a journalist and political analyst believed to be close to Hezbollah, told Al Jazeera. 'The forces of change are weak, and their role has declined. The party [Hezbollah] maintains its relationship with the people.' Although reform forces did win some seats, including in Lebanon's third largest city, Sidon, they were largely at a disadvantage due to a lack of name familiarity, the short campaign time and misinformation circulated by politically affiliated media. Claims of corruption and contested election results marred voting in parts of the north, where many candidates from traditional political parties dominated. In Beirut, forces for change were dealt a heavy blow. After receiving about 40 percent of the vote in 2016, which still was not enough to earn them a municipal seat, the reformist Beirut Madinati (Beirut My City) list won less than 10 percent of this year's vote. The defeat took place despite the worsening living conditions in the capital, which critics blamed on establishment parties, including those running the municipality. 'The municipality lives on another planet, completely detached from the concerns of the people,' Sarah Mahmoud, a Beirut Madinati candidate, told Al Jazeera on May 18 on the streets of Beirut as people went out to vote. Since an economic crisis took hold in 2019, electricity cuts have become more common, and diesel generators have plugged the gap. These generators contribute to air pollution, which has been linked to cardiovascular and respiratory ailments in Beirut and carries cancer risks. Despite the criticisms and degraded living situation in the city, a list of candidates backed by establishment figures and major parties, including Hezbollah and Amal, but also their major ideological opponents, including the Lebanese Forces and the right-wing Kataeb Party, won 23 out of 24 seats. This list ran on a platform that stoked fears of sectarian disenfranchisement and promised sectarian parity. Municipalities, unlike Lebanon's parliament, do not have sectarian quotas. The unlikely coalition of establishment parties, which was similar to the successful list in 2016 that aligned establishment parties against reform candidates, puzzled some in the capital. In separate incidents, television reporters confronted representatives from Hezbollah and the Lebanese Forces, drawing angry and confrontational reactions from them but little clarification as to why they'd align with an avowed enemy. Bernard Bridi, a media adviser for the list, said its priority was to bring in a foreign consultancy that would advise the municipality on how to manage Beirut like other major international capitals. She added that the opposing parties decided to unify because the stakes are so high this year after years of economic suffering, particularly since the war. Critics, however, accused the establishment parties of trying to keep power concentrated among themselves rather than let it fall to reformists who could threaten the system that has consolidated power in the hands of a few key figures and groups in the post-civil war era. 'The question is what are you fighting for,' Karim Safieddine, a political organiser with Beirut Madinati, said, referring to the establishment list. 'And if they can tell me what they're fighting for, I'd be grateful.' Now the nation's eyes will turn to May next year as parties and movements are already preparing their candidates and platforms for parliamentary elections. In 2022, just more than a dozen reform candidates emerged from Lebanon's economic crisis and subsequent popular uprising. Some speculated that the reform spirit has subsided since thousands of Lebanese have emigrated abroad – close to 200,000 from 2018 to 2021 alone – and others have grown disillusioned at a perceived lack of immediate change or disagreements among reform-minded figures. Many Lebanese will also have last year's struggles during the war and need for reconstruction in mind when heading to the polls next year. Some have started to question or challenge Hezbollah's longtime dominance after seeing the group so badly weakened by Israel. Others are doubling down on their support due to what they said is neglect by the new government and their belief that Hezbollah is the only group working in their interests. 'Taken together, these developments imply a future trajectory where Shia political support for Hezbollah remains solid but increasingly isolated,' Salamey explained, 'while its broader cross-sectarian coalition continues to shrink, potentially reducing Hezbollah's influence in future parliamentary elections to that of a more pronounced minority bloc.'
Ya Libnan
7 days ago
- Politics
- Ya Libnan
South Lebanon votes in municipal elections, where Hezbollah is running in an alliance with Amal
BY BASSEM MROUE In this photo, released by the Lebanese Presidency press office, Lebanese president Joseph Aoun, left, casts his vote at a polling station during municipal elections on his village of Aishiyeh, south Lebanon, Saturday, May 24, 2025. (Lebanese Presidency press office via AP) BEIRUT — Residents of southern Lebanon voted Saturday in the country's municipal elections that will test support for Hezbollah in the predominantly Shiite areas, months after the end of the destructive Israel-Hezbollah war. Hezbollah is running in an alliance with the Amal group of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and both are expected to win mayoral races and the majority of seats in municipal councils. Both groups already won many municipalities uncontested. South Lebanon is the fourth and last district to vote in the elections since May 4. Among those who voted Saturday were Hezbollah members wounded in the Sept. 17, 2024, explosions of thousands of pagers that blew up near-simultaneously in an operation carried out by Israel. More than a dozen were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded. 'The will of life is stronger than death and the will of construction is stronger than destruction,' President Joseph Aoun said during a tour of south Lebanon Saturday. He told reporters in his hometown of Aaichiyeh that he voted for the first time in 40 years. Saturday's vote came two days after Israel's air force carried out intense airstrikes in different parts of south Lebanon. Residents of villages and towns on the border with Israel, including the village of Kfar Kila that was almost completely destroyed during the war, cast their ballots at polling stations set up in the nearby city of Nabatiyeh. Residents of other border villages cast their ballots in the port city of Tyre. 'Southerners are proving again that they are with the choice of resistance,' Hezbollah legislator Ali Fayad, who represents border villages, said in Nabatiyeh. Lebanon's cash-strapped government has been scrambling to secure international funds for the war reconstruction, which the World Bank estimates at over $11 billion. Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, one day after a deadly Hamas-led incursion into southern Israel sparked the war in Gaza. Israel responded with shelling and airstrikes in Lebanon that escalated into a full-blown war that left more than 4,000 dead in Lebanon and more than 80 soldiers and 47 civilians in Israel. A U.S.-brokered ceasefire went into effect in late November. According to UN resolution 1701, Hezbollah is supposed to be disarmed but so far has refused to do so . 1701 also calls for complete monopoly of arms by the state. Unless Hezbollah disarms there will be no reconstruction in Lebanon since none of the donor states is willing to help Lebanon as long as Hezbollah remains its negotiations with Iran , the US is insisting that Iran should not be supporting its proxies , including Hezbollah, the Houthis and the Shiite militia in Iraq AP
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
South Lebanon votes in municipal election seen as test of Hezbollah support
Voters in southern Lebanon are casting their ballots in municipal elections seen as a test of support for Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim political and armed group. The vote on Saturday in the mostly Shia area, where Hezbollah is allied with Amal – the party led by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri – marks the final phase of Lebanon's staggered local elections. It comes after a November 2024 ceasefire between the group and Israel was supposed to end months of attacks. lsrael, however, has continued sporadic strikes as recently as on Thursday, when air raids hit multiple locations in the south. Both Hezbollah and Amal are widely expected to dominate the municipal races, having already secured control of numerous councils unopposed. Turnout was high in border villages ravaged by last year's conflict, with residents of Kfar Kila – a town nearly levelled by Israeli attacks – voting in nearby Nabatieh. Others from surrounding areas cast ballots in Tyre. 'The will of life is stronger than death and the will of construction is stronger than destruction,' Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told reporters on Saturday, as he made a tour of the country's south. He said he voted for the first time in 40 years in his hometown of Aaichiyeh. Among those heading to the polls were Hezbollah members still recovering from a series of Israeli attacks in September 2024, when thousands of pagers exploded nearly simultaneously, killing more than a dozen people and wounding nearly 3,000. 'Southerners are proving again that they are with the choice of resistance,' Hezbollah legislator Ali Fayyad, who represents border villages, said in vote comes at a critical time for Hezbollah. While the group emerged from the conflict with reduced military capabilities and diminished political leverage, the elections offer a platform to reaffirm its influence in the region. 'Lebanon has still not fully recovered from last year's war between Hezbollah and Israel. In fact, Israel continues to target Hezbollah despite a ceasefire,' said Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr, reporting from Nabatieh. 'Hezbollah, no doubt was militarily weakened during the conflict; it lost a lot of its military power but it is using these elections as an opportunity to show that it still has political influence,' Khodr added. Many feel Hezbollah failed to shield them during the war, yet fears of isolation persist, she said. 'They feel vulnerable … not just towards Israel, but also in a deeply divided country and they feel that opponents of Hezbollah are also marginalising the community as a whole.' Lebanon's new government has pledged to create a state monopoly on arms, raising pressure on Hezbollah to disarm as required under the United States-brokered truce with Israel. Lebanon now faces the massive task of rebuilding after 14 months of war, with the World Bank estimating its reconstruction needs at more than $11bn. In October 2023, Hezbollah launched a rocket campaign on Israel in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which was being bombarded by Israel following a surprise attack led by Palestinian group Hamas. Israel responded with shelling and air attacks on Lebanon that escalated into a full-blown war before the ceasefire went into effect in late November.
Al Jazeera
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
South Lebanon votes in municipal election seen as test of Hezbollah support
Voters in southern Lebanon are casting their ballots in municipal elections seen as a test of support for Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim political and armed group. The vote on Saturday in the mostly Shia area, where Hezbollah is allied with Amal – the party led by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri – marks the final phase of Lebanon's staggered local elections. It comes after a November 2024 ceasefire between the group and Israel was supposed to end months of attacks. lsrael, however, has continued sporadic strikes as recently as on Thursday, when air raids hit multiple locations in the south. Both Hezbollah and Amal are widely expected to dominate the municipal races, having already secured control of numerous councils unopposed. Turnout was high in border villages ravaged by last year's conflict, with residents of Kfar Kila – a town nearly levelled by Israeli attacks – voting in nearby Nabatieh. Others from surrounding areas cast ballots in Tyre. 'The will of life is stronger than death and the will of construction is stronger than destruction,' Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told reporters on Saturday, as he made a tour of the country's south. He said he voted for the first time in 40 years in his hometown of Aaichiyeh. Among those heading to the polls were Hezbollah members still recovering from a series of Israeli attacks in September 2024, when thousands of pagers exploded nearly simultaneously, killing more than a dozen people and wounding nearly 3,000. 'Southerners are proving again that they are with the choice of resistance,' Hezbollah legislator Ali Fayyad, who represents border villages, said in Nabatieh. The vote comes at a critical time for Hezbollah. While the group emerged from the conflict with reduced military capabilities and diminished political leverage, the elections offer a platform to reaffirm its influence in the region. 'Lebanon has still not fully recovered from last year's war between Hezbollah and Israel. In fact, Israel continues to target Hezbollah despite a ceasefire,' said Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr, reporting from Nabatieh. 'Hezbollah, no doubt was militarily weakened during the conflict; it lost a lot of its military power but it is using these elections as an opportunity to show that it still has political influence,' Khodr added. Many feel Hezbollah failed to shield them during the war, yet fears of isolation persist, she said. 'They feel vulnerable … not just towards Israel, but also in a deeply divided country and they feel that opponents of Hezbollah are also marginalising the community as a whole.' Lebanon's new government has pledged to create a state monopoly on arms, raising pressure on Hezbollah to disarm as required under the United States-brokered truce with Israel. Lebanon now faces the massive task of rebuilding after 14 months of war, with the World Bank estimating its reconstruction needs at more than $11bn. In October 2023, Hezbollah launched a rocket campaign on Israel in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which was being bombarded by Israel following a surprise attack led by Palestinian group Hamas. Israel responded with shelling and air attacks on Lebanon that escalated into a full-blown war before the ceasefire went into effect in late November.
