Interfaith marriages still a rarity in the Muslim world

Lebanese PM Hassan Diab has announced he is stepping down in wake of last week’s deadly Beirut explosion. A number of ministers had already stepped down after mass protests against the government erupted in the country.

Lebanese people in Germany have spent the past week mourning the people killed and injured in the explosion in Beirut on August 4. They do not want to see international aid go to Lebanon's corrupt political class.

Still reeling from a deadly port blast that ravaged their Beirut homes and businesses, Lebanese wearily brace themselves on the eve of a new coronavirus lockdown. Lebanon is to partially close down for two weeks to stem a string of record daily infection rates that have brought the number of COVID-19 cases to 10,952, including 113 deaths.

Emmanuel Macron has arrived in Beirut for his second visit since the massive blast there one month ago. Meanwhile, Lebanese Twitter users are not convinced by the new prime minister, saying the change is purely superficial. Elsewhere, the far-right French magazine Valeurs Actuelles is under fire for depicting a left-wing MP of African heritage as a slave with chains around her neck. Finally, British singer Adele is criticised for dressing up as a Jamaican for London's Notting Hill Carnival, but many online are defending her.

Lebanese artist Sara Abou Mrad uses glass debris from the Beirut port explosion to make man-in-motion-shaped sculptures.

Lebanon's former premier, Saad Hariri, has been asked by the president to form the next government. Hariri, who resigned almost a year ago amid nationwide protests, will face a host of economic and social challenges.

Waving rainbow flags and shedding tears of joy, two Taiwanese same-sex couples tie the knot at a mass wedding hosted by the military in a landmark for Asia's LGBT community.

Lebanon has long been a financial capital in the region. But neighboring nations say billions are stuck in the country's failing financial system.

Lebanese march towards Beirut port to mark a year since a cataclysmic explosion ravaged the city, protesting impunity over the country's worst peacetime disaster at a time when its economy was already in tatters.

The Lebanese ambassador has been asked to leave Saudi territory within 48 hours. The move comes after Lebanon's information minister criticized the Saudi-led war against Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.

The French press discusses the new Covid-19 rules and policy changes in President Emmanuel Macron's address to the nation. We also see how French papers are covering the Paris visit of US Vice President Kamala Harris. Finally, the British and Pakistani press are celebrating Malala's happy news.

On May 15, parliamentary elections will take place nationwide in Lebanon. The Lebanese diaspora, estimated to be double the size of the domestic population, already cast their ballots last week. Around 60 percent of people across 58 countries turned out, slightly more than in 2018. We bring you a special edition of Middle East Matters on Lebanon's first elections since the mass protests of 2019.