Culture

The 2019 fire at Notre Dame Cathedral left those who worked there feeling lost, but with its reopening approaching, they are eagerly anticipating their return to what they consider their home. The restoration of this iconic Parisian landmark reaches a crucial point on Friday, marking one year until it welcomes the public again on December 8, 2024. French President Emmanuel …

The widely recognized white-bearded Christian saint, who influenced the creation of the secular Santa Claus figure in America, has a lesser-known origin story. Saint Nicholas, celebrated every year on December 6, is known for his generous acts, which extend far beyond merely giving children candy and toys. Saint Nicholas was a 4th-century Christian bishop from the port city of Myra, …

In Lebanon, Christian congregants gathered in a forested mountain area to celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration at a small chapel from the mid-19th century, surrounded by towering cedar trees. As the sunset cast a yellow glow through the cedar branches, Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi of Lebanon’s Maronite Church delivered a sermon from a wooden podium, followed by hymns sung in …

BEIRUT: For many Lebanese children growing up in the 1970s and ’80s, during the Civil War, the ultimate heroic figure was a giant robot. An animated Japense series – or anime, as it is known in Japan – “Grendizer” was dubbed into classical Arabic and screened across the region, enchanting a generation of children. “I call it the glue that holds the …

BEIT SHABAB, Lebanon: Fawzi Fakhoury’s hands are calloused and brown. Hours of shaping tough clay and standing in front of a burning wood oven have stained them shades darker than the rest of his body and toughened them so they are like leather. He is a short man with salt and pepper hair and bushy eyebrows, dressed in simple, mud-stained …

LONDON: George Lowe, the last surviving climber from the team that made the first successful ascent of Mount Everest, has died, his wife said Thursday. He was 89. Mary Lowe said her husband died Wednesday at a nursing home in Ripley, central England, after an illness. Lowe and his friend Edmund Hillary were the only two New Zealanders on the 1953 …

UNITED NATIONS: Israeli and Palestinian leaders will address the United Nations on Thursday, one warning of a dire threat from Iran and the other seeking limited recognition in the absence of a peace process. On a more optimistic note, the U.N. General Assembly will also hear from Myanmar leader Thein Sein, who has presided over historic reforms after decades of …

BEIRUT: At least one, and possibly three, of 10 Lebanese pilgrims held hostage in Syria will be released in the coming few hours,  mediators said. A mediator, who requested he remained anonymous, told The Daily Star early on Tuesday that three men would be released, identifying them as Awad Ibrahim, Ali Termos, Khalil Saleh. The Sunni Committee of Muslim Scholars of Lebanon, …