WASHINGTON: The US Defense Department has designated Chinese-funded cultural centers on university campuses known as Confucius Institutes as a threat to US national security, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Friday. Washington has long accused Confucius Institutes of being Chinese propaganda »»»

UNITED NATIONS: The head of the UN nuclear agency said Friday that he expects the use of nuclear power could more than triple by 2060. Rafael Grossi said in the International Atomic Energy Agency’s annual report to the UN General Assembly that this will be driven by electrification, data centers po»»»

WASHINGTON, United States: President Donald Trump’s administration lifted some tariffs on Canadian imports Friday, two weeks ahead of midterm elections, after a vulnerable Republican candidate said she’d lobbied for the change. The easing of tariffs will apply to products including “plywood sheets,»»»

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered a blockade of the occupied West Bank in the aftermath of a deadly shootout between IDF troops and two suspected Palestinian gunmen at a security checkpoint. The incident unfolded on Friday in the southern West Bank at the temporary checkpoint at»»»

FORT MYERS, Florida: President Donald Trump on Friday told a rally for candidates in South Florida that US warships returning from the Middle East could stop over in Cuba on their way back from the Iran war, his latest suggestion of taking an interventionist approach to the nearby country. Trump fi»»»

DOHA Qatar has provided 15 buses and a consignment of security equipment to the Republic of Senegal to support preparations for the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, which run from October 31 to November 13 and mark the first time an Olympic event hasbeen held on African soil. The initiative reflects»»»

ISTANBUL: Turkiye’s top diplomat said Friday the time had come to reunify Libya’s rival eastern and western administrations, hinting at an announcement on the issue in the near future. Turkiye strongly backed the UN-recognized government in Tripoli during Libya’s years of conflict, but ties with au»»»

Kinshasa: Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo administered the first vaccine doses on Friday in a major clinical trial aimed at halting the country's largest recorded outbreak of the Bundibugyo Ebola virus strain. The Phase 2/3 trial, known as Tumaini, was launched in Bunia, »»»

ISTANBUL: Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Egypt and Pakistan on Friday described the Israeli occupation as “the main source of instability in the Middle East and beyond.” They called for the urgent implementation of a two-state solution to the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis, and the intensificat»»»

DOHA The Years of Culture initiative announced Qatar's cultural partners through 2030. Building on the previously announced partnerships with Egypt and Greece for 2027, upcoming Years of Culture will be celebrated with Italy (2028), the Netherlands and Switzerland (2029), and Portugal and Spain (20»»»

New York state woman charged with voting illegally says she recently learned she wasn’t a citizen A Syracuse, New York, woman who says she only recently learned she wasn’t born in the US has been charged with voting illegally, one of the latest arrests touted by the Trump administration as it hunts»»»

US troops have been warned against using inside information to bet on prediction markets, the Associated Press has reported, citing a directive issued by US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who said such wagers could expose military plans and influence operational decisions. The memo, dated Tuesday a»»»

NAIROBI: For Awad Usham Al-Amin and thousands of others, Abyei provides shelter and an opportunity to eke out a living as war rages back home. This week, Sudan’s conflict caught up with them there too. A drone strike believed to be targeting a fuel depot used by the paramilitary Rapid Support Force»»»

ISTANBUL: Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Egypt and Pakistan on Friday described the Israeli “occupation as the main source of instability in the Middle East and beyond”, calling for an urgent implementation of the two-state solution in Palestine and diplomatic efforts to end the Israel-US war with Iran. In»»»

NAIROBI: Kenya has recorded a second Ebola death, the health ministry said late on Friday, adding that the 65-year-old woman had developed symptoms during quarantine and was a close relative of a Kenyan man who died of Ebola earlier this month. The outbreak, which started in the Democratic Republic»»»

Netanyahu pushes for Iran regime change as US envoy Tom Barrack signals possible strike Jerusalem: The United States could strike Iran as soon as this weekend, a US envoy said Friday, after mounting threats by both Washington and Israel. "Could there be a strike this weekend? Absolutely," Tom Barra»»»

WASHINGTON: First lady Melania Trump has brokered a coming ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in the ravaged, Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshky to allow for humanitarian aid and the evacuation of civilians, the White House announced on Friday. The localized ceasefire is set to begin Thur»»»

GENEVA: Time is running out to get aid into Taiz, besieged by pro-Iran Houthi fighters who are preventing supplies from reaching Yemen’s third-largest city, the United Nations said Friday. Houthi fighters have encircled Taiz since early October, blocking the road that links it to Aden, interim capi»»»

European governments should stop worrying about their growing dependence on American AI, US tech giant Palantir’s top executive for the UK and Europe has said. Instead, they should focus on the advantages the products offer, particularly against Russia, Palantir UK CEO Louis Mosley believes. The Eu»»»

GENEVA, Switzerland: The UN said on Friday it had documented more than 300 deaths from drone attacks in Sudan this month as it condemned the deadly escalation. It called for the international community to bear down on the influx of drones into Sudan’s civil war, particularly those causing civilian »»»

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia strongly condemned a "cowardly" terrorist attack on a church in southern Jordan on Friday that killed seven people and injured dozens.The Kingdom rejects “all terrorist acts that attempt to undermine the security and stability of Jordan,” a foreign ministry statement said.Saudi»»»

Additional naval assets and troops add to concerns over a possible new offensive Washington: The United States appears to be preparing to resume large-scale strikes against Iran, but there is unlikely to be a military solution for either side in the devastating conflict, experts say. Washington and»»»

JERUSALEM: The United States could strike Iran as soon as this weekend, a US envoy said Friday, after mounting threats by both Washington and Israel. “Could there be a strike this weekend? Absolutely,” Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkiye and point man on Syria who does not have a direct role »»»

By Staff, Agencies Canadian diplomats stationed in the United States have reportedly been instructed to avoid contact with candidates in the upcoming midterm elections, in a move aimed at preventing accusations of interference from the Trump administration, The Hill reported, citing multiple accoun»»»

Washington: Microsoft researchers have developed an AI system that diagnoses medical conditions step by step, achieving 83 percent accuracy on complex cases, compared with 36 percent for general physicians using reference materials. Published in Science, the study tested the system on 304 complex c»»»

UAE ambulance service beats 150 GCC organisations, recognised for workplace excellence Abu Dhabi: National Ambulance has won the Employer of the Year award at the 14th GOV HR & Youth Summit & Awards 2026, outperforming 150 organisations from across the GCC. The award recognises National Ambulance’s»»»

Russia-US negotiations on Ukraine are shifting towards revising the European security architecture, Lorenzo Maria Pacini, associate professor of political philosophy and geopolitics at UniDolomiti in Italy's Belluno, tells Sputnik. "It is no coincidence that the Kremlin has identified the establish»»»

DUBAI: Hundreds of people gather, pushing toward the front with their arms outstretched, holding empty plates and containers in the hope of securing a meagre meal that may be all they eat that day. They wait for food parcels that have become part of daily life, with no guarantee of when the next di»»»

NAIROBI: Fighting in a southern Ethiopian border town has killed at least nine people over the past few days, an official at a local hospital said, while a Kenyan official said at least 2,500 people had fled into Kenya. Local residents say the fighting in the Ethiopian town of Moyale, which sits op»»»

Protesters gathered outside Sofia's Palace of Justice on Friday, calling for zero immigration, tighter security measures and strict controls on foreign nationals in Bulgaria. The protest was organized by VMRO's Angel Dzhambazki under the slogan "No to Migrant Crime! Security for Bulgarians!" Sofia »»»

A bid figure can move from one team to the next in a single email. The reasons behind it may stay with the team that priced the job. Choices about scope, access, products, and open questions may sit across files and the knowledge of a few people. Platforms such as Document Crunch can bring file rev»»»

From our special correspondent in Tel Aviv – After more than three years of war, the number of Israeli soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder following bloody campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon has risen drastically. In the lead-up to Israel’s crucial legislative elec»»»

CHICAGO: In a move reflecting significant backlash against the growing involvement of pro-Israel political action campaign money, the leading pro-Israel lobbying organization in the US, AIPAC, has reversed its 2021 policy of publicly identifying candidates who receive their money. In election cycle»»»

Melania Trump brokers ceasefire in war-torn Ukrainian city of Oleshky US First Lady Melania Trump said in a surprise announcement Friday she had brokered a localized ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in the ravaged city of Oleshky, where citizens are trapped and running out of food. Residents in»»»

By Staff, Agencies The Swiss government has denied that a woman diagnosed with Nigeria’s first Ebola case in more than a decade traveled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), contradicting an earlier account from Ugandan authorities about her movements before the infection was detecte»»»

PARIS: France’s President Emmanuel Macron has postponed a planned visit to Senegal and Nigeria later this month, a French presidential source said Friday, following riots that erupted on the sidelines of nationwide protests last weekend. The source, who asked not to be named, did not explicitly ref»»»

US President Donald Trump has invoked a Cold War-era national security law to boost domestic oil production and refining, as rising fuel prices threaten the Republicans’ chances in November’s midterm elections. Speaking on Thursday at a Republican campaign rally in Iowa – an agricultural state wher»»»

MEDAN, Indonesia: Indonesian authorities said on Friday they made two major drug busts worth millions of dollars on the island of Sumatra within days. Police and customs officers intercepted a ship carrying 1.1 tons of ketamine in the waters off Sumatra on Tuesday, according to national police chie»»»

MADRID: One month after starting as a small camp, a sprawling warren of tents and tarpaulin in Madrid has spearheaded protests over Spain’s housing crisis — a key issue in November elections. The camp in the capital’s emblematic Puerta del Sol square now hosts hundreds of people and has morphed int»»»

BELGRADE: As Serbia heads to the polls Sunday, one memory looms large: the collapse of the canopy at a recently renovated railway station two years ago, which killed 16 people and launched a massive protest movement. The tragedy in the country's second city, Novi Sad, has led to the biggest challen»»»

BusinessGermanyCan Germany revive its economy before the AfD gains ground?Nik MartinConflicts, rising costs and Chinese competition are testing Germany's economic model like never before. Can new growth sectors create jobs and ease voters' economic fears, thereby helping contain the far-right AfD? »»»

JEDDAH: France will honor its commitment to help protect Saudi infrastructure against Houthi attacks, French lawmaker Amal Amelia Lakrafi said in Jeddah on Thursday. “My colleagues on the Foreign Affairs Committee and I support Saudi Arabia because, for us, the Houthis are terrorists,” she said. “W»»»

Istanbul, Oct. 23 (SANA) Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan emphasized Friday that global conflict resolution requires genuine dialogue, sustainable mediation, and regional ownership, warning that the international system is suffering from a critical loss of legitimacy. Speaking at the opening of»»»

VIENNA: Austria’s foreign ministry said on Friday it was expelling four Vienna-based Russian diplomats over “activities incompatible with their diplomatic status,” a term usually used for spying. “Based on findings by the Austrian security authorities, the Austrian foreign ministry has taken measur»»»

UPDATETwo gunmen reportedly opened fire during a funeral at Hamoud Church in southern Jordan Dubai: Seven people were killed and 34 others injured, some critically, in a shooting at a church in southern Jordan on Friday, October 23, according to the Jordanian television channel Al Mamlaka. The shoo»»»

LONDON: Bottled water: check. Torch: check. Blankets: check. UK leader Andy Burnham said Britons need to be better prepared for emergencies on Friday, when he hosted a wildfire and resilience summit. The prime minister highlighted a new government campaign that urges households to stockpile essenti»»»

SAN ANTONIO, USA: The younger sister of Stephen Hubbard, the US citizen freed Wednesday after spending more than four years in a Russian prison, said her brother didn’t realize he was being released until he was put aboard a plane and saw the American flag. “He didn’t know why he was being taken fr»»»

ISTANBUL: A meeting between top European diplomats and counterparts from Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt took place in Istanbul on Friday. The participants discussed latest developments in regional and international issues, most notably the situation in Yemen, the US-Iran conflict, the Pa»»»

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Friday the United States could end ‌the ‌war with ‌Iran quickly, but questioned whether Washington should seek a swift conclusion or allow the ‌conflict to ‌gradually wind ‌down. “We ‌could end it very quickly,” Trump ‌said. “Do we want to finish it or let»»»