EL ALAMEIN: Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani announced that the State of Qatar and the Arab Republic of Egypt have signed four agreements in the areas of customs cooperation and regulatory work, in addition to development and heal»»»

Members of the Panama Police guard the entrance to the port of Balboa (Pacific) in Panama City, Panama, in February The ports of Balboa (Pacific) and Cristobal (Atlantic), near the Panama Canal, were paralyzed amid the transition of the operator after the departure of Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutc»»»

Dubai: A six-year-old boy collapsed in his classroom and died after being slapped by his teacher for not completing his homework at a private school in Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam on Thursday, police said. The incident, involving Pranay Teja, took place at a school in the city’s One Town area, I»»»

BusinessGlobal issuesDrought in Germany and Europe are driving up costsAstrid Prange de OliveiraOngoing drought in Europe is causing rivers to dry up and crops to fail. Transport costs are rising and the price of food has exploded. Is inflation due to extreme weather? https://p.dw.com/p/5J9iUThe Rh»»»

CAIRO: Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Fahmy on Thursday condemned Israel’s move to advance the E1 settlement project in the occupied West Bank, warning that it would divide Palestinian territory and further isolate East Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings. Fahmy also condemned recent I»»»

WASHINGTON: The United States will impose “the toughest sanctions in history” on Iran, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday as he urged Beijing ​to cooperate with Washington. Bessent said he would hold a press conference on Monday to discuss details. “It is a one-two punch. We have »»»

El Alamein: Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani announced Thursday that the State of Qatar and the Arab Republic of Egypt have signed four agreements in the areas of customs cooperation and regulatory work, in addition to development»»»

Cases of salmonella from jalapeno peppers have been reported in 32 states with 431 infections reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. File Photo by Erik S. Lesser/EPA-EFE Aug. 20 (UPI) -- Cases of salmonella from jalapeno peppers have been reported in 32 states with 431 inf»»»

waterdrop®, the Austrian hydration brand founded in Vienna in 2016, celebrates its 10th anniversary this year with “10 Years of Making Waves”, a global campaign running from 20 August to 30 September 2026 across its international markets, including Romania. A decade after introducing the Microdrink»»»

The political will and the actions taken by the Bulgarian government to combat money laundering, the shadow economy, and corruption are another guarantee for Bulgaria's strong position to leave the shameful "grey list", Prime Minister Rumen Radev said during a Council for Coordination and Cooperati»»»

Former government minister Tibor Navracsics and former space research commissioner Orsolya Ferencz have launched a new civic initiative calling for dialogue about Hungary’s future and an assessment of the lessons of the past 36 years. Announced on 20 August, the Civic Democrats (Polgári Demokraták)»»»

Among the main factors behind the recovery are hopes of progress toward an agreement between the conflicting parties regarding the future of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, as well as stronger demand through exchange-traded funds (ETFs), with particularly strong activity during Asian trading»»»

Sofia Mayor Vassil Terziev said in a Facebook post: "I don’t expect the government to give a good assessment of my work. I expect partnership." Terziev responded to remarks made earlier on Thursday by Deputy Prime Minister Ivo Hristov, who said that the capital is facing a "management crisis". Sofi»»»

Central bankers do not usually forecast the weather. The European Central Bank's chief economist has just put one into his. The Climate Crisis has gone beyond a fringe obsession of hippie tree-hugers and entered the studies of central bankers, who have been forced to sit up and take notice of the u»»»

Russia and Myanmar signed ten documents in the Kremlin on August 18, including a joint declaration on countering Western sanctions. The talks between Vladimir Putin and Myanmar's president Min Aung Hlaing produced a package covering nuclear power, liquefied natural gas, a deep-water port and search»»»

DAMASCUS: A Syrian investigator has been detained and referred to prosecutors after an official investigation concluded that a slap he delivered during questioning led to the death of a 29-year-old detainee with a medical condition, state news agency SANA reported on Thursday. Authorities had earli»»»

Doha, Qatar: The Appeals Chambers of the Investment and Commerce Court has upheld a lower court's ruling that orders a driver and an insurance company to jointly pay QAR450,000 in compensation to a victim who suffered a broken leg in a traffic accident. According to Al-Sharq, the plaintiff filed a »»»

At the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Nov 20, 2004, a NASA Boeing Delta II rocket lifts off with the Swift Gamma Ray Observatory on board from launch complex 17A. The payload has been used to observe and monitor gamma ray bursts and relay the information to scientists for 21 years. File Photo »»»

Scottish National Party politician Martyn Day and his Kerala-born wife Nidhin Chand have celebrated their marriage with a traditional ceremony at Guruvayur, a decade after the couple first married in the UK. The ceremony fulfilled a long-held wish of Nidhin, who hails from Piravom in Kerala’s Ernak»»»

Riyadh: Known to thousands simply as Falafel in Hotpot, Xuling, a Chinese/Arabic content creator, has built a unique platform connecting two of the world’s oldest civilizations — those of China and Saudi Arabia. Through language, culture, and everyday experiences, she shares a fresh perspective on »»»

LONDON: Israel said on Thursday reconstruction in Gaza cannot begin until Hamas is fully disarmed, as Turkiye, Egypt and Qatar condemned renewed Israeli strikes in the enclave and warned that further escalation could undermine efforts to implement a US-backed peace plan. Israeli Prime Minister Benj»»»

Tunis, Aug. 20 (TAP)- The stock market held steady after earlier gains on Wednesday. The benchmark index gained +0.15 % to 19,594.67 points with a volume of TND 9 million, broker Tunisie Valeurs said. No bloc transactions were carried out....»»»

BEIRUT: Lebanon and Saudi Arabia officially relaunched their overland trade route on Thursday, as Lebanese customs authorities began operating an advanced scanner at the Masnaa Border Crossing with the Syrian Arab Republic. Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Fahad bin Abdulrahman Al-Dosari took part in th»»»

WASHINGTON: A new US aircraft carrier strike group has arrived in the Middle East, the US military announced Thursday, after conditions aboard a long-deployed carrier provoked fresh criticism of President Donald Trump’s war against Iran. “The George Washington Carrier Strike Group is operating in M»»»

DHAKA: Bangladeshi lawmakers elected veteran Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir as the country’s new president on Thursday, making the longtime opposition figure the head of state after his party came to power in a major political transition. The BNP returned to power i»»»

WASHINGTON: A new US aircraft carrier strike group has arrived in the Middle East, the US military announced Thursday, after conditions aboard a long-deployed carrier provoked fresh criticism of President Donald Trump’s war against Iran. “The George Washington Carrier Strike Group is operating in M»»»

A train approaches a Tokyo station in 2014. On Thursday, four workers pulling weeds were killed by a train in Japan. File photo by Franck Robichon/EPA Aug. 20 (UPI) -- Four men working on railroad tracks were killed when they were hit by a train at a station in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan, Thursday. »»»

US President Donald Trump has vowed to target any country helping Iran’s economy, shifting from his previous focus on military threats. Trump made the remarks after a 60-day window to negotiate a peace deal with Tehran expired on Monday without breakthroughs. “I am announcing the MOST CRUSHING ECON»»»

A team of scientists from the Centre for Plant Systems Biology and Biotechnology (CPSBB) and the Metabolomics Laboratory at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) has secured utility model protection for a newly developed combination of natural bioactive compounds - maackiain, betulinic acid, and »»»

JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index edged higher on Thursday, gaining 28.77 points, or 0.26 percent, to close at 10,954.46. Total trading turnover on the benchmark index reached over SR5.07 billion ($1.35 billion), with 170 stocks advancing and 90 declining, as nearly 260.86 million shar»»»

President Donald Trump’s social media rhetoric threatening a “crushing economic operation” against Iran preceded a 3% bump in oil prices on Thursday. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo Aug. 20 (UPI) -- Oil prices were up 3% Thursday after President Donald Trump's threat to impose a "c»»»

Israelis began moving into the occupied West Bank settlement of Kadim on Thursday, the local settler council said, the last of four communities from which Israel withdrew more than two decades ago to be repopulated. It came a week after Israel officially reopened neighboring Ganim, in a move emblem»»»

Israel's foreign minister on Thursday slammed a demand by the UK government to halt a major settlement project in the occupied West Bank, after Israeli authorities opened bidding for more than 1,200 homes in the area. Britain said it had summoned Israel's charge d'affairs over the E1 plan, which wa»»»

NEW DELHI: India has signed a memorandum of understanding with Palestinian authorities to build a specialty hospital in the West Bank, following an international appeal for urgent healthcare assistance made by the Palestinian Embassy in New Delhi. On Wednesday, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad M»»»

Central bankers do not usually forecast the weather. The European Central Bank's chief economist has just put one into his. The Climate Crisis has gone beyond a fringe obsession of hippie tree-hugers and entered the studies of central bankers, who have been forced to sit up and take notice of the u»»»

Dubai: Turkish authorities have detained 90 suspects in raids targeting a large fraud network accused of swindling 801 people out of about 116 million lira ($3 million) through a telephone scam involving fake or low-value internet modems, according to Turkish media reports. The operation, centred i»»»

London: Six years after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle dramatically walked away from royal life and moved across the Atlantic, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are preparing to return to Britain with their children. The reported move marks an extraordinary turn in a saga that has included an explosiv»»»

Moscow continues to send GRU officers to Norway under diplomatic cover. The Barents Observer looks at their identities. Colonel Sergei Belousov has held the position of military attaché at the Russian embassy in Oslo since around the middle of 2025. According to leaked data, Belousov is registered »»»

Turkey on Thursday denied having any military presence at an air base in north Syria struck by Israel earlier this week, and vowed to continue "resolutely" supporting Syrian sovereignty. The denial came two days after Syria accused Israel of hitting a disused military air base near the northwestern»»»

A court Shenzhen sentenced Hui Ka Yan, founder and former chairman of the failed Chinese property giant China Evergrande, to life in prison on Thursday, four months after he pled guilty to embezzlement, securities fraud, corporate graft and other charges. File photo by Wu Hong/EPA Aug. 20 (UPI) -- »»»

János Lázár, a former minister in Hungary’s previous government and arguably Fidesz’s most prominent political figure after Viktor Orbán, has resigned from his parliamentary mandate, effective 20 August. Former transport minister leaves Parliament Lázár announced the decision in a lengthy Facebook »»»

Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica has accused YouTube of waging a “war” against people who think independently and “tell the truth,” after the Google-owned platform deleted his channel without any warning. YouTube removed Kusturica’s ‘My Life’ channel on Wednesday, without publicly elaborating on th»»»

August 20, 2026 marks 120 years since Bulgaria and Norway established diplomatic relations, the Bulgarian Embassy in Oslo reported. The embassy added that the two countries are NATO allies and partners in the European Economic Area, with bilateral cooperation spanning a wide range of areas. The nea»»»

LONDON: A convicted people smuggler living in the English county of Leicestershire has been arrested and charged, the BBC reported on Thursday. Twana Jamal Khdir, once described as the “godfather” of the French migrant camps, was charged with a set of immigration offenses. The Iraqi Kurd previously»»»

Dubai: Motorists travelling between Dubai and Sharjah should expect slower journeys during Thursday evening’s rush hour, particularly on major corridors linking the two emirates. The main pressure points are expected along Al Ittihad Road (E11) around Al Taawun, Sahara Centre and Al Nahda, where tr»»»

Dubai: The General Directorate of Identity and Foreigners Affairs – Dubai (GDRFA Dubai) reviewed 2,267 humanitarian cases during the first half of 2026, approving 1,295 after assessing their circumstances and eligibility under approved humanitarian criteria. GDRFA Dubai said its Humanitarian Cases »»»

Dubai: Iran says it controls the Strait of Hormuz. Donald Trump insists the United States has broken Tehran’s grip on the vital waterway. The reality is more complicated — and could help explain why a conflict now deep into its sixth month remains so difficult to end. Shipping traffic remains sever»»»

Dubai: Tensions across the Middle East escalated on multiple fronts on Thursday, with a US aircraft carrier strike group arriving in the region, a tanker reportedly seized by armed men off Yemen, and President Donald Trump threatening further economic pressure on Iran. Gulf states called for de-esc»»»

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The total number of US military personnel injured during the conflict with Iran has increased to 757, Sputnik found out on Thursday after analyzing recent Pentagon data. As of August 19, 418 soldiers were injured during Operation Epic Fury that finalized on May 5, another 339»»»

Moscow continues to send GRU officers to Norway under diplomatic cover. The Barents Observer looks at their identities. Colonel Sergei Belousov has held the position of military attaché at the Russian embassy in Oslo since around the middle of 2025. According to leaked data, Belousov is registered »»»