An agent watches the crowd from his car outside an ICE facility in Newark, N.J., where detainees started a hunger strike in May to protest what they call inhumane conditions inside the detention center. File Photo by Angelina Katsanis/UPI | License Photo July 24 (UPI) -- Congressional leaders on Fr»»»

LONDON: Across Syria’s war-scarred landscape, reconstruction efforts have largely centered on shattered cities and critical infrastructure, even as other initiatives aim to extend recovery beyond urban areas. One such effort, led by Saudi aid agency KSrelief and the UN Development Programme, is shi»»»

Sean "Diddy" Combs was placed in solitary confinement in New Jersey's Fort Dix prison after he got into a fight with a fellow inmate earlier this week. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo July 24 (UPI) -- Music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs has been put in solitary confinement after allegedly b»»»

Riyadh: A Saudi ship was targeted in the Red Sea, sustaining minor damage to its hull. The Saudi Press Agency quoted an official source at the Public Transport Authority as saying that the vessel NCC MASA, belonging to a local company, was targeted today while sailing in the Red Sea, resulting in m»»»

LONDON: Five London police officers were injured Friday after their boat patrolling the River Thames struck Westminster Bridge and they went into the water, the UK capital’s Metropolitan Police Service said. The force said in a statement that “a boat from the Met’s Marine Policing Unit struck Westm»»»

Nicaragua's government began the process Friday of reforming the Constitution and the legal framework governing the electoral system, File Photo by Jorge Torres/EPA July 24 (UPI) -- Nicaragua's government began the process Friday of reforming the Constitution and the legal framework governing the e»»»

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said Friday that he had not decided on whether to launch major strikes on Iran yet, as Tehran was now getting “serious” in talks with Washington.His comments came after reports that an increasingly frustrated Trump was meeting senior advisers to discuss launchi»»»

LIMA: Peru and Venezuela will resume diplomatic relations after severing ties over now ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro’s disputed election win in 2024, both foreign ministries announced Friday. Caracas had cut bilateral relations in July of that year after Lima recognized Venezuela’s opposi»»»

PHILADELPHIA: LeBron James’ first “final” decision was that he would retire. Weeks of deep reflection led him to change his mind, however, with all the familiar options in front of him to extend his career; a third trip with Cleveland, a second stop in Miami, maybe even stay in California for a hig»»»

The European Commission’s reduction of emissions benchmarks used to allocate free EU ETS allowances could significantly increase heating prices in Poland and weaken investment in the sector’s transition. For 2026–2030, the heat benchmark was cut by more than 30%, from 47.3 to 31.2 allowances per te»»»

Polish authors earn an average of just PLN 2.87 per copy sold, even though the average retail price of a book is about PLN 58.50. The Literary Union is therefore campaigning for a statutory minimum royalty equal to 10% of the cover price. Most publishing contracts currently calculate royalties usin»»»

Soldiers stand watch at a Lebanese army checkpoint in Zawtar al-Gharbiya, southern Lebanon, on Friday. Zawtar al-Gharbiya is among the designated pilot zones under the ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel, from which Israeli forces are scheduled to withdraw. Photo by EPA BEIRUT, Lebanon, »»»

RIYADH: A Saudi vessel, ​NCC MASA, ‌was attacked ‌while ​sailing ‌in ⁠the ​Red Sea on ⁠Friday, sustaining minor hull damage, Saudi state news agency ⁠SPA reported. The vessel continued ‌to its destination after ⁠checks confirmed ⁠it and its crew were safe, SPA said, citing an official ​source ‌at ‌»»»

Chris Brown leaves Southwark Crown Court where he entered a plea of not guilty June 20, 2025, over an alleged assault in February 2023 of a man in a Mayfair night club in London. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge Friday. File Photo by Hugo Philpott/UPI | License Photo July 24 (UPI) -- Musician C»»»

Written and illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa I have been looking forward to “Daemons of the Shadow Realm” ever since I heard Hiromu Arakawa was getting another anime adaptation. As someone who considers “Fullmetal Alchemist” one of the greatest anime ever made, my expectations were probably unfairly h»»»

SEATTLE, USA: A seaplane carrying 11 people crashed and caught fire on the rocky coast of a remote, forested island near Washington’s border with Canada, but a swift rescue by nearby boats and a helicopter got everyone safely to hospitals. The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday one pers»»»

BUDAPEST: Formula One has been driven too much by business decisions and needs to remember it is a sport, according to McLaren’s world champion Lando Norris. With drivers chafing at new regulations that have cramped their speed, particularly at last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, the Briton told rep»»»

MONTREAL: Wimbledon champion ‌Jannik Sinner and 24-times Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic have withdrawn from next month’s US Open tune-up event in Montreal, tournament organizers said on Friday. Sinner’s withdrawal is expected to make world number two Alexander Zverev and Canadian Felix Auger-Alia»»»

PATTAYA: Tyson Fury edged closer to a blockbuster heavyweight clash with Anthony Joshua after defeating Poland’s Mariusz Wach by technical knock-out on Friday, but said he was “not convinced” his fellow Briton would face him. Fury, 37, outclassed Wach in front of 1,500 spectators in the Thai resort»»»

A person walks along a street flooded after the Bellavista Canal overflowed in the Mirador de la Hacienda neighborhood of La Serena, Chile, on Monday. President Jose Antonio Kast declared a state of constitutional exception of catastrophe for the Coquimbo Region and Huasco province in response to t»»»

Bulgaria is not participating in a war, and Bulgarian airspace has not been handed over to a foreign power, President Iliana Iotova said in an interview on Bulgarian National Television on Friday. "The Bulgarian government acted honestly. Everyone in the National Assembly had the opportunity to exp»»»

The worst wildfire in the Madrid region's history raged west of the Spanish capital on Friday, with around 40,000 people evacuated or ordered to remain indoors. Strong winds and scorching temperatures hampered efforts to contain the flames, which had destroyed dozens of homes and forced the closure»»»

Washington: Since 2026 began, the United States has already recorded its worst measles outbreak in 35 years, according to official figures released Friday, a serious uptick in cases as vaccine hesitancy grows. In just seven months, 2,318 confirmed cases of the highly contagious illness have been re»»»

President Donald Trump's new round of tariffs stem from an investigation launched by the Office of the United States Trade Representative in March into whether trading partners effectively prohibit imports made with forced labor. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo July 24 (UPI) -- Governments»»»

The Ministry of Social Relations and Culture has terminated the employment of the directors of the Natural History Museum, the National Széchényi Library and the Museum of Applied Arts, following a comprehensive institutional review of cultural background institutions, aimed at ensuring workplace s»»»

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Donald Trump on Friday threatened the European Union with a substantial tariff and an investigation over the bloc's new fine against US tech giant Google. On Thursday, the European Commission said it had fined Google 890 million euros (nearly $1 billion) for viol»»»

Washington: A US federal court in Virginia has ruled that restrictions imposed by President Donald Trump's administration on the abortion pill mifepristone are "unlawful" and must be reconsidered. The case was brought by the nonprofit Center for Reproductive Rights in May 2023 on behalf of abortion»»»

New Delhi: India said Friday that one of its nationals was killed in an attack last week on a commercial vessel transiting the Black Sea. The foreign ministry condemned the strike, saying that the MV Omorfi -- which had three Indian nationals on board -- was attacked on July 18 "while transiting th»»»

Washington: US President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to hit the European Union with tariffs and a formal trade investigation over Brussels' latest antitrust penalty against Google. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said the bloc "will pay a very big price for this illegal and high»»»

The construction of a national children's hospital in Sofia remains a government priority despite the current legal deadlock, Health Minister Katya Ivkova told reporters on Friday. She said that the funding for the design of the future hospital, amounting to more than EUR 46 million, is included in»»»

NEW YORK CITY: The UN is ready to deploy a confidence-building mechanism developed months ago to secure the safe transit of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Friday. He framed the announcement as a message to the warring parties responsible for the current»»»

The Ansar Allah movement of Yemen (the Houthis) has announced what it calls a “maritime embargo” against Saudi Arabia. The group’s military spokesman, Yahya Saree, framed the move as retaliation for what he described as 12 years of Saudi-led blockade by sea and air against Yemen. The wording itself»»»

ZAWTAR AL-GHARBIYEH, Lebanon: Residents began entering the southern Lebanese town of Zawtar Al-Gharbiyeh on Friday, some inspecting damaged homes and searching for belongings after Israeli troops withdrew and the Lebanese army deployed under a US-brokered agreement. The return remains tentative. Mo»»»

Unknown individuals chose to travel on the side of a train in Érd, according to footage shared by the local police. Uknown men travelled on the side of a train According to a video uploaded to the official YouTube page of the Hungarian police, unidentified men travelled on the side of a passenger t»»»

A handout photo made available by the State Emergency Service shows Ukrainian rescuers working at the site of a Russian missile strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, amid the ongoing Russian invasion. At least 10 people died and dozens were injured in the Russian missile attack. Photo courtesy State Eme»»»

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Donald Trump said on Friday that the United States does not sell weapons to Ukraine. "He [Russian President Vladimir Putin] understands that I do not sell Weapons to Ukraine, but to NATO Countries. They pay full price, and how those Weapons are distributed, I hav»»»

JEDDAH: When the FIFA World Cup kicked off in USA, Mexico and Canada, billions of fans were glued to their screens. There were goals, controversies and last-minute dramas but the real magic was not just happening on the grass. Behind the scenes, engineers and tech companies had turned the tournamen»»»

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump warned China and Russia on Friday against selling weapons to Iran — while saying he believed assurances from Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin that they were not yet doing so. “Therefore, two major Countries that people speak of often in terms of Iran are, in my op»»»

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met on the sidelines of an ASEAN foreign ministers' gathering in Manila on July 23, in the highest-level US-Russia contact in months on ending the war in Ukraine — but both sides signalled no breakthrough and little optimi»»»

Parliament's final approval of the 2026 State Budget Act on Friday prompted criticism across the opposition, with parties attacking the government's fiscal policy, spending priorities and lack of reforms. The budget projects a consolidated fiscal deficit of 5.7% of GDP and sets the ceiling for new »»»

KAMPALA: On a cold morning in Uganda’s largest national park, rangers chat and sing to lift their spirits ahead of the start of a daunting wildlife project considered critical to conservation: moving the Nubian giraffe to a new home. Rangers at Murchison Falls National Park on Tuesday began to tran»»»

Bulgaria's Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov and Youth and Sports Minister Encho Keryazov met on Friday with mayors from the southeastern Yambol Region to discuss the planned deployment of US Boeing KC-135 aerial refuelling aircraft and up to 250 US military personnel at Bezmer Air Base. The meetin»»»

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is exploring ​a path toward a resumption of stalled US-Iran talks over ending their nearly five-month-old war, three Pakistani sources said, following a push initiated by China. Exploratory discussions took place during a visit by Iran’s Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni to Isla»»»

GENEVA: Spain has nominated Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz to head the United Nations labor agency, potentially making her the first woman to lead the organization, as it faces a financial crisis over US non-payments. The Spanish government said Diaz’s candidacy for the top job at the International L»»»

MOSCOW: Russia believes US President Donald Trump is sincere in his efforts to end the Ukraine war and will wait for Washington to put forward new proposals, even though the US is continuing to provide weapons to Kyiv, the Kremlin said on Friday. In the meantime, Russia will keep fighting to achiev»»»

BUDAPEST: Kimi Antonelli rubs his neck and admits he will be racing to save it from a parental throttling as much as to win a race when he lines up on the grid for Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix. The 19-year-old Italian, who leads the drivers’ world championship for Mercedes, laughed as he recalled »»»

RIYADH: The Saudi Masam mine clearance project has destroyed nearly 6,000 items of unexploded ordnance collected from Yemen’s western coast as part of efforts to protect civilians from the dangers of war remnants, it announced on Thursday. Masam said that its teams safely disposed of 5,977 items in»»»

By UPI Staff From Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump, media figures have long crossed from television and film into politics. This photo collection highlights figures from news and entertainment who later pursued public office. Former television comedian and actor Volodymyr Zelensky, known for starring »»»

Middle East tensions are once again driving up global oil prices, with Brent crude climbing above $100 a barrel for the first time since May. While much of the focus has been on the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the alternative shipping route through the Red Sea is becoming increasingly dangerous aft»»»

US President Donald Trump has threatened to seize frozen Iranian assets to cover “any and all damages” to ships and cargo damaged due to the conflict in the Middle East. Iran has hit back, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warning that the move sets an “incendiary precedent” that could have glob»»»