All over the globe – from the Mexican border to Syria to the Sahel – companies are renting out planes equipped with powerful sensors to armies and intelligence services for political missions. The market may be discreet, but it isn’t invisible. Metrea, Berry Aviation and DEA Aviation aren»»»

Syrian authorities on Thursday announced the arrest of a paramilitary leader whose forces backed ousted leader Bashar al-Assad during the country's war, and who is accused of being the main culprit in a massacre of nearly 250 civilians, shortly after a Lebanese media report said the man was “kidnap»»»

The trial of Nord Stream bombing suspect Sergey Kuznetsov is underway in Germany, and the Ukrainian veteran’s defense team have revealed their strategy: say nothing and blame Russia. Kuznetsov arrived at the Higher Regional Court of Hamburg under heavy security on Wednesday. The hearing is the firs»»»

Emaar MD says quality, not price cuts, protects a brand as UAE buyer confidence returns Sharjah: Mohamed Alabbar, founder of Emaar Properties, says he will not discount his products even when sales slow down, arguing that price cuts betray the customers who bought first. Speaking at the Sharjah Inv»»»

TEHRAN: Iran’s military on Thursday said an oil tanker had caught fire in the Gulf of Oman as it was attempting to pass through an area deemed prohibited, according to state television. “A few hours ago... surveillance teams of the army’s navy identified a non-compliant oil tanker that had caught f»»»

Egypt will host the third edition of the Global Entrepreneurship Festival (GEF) from 6 to 8 November 2026 at the JW Marriott Hotel in New Cairo, bringing together business leaders, investors, policymakers, and entrepreneurs from more than 70 countries. Held under the patronage of Prime Minister Mos»»»

LONDON: A report into the role of a charity in the removal and disappearance of Syrian children during the country’s civil war will not be released, the BBC reported. SOS Children’s Villages International commissioned the report but is withholding its findings and has yet to pay compensation to fam»»»

BUCHAREST: Rescuers were searching for seven missing crew on Thursday from one of two chemical tankers that caught fire overnight just outside Romanian territorial waters in the Black Sea, after Russian drones strayed into national airspace, Romanian officials said. Romanian President Nicusor Dan s»»»

MADRID: A possible investigation into veteran crooner Julio Iglesias for alleged abuse of two women ex-employees is a step closer after prosecutors said Spain could judge the case, legal sources said on Thursday. The women, a domestic worker and a physiotherapist, allege they suffered sexual abuse »»»

Oslo: Ukraine, a major grain producer, has deposited seed samples in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway's Arctic for the first time since 2012, after joining a UN-backed treaty on food and agriculture genetics earlier this year. Housed deep in mountain tunnels around 1,300 kilometres (800 mil»»»

Deir Ezzor, Oct. 15 (SANA) Cotton planting in Deir Ezzor Governorate has fallen sharply this season as rising fuel and production costs, a lack of support and the absence of an official purchase price deepen farmers’ losses and threaten the future of the strategic crop.Fayez al-Hussein, director of»»»

LONDON: Prison guards shot Palestinian detainees at close range and inside their cells in Israeli detention facilities, causing injuries that in some cases required surgery, according to accounts collected by two Israeli human rights groups. Physicians for Human Rights Israel and the Public Committ»»»

DAKAR: The mother of a Guinean political dissident living in France was “abducted” in Guinea last weekend by “hooded individuals in civilian clothing” and taken to an unknown destination, her family told AFP. Abductions and enforced disappearances of opposition figures and their relatives have beco»»»

U.S. wholesale inflation surged past analysts' expectations in September, marking its biggest jump since 2022 as the war in Iran sent fuel prices rocketing, government data showed Thursday. The latest numbers, coming a day after hotter-than-anticipated consumer inflation, underscore the challenges »»»

Durga Puja plans toned down as friends, school pay tribute to mother, son killed in crash Abu Dhabi: A close-knit Bangladeshi community in the capital is grieving the loss of a mother and her teenage son, who were killed in a car crash on their way to a community get-together on Monday night. The B»»»

Anti-terrorism prosecutors said a 14-year-old involved in a shooting that wounded teaching staff at a school in the south of France earlier this week was acting out of revenge for bullying. The teenager was charged with attempted murder and remanded in custody Wednesday. A 14-year-old charged with »»»

Prime Minister Rumen Radev said Bulgaria would seek European Union support for a moratorium on attacks against commercial and civilian vessels in the Black Sea, while confirming that the ship Chelsea 3 was expected to be towed to Burgas for inspection and repairs. Speaking ahead of the European Cou»»»

Two foreign nationals aged 21 and 20 have been detained over the deliberate burning of Starlink antennas at a secret facility near Sofia, Bulgaria in what authorities are investigating as a terrorist attack, Faktor.bg reported, citing Prosecutor’s Office sources. The two men were arrested on Monday»»»

Bulgaria’s National Assembly has approved the purchase of five additional IRIS-T SLM air defense systems from Germany, in a deal worth more than 900 million euros that will be financed through the European Union’s SAFE instrument. The proposal submitted by the Council of Ministers received overwhel»»»

Magdalena Lazarova-Prodanova was elected acting Prosecutor General of Bulgaria by a 17-2 vote of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) Plenum on Thursday, with the decision subject to appeal within 14 days. Under the Judiciary System Act, the same person may hold the acting positions of President of t»»»

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said the alliance would adjust its deterrence and defense posture if necessary after discussing Black Sea security and recent attacks on commercial shipping with Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev and Romanian President Nicușor Dan. Rutte described the meeting as»»»

American diplomat Joshua Huck, who has served in Bulgaria and Greece, is taking interim charge of the U.S. Embassy in Athens following the departure of Ambassador Kimberly Guilfoyle. Huck previously served as deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Greece and has more than 25 years of diplom»»»

Bozhidar Bozhanov, co-chair of the "Yes, Bulgaria" party, has called for a NATO-backed “Black Sea Shield” to protect commercial shipping, saying Russia wants to block the Black Sea as attacks on vessels in the region intensify. Speaking to Bulgarian National Radio (BNR), Bozhanov said Russia was st»»»

Bulgaria sees Cyprus as a close partner and ally both within the European Union (EU) and at regional level, National Assembly Chair Mihaela Dotsova said, as quoted by the Bulgarian Parliament on Thursday. She made the remarks during a meeting with Cyprus House of Representatives President Annita De»»»

JEDDAH: The last thing Lamis Asiri’s father sent her before the Oct. 10 attack on King Khalid International Airport was a simple wish for a safe journey home. Hours later, the WhatsApp conversation that had connected them fell silent. Lamis, a final-year student at Prince Musaid bin Abdulrahman Uni»»»

Cologne: German customs officials found 90 lizards and venomous snakes hidden in containers and socks in a Mexican traveller's luggage as he arrived at an airport, authorities said Thursday. The 45-year-old was stopped at Cologne airport last month and given a drug test after behaving in a "nervous»»»

PRESS REVIEW – Thursday, October 15: First, reported Starlink disruptions in Ukraine make the European front pages. Next, US papers go into more detail about the situation. Also, an unusual alliance forms in Germany between far-right and far-left parties. Meanwhile, the winners of the Wildlife»»»

KYIV: Ukraine will no longer abide by US President Donald Trump’s demands not to strike Russian oil refineries, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in remarks published Thursday, amid deepening tensions between the two leaders over a US-Russia diesel agreement. Relations between Kyiv and Washington h»»»

RIYADH: Saudi telecom operator STC Group is offering free, unlimited calls to and from the Kingdom for roaming customers abroad amid ongoing flight disruptions, helping travelers stay connected with their families. The initiative, announced on X, runs from Oct. 12 to Oct. 19. “We understand how dif»»»

GPSSA processes 44,760 registration transactions in 2026 The number of Emiratis registered under the UAE’s General Pension and Social Security Authority (GPSSA) has reached 190,063, marking a 13.6% increase compared to the previous year. According to figures released on Thursday, the authority proc»»»

MoHRE urges employers to report absences within five days through approved channels Dubai: Employers in the UAE must report a domestic worker's absence within five days if the worker stops reporting for duty without a valid reason and their whereabouts are unknown, the Ministry of Human Resources a»»»

TIRANA: Protesters and police clashed in Albania’s capital on Thursday, the third straight day of violence, with prime minister Edi Rama condemning “chaos” that has left government buildings badly damaged. Thousands of demonstrators are demanding Rama’s resignation and more support for students, ci»»»

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will hold a phone call with President Joseph Aoun at 7:00 PM Thursday, media reports said. The discussions will tackle the issues of the seized Hezbollah explosives and the judicial complaint that was filed against Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadeh Moa»»»

Showers lash Al Dhaid, Mleiha, rainy cloud warnings remain in place until 10pm Dubai: Heavy rain and hail fell over parts of Sharjah on Thursday afternoon, as unsettled weather continued to sweep across the UAE and the National Center of Meteorology (NCM) issued alerts for convective clouds and fla»»»

ISTANBUL: A heavy downpour has shut down Istanbul, flooded homes and roads and killed at least three people, officials said Thursday, as rescuers worked overnight to save hundreds of people stranded at their workplaces. The downpour Wednesday night flooded homes and businesses and inundated roads a»»»

PESHAWAR: The roof of a school collapsed in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar, killing a teacher and 32 students, mostly aged under 14, health officials said on Thursday, as residents and rescuers scrambled to pull children from the rubble. Twenty more students were taken to hospital after t»»»

German airline beats Air France-KLM as Portugal seeks to expand TAP’s global network Dubai: Portugal’s government has chosen Lufthansa as the successful bidder for flag carrier TAP Air Portugal, selecting the German airline over Air France-KLM in a long-delayed privatisation that could reshape one »»»

At least four NATO surveillance aircraft were operating west, south and north of the Kola Peninsula on Wednesday, as Russia’s military imposed new restrictions on civilian aviation and commercial shipping across increasingly large areas of the Barents Sea and White Sea. The Northern Fleet has not o»»»

Member of Hezbollah’s Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Hasan Fadlallah on Thursday warned Lebanese authorities that any measures against its fighters and military capabilities would have serious repercussions for domestic stability. In a statement, MP Fadlallah accused Lebanese authorities of expl»»»

NEW DELHI: Mohammad Yousuf Ali and his elder son went to buy juice while the rest of the family waited for their flight to Madinah. They were only a few hundred meters away when a Houthi projectile hit the area and left them severely wounded. Both were taken to hospital, the father in critical cond»»»

Calling line identification on recipient’s handset will now contain number and name New Delhi: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has asked telecom operators to implement Calling Name Presentation (CNAP) services across their service areas from November 1, 2026, in a move that will allow mo»»»

LONDON: Israel’s prime minister should be prosecuted for war crimes, the latest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize has said. Navi Pillay said she is “confident” that Benjamin Netanyahu will eventually face prosecution in the International Criminal Court. The South African judge, who led the UN’s Indep»»»

CHICAGO, IL: The Donald Trump administration is seeking to build a case to strip Rep. Ilhan Omar of her US citizenship and ultimately deport her, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The investigation focuses in part on how the Minnesota Democrat obtained citizenship after arriving in the»»»

More than half of Bulgarians (53%) believe that various forms of aggression have increased over the past three years, according to a nationally representative survey conducted by Trend Research Centre among 800 people through face-to-face interviews between September 5 and 18, 2026. The findings we»»»

Philippine peso hits record low of ₱63.06 amid Middle East conflict pressures MANILA: The peso weakened past ₱63 to the US dollar for the first time, hitting a new record low in early trading, data from the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) showed. It touched ₱63.15 per dollar, beating t»»»

iPhone Duo pre-orders in UAE: Dh3,000 more but fewer features than Pro Max Apple's first foldable opens for pre-order in the UAE on Friday 16 October, with sales from Friday 23 October. At Dh8,499 for 256GB, the iPhone Duo is the most expensive way into iOS, and in a surprising number of ways it is»»»

Paris, France: The Vienna ATP event said on Thursday it had pounced when a Saudi Arabian exhibition event was cancelled, adding world No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz to the lineup. "When indications emerged on Wednesday that the Six Kings Slam... would be postponed until the end of December, Tournament Direct»»»

London: Britain's interior minister warned Eritrea on Thursday it could face a complete visa ban unless it agrees to accept the return of more of its nationals. The warning from Shabana Mahmood came after the Democratic Republic of Congo agreed earlier this year to take back undocumented immigrants»»»

By Staff, Agencies Nobel Peace Prize laureate Navi Pillay has expressed confidence that “Israeli” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will eventually face trial at the International Criminal Court [ICC], arguing that political obstacles should not prevent accountability for reported war crimes. The S»»»

A prominent Hezbollah lawmaker acknowledged Thursday that a truck full of explosives seized by Lebanese authorities last week belonged to the Iran-backed group and said the explosives were intended for use against Israeli forces in southern Lebanon. The truck, which was stopped at a checkpoint on t»»»