The Sofia Military District Prosecution Office has opened a pre-trial proceedings following a report alleging a criminal offence involving the Malta-flagged vessel Chelsea 3 in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea, the prosecution service said on Friday. The general cargo ship Chelse»»»

Trump suggests Zacharia may step down after harsh coverage President Donald Trump signalled that his embattled new press secretary, Katie Zacharia, may be on her way out - a mere week after he picked her for the post. Speaking to reporters on the White House lawn as he left for a rally in Georgia, »»»

NOVI SAD - Addressing a rally of the Aleksandar Vucic-United Serbia electoral list in Novi Sad on Friday evening, Slovak PM Robert Fico said Vucic was defending Serbia's sovereignty and not letting the country be run by someone abroad, however mighty they might be. A large number of people who had »»»

LONDON: A Norwegian teenager convicted of traveling to Britain to carry out a contract killing on behalf of an international crime gang linked to Iran was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison. Johannes Kongsnes Natland, 19, was found guilty in July of conspiracy to murder for agreeing to shoot an»»»

As they met separately with Finance Minister Galab Donev in Sofia Friday, trade union and employer organizations disagreed on the minimum wage and public-sector wage increase in the government's 2027 budget plan. Representatives of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) a»»»

Damascus, Oct. 16 (SANA) Syria is seeking to expand domestic seed production to lower farming costs and reduce reliance on imports, as agricultural institutions restore seed-multiplication facilities and work with research centers and farmers to develop higher-yielding varieties. The General Establ»»»

PAPHOS, Cyprus: A British man who pleaded guilty in the fatal fall of his 3-year-old son from a hotel window is free to return home after a Cyprus court fined him 3,000 euros ($3,380). Joshua Patric Foster, 38, wept Friday in Paphos District Court as Judge Froso Christodoulidou ruled a prison term »»»

LONDON: Downing Street Friday distanced itself from comments by the wife of the British prime minister’s national security adviser who voiced support for banned activist group Palestine Action. Sarah Helm, a journalist and author and wife of Jonathan Powell, Andy Burnham’s national security adviser»»»

ROME: Italy’s air traffic capacity recovered to 75 percent on Friday after overnight problems hit the data transmission network supporting air traffic control services nationwide, air navigation company ENAV said. ENAV ruled out a cyberattack and said flight operations remained safe. The company sa»»»

The United Nations aviation agency has found Lebanon’s main airport lacks valid certification, according to a report summary seen by Reuters, in a setback to US President Donald Trump’s move to revive direct US-Beirut flights. Trump made the announcement in July and signed an order last month for t»»»

We welcome the new appointments to the Iraqi Cabinet following the vote of confidence held on 15 October in the Iraqi Council of Representatives, and extend our best wishes for success to the Iraqi Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi. We are confident that this developmen»»»

BAKU: Azerbaijan said Friday it had charged a Turkish newspaper columnist with calling for the violent overthrow of the government, amid tensions between the close allies over restrictions on Islamic headscarves in schools. The case comes amid a rare public row between Baku and Ankara, with critici»»»

LONDON: US President Donald Trump ruled out using nuclear weapons against Iran but raised the possibility of further strikes on its nuclear facilities, saying Washington wanted to ensure Tehran could never develop an atomic weapon. “No, I wouldn’t use nuclear. We don’t have to,” Trump said in an in»»»

VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo XIV spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone on Friday, calling for a ceasefire in a Russian-occupied city in southern Ukraine, as he recovers in hospital from a lung cancer operation. The Vatican said that Pope Leo “expressed his deep concern about the grave huma»»»

Australia warns citizens of Saudi airport disruptions amid security concerns Australia has advised its citizens not to travel to King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh following recent security incidents that disrupted operations, warning that flight cancellations, delays and airspace closures»»»

New York: Wall Street stocks were mixed early Friday at the end of a volatile week marked by unease over rising US inflation and hefty artificial intelligence spending. Appearing at the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok, Federal Reserve Chief Kevin Warsh said the global economy had showed u»»»

Indian authorities on Friday detained Abhijeet Dipke, the founder of the satirical youth movement "Cockroach Janta Party", ahead of a new protest in New Delhi, live images from the group showed. Police earlier closed a central New Delhi park in an attempt to stifle near-daily demonstrations ca»»»

Pope Leo XIV celebrated a mass at Rome's Gemelli hospital Friday after undergoing surgery to remove a cancerous tumour from his right lung, photos released by the Vatican showed. Doctors said his recovery was progressing normally but that further tests would show whether the cancer had spread. Pope»»»

MOSCOW: Russia has seized local assets of four companies from France, Germany, Sweden and Belgium, according to a decree by President Vladimir Putin, in retaliation for Europe’s wartime support for Ukraine. Thursday’s decree listed assets belonging to French flooring maker Tarkett, German packaging»»»

PARIS: After weeks of student protests, France is set to be swept by broader, nationwide demonstrations Saturday over the cost of living, setting up a potentially fraught period ahead of presidential elections next year. The prospect of the two movements merging, perhaps with outbreaks of violence,»»»

BAGHDAD: Iraq has lost around $60 billion during the Middle East war, Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said on Thursday, with Iran blockading a waterway that is crucial to global energy flows. OPEC member Iraq was producing about four million barrels of oil per day before the conflict, exporting about»»»

BANGKOK: Rising energy and fertilizer costs are hitting smallholder farmers and driving up prices of agricultural commodities, fueling fears of a global food crisis, the head of the UN agriculture development fund told AFP. Global agricultural prices jumped 13 percent in the third quarter of the ye»»»

KALEMIE, DR Congo: US businessman Erik Prince and his mercenaries have emerged as key players in the war-stricken Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), fighting for its government as Washington vies for strategic minerals in the country, researchers and local sources told AFP. Numerous foreign parami»»»

JOHANNESBURG: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has lifted the suspension of the country’s national police chief, Fannie Masemola, his office announced on Friday. Masemola is expected to resume his duties on Monday after he was suspended in April when he was charged with breaking finance laws»»»

The fading art of traditional photography in a modern world A portrait studio is a small room where time learns to linger. People step before the camera for only a heartbeat, yet what they carry away can outlive fashions, addresses and even the cityscape beyond the door. For the generation now, the»»»

Ministry alerts public to dangers of drifting containers in Musandam waters Oman has issued a maritime safety warning to fishermen and seafarers after containers began drifting in waters off Musandam Governorate following the sinking of a cargo ship, with authorities cautioning that some of the con»»»

A historic monastery complex in southern Slovakia, purchased with Hungarian public money under the former Orbán government, remains unusable despite HUF hundreds of millions of being spent on its renovation. The Orbán administration paid approximately EUR 219,000 for the properties in Šahy (Ipolysá»»»

NAIROBI: Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has named a caretaker government to stabilize the northern Tigray region and prepare for an election within six months, after fighting erupted between a rebel alliance and federal troops. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) led an offensive last»»»

Following US President Donald Trump's October 9 announcement of an agreement signed with Russian President Vladimir Putin to import Russian diesel into the United States, a number of pro-Russian social media accounts began claiming that a Russian oil tanker was already carrying thousands of barrels»»»

As the international context becomes more challenging for the European Union, the bloc is looking to boost its ties with like-minded allies. Canada is part of that architecture that the EU says it wants to build. The big news of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's State of the Union spee»»»

Critically acclaimed Irish novelist Sally Rooney's announcement that her books could no longer be sold in the UK due to her support for proscribed group Palestine Action has left British booksellers rushing to stock up on her works before distributors run out. The British government's ban on the gr»»»

Our guest is veteran French journalist and commentator Bernard Guetta, who is a Member of the European Parliament for the centrist Renew group. He tells the programme that Donald Trump is "a liar, because he tried to tell the American people that Zelensky and the Ukrainian resistance were responsib»»»

More UAE expats are staying longer, prompting a rethink of retirement, savings For many professionals, a move to the UAE begins with a two- or three-year plan: advance a career, build savings and return home in a stronger financial position. As careers develop and families settle, that departure da»»»

SOFIA: A string of drone attacks on at least seven cargo vessels in the Black Sea this month, off the coasts of NATO members Romania and Bulgaria, has some members of the alliance wondering if Russian President Vladimir Putin is seeking escalation to test their support for Ukraine in its war agains»»»

LONDON: US President Donald Trump said he trusted no one in politics when asked whether he trusted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even as he described their relationship as “very good.” “I don’t trust anybody, honestly,” Trump told the conservative US cable news outlet Newsmax on Thursd»»»

DP World says an east coast gateway could give cargo owners faster, alternative routes Dubai: Fujairah’s location on the UAE’s east coast could give cargo owners an alternative gateway to global markets and cut sailing times on some Indian Ocean services by up to five days, according to DP World. T»»»

DAMASCUS/LONDON: Iran has managed to export some liquefied petroleum gas and jet fuel since July, despite a US naval blockade, shipping intelligence showed and people involved in security said. Tehran has in recent weeks been concealing such cargoes among a growing volume of ship-to-ship transfers »»»

Joint European action is needed to safeguard the Black Sea and build consensus on turning it into an area of shared security, Bulgarian National Assembly Chair Mihaela Dotsova said, as quoted by the Bulgarian Parliament on Friday. She was speaking at the European Conference of Presidents of Parliam»»»

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s prime minister completed his cabinet line-up by appointing a US-designated terrorist after receiving Washington’s approval, in a bid to advance efforts to disarm Iran-backed groups in the country, diplomatic sources told AFP. On Thursday night, Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi announced »»»

Brussels: France and Germany confirmed Friday that they had reached a deal aimed at protecting Europe's struggling automotive sector, with agreements on the flashpoint issues of EU car emissions and "made in Europe" components. The pact, which is likely to shape EU policy going forward, envisages a»»»

Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar has welcomed Ukraine’s first steps towards strengthening the rights of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia following talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Brussels. The meeting also raised the prospect of a landmark visit to Budapest, where Zelensky h»»»

Abu Dhabi launches TAMM Global to take its AI-powered government services around the world Abu Dhabi: The Department of Government Enablement – Abu Dhabi (DGE) has announced the establishment of Abu Dhabi Digital Services Company TAMM Global. The move follows the directives of Sheikh Khaled bin Moh»»»

US: The United States is making an unprecedented attempt to revive three shuttered nuclear plants to meet rising energy demand, including from large-scale data centers. No commercial nuclear reactor is known to have resumed generating electricity after beginning the decommissioning process that tak»»»

Israel said commercial goods usually delivered into Gaza by private merchants have not entered the beleaguered territory for days because of Hamas threats and a taxation scheme, an accusation the group rejected. Despite a fragile ceasefire observed since October 2025, the Gaza Strip remains engulfe»»»

RTA plans to expand Dubai's vehicle testing network from 30 to 35 centres by the year 2030 Dubai: More than 196,000 new vehicles were registered in Dubai during the first half of 2026, averaging over 1,000 a day, as population growth, urban expansion and economic activity continued to drive demand »»»

Sharjah says it diverts 93 per cent of waste from landfills, with plans to double capacity Sharjah: The UAE plans to produce half of its crops locally as part of efforts to strengthen food security, while Sharjah is preparing to double the capacity of a waste-to-energy plant after diverting 93 per »»»

Crammed with beds and stretchers, the dilapidated Al Jumhuri hospital in Yemen's besieged city of Taiz is running so low on fuel and medicine that it may have to close, officials warn. With pro-Iran Houthi fighters surrounding Taiz and blocking all supplies, the facility is symptomatic of a collaps»»»

Iraq's prime minister completed his cabinet line-up by appointing a U.S.-designated terrorist after receiving Washington's approval, in a bid to advance efforts to disarm Iran-backed groups in the country, diplomatic sources told AFP. On Thursday night, Zaidi announced the completion of his governm»»»

Bulgaria’s minimum wage will increase by more than 6.5%, while public-sector salaries will rise by over 5%, Progressive Bulgaria (PB) Floor Leader Petar Vitanov told reporters here in Parliament on Friday. Teachers’ salaries are expected to increase by more than 7.5%, while the government also plan»»»

BRUSSELS: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday hailed his first meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar as “very good,” as Kyiv and Budapest sought a thaw in relations after years of friction. Since Hungary’s pro-EU conservative leader took office in May, both countries have »»»