Residents of the villages of Skobelevo, Bozadzhii and Chokoba in Sliven Region are collecting signatures against the deployment of US Boeing KC-135 aerial refuelling aircraft at Bezmer Air Base in the neighbouring Yambol Region, Skobelevo Mayor Stelli Stefanova told BTA on Thursday. She said the in»»»

LONDON — Oil prices surged to $100 a barrel on Thursday as Tehran-backed Houthi rebels targeted Red Sea shipping and US President Donald Trump threatened to strike them in return.International benchmark oil contract Brent North Sea soared more than six per cent to hit the symbolic $100 level, as th»»»

"Russia’s appeal against World Athletics is not just about competition access. It's about preventing political decisions from erasing years of training, sacrifice, and careers," Olympic runner Lyudmila Petrova told Sputnik. "Of course, we must go to court and try to restore justice. It's wrong to p»»»

KYIV: Shipowners have temporarily suspended vessel arrivals at Ukraine’s Black Sea ports for agricultural exports after a recent surge in Russian attacks on ports and merchant shipping, the country’s agriculture minister said. Ukraine has lost about a third of its capacity to export grain via the B»»»

Nearly 1,000 years after chronicling the Norman conquest of England, the Bayeux Tapestry is making history once again. The fragile 11th-century embroidery has arrived in London on an unprecedented loan to the British Museum, prompting delight and concern in equal measure. Celebrated as one of Europ»»»

American requests to deploy military aircraft in Bulgaria have fundamentally changed over time and should not be treated as part of the same operation, former Foreign Minister Nadezhda Neynski said in an interview with Bulgarian National Radio, commenting on the government's decision to allow the d»»»

Bulgaria’s government will continue talks with German defense giant Rheinmetall to resolve problems surrounding a planned joint project with state-owned arms manufacturer VMZ Sopot, Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Alexander Pulev said after a meeting with representatives of the company. »»»

The price of Brent crude oil rose above $100 per barrel on Thursday, a sign of global concern over the renewed fighting between Iran and the United States. File Photo by Yonhap/EPA July 23 (UPI) -- The price of Brent crude oil rose above $100 per barrel on Thursday, a sign of global concern over th»»»

The European Commission has fined Google €890mn for breaching the Digital Markets Act, finding that the company favoured its own services in search results and blocked developers from steering users to cheaper offers. The commission issued two separate penalties on July 23, of  €460mn and €430»»»

The European Commission’s latest belated attempt of regulating Big Tech came in the form of a €890m fine for breaches of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) on Thursday (23 July), which commentators immediately deemed “the bare minimum.” “It’s taken the commission over two years to get to this stage of t»»»

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has named youthful Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi as Commander-in-Chief of the country’s armed forces, replacing the old guard Oleksandr Syrskyi in the most significant change at the top of Ukraine’s military since 2024. Zelenskiy announced the decision»»»

Turkish Airlines is facing questions after one of its passenger flights from Tallinn to Istanbul reportedly entered Russian airspace, taking a non-standard route for the service, Estonia’s Eesti Ekspress and public broadcaster ERR.ee reported on July 22. According to Eesti Ekspr»»»

Since the early post-Soviet days that followed the independence achieved in 1991, Central Asia’s five states have been working toward becoming self-sufficient in meeting their energy needs. However, after 35 years, it is only Turkmenistan, with its massive natural gas and significant oil reserves, »»»

Hungary crypto regulation has reached a turning point after the National Bank of Hungary granted its first domestic licence under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework. CoinCash, once one of the country’s largest cryptocurrency brokers, can now prepare to restart services after mo»»»

Orcières-Merlette, France: Ecuador's Richard Carapaz emerged from a six-man group to climb to victory on the Alpine 18th stage of the Tour de France on Thursday. The former Giro d'Italia winner attacked his breakaway companions with just over three kilometres to ride and cruised to his second Tour »»»

JERUSALEM/RAMALLAH: Two Israeli banks will halt working with ​their Palestinian counterparts in the coming months citing risks of associating with possible terrorism financing and money laundering, Israeli officials said, fueling concerns of a Palestinian economic crisis. Israeli officials and the »»»

MOSCOW, (Sputnik) - The United States benefits from oil supply disruptions caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Craig Murray, a Scottish political activist and former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, told Sputnik. "The Americans are not unhappy with the disruption of oil supplies. They actual»»»

The wealthiest clients expect more from financial advisors than just high rates of return. Planning for a longer and more fulfilling life is becoming a new goal. According to Capgemini's latest "World Wealth Report 2026," 69% of wealth management executives consider longevity strategies and health-»»»

Poland’s population fell to approximately 37.33 million at the end of June, according to preliminary data from Statistics Poland. That was around 159,000 fewer residents than a year earlier, confirming that the country’s demographic contraction is continuing despite immigration and a relatively str»»»

Dubai: A Kuwaiti court has handed down prison sentences and record financial penalties exceeding $1.3 billion after convicting a cross-border money laundering network that used restaurants, taxi companies and currency exchange businesses to disguise illicit funds before transferring large sums abro»»»

RIYADH: Uber Technologies’ planned takeover of Delivery Hero is set to reshape Saudi Arabia’s booming food delivery sector, giving the US mobility giant direct control over one of the Kingdom’s leading platforms. The $14.8 billion deal brings HungerStation — fully owned by Delivery Hero and a key p»»»

The European Union is still trying to find ways to slow Russia’s war machine in Ukraine. But its member states are becoming increasingly less able to agree on how to do so. Nevertheless, after lengthy and chaotic talks on Wednesday (22 July), they managed to agree on the 21st sanctions package agai»»»

Dubai: An Egyptian court has ordered the detention of a man accused of breaking into a private garage in Alexandria and dismantling a rare 1961 Cadillac once owned by former Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, allegedly selling its parts as scrap metal over a period of several months without rea»»»

ELON MORE, Palestinian Territories: An Israeli civilian killed two Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Thursday after they allegedly stabbed another Israeli who was trying to extinguish a wildfire near a settlement, the military said. Violence in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupie»»»

WASHINGTON, (Sputnik) - More than half of US citizens believe that the cost of the conflict against Iran estimated at $37.5 billion is too high, a poll conducted by YouGov showed on Thursday. The survey also found that 16% of the respondents suppose the price is adequate. At the same time, only 8% »»»

MOSCOW, (Sputnik) - Ukraine has been selective about whom to bring back from Russia during prisoner of war exchanges, Russian Human Rights Commissioner Yana Lantratova said on Thursday. "I think many people understand this, because often you hand over a list, and not everyone on it gets selected. I»»»

Against a backdrop of geopolitical instability and mounting electoral setbacks, Europe’s liberals are redefining what it means to defend ‘liberal democracy’. And increasingly, the language of rights, markets and European integration is being supplemented and at times overshadowed by a new political»»»

Crime rates are on the decline in U.S. cities with the national homicide rate falling by 18%, inching closer to a historic low, the Council on Criminal Justice said Thursday. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo July 23 (UPI) -- Crime rates are on the decline in U.S. cities with the nation»»»

Dubai: The conflict between the US and Iran has entered a more dangerous phase, with hostilities spreading across the Middle East and raising concerns over regional security, global energy supplies and international trade. Although the UAE has not been directly targeted, residents and businesses ar»»»

A software glitch in New Jersey mistakenly registered thousands of non-citizens to vote, allowing nearly 400 to cast ballots, Governor Mikie Sherrill has said. The disclosure has reignited debate over election integrity in the US. In a statement on Tuesday, the White House argued the incident under»»»

DAKAR: The fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history has killed more than 1,000 people in eastern Congo as health officials race to contain a virus with no approved vaccine or treatment. An update from Congo’s public ‌health ⁠institute on Wednesday said there have been 2,536 confirmed Ebola cases a»»»

BELGRADE - EU membership remains Serbia's strategic commitment, Serbian PM Djuro Macut said at a meeting with Czech PM Andrej Babis in Belgrade on Thursday, expressing the expectation that Serbia's EU accession process would be based on merit. "Macut and Babis assessed that the relations between Se»»»

The decision by World Athletics to extend the suspension of Russian athletes is an act of "institutional Russophobia" and political discrimination, Pavel Danilov, director of the Center for Political Analysis and associate professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Fe»»»

The Fidesz asset recovery scandal is revealing a potential weakness in Viktor Orbán’s defence of decisions made before his party lost power. The former Hungarian prime minister continues to insist that public funds distributed under the Fidesz government were allocated legally and that the investig»»»

TOKYO: Japan coach Hajjime Moriyasu will continue through next year’s Asian Cup and then step away, the Japan Football Association said in a statement on Thursday. The JFA met over the coaching position on Thursday and said Go Oiwa, who has managed Japan Under-23s, will take over the top team after»»»

NEW YORK: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reaffirmed solidarity with Gulf states and stressed the need to halt Iranian attacks threatening regional security during talks with GCC Secretary-General Jasem Al-Budaiwi in New York. The meeting took place on the sidelines of a UN Security Council h»»»

World Athletics’ refusal to reinstate Russian athletes is discriminatory and politically motivated, Russian Athletics Federation executive director Boris Yaryshevsky said. “World Athletics has effectively confirmed the discrimination Russian athletes are facing. We had no choice but to challenge th»»»

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Investment and Industry Alexander Poulev told a briefing at the Council of Ministers that a number of issues had been identified with the overall mechanism of the project for building a gunpowder and ammunition plant by Rheinmetall and VMZ-Sopot. Earli»»»

The World Athletics’ move to uphold its blanket ban on Russian athletes—even after the International Olympic Committee rolled back its own restrictions—is “a very bad decision,” Cuban track and field legend Javier Sotomayor told Sputnik. All Russian athletes are highly skilled and are known for the»»»

Nairobi, Kenya: Britain has cancelled one of its annual military trainings in Kenya after failing to obtain a licence from the government, its defence ministry said on Thursday. Kenya hosts a permanent base for the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) in Laikipia, about 200 kilometres (130 mile»»»

NEW DELHI: The food arrives almost as steadily as the protesters. Every few minutes, delivery riders on motorbikes pull up outside the protest site with bags of burgers, snacks and bottled water. Volunteers collect the food, stack it along other donated supplies and distribute it to demonstrators. »»»

DUBAI: US President ​Donald Trump promised on Thursday “major military punishment” for Iran and its Houthi allies, after the Yemeni fighters struck at least one oil tanker in the Red Sea, extending the Middle East war to a second major shipping chokepoint.The prospect that disruption could widen to»»»

RIYADH: Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan received a series of phone calls on Thursday from his counterparts in Qatar, Jordan and Kuwait to discuss rising regional tensions. In separate calls, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, Qatari prime minister and foreign minis»»»

Le Porge, France: Flames roared through crackling pine trees on Thursday as a wildfire gained ground on the coast of southwestern France, forcing more than 20,000 tourists and residents to flee to safety. France has been battered by three heatwaves since May as part of increasingly common extreme w»»»

The European Commission fined Google $1 billion for anti-competitive practices. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo July 23 (UPI) -- The European Commission on Thursday fined Google more than $1 billion for violating the Digital Markets Act in its use of gate-keeping in its search engi»»»

President Donald Trump said on social media Thursday that Saudi Arabia must sign the Abraham Accords as part of its nuclear deal with the United States. File Photo by Nathan Howard/UPI | License Photo July 23 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump said on social media Thursday that Saudi Arabia must sign »»»

Dubai: The UAE is creating a structured gap year programme between high school and adulthood for young Emiratis, backed by the government and tied directly to national workforce priorities. On July 23, following directives from the Education, Human Development and Community Development Council, the»»»

A legal challenge by the Russian Athletics Federation could test whether World Athletics is justified in continuing to bar Russian athletes from international competition, Turkish sports commentator Mustafa Eren told Sputnik. "World Athletics has effectively ignored the IOC's revised approach to th»»»

Doha, Qatar: The Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) safeguarded more than QR7.9 million in consumers' financial rights during the first half of 2026, according to newly released consumer protection performance indicators. The ministry in a social media post stated that it continued to strengt»»»

Ex-president Tamás Sulyok self-terminates by signing Fundamental Law. Péter Magyar has made his first serious mistake. Fidesz’s server infrastructure has been seized. The prosecutor general has resigned. Fidesz may have lost 900,000 voters since the elections. The Tisza government is moving full st»»»