Historical execution timelines from Japan and Germany indicate Ukraine would face a manufacturing lag of three to four years even if it secures an official license to produce Patriot missiles - an authorization still distant despite Trump's preliminary proposal, per a Sputnik analysis of public rec»»»

HEADLINES Energy policy, public finances and infrastructure dominate the Bulgarian media on Monday. Print outlets focus on proposed energy-efficiency requirements for new buildings, the government's plans concerning strategic water infrastructure, and the management of the country's beaches, while »»»

The number of dollar millionaires worldwide continued to climb in 2025, with nearly one million people joining the ranks of those holding net assets of at least USD1 million, according to the latest Global Wealth Report 2026 published by Swiss bank UBS. That translates to an average of more than 2,»»»

Options to restrict trade between the EU and illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank will be discussed by EU foreign affairs ministers on Monday (13 July). An import-licensing regime, higher tariffs, and a trade ban on imports from Israeli settlements are the main options on the table by the E»»»

Egypt and Germany have announced plans to significantly increase their bilateral trade to €9 billion by the end of 2024. This ambitious target, revealed during an economic summit in Düsseldorf, represents a substantial €2 billion increase from the current trade level of €7 billion. The summit saw E»»»

French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday inaugurated a statue honoring Captain Alfred Dreyfus, whose wrongful 19th century treason conviction exposed deeply rooted anti-Jewish bias in France. Macron at the event decried a resurgence of the ″demons of antisemitism″ that have darkened Fra»»»

LONDON: Israel is scrambling to counter a new battlefield threat after Hezbollah’s growing use of fiber-optic drones — a weapon many experts say has fundamentally changed modern warfare — exposed a dangerous gap in its defenses. Cheap, difficult to detect and immune to electronic jamming, the drone»»»

The NATO summit in Ankara hasn’t been dubbed a “missile summit” by anyone – yet it probably should be. More than anything else, the meeting marked the launch of several major missile programs that could fundamentally reshape Europe’s military landscape over the coming decade. Germany is getting Tom»»»

FRANKFURT, Germany: Despite a year of searching, previous stints at big automotive suppliers and sending out about 50 applications, German software engineer Max Peil is still looking for a job. Trained in computer vision, a critical part of autonomous and intelligent driving systems, Peil could onc»»»

Berlin, July.12 (SANA) Syria’s chargé d’affaires in Berlin, Mohammad Baraa Shukri, met with members of the Syrian community in Darmstadt on Sunday to discuss community engagement and ways to encourage Syrians living in Germany to contribute their expertise to reconstruction efforts in Syria. The me»»»

Poland has commemorated the anniversary of the Volhynia massacre, a large-scale ethnic cleansing operation perpetrated by Ukrainian Nazi collaborators during World War II and a hot-button topic that sparked a recent diplomatic clash between Warsaw and Kiev. Multiple events were held across Poland o»»»

Most Nato summits end with a communiqué. This one ended with customs problems. As leaders prepared to leave Ankara this week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan presented each visiting head of state with an engraved Turkish-made revolver complete with ammunition and cleaning kit — prompting a f»»»

DUBAI: Watermelon Pictures is conitinuing promotion of hard-hitting films on Palestine, taking to social media this week to share the news that “American Doctor” will be released in US cinemas in August. “From Oscar-nominated and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Poh Si Teng, ‘American Doctor’ follows t»»»

Berlin, Germany: Ninety-nine people drowned in Germany last month, the most since a record heatwave swept Europe in 2003, according to official figures. Germany was among the nations hit by a stifling June heatwave in western Europe, which set temperature records in several places across the countr»»»

Ten people have been arrested in an operation by Bulgaria's General Directorate Border Police targeting a cross-border rental car fraud scheme worth approximately EUR 900,000, the Border Police said on its Facebook page. Police searched 14 properties across the country. The alleged organizer of the»»»

Ami Inoe of Japan and Florentina Trumpler of Germany won the first prizes in the women's senior category (ages 17–27) at the fourth Sarah-Nora Prima International Ballet Competition. In the men's division, the top awards went to Bulgaria's Samuil Nedelin and Tiago Victor Alvarez Santana of Brazil. »»»

FRANKFURT, Germany — Volkswagen on Friday said that a slide in sales accelerated in the second quarter, as the crisis-hit German auto group reportedly considers cutting up to 100,000 jobs worldwide.Overall vehicle deliveries fell almost nine percent in the April-June period from a year earlier than»»»

Germany will continue allowing citizens from 62 countries outside the European Union and Schengen Area to enter without a visa for short stays of up to 90 days in 2026, according to the German Federal Foreign Office. The policy, outlined in the government's official visa requirements list, permits »»»

KINSHASA: A US citizen working for a humanitarian organization in Congo has tested positive for the Ebola virus, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, as the Central African country struggles to contain the swelling outbreak. The CDC said it was working with the person’s employer,»»»

Fourteen countries accounted for 68.8% of Egypt’s total foreign trade during the first half (July–December) of fiscal year 2025/26, with combined trade reaching $50.616bn, according to a report published by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE). The total comprised imports worth $36.147bn and exports amo»»»

BRUSSELS: EU foreign ministers will discuss imposing an import ban on products from Israeli settlements, after pressure from a raft of member states for the bloc to take action, diplomats said. Diplomats said the debate at a meeting in Brussels on Monday was not expected to yield any concrete decis»»»

BERLIN: German police are investigating a new suspected act of sabotage on a major railway line which disrupted traffic and has been claimed by a far-left group. On Friday morning, technicians noticed a fire in a cable duct near a station in Leverkusen, a city close to Cologne, the police said in a»»»

Kiev needs to “sober up” to prevent further escalation in the row with Warsaw over the glorification of Ukrainian Nazi collaborators, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said. Tensions between the neighboring countries, which have been close allies during the conflict between Moscow and Kiev, esc»»»

PARIS: The German Football Federation (DFB) announced on Saturday that it was close to an agreement with Jurgen Klopp for him to become the new Germany coach. However, before the 59-year-old makes his return to the touchline, the DFB said it still needed to secure the approval of his current employ»»»

Hohenstein-Ernstthal: Marc Marquez secured pole position for the Germany MotoGP after the Spaniard set the fastest time on his Ducati in qualifying at the Sachsenring on Saturday. The reigning world champion will start from pole for the ninth time in the premier class at the German circuit, becomin»»»

RIYADH: A new multinational survey out of Riyadh put a number on something the Gulf’s business community has felt building for months: outside investors are not hedging their bets on the region, they are doubling down on them. The poll, run by Consulum with HarrisX across 2,043 active investors in »»»

Two individuals have been placed in pre-trial detention, the Higher Court in Subotica has confirmed, after Radio Free Europe’s Balkan service sought clarification on reports carried in the German press. According to those reports, the men were detained near the Serbian–Hungarian border while allege»»»

As summer travel demand reaches its peak, Pakistani passport holders continue to have access to 30 destinations through visa-free entry, visa-on-arrival (VOA) or electronic travel authorisation (ETA) schemes, according to the latest Henley Passport Index July 2026 update. Pakistan’s passport rankin»»»

US President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement that he will approve a license for Ukraine to produce its own Patriot missile interceptors signals a potential breakthrough for Kyiv, though experts caution that it will not translate into an immediate fix. US President Donald Trump’s surprise annou»»»

THESSALONIKI, Greece: Fellow passengers pulled back a man who was partially sucked out of a dislodged airplane window on Friday, a few minutes after takeoff on a flight from northern Greece to Germany. The plane subsequently returned to the airport in Greece. The incident happened on a morning flig»»»

WASHINGTON: The US government imposed economic sanctions Friday on a Iranian financier accused of embezzling billions of dollars in public funding to enrich “regime elites” in Tehran. Iranian national Ali Ansari is described in a US Treasury statement as a “key financier” for the Islamic republic’s»»»

LONDON: French President Emmanuel Macron has become the first European head of state to visit Damascus since the fall of President Bashar Assad in late 2024, marking another pivotal step in Syria’s emergence from years of diplomatic isolation. With Syria’s political transition still fragile, observ»»»

A man was reportedly nearly sucked through an airplane window Friday morning. Four people were injured. File Photo by Stringer/EPA July 10 (UPI) -- A man was nearly sucked out the window of a plane on a Ryanair flight from Greece to Germany on Friday, passengers said. Not long after takeoff from Th»»»

The President of Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), Dr. Hans-Eckhard Sommer, and Ivan Ivanov, Chairperson of Bulgaria’s State Agency for Refugees under the Council of Ministers, discussed the implementation of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum in Bulgaria and Germany, the»»»

“In theory,” one can dream about building “anything and anywhere.” In practice, cold hard realities get in the way, says veteran Russian military analyst Alexei Leonkov, commenting on Ukraine’s hopes to license-build Patriot missile interceptors. Speaking to Sputnik, Leonkov pointed out that:Japan »»»

BERLIN: Germany will ‌withdraw troops from the northern Iraqi city of Irbil and close a field camp there, after US moves to remove a protection force as part of its own drawdown plans, Spiegel reported on Friday. The troops will go by the end of September, Spiegel said, citing a parliamentary defen»»»

Ryanair said one ​of its planes ‌was forced into an emergency landing at Thessaloniki airport ⁠in Greece shortly after takeoff on Friday after a window was "detached", with industry sources saying a ‌passenger was partially sucked out of it.  A man was nearly sucked out the window of a Ryanair»»»

On the eve of this week’s NATO summit in Ankara, Türkiye, the bloc released a report titled ‘Defense Expenditure of NATO Countries (2014-2025)’. On the surface, the report shows a staggering increase in the level of defense spending by several NATO members over the course of the previous decade, wi»»»

Moscow no longer believes the West is genuinely interested in negotiating an end to the Ukraine conflict, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. Speaking at a news conference with Mozambican Foreign Minister Maria Manuela Lucas in Maputo, Lavrov accused the West of “imitating a willingnes»»»

When NATO’s 36th summit opened at the Bestepe Presidential Complex on July 7, the official agenda read like every other alliance gathering of the past few years: defense spending targets, support for Ukraine, industrial capacity, adaptation to new threats. But for the host nation, the meeting was n»»»

Thessaloniki, Greece: A man was nearly sucked out the window of a Ryanair flight when it "detached" mid-air en route to Germany, with other passengers pulling him back inside, witnesses and officials said Friday. The passenger, described as a tourist from Serbia on a flight from Thessaloniki in Gre»»»

Nato pledged to provide Ukraine with €70bn ($80bn) in military equipment, assistance and training this year during the Ankara Nato summit on July 8, with a commitment to match that sum in 2027 — but little of the money is new. The pledge was set out in a joint declaration issued at the close of the»»»

Passengers on a Ryanair flight from Greece to Germany say they woke to what sounded like a tyre bursting. Seconds later, oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling as the aircraft rapidly lost cabin pressure. One passenger was reportedly pulled towards a window that had detached during the flight. Fello»»»

THESSALONIKI, Greece: A man was nearly sucked out the window of a Ryanair flight when it “detached” mid-air en route to Germany, with other passengers pulling him back inside, witnesses and officials said. The passenger, described as a tourist from Serbia on a flight from Thessaloniki in Greece to »»»

Joe Hammond was sitting in a stranger’s home in Connecticut when Norway’s hulking hero, Erling Haaland, thankfully, knocked in a late goal some 1,700 miles away to topple Ivory Coast. It meant the boat-rowing, high-scoring Norwegian team had survived, and Hammond’s World Cup vacation had survived a»»»

No single topic dominates Friday's news media. POLITICS Capital weekly looks into the scandal over the Interior Minister announcing last week details about the private plane flights of Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) leader Delyan Peevski. One of these flights was with Constitutional Court j»»»

Doha, Qatar: Qatar’s high jump superstar Mutaz Barshim is looking to build on his return from injury, when he competes against an impressive field at the Monaco Diamond League today, being held at the iconic Stade Louis II. The Tokyo 2020 gold medallist arrives in Monaco after clearing a season’s b»»»

Afghan nationals with no criminal convictions are being held in immigration detention in Germany pending deportation, according to a report by German daily taz, raising questions over whether some cases are consistent with Berlin's stated deportation policy. The newspaper said at least five Afghan »»»

Wizz Air, Bulgaria’s largest airline by market share, announced the launch of a new direct connection between Varna and Basel, Switzerland, expanding travel options from Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast. The new route will begin operating on October 27, 2026, with flights scheduled twice a week, every Tu»»»

Bulgaria is among the countries in Europe where housing and rental costs are rising at the fastest pace, according to the latest Eurostat data for the first quarter of 2026. On an annual basis, property prices in the country increased by 14.8%, placing Bulgaria second in Europe, behind only Portuga»»»