German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s humiliating run of regional election defeats has reignited a bitter fight over his unpopular pension reform, with his Social Democratic coalition partners pushing back against plans that could make Germans work longer, national media have reported.Merz’s Christian»»»

Vladimir Zelensky put his personal interests first when he breached an agreement with Seoul not to disclose the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war captured in Russia, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has said. Zelensky touted the arrangement during his speech to the UN General Assemb»»»

Armed with paper fortune-tellers and pop worship songs, young French Catholics from the Anuncio movement fanned out into the crowds awaiting Pope Leo XIV's arrival in Paris on Friday, hoping to bring strangers closer to God in one of Europe's most secular countries.    A group gathers aro»»»

Doha, Qatar, 25 September 2026: Faith, identity, leadership, and the challenges of today’s ever-shifting world have been explored by over 1,300 young Muslims from across Qatar alongside scholars, educators, thought leaders, and other inspiring voices, as the second edition of Qatar Foundation’s QIY»»»

The US Supreme Court on Friday ruled the Trump administration can use a controversial new federal database that would ostensibly verify voter citizenship in November’s elections. Critics argue the administration is exaggerating the threat of non-citizen voters – an extreme rarity in US el»»»

Tunis, September 25, 2026 (TAP) – Secretary of State for Energy Transition Wael Chouchane met Friday with a delegation from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to discuss ways to boost economic cooperation and...»»»

Presidential candidate Ivan Hristanov and his running mate Stoyanka Cherkezova kicked off their campaign here on Friday. Hristanov and Cherkezova were put forward by a nomination committee. At the event, Hristanov said that Bulgaria needs a presidential institution that is close to the people and i»»»

Vazrazhdane's presidential candidate Kostadin Kostadinov said here on Friday that his goal as president would be to restore the prosperity, independence, well-being and strength of the Bulgarian State. He said that one of the campaign's goals is to remind the Bulgarian people that they can be indep»»»

Washington, United States: US President Donald Trump confirmed Friday he will meet twice more this year with Xi Jinping, saying they would have their third and fourth meetings of 2026 in China and the United States. "We will be meeting again in November, in China, and then at the G20 in December, i»»»

ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik) - Russia welcomes US-China talks and all positive agreements reached between Beijing and Washington, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday. "Any positive agreement between China and the United States is welcome," Putin told reporters. The United States and China»»»

A rally held in front of Parliament on Friday night called for stricter measures on gambling advertising. The protesters' demands include the gambling-related measures already introduced by the government as well as the adoption of four additional policies, said the organizer of the event, Svetlin »»»

NEW YORK - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic says he will resign from his post in the evening of Sunday, September 27. "Sunday will be a busy day, I will resign on Sunday evening, I think around 8 pm," Vucic told reporters in New York on Thursday evening, adding that he would also provide an expla»»»

Loik Le Priol, one of the main suspects in the 2022 murder of Argentine rugby player Federico Martin Aramburu, asked forgiveness from the victim's family in a Paris court on Friday. Verdicts in the trial of four suspects – including Le Priol and Romain Bouvier, who both have links to France’s »»»

In a Facebook post published on Friday, President Iliana Iotova addressed media reports that she had signed a joint statement on Ukraine following an expanded UN Security Council meeting on the issue on Wednesday. Iotova reported that she did not sign the statement. The president wrote: "[The state»»»

Tunis, September 25, 2026 (TAP) – Cooperation projects and programmes between Tunisia and the World Bank in higher education and scientific research were discussed Friday during a meeting between Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research...»»»

President Donald Trump told President Volodymyr Zelensky that he had made a "final decision" to grant Kyiv the licence to produce Patriot air defence missiles, the Ukrainian leader said Friday. The assurance came during the last meeting between the two leaders, Zelensky said, capping a period of un»»»

The EU has gone through seven waves of enlargement since 1973, but there has not been one since Croatia joined in 2013. Indeed, there are not likely to be any new members in the club before 2028 – some 15 years after Croatia entered. But 2026 undeniably has momentum, and is on track to be a record »»»

The Bulgarian government has set a target of keeping the budget deficit at no more than 3% by 2027, alongside restoring a sustainable financial system and maintaining predictable tax policy, Prime Minister Rumen Radev said at a conference organized by the Ministry of Finance and the European Stabil»»»

Saudi Arabia is facing mounting security and economic pressures as the conflict in the Middle East threatens its oil infrastructure and shipping routes, while its longtime security partner, the United States, appears increasingly unwilling or unable to provide the protection Riyadh has historically»»»

New York: Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi underscored that water security constitutes a strategic priority for GCC member states, transcending environmental concerns to intersect directly with human security, economic prosperity, food security, and e»»»

The Economist magazine stated in an editorial that the United States appears to be stuck in the Middle East, with no easy way out. However, the current war may signal something completely different: a moment of American withdrawal from the region, meaning that Washington is finally abandoning its d»»»

Iran has offered the US a new deal aimed at ending the months-long conflict before the midterm election in November, directly challenging President Donald Trump’s claim that Tehran is deliberately waiting until after the election to reach an agreement. Trump claimed in a speech at the UN on Tuesday»»»

Parliament has given final approval to a zero excise duty rate on natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) used as motor fuel for the period from October 1, 2026, to December 31, 2026. The amendments to the Excise Duties and Tax Warehouses Act were adopted at first and second reading in a sing»»»

BusinessBulgariaBulgaria's battery boom: From zero to global leaderMihail Ivanov in SofiaIn under two years, Bulgaria has become one of the world's most battery-intensive energy markets. Can the surge last — and what will it mean for conventional power generators? https://p.dw.com/p/5NGvRPowerhouse»»»

Iran seeks return to earlier deal as Hormuz deadline, Saudi attacks keep tensions high The US-Iran conflict is entering another critical diplomatic window, with Tehran calling on Washington to return to an earlier agreement before the US midterm elections and setting a four-to-five-day deadline for»»»

“Xi did not bring a Chinese business delegation because he did not need one. The American tech and finance crowd came to him,” Hong Kong-based geopolitical analyst Angelo Giuliano told Sputnik, commenting on the optics and substance of the Chinese president’s state visit to Washington. “Bringing ex»»»

Democratic Bulgaria is calling for Parliament to hear the foreign minister or the relevant deputy foreign minister over conflicting statements about Bulgaria's position on Ukraine, MP and Democratic Bulgaria parliamentary group chair Nadezhda Yordanova said. The request concerns the differing posit»»»

Bulgaria is benefiting from a rapid expansion of battery energy storage systems as record drought hits electricity generation across Eastern Europe, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) analysis from Sofia. Around 100 battery energy storage sites are currently operating in Bulgaria, most of t»»»

Pezeshkian tells US TV interview Iran ready to strike deal with Trump to end conflict United Nations: It is for the United States to choose whether to end its war in Iran as Tehran does not wish to continue fighting, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a US television interview aired Thursd»»»

EU governments are deadlocked on how to proceed with a major overhaul to the bloc’s pesticides rules following a sustained pushback from scientists and countries outside the EU. The revisions to the pesticides regulation form part of a food-and-feed ‘Omnibus’ law proposed by the EU Commission last »»»

Great Britain is going through a war scare. Or to be precise, its combined political and media establishment is subjecting its people to a relentless propaganda (in up-to-date NATO-speak “cognitive warfare”) campaign to create a sense of impending war against Russia. As you would expect, that war i»»»

September is proving a miserable month for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Two weeks ago, his Christian Democratic Union suffered a crushing defeat in Saxony-Anhalt, where the Alternative for Germany won 43.8% of the vote against just 17.2% for the CDU, then, on September 20, another humiliation »»»

Virtually all of America’s most powerful technology executives joined US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping for a lavish White House state dinner on Thursday, as AI emerged as a major theme of the Chinese leader’s visit. The black-tie dinner in the White House East Room brought to»»»

About 250 affected jets are already flying, but Airbus says there is no safety risk Airbus has identified a manufacturing quality defect affecting about 500 A321neo aircraft, including roughly 250 already in service. The European planemaker said the problem could reduce corrosion resistance inside »»»

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan will hold chief of staff talks to support the kingdom, Riyadh said in a statement on Friday, as Yemen's Houthis ramp up attacks on the world's top crude exporter. The Iran-backed group has escalated its attacks on the kingdom since July, ending a years-long truce a»»»

Argentina's poverty rate jumped to 32.3% in the first half of 2026, official data showed Thursday, as incomes failed to keep pace with the rising cost of basic goods, a setback for libertarian President Javier Milei little more than a year before he seeks reelection. The national statistics agency,»»»

Ukrainian forces encircled in the DPR town of Dobropolye “attempted to break out several times,” but to no avail. “We eliminated 50 fighters and destroyed several armored vehicles in the process,” former Spetsnaz officer Anatoly Matviychuk told Sputnik, commenting on the fierce fighting around the »»»

Couple were preparing for pre-marriage medical checks when an argument turned violent Dubai: An 18-year-old man has died after being stabbed during an argument with his 19-year-old fiancée in the Turkish city of Adana, as the couple were preparing to complete formalities ahead of their marriage. Lo»»»

Iran war and soaring fuel costs accelerate airline's retirement of older A330 jets Qatar Airways has retired its remaining Airbus A330 passenger aircraft and is sending some of its A330-trained pilots to Rwanda’s national carrier as the Iran war continues to disrupt Gulf aviation and drive up fuel »»»

The Air India-flydubai tie-up links UAE travellers to more Indian and global destinations Dubai: Indian travellers in the UAE could get more ways to connect to destinations across India and beyond through a new Air India-flydubai interline partnership, as the two airlines link their networks throug»»»

Two midwives were flown in by helicopter as tiny North Ronaldsay celebrated a rare arrival For 34 years, no baby had been born on the tiny Scottish island of North Ronaldsay. That changed at 4.05am on September 15, when Duncan Wilder Thorstein Traill Suarez Ford entered the world in an ancestral fa»»»

Largest-ever narrowbody order deepens Turkish Airlines-Boeing ties amid fleet growth Turkish Airlines has finalized a deal with Boeing for up to 150 737 MAX aircraft, the carrier's largest single-aisle order to date. This ends months of uncertainty after negotiations over engine terms had threatene»»»

President Joseph Aoun praised the army on Monday for defending all Lebanese, including those standing against it. "You defend all our people, even the very few who stand against our homeland and our state," he told army personnel. "Your weapons are the only legitimate weapons — not by force, nor un»»»

NEW YORK - Serbian caretaker FM Marko Djuric met on Thursday in New York with US Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Sarah B Rogers to discuss strengthening of Serbia-US relations. Special attention was devoted to US participation in EXPO 2027 Belgrade. Djuric noted tha»»»

The applicants were found staying in a hot, cramped, reportedly unregistered facility Dubai: Seven Filipino workers preparing to leave for Dubai have been moved to a safer temporary accommodation after Philippine authorities found them staying in an unsafe and reportedly unregistered facility in Ma»»»

Dubai ranks 14th globally, with both UAE cities among world's top 15 AI hubs in new index Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi has been ranked the leading city for artificial intelligence in the Middle East and North Africa and 11th worldwide in a new global index measuring cities’ ability to develop, finance and »»»

As Washington scrambled to contain the consequences of the Houthis' dramatic advance along Yemen’s Red Sea coast last week, US Vice President JD Vance confirmed US media reports that the Trump administration was "engaged in direct conversations with the Houthis." Days earlier, Reuters reported that»»»

Drivers and supervisors receive safety training to prevent risks and accidents Dubai: Dubai Police has trained 476 school bus drivers and supervisors in a series of road safety workshops aimed at strengthening student protection during daily journeys to and from school. The awareness programme, org»»»

CCTV shows the monkey knocking the elderly woman down before attacking her daughter nearby Dubai: A 91-year-old woman has died after being attacked by a monkey outside her home in southern India, an incident captured on CCTV. The woman, identified as Najamunnisa Begum, was walking through the compo»»»

The European Commission presented on Friday updates on five infringement procedures against Bulgaria concerning energy, money laundering, drugs, consumer rights and environmental protection. The European Commission decided to open infringement procedures by sending a letter of formal notice to Belg»»»