Damascus, Oct. 16 (SANA) Syria and the International Monetary Fund discussed expanding technical assistance to improve tax administration, public spending and budget planning, the Finance Ministry said on Friday. Finance Minister Mohammed Yisr Barnieh met with senior officials from the IMF’s Public»»»

LONDON: More than 340 children in Gaza have been killed and hundreds injured since the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas was announced on Oct. 10, 2026, the UN Children’s Fund, also known as UNICEF, said on Friday. For those families “mourning the loss of their children, those terrible s»»»

LONDON: The renewed offensive by the Houthi militia in Yemen has raised fresh concerns about the fate of a cultural heritage already battered by more than a decade of war, destruction and looting. The impact of the latest fighting on archaeological sites and museum collections remains to be establi»»»

Brasilia: Brazilian Amazon deforestation has dropped to its lowest level in nearly four decades, according to official data released Friday. Between August 2025 and July 2026, 3,335 square kilometers of forest were cleared, a decline of nearly 42 percent over the previous year and the lowest level »»»

Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar has called for stricter border controls and the swift return of irregular migrants, backing a tough proposal during heated talks between EU leaders in Brussels. Prime Minister Péter Magyar has backed tougher European measures against irregular migration, arguin»»»

Strategic partnership hinges on reciprocal obligations and sustained cooperation. Saqr Ghobash, Speaker of the Federal National Council (FNC), affirmed that Gulf and European security can no longer be treated as separate issues, stressing that the strategic partnership between the Gulf Cooperation »»»

Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani reaffirmed his country’s continued support for Lebanon following talks with President Joseph Aoun, highlighting bilateral cooperation, energy projects and regional security developments. Speak»»»

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»»»

RIYADH: Adel Al-Jubeir, minister of state for foreign affairs, climate envoy, and commissioner general of Expo 2030 Riyadh, met Micheal Smith, Ireland’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, in Riyadh on Friday. He also met the Danish and Finnish ambassadors, Merete Juhl and Jukka Pajarinen, later the same d»»»

Hezbollah’s Media Relations Department issued a statement to clarify the incident in Gallery Semaan area near Beirut’s Dahieh, stressing that the security forces’ patrol and raid of a warehouse took place without following the agreed-upon procedure between Hezbollah and the security authorities. Wh»»»

Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen attacked Spanish leader Pedro Sánchez on migration during a summit debate in Brussels on Friday (16 October). Frederiksen, who despite leading a centre-left party has taken an increasingly hard line on migration, criticised Sánchez for granting renewable one-»»»

TUNIS, Oct. 16, 2026 (TAP) - The stock market rebounded to close in the green at the end of the week of October 12 to 16, 2026. The benchmark index recorded a slight rise of 0.2% to 18,638.99 points, bringing its year-to-date performance to...»»»

Tunis, Oct. 16 (TAP) - The seawater desalination plant in Sidi Abdelhamid, îSousse Governorate, has entered service with an initial production capacity of 50,000 cubic metres per day, which can be expanded to 100,000 cubic metres per day.The plant...»»»

Bangkok, Oct. 16 (SANA) Finance Minister Mohamed Yisr Barnieh and Italian Economy and Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti discussed strengthening financial cooperation, resolving Syria’s outstanding arrears to Italy and exploring debt-for-investment arrangements on the sidelines of the IMF and Wor»»»

WASHINGTON: White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia was pushed out Friday after less than a week in the high-profile job, following a series of blunders that added to distractions for her embattled boss President Donald Trump. “Can confirm,” a White House official told AFP, after Fox News report»»»

DARAA: More than 33,400 homes in Syria’s Daraa province were completely destroyed and more than 60,000 others damaged during military campaigns by the deposed regime, according to a report by the Ministry of Local Administration and Environment and UN-Habitat. The damage affected more than 95,000 h»»»

Washington: White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia is leaving her current position after just a few days on the job, following a widely criticized press briefing debut and intense scrutiny surrounding her resume. Asked about reports that Zacharia was "transitioning" out of the role, a White Hou»»»

October: Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani affirmed the State of Qatar's continued support for the Republic of Lebanon and solidarity with the Lebanese people amid the difficult circumstances facing the region, underscoring Qatar's»»»

BRUSSELS: French President Emmanuel Macron took a swipe at Marine Le Pen Friday, telling the far-right leader, who is the frontrunner in an upcoming presidential election, to “stay humble.” Without naming her directly, Macron criticized recent moves by Le Pen, who laid out plans to cut France’s aid»»»

HARRISBURG: At least eight states are suing artificial intelligence giant OpenAI, saying the company’s popular chatbot model violated state consumer protection laws by hurting children and deceiving adults in what prosecutors described as a reckless pursuit of profit. The company’s chatbot model, C»»»

The President must act as a balancer, serving as a check on the government and supporting it when it performs well, but speaking out firmly and clearly when the parliamentary majority makes wrong decisions, presidential candidate Andrey Gurov said at a campaign meeting in Pleven Friday. "I hear our»»»

WASHINGTON: A White House official said Friday that Press Secretary Katie Zacharia was leaving her role after just a few days on the job, following a lackluster press briefing performance and scrutiny over her resume. President Donald Trump has fired Katie Zacharia as press secretary, advisers to t»»»

NCM reports minor earthquake off Dibba Al-Fujairah at 9:58pm A minor tremor measuring 1.6 on the Richter scale was recorded off the coast of Dibba Al-Fujairah on Friday night, October 16, the National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) said. The NCM’s National Seismic Monitoring Network recorded the tremo»»»

Tunis, Oct. 16 (TAP) - The Bureau of the National Council of Regions and Districts (CNRD), at a meeting held on Friday under the chairmanship of Council President Imed Derbali, approved the referral of the 2027 Finance Bill and Economic Budget Bill...»»»

Bangkok: Vice President for the Economy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela HE Calixto Ortega Sánchez met with Minister of Finance HE Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari, on the sidelines of the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group held in Bangkok, Kingdom of Th»»»

Lyon: Oscar-winning directors Ethan and Joel Coen are set to reunite for a new movie, ending a multi-year directing break following their celebrated collaboration on cinematic classics such as Fargo, Barton Fink, and No Country for Old Men. Both of them have latterly turned to personal projects, wo»»»

Famous for its cowboy culture, Wyoming is the least populated, the most rural and the most conservative of all the US states. With two weeks to go until the midterm elections, our reporters James André and Sylvain Rousseau travelled across this Republican stronghold and found that the par»»»

No casualties as Indian crew survives tanker incidents in two regions All 24 Indian seafarers aboard two vessels involved in separate incidents in the Strait of Hormuz and Romania are safe, with no casualties or injuries reported, India’s Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister Sarbananda Sonowal sa»»»

JEDDAH: Friends gathering for the weekend, traffic on busy roads and residents heading to work and college are among the everyday scenes that people in Jeddah say have continued despite regional tensions. Residents who spoke to Arab News expressed confidence in their safety, with many saying daily »»»

LONDON: Lebanese security forces seized medicines deemed unfit for use and sealed a warehouse in Beirut’s Galerie Semaan area Friday, after a group of men tried to block the raid, authorities said. The Internal Security Forces said young men on motorcycles gathered to prevent officers from the Cent»»»

Liverpool defender Milos Kerkez has been removed from a controversial Ukrainian blacklist, weeks after an incident involving the Hungarian international sparked outrage. Milos Kerkez, the Hungarian international footballer currently playing for Liverpool, has been removed from the Ukrainian Myrotvo»»»

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»»»

The Justice Ministry published proposed Judicial System Act amendments for public consultation, introducing new rules on magistrates' secondment and competitive selection, the Ministry said on Friday. The changes aim to strengthen competitive selection, curb indefinite secondments and provide more »»»

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 »»»

Riyadh airport operations suspended amid missile and drone attack concerns The US Mission to Saudi Arabia has warned American citizens of potential attacks on airports, airspace closures and flight disruptions following recent missile and drone attacks on airports in the Kingdom. In a security aler»»»

The Ministry of Innovation and Digital Transformation Friday announced the completion of certification of the type of voting machines to be used in the presidential elections on October 25, 2026. The Minister of Innovation and Digital Transformation, the acting President of the Bulgarian Institute »»»

Elisa Spiropali has called on Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama to convene the Socialist Party’s leadership structures and initiate internal reforms, arguing that the party must embrace change and greater democratic accountability. In a lengthy letter addressed to Rama, Spiropali called for genuine »»»

ISTANBUL: Catastrophic flooding in Istanbul in recent days is the worst in more than 80 years, Turkiye’s interior minister said Friday as the death toll rose to four. Istanbul, Turkiye’s largest city with 16 million residents, was hit by more rain in the 48 hours up to Thursday morning than the com»»»

Tunis, Oct. 16 (TAP) - The weather will be partly cloudy on Friday night across most regions, with a possibility of locally dense fog developing late at night in northern coastal areas, according to forecasts by the National Institute of Meteorology...»»»

Secretary's SpeechLebanon PalestineZionist EntityRegional and International International More Video Language Ar En Fr EsSubscribe for Weekly Updates Subscribe Israeli media: Several mobile shelters have been deployed in a number of settlements near Tel Aviv 16-10-2026 20:19 PM Latest News Urgent N»»»

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»»»

Jakarta: Smoke from spreading forest and land fires in Kalimantan has reached Jakarta, prompting Indonesia’s meteorological agency on Friday to advise capital residents to restrict outdoor activities. Satellite images showed smoke spreading across Kalimantan and Sumatra and reaching Banten, West Ja»»»

Drivers in Abu Dhabi advised to prepare for upcoming weekend traffic changes Abu Dhabi Mobility has announced temporary road closures on key routes in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain over the weekend, urging motorists to plan their journeys and allow extra time for travel. The closures affect Shakhbout Bin Su»»»

Tunis, Oct. 16 (TAP) - Tunisia is targeting economic growth of 3.1% in 2027, compared with an expected 2.7% for the full year 2026, according to the 2027 Economic Budget Report, a copy of which was obtained by TAP news agency. Data in the...»»»

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»»»

KYIV: Kyiv has begun installing mobile concrete shelters at public transport stops, an AFP reporter saw Friday, as it grapples with air attacks and concern about the city’s preparedness for the looming winter. The Ukrainian capital has faced an increased number of Russian aerial strikes over the pa»»»

NAIROBI: Kenya's Ministry of Health on Friday confirmed the country's third case of Ebola Bundibugyo virus disease. The patient, a 65-year-old woman, is a close relative of the first and second cases and was identified as a primary contact, the ministry said. "She has been in quarantine since Oct. »»»

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»»»

DHAHRAN: It took Riyadh-resident Amal Sghaier nearly 22 hours and several detours to return home from her vacation in South Korea this week. Airport closures due to recent unrest meant her original journey was not possible, so she entered the Kingdom by car via King Fahd Causeway. While she enjoyed»»»