ROME: An ‌Italian court has acquitted former crew members of the migrant rescue vessel Aquarius eight years after ​they were accused by prosecutors in Sicily of illicit waste trafficking, the charity SOS Mediterranee said on Friday. The ship was seized in 2018 after a year-long investigation into t»»»

Rome: Water reserves are being depleted rapidly in northern Italy, with farming under threat, as the region's main river dries up, local officials warned on Friday. The Po River District Basin Authority (ADBPO) said the situation was "extremely critical" and available stocks in the river basin woul»»»

The Council of the European Union reported that it opened an excessive deficit procedure (EDP) concerning Bulgaria on Friday. It also adopted a recommendation to Bulgaria outlining the net expenditure path and timeline that should be followed to put an end to its excessive deficit by 2029. The EDP »»»

The Breeze 2026 multinational maritime exercise began on July 10 in the western Black Sea and will continue until July 19, the Ministry of Defence said in a press release on Friday. Organized by the Bulgarian Navy, the exercise aims to enhance interoperability and cooperation among participating fo»»»

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»»»

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»»»

The United States will oversee the withdrawal of Israeli forces from "pilot zones" in the south, with the first to get underway within days, Lebanese and U.S. officials said Thursday. A U.S. official said that new talks between Israel and Lebanon would go ahead next week, after a diplomatic source »»»

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»»»

France has finally returned 23 Syrian archaeological treasures that remained in the country for about 15 years after being loaned for an exhibition. Their return coincided with French President Emmanuel Macron's landmark visit to Damascus — the first by a major Western leader since the ouster of Ba»»»

The United States will oversee the withdrawal of Israeli forces from "pilot zones" in the south, with the first to get underway within days, Lebanese and U.S. officials said Thursday. A U.S. official said that new talks between Israel and Lebanon would go ahead next week, after a diplomatic source »»»

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»»»

BEIRUT: The United States will oversee the withdrawal of Israeli forces from “pilot zones” in the south, with the first to get underway within days, Lebanese and US officials said Thursday. A US official said that new talks between Israel and Lebanon would go ahead next week, after a diplomatic sou»»»

Brussels: Restrictions on children’s use of social media in the European Union could come as early as this summer, as a long-awaited expert report next week is expected to recommend limiting minors’ access to online platforms. After Australia became the first country in the world to ban under-16s f»»»

Rome: Italy on Thursday ordered the expulsion of two Russian military attaches accused of spying, with its foreign minister condemning "serious and unacceptable acts of interference" by Moscow. The expulsions came two days after police announced the arrest of two former Italian intelligence agents »»»

Italy and Israel announced this week that a new round of talks between Lebanon and Israel will take place in Rome in mid-July. The two sides had previously met for five rounds of U.S.-sponsored talks in Washington aimed at ending the war between Israel and Hezbollah and paving the way for peace. A »»»

Romania is rapidly establishing itself as one of Europe’s fastest-growing renewable energy markets, driven by accelerating investment in solar energy, battery storage and grid infrastructure. Against this backdrop, the acquisition marks an important step in the consolidation of the country’s energy»»»

The Sofia Appellate Court has upheld a lower court ruling dismissing Evelin "Brendo" Banev’s request for conditional early release from prison, the court said on Thursday. The ruling is final and cannot be appealed. In April 2026, the Sofia Appellate Court rejected a proposal by the then head of th»»»

Brussels, Belgium: Restrictions on children's use of social media in the European Union could come as early as this summer, as a long-awaited expert report next week is expected to recommend limiting minors' access to online platforms. After Australia became the first country in the world to ban un»»»

Bulgarian households are among the most electricity-dependent in the European Union, while also ranking among the bloc’s leading countries in the use of renewable energy sources for heating homes, according to the latest Eurostat data on household energy consumption in 2024. The figures highlight B»»»

MOSCOW: Russia will respond to Italy’s expulsion of two of its military attaches who ‌had ‌been working at ‌the ⁠Russian embassy in ⁠Rome, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on ⁠Thursday, the ‌RIA ‌state news ‌agency reported.‌The Italian government has decided to expel two military »»»

Ukraine arrived at this week's key Nato summit in Turkey determined to persuade US President Donald Trump that the momentum in the war has shifted in Kyiv's favour, despite Russian forces continuing to make slow but steady territorial gains in the Donbas. Trump struck an optimistic tone ahead of th»»»

Arab Finance: Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Mohamed Farid Saleh discussed with China-based intelligent manufacturing company Jiangsu Changhong the establishment of a factory in Egypt to manufacture automotive equipment and production lines, with an initial investment of around $20 millio»»»

Aspirational luxury clients – those who strategically purchase luxury goods and services rather than the ultra-high-net-worth individuals who habitually engage with luxury – are increasingly turning to new ownership models, experiences and AI-powered personalization to shape how they engage with br»»»

Lebanon demands Israel's withdrawal from two "pilot zones" in the south as a condition for participating in the next round of direct negotiations in Rome next week, a diplomatic source familiar with the talks told AFP on Wednesday. The two sides had previously met for five rounds of U.S.-sponsored »»»

The European Commission (EC) on Wednesday announced having decided to open infringement procedures by sending letters of formal notice to Cyprus, Malta and Finland, and to send reasoned opinion to Croatia, Italy, Austria, Portugal and Romania for not notifying the transposition of Directive (EU) 20»»»

POLISTENA: Italy’s southern Calabria region is the rare place in Europe where Cuba sends medical professionals under a long-running program that the United States wants to stamp out. Cuba’s doctors for decades have worked in developing nations such as Gambia and Venezuela, skilled in providing care»»»

BEIRUT, Lebanon: Lebanon demands Israel’s withdrawal from two “pilot zones” in the south as a condition for participating in the next round of direct negotiations in Rome next week, a diplomatic source familiar with the talks told AFP on Wednesday. The two sides had previously met for five rounds o»»»

DUBAI: Four years ago, Morocco smashed the glass ceiling for Arab teams at the World Cup. A sensational run to the semifinal, where they lost 2-0 to France, goes beyond the wildest dreams of even European and South American nations, never mind those from the region. Arab teams from North Africa hav»»»

PARIS: A wildfire in central France has endangered residents of the town of Morthomiers and threatens to reach a nearby industrial site where KNDS produces munitions, which would pose a risk for explosions and further fires, local officials said on Thursday. KNDS confirmed the munitions production »»»

Ankara, July 8 (SANA) US Presidential Special Envoy for Syria and Iraq Thomas Barrack said that his high-level meeting with President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Ankara on Wednesday, attended by a delegation of members of the US Congress, reflects Syria’s importance and underscores its pivotal role in shapi»»»

Europe faces an estimated €70bn annual bill to adapt to climate change, but as deadly heatwaves and wildfires intensify across the continent, questions remain over who should pay. The European Parliament approved €144.1m in aid to Spain, Romania and Cyprus this week to recover from wildfires, flood»»»

Lebanon demands Israel's withdrawal from two "pilot zones" in the south before participating in the next round of direct talks in Rome next week, a diplomatic source told AFP on Wednesday. The source, requesting anonymity, said "Lebanon is stipulating Israel's withdrawal from two pilot zones in ord»»»

LONDON: Ahmed Al-Sharaa, the president of the Syrian Arab Republic, has held talks on ties and regional development with American members of Congress and US Special Presidential Envoy for Syria and Iraq Tom Barrack. The officials met on Wednesday in Ankara, where Turkiye is hosting the 36th NATO Su»»»

July 7 (UPI) -- A group of students from Italy's University of Pisa constructed a paper plane with a wingspan of 65.75 feet and flew it a distance of 193.5 feet to break a Guinness World Record. The students, who dubbed their group Project Icarus, hand-constructed the airplane exclusively from pape»»»

European NATO countries, plus Canada, attending the alliance's annual summit in Turkey agreed Wednesday to spend $50 billion over the next 10 years to develep new ground-based "deep precision strike capabilities" as part of a drive to take over responsbility from the United States for their own def»»»

The Netherlands has run out of options for continued direct military assistance to Ukraine, Defense Minister Dilan Yesilgoz-Zegerius has said. The EU and NATO member has been an active supporter of Kiev in its conflict with Moscow, including by supplying US-made F-16 fighter jets as part of a schem»»»

LONDON - Serbia's top-ranked tennis player Novak Djokovic is through to the Wimbledon semi-finals after a (12-10), 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (10-4) victory over Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarter-finals on Tuesday evening. Djokovic, who has seven career titles at Wimbledon, won after five»»»

In a 147-14 vote with one abstention on Wednesday, Parliament re-elected for a second term Antoan Gechev as head of the State Intelligence Agency. He will have a term of five years from June 17, 2026. He was backed by Progressive Bulgaria, GERB-UDF and Vazrazhdane. Democratic Bulgaria voted against»»»

ANKARA: President Donald Trump surprised NATO leaders he is meeting with in Turkiye by launching a series of strikes on Iran late Tuesday and revoking a license that allowed Tehran to sell its oil on the world market, a major twist for a summit that had been aimed at showcasing how alliance members»»»

LONDON: Along a stretch of desert where smugglers’ convoys often move as freely as state patrols, the borders separating Libya, Tunisia and Algeria have become the front line of a rapidly changing regional security crisis. Arms traffickers, extremist groups and migrant smuggling networks now operat»»»

CAIRO: As Egypt bowed out of the World Cup with a dramatic 3-2 defeat to a Lionel Messi-inspired Argentina in the last 16 on Tuesday, supporters in Cairo rose to applaud a team that had taken the country further than ever before. “We’re heartbroken because we believed we could go even further,” sai»»»

A parcel bomb exploded in Monaco on June 30 seriously injuring three people. On Tuesday, police in Ukraine announced they found the suspect dead and arrested two other people. Photo by Sebastien Nogier/EPA July 7 (UPI) -- The main suspect in a Monaco bombing was found dead Tuesday in Ukraine. The p»»»

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the United States is not obliged to pay for European security, adding that all US troops may be removed from the region. "We don't have to spend any money, we could remove all of our soldiers out of Europe," Trump told reporters »»»

Wizz Air has introduced two new direct routes from Sofia to Palermo in Italy and Tirana in Albania, expanding its network from Bulgaria. The first flights on the new connections took off on July 4, 2026, with tickets available through the airline’s website and mobile application starting at €19.99 »»»

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that Turkiye's ownership of Russian S-400 air defense systems are not a source of concern amid renewed interest in the potential sale of US-made F-35 fighter jets to Ankara. Earlier in the day, the US president said that selling the f»»»

The body of the Ukrainian woman suspected of planting a parcel bomb in Monaco last week was found near Kyiv, the local newspaper Ukrainska Pravda reported Tuesday. Ukraine's prosecutor general's ‌office later confirmed the body was found and said they also detained an employee of ​Ukraine»»»

BELGRADE - Serbian Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Aleksandra Sofronijevic met with Italian Deputy PM and Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Matteo Salvini in Belgrade on Tuesday. Sofronijevic said Serbia and Italy would be working together on a project of reinstating a»»»

Ankara: US President Donald Trump and his Nato counterparts are gathering in Turkey on Tuesday for a two-day summit that comes at a turning point in the organisation’s history as the United States steps back from its traditional security role in Europe. Ahead of the meeting in Ankara, Trump has ins»»»

Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors are due to hold direct talks in Rome this month, Italy's foreign ministry said Tuesday, after several rounds of discussions in Washington aimed at de-escalation. "We welcome with pleasure the announcement that the next round of talks between Israel and Lebanon media»»»

JERUSALEM: Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar confirmed on Tuesday that the next round of talks with Lebanon will take place in Rome, as the two countries work to build on a framework agreement reached last month with US backing. “Less than two weeks ago, Israel, Lebanon and the United States rea»»»