Damascus, Aug. 6 (SANA) Syrian ports have recorded a sharp increase in maritime traffic since the country’s liberation at the end of 2024, with vessel calls and cargo volumes rising significantly during the first half of 2026 as authorities press ahead with infrastructure upgrades and equipment mod»»»

A brutal fatal assault in Plovdiv has prompted a major police investigation, with authorities examining whether the attack was motivated by hatred based on sexual orientation or involved a victim being lured through a dating app. Several teenagers, including minors, have been detained as investigat»»»

Manila: Landslides in the Philippines killed four people, authorities said Thursday, as heavy rains driven by a tropical depression raked the country's north and forced school closures. The archipelago nation's main island Luzon has been battered by heavy rains over the past four days. Government o»»»

New Delhi: The Bombay High Court on Thursday set aside the acquittal of former Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal in the 2013 sexual assault case involving a junior colleague and convicted him of rape and other offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). A Division Bench of Justices Neela Gokhale and Amit»»»

MANILA: Landslides in the Philippines killed four people, authorities said Thursday, as heavy rains driven by a tropical depression raked the country’s north and forced school closures. The archipelago nation’s main island Luzon has been battered by heavy rains over the past four days. Government o»»»

SEOUL: South Korean police raided the headquarters of Starbucks’ local operation as part of an investigation into a controversial marketing campaign that was perceived as defaming 1980s’ pro-democracy movements. Investigators searched the Starbucks headquarters in southern Seoul on Tuesday, police »»»

‘Brothers’ Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, Holland Taylor Where: Apple TV+ from Sept. 23 Comedy series in which two of Hollywood’s best-loved bros — Harrelson and McConaughey — play fictionalized versions of themselves. When Harrelson’s daughter is jilted at the altar, he takes her »»»

A criminal case has been opened in Tokmok over domestic violence. The suspect has been detained and placed in a temporary detention facility, the Main Internal Affairs Department of Chui region reported. On August 3, a 33-year-old resident of the city contacted the police. She said that her partner»»»

BERLIN: A verdict is due Thursday for an Afghan man accused of a car-ramming attack in Munich last year which killed a two-year-old girl and her mother and left dozens injured. The man, named only as Farhad N., has been on trial since January, accused of deliberately steering a car into a 1,400-str»»»

Police have detained a suspect in the assault of the editor of Telekuzot, a program of the Kyrgyz National Television and Radio Broadcasting Corporation (UTRK). The Main Department of Internal Affairs of Bishkek reported. Law enforcement authorities opened a criminal case under Article 280 (Hooliga»»»

The Schengen Agreement has made travel within the European Union a lot easier since it came into force. It allows its 29 member states to relax their border controls. Or at least it does, so long as those states are feeling relaxed. Oddly enough, the arrangement is now in trouble because of an even»»»

Amid an outpouring of concern from fans and colleagues, Perez Hilton's family says there is now a reason for cautious optimism: he is able to communicate. The 48-year-old celebrity blogger, whose real name is Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr, was hospitalised on Tuesday (4 August) after an unsettling Ti»»»

DAMASCUS: The Damascus International Festival of Arabic Poetry celebrated the tradition of sung poetry on Tuesday evening with a performance by Lebanese vocalist Walaa Al-Jundi at the Damascus Opera House. Held on the festival’s third day, the concert explored the enduring connection between Arabic»»»

Time machines do not exist, except when someone spends a lifetime preserving the pieces of a world that has disappeared. They exist for those who choose to look: In old letters, photographs of places that no longer exist, electricity bills from decades ago, postcards, and crisp telegrams kept delib»»»

DAMASCUS: Syria’s transitional government has reinstated all employees who were dismissed from public sector positions because of their participation in the 2011 uprising against the former Assad regime, according to a report by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on Wednesday. The decision was anno»»»

A rare video filmed on July 21 in Sabha, Libya shows a woman accused of adultery being sentenced to 100 lashes. Shared on social media, it has sparked outrage for various reasons: Some are appalled by the fact that the punishment was carried out in a public space, whilst others are shocke»»»

Four people were stabbed in central London and a woman has been arrested in a suspected "mental health related incident", the Metropolitan Police said Wednesday. The stabbings took place around lunchtime in Covent Garden, a bustling area frequented by tourists. A woman was arrested after four »»»

LONDON: About 10 Israeli women illegally entered Lebanon on Wednesday afternoon, Israel’s military said. The area where they crossed over lies on the border between Lebanon and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, near the village of Ghajar. Soldiers located most of the women and escorted them back »»»

LONDON: An Israeli military probe has found that an unauthorized settler “hike” preceded July’s deadly clash in the occupied West Bank village of Tell, southwest of Nablus, and that too few troops were deployed to respond to the violence. The investigation also said it could not rule out the possib»»»

Multiple people were killed and another person was injured in a shooting in Prospect Hill, North Carolina, on Wednesday morning, authorities said. The Caswell County Sheriff's Office said deputies responded to a call for service shortly before 8am at a property on Brooks Road, where they found mult»»»

Multiple people were killed and another person was injured in a shooting in Prospect Hill, North Carolina, on Wednesday morning, authorities said. The Caswell County Sheriff's Office said deputies responded to a call for service shortly before 8am at a property on Brooks Road, where they found mult»»»

ABUJA: The Nigerian government announced the release of more than 300 kidnapping victims on Wednesday, including 163 taken from a single village in the west of the country earlier this year. Kidnapping for ransom by criminal groups, militants and non-ideological gangs known as bandits has become a »»»

A video showing a Russian explosive drone stalking and detonating beside an unarmed market trader in the frontline city of Kherson has drawn fresh accusations of war crimes from Kyiv, days after the United Nations reported that civilian casualties across Ukraine had climbed to their highest monthl»»»

LONDON: Premier League ‌champions Arsenal have agreed a deal worth £75 million ($99.5 million) to sign Newcastle United captain Bruno Guimaraes, British media reported on Wednesday. Arsenal’s opening offer for the 28-year-old Brazil midfielder was rejected earlier this week, but the London club ret»»»

Dubai: A footballer was killed and nine others were injured after lightning struck a football pitch during a match in southern Thailand on Wednesday, police and local media said. The incident occurred during the Golok Cup regional tournament at Santiphap Stadium in Narathiwat province as players co»»»

Proceedings have been opened in connection with the incident involving a verbal confrontation between Bulgarian and Italian youths outside a hotel in the Bulgarian mountain resort of Bansko, and the case has been referred to the competent prosecution office. All those involved have been identified,»»»

Los Angeles, United States: The armed man arrested over the weekend at President Donald Trump's golf course in California, two days before the US leader's scheduled visit, has been charged with illegal firearm possession, authorities said. "While we are still investigating the motives of this indiv»»»

Discussing an August 2 confrontation between a group of young foreigners and Bulgarians in the Bulgarian mountain resort of Bansko, Asen Levov, the manager of the hotel which housed the group of foreign children, told reporters on Wednesday that police had previously been called to the hotel on sev»»»

LONDON: In an orchard behind her family’s home in Syria’s eastern province of Deir Ezzor, 3-year-old Ghala Khamis Al-Saleh Al-Khamis was found dead on Aug. 2, about two hours after she vanished. She was the third girl killed in the Syrian Arab Republic in less than three weeks, reigniting concerns »»»

Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Officers arrested a woman accused of stabbing four men in London's Covent Garden neighborhood, the Metropolitan Police said Wednesday. All four victims -- aged 34, 39, 42 and 52 -- were transported to the hospital. Two have been released, while the other two were being treated for n»»»

A 17-year-old boy fell head-first into a slicing machine at a construction company site in Szeged, after which the machine pulled him in. Paramedics arriving at the scene were unable to save his life. Police are still investigating the tragedy, which took place in mid-July, while further details ha»»»

Police have identified those involved in a confrontation between Bulgarian and foreign nationals in the Bulgarian mountain resort of Bansko on August 2. The incident was initially reported by Italian media, which said the confrontation took place outside a hotel in Sofia and involved antisemitic ac»»»

LONDON: The UK’s charity authority is investigating organizations that donate funds to illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine, The Guardian reported on Wednesday. The Charity Commission is aiming to determine the amount of charitable funds going to illegal settlements, whether those funds further»»»

The Supreme Court ruled in February that the Trump administration's so-called "liberation day" tariffs were illegal. File Photo by Angelina Katsanis/UPI | License Photo Aug. 5 (UPI) -- The Trump administration revealed it has refunded about $100 billion in tariffs it collected before the Supreme Co»»»

Beirut, Aug. 5 (SANA) A joint delegation from Syria’s Ministries of Interior and Foreign Affairs held talks in Beirut on Wednesday with Lebanese Interior Minister Ahmad al-Hajjar and senior Lebanese officers to discuss key issues of mutual interest and ways to boost security cooperation between the»»»

PARIS: From spending hours playing EA Sports FC — formerly known as the FIFA video game series — with his brother and friends, to appearing on the cover of the game itself, Karim Benzema’s connection to football gaming has grown alongside his career on the pitch. At the Esports World Cup 2026 in Pa»»»

Police have arrested 10 people after dismantling what authorities describe as a high-tech fentanyl production laboratory in Sofia's Fakulteta neighborhood, saying the facility was supplying the illicit drug across Bulgaria. The large-scale operation was carried out by the General Directorate for Co»»»

Bulgaria is entering a dangerous new phase in the spread of synthetic drugs, with experts warning that fentanyl-related deaths could soon rival the country's annual road accident fatalities if stronger action is not taken. Dr. Olympiad Atmazhova, a toxicologist at the University Hospital "Dr. Georg»»»

BELGRADE - The head of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic said on Wednesday Pristina's court summonses for Srpska lista officials represented a continuation of pressure on Kosovo-Metohija Serbs. "(Albin) Kurti will stop at nothing in his desire to break down the Serbs »»»

Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., leaves the House of Representatives after voting on the Epstein Files Transparency Act at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 18. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo Aug. 5 (UPI) -- House Democrats have added 12 more Republican-leaning seats to thei»»»

PARIS: France’s push to enlist its car industry to produce military drones is moving to industrial implementation, as partnerships between automakers, car-part suppliers and defense firms turn lessons from the war in Ukraine into working assembly lines. Since the start of the year, at least six def»»»

The property housing the illegal fentanyl laboratory uncovered in Sofia belongs to the Agricultural Academy and was leased for five years in June 2024, the Academy said on Wednesday. The lease followed a regular tender, and the Academy published its position on its website. The agreement was signed»»»

Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev has launched a series of senior-level personnel changes within the Interior Ministry, with three regional police directors replaced within just a few days. The reshuffles come after almost all 28 regional Interior Ministry directors were removed before the electio»»»

Bulgaria has strongly condemned all forms of anti-Semitism following an incident in Bansko in which a group of Bulgarian youths allegedly threatened and directed anti-Semitic insults at Italian students staying at a local hotel. In a statement published on the social media platform X, the Bulgarian»»»

The French publication L’Express has published what it describes as the first comprehensive ranking of European intelligence services, placing Bulgaria among the weakest-performing countries while the United Kingdom's MI6 secured the top position. The assessment is based on interviews with around 1»»»

German authorities launched a major security operation overnight after an explosives-laden drone was found on the tarmac near a Ukrainian cargo plane at Leipzig-Halle Airport, forcing flight diversions and prompting the deployment of a bomb disposal robot. A cargo aircraft that aborted its landing »»»

Damascus, Aug. 5 (SANA) Syria and Algeria discussed on Wednesday ways to develop economic relations between the two countries in a way that contributes to enhancing industrial and trade integration.President of Federation of Syrian Chambers of Industry, Mazen Derwan, and Algerian Ambassador in Dama»»»

Perez Hilton, 48, was seen on TikTok harming himself with a knife and making cuts on his body. Police responded and transported him to a nearby hospital. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Police in Miami responded to the home of celebrity blogger Perez Hilton on Tuesday a»»»

BELGRADE - The interior ministries of Serbia and Namibia signed on Wednesday in Belgrade a MoU on cooperation aimed at preventing serious criminal offences, especially in the fight against organised crime and international terrorism. After a meeting at the Palace of Serbia, the MoU was inked by Ser»»»

London: A woman was arrested after several people were stabbed in Covent Garden, a busy area of central London popular with tourists, UK media reported Wednesday citing emergency services. The suspect was a 47-year-old woman and the victims were four men between the ages of 34 and 52, Sky News repo»»»