Lawyers for Australian Erin Patterson, who is serving life for poisoning three relatives and the attempted murder of a fourth person, opened an appeal in a Melbourne court on Wednesday by saying her conviction was unsafe because the jury, prosecutors and a key witness had shared the same hotel duri»»»

RIYADH: Net loans at Saudi Arabia’s 10 listed banks rose 7 percent year on year to SR3.25 trillion ($865.2 billion) by the end of the second quarter of 2026, while deposit growth outpaced lending for a second consecutive quarter, according to Al Rajhi Capital. Deposits increased 9 percent to SR3.15»»»

BEIRUT: Lebanon said Wednesday it had received an invitation from France for a meeting to prepare for an international conference on support for the Lebanese army, an event postponed by the Middle East war. The conference in Paris was supposed to take place in March but was delayed after militant g»»»

LONDON: Weeks into US-backed talks meant to trade an Israeli withdrawal for Hezbollah’s disarmament, renewed strikes and evacuation orders in southern Lebanon are raising a difficult question: Is there anything meaningful left to negotiate? The US said on Aug. 11 that the next round of Israel-Leban»»»

LONDON: In May 2024, a furious Gilad Erdan, then Israel’s ambassador to the UN, stood in front of the General Assembly in New York and proceeded to feed a facsimile of the UN Charter into a tiny electric shredder. The assembly was poised to vote to adopt a resolution urging the Security Council to »»»

Burgas will host the XXV International Geography Olympiad in 2029, after a decision to that affect was made during a International Geography Union meeting in Istanbul, said Burgas Municipality here on Wednesday. Among the other candidates were cities like Porto Seguro (Brazil) and Nicosia (Cyprus).»»»

Continue the Change (CC) Wednesday said that within 100 days in office, the Radev government had managed to drag the country into a war. The statement was published on Facebook following a Financial Times report that Iran is considering military targets in Europe, including Bulgaria, if US Presiden»»»

Dubai: UAE shoppers visiting Bicester Village in the UK can now have their luxury purchases delivered directly to their doorstep in the UAE, under a new partnership between Emirates Delivers and famed outlet shopping destination. Sign up for our daily business newsletter, Cheques & BalancesThe serv»»»

Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov Wednesday said the policies of the ruling Progressive Bulgaria party are destroying Bulgarian sovereignty. This position comes in response to media reports that Iran is allegedly considering strikes on US military targets in Europe, Vazrazhdane said. "Promotin»»»

UAE citizens can now receive government scholarships to study academic programmes delivered entirely online, under new regulations issued by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MoHESR). Under Ministerial Resolution No. 179 of 2026, scholarships may be granted for fully distanc»»»

Attacks on Russia’s infrastructure have not caused, do not cause and cannot cause critical consequences, but they do inflict damage, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. "It is clear that a number of factors affect economic growth, including external pressure and terrorist attacks on industrial a»»»

Kyiv: Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies announced Wednesday that they are investigating senior officials in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, a day after the country’s recently fired defence minister called for national elections despite the ongoing fight against Russia’s attack. The revelat»»»

Free Patriotic Movement leader Jebran Bassil has called for a public parliamentary session to question the government regarding the war, Hezbollah's weapons, and the U.S.-sponsored framework agreement with Israel. Bassil urged Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to schedule a public session to question »»»

London: Britain's Queen Camilla has spoken about the difficulty of not revealing King Charles III had cancer when she visited a support charity shortly after her husband had been diagnosed with the disease. Buckingham Palace announced the British monarch's shock diagnosis in February 2024 and that »»»

San Francisco, United States: ChatGPT creator OpenAI said Tuesday that it was tapping the brakes on development of its most advanced AI model and tightening internal controls, a month after revealing that one of its AI tools carried out an autonomous cyberattack. OpenAI is a key player in the rapid»»»

A Turkish delegation had visited an air base in northern Syria the day before it was hit by Israeli airstrikes, Syrian officials said. The Israeli strikes hit the Abu Duhur base early Tuesday, hours after the delegation had left, causing damage but no casualties. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Net»»»

Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf arrived in neighboring Iraq Wednesday for a three-day visit where he will meet with Iraqi officials and leaders of an Iran-backed political coalition. Iran-backed Iraqi militias have launched and claim drone attacks targeting U.S. bases and diplomatic presence both within th»»»

SHANGHAI — Chinese humanoid pioneer Unitree, whose backflipping robots wowed the world earlier this year, made a much-anticipated market debut in Shanghai on Wednesday with a similarly impressive leap in share price of more than 600 per cent.The Hangzhou-based firm's machines have become synonymou»»»

The United Arab Emirates suspended all trade with Iran on Wednesday after it said it had come under renewed fire from the country — a move that will further isolate the Islamic Republic, which is suffering under U.S. sanctions and a blockade. Incoming ballistic missile fire triggered nationwide war»»»

Israel's military said Wednesday it would launch criminal investigations into two high-profile attacks on Palestinians during the war in Gaza, including the killings of 5-year-old Hind Rajab and her family and of 15 Palestinian paramedics. The military said it would not launch criminal investigatio»»»

Tunis, Aug. 19 (TAP)- Scorching temperatures are expected across the country starting August 22 with record-breaking heat on August 23-24, some 6°C to 10°C above seasonal norms.Highs are forecast to range between 40°C and 46°C with Sirocco winds,...»»»

Around 100 schools in Kyrgyzstan are still in a state of disrepair, Minister of Construction, Architecture and Housing and Communal Services of Kyrgyzstan Nurdan Oruntaev said. «Today, around 100 unsafe schools remain across the country. The population is growing, and we should provide people with »»»

A draft law ratifying an agreement between Kyrgyzstan and Belarus has been submitted to the Zhogorku Kenesh for consideration. The agreement will allow citizens of the two countries to stay in each other’s territory for up to 30 calendar days without registering their place of stay. The agreement w»»»

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister and cricket captain Imran Khan met his sister and wife at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail for the first time in nine months after the apex court allowed weekly family meetings for the incarcerated leader amid concerns over his health. Khan, the founder of the Pakistan Tehr»»»

Ukraine's ⁠anti-graft agencies ​said on Wednesday ​they had uncovered a group including a presidential official ​that ‌had laundered ⁠150 million hryvnias ($3.35 ‌million) used to pay for bail ⁠in an energy corruption scheme. Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies launched a ​special operation against »»»

Only hours before the annual US-South Korean military exercise Ulchi Freedom Shield was due to begin, Donald Trump issued a statement that went far beyond another dispute over how much America’s allies should pay for their own security. On August 16, 2026, the US president announced that he had ins»»»

Denmark has deployed a batch of fresh military conscripts to Greenland for the first time in modern history, as Copenhagen seeks to assert its control over the Arctic territory in response to threats of annexation from US President Donald Trump. Around 100 conscripts from the Schleswig Infantry Reg»»»

There has been no deterioration in air quality in Sofia in terms of particulate matter (PM10) levels related to the fire in Serbia, according to data as of 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, the Sofia Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Water (RIEW) said. Eight municipalities in Western Bulgaria reported o»»»

Nairobi: A helicopter carrying several tourists crashed Wednesday in Kenya's Samburu county, north of the capital, Nairobi, killing all those on board, an aviation source told AFP. "I can confirm an accident has happened, there are no survivors," the source told AFP, without being able to say how m»»»

Kyrgyzstan is considering introducing criminal liability for knowingly issuing a false audit report. The draft law was initiated by Zhogorku Kenesh deputy Bolot Ibragimov. The bill proposes adding two new articles to the Criminal Code. The convicted person could also be prohibited from engaging in »»»

Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry summoned Russian ambassador Mikhail Yevdokimov on August 18 to protest what it called provocative, insulting and threatening statements against Azerbaijan, its people and leadership circulating in Russian media, a day after the Prosecutor General's Office placed three »»»

RIYADH: The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector has signed a new $50 million line-of-finance facility with Al Salam Bank B.S.C. to expand access to Shariah-compliant funding for private-sector businesses in Bahrain. The institution, known as ICD, said in a post on X the tr»»»

The Union of Poultry Breeders in Bulgaria will mark the 35th anniversary of its founding with a forum at the Inter Expo Center on September 9 and 10, the organization announced. The event will focus on poultry farms automatization, the staffing shortage and the new European security requirements (N»»»

Dubai: UAE customers can now use Jaywan cards to pay for Etihad Airways flights directly on the airline’s website, making Etihad the first airline to accept the UAE’s national domestic card scheme for flight bookings. Get updated faster and for FREE: Download the Gulf News app now - simply click he»»»

LONDON: Islamophobic incidents in London during the first six months of the year exceeded figures for all of 2023, a monitoring group has warned. The “alarming” statistics reveal a sixfold growth in annual cases from 2021 to 2025, Tell Mama said, warning that it reflects a “sustained escalation of »»»

JERUSALEM: Israel’s military said Wednesday it would launch criminal investigations into two high-profile attacks on Palestinians during the war in Gaza, including the killings of 5-year-old Hind Rajab and her family and of 15 Palestinian paramedics. The military said it would not launch criminal i»»»

Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf arrived in neighboring Iraq Wednesday for a three-day visit where he will meet with Iraqi officials and leaders of an Iran-backed political coalition. Iran-backed Iraqi militias have launched and claim drone attacks targeting US bases and diplomatic presence both within the »»»

Damascus, Aug. 19 (SANA) Gold prices remained stable in the Syrian market Wednesday, while global bullion prices rebounded as the US dollar and global bond yields eased. According to a bulletin issued by the General Authority for Precious Metals Management, the price of 21-karat gold stood at SYP 1»»»

A drone strike on a minibus in the Ukrainian frontline city of Kherson killed at least 4 people and injured 5 others amid a rise in Russian attacks on the approximately one-third of the province still controlled by Ukraine. File photo by State Emergency Service of Ukraine/EPA-EFE Aug. 19 (UPI) -- A»»»

The possibility of directly electing the president resurfaces from time to time. For now, András Baka was elected by Tisza’s parliamentary majority, but Péter Magyar, the prime minister, has repeatedly indicated that he would support a direct election. Baka, meanwhile, is only an interim president,»»»

The Montana Regional Prosecution Office has filed an indictment against the mayor of the Danubian town of Lom, Tsvetan Petrov, for an alleged offence against citizens' political rights, the Sofia Appellate Prosecution Office said on Wednesday According to the indictment, on April 15, Petrov met wit»»»

A team from Penza State University has been granted a patent for a system capable of ensnaring drones in a large net at distances of one kilometer or more, providing a non-kinetic alternative to conventional gunfire or fragmentation interception. How it works:The net is compactly stowed within a cy»»»

IGA-BARRIÈRE: Isaac Batisa is only a child but he spends his days digging for gold at a mining site in eastern Congo, hoping to earn enough money to support his family. The 11-year-old is among hundreds of people, many of them children, working at the artisanal gold mine in eastern Congo’s Ituri pr»»»

LONDON: Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios said on Wednesday that he had made “a huge mistake” after testing positive for cocaine.The 31-year-old, who reached the final at Wimbledon in 2022, failed a doping test during an ATP event in Mallorca, Spain, on June 22.“On 17 July 2026, a World Anti-Dopi»»»

LONDON: Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios said on Wednesday that he had made “a huge mistake” after testing positive for cocaine. The 31-year-old, who reached the final at Wimbledon in 2022, failed a doping test during an ATP event in Mallorca, Spain, on June 22. “On 17 July 2026, a World Anti-Do»»»

MALMEDY, Belgium: Firefighters managed overnight to fully surround Belgium’s largest wildfire in a century, but the situation on the ground “remains complicated” with crews battling several new flare-ups, authorities said Wednesday. Crisis cell spokesman Tony Hosmans said the fire raging in the Hig»»»

ALKHOBAR: For Anan Al-Mahanna, the distance between years of hard work and a place in Saudi Arabia’s Women’s Premier League once came down to a single match. The Saudi footballer had founded Al-Taqadom’s women’s team in the summer of 2023 and only months later had taken the club to the semifinals o»»»

The "Violence Is Powerlessness" campaign, launched by Bulgaria’s Ministry of Education and Science (MES) and Ministry of Interior (MoI) to tackle aggression among young people, aims to reach 100,000 students in more than 1,000 schools, Education and Science Minister Georgi Valchev said on Wednesday»»»

With EUR 500,000 allocated following a decision by the Council of Ministers on Wednesday, the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA) will have a laboratory capable of verifying the authenticity of Bulgarian rose oil by the end of the year, Minister of Agriculture and Food Plamen Abrovski said at a new»»»

The rapid rise in gold prices and growing interest among Romanians in precious metal investments have also led to more fraud attempts, according to Avangard Gold. The company says counterfeit products have become increasingly common in recent months, particularly through online marketplaces, privat»»»