The United States launched a new series of strikes in Iran on Friday, while Iran-backed Houthi rebels opened a second front in the conflict, attacking Saudi tankers in the Red Sea and sending oil prices skyrocketing. Follow our liveblog for the latest developments. • US President Donald Trump&»»»

Four Palestinians and an Israeli were killed in a shooting in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Friday, Israeli and Palestinian officials said. Violence between Israeli settlers and troops and Palestinians has risen sharply in the occupied Palestinian territory since the start of the Gaza war. Four ​P»»»

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels say they attacked two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea on Thursday, marking their first reported strike on a vessel since announcing a blockade of Saudi-linked shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait earlier this week. The Houthis say the move is retaliation for »»»

Global oil prices have surged once again as tensions in the Middle East continue to escalate. Brent crude has climbed above $100 a barrel for the first time since May. While much of the focus has been on the strategic Strait of Hormuz, shipping through the Red Sea is also coming under growing threa»»»

MANILA - Serbian FM Marko Djuric met with Philippine FM Theresa Lazaro in Manila on Friday. Djuric said Serbia highly appreciated the Philippines' efforts "in promoting dialogue on issues of importance for peace and stability in the region," the Serbian government said in a statement. "Djuric congr»»»

German prosecutors have concluded that the Nord Stream pipelines were sabotaged on the instructions of Ukrainian state agencies, according to lawyers representing a suspect in the case. German prosecutors believe the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines was carried out on the orders of Ukrainian g»»»

Thousands of people were forced to flee deadly wildfires that continued to sweep through parts of France, Spain and Italy on Friday.Hundreds of firefighters backed by water-bombing planes battled the blazes fanned by scorching temperatures and strong winds. Follow our liveblog for the latest develo»»»

Deadly wildfires are sweeping across western Europe, fueled by scorching temperatures and strong winds, as climate change drives fires to spread faster and burn more intensely. The total area scorched in EU countries this year is already the second largest on record. In France, where three heatwave»»»

Indian activist Sonam Wangchuk ended his 26-day hunger strike on Friday after talks with government ministers, but student-led protests over leaked medical entrance exam papers continued, with demonstrators demanding the education minister's resignation and wider reforms. Indian activist Sonam Wang»»»

Marriott International has signed a deal with Misr Italia Properties and People & Places Real Estate Development to build nine new hotels and resorts across Egypt, adding over 1,800 rooms and suites to the country’s coastal and urban destinations, Masrawy reported. The agreement covers five mixed-u»»»

More than 40,000 were evacuated from southwestern France over the past two days as wildfires continued to sweep through the region and were not yet under control, the local prefect said Friday. Spain’s government declared a national emergency and hundreds of firefighters backed by water-bombin»»»

Bucharest’s residential market is entering 2026 with a significantly larger delivery pipeline, even as developers continue to face permitting delays, legislative uncertainty and uneven purchasing power. Business Review spoke with Gabriel Voicu, Chief Commercial Officer at Cosmopolis, about how the »»»

Former caretaker Prime Minister Andrey Gyurov has sharply criticized Prime Minister Rumen Radev over his comments regarding Bulgaria's relations with Iran, arguing that maintaining "good relations" with the country's leadership crosses a diplomatic line. Gyurov's criticism came in response to a sta»»»

The UAE has retained its position as the world's most powerful passport in the 2026 Passport Index published by Arton Capital, ranking first globally for travel freedom and outperforming passports from many of the world's leading economies. The Emirati passport achieved an overall mobility score of»»»

Dubai: Dubai Airports has introduced a new service that allows passengers to confirm their eligibility to use Smart Gates before reaching passport control, in a move aimed at speeding up immigration procedures and making journeys through Dubai International Airport smoother. Developed in partnershi»»»

A United Nations committee voted Friday to inscribe a major archaeological site in the West Bank and a set of castles in southern Lebanon as World Heritage sites, despite objections from Israel, which had urged the committee to reject the bids. The decision at a U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cul»»»

"The Olympic Charter prohibits any political interference in sport, yet this has occurred repeatedly since the start of the conflict in Ukraine... what has been happening to Russian athletes is the largest example of double standards and violations of athletes' rights," Valeed Muhammad, an Iraqi ex»»»

Romania’s modern industrial and logistics real estate sector achieved a major landmark in the first quarter of 2026, with the nationwide stock officially crossing the 8 million sqm threshold. Driven by robust transactional momentum, strategic infrastructure expansions, and a structural shift toward»»»

The parliamentary Healthcare Committee decided on Friday to set August 12 as the deadline for submitting nominations for the positions of Governor and Deputy Governor of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF). During its meeting, the committee approved draft procedural rules governing the condit»»»

The second reading of the draft state budget for 2026 and Parliament’s decision to authorize the deployment of US aerial refuelling aircraft at Bezmer Air Base dominate Friday’s news media. POLITICS Under the headline “With One Foot Out: Bulgaria’s Geopolitical Change under Radev,” Mediapool.bg wri»»»

Berlin: Two years after stepping down from Liverpool citing a lack of energy, Jurgen Klopp has returned to the dugout to oversee the mammoth task of restoring German football to its former glory. Football's most decorated European nation, the once-formidable Germans have lurched from setback to dis»»»

CAPE TOWN: A South African court ruled on Friday in favor of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s bid to pause impeachment proceedings against him over a scandal involving half-a-million dollars stashed in a sofa at his ranch. Ramaphosa asked the Western Cape High Court to stop the work of a parliamentary i»»»

BERLIN: Germany’s top court ruled on Friday that the government could not simply ​cancel an entire swathe of resettlement places promised to Afghans, and that each case must be considered individually. The Constitutional Court backed a complaint by an Afghan mother and her two sons who had been sel»»»

GENEVA: United Nations Human Rights chief Volker Turk, an ​outspoken critic of Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s conduct in Gaza, faces opposition from both countries to a second four-year term ahead of a vote on Friday, diplomats told Reuters. Turk, a lawyer who has worked for the United Nation»»»

SEOUL: A United Nations committee voted Friday to inscribe a major archaeological site in the West Bank and a set of castles in southern Lebanon as World Heritage sites, despite objections from Israel, which had urged the committee to reject the bids. The decision at a UN Educational, Scientific an»»»

BELGRADE - The Serbian dinar's official median exchange rate against the euro is 117.4296 dinars for one euro on Friday, which is a slight change relative to Thursday, the National Bank of Serbia said. The dinar is steady against the euro m-o-m, down by 0.2 pct y-o-y and down by 0.1 pct relative to»»»

NOVI SAD/BELGRADE - Serbia's Vojvodina Novi Sad lost 4-1 at home to Dutch giants Ajax Amsterdam and Partizan Belgrade beat Luxembourgish side UNA Strassen 4-0 at home in Thursday's first-leg matches of the UEFA Conference League second qualifying round. At Novi Sad's Karadjordje Stadium, Davy Klaas»»»

Damascus, July 24 (SANA) The expected visit of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to Damascus marks a significant milestone in Syria’s engagement with the UN, following a series of high-level visits and discussions since the liberation on December 8, 2024, covering political transiti»»»

Ichikawa, Japan: Punch, a plush-clutching Japanese baby monkey that has become a global online sensation, will celebrate his first birthday on Sunday as his zoo is flooded with fan letters from around the world. Abandoned by his mother and spurned by some peers, the young macaque shot to stardom af»»»

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Iranian Army said Friday they carried out fresh drone strikes targeting US military installations in Kuwait, saying the attacks hit bases, equipment depots and personnel facilities as part of ongoing operations. In separate statements, the IRG»»»

Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Kyrgyzstan Adylbek Kasymaliev inspected the progress of several construction and reconstruction projects during a working visit to Talas region. Kasymaliev visited the construction site of the Aitmatov Aalamy historical and memorial complex, where he was brie»»»

MOSCOW, (Sputnik) - An ash cloud drifting over from a volcano on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula grounded several flights at Anchorage and Fairbanks international airports in the US state of Alaska, an airport spokesperson in Anchorage said. "Both Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC) and »»»

DOHA, (Sputnik) - Abdulwahid Abu Ras, Deputy Foreign Minister of Yemen's Ansar Allah movement, also known as the Houthis, warned of a "heavy price" for any party cooperating with Saudi Arabia in defiance of the Houthi ban on shipping from the kingdom's ports. "Anyone who wishes to entangle themselv»»»

President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Japarov had a telephone conversation today, July 24, with President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev. The head of state congratulated Shavkat Mirziyoyev on his 69th birthday, wishing him good health, family well-being, inexhaustible energy, and»»»

Aurora Business Center in Bishkek was sealed off overnight, representatives of the facility told 24.kg news agency. A notice on the building’s entrance states that the decision to restrict the use of the property was made by the Department of the State Architectural and Construction Supervision for»»»

Dubai: Dubai’s offer of more than Dh3,000 in hotel, dining, attraction and transport deals has drawn over 10,000 applications from UAE residents within its first 48 hours. Sign up for our daily business newsletter, Cheques & Balances.The response has prompted the Dubai Department of Economy and Tou»»»

DONETSK, (Sputnik) - Ukrainian troops burned a private house with napalm on the outskirts of Konstantinovka (also known as Kostyantynivka) in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and tried to bomb their way into the basement where the family was hiding, one of the survivors told Sputnik. A Ukrainian»»»

MOSCOW, (Sputnik) - The Russian armed forces have launched a group strike on tanks with fuel and lubricants for the armed forces of Ukraine in the port of Odessa (Odesa), the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday. The Russian armed forces continued to launch group strikes with precision-guided ai»»»

Cancer medicines should be reimbursed like other medicines covered by the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), the Bulgarian Hospital Association and the National Union of Private Hospitals (NUPH) said on Friday. They argued this would ensure uniform prices and tighter control over public spendin»»»

Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov and Sports Minister Encho Keryazov are meeting on Friday with mayors from the Yambol Region to discuss the planned deployment of US Boeing KC-135 aerial refuelling aircraft and up to 250 military personnel at Bezmer Air Base. The meeting, which is being held at the»»»

A series of explosions broke out near a military base hosting U.S. forces in northern Iraq, hours after the U.S. military said it had wrapped up its 13th night of strikes against Iran. A journalist with the Associated Press heard at least seven blasts around 9:30 a.m. local time in the city of Irbi»»»

Iran's military said on Friday it carried out drone strikes against several American military facilities and bases in Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait in retaliation for the latest U.S. attacks against the Islamic republic. "This morning, the fuel tanks, large equipment warehouses and silos and the barra»»»

CAIRO: Ghizlane Chebbak does not remember a time without a ball at her feet. Her late father, Larbi Chebbak, who helped guide Morocco to the Africa Cup of Nations title back in 1976, gave her a football when she was a little girl — and it was love at first sight. She would play in the streets of he»»»

ANKARA: Ousted as leader of Turkiye’s main opposition, Ozgur Ozel on Friday resigned from the CHP alongside 90 other lawmakers, setting up his own party to lead the fight against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In a video broadcast by Turkish media and posted on X, Ozel could be seen sitting at his»»»

At least 348 mudflow incidents were registered in Kyrgyzstan in the first half of 2026, with 78 percent of them occurring in the southern regions of the country. According to Kubanych Temirbek uulu, head of the Emergency Response Department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the number of mud»»»

The National Bank of Kyrgyzstan has warned citizens about a new fraudulent scheme involving fake offers of assistance in obtaining preferential loans. According to the regulator, advertisements offering help with securing low-interest loans are being circulated on social media and messaging platfor»»»

Imagine a world where artificial intelligence becomes self-aware, decides humans are the problem, launches a nuclear war and then thinks of a way to change history using a time-travelling robot. I know, you’ve heard this one before. The links between The Terminator movie and the current advancement»»»

BEIJING, (Sputnik) - Russia and China plan to double cargo traffic along the Northern Sea Route by 2030 at the latest, Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev said during a trip to Beijing on Friday. "Russia and China are making ambitious plans to at least double total cargo traffic along the Nor»»»

MOSCOW, (Sputnik) - The Iranian army said that the target of its drone attacks were the places of residence of the US military at bases in Bahrain and Jordan, the Iranian Press TV channel reported on Friday. This morning, Iran targeted fuel storage tanks, equipment depots and large hangars, as well»»»

Sydney: A group of killer whales have been documented blowing a sunfish to bits in an unusual underwater escapade offering never-before-seen insights into orca behaviour, according to research released Thursday. Video released by the US-based NGO Beneath The Waves shows one orca holding the tail of»»»