Dubai: It is a significant weekend for two of the largest communities in this country. Pakistan marks Independence Day on Friday 14 August, India on Saturday 15 August, and the calendar has arranged itself accordingly. Here is everything worth knowing, in the order it happens. 1. Book Week at The H»»»

Actor and filmmaker Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, are shown at the Kennedy Center Honors in 2023 in Washington, D.C. Their son Nick Reiner pleaded not guilty Wednesday to updated charges in the deaths of his parents, who were killed in December. File Photo by Mike Theiler/UPI | Li»»»

Jury selection kicked off on Wednesday in a California courtroom where Instagram and Facebook owner Meta will defend itself against allegations of harming children in a new trial which experts describe as social media's big tobacco moment. Federal Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers and lawyers for both s»»»

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks July 23 during a press briefing in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, D.C. Leavitt will resign the position at the end of August. Photo by Samuel Corum/UPI | License Photo Aug. 12 (UPI) -- Karoline Leavitt, th»»»

Tribune News Network Doha High school students from Qatar and abroad aspiring to pursue careers in medicine were given a glimpse of the profession and campus life through the Medical Minds Online Programme (MMOP), a summer initiative organised by Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q). In its second »»»

QNA Doha The Centre for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has launched the Ministry’s Research Priorities Guide for 2027-2030. The guide provides a national framework for directing legal and judicial research toward areas with scientific, social and economic impact. It als»»»

Geneva: Minister of State for International Cooperation HE Maryam bint Ali bin Nasser Al Misnad participated in the interactive dialogue with the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, being held in Geneva on Aug. 12 and 13, to discuss the combined periodic reports fro»»»

Salzburg, Austria: Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain rubber-stamped their status as Europe's top team as they beat Aston Villa 2-1 in the UEFA Super Cup on Wednesday. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Desire Doue netted either side of a debut goal for Villa teenager Brian Madjo in Salzburg as PS»»»

The Libyan National Army, which controls the east and parts of southern Libya, said Tuesday that a car bomb killed its military intelligence chief Fawzi al-Mansouri in Benghazi. The assassination raises fresh questions over security in the stronghold of military commander Khalifa Haftar as efforts »»»

DAMASCUS: The Syrian Network for Human Rights’ Executive Director Fadel Abdulghany said on Wednesday that the rulings issued on Tuesday against former leader Bashar Assad, Atef Najib, and seven others represent an important legal step toward breaking the cycle of impunity in the country. The ruling»»»

WASHINGTON: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who earned a reputation for acid putdowns of journalists, is to step down, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday adding she would remain a senior adviser. Leavitt, 28, the youngest ever US presidential top spokesperson, has been a fierc»»»

David Ellison, Paramount CEO, arrives on the red carpet in 2025 for the Kennedy Center Honors at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. House Democrats, led by Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., are escalating scrutiny of Ellison's planned Paramount Skydance acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. File Photo »»»

LONDON: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday that ending Israel’s occupation and establishing an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital are the only path to a just and lasting peace. Speaking at a joint news conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip E»»»

RIYADH: What kind of relationship binds the Houthis to Iran? Afrah Al-Zouba, the first woman to head Yemen’s Foreign Ministry, has a term for it: “mutual instrumentalization.” “I use the term because it describes the relationship more accurately,” Al-Zouba told Asharq Al-Awsat in her first intervie»»»

PARIS: Xavi Hernandez has been named as the successor to Ronald Koeman as head coach of the Netherlands national team, becoming their first foreign boss in 48 years, the country’s football association announced on Wednesday. The Barcelona great, who won the 2010 World Cup with Spain as a player, ha»»»

Washington: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, the youngest person to hold the role, will leave at month’s end, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday. Leavitt, 28, just recently returned to the White House after taking a brief leave for the birth of her second child in May. Get upda»»»

AMMAN: Jordanian authorities arrested a woman for begging in downtown Amman after finding $46,600 in her possession, the Ministry of Social Development said on Wednesday. The woman had previously been involved in what the ministry described as professional begging and regularly converted money she »»»

Salalah, Aug. 12 (SANA) Syria, represented by Minister of Administrative Development Mohammad Hassan al-Sakkaf, is participating in the 25th Annual General Conference on “Government Readiness for a Sustainable Future,” which opened Tuesday in Salalah, Oman. The three-day conference is jointly organ»»»

Poland has christened ORP Wicher, the first of three new-generation frigates being built under the Miecznik program for the Polish Navy. President Karol Nawrocki said the vessel will significantly strengthen Poland’s naval capabilities and described the program as an important boost for the domesti»»»

Polish Nuclear Power Plants (PEJ) remains committed to bringing the first unit of Poland’s Choczewo nuclear plant online in 2036, despite ongoing negotiations over the key EPC contract with the Westinghouse-Bechtel consortium. PEJ CEO Marek Woszczyk said talks have advanced but major commercial iss»»»

MyPillow founder Mike Lindell lost the Republican primary for governor of Minnesota. He refuses to concede. Photo by Aaron Schwartz/UPI | License Photo Aug. 12 (UPI) -- MyPillow founder Mike Lindell is refusing to concede defeat in the Minnesota governor's Republican primary election, saying there »»»

The brutal murder of 37-year-old Georgi Kuzev in Plovdiv has triggered a political dispute over responsibility for the radicalization of young people, while the government is considering new measures to prevent juvenile crime and antisocial behaviour. On August 4, a group of teenagers who described»»»

Moderate Democrats are damaging their brand by campaigning alongside crazy leftist radicals who openly call for the destruction of the West, White people, and the United States. Democrats are quietly expressing concern that the entire Democratic Party is about to go up in flames as increasingly rad»»»

The government programme of Prime Minister Rumen Radev's cabinet was significantly delayed, despite the campaign slogan of Progressive Bulgaria being, "We are ready. We can do it," said Ivaylo Mirchev, co-chair of Yes, Bulgaria! and an MP from Democratic Bulgaria on Darik radio, quoted by the coali»»»

A photo illustration shows President Donald Trump's account on social media platform Truth Social in 2024. The Intercept is suing the company's plan to monetize the president's posts. File Photo by Will Oliver/EPA Aug. 12 (UPI) -- Online news site The Intercept, along with the Freedom of the Press »»»

The government has adopted a Programme for Government of Bulgaria until 2030. The document is based on the programme of Progressive Bulgaria and focuses on restoring state institutions, strengthening the rule of law, rebuilding trust in public institutions, restoring public confidence, and fosterin»»»

The Finance Ministry will take the necessary procedural steps to protect the state's interests in the case concerning ownership of a 29% stake in the capital of International Fair Plovdiv AD, the ministry said on its website on Wednesday. According to the statement, the Supreme Court of Cassation (»»»

British officials and diplomats fear an unintended maritime escalation with Russia and are pressuring senior military leaders to restore direct communication with their Russian counterparts, The Times reported on Tuesday. According to the newspaper, former British chief of the defense staff Tony Ra»»»

GENEVA: The United Nations on Wednesday called on Russia to lift its ban on the anti-war party Yabloko running in September’s parliamentary elections. “We are deeply concerned about the barring of Yabloko, one of Russia’s oldest political parties, from the September parliamentary elections,” said a»»»

Zakopane Mayor Łukasz Filipowicz supports giving Polish municipalities greater power to regulate short-term rentals without eliminating the business altogether. He argues that cities should be able to establish zones where platforms such as Airbnb are banned, particularly in residential areas affec»»»

Analysts are increasingly skeptical that CD Projekt will meet the PLN 2 bln cumulative net profit target under its 2023-2026 incentive program. A Strefa Inwestorów survey found that 80% of Polish and foreign gaming analysts doubt the target will be reached. After Q1 2026, the company still needs PL»»»

A Hungarian court has ordered a prison to pay HUF 8 million in compensation to a former inmate who was beaten by guards so severely that he required life-saving surgery to remove his spleen. The man was also left with permanent health damage and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The Budapest C»»»

Beirut, Lebanon: Lebanon's parliament on Wednesday passed an amnesty law, the first of its kind since 1991, that is expected to benefit thousands of prisoners and wanted people. The legislation is largely aimed at easing prison overcrowding but critics say it is the result of bargaining among secta»»»

A young girl helps her mother deposit her ballot in a drop box for the 2020 general election in Los Angeles. On Tuesday, a judge expanded a block on the USPS managing who gets mail-in ballots. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo Aug. 12 (UPI) -- A federal judge expanded a block on Presiden»»»

ANKARA: Longing to be reunited with her son, Ayten Elhaman was glued to the television all day as Turkiye’s parliament debated and passed a law this week enabling Kurdish militants to return home under a peace process to end their decades-old insurgency. She recalled how Bayram had left his job in »»»

Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski convened an emergency meeting of the Joint Cybersecurity Operations Center on August 12 following a cyberattack on healthcare technology company MyDr. Authorities are investigating whether patient data was stolen, how the»»»

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s government digital platforms and services reached an “Advanced” maturity level in the Digital Experience Maturity Index in 2026, with the overall score rising to 87.06 percent compared to 86.71 in the previous year. The annual assessment by the Digital Government Authority co»»»

LONDON: The University of Cambridge’s top administrator on Wednesday called a scandal over a black professor who has resigned amid accusations of plagiarism “an aberration” and vowed a thorough investigation. The prestigious British university’s former professor of sociology of education, Jason Ard»»»

Lebanon's parliament on Wednesday passed an amnesty law, the first of its kind since 1991, that is expected to benefit thousands of prisoners and wanted people. The legislation is largely aimed at easing prison overcrowding but critics say it is the result of bargaining among sectarian groups and p»»»

The Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) will cover the election of members of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) from the quota of the National Assembly and the election of SJC members by judges, prosecutors and investigating magistrates, under a dedicated developing topic (section) in Bulgarian and Englis»»»

The Plovdiv District Court has released the two young men, aged 17 and 18, who were charged with causing bodily harm to two Nepalese nationals on the night of July 24 to 25 in the city. The 17-year-old was placed under the supervision of a police counselling centre inspector as a precautionary meas»»»

Prime Minister Edi Rama on Wednesday brought together the mayors of municipalities governed by the ruling Socialist Party in Kuç, Vlora, for the first meeting since the publication of the government majority’s draft for a new administrative-territorial reform. The meeting is also attended by State »»»

DOHA: Kearney has launched the Global Telecom Health Index, a 34-market global benchmark of telecoms sector health, revealing Qatar as one of the two healthiesttelecom markets in the world, second only to the UAE. The index expands Kearney's 2025 EuropeanTelecom Health Index into a global assessmen»»»

Washington, United States: The International Monetary Fund has reached a staff-level agreement on a new $439 million loan for Guinea, with a more than three-year program aimed at helping the West African nation transform resource wealth into broader economic growth. The agreement came after an IMF »»»

Prosecutor Blagovest Vangelov from the Burgas District Prosecution Office has been nominated for election as a member of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) from the prosecutors' quota, the SJC said on its website. Vangelov was nominated by colleagues from the Burgas Appellate Prosecution Office, th»»»

The head of military intelligence for the Libyan National Army (LNA), which controls the east and parts of southern Libya, has been killed in a car bombing, the army said in a statement Tuesday. Fawzi al-Mansouri was assassinated on Monday when an explosive stuck to his car detonated as he was leav»»»

RIYADH: The 2026/27 Saudi Pro League season is upon us. With the league set to kick off on Thursday and more than €222 million ($256 million) spent, we take a look at how each team stands before the new season. What you need to know: Defending Champions: Al-Nassr Ange Postecoglou’s side are looking»»»

BEIJING: Former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji, whose market reforms helped drive the country’s extraordinary economic rise, died Wednesday at the age of 97. An obituary jointly issued by China’s top political bodies said he lived a “life of glory,” according to the state news agency Xinhua. Zhu passed»»»

The Council of Ministers has decided to launch a new procedure for the selection of a European Prosecutor from Bulgaria, the Justice Ministry said. Following a review of all actions taken by the previous two governments, which resulted in the Supreme Administrative Court overturning a government de»»»

LONDON: Acclaimed Iranian photojournalist Yalda Moaiery has spent much of her career documenting moments of dissent and the lives of women in Iran. The work has repeatedly brought her into ​conflict with the authorities, and on Iran’s National Journalist Day on Saturday she learned she had been sen»»»