NEW YORK CITY: UN human rights experts on Wednesday condemned Iranian authorities for confiscating the St. Peter Evangelical Church compound in Tehran and evicting 27 members of the country’s recognized Armenian and Assyrian Christian minorities who lived there. The experts said 20 families, most o»»»

Hungary could miss the opportunity to rejoin the European Union’s Erasmus+ student exchange programme in time for the start of the 2026/27 academic year unless the government submits its outstanding rule-of-law reforms to Brussels soon, despite earlier optimism from both Prime Minister Péter Magyar»»»

Bulgarian President Iliana Iotova discussed the European Union's 2028-2034 Multiannual Financial Framework with members of the European Court of Auditors, the President's press service said on Wednesday. During the meeting at the Presidency, members of the EU's external audit institution briefed th»»»

BEIRUT: Erling Braut Haaland, the 25-year-old Norwegian football star, returned home from the US with seven World Cup goals, a stuffed raccoon, two stuffed squirrels, a cowboy hat and even more global fame, earned through his phenomenal scoring ability, immense physical strength and exceptional spe»»»

Chairman of the House Budget Committee Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on September 19, 2023. On Wednesday, he scheduled markup for a new budget reconciliation package for Thursday. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo Jul»»»

The president of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Jorge Rodriguez, will be one of those leading negotiations aimed at rebuilding the country's democratic institutions. Photo by Ronald Pena/EPA July 15 (UPI) -- Venezuela's government and a portion of the opposition have reached agreement to begin a»»»

LONDON: A coalition of 17 UK charities and advocacy groups has called on Andy Burnham, Britain’s incoming prime minister, to take what it described as urgent action over the war in Gaza and the situation in the occupied West Bank, saying the government must do more to uphold international law and p»»»

Dhaka: Bangladesh has confiscated assets worth 760 billion taka (about $6.2 billion) linked to ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her family and 10 business groups, authorities said Wednesday. Since Hasina was toppled in a student-led mass uprising in 2024 and fled to India, authorities have inve»»»

MILANO: Milan prosecutors ‌have requested that a sports fraud case against Gianluca Rocchi, the former referee designator for Italy’s Serie A and Serie B, be dismissed, Italian news agency ANSA reported on Wednesday. Rocchi, who was responsible for appointing referees in Italy’s ‌top two ‌divisions»»»

Russia is stepping up efforts to pursue legal action against Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, accusing the three countries of discriminating against ethnic Russians and Russian speakers in a case it plans to bring before the International Court of Justice. An investigation by LRT, Re a»»»

Dhaka: Bangladesh has confiscated assets worth 760 billion taka (about $6.2 billion) linked to ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her family and 10 business groups, authorities said Wednesday. Since Hasina was toppled in a student-led mass uprising in 2024 and fled to India, authorities have inve»»»

CHICAGO: In a rare US Department of Justice press conference in Illinois on Tuesday, officials showcased the recovery in less than a year of more than $1 billion by the Trade Fraud Task Force, the creation of which in August 2025 was spearheaded by prosecutions in 2008 by Andrew Boutros, shortly af»»»

WASHINGTON - Serbian FM Marko Djuric will be visiting Washington from July 15 through 17 for the opening of US-Serbia strategic dialogue, which, for the first time in history, will raise the relations between the two countries to the level of strategic partnership. While visiting the US at the invi»»»

BEIRUT: A senior Daesh security official arrested in Lebanon had been living in the country on a “semi-permanent” basis, Lebanese judicial sources said Tuesday. Investigators suspect he served as the group’s general security emir for its self-proclaimed Southern and Central provinces in Syria. Leba»»»

Two U.S. based nonprofit organizations filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Wednesday over its sanctions against the International Criminal Court. File Pool Photo by Ronen Zvulun/UPI | License Photo July 15 (UPI) -- Two U.S. based nonprofit organizations filed a lawsuit against the T»»»

Doha: The Amir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani met on Wednesday at Lusail Palace with President of the United Arab Emirates HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and his accompanying delegation, who offered condolences on the passing of HH the Father Amir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani. The r»»»

STOURBRIDGE, UK: As England gears up for the World Cup semifinal Wednesday, there will be one name on everyone’s lips: Jude Bellingham, the star midfielder who powered the Three Lions through to the marquee clash against Argentina. In packed stadiums in North America and pubs back home, people belt»»»

MAPUTO: Mozambique's government has approved the creation of a state-owned company to centralize the procurement and management of petroleum products, aiming to strengthen the country's energy security following months of fuel supply disruptions. The National Petroleum Products Procurement Company »»»

Europe spent three decades behaving as if major war on the continent was increasingly unlikely. The peace dividend allowed governments to redeploy money from tanks to welfare systems, while defence industries learned to live with lower volumes and slower procurement cycles. Russia’s actions in Crim»»»

Doha: UAE President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Wednesday offered his condolences to His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar, on the passing of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. During a visit to Lusail Palace in Doha, Sheikh Mohamed also ext»»»

ISTANBUL: Turkiye’s ousted ‌main opposition CHP leader said on Wednesday that preparations are under way for the possible establishment of a new political party, but any formal step would wait until after ongoing legal proceedings. In May, a Turkish court annulled the Republican People’s Party’s (C»»»

Justice Minister Nikolay Naydenov believes that the Prosecutors Chamber of the Supreme Judicial Council has effectively refused to comply with the law by failing to rule on his request to suspend Emilia Rusinova, the acting Administrative Head of the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office, from office. The»»»

Dubai: A routine workday at a shopping mall in the US state of Utah turned into a nightmare after an Indian Muslim employee was allegedly stabbed in a targeted hate attack by a man who later told police he “intends to kill Muslims.” Peter Michael Larsen, 48, has been charged with attempted murder a»»»

France’s National Assembly is set to give final approval Wednesday to a bill allowing adults with incurable illnesses to receive lethal medication, the culmination of years of debate over end-of-life care. France was on Wednesday set to move closer to joining the ranks of countries that guarantee t»»»

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s benchmark Tadawul All Share Index closed 0.1 percent lower at 10,704.51 on Wednesday. The MT30 index declined 0.05 percent to 1,424.07, while the NomuC index rose 0.19 percent to 22,581.79. A total of 205.8 million shares changed hands on the main market, with trading valued »»»

Bulgaria's National Assembly adopted the draft 2026 state budget on first reading on Wednesday, approving a deficit of 5.7% of GDP, or 7.191 billion euros, the highest in the eurozone and nearly double the figure that brought down the previous government seven months ago. The bill passed with 143 v»»»

1 of 3 | People attend a rally for birthright citizenship held by the American Civil Liberties Union outside the U.S. Supreme Court as the justices hear oral arguments in President Donald Trump's attempt to limit birthright citizenship in Washington, D.C., on April 1. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI »»»

FRANKFURT: Frankfurt prosecutors said they executed a search warrant at a Deutsche Bank branch in central Frankfurt on Tuesday but disclosed no ‌further details. Deutsche Bank ‌declined to comment. The ‌branch ⁠is at the ⁠foot of the bank’s global base, but prosecutors said that the headquarters we»»»

KAMPALA: Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye refused to accept the lawyers being forced upon him for his treason trial on Wednesday after his chosen advocates were arrested or barred from the country. Besigye, 70, a long-time rival of President Yoweri Museveni, has been in jail since late 2024 »»»

The Israeli military said on Wednesday it had sentenced an active-duty soldier to five years in prison for sending videos of missile interceptions to an Iranian agent. The soldier sent two such videos during the 12-day war with Iran in June last year and "received payment for them," the military sa»»»

WASHINGTON: Multiple book publishers sued Google on Tuesday for allegedly stealing copyrighted content, using it to train artificial intelligence (AI) models and then generating content that “directly” competes with the original authors’ work. “The scale and speed at which Gemini can create books a»»»

The planet’s seas are on their way to being as warm as bath water as the predicted super El Niño arrives. It is already clear that this year’s oceanic heating event will be the most powerful on record. Global sea temperatures have already climbed past their previous all-time high, smashing records »»»

Dubai: One year after the Air India AI171 crash that claimed 260 lives, India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) says it has made "significant progress" in its investigation but has stopped short of saying when the final report will be released. In an interim statement issued on Thursd»»»

The planet’s seas are on their way to being as warm as bath water as the predicted super El Niño arrives. It is already clear that this year’s oceanic heating event will be the most powerful on record. Global sea temperatures have already climbed past their previous all-time high, smashing records »»»

The EU has asked the United States for tariff exemptions on more products, a spokesman said on Wednesday, including cheese and wine. Brussels and Washington struck a tariff deal last year that set levies of 15 percent on most EU exports to the United States, and zero tariffs for US industrial goods»»»

The Smolyan District Prosecution Office has ordered the detention for up to 72 hours of a Romanian driver who allegedly offered a bribe to police officers during a roadside check in Chepelare, District Prosecutor Nedko Simov told BTA on Wednesday. Pre-trial proceedings have been initiated on suspic»»»

Book publishers sued Google on Tuesday, accusing the tech giant of illegally using copyrighted works to train its artificial intelligence models and generate content that competes with human authors. The lawsuit marks the latest legal battle over how AI developers use books and other creative works»»»

July 14 (UPI) -- A Florida school district is changing the way it calculates grade point averages after a student graduated with a record-breaking 11.99 GPA. Vaibhav Bhaskar, who graduated as valedictorian of Steinbrenner High School in Lutz, finished school with an 11.99 weighted GPA, breaking the»»»

French journalist Laurent Brayard, who met Anna Novikova in Donbass in 2022, has condemned her arrest as a politically motivated attack on humanitarian work. "Her goal was purely humanitarian," Brayard said. He noted that Novikova and several other French citizens — including Vincent Perfetti — wer»»»

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - US President Donald Trump told Fox News that he expects the Ukrainian conflict to end before the end of his presidential term. "I think so," Trump said, when asked about whether the conflict in Ukraine would end before the end of his presidential term — before January 20, 2029."I»»»

The International Olympic Committee has received a complaint alleging FIFA president Gianni Infantino ‌has repeatedly breached rules on political neutrality in his support of President Donald Trump. FairSquare, a nonprofit organization and advocacy group, asked the IOC to investigate, among several»»»

Dubai: Dubai’s General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA Dubai) granted 66,000 Golden Visas, issued more than 1.052 million new residency permits, and completed over 5 million entry permit transactions during the first six months of the year, underscoring the emirate’s continue»»»

Dubai: India’s Congress Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday made an emotional appeal to activist Sonam Wangchuk to end his indefinite hunger strike, saying the protest had already achieved its purpose by drawing national attention and that the battle over students’ concerns should now »»»

Stourbridge, United Kingdom: As England gears up for the World Cup semi-final Wednesday, there will be one name on everyone's lips: Jude Bellingham, the star midfielder who powered the Three Lions through to the marquee clash against Argentina. In packed stadiums in North America and pubs back home»»»

The premium/luxury residential segment has seen the most growth in recent years. What factors have enabled the growth of this segment? The premium luxury residential market is indeed growing fast and Bucharest is considered to have the potential to be one of the future landmark for the high end dev»»»

MADRID - Serbian Minister of European Integration Nemanja Starovic met on Wednesday in Madrid with the Spanish MFA's State Secretary for the European Union Fernando Sampedro. "Starovic thanked Sampedro for the continued support that Spain provides to Serbia on its path to EU membership," the Serbia»»»

The analysis compares orders placed between June 11–28, 2026 with those from a similar period before the competition, May 24–June 10, 2026, and includes orders from restaurants, supermarkets, non-food stores and group orders nationwide. Strawberries and drinks led the growth in retail Products orde»»»

““The speed and simplicity of the payment experience are increasingly important to customers, and every extra step in completing a payment makes the process more cumbersome. For the more than 6.77 million customers who can already use RoPay for online shopping, payments are simpler, fee-free, and i»»»

European NATO members are increasingly calling for a new nuclear strategy amid a military buildup frenzy under the pretext of the alleged ‘Russian threat’. The bloc’s members claim that spreading nuclear weapons across the continent will make them safer. Moscow has warned that this could lead to a »»»

US Senator Jim Banks of Indiana introduced legislation on Monday aimed at limiting birthright citizenship by declaring illegal migrants “invaders,” reviving President Donald Trump’s effort weeks after a US Supreme Court ruling struck it down. Soon after returning to office last year, Trump signed a»»»