DAMASCUS/FRANKFURT: A former Syrian security officer sentenced to prison in Austria for abusing detainees during Bashar Assad’s rule left the country while appealing against his sentence and returned to Syria earlier this month, according to four sources and messages reviewed by Reuters. Lt. Col. M»»»

LONDON: The Taliban released journalist Hamid Farhadi after he completed a two-year prison sentence on charges of propaganda against the group and cooperation with the exiled Etilaatroz newspaper. Farhadi’s family confirmed his release on Thursday from Bagram prison. He was detained by Taliban Inte»»»

LONDON: The American Israel Public Affairs Committee condemned senior New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman on Wednesday following Friedman’s encouragement of Michigan Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed to “be true to your pro-Palestinian, Arab American roots and stick it to” the pro-Israel lob»»»

NEW DELHI: Tata Steel sold all its stake in Indian Super League side Jamshedpur FC to Goa-based club Churchill Brothers for a token amount of 100 Indian rupees ($1.05) on Friday, two weeks after the conglomerate announced it was pulling out of the ISL. Twice national league champions Churchill Brot»»»

The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry has prepared a diplomatic protest note over the case of Iva Mihaylova in North Macedonia, Prime Minister Rumen Radev told a briefing in Pleven on Friday. The trial against Mihaylova, who is charged with a serious offence related to road traffic safety in North Macedon»»»

The Varna District Court has approved the extradition of a 40-year-old man wanted by German authorities, where he is being investigated for attempted murder, the court’s press office said. The district court in Kassel issued a European Arrest Warrant for the Bulgarian national on May 26, after whic»»»

ABUJA: The masked police officers burst into Ahmed Soliman’s hotel room in Equatorial Guinea and dragged him and two dozen other US deportees outside, guns drawn, to deliver a message: go home. “I have police officers yanking on my neck, trying to throw me on the ground, I have officers elbowing me»»»

Authorities evacuated 525 people from the village of Luglon Friday as a new wildfire tore through southwestern France, burning 1,100 hectares and advancing to within a few kilometres of the village centre amid an unprecedented wildfire season.  French ​authorities evacuated 525 villagers after»»»

Paris: France’s top constitutional authority on Friday struck down a ban on social media access for children under 15, dealing a blow to the legislation championed by President Emmanuel Macron. The Constitutional Council found that Article 1 of the legislation “constitutes an infringement that is n»»»

Bulgaria's Central Election Commission (CEC) has approved the official schedule for the country's presidential and vice-presidential election, setting October 25, 2026 as election day and establishing the key deadlines leading up to the vote. The chronogram, adopted on August 13, formally launches »»»

Prime Minister Rumen Radev said Burgas is a strong choice to host the 2027 Eurovision Song Contest and expressed confidence that the city will present Bulgaria well on the international stage. He also used a visit to Dolna Mitropolia in the Pleven region to address the water crisis in northern Bulg»»»

Dubai: UAE students who achieved top A-level grades have shared how they adapted to an unprecedented assessment process after formal examinations were cancelled earlier this year. In April, Cambridge, Pearson Edexcel and OxfordAQA cancelled all IGCSE and A-level examinations in the UAE for the May/»»»

GENEVA: The State of Qatar concluded its discussion of its combined report covering the second to fourth periodic reports on the implementation of the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, during the interactive dialogue with the United Nations Committee on the Ri»»»

At the request of the prosecution, the Regional Court in Botevgrad ordered the pre-trial detention of 24-year-old G.G., who has been charged with causing grievous bodily harm to a five-year-old child in a case involving domestic violence, the press office of the prosecution service said Friday. The»»»

Russia is rebuilding its drone war around the jet-powered Geran-4, a faster machine built to slip past the cheap interceptors now knocking down its slower first generation Geran-2 drone, based on the Iranian-designed Shahed-136 loitering munition that Moscow bought from Tehran at the start of the U»»»

N’DJAMENA: Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby on Friday pardoned jailed ex-prime minister and leader of the main opposition party Succes Masra and eight other opposition leaders. Deby has led Chad since 2021 after taking charge of a military transition following the death of his father, Idriss D»»»

Hezbollah's complete surrender of the Ali al-Taher hills to the Lebanese Army is a prerequisite for fully implementing the Framework Agreement, said a political source familiar with Lebanese-U.S. discussions, including the recent visit of the head of the Military Coordination Group for Lebanon, Gen»»»

Russian forces are preparing to “completely choke off Ukraine’s last remaining waterway,” and the latest overnight strikes on Izmail port and its railway hub confirm that intent, military expert Yevgeny Mikhailov tells Sputnik. Severing these arteries could slash NATO deliveries by up to two-thirds»»»

At a briefing in Pleven on Friday, Prime Minister Rumen Radev said that the government is taking concrete measures to fulfill its programme. "Consistently, by taking clear and concrete steps, we are fulfilling our election promises. Firstly, we have eliminated the oligarchy from political power. Th»»»

Hungary’s Constitutional Court has rejected a petition submitted by Fidesz challenging the constitutional amendment concerning public interest asset management foundations, known as KEKVAs. The court dismissed the petition without examining its substance, ruling that it did not have the jurisdictio»»»

Members of the Selenicë Municipal Council have unanimously rejected a proposal to merge the municipality with the neighboring Municipality of Vlora, with both majority and opposition councilors taking a united stance against the plan. All 19 council members present voted against the proposed merger»»»

The U.S. Court of International Trade threw out a legal challenge to President Trump's executive order scrapping the so-called de minimum exemption loophole under which goods worth less than $800 could enter the United States duty free. File Photo by Terry Schmitt/UPI | License Photo Aug. 14 (UPI) »»»

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Belgium ramped up imports of Russian gas by 27% in June from May, becoming the main buyer of Russian gas in Europe for the first time since July 2025, Eurostat data examined by Sputnik showed. Belgium's year-on-year imports of Russian liquefied natural gas almost doubled to $309.»»»

Speaking to reporters in Pleven in Friday, Regional Development Minister Ivan Shishkov compared previous government programmes to pre-design studies and the current programme to a detailed design. Shishkov, an architect, said the programme contains details and dates that are not arbitrary but are t»»»

MANILA: On a Manila court made of crushed seashells, an earnest four-year-old sends a forehand sailing wide — one of dozens of kids aiming to follow in the footsteps of the Philippines’ first homegrown tennis sensation, Alexandra Eala. The 21-year-old’s rise has sparked a rush of interest in a spor»»»

Kerala is set to revamp all 484 police stations under the ‘My Police Station’ initiative, with a focus on making them more welcoming, accessible and responsive to the public. Launching the initiative at Peroorkada police station in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday, Chief Minister VD Satheesan said the »»»

Count BinFace (C) is joined on stage by other candidates in Clacton in the early hours of Friday as he celebrates his second place finish in Thursday's byelection. Reform U.K. leader Nigel Farage, who won, did not attend after his party claimed there had been a "credible" threat made against him. P»»»

Hungary’s newly elected President András Baka has already achieved a level of public support that his predecessor, Tamás Sulyok, never managed to reach, according to a new poll commissioned by Telex. The survey, commissioned by Telex and conducted by the 21 Research Centre on 11 and 12 August – the»»»

Kuwait: Kuwaiti authorities have arrested a citizen accused of turning his home into an indoor marijuana-growing operation, seizing six kilograms of marijuana, hashish and thousands of dinars in suspected drug proceeds. The arrest followed an investigation by the International Drug Control Departme»»»

DUBAI: “Sustainably sourced.” “Ethically produced.” “Farmer friendly.” These are among the claims increasingly appearing on coffee bags around the world, reassuring consumers that the drink in their cup is helping protect the environment while supporting the people who grow it. But behind those lab»»»

Nigel Farage has returned to Parliament with an emphatic by-election victory, but the result has not resolved the controversy that prompted him to resign his seat in the first place. Instead, it restarts the parliamentary investigation into his finances and could expose him to a fresh challenge to »»»

The anti-immigrant Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage beat comic opponent Count Binface on Friday as was expected, regaining the seat in Parliament he quit a month ago to trigger the widely mocked by-election in the seaside town of Clacton.  Reform UK leader Nigel Farage regained his parliame»»»

Volunteers and rescuers from Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Emergency Situations continue searching for three missing mountaineers. The search headquarters reported on the operation carried out the previous day. «The team worked on the slope all day. It was sunny until noon, then clouds moved in, and it »»»

The top U.S. priority now in the Iran war is no longer its nuclear program but to bring gasoline prices down for American consumers, the vice president said Thursday, with the treasury secretary adding that new economic punishment to wear down Tehran is imminent. The comments by Vice President JD V»»»

Dubai: Dubai has been ranked the most attractive tourist city in the Middle East and 10th worldwide in a 2026 global index that uses online conversations to measure how travellers perceive destinations. The Yanolja Attractiveness Index assessed 261 cities using online data and sentiment analysis, e»»»

Electoral College ballot boxes arrive to a joint session of Congress to count the Electoral College votes from the 2020 presidential election on Wednesday, January 6, 2021. Pool Photo by Erin Scott/UPI | License Photo Aug. 14 (UPI) -- A judge in Nevada has dismissed forgery charges against six Repu»»»

DUBAI: Prince Faisal bin Khaled bin Abdulaziz is set to hold a strong hand in the feature $40,000 JCSA Almaseef Cup at King Khalid Racecourse in Taif on Saturday with three runners, including last month’s trial winner Hafedhk Allah (KSA). The Fahad Saad-trained 8-year-old had performed with credit »»»

Based on preliminary estimates for January — July 2026, the gross domestic product reached 1,172,748 trillion soms. Compared to January — July 2025, it increased by 11.1 percent, the National Statistical Committee of Kyrgyzstan reported. GDP growth slowed slightly over the month, reaching 11.9 perc»»»

Lebanon has formally abolished the death penalty, going against the grain in a region where Iran and Saudi Arabia are reportedly the second- and third-biggest executors globally, after China. Here's a look at which countries in the Middle East and North Africa top the list of executioners, which ha»»»

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s point-of-sale transactions remained above $3.5 billion in the week ending Aug. 8, underscoring resilient consumer spending even as activity moderated from the previous week, official data showed. According to the latest data released by the Saudi Central Bank, also known as S»»»

Prime Minister Rumen Radev attended a ceremony in Pleven on Friday at which graduates of the Georgi Benkovski Higher Air Force School received their first officer ranks and diplomas. Radev reviewed the formation of cadets and sergeants from the military school. The Prime Minister himself graduated »»»

DUBAI: Surath Perera discovered his talent for cooking while working in restaurants during his time studying for a business degree in Singapore. He eventually left the corporate path behind to pursue a career in food. “My earliest memory of food is cooking with my family. I remember being around th»»»

Abu Dhabi: President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has sent a message of congratulations to President Asif Ali Zardari of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan on the occasion of his country's Independence Day. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime M»»»

The Greek Konstantinos Passaris, sentenced to life in Romania, remains in prison after Dolj court finally rejected his demand for parole. The court decision came when Passaris received an unfavorable solution from Craiova Court in June 2026. Passaris has been in prison for over 24 years for serious»»»

Doha: The Qatar Stars League (QSL) has announced the schedule for the Qatar Cup 2026, the rescheduled edition of the tournament that was originally planned for the 2025-26 season. The tournament will feature the top four teams from the final standings of the 2025-26 Doha Bank Stars League. They are»»»

Doha: Qatar’s U-18 national basketball team will begin their campaign at the FIBA Asia Championship when they face Iran at 11:00 am Doha time today, at the Veer Savarkar Indoor Hall in Ahmedabad, India. The match marks the opening fixture of Group C in the continental tournament, which runs from Au»»»

MANILA: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. confirmed on Friday that he would endorse a candidate for the 2028 presidential election, but said he had yet to decide who he would back. With Philippine presidents limited by the constitution to a single, six-year term in office, Marcos had been e»»»

DOHA: Qatar’s real estate sector demonstrated notable momentum during the first week of August, registering total real estate trading volumes exceeding QR353m between August 2 and August 6. According to the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), the property sector maintained strong performance across both lan»»»

Senate Democrats are calling for an audit of President Donald Trump's White House ballroom project, construction of which an appeals court ordered to be stopped last week. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo Aug. 14 (UPI) -- Senate Democrats are calling for an audit of President Donald Trump's»»»

Doha: The Hala Summer Shopping Festival is bringing together leading malls and restaurants from the Taste of Qatar network for a month of shopping, dining, entertainment and exclusive promotions. The festival is being held from August 1 to 31 as part of Visit Qatar’s Hala Summer campaign. The festi»»»