Nationwide support for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s CDU/CSU alliance has collapsed to a historic low following a series of defeats in regional elections, a new poll suggests. The bloc’s popular backing stood at just 18%, its worst in German postwar history, according to a survey conducted by »»»

Brazilians began casting their votes on Sunday in a closely watch presidential election pitting incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva against right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro. Nearly 160 million voters will also pick lawmakers, senators and governo»»»

Bosnians head to the polls Sunday in elections that ​could impact how much influence Russia has over the small Balkan nation, with separatist Serb leader Milorad Dodik dominating the campaign despite his ban from public office. Bosnia and Herzegovina, a country marred by ethnic tensions, has s»»»

UAE's asteroid probe ready for 5 billion-km journey to explore seven celestial bodies His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of the UAE, and Chairman of the Supreme Space Council, witnessed the unveiling of»»»

Criminal probe reopened as university faces questions over handling of 2024 case Dubai: Cornell University’s president has called the alleged gang rape of a student at a fraternity house “deeply disturbing” and pledged greater transparency as new questions emerge over evidence gathered in the 2024 »»»

Javier Milei is an unlikely champion of Argentina’s claim to the Falkland Islands. An admirer of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (who fought and won a war against Argentina) and an international ally of Israel (which is working with the British on a nearby oilfield), the libertarian»»»

British livestock farmers are confronting an unprecedented spread of bluetongue, a virus carried by biting midges. Cases this season have exceeded the previous three seasons combined, according to UK government data updated on Saturday. The UK has recorded 2,579 cases so far in the 2026-27 bluetong»»»

Claims by Yemen's Houthis to have attacked Riyadh are "misleading", the Saudi-led coalition battling the group said, after an AFP journalist saw flames at an oil facility near the Saudi capital. Fighting between the Iran-backed Houthis and Yemen's internationally recognised government, which is sup»»»

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that there was no military solution to his country's conflict with the United States, with talks on ending the war apparently at an impasse. A campaign of heavy bombardment failed to bring a decisive close to the war launched by the U.S. and Israe»»»

Houthi rebels accused Saudi forces of launching 26 strikes on Sanaa on Saturday after loud explosions rocked the Yemeni capital. The Iran-backed group said it struck an oil facility south of Riyadh, where flames and a large plume of smoke were seen rising from a plant belonging to oil giant Aramco.»»»

Senator Jon Ossoff, a Democratic favourite, is running for re-election in Georgia in the 2026 US midterms while Abdul El-Sayed is a Senate candidate in the battleground state of Michigan. The two Democrats have very different profiles and platforms, underscoring divergences within the party. They c»»»

Tokyo: A US Marine stationed on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa was arrested on suspicion of the murder of a Japanese woman, police said on Sunday. The suspect “killed the 39-year-old woman at a hotel in Naha and stole her wallet on Saturday,” a local police spokesman told AFP. US Ambassador Geo»»»

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Ukrainian militants are planning to stage an attack on facilities linked with the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) not far from the contact line to justify its own strikes on NPPs in Russia, a Russian security source told Sputnik on Sunday. "They have been tasked with stagin»»»

Paris: ParisLongchamp hosted a stellar nine-race card yesterday as the second day of the QREC-sponsored Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe weekend featured three Group 1s and three Group 2s. H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa Al-Thani was among the distinguished guests at the meeting, which brought furth»»»

Doha, Qatar: Khalid Abdulaziz Al-Eid won the Diamond Tour as the first round of the 10th season of the Longines Hathab Championship concluded yesterday at the Qatar Equestrian Federation’s indoor arena. Riding Rakar, Al-Eid clocked 42.44 seconds to take the top spot in the 150cm class. Abdulaziz Fa»»»

Gargash reiterates call for direct talks with Iran or referral to international court Abu Dhabi: Dr Anwar Gargash, Diplomatic Adviser to the UAE President, has rejected criticism by Iranian official Ali Akbar Velayati of the UAE’s position on Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa, reaffirming Abu »»»

Doha, Qatar: Qatar made history on the penultimate day of the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 as Rashed Nawaf and Mashari Nawaf won the first-ever Asian Games gold medal in padel, which made its debut on the official Games programme. The historic triumph yesterday was followed by another golden momen»»»

As Egypt's population grows and urbanization accelerates, municipal solid waste has become one of the country's most pressing development challenges. Yet what is often viewed as a sanitation problem may, in fact, represent a significant economic opportunity. Consequently, waste should no longer be »»»

2026 Real Estate Outlook: Executive Insights from Arab Finance Throughout 2026, Egypt’s real estate market has reached a critical structural inflection point. On one hand, nominal sales growth and total sector valuations have expanded dramatically, fueled by an influx of Gulf Cooperation Council (G»»»

SARAJEVO,: Polls opened Sunday morning in Bosnia for a general election in which most citizens of the multi-ethnic Balkan nation are focused on everyday problems, while some mainstream politicians are whipping up war-era tensions that have kept the country divided since its brutal 1992-95 conflict.»»»

Arab Finance: Egypt and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have outlined priorities for the second phase of their Country Programme, including business competitiveness, resource mobilization and the modernization of national accounts, as per a statement. Minister of P»»»

Christa Pike, 50, survived two lethal injections of pentobarbital on Wednesday Washington, United States: The prison chief in the southern US state of Tennessee has resigned, the governor said Saturday, after an unprecedented botched execution left a convicted murderer on a ventilator in critical c»»»

TEHRAN: Huge billboards on the walls of Tehran mocking US President Donald Trump and depicting American drones under the boot of an Iranian soldier are providing a chronicle of Iran’s war with the United States and Israel. AFP got rare access to a team producing the billboards with anti-US messagin»»»

LONDON: Britain will scrap plans ​to remove the historic right to trial by jury for defendants in less serious criminal cases, the government announced on Sunday, in response to sustained criticism of the proposals by many lawyers and politicians. The decision by Andy Burnham, who became prime mini»»»

First names of Dh100,000 and Dh50,000 winners also revealed as Dh30m jackpot rolls over Dubai: The UAE Lottery has revealed the first name of its latest Dh5 million winner, who took the second prize in the Lucky Day draw held on Saturday, October 3. Only the winner's first name and the initial of t»»»

DAMASCUS: Israeli forces shelled areas in southern Syria and carried out a ground incursion into a village in Quneitra province on Saturday, opening fire toward civilian homes and journalists, according to reports by the Syrian state news agency SANA. Several artillery shells landed on the outskirt»»»

PARIS, France — The International Energy Agency (IEA) said Saturday that member countries had so far released 325 million barrels of oil and oil-derivative products from strategic reserves, from 400 million barrels promised in March.The update came a day after G7 countries, in coordination with the»»»

GAZA CITY: Israel said on Saturday that it attempted to kill Hamas’s top leader in the Gaza Strip in an airstrike on an apartment that local officials said killed five people, four of them women. The pre-dawn strike came on the anniversary according to the Jewish calendar of the October 7, 2023 att»»»

PARIS: French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen said she had full confidence in her top ally Jordan Bardella, accused by an investigative news website of making antisemitic comments in 2013, in a statement published Saturday. “I have complete confidence in Jordan,” Le Pen said in the b»»»

UAE leaders extend warm wishes to Germany on Unity Day UAE President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has sent a message of congratulations to President Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany on the occasion of his country's Unity Day. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, »»»

ISTANBUL: Rescuers recovered another body from the ferry tragedy that occurred off northern Cyprus in late August, raising the death toll to 19 with nine people still missing, officials said Saturday. The update came in a statement from the office of Unal Ustel, prime minister of the Turkish Republ»»»

France’s decision to share defence documents with the Italian judiciary has raised hopes of a breakthrough in investigations into the 1980 crash of a passenger jet near the island of Ustica, which a former Italian president claimed was mistakenly shot down by a French fighter jet. Sceptics caution »»»

Tens of thousands of protesters marched in Madrid and other cities in Spain on Saturday to demand affordable housing, fuelled by anger at lawmakers who narrowly rejected measures put forward by the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to strengthen protection for tenants. Fresh protests over »»»

Beijing: World No.1 Elena Rybakina could not regroup and fell to 118th-ranked Alina Charaeva in the second round of the China Open on Saturday in Beijing. The 27-year-old from Kazakhstan was playing her first match since seizing the top ranking on her US Open win in New York, but Armenia's Charaeva»»»

LONDON: Anti-immigration Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage was ignored when he complained of threats to his safety, his deputy said Saturday after the man accused of killing former British politician Ann Widdecombe was charged with plotting a terror attack against Farage. Richard Tice said Farage»»»

Share: File: Vice President JD Vance headed the secret Camp David meting that discussed Iran and the Saudi -Houthi war President Trump’s top cabinet members huddled for hours at Camp David on Friday to discuss next steps in the Iran war and the Saudi-Houthi conflict in Yemen, three U.S. officials t»»»

Beijing: Big-serving Alexander Zverev trounced home hopeful Shang Juncheng 6-0, 6-3 at the China Open on Saturday to set up a quarter-final clash with Novak Djokovic in Beijing. The German top seed needed just 55 minutes to brush aside the Chinese wildcard, ranked 250th, firing nine aces along the »»»

Argentina offers citizenship to foreigners who invest at least $350,000 in the country Buenos Aires: Argentine President Javier Milei's government said Friday that the country would offer citizenship to foreigners who invest at least $350,000 in the country. South America's second-largest economy a»»»

Paris, France: The International Energy Agency said Saturday that member countries had so far released 325 million barrels of oil and oil-derivative products from strategic reserves, from 400 million barrels promised in March. The update came a day after G7 countries, in coordination with the IEA, »»»

The man accused of murdering former UK Conservative minister Ann Widdecombe has also been charged with preparing a terrorist attack on Reform UK leader Nigel Farage. Joshua Kerry, 28, of Rotherham, South Yorkshire was charged on Friday under the Terrorism Act 2006 and will appear in court on Wednes»»»

PARIS: Five people have been charged in France on suspicion of sending funding via humanitarian groups to a third party seeking to collect money for Hamas, the French National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) said Saturday. The PNAT told AFP the five were taken into custody on Tuesday by i»»»

François Picard is pleased to welcome Vivian Salama from Washington. An attorney and staff writer at The Atlantic, Salama has reported from more than 85 countries. Her latest investigation takes us back to September 26, 2023. As Israel's national security establishment gathered to commemorate the 5»»»

The first round of Brazil’s presidential election on Sunday pits two well-known names in the political ring: Lula vs. Bolsonaro. But it’s not former president Jair Bolsonaro facing off against the incumbent head of state – it’s his eldest son, Flavio Bolsonaro. He’s less charismatic than his father»»»

PRESS REVIEW – Friday, October 2: We look at reactions in the French papers after high school blockades turned violent across France. We also look ahead to Brazil's two-round presidential election, which begins this weekend. The electoral campaign culminated with the cancellation of a presiden»»»

The mudslinging between Brazil’s incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his election rival, Flavio Bolsonaro, has heated up ahead of what is expected to be an extremely close vote this weekend. From stating loose rumours as facts, to taking comments completely out of their context, they »»»

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will stand for re-election in Brazil on Sunday. At 80, the former steelworker hopes to capitalise on his popularity and economic successes to win a fourth term in office but is neck-and-neck in the polls with far-right rival Flavio Bolsonaro. Nearly four decades »»»

In recent months, the eastern Central African Republic has been hit by several attacks attributed to the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan militia infamous for its massacres and mass abductions of children in the 1990s and 2000s. The group's leader, Joseph Kony, wanted by the International Cr»»»

French investigative outlet Mediapart said on Thursday it had authenticated anti-Semitic messages allegedly sent by far-right politician Jordan Bardella in 2013. Bardella denied writing them and said he would sue for defamation and forgery. The allegations come seven months before France’s presiden»»»

Members of the Group of Seven bloc of highly industrialised economies on Friday agreed to release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude oil from their reserves over four months, averting a potential US ban on diesel exports. The European Union had earlier pushed back against Washington's thr»»»

In her cookbook "Scandinavian Everyday,” Nichole Accettola describes herself as a "PPP” - a passionate porridge person. Although she grew up in Ohio eating sugary instant oatmeal, she writes that she was living in Scandinavia around the time of "a porridge renaissance,” when "new ingredients and fr»»»