TUNIS, May 12, 2026 (TAP) - Tunisia’s trade deficit widened to TND 7.528 billion at the end of April 2026, compared with TND 7.293 billion during the same period in 2025, according to the monthly report on external trade at current prices for April...»»»

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi reaffirmed Egypt’s unwavering commitment to aiding Gabon’s transitional phase, highlighting the strengthening ties between the two African nations. The announcement was made during a joint press conference in Cairo with Gabon’s Transitional President, Brice O»»»

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly conducted an extensive industrial tour across Sadat City and 6th of October City on Monday, inaugurating and inspecting a broad range of factories operating in strategic manufacturing sectors as Cairo accelerates efforts to expand domestic manufacturing, att»»»

Kuwait said Tuesday that four people arrested earlier this month as they attempted to enter the country by sea have confessed to belonging to Iran's Revolutionary Guards. The four men -- two navy colonels, a captain, and a lieutenant commander -- admitted they had been tasked by Iran's ideological »»»

In 2025, the GCC's fintech sector had a year to remember. According to Wamda's annual funding report, fintech attracted $4.4 billion across the MENA region, about 58 percent of all startup capital deployed, a record share that left every other sector in the shade. Proptech, the second-largest categ»»»

LONDON: Snap Inc. has launched the first cohort of its Snap Maher Academy in Saudi Arabia, a four-week Arabic-language training program aimed at developing marketing talent and strengthening the Kingdom’s digital advertising ecosystem. The inaugural class brings together 50 participants from major »»»

JEDDAH: Thousands of Saudi nationals are expected to benefit from a Riyadh Air cabin crew training initiative as the Kingdom’s newest airline ramps up recruitment amid its expanding operations. The Public Investment Fund-owned carrier said the Nawat Cabin Crew Program forms part of its broader stra»»»

Bulgaria marked the International Day of Nursing on May 12 with official ceremonies, church services, as the nursing profession in Bulgaria is plagued by staff shortages, low wages and aging personnel. The day, dedicated to the birth of Florence Nightingale - the founder of modern nursing - was obs»»»

Abu Dhabi: The Federal Authority for Government Human Resources in the UAE has announced a five-day paid holiday for public sector employees, in observance of Arafat Day and Eid Al Adha. The Eid break will run from Monday, May 25, and continue through Friday, May 29. Normal working hours will resum»»»

ULAN BATOR - State Secretary at the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Damjan Jovic met with Mongolian FM Batmunkh Battsetseg during a visit to Mongolia. "The two officials confirmed that bilateral relations are characterised by traditional friendship and mutual respect. They noted the shared comm»»»

Dubai: In defiance of international pressure and growing condemnation from Gulf states, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has declared that the Strait of Hormuz is no longer merely a narrow maritime passage but part of a vastly expanded “strategic operational zone” stretching hundreds of kilometres across»»»

Manila: After Dr. Fatima Al-Zahra Ditti promised her mother that she would send the elder woman for Hajj in a year, she soon realized that the pilgrimage would require saving up tens of thousands of pesos every month — a feat she was not sure how to accomplish. She took to TikTok to share her conce»»»

Iran should not use the Strait of Hormuz, which it has blocked since the start of the Middle East war, as a means to blackmail Gulf states, Qatar's top diplomat said Tuesday. "Iran should not use this strait as a weapon to pressure or to blackmail the Gulf countries," said Qatari Foreign Minister a»»»

Dubai: The global fallout from the ongoing Middle East conflict has officially reached an unexpected place: potato chip packaging. Japanese snack giant Calbee said it will temporarily simplify packaging designs for several popular products after supply instability linked to tensions in the Middle E»»»

Early on Monday morning, sunlight spilled over the Wenchang Space Launch Site located in the South China's tropical island province of Hainan, glinting off the towering combination of the Long March-7 Y11 rocket and the Tianzhou-10 cargo spacecraft atop the launcher. At 8:14 am, the rocket engines »»»

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev has discussed cooperation on the peaceful use of nuclear energy with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in Jakarta, Rosatom said on Tuesday. "On May 12, 2026, as part of a working visit to Indonesia, Alexey Likhach»»»

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The BRICS economy has a significant potential, it already surpasses the G7, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told Sputnik ahead of the meeting of the Board of Governors of the New Development Bank. "The BRICS countries and other shareholders of the New Development Bank hav»»»

Madrid: A Spanish man who tested positive for hantavirus after being evacuated from a cruise ship struck by a deadly outbreak of the illness is showing symptoms, the health ministry said Tuesday. The man was one of more than 120 passengers and crew evacuated from the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, whose»»»

ISLAMABAD: For nearly a decade, Safdar Khan held onto a single hope: to perform Hajj, the once-in-a-lifetime Islamic pilgrimage to Makkah that Muslims are required to undertake if physically and financially able. But for the 66-year-old Pakistani retiree, the journey was repeatedly delayed by faile»»»

ROME: Casper Ruud strolled into the Italian Open quarter-finals on Tuesday after easily beating home hope Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 6-1, as Jannik Sinner gets set for a derby with qualifier Andrea Pellegrino. Clay court specialist Ruud is yet to drop a set in Rome and he looked in fine form on a windy c»»»

KABUL: Kabul’s Taliban authorities rejected on Tuesday claims by Islamabad officials that a suicide attack which killed 15 police officers in northwest Pakistan was planned in Afghanistan. The Afghan government “considers the recent statements by Pakistani officials, which claimed that the attack o»»»

JEDDAH: The Francophonie Festival celebrated the diversity of the French-speaking world and its growing academic and cultural ties with Saudi Arabia at the consul general’s residence in Jeddah on Sunday. Participants at the event included ambassadors and consuls general from Francophone countries. »»»

The EU could be on the verge of a new migrant crisis, with more than half a million people waiting in Libya alone to cross into Europe, Greek Migration Minister Thanos Plevris has said. The bloc was first inundated by asylum seekers from the Middle East and Northern Africa during the 2015 refugee c»»»

A draft law in Kyrgyzstan proposes expanding the capabilities of banks and financial institutions to work with virtual assets. The bill has been submitted for public discussion. The document introduces amendments to the Law «On Virtual Assets.» If adopted, banks, non-bank financial credit organizat»»»

In a letter leaked to Libyan media outlets yesterday, the Governor of the Central Bank of Libya (CBL), Naji Issa, addressed the Minister of the Interior and the heads of the Internal Security, Criminal Investigation, and Municipal Guard agencies to take more decisive action against unofficial forei»»»

Deputy Education and Science Minister Asya Pandzherova has submitted her resignation, the Education and Science Ministry said in a press release on Tuesday. Pandzherova said her decision was motivated by the public tensions that had emerged in recent days. “I cannot allow my remaining in office to »»»

Greek police say a 17-year-old girl has been killed and another seriously injured after they plunged from the roof of an apartment building in the district of Ilioupoli in southern Athens. Police and emergency crews were called to the scene at Eleftheriou Venizelou Street at approximately 5:30 p.m.»»»

BELGRADE - Editor-in-chief of the Energija Balkana internet portal Jelica Putnikovic said on Tuesday a shutdown of the Pancevo oil refinery or a reduction of crude processing at the plant would be a red line for Serbia in talks with Hungary's MOL on its acquisition of a Russian-majority stake in th»»»

Mexico cancels plans to end school year early for World Cup 12 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleVanessa BuschschlüterLatin America online editor Sashenka Gutierrez/EPA/Shuttersto The Mexican government has cancelled plans to end the school year more than a month early to ease traffic d»»»

DOHA: Iran should not use the Strait of Hormuz, which it has blocked since the start of the Middle East war, as a means to blackmail Gulf states, Qatar’s top diplomat said Tuesday. “Iran should not use this strait as a weapon to pressure or to blackmail the Gulf countries,” said Qatari Foreign Mini»»»

NAIROBI: Calls for mutual respect dominated the Africa Forward Summit on Tuesday as French President Emmanuel Macron announced new investments and said sovereignty will be key in the new partnership that France hopes to build with Africa. Investments worth €23 billion ($27 billion) will fund variou»»»

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday "our work is not over" to contain hantavirus after evacuations from a cruise ship hit by a deadly outbreak of the illness. The fate of the MV Hondius has sparked international alarm after three passengers died in an outbreak»»»

Dubai: Luxury hotel renovations in the UAE are becoming significantly more expensive, with consultants saying some upgrades now cost as much as Dh600,000 per room — and in certain cases even more. Sign up for our daily business newsletter, Cheques & Balances.Hospitality asset managers, interior des»»»

Comments on the measures proposed by the Radev Cabinet aimed at curbing prices dominated the media on Tuesday. On Bulgarian National Television’s (BNT) morning show, sociologists Genoveva Petrova of Alpha Research and Evelina Slavkova of Trend discussed the new package of measures aimed at curbing »»»

Kuwait: Kuwait announced on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, that the four individuals arrested a week earlier for attempting to illegally enter the country by sea had confessed during investigations to being affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. The country's official news agency, KUNA, stated this, a»»»

Doha, Qatar: Qatar Airways is expanding its services across international markets, and will be resuming flights operations to Helsinki, Finland, and to Tokyo Haneda, Japan from July 15, 2026. According to a statement by Qatar Airways, the flights to Helsinki will depart every Monday, Wednesday, Fri»»»

London, May 12 (SANA) Gold prices rose on Tuesday as investors monitored developments in the Middle East and awaited a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Reuters reported that spot gold rose 0.5% to $4,757.59 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures for June del»»»

DUBAI: Four high-ranking members of the Iranian Navy arrested by Kuwaiti armed forces have admitted their affiliation with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, state news agency KUNA reported on Tuesday. Kuwait’s interior ministry identified the individuals as Naval Colonel Amir Hossein Abdolmohammad Zarae»»»

MADRID: World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday “our work is not over” to contain hantavirus after evacuations from a cruise ship hit by a deadly outbreak of the illness. The fate of the MV Hondius has sparked international alarm after three passengers died in an »»»

The Cabinet of Ministers of Kyrgyzstan amended the regulations for Bishkek, Karakol, Leilek, Maimak, and Naryn free economic zones (FEZ). The document was adopted to improve conditions for attracting foreign investment and regional development. Free economic zone managers were made personally liabl»»»

RIYADH: Up to 50% percent of the Gulf Railway project, spanning 1,700 km, has been completed, with the project scheduled to be fully operational by December 2030, according to the Director General of the Gulf Cooperation Council Railways Authority, Mohammad Al-Shabrami, who spoke to Al-Eqtisadiah n»»»

Dubai: As part of its commitment to community wellbeing, the UAE Lottery has partnered with Zulekha Hospital to conduct a practical orthopaedic workshop eyed to support workers in physically demanding jobs. The initiative has been held on April 30 and was organised for residents at Berkeley UAE’s s»»»

Doha, Qatar: The General Directorate of Traffic under the Ministry of Interior, MoI, has announced the relocation of the Investigations Section from the main building in Madinat Khalifa to the Lusail area. In a social media post, it said the section will operate at the Lusail Police Station buildin»»»

Madrid - ESP Madrid, May 12, 2026 (AFP) - - World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday "our work is not over" to contain hantavirus after evacuations from a cruise ship hit by a deadly outbreak of the illness. The fate of the MV Hondius has sparked international alar»»»

NEWTOWN SQUARE: Alex Fitzpatrick was whisked around Aronimink by golf cart to make some national media hits — life is good when you’re trendy in the golf world — and could only laugh at one stop when asked about comments made by his older brother earlier in the day suggesting that Alex is the messy»»»

BEIRUT: Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said Tuesday that his Iran-backed group’s weapons were not part of upcoming negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, and vowed his fighters would turn the battlefield into “hell” for Israeli forces. “Nobody outside Lebanon has anything to do with the weapons, the»»»

The Cabinet of Ministers of Kyrgyzstan has imposed restrictions on the use of motorized vehicles in a number of natural areas. The resolution was adopted to protect ecosystems, prevent the degradation of natural landscapes, and reduce the negative impact on park and beach areas. According to the do»»»

Dubai: e& money has launched a digital salary platform aimed at giving UAE employees easier access to banking and financial services through free IBAN-linked accounts, payment cards and transfer benefits. Get updated faster and for FREE: Download the Gulf News app now - simply click here.The fintec»»»

Raqqa, May 12 (SANA) Syrian Energy Ministry teams are carrying out rehabilitation works at the Al-Thawra oil field in Raqqa province as part of efforts to restore production capacity following years of damage to infrastructure and facilities. Officials at the field said technical teams were repairi»»»

BEIRUT: Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed 380 people since a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war began on April 17, Lebanon’s health ministry told AFP on Tuesday. A ministry official said that “380 people, including 22 children and 39 women, have been killed in strikes on Lebanon since the c»»»