Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi submitted an official letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres and the UN Security Council, sharply condemning the latest US economic pressure campaign and secondary sanctions as acts of economic terrorism. The dispatch follows Washington’s launch of a»»»

South Africa-based telecommunications and digital-services group MTN (JSE: MTN) is exploring banking licences in selected African markets that could allow it to take deposits and increasingly lend from its own balance sheet, CEO Ralph Mupita told Reuters. MTN is a pan-African telecoms group offerin»»»

Doha, Qatar: Advisor to the Prime Minister and official Spokesperson for Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr. Majed Al Ansari said that Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani will "arrive in Tehran tomorrow, where he will meet with a number »»»

DOHA: Qatari Prime ​Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani ‌will ‌visit ​Tehran ‌on ⁠Thursday ​where he will meet ⁠a number of ⁠Iranian ‌officials to ‌discuss ​ways ‌to de-escalate ‌tensions, foreign ministry spokesperson ‌Majed Al Ansari said ⁠on Wednesday ⁠on X.»»»

LONDON: A UN anti-racism committee on Wednesday expressed alarm over statements by Israeli officials threatening to inflict on Lebanon “the same level of destruction” as in Gaza, urging an end to rhetoric it said dehumanized the Lebanese population. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Dis»»»

Kuwait , Aug. 26 (SANA) The State of Kuwait on Wednesday welcomed the announcement of the integration of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) into Syrian state institutions, saying the step strengthens Syria’s security, stability, and territorial unity. In a statement on X, the Kuwaiti Ministry of Fo»»»

Vienna, Aug.26 (SANA) The Syrian delegation participating in the 7th GlobE General Assembly, held at the United Nations headquarters in Vienna, organized on Wednesday an event entitled “From Asset Recovery to Recovery: Supporting Transitional Justice, Peacebuilding, and Development in Syria.” The e»»»

NEW YORK CITY: France warned the UN Security Council on Wednesday that the “untenable” situation in Gaza and the West Bank was jeopardizing the prospects for peace arising from the October 2025 Gaza ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. It came as council members met to discuss the latest d»»»

PARIS: Philippe Aghion is a prominent French economist, internationally recognized for his work on growth and innovation. He is a professor at the College de France and the London School of Economics. His research has profoundly revitalized Joseph Schumpeter’s theory of “creative destruction.” It d»»»

LONDON: Jordanian authorities on Wednesday announced the return of 20 Palestinian children with 48 family members to the Gaza Strip after they received treatment in Jordanian hospitals as part of the country’s medical initiative. Jordan pledged in March to provide healthcare for 2,000 children from»»»

BEIRUT: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Wednesday that Lebanon has chosen negotiations with Israel to avoid the “horrors and tragedies” of war, despite the difficulty and obstacles facing the process. “We have made the decision to enter negotiations in order to avoid the horrors and tragedie»»»

Two workers at Germany's Frankfurt airport who caught malaria from a mosquito thought to have arrived on a plane have died, the city's health authority said Wednesday. Airport officials had earlier said one employee had perished, with six workers infected. Get updated faster and for FREE: Download »»»

Problems with the US military’s Drone Dominance initiative stem from a broad assortment of issues, the biggest of which is a “longstanding departmental cultural and institutional lethargy and a kind of neo-Luddism inside the Pentagon,” Lt. Col. (ret.) Karen Kwiatkowski, a former DoD analyst herself»»»

The USS Abraham Lincoln was expected to return to the United States in several weeks. File Photo by MC Nicholas R. Boris/U.S. Navy | License Photo Aug. 26 (UPI) -- A Florida man arrested by immigration officials amid his son's deployment on the beleaguered USS Abraham Lincoln has been released from»»»

Paris, London, Aug.26 (SANA) French President, Emmanuel Macron, welcomed the integration of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) into Syrian state institutions on Wednesday. Macron wrote on his X account: “I congratulate Syria on the decisive step taken yesterday in the integration of the Syrian Demo»»»

The Egyptian Tourism Authority organised 271 awareness trips and more than 1,000 seminars between January 2025 and June 2026 The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, represented by the Egyptian Tourism Authority (ETA), has intensified efforts to raise tourism awareness across Egypt, reaching approx»»»

US President Donald Trump has reportedly submitted a landmark nuclear cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia for congressional review and renewed demands that Riyadh normalize relations with Israel as part of the deal. According to US media outlets, citing unnamed administration and congressional »»»

The trial of six members of a Pakistani ‘grooming gang’ has quietly restarted in Manchester. The retrial hasn’t made the headlines, and looking at the sordid details of the case, it’s clear the British establishment wants to keep it that way. The six suspects were alleged members of the Rochdale gr»»»

A flight attendant in France has succeeded in having her breast cancer recognised as an occupational disease, a first for the country's aviation industry, her lawyer and a trade union said. The ruling -- which recognised that Sophie Lainault, a former flight attendant for Air France, had frequently»»»

A rooftop water tank, an oil storage tank and a pipeline may appear to be entirely different engineering assets, but under the Saudi sun they face a common problem. Metal and concrete absorb significant amounts of heat, surfaces overheat, and owners are forced either to spend more energy on cooling»»»

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The US Department of the Treasury has issued a Russia-related general license authorizing transactions related to imports of certain categories of diamonds, the department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said on Wednesday. "... all transactions prohibited by the det»»»

Dubai: Six months into the war between Iran and the United States and Israel, tensions around the Strait of Hormuz remain a major concern, with shipping restrictions, economic pressure and disruptions to regional air travel continuing to shape the latest developments. The conflict began on February»»»

USA: The high representative for Gaza in US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace warned Wednesday of a “point of no return” if the Israel-Hamas ceasefire breaks down. A resumption of fighting in Gaza would mean “no roadmap to return to, there will be no administration to deploy, and there will b»»»

A company based in the premises of an abandoned shipyard near downtown Murmansk says it has started production of "a new generation of unmanned surface vehicles (USVs)." Russia is not typically known for its development of new technology, and the far northern Murmansk region is, by most people, see»»»

Washington: Bill Gates warned Wednesday that the world is dangerously unprepared for the upheaval brought by artificial intelligence, with the technology destroying jobs and threatening human connection, especially for young people. In a nearly 6,000-word essay published on his blog, the Microsoft »»»

RIYADH: Ireland’s new ambassador to Saudi Arabia has hailed his country’s “very strong” relations with the Kingdom as he pledged to transform historic goodwill into a strong diplomatic, economic, technological and cultural partnership. In an exclusive interview with Arab News, Irish Ambassador Mich»»»

Dubai's new law regulating shared housing took effect on Wednesday, introducing mandatory permits and penalties of up to Dh1 million for repeat violations as the emirate moves to curb illegal and unregulated accommodation. Law No. 4 of 2026, issued by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Makt»»»

Parliamentary groups outlined their priorities for the new plenary session on Wednesday, the National Assembly's first regular sitting after the summer recess, with the ruling Progressive Bulgaria pledging to advance the Government's programme and opposition formations criticizing its record after »»»

Frankfurt, Germany: A worker at Germany's Frankfurt airport has died after contracting malaria from a mosquito thought to have arrived on a plane, an airport spokesman said Wednesday. "We unfortunately have to confirm a death resulting from infection," the spokesman said, adding that he offered the»»»

DOHA: Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani chaired the Cabinet's regular meeting at the Amiri Diwan on Wednesday. Following the meeting, Minister of Justice and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs HE Ibrahim bin Ali Al Mohannadi sta»»»

The fifth edition of the Congress of Arabic and Creative Industries will take place in Abu Dhabi on September 20, bringing together experts from the fields of culture, technology, academia and the creative industries. Organised by the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre (ALC), part of the Department o»»»

As many as 1,550 teachers will be joining GEMS schools across the UAE once the new academic year begins next week. Speaking at an awareness event, group CEO Dino Varkey said the group's schools had received over half a million applications, which was slightly lower than the 600,000-plus pool last y»»»

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he believes Iran’s supreme leader, who has not been seen in public since taking over after his father’s killing in February, remains alive. “I don’t think he’s dead. He was very seriously wounded. The left side of his body, the arm, the leg, t»»»

London: Prince Harry, his wife Meghan and their two children landed Wednesday in Britain, UK media reported, after the surprise news emerged last week they would be relocating from the United States. The couple -- who quit Britain and royal duties six years ago and moved to California -- landed abo»»»

1 of 2 | City leaders across the country have been choosing to put infrastructure projects that are “less than necessary” on hold as high gas prices put a strain on municipal budgets. File Photo by Terry Schmitt/UPI | License Photo Aug. 26 (UPI) -- Rising gas prices are not only putting pressure on»»»

SpaceX's next-generation Starship successfully launched atop the new Super Heavy V3 booster, from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, in July. The company announced it will build a $100 million launch facility in Louisiana. File Photo by SpaceX/UPI | License Photo Aug. 26 (UPI) -- Elon Musk and SpaceX w»»»

DUBAI: Over the weekend, Mark Ruffalo, the American actor best known for his portrayal of the Hulk, made headlines worldwide with a post that pushed back against what he alleged was a smear campaign designed to paint him as an antisemite. “The accusation that I am antisemitic is appalling and funda»»»

Dubai: Prince Harry and Meghan returned to Britain with their two children on Wednesday, beginning a new chapter six years after their dramatic departure from royal life and move to the United States. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex landed aboard a private jet at Birmingham Airport around noon, acco»»»

France is temporarily relaxing strict production rules for several iconic cheeses as drought and record heat leave pastures severely depleted. Producers of abondance, beaufort and comté can now use more imported fodder and grain to feed their cows, while other traditional cheeses will also receive »»»

Health Minister Katya Ivkova said there is no purge at the Health Ministry, and that that every civil servant should work for the state. She was speaking at a briefing outside the Ministry after Chief State Health Inspector Angel Kunchev tendered his resignation. According to Ivkova, Kunchev's resi»»»

US CIA Director John Ratcliffe held talks with Russian intelligence officials ​during his visit to Moscow on Tuesday but did ‌not meet President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin said on Wednesday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Putin had been briefed on ​the outcome of Ratcliffe’s t»»»

Bulgarian Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said the drones and drone fragments recently found along the country’s Black Sea coast do not pose a danger because none of the devices identified so far has carried ammunition. Speaking to journalists before a hearing in the relevant parliamentary commit»»»

ING continues to innovate by bringing two new functionalities to Home’Bank that simplify customers’ relationship with the bank. As a result, repaying and closing a mortgage loan becomes a simple, secure, and intuitive experience for ING customers. Once the mortgage loan has been fully repaid throug»»»

Share: By Frank Andrews, Ramy Inocencio, CBS Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets with Qadir Nizamipour, deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, in New Delhi, India, June 22, 2026. Javed Dar/Xinhua/Getty The language used Monday by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as he anno»»»

The Ilyushin Il-76 that flew over Bulgaria had received diplomatic clearance and was on a humanitarian mission to Serbia, Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said during a hearing on current issues at Parliament's Defence Committee on Wednesday. The aircraft flew 60-70 km north of Bezmer airbase, Sto»»»

Doha, Qatar: The State of Qatar expressed its strong condemnation and denunciation of the attack that took place in Niger State in the central part of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which resulted in fatalities and the abduction of dozens of people. In a statement issued Wednesday, the Ministry o»»»

Doha, Qatar: Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani chaired the Cabinet's regular meeting at the Amiri Diwan on Wednesday. Following the meeting, Minister of Justice and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs HE Ibrahim bin Ali Al Mohann»»»

Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe made an unscheduled, unannounced visit to Moscow on Tuesday for talks with Russian officials, with both capitals remaining tight-lipped on purpose of the trip. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo Aug. 26 (UPI) -- CIA Director John Ratcli»»»

Dubai: Public parking across Dubai will be free on Friday, August 28, during the Prophet Mohammad’s (PBUH) Birthday holiday, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) announced on Wednesday. The exemption will apply to all public parking spaces except multi-storey parking facilities. Parking fees wil»»»

ISTANBUL: Turkiye on Wednesday said the dissolution of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) marked a key step toward strengthening state authority and achieving lasting stability in Syria.Turkiye has long regarded the SDF as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), whi»»»