Pope Leo XIV waves to supporters as he leaves after his visit in April to the Ngul Zamba orphanage in Yaounde, Cameroon. The Vatican will release the pope's first encyclical, a pastoral letter, on Monday. Photo by Alberto Pizzoli/EPA/POOL May 20 (UPI) -- Pope Leo XIV will release the first encyclic»»»

Brent crude oil prices tumbled more than 5% on Thursday as diplomatic progress toward ending the Iran conflict eased market fears over blocked energy supplies. The drop followed reports that supertankers managed to safely exit the Strait of Hormuz, unlocking millions of barrels of crude for Asian m»»»

The Senate on Tuesday (May 19) took a first step toward debating limits on President Donald Trump’s authority to launch future military action against Iran, advancing a war powers measure in a 50–47 procedural vote that exposed rare bipartisan divisions over the role of Congress in matters of war. »»»

Traffic moves down Seventh Avenue seen from the One Times Square Viewing Observation Deck on December 26. This year's travel is expected to set a new Memorial Day weekend record, with 39.1 million people traveling by car and 3.66 million traveling by plane. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | Licens»»»

QNA Rome Qatar and Italy held high-level talks focusing on bilateral cooperation and regional security including efforts to maintain the ceasefire between the United States and Iran and reduce tensions across the Middle East. Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs HE Dr Mohammed bin A»»»

Ashraf Siddiqui Doha China–Qatar relations are currently at their strongest point in history with growing opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation, Chinese Ambassador to Qatar HE Cao Xiaolin has said. Addressing to media on Tuesday, Ambassador Xiolin said that political trust has continued»»»

NEW YORK: On his very first time hosting “The Late Show” back in 2015, Stephen Colbert ripped into Donald Trump while gorging on Oreos, likening his inability to resist the cookies to his inability to resist going after the then-presidential candidate. “Look, you don’t own me. I don’t need to play »»»

LA PAZ: Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz on Wednesday announced plans to reshuffle his cabinet to make it more inclusive following weeks of anti-government protests. “We need to reorganize a cabinet that must be able to listen,” Paz told reporters, adding that he would also set up a separate body to »»»

BRUSSELS: European Union talks on a migration reform to create so-called “return hubs” outside the bloc broke off without a deal Wednesday, with negotiations set to continue on Thursday, EU sources said. European lawmakers and countries were expected to agree on a tightening of immigration rules co»»»

London: Gold rose 1 percent today, supported by hopes for a resolution to the Iranian crisis, which pressured oil markets and eased some inflation concerns, helping push US Treasury yields lower from their recent highs. Spot gold gained 1 percent to $4,699.87 an ounce after prices earlier in the se»»»

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks Wednesday at a Senate subcommittee hearing focused on the recent surge in popularity of sports betting and betting by minor. Photo by Erika Tulfo/Medill News Service WASHINGTON, May 20 (UPI) -- As sports betting and prediction market platforms like Kalshi and Polymark»»»

LONDON: More than a year after Syrian rebels swept longtime ruler Bashar Assad from power, the Captagon empire that underpinned his regime has survived his fall. It has mutated into trafficking networks that stretch across a landscape of porous borders and fragmented authority. Determined to disman»»»

GENEVA: Minister of Public Health HE Mansoor bin Ebrahim Al Mahmoud has said that Qatar is addressing global health challenges through three priorities: strengthening emergency preparedness and fully implementing the International Health Regulations; investing in primary health care as the foundati»»»

Iran said on Wednesday it was examining the latest US proposal received from mediator Pakistan in talks to end the Middle East war, despite the two sides trading threats over resuming attacks. It came after US President Donald Trump told reporters that Washington was in the "final stages" of negoti»»»

1 of 5 | President Donald Trump delivers the commencement address during the United States Coast Guard Academy's graduation ceremony Wednesday in New London, Conn. Photo by Angelina Katsanis/UPI | License Photo May 20 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump delivered the commencement address Wednesday at t»»»

As part of its strategic vision for early investment in national talent, the Emirati Talent Competitiveness Council (ETCC) incollaboration with the Nafis Youth Council has announced the launch of the second batch of the 'Alpha Program. ETCC has partnered with Emirates National Schools in Abu Dhabi »»»

GAZA/CAIRO: In a tent in southern Gaza, Najia Abu Lehia mourns not only her husband but also their failure to make the pilgrimage to Makkah, or Hajj, together before he died a year ago because of war and border closures. Before the war between Israel and Hamas erupted in 2023, at least 3,000 Gazan »»»

Iran has jailed a former goalkeeper for the national men’s football team after he published earlier this year a post deeply critical of then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, his wife said. The Mizan news agency of the Iranian judiciary confirmed that Mohammad Rashid Mazaheri was under arrest but said h»»»

By now the world is all too familiar with the Hormuz Strait and the economic distress that the strangulation of a small-but-vital territorial zone can cause to markets the world over. Perhaps now then is a good time to take a look at the Wakhan Corridor, the narrow, protruding strip of land in nort»»»

Temperatures outside do not have to be summerlike for the temperatures inside a vehicle to quickly rise to life-threatening for a child or pet. File Photo by Anatoli Zhdanov/UPI | License Photo A 4-year-old girl died Tuesday in Los Angeles after she was found in a vehicle in a driveway, according t»»»

PARIS: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has threatened to impose “permits” on submarine fiber-optic cables passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Here is what you need to know about cable infrastructure in the region and how the threats could play out: What cables run through Hormuz? Major c»»»

JEMA: As day broke in a remote part of western Ghana, a priest, farmers and other residents combed through the forests, looking for signs of illegal gold mining.They have done this for the past year as part of a grassroots task force created to combat the mining that has poisoned rivers in one of t»»»

WASHINGTON: The US military said Marines had boarded an Iranian-flagged oil tanker on Wednesday in the Gulf of Oman that was suspected of attempting to violate Washington’s blockade of Iran. “American forces released the vessel after searching and directing the ship’s crew to alter course,” said Ce»»»

ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told US President Donald Trump in a call on Wednesday he welcomed the extension of a ceasefire between the US and Iran, adding he believed contested issues between the sides could be resolved, according to the Turkish presidency. NATO member Turkiye, which n»»»

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a new trade deal for the United Kingdom with six Persian Gulf countries. File Photo by Hugo Philpott/UPI | License Photo May 20 (UPI) -- British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday announced a trade agreement with six Persian Gulf countries that he»»»

TUGUEGARAO CITY: Rescuers using backhoes and chainsaws began digging the Philippines out from the devastation of Typhoon Fung-wong on Tuesday, as floodwaters receded in hundreds of villages and the storm’s death toll climbed to 18.Fung-wong, which displaced 1.4 million people, had weakened into a s»»»

Dubai: The Dh30 million UAE Lottery Lucky Day draw held on Wednesday has seen numerous players winning cash prizes, while the top jackpot remained unclaimed. In Draw No. 260520, the winning numbers for the Days section were 19, 29, 7, 20, 22, and 4, with the selected Months section number being 9. »»»

Secretary's SpeechLebanon PalestineZionist EntityRegional and International International More Video Language Ar En Fr EsSubscribe for Weekly Updates Subscribe Islamic Resistance fighters targeted at 15:20 on Wednesday 20-05-2026 a D9 bulldozer with a loitering glider [FPV], and a Merkava tank with»»»

Secretary's SpeechLebanon PalestineZionist EntityRegional and International International More Video Language Ar En Fr EsSubscribe for Weekly Updates Subscribe Islamic Resistance fighters targeted at 15:20 on Wednesday 20-05-2026 a second Merkava tank at the Al-Baydar neighborhood in Haddatha town »»»

Secretary's SpeechLebanon PalestineZionist EntityRegional and International International More Video Language Ar En Fr EsSubscribe for Weekly Updates Subscribe Islamic Resistance fighters targeted at 15:25 on Wednesday 20-05-2026 a second bulldozer brought to withdraw the targeted vehicles in Hadda»»»

Scott Irlbeck crouched in a field of stunted wheat plants in a parched stretch of West Texas and slipped his hand into a crack wide enough to swallow it. Last autumn, Irlbeck planted a crop that barely grew because rain never came. He now hopes his insurance adjuster will declare it a total loss so»»»

FREETOWN: Nine migrants deported from the United States landed in Sierra Leone on Wednesday, the West African country said, in the latest example of the Trump administration’s widely criticized deals with African nations to take third-country deportees. Five migrants are from Ghana, two from Guinea»»»

LONDON: A UK high court judge ruled Tuesday that asylum seekers can continue to be housed in a hotel northeast of London which was the target of anti-immigration protests earlier this year.The local council in Epping had launched a legal challenge to block the use of the Bell Hotel as asylum accomm»»»

BELGRADE: Hundreds protested on Tuesday against a plan to tear down a former army headquarters in the Serbian capital Belgrade to make way for a luxury hotel complex, a project linked to US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.The student-led demonstration came four days after parliame»»»

KARACHI: Afghanistan’s economic recovery is buckling as nine in 10 households are forced to skip meals, sell belongings or take on debt to survive, the United Nations said on Wednesday, warning that mass returns are exacerbating the country’s worst crisis since the Taliban returned to power. A Unit»»»

The United States on Wednesday criminally indicted Cuba's former president Raul Castro as Washington called on the communist-ruled island's people to embrace a "new path." An indictment unsealed in a federal court in Florida charged the influential former president over the 1996 downing of` two civ»»»

National police agents gather confiscated files and material into a vehicle of the Spanish Central Operative Unit during a police raid at the office of former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in Madrid on Tuesday. Photo by Rodrigo Jimenez/EPA May 20 (UPI) -- Former Spanish Prime »»»

The Pentagon said on Tuesday it was cutting the number of US Brigade Combat Teams stationed in Europe from four to three, returning troop levels to those seen in 2021 as Washington presses European allies to assume greater responsibility for regional defence. The move will temporarily delay the dep»»»

Paris, France: A video posted by Israel's far-right national security minister showing detained activists from a Gaza-bound flotilla with hands bound and foreheads on the ground, sparked condemnation from numerous governments on Wednesday. Get updated faster and for FREE: Download the Gulf News app»»»

Speaking during a press conference after his meeting with the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) Governor Naji Issa last Monday (18 May), Interior Minister Imad Trabelsi said that the two parties had agreed on an implementable plan to support the CBL’s aim to reduce the black-market exchange rate of the L»»»

US President Donald Trump tightened his grip on the Republican Party on Tuesday after Kentucky voters ousted Congressman Thomas Massie, one of the few conservatives willing to openly challenge him. The defeat, projected by NBC and CNN, followed setbacks for other Republican dissenters, including In»»»

NEW YORK: One civilian was killed approximately every 14 minutes in armed conflicts worldwide last year, the UN humanitarian chief told the Security Council on Wednesday, warning about the accelerating human cost of modern warfare. Speaking on behalf of Tom Fletcher during an open debate on the pro»»»

DOHA (Sputnik) - A new round of talks between Iran and the United States will be held in Pakistan after the completion of the main Hajj ceremonies at the end of May, Al Arabiya reported on Wednesday. "The next round of talks will be held in Islamabad after the Hajj is over," sources told the broadc»»»

TEHRAN (Sputnik) - Twenty-six vessels passed through the Strait of Hormuz over the past 24 hours, the naval forces of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Wednesday. "Over the past 24 hours, 26 vessels, including oil tankers, container ships, and other commercial vessels, passed »»»

Leaders of the G7 nations, from left, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, U.S. President Donald Trump, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, pose for»»»

Secretary's SpeechLebanon PalestineZionist EntityRegional and International International More Video Language Ar En Fr EsSubscribe for Weekly Updates Subscribe World Countries Condemn ‘Israel’ over Violence against Gaza Flotilla, Summon Envoys 20-05-2026 19:49 PM Several countries, including Italy,»»»

DUBAI: The UAE’s new crude pipeline bypassing the Strait of Hormuz is about 50 percent complete, the head of ADNOC said on Wednesday, adding that ​global oil flows may take at least four months to recover to 80 percent of pre-conflict levels after the Iran war ends. Tehran has largely kept the wate»»»

LONDON: Israeli forces installed an iron gate at the entrance of Hebron’s Old City in the southern occupied West Bank on Wednesday, along with a military tower on the roof of the old municipality building, further restricting the movement of Palestinians. The iron gate was installed along a route l»»»

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, jokingly, that he could try running for the post of the prime minister in Israel after his presidential term is finished, citing his popularity among the Israeli people. "Maybe after I do this I'll go to Israel and run for prime mi»»»

Members of unions that represent merchants, transport workers, local producers and neighborhood associations march Tuesday in Cochabamba, in central Bolivia, "in defense of democracy" and to demand an end to the roadblocks set up by farmers from the Altiplano who are calling for the resignation of »»»