HAVANA: An islandwide blackout hit Cuba on Monday as fuel reserves dwindle and its electric grid continues to crumble. The blackout in the country of nearly 10 million people was reported by the state-run Electric Union, which said on X that the cause is under investigation. The Ministry of Energy »»»

KHARTOUM: A partial collapse in a decommissioned gold mine in northern Sudan has killed 15 miners, a state company said on Monday. The miners had snuck into the shut-down Mohamed Tawfiq mine, in Wadi Halfa near the Egyptian border, when “parts of the mine collapsed... killing 15 miners and injuring»»»

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said Monday that he’s building a granite helipad on the White House lawn, insisting that the landing area is needed to accommodate new, more powerful presidential choppers. Confirmation of the project came as construction crews had already begun working on the hel»»»

The earthquakes that hit Venezuela in late June have devastated seaside towns where tourism has been a vital economic lifeline for an already struggling population. Also, tanker traffic picks up through the Strait of Hormuz, and Europe seeks to convince the US that it's boosting defence spending.&n»»»

A man in Australia was reportedly pinned underwater by a muscly kangaroo “who tried to drown him" during an unusual roadside encounter in flood-hit New South Wales. The man, identified by Australian broadcaster ABC as Don James, was walking along a flooded roadside near Port Macquarie when the kang»»»

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny speaks during an anti-Vladimir Putin rally on March 5, 2012. International observers blamed Navalny's 2024 death on Epibatidine. File Photo by Yuri Gripas/UPI | License Photo July 6 (UPI) -- The British government on Monday announced sanctions for seven Russians and»»»

Super Typhoon Bavi is expected to impact Taiwan after hitting Rota and Guam. Photo courtesy of NOAA After devastating the Northern Mariana Island of Rota and causing damage in Guam, Super Typhoon Bavi is setting its sights on Taiwan. "The storm is equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane (130 mph) on t»»»

The recent stabilization of the Red Sea region is revitalizing maritime routes, with 47 ships diverting to the Suez Canal instead of the Cape of Good Hope since early this month. This trend was spotlighted by Osama Rabie, Head of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), at the 14th Annual International Mari»»»

Gaza: The Gaza Rights Center has reissued exhortations to the international community to immediately spring into action to halt the crimes perpetrated by the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip. In a statement on Monday, the Center called for enforcing powerful measures to protect civilians, cease»»»

LONDON: Italy’s Jasmine Paolini ended Alexandra Eala’s trailblazing Wimbledon run in the fourth round with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory on a baking hot Center Court on Monday. The 21-year-old left-hander Eala is the first player from the Philippines to go so far in a Grand Slam and she pushed the 2024 r»»»

JERUSALEM: The Israeli parliament approved a bill in its first reading on Monday to set up a commission of inquiry into the security failings that led to the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. “The purpose of the proposed law is to bring about a full, thorough, and independent investigation of the ev»»»

Turkiye's BOTAS and Bulgaria's Bulgargaz will expand cooperation and review their current gas contract, Turkiye's Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Monday after meeting Minister of Energy Iva Petrova in Ankara. Turkiye's BOTAS and Bulgaria's Bulgargaz will expand coo»»»

Prince Harry arrives at the Royal Courts of Justice in January for the first day of a trial against Associated Newspapers in London. A decision in the case is expected Tuesday. The prince and Buckingham Palace offered competing statements Monday on whether he would stay in the royal residence durin»»»

GENEVA: The UN aid chief held a phone call Monday with Sudan’s RSF paramilitary leader on hostilities around El-Obeid, and stressed the need for sustained humanitarian access to the city, his agency said. Tom Fletcher spoke to Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the head of the Rapid Support Forces, “to discuss»»»

LONDON: Israel’s row with the UN intensified this month after the world body formally added it to a list of parties accused of conflict-related sexual violence, a move that drew a blistering rebuke from its ambassador and renewed criticism of the UN’s handling of the Gaza war. At a June 19 General »»»

Péter Magyar’s government has raised €3 billion in foreign-currency debt, in a move closely tied to the anticipated release of previously frozen European Union funds. Hungary takes up immense foreign-currency loan again – but with good reason Hungary on Monday issued €3 billion in foreign-currency »»»

CHICAGO: A wave of pride has spread through the Egyptian American community as a consequence of Egypt’s FIFA World Cup team making sports history by reaching the round of 16 for the first time, setting up a showdown with Argentina. Known as The Pharaohs, the Egyptian national team under coach Hossa»»»

Palestinians run as smoke billows from the Mushtaha Tower in September after an Israeli airstrike shortly after the Israeli military announced its intention to target high-rise buildings in Gaza City. On Monday, Hamas announced it will dissolve its government in Gaza for a new committee to take ove»»»

LONDON: The people of Damascus are hoping a visit to the city by French President Emmanuel Macron will help to boost ties between the Syrian Arab Republic and France. Macron’s visit is the first by a Western European head of state since the fall of Bashar Assad at the end of 2024. Faisal Azouz, a t»»»

GENEVA: Switzerland has been looking into money laundering claims against Gabon’s former first lady Sylvia Bongo Ondimba since 2023, according to prosecutors and legal documents seen by AFP on Monday.The public prosecutor’s office in Geneva said that “an investigation for money laundering is curren»»»

Egypt and France signed a declaration of intent on Monday for bilateral cooperation in the field of migration, focusing on addressing the root economic and social causes of irregular movement rather than solely managing borders. Speaking at the signing ceremony, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Emigrat»»»

Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev held talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Beştepe presidential complex in Ankara ahead of the upcoming NATO summit, according to statements released by the Turkish ruling Justice and Development Party. The meeting took place shortly before th»»»

DOHA: Neymar’s remarkable journey with Brazil came full circle yesterday as the Selecao’s all-time leading goalscorer announced his retirement from international football following a heartbreaking 2-1 defeat to Norway in the FIFA World Cup Round of 16. The emotional farewell unfolded at MetLife Sta»»»

Firefighters battle a wildfire in Oreokastro, near Thessaloniki, Greece, on Sunday. The wildfire set several businesses on fire and prompted evacuations in nearby settlements. Photo by Achilleas Chiras/EPA July 6 (UPI) -- Thousands of people are being evacuated Monday in southern France as a wildfi»»»

A view of the Cantalloc aqueducts in Nazca, Peru. The dusty and desert land of Ica, on the southern coast of Peru, was the cradle of the Nazca culture, whose inhabitants came to build, more than a 1,000 years ago, miles of underground aqueducts, The site is now threatened by illegal mining. File Ph»»»

BUNIA: At least 500 people have died out of over 1,500 confirmed cases in Congo’s Ebola outbreak, authorities said, as frontline workers threatened to go on strike over unpaid benefits and poor working conditions. The outbreak has recorded 1,561 cases, including 506 deaths, since it was declared on»»»

LONDON: Israel’s finance minister said on Monday that the Israeli government had begun a “settlement revolution” that would eventually extend to the Negev and Galilee. “I’ve got news for you: We’ve only just begun the revolution in settlement. We’ll get to the Negev and the Galilee too,” Bezalel Sm»»»

The contract between Bulgaria's state-owned gas supplier Bulgargaz and Turkey's Botas has been frozen for the next 15 months after the two companies signed a protocol introducing temporary changes to their agreement. During that period, Bulgaria will pay only for the transmission capacity it actual»»»

Presenting good examples in foster care is a way to encourage more people to become foster parents, BTA Director General Kiril Valchev said at the opening of a discussion on the "Foster Me" project at the BTA National Press Club. The event was organized by BTA and the Social Assistance Agency. Valc»»»

Hundreds of thousands are attending the funeral of slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran in a clear display of solidarity and defiance by the country’s people, geostrategic analyst Christopher Helali, who is attending the ceremony, has told RT. Khamenei was assassinated in a»»»

Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Rumen Radev said he had proposed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Bulgaria and Ukraine jointly build the long-delayed Belene nuclear power plant using European Union funding, instead of Kyiv purchasing Russian-built reactors originally intended for the proje»»»

Chinese tech giant Alibaba has ordered staff to stop using Anthropic's Claude Code after the US coding tool was found to be flagging users’ connecting from China. But Anthropic is already trying to stop Chinese firms from using Claude at all and accuses Alibaba of running large "distillation" »»»

Minor White, Aaron Siskind, and Harry Callahan carved out a new role for photographers and their art in the decades after World War Two. “Photography as a Way of Life” traces how these influential teachers and theorists reimagined the medium as a livelihood and a life’s work. Together with growing »»»

Prime Minister Rumen Radev arrived in Ankara on Monday for the NATO Summit, which will take place in the Turkish capital on July 7 and 8. During his first day in Ankara, Radev met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Following the talks, Bulgaria's State-owned gas supplier Bulgargaz and Tur»»»

July 6 (UPI) -- A brown bear wandered into a hotel in Tibet and forced its way into a locked room with two guests inside. Security camera footage from the hotel in Nagqu shows the bear wander down a hallway inside the building on Saturday and force its way through a door into an occupied room. The »»»

DUBAI: Dubai Basketball has extended the contract of Mfiondu Kabengele until 2028, securing the future of one of the best centers in the EuroLeague. Already under contract through 2027, the Canadian big man has earned a new extension after an outstanding first season with the club. In his EuroLeagu»»»

RAMALLAH: Ramallah’s Contemporary Arts Festival, one of the largest in the occupied West Bank, began on Monday for the first time since the war in Gaza shut down most cultural activities there. Khaled Aliyan, the festival’s director, said that the festival had returned “after a forced-two-year susp»»»

Argentine Finance Minister Luis Caputo (R) said President Javier Milei's administration does not plan to raise money from foreign investors through new international bond sales. File Photo by David Fernandez/EPA BUENOS AIRES, July 6 (UPI) -- Argentine Economy Minister Luis Caputo announced Monday a»»»

Abu Dhabi: Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, expressed the UAE's strong condemnation and denunciation of the terrorist plots foiled in the Kingdom of Morocco. The plots sought to seriously undermine public order and the security of persons a»»»

Berlin: The German cabinet approved the government's 2027 budget proposal today, which includes higher spending and increased new borrowing, amid a wave of sharp criticism. The draft budget allocates total expenditures of 555.5 billion Euros, up from 525.5 billion Euros in the current year's budget»»»

DAMASCUS: Syrian Defense Minister Maj. Gen. Murhaf Abu Qasra said Presidential Decree No. 147 of 2026, issued by President Ahmad Al-Sharaa establishing the National University for Defense Sciences, is the culmination of months of work, research, and reviews of Arab and regional military education m»»»

BERLIN — The German cabinet Monday approved a budget for next year that sets out vast new outlays for defence but drew criticism for cutting spending on climate action and aid.The plans, which still need to be approved by parliament, envisage Europe's biggest economy spending more than projected ju»»»

AMMAN — Jordanian banks increased spending on technology and digital transformation to around JD221 million in 2025, up 2.5 per cent from approximately JD216 million the previous year, according to a new study by the Association of Banks in Jordan (ABJ).The study found that investment extends well »»»

AMMAN — A decline in women’s participation in the labour market could have implications for Jordan’s productivity and long-term growth, according to a UN report.According to a new policy brief by the UN Women Arab States office, women account for around 16 per cent of Jordan's labour force, warning»»»

As more than ten days have passed since Venezuela was struck by twin earthquakes, the death toll remains uncertain, with an official balance of at least 3,342 people killed. On the northern coastal part of the country, the hardest-hit region, survivors and volunteers from across the country are tak»»»

The funeral procession for Iran's late supreme leader Ali Khamenei has begun in Tehran. Millions are expected to attend, possibly leading to crowds that could rival those that turned out for his predecessor nearly four decades ago. FRANCE 24's Reza Sayah went to the procession and tells us why so m»»»

Across Iran, families are grappling with soaring living costs, as the combined weight of war, subsidy reforms and sanctions pushes basic necessities beyond the reach of many. Some Iranians had hoped foreign intervention would unseat the regime - instead, the US-Israel war has crushed livelihoods.»»»

ROME: Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council Jasem Albudaiwi and Antonio Tajani, Italy’s deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation, signed a memorandum of understanding in Rome on Monday to expand cooperation in political dialogue, knowledge exch»»»

Author: Julian Barnes Julian Barnes’s 2026 novel, “Departure(s),” is a short book that manages a difficult task: It looks directly at mortality without flattening into gloom. Part memoir, part fiction, it moves between Barnes’s own reflections and the story of Stephen and Jean, whose late-life reun»»»