Architect Stoyan Petkov has taken over GERB local organizations in the Varna region. The new chairman of both the city and regional party chapters was officially introduced by the leader Boyko Borissov. He explained that party members, including MPs, MEPs, district and municipal mayors had rallied »»»

Secretary's SpeechLebanon PalestineZionist EntityRegional and International International More Video Language Ar En Fr EsSubscribe for Weekly Updates Subscribe Al-Manar correspondent: Israeli occupation forces carry out a bombing in the town of Al-Mansouri in southern Lebanon 17-08-2026 18:52 PM La»»»

RIYADH: Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and his Sudanese counterpart Mohieldin Salem Ahmed Ibrahim signed an agreement to establish the Saudi-Sudanese Coordination Council in Riyadh on Monday. The establishment of the council reflects the keenness of both nations to elevate the leve»»»

Nearly 8 in 10 Argentine households earn less than the national average, helping explain why consumer spending remains weak despite signs of improvement in the broader economy File Photo by Matias Martin Campaya/EPA Aug. 17 (UPI) -- Nearly 8 in 10 Argentine households earn less than the national av»»»

An image made with a drone shows an Amazon Web Services data center in Ashburn, Va., on Sept. 23, 2025. File Photo by Jim Scalzo/EPA Aug. 17 (UPI) -- Nvidia announced on Monday that it will finance an OpenAI data center in Ohio for up to $105 billion. The credit from Nvidia will fund the data cente»»»

Egypt’s new Criminal Procedure Law will take effect on October 1, 2026, as the Justice Ministry prepares to implement the legislation alongside a broader programme to digitise the judicial system, accelerate court proceedings and improve judicial efficiency. President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi reviewed »»»

The Egyptian foreign ministry and the Journalists Syndicate agreed on Monday to organise regular educational events and joint training programmes to brief the press on the country’s foreign policy and regional stances. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Emigration and Egyptian Expatriates Badr Abdelatty »»»

The West Port Said port received the Palau-flagged cruise ship Astoria Grande on its maiden visit on Monday, carrying 414 passengers and 409 crew members on a voyage from Turkey, the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) said in a statement. The vessel, arriving from the Turkish port of Kusadasi as par»»»

Egypt-China trade reached approximately $20.8bn in 2025, with Chinese exports to Egypt accounting for nearly $19.9bn, compared with just $819m in Egyptian exports to China, Head of the Egyptian Commercial Service Abdel Aziz Elsherif said. The figures highlight both the scale of the economic partner»»»

Egypt’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation is expanding a digital spatial monitoring system designed to detect encroachments and violations affecting waterways, water infrastructure and ministry-administered land at an early stage, as part of efforts to strengthen digital oversight and gove»»»

Tunis, August 17 (TAP) - Tunindex closed Monday's session down 1.02% to 19,429.14 points with a traded volume of TND 5.6 million thanks to a block transaction on the BT stock worth TND 1.3 million, said broker Tunisie Valeurs. TUNINVEST shares were...»»»

LONDON: Jordan’s King Abdullah II said China and Arab countries have maintained durable ties through decades of regional upheaval by focusing on practical cooperation and shared interests, as he called for deeper coordination on easing tensions in the Middle East. In an interview with China’s Xinhu»»»

1 of 2 | British Prime Minister Andy Burnham gives a speech outside No 10 Downing Street on July 20. On Monday, sources close to the prime minister said he received messages from someone impersonating White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. Photo by Hugo Philpott/UPI | License Photo Aug. 17 (UPI) -»»»

Dubai: Saudi Arabia has begun enforcing new inspection and monitoring powers over private and non-profit organisations that violate the rights of people with disabilities, with penalties for the most serious breaches reaching SAR500,000 ($133,000). The Authority for the Care of People with Disabili»»»

BEIRUT: Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon continued on Monday, as a 60-day deadline set by an agreement in June between US-Iran to reach a deal on ending their conflict expired, an arrangement Tehran previously said also applied to Lebanon. However, an official Lebanese source told Arab News that»»»

Doha, Qatar: The National Cyber Security Agency (NCSA), represented by the National Cyber Strategies and Policies Department, organised a training course for Policy Management. This course is the fourteenth edition of the training sessions offered by the department this year on this topic, aiming t»»»

The UAE is moving ahead with plans to transform 50% of government sectors, services and operations into models powered by Agentic AI within the next two years, as officials work to build the technology and data infrastructure needed for the shift. The Higher Committee for Agentic AI organised the “»»»

Dubai: A Canadian-bred falcon has sold for 1.3 million Saudi riyals ($346,000) at an auction north of Riyadh, making it the most expensive bird sold at this year’s event and the second-highest sale in the auction’s history. The juvenile three-quarter gyr Super White falcon, bred by Jim Wilson Falco»»»

Helsinki: A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Oulu in Finland reveals that regular coffee consumption is associated with reduced body fat and lower visceral fat levels. According to a report by the New York Post, the study surveyed over 2,200 participants regarding their dieta»»»

Doha, Qatar: A diet should not be judged solely by how quickly it changes the number on the scale, but by whether it can be maintained over the long term while providing adequate nutrition, according to therapeutic and community nutrition specialist Alaa Mahmoud Abu Nahia. Speaking during an interv»»»

BEIRUT (Sputnik) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to maintain the Israeli military presence in the Gaza Strip and is bearing responsibility for a possible failure of mediation efforts to resolve the conflict, League of Arab States (LAS) Secretary-General Nabil Fahmy said on Mo»»»

More than 3.1 million guests visited Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi during the first half of 2026, as the landmark continued to attract worshippers and visitors from around the world. According to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Centre, the mosque welcomed 3,127,607 guests during the six-mont»»»

LONDON: In a sign of the growing pressure on Syria’s embattled captagon networks, smugglers are increasingly taking to the air — not in aircraft, but using balloons in an attempt to bypass tighter border controls and carry the illicit drug into Jordan and beyond. Increasingly, however, their balloo»»»

Secretary's SpeechLebanon PalestineZionist EntityRegional and International International More Video Language Ar En Fr EsSubscribe for Weekly Updates Subscribe Al-Manar correspondent: Israeli artillery targets the outskirts of Zawtary Sharqiyeh town, South Lebanon 17-08-2026 17:13 PM Latest News Ur»»»

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s National Center for Wildlife, in collaboration with Neom, has documented the birth of the first striped hyena cub since two breeding pairs were reintroduced to the Neom Nature Reserve. The birth is a positive sign that the hyenas have adapted successfully to the reserve and o»»»

U.S. rescue teams conduct search operations for survivors following two powerful earthquakes, measuring 7.2 and 7.5 on the Richter scale, that struck La Guaira, Venezuela, on June 30. File Photo by U.S. Department of State/UPI | License Photo Aug. 17 (UPI) -- Major earthquakes that struck Venezuela»»»

The Mount Etna volcano spews smoke and ashes during volcanic activity in Sicily island, Italy, on April 15, 2025. File Photo by Orietta Scardino/EPA-EFE Aug. 17 (UPI) -- A 30-year-old American tourist died on Sunday in Italy after being struck by lightning while hiking on Mount Etna in Sicily. The »»»

Forty-two weapons were recovered by the Mexican military in Naco, Sonora, in 2009. File Photo courtesy of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Aug. 17 (UPI) -- Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service accused the intelligence services of a Western country of preparing, together with»»»

Dubai: Two farmers in Kentucky have rejected a Dh97.25 million ($26.48 million) offer for land that has been in their family for generations, after learning that the property was being sought for a vast data centre intended to support artificial intelligence infrastructure. Delsia Bare and her moth»»»

Dubai: At least 15 people were killed in two separate disasters involving Hindu pilgrims in eastern India on Monday, with eight dying in a hotel fire in West Bengal and seven in a crowd crush at a temple in neighbouring Bihar, officials said. The incidents occurred during Shravan, a sacred month in»»»

Monschau, Germany: Firefighters and farmers backed by water-dropping aircraft battled through a fourth day Monday to tame Belgium's worst wildfire in a century, still burning through pristine parkland though it was halted short of the German border. The blaze charring the High Fens nature reserve, »»»

Tunis, August 17, 2026 (TAP) — Civil Protection units carried out 568 interventions over the past 24 hours, including 99 firefighting operations, according to figures published Monday on the official website of the Ministry of Interior.From 6 a.m....»»»

A prominent Malian broadcaster and an influencer were on Monday jailed for seven years after criticising the ruling junta. Mohamed Youssouf Bathily was convicted by the Bamaka court of criminal conspiracy and discrediting the state alongside Rokia Doumbia, a noted campaigner. A Malian court sentenc»»»

Dubai: Iran will resume sending pilgrims to Saudi Arabia for Umrah after a six-month suspension, with 18,000 people scheduled to travel in the first phase of the programme, official Fars News Agency reported. Akbar Rezaei, deputy head of Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organisation for Hajj and Umrah af»»»

AL-MUKALLA: At least seven missiles launched by the Iran-backed Houthis struck two government-controlled areas on Yemen’s Red Sea coast on Monday, as the militia continued to mourn dozens of fighters killed during its latest military escalation, local officials said. Two missiles struck Mokha seapo»»»

Nearly 10 years after the attempted referendum on Catalan independence which led to violent clashes between the public and the police, the political demands of the independence movement have not been met. ENTR travelled to Catalonia in June to meet with young people there who are continuing the fig»»»

Tunis, August 17 (TAP) — A training program destined to 100 Tunisian women entrepreneurs in e-commerce and artificial intelligence (AI) applications was launched during a recent online meeting, as part of a partnership between the Ministry of...»»»

By UPI Staff A look at the women who have served as presidents of Latin American countries, both elected and interim. This collection highlights the modern female leaders who have shaped national politics across the region in recent decades. Violeta Chamorro, Nicaragua President-elect of Nicaragua »»»

Dubai: After spending nearly six months largely out of sight, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei is beginning to show what his Iran will look like. And it looks increasingly like a country preparing for a long fight. Khamenei has installed a string of veteran military and security har»»»

Russia's meat and feed exporters face a choice between two very different markets: Iran, slow and bureaucratic but predictable, and the Philippines, fast-growing but brutal on price. This is what Russia's pivot to Asia looks like at the level of an actual container. Shut out of European agricultura»»»

The EU bought €809mn of Russian liquefied natural gas in June, 57% more than a year earlier, with Belgium the single biggest buyer. That gave Russia 24.1% of the EU's LNG market by value, second only to the US on 54.3% and €1.83bn. Belgium took €268mn worth, its highest since July 2025, ahead of Fr»»»

The Ministry of Agriculture and Food is launching nationwide inspections starting on Monday to check compliance with legal requirements for activities affecting agricultural land and forest areas, the Ministry said here on Monday. The inspections will cover legal compliance related to land cultivat»»»

Russia's meat and feed exporters face a choice between two very different markets: Iran, slow and bureaucratic but predictable, and the Philippines, fast-growing but brutal on price. This is what Russia's pivot to Asia looks like at the level of an actual container. Shut out of European agricultura»»»

Five years after the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi has called on Washington to reopen its embassy in Kabul and deepen diplomatic and economic engagement with the country. The appeal includes potential US investment in Afghanistan’s mineral resources an»»»

Russia's banks are earning more than ever, yet beneath the record profits lie mounting bad debts, a flight to cash and a corporate-loan pile that few in Moscow can measure. The country's largest lender, state-controlled Sberbank, posted a record IFRS net profit of RUB1.01tn ($12.6bn) in 1H26, up 19»»»

The EU bought €809mn of Russian liquefied natural gas in June, 57% more than a year earlier, with Belgium the single biggest buyer. That gave Russia 24.1% of the EU's LNG market by value, second only to the US on 54.3% and €1.83bn. Belgium took €268mn worth, its highest since July 2025, ahead of Fr»»»

Russia's meat and feed exporters face a choice between two very different markets: Iran, slow and bureaucratic but predictable, and the Philippines, fast-growing but brutal on price. This is what Russia's pivot to Asia looks like at the level of an actual container. Shut out of European agricultura»»»

Russia's main state development bank has sacked its chief economist over a speech he gave three months ago, in which he said the Russian economy would survive. Andrei Klepach, chief economist at VEB.RF for 12 years, was dismissed on August 16. VEB.RF chairman Igor Shuvalov let him go on an instruct»»»

Anxiety in Russia has climbed back to the level it reached when Vladimir Putin ordered mobilisation four years ago. Some 57% of Russians describe the situation in their country as tense and a further 13% call it critical or explosive - 70% between them, the highest since September 2022. Only 19% sa»»»

Armenian banks must now identify and freeze payments designed to slip past Western sanctions on Russia, under central bank rules that took effect on August 12. The requirements sit inside a new regulation on banks' minimum internal control standards approved by the Central Bank of Armenia. Lenders »»»