Building an economy often takes decades of patient labour. Yet the collapse of political institutions, or the eruption of conflict in the aftermath of revolutions and coups, can cancel out years of growth with startling speed, condemning nations to a long and punishing struggle to recover what they»»»

Oil and gas extraction in the Black Sea is not a good idea, Greenpeace Bulgaria Campaigns Manager Desislava Mikova said on Friday. Greenpeace's Arctic Sunrise icebreaker arrived in Varna for a two-day port call as part of the organization's campaign to protect oceans, the climate and vulnerable mar»»»

Dubai: Small businesses in the UAE with annual revenue of up to Dh3 million will be able to continue claiming Small Business Relief for corporate tax purposes until the end of 2029. Sign up for our daily business newsletter, Cheques & Balances.The Ministry of Finance said on Friday that Ministerial»»»

Doha, Qatar: With summer temperatures remaining high across the country, the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has urged the public to follow safe food preparation, storage and ordering practices to reduce the risk of foodborne illnesses. In Qatar, where summer temperatures routinely exceed 40°C, pr»»»

The US dollar edged higher on Friday, against both the Japanese yen and the euro, extending gains from the previous session as growing doubts over reaching a peace deal with Iran bolstered the greenback’s safe-haven appeal. The dollar also gained additional support from rising US Treasury yields fo»»»

To reach a deal with Iran that reopens the economically vital Strait of Hormuz, President Donald Trump may need to do something out of character — compromise. Any concession would be tough for the Republican president, who has insisted there is no truth to his sagging poll numbers, the sluggish eco»»»

Dubai: Emaar Development recorded Dh22.4 billion in property sales during the first half of 2026, while net profit after tax increased 43% to Dh6.7 billion as the developer continued to recognise revenue from projects across its Dubai communities. Sign up for our daily business newsletter, Cheques »»»

Dubai: UAE homebuyers and property investors can compare mortgage offers from several leading banks at a two-day event being held by DAMAC Properties this weekend. Sign up for our daily business newsletter, Cheques & Balances.Participating banks are offering financing of up to 85 per cent available»»»

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday that trade negotiations with the United States had turned "nasty" after President Donald Trump derided America's neighbor and its leadership while threatening to expand tariffs. Carney said Canada remained engaged in the negotiations despite Trump's»»»

Kuwait: Hundreds of expatriates in Kuwait have had applications to convert visit visas into residency permits rejected after failing to meet the conditions set out in a recently introduced ministerial decree, according to a security source. The source said many expatriates submitted applications at»»»

Kochi: As the sun set over Kochi’s historic Jew Town neighbourhood, Keith Hallegua donned a grey kippah and began a solitary walk to the synagogue at the end of his cobbled street. It was Shavuot, the Jewish holiday commemorating God giving the Torah to Moses. Hallegua reached the 458-year-old Para»»»

Abu Dhabi: President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has sent a message of condolences to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia, expressing his sincere condolences and sympathy over the passing of the mother of Prince Hamoud bin Saud»»»

Some of the materials collected in the case involving a fentanyl laboratory will be shared with US authorities, Interior Ministry acting Secretary General Lyubomir Nikolov told an interview with Bulgarian National Television (BNT) on Friday. Nikolov was speaking about a recently uncovered laborator»»»

In the early 2000s, I worked with domestic violence victims in Seattle, Washington. One of my trainers was a scrappy woman who told me she was a former member of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Looking back, I remember wondering why several former Mossad and IDF personnel were involved in training»»»

Meta has become the third major tech company to report its AI going rogue and hacking a third-party company. The incident involved Muse Spark 1.1, an AI model marketed by the company as “superintelligent.” In a statement to the media on Wednesday, Meta said that the model was undergoing testing by »»»

Ghana's central bank lost more than $1.7bn in 2025 running its gold-buying programme, the International Monetary Fund has said, even as the scheme helped rebuild the country's foreign reserves and prop up the cedi. The losses, disclosed in the IMF's 2026 Article IV Consultation and proposed Policy »»»

The Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has advised Bulgarian citizens to avoid traveling to Cuba unless absolutely necessary, including for tourism, citing the country's worsening crisis. The warning was issued by the ministry's Situation Center as conditions on the island continue to deteriorat»»»

The two countries have signed an MoU with Vitol Bahrain to transform Tanzania’s port of Tanga from just an export terminal into a full regional energy hub. Uganda's crude exports are set to flow through the nearly finished 1,443 km East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), making Tanga its gateway t»»»

DUBAI: The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) has opened an exhibition of the five shortlisted works for the seventh edition of the Ithra Art Prize, bringing all the finalists together under one roof. The exhibition, which opened on Aug. 6 in Dhahran, featured new works by Aseel Al-Yaq»»»

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka deployed troops to its main maximum-security prison in Colombo and two other jails on Friday, following unsuccessful breakout attempts in which three inmates were killed and 23 wounded, a government minister said. Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala said an inmate was killed»»»

Israel refused in talks on Thursday to withdraw from more areas of south Lebanon unless the Lebanese army had full control of an initial two "pilot zones", a Lebanese presidential source told AFP. The seventh round of negotiations between Lebanon and Israel was held in Rome under U.S. auspices, aim»»»

Dubai: Passengers wheeling suitcases towards check-in counters and families preparing to fly out were met with an unusual sight at Dubai International Airport (DXB) Terminal 3, groups of runners and walkers completing laps inside one of the world’s busiest airports. For the first time, DXB transfor»»»

Some of the materials collected in the case involving a fentanyl laboratory will be shared with US authorities, Interior Ministry acting Secretary General Lyubomir Nikolov told an interview with Bulgarian National Television (BNT) on Friday. Nikolov was speaking about a recently uncovered laborator»»»

Private equity (PE) funds active in Romania continue to seek new investments despite a significantly weaker macroeconomic environment and greater political uncertainty, according to the Roland Berger European Private Equity Outlook 2026. The study suggests that the industry is entering a new stage »»»

Romania’s Finance Ministry launched the eighth Fidelis government bond offering of 2026 on Friday, with annual interest rates of up to 7.5% for lei-denominated securities and 6.3% for euro-denominated bonds. The subscription period runs from August 7 to August 14 and is open to resident and non-res»»»

A laser demining system mounted on Russia’s Kuryer (lit. Courier) ground robot can destroy buried munitions without triggering an explosion, Oleg Zaremba, an expert with the Popular Front’s Kulibin Club program, said. "Even a 10-centimeter layer of ceramic is burned through by a high-power laser, w»»»

San Francisco: A New Mexico judge on Thursday ordered Meta to pay more than half a billion dollars over the state’s claims that the social media giant created a “public nuisance” and harmed children. Meta was previously ordered to pay $375 million in damages to New Mexico in March when a jury found»»»

Dubai: Fly Baghdad has been removed from the US sanctions list after two years, allowing the Iraqi airline to resume normal commercial dealings and begin rebuilding its flight network. Sign up for our daily business newsletter, Cheques & Balances.The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreig»»»

A fire broke out on Friday morning in a building under construction in the Yas Island area, with teams from Abu Dhabi Police and the Abu Dhabi Civil Defence Authority responding to the scene, authorities announced. In a statement posted on its official X account (@ADPoliceHQ), Abu Dhabi Police conf»»»

President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov met with Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan today, August 7, in Cholpon-Ata. The parties discussed the current state and prospects for developing Kyrgyzstan — Armenia relations, expanding trade, economic, and investment cooperation, and exchanged views o»»»

ABU DHABI: Asma Al-Hosani, Balqees Al-Hashmi and Shamma Al-Kalbani struck gold as the UAE made an impressive start to the Adult division at the 2026 Jiu-Jitsu World Championship on Thursday at Mubadala Arena in Abu Dhabi. The three gold headlined a five-medal haul for the UAE, which included two si»»»

RIYADH: This summer, Ali Al-Mussa, son of the pioneering Saudi artist Abdulsattar Al-Mussa, made a surprising and significant discovery: an oil painting by his late father of a woman washing another woman’s feet. Ali believes the painting dates back to 1979, and is likely the original on which Al-M»»»

RIYADH: When Saudi actor Meshal “Mish” Alsunaid was a kid — around nine years old — he used to record short skits about knights and ghosts with his cousins on a Nokia phone. “Some of it was shot in Riyadh and some in the Eastern Province; we did some at my grandparents’ house, we did some at my aun»»»

NEW JERSEY: Joaquin Niemann set the tone in brutal heat at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster on Thursday, carding a bogey-free seven-under 64 to take the outright opening round lead of LIV Golf New York 2026. The last time the Chilean held the solo first-round lead in LIV Golf was when he opened »»»

RIYADH: The story of the 2026-27 Saudi Pro League season could have a blockbuster end with reigning champions Al-Nassr and runners-up Al-Hilal facing off in the Riyadh Derby on the 34th and final match day of the campaign. The competition, also known as the Roshn Saudi League, kicks off on Aug. 13 »»»

Infrastructure reconstruction and landscaping work is underway at the entrance to Talas region. Ermat Dzhumaev, Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the region, reported. According to him, a rest point for tourists and visitors is being built at the entrance to the region. It will include modern r»»»

On August 7, 1998, terrorists' bombs detonated within minutes of each other outside of U.S. embassy buildings in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing 224 people. 1 of 4 | Fire and rescue workers are on the scene moments after a blast at the U.S. Embassy in the Kenyan capital early A»»»

President Sadyr Japarov signed a decree appointing Muratbek Azymbakiev as Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan to Switzerland. He was recently appointed Permanent Representative of the Kyrgyz Republic to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva. The presidential press service reported»»»

Prime Minister Péter Magyar on Thursday accused the former prime minister, Viktor Orbán, of knowing that Hungary’s energy system was on the brink of collapse but failing to act. Hungary could not provide as much electricity as Orbán promised In a video posted on Facebook, Magyar quoted a 2022 bill »»»

Romania will introduce a new framework for recruiting workers from outside the European Union from August 8, as authorities move to tighten oversight of a labour market increasingly reliant on foreign workers. Through Emergency Ordinance 32/2026, the government aims to improve traceability in the r»»»

Dubai: Emaar Properties recorded Dh26.6 billion in property sales during the first half of 2026, while its revenue backlog climbed to Dh164.9 billion, giving the Dubai developer a substantial pipeline of sales to recognise in future periods. Sign up for our daily business newsletter, Cheques & Bala»»»

Extreme temperatures affect transport, energy production, and productivity, while altering consumption habits?benefiting some industries and harming others?according to an analysis by XTB Romania released on Thursday."Western Europe is facing its fourth heatwave of the year. Italy has placed all ma»»»

The Romanian government on Thursday approved, at the proposal of the Ministry of Finance, a draft decision supplementing Ordinance 1204/2022 on the establishment, organisation and functioning of the Investment and Development Bank (IDB), in order to authorise Romania's participation, through the ID»»»

The Government approved on Thursday a decision endorsing Romania's Risk-Preparedness Plan for the Electricity Sector, a framework document outlining national measures for preventing, preparing for, managing and mitigating the effects of potential electricity-supply crises, as well as steps required»»»

The Permanent Bureau of the Chamber of Deputies approved on Thursday the summoning of an extraordinary session on August 11 and 12. The agenda includes three draft laws and a legislative proposal. The agenda approved by the leaders of the Chamber of Deputies includes the bill completing law 7/2023 »»»

The Osh City Hall has denied reports of a new market being built on the site of the old market near Ak-Buura River. The municipality’s press service reported. The City Hall stated that reports circulating on social media about plans to rebuild a market on this site are untrue. According to the City»»»

Kyrgyzstan has adopted a large package of amendments to the Law «On Public Procurement.» Most of the new rules will take effect on January 1, 2027. The document changes procurement planning procedures, supplier requirements, the work of commissions, appeals, and contract signing. Control over corru»»»

Meta, founded and owned by Mark Zuckerberg, was ordered Thursday to pay New Mexico $567 million for a fund that most of which will go toward treating harms incurred by children due to social media. File Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI | License Photo Aug. 7 (UPI) -- A New Mexico state court ordered Meta to»»»

The US-Iran conflict remains unresolved Friday, with the Strait of Hormuz still at the centre of diplomatic and economic pressure. Residents across the UAE and the Gulf are watching closely for changes to flights, fuel prices, shipping and regional security. Here are the key developments UAE reside»»»

For 21 years, Dr. Eng. Suaad Al Shamsi, has been challenging perceptions of what women can achieve in one of the world's most demanding industries. As the first female aircraft engineer in the United Arab Emirates, she has built a career at the intersection of aviation, technology and leadership, w»»»