The goal of the ‘BRICS’ (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) strategy is to establish a more equitable international order and reduce the dominance of international institutions currently led by Western countries. The bloc was born of the belief that the emerging giants like these econo»»»

Poland's nationalist President Karol Nawrocki said Friday that he was revoking the country's highest award from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after he infuriated Warsaw by naming a Ukrainian unit after a World War II insurgent militia that massacred Poles. Polish Prime Minister Donald»»»

Seattle: The United States advanced to the World Cup knockout rounds with a game to spare following an impressive 2-0 win over Australia Friday, stoking the hopes of an already hyped host nation. The US join fellow tournament co-hosts Mexico as the first teams to progress, and could be assured top »»»

Uzbekistan and South Korea have agreed to establish industrial clusters, expand infrastructure cooperation and elevate investment partnerships across multiple sectors based on a series of agreements and memoranda signed at the Uzbekistan-Korea Business Forum in Tashkent. The forum was held on »»»

Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire on Friday, a US official said, following the resurgence of strikes in Lebanon that are already testing Wednesday's interim deal between Tehran and Washington to end the war in the Middle East. Israeli strikes have killed 47 people since Thursday night,&nbs»»»

The deadly Ebola outbreak in DR Congo is rapidly spreading in spite of accelerating public health measures, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday. The outbreak, which began in mid-May, is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus for which there is not yet a vaccine or specific tr»»»

LEIPZIG, Germany: Two years after leaving the United States following a series of unsuccessful MLS tryouts, Yan Diomande is shining at the World Cup for Ivory Coast — and still grieving a family tragedy. Diomande, 19, made his Ivory Coast debut in October and scored in his first two matches. On Sat»»»

CALIFORNIA, USA: As soon as Switzerland and Bosnia were off the pitch after their World Cup match on Thursday, another team were on it. But instead of tearing at the grass with studs this team were mowing, brushing, seeding, and repairing it. After being battered by some of the world’s best and mos»»»

Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem delivers a televised speech during a gathering in Beirut, Lebanon, on Sept. 27, 2025. Analysts say southern Lebanon could remain a battlefield and a bargaining chip in regional negotiations despite a preliminary agreement between the United States and Iran. Photo»»»

President Donald Trump, pictured meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in May 2025, plans to end U.S. funding for HIV programs in South Africa over political differences, State Department officials said on Friday. File Photo by Jim Lo Scalzo/UPI | License Photo June 19 (UPI) -- The T»»»

Paris, France: Algeria have lodged a complaint with FIFA over "refereeing injustice" in their opening World Cup loss to Argentina, particularly a tackle by Lionel Messi, an Algerian football federation source told AFP on Friday. Messi caught Algeria defender Aissa Mandi on the calf with a studs-up »»»

President Miguel Díaz-Canel's package of 174 economic reforms were approved by Cuba's parliament in just one week. File Photo by Ariel Ley Royero/EPA June 19 (UPI) -- Cuba's parliament approved a package of 174 economic reforms in just one week, marking the most significant shift in government poli»»»

A major institutional crisis appears to have erupted within Hungary’s Constitutional Court after seven judges reportedly withdrew from a case initiated by President Tamás Sulyok, forcing the court to remove the matter from its agenda. According to HVG, Constitutional Court President Péter Polt had »»»

ATLANTA, USA: Lamine Yamal is not feeling 100 percent fit and is not likely to start for Spain in the match against Saudi Arabia on Sunday at the World Cup. Yamal came into the tournament nursing a left hamstring injury and was only a substitute in the team’s opener on Monday — a disappointing 0-0 »»»

LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Friday he would not walk away, ​vowing to fight any challenge from his leading party rival, Andy Burnham, and potentially ushering in a new bout of political instability. Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, won a decisive victory for Labour to »»»

BERLIN: A German court on Friday handed a three-year jail term to a man who published online "death sentences" with calls to kill politicians, said to include former chancellors Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz. The 50-year-old German-Polish man, partially named as Martin S., admitted to operating an »»»

Oslo: Oslo authorities announced today their intention to open a diplomatic mission in Greenland to strengthen bilateral relations, at a time of escalating tensions between the US president and Denmark over this self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas »»»

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US intelligence agencies are warning that Israel is likely to try derailing the final peace deal between the United States and Iran, The Washington Post reported on Friday, citing current and former officials. On June 14, Iran and the United States confirmed that work on a me»»»

EU leaders have cautiously welcomed Donald Trump's signing of an interim agreement with Iran, after nearly four months of war in the Middle East. But it is only a Memorandum of Understanding, and Europeans know the US president too well to celebrate prematurely. The conflict has led to the most sev»»»

US President Donald Trump pushed for a memorandum of understanding with Iran because he found himself in a dire situation, the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has said. The 14-point document was signed remotely by Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian late on »»»

The start of a new heatwave in France has prompted multiple schools to announce changes to their opening hours from Thursday onwards. As climate change makes high temperatures an annual – and increasingly early – phenomenon, France and other countries in southern Europe are debating »»»

Prime Minister Péter Magyar has announced that the European Commission has recommended Hungary’s revised Recovery and Resilience Plan for approval, potentially unlocking billions of euros in EU funding. Speaking after the European Council’s two-day summit in Brussels, Magyar said the Commission had»»»

The Rotherham rape gang scandal exposed a profound civilizational betrayal at the heart of modern Britain: a once-cohesive nation, shaped by centuries of shared history and identity, is now undermined by universalist delusions and forced to confront harsh tribal realities, incompatible loyalties, a»»»

International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan walked with Asaad al-Shaibani, right, in Damascus, Syria, in 2025. Khan has been suspended from the British bar over sexual misconduct allegations. File Photo by SANA/UPI. | License Photo June 19 (UPI) -- Karim Khan, chief prosecutor for the Intern»»»

DENPASAR, Indonesia: Authorities in Indonesia ‘s tourist island of Bali foiled an attempt to illegally trade 21 protected green sea turtles, police said on Friday. Bali police seized the live animals during a raid on the Pegametan coast of the island on June 10, after local residents reported suspe»»»

TOKYO/TAIPEI: The CEO of UFORCE, a Ukrainian producer of attack drones, flew to Tokyo in April with a pitch for Japanese officials and defense contractors: build thousands of our drones to defend yourself and allies. Days earlier, US troops had used waterborne UFORCE drones to sink a ship during a »»»

The US-funded Ukrainian laboratories were studying the disease-causing properties of plague, anthrax, tularemia, and the Marburg and Ebola viruses, stated Lieutenant General Alexei Rtishchev, head of the Russian Armed Forces’ Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops. It is important to not»»»

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a video posted on X Friday that she was "frankly stunned" by US President Donald Trump's claim that she "begged" him for a photo during the G7 summit. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said he was cancelling a visit to the US planned for June»»»

A Chinese worker has died following a workplace accident at the construction site of BYD’s new car factory in Szeged, southern Hungary. According to the Csongrád-Csanád County Police Headquarters, the fatal incident occurred on Thursday within the construction area of the factory. Police said a lor»»»

The electronic ink was barely dry, and Israel already knew what it thought about the emerging agreement. "Bad deal," read the main headline of Yediot Aharonot on 14 June, in two blunt Hebrew words that captured the national mood with the economy of a tombstone inscription. There is a reason for Isr»»»

MANILA: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Russia have agreed to deepen energy cooperation, as the region works to secure supply amid the global crisis sparked by the US war on Iran. Many Southeast Asian nations rely on the Middle East for crude oil imports, making them among the hardes»»»

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has condemned in the strongest terms Israel’s latest aggression against Lebanon, placing a premium on Washington’s accountability for the consequences of the regime’s war mongering. Israeli warplanes bombed residential areas in southern and eastern Lebanon before dawn Friday»»»

Bulgaria will not support EU sanctions against Russian businessman Vagit Alekperov, Prime Minister Rumen Radev said after a meeting of the European Council in Brussels on Friday, arguing that such a move would harm Bulgaria's national interests. "We will not allow the sanctions package to pass in t»»»

The fighting raged on in Lebanon with a wave of deadly of Israeli strikes overnight killing 18 people in Nabatieh district in the south while four Israeli troops were killed in a Hezbollah ambush in the same area. File photo by Atef Safadi/EPA June 19 (UPI) -- At least 18 people were killed and 33 »»»

US President Donald Trump unexpectedly signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran during a state dinner hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron at Versailles on Wednesday. The move surprised ministers and guests who had expected a formal signing ceremony in Switzerland later this week. At a »»»

Bulgaria has lost its earlier position as a leading voice in shaping the EU’s approach to enlargement in the Western Balkans, according to Maria Simeonova, director of the Sofia office of the European Council on Foreign Relations. Speaking to Bulgarian National Radio, she argued that the country wa»»»

DUBAI/BAGHDAD: Iraq is preparing to export crude oil and naphtha through ports in Syria, Syrian and Iraqi energy officials and refinery sources said after the Iran war cut off its main Gulf shipping routes. The move would broaden an arrangement that has seen Iraq export fuel oil through the Mediter»»»

AMSTERDAM: ‌The Netherlands said on Friday it had redirected a frigate toward the Strait of Hormuz, in order to be able to join a possible international mission there. The air defense frigate is currently in the Indo-Pacific region, and ‌would take ‌several weeks to ‌arrive ⁠in the region ⁠of the S»»»

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Donald Trump said on Friday the United States will "play out" the 60 days of the negotiation period with Iran despite the postponement of a planned technical meeting in Switzerland. Earlier in the day, the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs said that neg»»»

Dubai: The UAE is set to experience its longest day of the year on Sunday as the summer solstice marks the official start of astronomical summer in the Northern Hemisphere, bringing nearly 14 hours of daylight and signalling the approach of the region's hottest period. The summer solstice will occu»»»

In a move set to expedite the remittance landscape, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) is gearing up to introduce the “Instapay” application, facilitating money transfers from Egyptians living overseas. This initiative, expected to launch within the next two months, aims to streamline the remittance p»»»

The first of at least twelve demolition orders for multi-family houses in the Baba Alino area near Varna has already been issued, Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev told journalists here on Friday. He said the first orders concern buildings constructed using four “tolerance certificates” that are suspecte»»»

Illegal construction is currently taking place in the Malyovitsa ski area, in the northwestern part of the Rila Mountain, and continues despite a ban by the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, Regional Minister Ivan Shishkov told reporters in the parliamentary lobby on Friday. A plat»»»

Germany came under fresh US trade scrutiny on Thursday as the United States launched an investigation into the country's pharmaceutical pricing policies, a move that could pave the way for new tariffs. Washington said it would examine whether Germany's pricing practices unfairly underpay for innova»»»

PRESS REVIEW – Friday, June 19: Papers discuss the worsening fuel crisis in Russia. Also: the Major Oak tree from the Robin Hood legend is dead. Finally, articles discuss mums who use cannabis and ask how much is actually too much. Radio Free Europe's headline says that Russia's fuel crisis is»»»

The U.S. has "relayed" to Iran that Israel will not further escalate its attacks in Lebanon as the Trump administration seeks to get high-stakes nuclear talks with Iran back on track, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. Asked whether the U.S. would provide those guarantees, the source said:»»»

Jakarta: Indonesia will suspend its free meal scheme during holiday periods, after mass protests in the capital condemned wasteful spending and demanded that the government address worsening economic conditions. The multi-billion-dollar feeding programme is one of President Prabowo Subianto's signa»»»

Dubai: The UK’s decision to ease its travel advice for the UAE is expected to give a boost to tourism bookings, business visits and investor confidence, several industry representatives, including travel agents and business leaders, told Gulf News. Sign up for our daily business newsletter, Cheques»»»

In northeastern Ivory Coast, along the border with Burkina Faso, tension has become a permanent reality. The jihadist threat spreading from the Sahel is no longer the only concern. A new danger has emerged: the Volunteers for the Defence of the Homeland, or VDPs – auxi»»»

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia has a feeling that the United States may change its approach to the settlement in Ukraine again, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday. "We have no concerns. We have a feeling that there may be a change of approach again, as happened after the meeting in An»»»