Iran has warned it would "retaliate with force" against a US naval blockade, threatening to halt all trade across key regional waterways as tensions rise despite a fragile ceasefire, and plans for second round of talks. Ali Abdollahi, head of Iran’s joint military command, said the country would bl»»»

QNA Istanbul Speaker of the Shura Council HE Hassan bin Abdullah Al Ghanim affirmed the State of Qatar’s commitment to continue its unwavering support for the Palestinian cause and strengthening political and humanitarian efforts to support the Palestinian people, in accordance with the directives »»»

BERLIN: Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs HE Dr Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al Khulaifi has held a series of high-level meetings on the sidelines of an international conference on Sudan in Berlin. Al Khulaifi met separately with senior officials including Vice Minister of Foreign Affa»»»

Nearly EUR 9,000 was seized during large-scale police operations against vote buying in the Bulgarian cities of Stara Zagora and Kyustendil Wednesday, the Interior Ministry's acting Secretary General, Georgi Kandev, announced in a Facebook post. During the operations, officers discovered lists of n»»»

1 of 5 | Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks during a press briefing April 8 at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va. House Democrats on Wednesday introduced articles of impeachment against Hegseth for his handling of the war in Iran as well as the Department of Defense. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | Li»»»

Thirty prosecutorial case files have been opened against MP candidates for election-related offences, caretaker Interior Minister Emil Dechev said here Wednesday. He was speaking at a news conference in the Council of Ministers' headquarters, held jointly with Prime Minister Andrey Gurov and Justic»»»

Egypt’s Minister of Industry, Khaled Hashem, held talks with Hagos Gebrehiwet, Economic Adviser to the Eritrean President, and Nasr El-Din Saleh, Eritrea’s Minister of Trade and Industry, to explore avenues for strengthening bilateral cooperation in industry and joint investment. Hashem highlighted»»»

Viktor Stoyanov, the lead MP candidate of the Anti-Corruption Bloc in Ruse, Wednesday expressed strong concern over the critical state of blood donation in Bulgaria, describing it as a "disaster" and an issue of national security, according to the political formation. Stoyanov speaks of long-standi»»»

Germany’s handling of anti-Israel protests was “disproportionate,” and the government’s use of hate-speech laws to counter the demonstrations unfairly restricted freedom of expression, a report by the EU’s human rights commissioner has found. Compiled by the Council of Europe’s commissioner for hum»»»

Thirty prosecutorial case files have been opened against MP candidates for election-related offences, caretaker Interior Minister Emil Dechev said here Wednesday. He was speaking at a news conference in the Council of Ministers' headquarters, held jointly with Prime Minister Andrey Gurov and Justic»»»

US author Anne-Marie Slaughter argues in The Chessboard and the Web: Strategies of Connection in a Networked World that the world no longer operates or interacts according to the logic of a traditional chessboard. The old model was linear and two-dimensional, centered on a single objective: topplin»»»

Caretaker Interior Minister Emil Dechev has warned that a large quantity of counterfeit euros may be prepared for use in vote-buying ahead of the upcoming snap parliamentary elections, saying this could enable electoral influence "without real money". Speaking on Nova TV Wednesday, he did not discl»»»

Argentine President Javier Milei has to deal with rising inflation as many people say they have yet to feel the benefits of the government's economic reforms. Photo by Matias Martin Campaya/EPA BUENOS AIRES, April 15 (UPI) -- Public discontent with Argentine President Javier Milei is rising as infl»»»

"The situation on Russia’s and Belarus’s western borders can be described as tense," Sergei Naryshkin, director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), said. Other key statements:EU countries oppose a peace settlement in Ukraine because they have invested heavily in the war The Baltic state»»»

The integrity of elections in Bulgaria is a problem, and the solution is mass voting, Progressive Bulgaria leader Rumen Radev said in Kyustendil ahead of a meeting with supporters on Wednesday. He called for mass turnout “to drown all this bought, manipulated vote in a sea of free votes”. Addressin»»»

Beirut lawmakers and political parties in Lebanon’s parliament will hold a conference on Thursday backing a declaration of the capital as “safe and free of weapons,” after a government decision that followed deadly Israeli attacks on the city last week. Organizers invited all Beirut MPs except thos»»»

U.S. companies and entities can now conduct transactions with the Central Bank of Venezuela, Banco de Venezuela, Banco Digital de los Trabajadores and Banco del Tesoro, File Photo by Miguel Gutierrez/EPA April 15 (UPI) -- The U.S. government authorized new financial operations with Venezuelan state»»»

Lebanon’s and Israel’s ambassadors to Washington are preparing for a second meeting after an initial round on Tuesday at the US State Department, hosted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The meeting is aimed at shaping talks and securing a ceasefire pushed by Washington before launching a negotiat»»»

Pakistan’s army chief arrived Wednesday for talks in Tehran in the latest diplomatic move to ease tensions in the Middle East and arrange a second round of negotiations between the United States and Iran after almost seven weeks of war. The Pakistani military said the delegation also included the c»»»

The leader of Continue the Change, Assen Vassilev, slammed his main opponents’ economic proposals as inadequate for the looming crisis. Speaking on The Day with Veselin Dremdzhiev programme and quoted by his party’s press office, he commented on a Tuesday debate on party economic platforms (moderat»»»

Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) will be represented in the next parliament, BSP leader Krum Zarkov said during a campaign event in Smolyan on Wednesday. He noted that BSP is going through a difficult period that has not yet been overcome, adding that “those who write off the party underestimate its»»»

Roberto Sanchez, presidential candidate for the Juntos por el Peru party, speaks during a press conference in Lima, Peru, on Monday. Sanchez has moved into second place in the voting, which continues and will lead to a runoff June 7. Photo by John Reyes Mejia/EPA April 15 (UPI) -- Leftist candidate»»»

Maine Gov. Janet Mills could sign a law that would put a moratorium on new, large data centers in the state for 1.5 years. File Photo by CJ Gunther April 15 (UPI) -- Maine became the first state to pass a ban on new, large data centers on Tuesday. The bill passed both state houses and now must be s»»»

Diplomatic efforts to halt hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reached a fever pitch on Wednesday, with reports suggesting a potential ceasefire could be announced as early as tonight. Information Minister Paul Morcos told Al-Arabiya's Al-Hadath channel that the collaborative efforts of Presid»»»

On March 26, 2026, amid growing losses and an increasingly acute manpower shortage within the Ukrainian armed forces, the leadership of several European countries decided to ramp up the production and supply of drones to Ukraine for strikes against Russian territory, the Russian Ministry of Defense»»»

BELGRADE - Serbian FM Marko Djuric met with Belgian Deputy PM and FM Maxime Prevot in Belgrade on Wednesday, noting that the volume of Serbia-Belgium bilateral trade had totalled around 1.5 bln euros last year and that there was readiness for further advancement of economic cooperation. "The head o»»»

Viktor Orbán’s far-right Patriots for Europe (PfE) bloc in the European Parliament opposed measures aimed at tackling rule-of-law breaches in the EU’s forthcoming long-term budget. “We cannot agree to the conditionality mechanism which is used for political purposes,” said Tomasz Buczek, a Polish P»»»

Dubai: Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has emerged as the most visible power broker in Tehran, stepping into a central role in both the war effort and high-stakes diplomacy as the Islamic republic navigates a new phase following the US-Israel conflict. A pillar of the Iranian est»»»

Chair of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell speaks during a press conference at the Federal Reserve on March 18. Trump has once again threatened to fire Powell. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo April 15 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump again threatened to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerom»»»

Hezbollah is responding to direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, under US sponsorship, on two tracks: political and military. Politically, it is disavowing the talks and calling on the state to “reconsider its decision to negotiate with Israel,” describing the move as one that “will deepe»»»

The United Arab Emirates has been elected to the Executive Board of the World Food Programme (WFP) for the 2026–2028 term, at a time of unprecedented global food security challenges and mounting risks linked to the near-total disruption of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz—developments that coul»»»

Egypt’s national security, improving citizen’s standards of living, economic development, developing and building the Egyptian citizen, and developing Egypt’s foreign policy. The government statement by the Prime Minister and Minister of Housing, Mustafa Madbouli, was presented to the House of Repr»»»

What began as a disagreement over the Iran war has escalated into a rare and highly public clash between the White House and the Vatican. US President Donald Trump and Vice-President JD Vance have repeatedly criticised Pope Leo XIV, accusing him of being “weak on crime” and overstepping into politi»»»

A meeting between representatives of people with disabilities and Vazrazhdane candidates for MPs has been held in Shumen, the party’s press office reported. Vazrazhdane's top-of-the-list candidate in Shumen, Veselin Veshev, said the discussion also included representatives from other regional organ»»»

Istanbul: A student aged about 13 opened fire at random in a Turkish school Wednesday killing four people and wounding 20, just one day after a shooter wounded 16 people and then killed himself in another school, officials said. Kahramanmaras province governor Mukerrem Unluer said a teacher and thr»»»

Secretary's SpeechLebanon PalestineZionist EntityRegional and International International More Video Language Ar En Fr EsSubscribe for Weekly Updates Subscribe Hezbollah’s Fadlallah: Who’s the Outlaw, Resistance Defending the Homeland or an Authority Offering Concessions? 15-04-2026 16:18 PM Lebane»»»

BELGRADE - The Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija said on Wednesday the arrest of Dejan Pelevic, a Kosovo-Metohija Serb from Socanica, was another in a series of arrests of Serbs under the pretext of alleged war crimes and represented a planned crackdown by Pristina on Serbs in the provi»»»

Around three million Bulgarians are expected to vote in the snap parliamentary elections on April 19, with five political formations set to cross the 4% electoral threshold and one hovering on it. Compared with the last election in October 2024, between 200,000 and 300,000 more people are likely to»»»

A student aged about 13 opened fire at random in a Turkish school Wednesday killing four people and wounding 20, just one day after a shooter wounded 16 people and then killed himself in another school, officials said. Kahramanmaras province governor Mukerrem Unluer said a teacher and three student»»»

BELGRADE - Speaking to reporters after consultations with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, People's Party leader Vladimir Gajic said on Wednesday his party was interested in early elections being called as soon as possible as the only democratic way out of the current social and political crisis»»»

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that talks to end a seven week-long war with Iran "could be happening in the next two days," most likely in Pakistan. Photo by Salwan Georges/UPI | License Photo April 15 (UPI) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said peace talks with Iran "could be happening in »»»

Eighteen months after the nation's largest Arab American community helped propel Donald Trump to a second term as president, the prayers have not stopped. In Dearborn, just outside of Detroit, families wait restlessly for word from relatives abroad, hoping they are safe, and mourning those already »»»

Deputy Interior Minister Ivan Anchev told Wednesday's briefing of the Coordination Council for the preparation of the April 19 snap parliamentary elections that EUR 5,000 and GBP 6,000 intended for vote buying had been seized. Over the past month, every single regional directorate of the Interior M»»»

Jawad Younes, 11, and his cousins were playing soccer in the lot between their houses, as they often did. His little brother, 4-year-old Mehdi, had joined them but grew tired, so Jawad took him home and handed him off to their mother before returning to the game. Minutes later, an Israeli strike ca»»»

First published in Respekt. Defending the status quo cannot be exciting for anyone. Europe must be able to imagine a society that is better than ours and see opportunities even where there are objectively many risks. Where do you think the world is heading? In 1643, an English Protestant priest tol»»»

A total of 130 political parties have submitted their annual financial reports and donor lists for 2025 in compliance with the requirements and within the deadline set by the Political Parties Act, the National Audit Office said on Wednesday. One party has failed to submit its annual financial repo»»»

Dubai: The United States has hosted the first direct talks between Lebanon and Israel since 1993 in Washington, DC, in what officials describe as a high-level diplomatic push to contain escalating violence. Both sides agreed to hold direct negotiations after “productive discussions” between the env»»»

Wednesday’s Bulgarian media coverage is dominated by the April 19 parliamentary elections, with outlets focusing on coalition arithmetic, vote-buying and the possibility that the Hemus Motorway tunnel blockage was a political provocation. Energy security also remains high on the agenda after Washin»»»

head of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog said Wednesday that "very detailed" measures to verify Iran's nuclear activities must be included in a potential U.S.-Iran agreement to end their war in the Middle East. International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi stressed the need for the t»»»

The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog said Wednesday that “very detailed” measures to verify Iran’s nuclear activities must be included in a potential US-Iran agreement to end their war in the Middle East. International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi stressed the need for the t»»»