What is the best possible investment a government can make? Is it a high speed train network, or are 5G telecom Nets? Perhaps it is space based solar power generation capacity. The answer is much more mundane: studies by both the IMF and the World Bank have found the best possible investments that »»»

Finland plans to lift its long-standing ban on having nuclear weapons on its territory, in a move the government says would align the country more closely with Nato's deterrence policy. Defence minister Antti Häkkänen Finland and Europe's security environment had "fundamentally and significantly ch»»»

BERLIN — Google opened an AI centre Berlin on Thursday, pledging to step up innovation in the German capital, which boasts a dynamic start-up scene and strong academic and research institutions.German politicians hailed the move despite growing fears Europe is overly reliant on US tech giants that »»»

DOHA: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defense Affairs HE Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman bin Hassan Al Thani visited the Air Defense Operations Center, where he was received by Maj Gen Mohammed Mubarak Al Shahwani, Commander of Qatar Amiri Air Defense Forces. During the visit, the depu»»»

Western Cuba was plunged into darkness Thursday as a massive blackout left millions without power. Between crumbling infrastructure and the halt of Venezuelan oil shipments under US pressure, the island’s energy grid is on the brink of collapse, with recovery expected to take days. A blackout left »»»

Robert Malley, former US special envoy for Iran under Joe Biden and a key negotiator of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, told FRANCE 24 that the US-Israeli war against Iran is "not a justified war, not a necessary war and not a lawful war". For Malley, the "cacophony" over the conflict's rationale "refl»»»

The death of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in an Israeli strike on Saturday sparked the search for a successor that has seen the former leader’s son, Mojtaba, emerge as the front runner. Although a secretive figure in the Islamic Republic, Mojtaba Khamenei is considered one of the re»»»

The US has made an outreach to Iranian Kurdish dissident groups as "Operation Epic Fury" rattles the pieces of the Middle East geostrategic chess game. The Kurds in other countries have a history of being pawns in Washington’s games and have at times used their leverage to their advantage. But unde»»»

Rights groups warned this week that prisoners in Iran – thousands of whom were detained during recent anti-government protests – are being refused shelter during US and Israeli strikes and face increased risk of forced disappearance and execution due to a nationwide internet blackout. In the Irania»»»

Who’s paying for this war? First and foremost, the people of the Middle East directly in harm’s way.  But who pays the financial cost if Iran continues to target the lifeline for the region's oil and gas? Maritime employers out of London officially designating the Straits of Hormuz, the Gulf o»»»

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un spent two days inspecting his latest 5,000‑ton destroyer and observing cruise missile tests, signalling a major push to expand his navy’s nuclear capabilities. The move comes as Pyongyang continues building additional warships and emphasises maritime power alongside »»»

Baku has vowed to retaliate against what it described as "a terrorist act" allegedly carried out by Tehran after two drones hit an airport and narrowly missed a school building in Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan exclave on the border with Iran. The Islamic Republic has denied carrying out the attack. »»»

Israel launched a series of strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut Thursday after ordering all residents of the densely populated area to evacuate. At least five airstrikes targeted the area around midnight. The areas hit were Haret Hreik, al-Jamous and Msharrafieh. Traffic was gridlocked in Bei»»»

Tunis, March 5 (TAP) - A working session held, Wednesday, under the chairmanship of the Minister of Public Works and Housing, Slah Zouari, was devoted to monitoring the progress of infrastructure projects scheduled for 2026.It also addressed the...»»»

Italy, France, Spain and the Netherlands will send naval assets to Cyprus after an Iranian-made drone struck a British base there, Italy's defence minister said Thursday. France also said it would allow US aircraft to access some of its bases in the Middle East during the conflict with Iran. Italy,»»»

A ballistic missile fired from Iran and en route towards Turkish airspace was intercepted and destroyed by NATO air defence systems, Turkish officials said Wednesday, in an incident that underscored fears of a widening regional war. A ballistic missile launched from Iran and heading towards Turkish»»»

Doha, Qatar: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defense Affairs, HE Sheikh Saud bin Abdulrahman bin Hassan Al-Thani, visited the Air Defense Operations Center, where he was received by Commander of Qatar Emiri Air Defense Forces, Maj. Gen. Mohammed Mubarak Al-Shahwani. During the visit»»»

Dubai: With aviation across the Middle Eastheavily disrupted after attacks by Israel and the US on Iran and Iran’s retaliatory strikes across the region, airlines were forced to cancel flights, reroute aircraft and suspend services. Sign up for our daily business newsletter, Cheques & Balances. Air»»»

PAMedia/DPA London George Russell said his pre-season tag as a potential world championship favourite “does not change anything for me” ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. The 28-year-old Brit heads into the season-opening round in Melbourne on Sunday as the bookmakers’ favourite, wi»»»

QNA Doha Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani participated on Thursday in an emergency Gulf-European ministerial virtual meeting bringing together the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states and the European Uni»»»

Ashraf Siddiqui Doha France has condemned the Iranian attacks on Qatar in the “strongest possible terms” and expressed its solidarity with the country. “France condemns unreservedly, and in the strongest possible terms, the Iranian attacks on Qatar,” the Embassy of Republic of France in Doha said i»»»

QNA Doha The Amir His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani received a phone call from President of Finland Alexander Stubb on Thursday. During the call, the Finnish president checked on the conditions of Qatar following the blatant Iranian aggression. He expressed his country’s condemnation of »»»

QNA Doha The Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MoEHE) held its fifth meeting of the ‘Institutional Risk Management and Business Continuity Committee’ on Thursday, with the participation of senior ministry officials, to review the progress of the educational process and to follow-up on the»»»

QNA Doha Minister of State for International Cooperation HE Dr. Maryam bint Ali bin Nasser Al Misnad on Thursday held a phone conversation with Advisor to the Transitional Sovereignty Council (TSC) for Organisational and Humanitarian Affairs in Sudan Al Sadig Ismail Mahmoud. The call discussed the »»»

QNA Doha Minister of State for Foreign Affairs HE Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi received a phone call from Second Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brunei Darussalam Erywan Pehin Yusof on Thursday. Discussion during the call addressed the developments of the military escalation in the region and its ser»»»

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (shown), D-Md., on Thursday told Troy Edgar, the nominee for ambassador to El Salvador, “Unfortunately, you’ve been part of an administration that's taking away Americans' rights to freedom here at home, due process rights as well as First Amendment rights." File Photo by Bonn»»»

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday announced an initiative to increase the number of nutrition-related credit hours that doctors are required to have in medical school, along with 53 schools that have already agreed to participate. Photo by Annabelle Gordon/UPI»»»

The Security Council with the Council of Ministers held a meeting here on Thursday to discuss the situation in the Middle East. The meeting, the second since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran, was attended by representatives of the political forces in Parliament. Speaking at a news briefin»»»

Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., late last month introduced the “End Sanctuary Policies Act,” which would restrict federal funding for jurisdictions that do not cooperate with federal immigration authorities. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo WASHINGTON, March 5 (UPI) -- The House Judiciary Co»»»

French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday "everything" must be done to prevent Lebanon "from once again being drawn into war", urging both Israel and Hezbollah to halt military operations. "It is to halt the war and prevent the worst that, following my exchanges with (U.S.) President (Donald) »»»

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has issued an apparent military threat to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban over the ongoing refusal by Budapest to lift a veto on billions in loans underwritten by EU members for Kiev. Orban last month blocked a planned €90 billion ($106 billion) emergency loan rais»»»

The Second Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives (HoR), Misbah Duma, has refuted the by the Speaker of the HoR, Ageela Saleh, that he had chaired an HoR session during which the new controversial tax law was enacted. Duma stated: “What was mentioned in Speaker Aguila Saleh’s statement rega»»»

1 of 2 | Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., speaks to the press outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. President Donald Trump announced Mullin would replace Kristi Noem as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo March 5 (UPI) -- Pr»»»

Doha, Qatar: Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani received Thursday a phone call from Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federative Republic of Brazil HE Mauro Vieira. During the call, the two sides discussed developments related to t»»»

Israeli military vehicles maneuver in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, as seen from the border in Upper Galilee, northern Israel, on Thursday. The Israeli military is conducting strikes across Lebanon targeting Hezbollah infrastructure and personnel. Photo by Atef Safadi/EPA BEIRUT, Leba»»»

DOHA: His Highness the Amir of the State of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani received a phone callfrom Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Spain HEPedro Sanchez. At the beginning of the call, the Spanish Prime Minister expressed his country's solidarity with the State of Qatar in the face of the »»»

New York: The State of Qatar has sent a fourth identical letter to Secretary-General of the United Nations HE Antonio Guterres, and Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations and President of the Security Council for the month of March HE Michael Waltz, regarding»»»

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama on Thursday promoted his new book, 'Në Sofrën e Hënës', a collection of speeches delivered during Ramadan iftar dinners he has hosted over the years. Speaking at the presentation, Rama said the idea for the book came partly from Muslim friends and from his own exper»»»

Doha, Qatar: The Amir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani received a phone call on Thursday from the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of the Netherlands HE Rob Jetten. At the outset of the call, HE the Dutch Prime Minister expressed his country's solidarity with the State of Qatar regarding the Iranian»»»

US President Donald Trump has announced Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin will be the new Homeland Security secretary, replacing the agency's embattled head Kristi Noem. The first-term senator, a former mixed martial arts fighter, has been a supporter of Trump and his policies since coming to Washi»»»

Police have released video footage and recordings of 911 emergency calls from the hours surrounding the moment a gunman opened fire outside a bar in Austin - an attack being investigated as a potential act of "terrorism". "There's people shot. We need help right now," one caller is heard telling po»»»

Multiple emergency flights Thursday brought Bulgarians back home from various countries in the Middle East where they were stranded by the disruption of air traffic amid the ongoing escalation. The flights arrived with a total of 706 passengers, according to the official accounts. Two flights carry»»»

A sense of normality is slowly returning to Israel, even as large-scale Israeli-American attacks on Iran show no sign of abating, and as Israel expands its offensive in Lebanon against the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah. Six days on, as the intensity of the Iranian retaliation has diminished, mea»»»

The Security Council with the Council of Ministers held a meeting here on Thursday to discuss the situation in the Middle East. The meeting, the second since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran, was attended by representatives of the political forces in Parliament. Speaking at a news briefin»»»

The European Central Bank has no pre-set stance as regards to geopolitical tensions from the conflict in the Middle East and will decide monetary policy on a "meeting-by-meeting" basis, President Christine Lagarde said on Thursday. The ECB will take its decisions "in view of all the ⁠data that we c»»»

The Israeli military has ordered hundreds of thousands of people to leave Beirut's southern suburbs, a stronghold of Hezbollah, as it steps up strikes targeting the Iran-backed armed group across Lebanon. "Save your lives, evacuate your homes immediately," the military's Arabic spokesperson wrote o»»»

Banca Transilvania continues to be the strongest banking brand in Europe, with a brand value exceeding $1 billion, according to Brand Finance Banking 500 2026. The report shows that BT has a top brand score due to its high credibility, attractiveness, and high recommendation level. The analysis is »»»

The war is changing fast. Iran's Islamic Revolutionaries threatened to sink the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group with its letal drones and missiles. Now, IRGC's entire naval fleet is no more (20 Iran ships sunk), and the regime's air force has been obliterated. And when one side owns the skies, whe»»»

In Iran, under ongoing US-Israeli attacks, a mass funeral took place today for 168 Iranian schoolgirls aged 7-12, killed by an Israeli airstrike on February 28. The strike hit the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ primary school in Minab, southern Iran, in broad daylight, when the children were at school. F»»»

US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have offered conflicting justifications for the American war with Iran, as the White House scrambles to contain a growing political firestorm over contradicting narratives about what necessitated the operation against Tehran. The Pentagon»»»