Cameroonian President Paul Biya returned to the country on Thursday after a 73-day absence, with local media reporting the 93-year-old had been in Geneva with his family and close aides. The country's opposition criticised Biya's long absence, saying he had left the country on "autopilot". Presiden»»»

Polish industrial production increased 5.1% year-on-year in July, providing another positive signal for the economy at the start of the second half of 2026. Manufacturing output rose 4.4%, while mining and quarrying production increased 18.5%. Electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning output was»»»

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CAIRO: Palestinians face inflated prices for groceries and batteries, hospitals have turned to smugglers for medicine and equipment, Israeli soldiers and other middlemen are accused of pocketing millions of dollars, and the Hamas-led government takes a cut as the smuggling of goods restricted by Is»»»

BEIRUT: Director General of UNESCO Khaled El-Enany reaffirmed the organization’s commitment to supporting Lebanon’s recovery and long-term resilience during his first official visit to the country on Thursday. El-Enany met President Joseph Aoun, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Nawaf »»»

The next trendy hotspot of Riyadh’s matcha scene is located on Dirar bin Al-Khattab street in the Al-Muruj neighborhood of the capital, where Little Henri has gained online traction for its intersection of signature dessert, flavored matcha, and distinctive branding and aesthetic. The corner cafe s»»»

A barn owl stranded some 70 nautical miles out to sea was rescued by an astonished British Army sailing crew competing in a gruelling race around Britain and Ireland. A British Army sailing crew competing in one of yachting's most demanding races found themselves coming to the rescue of a bedraggle»»»

REINO IO Logistics has completed a nearly 27,000 sqm build-to-suit logistics centre in Piotrków Trybunalski, marking the company’s first development delivered directly within its existing logistics park in the city. Construcion of REINO IO Piotrków BTS began in October 2025 and was carried out by K»»»

DUBAI: In the early evening of Jan. 24, 2026, 5-year-old Hind Rajab took her final breaths while pleading over the phone for emergency workers to rescue her. “Please come take me, I beg you. Please come. Call anyone to come and get me, please,” she said. Rajab had been traveling with her father and»»»

MANILA: Smog is choking parts of Indonesia’s Borneo, home to pristine rainforest and vast plantations, but the worst is yet to come, officials and experts warned Thursday. Nearly 95,000 hectares of land across Indonesia burned in July alone, the government said this week, as dry conditions driven b»»»

Pedestrians carry umbrellas in windy rainy conditions near the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street inDecember. Dozens of major metro areas could be affected by flash flooding in the eastern quarter of the nation into this weekend, with the zone from Washington to New York City at a heightened ri»»»

QASMISHLI: Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi on Thursday said the integration of the Kurdish administration within Syria’s state institutions was complete, marking the end of the Kurds’ long-held dream of autonomy. The announcement follows months of negotiations between the two sides after a Janua»»»

LONDON: A letter from T.E. Lawrence in which he complained he was no longer able to travel outside the UK, less than 15 years after his role in the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire, sold at auction on Thursday for more than $14,000. In the letter, written in October 1932, Lawrence expresses h»»»

First Sermon (Khutbah One) All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the earth and the heavens, who has made the scholars the inheritors of the prophets. We bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and we bear witness that our Prophet Muhammad is the servant of Allah and His Messenger. May the peace,»»»

RIYADH: Picture a 12-year-old sitting in a gallery at the National Museum of Saudi Arabia, sketching on a tablet. Behind her is a prehistoric rock carving from Najran, etched into sandstone thousands of years ago. On her screen, an AI tool generates variations of a character she has drawn, refining»»»

The FBI arrested a woman for planning to attack the New York state capitol building. File Photo by Justin Lane/EPA Aug. 20 (UPI) -- An Albany, N.Y., woman was charged Thursday with supporting a terror group after allegedly planning an ISIS-inspired plot to attack the New York State capitol building»»»

Prince Laurent of Belgium celebrates King's Day on Nov. 15 2024. The prince recognized 26-year-old Clement Vandenkerckhove as his son. File Photo by Olivier Matthys/EPA Aug. 20 (UPI) -- Belgium has a new prince after the 26-year-old former car salesman was recognized by the king's brother as his so»»»

Aleppo, Aug. 20 (SANA) The Sylex 3 Leather, Footwear and Production Supplies Exhibition opened Thursday at the Production Market in Aleppo, under the supervision of Aleppo Governorate and the Aleppo Chamber of Commerce, with the participation of Syrian and Turkish companies specializing in the sect»»»

A march by people with disabilities, held under the slogan Darkness for Indifference! Light for Our Rights!, made its way through central Sofia, accompanied by performances featuring artists with torches, stilts and music. The event was organised by the Mobility Movement. Participants carried illum»»»

NEW YORK CITY: The bodies of 50 people, including 19 children, killed by the war in Gaza have finally been laid to rest after they were recovered from under rubble in recent days, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Thursday. Efforts to remove debris and retrieve bodies remain severely constr»»»

Damascus, Aug. 20 (SANA) Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani: said Thursday that his visit to Pakistan was an important step in strengthening relations between the two countries and opening new prospects for cooperation. “We conclude today the historic and successfu»»»

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised the strong partnership between the United States and Hungary in a message marking Hungary’s national holiday, published on the State Department’s website on Thursday. Rubio noted that 20 August was a reminder “of the historic ties between our peoples”. “The»»»

ISLAMABAD: Iran would first have to acknowledge what it had done to Syria and its people before any future Pakistan-led mediation could help restore ties between Damascus and Tehran, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan Al-Shaibani said on Thursday. Shaibani was speaking to journalists in Islamabad»»»

Tunis, August 20, 2026 (TAP) – Minister of Foreign Affairs, Migration and Tunisians Abroad Mohamed Ali Nafti met Thursday with Jan De Bock, who presented a copy of his credentials as Belgium’s new Ambassador to Tunisia.According to a statement...»»»

LONDON: Palestinian healthcare workers are facing increasing attacks, detention and intimidation as Israeli military operations and settler violence escalate across the occupied West Bank, Medical Aid for Palestinians said this week. Recent figures from the World Health Organization showed that rec»»»

Damascus, Aug. 20 (SANA) UN Deputy Special Envoy for Syria Claudio Cordone on Thursday condemned the Israeli strikes on Abu al-Duhur Airbase in Idlib countryside, describing them as an unacceptable escalation against Syria. In a post on X, Cordone said diplomacy must remain the primary path, while »»»

Asked by journalists in Ruse on Thursday whether GERB is expected to have its own candidate in the autumn presidential election, GERB leader Boyko Borissov said this would become clear in September. "I had a presidential ticket that would have won," Borissov said. He explained that the party’s inte»»»

KINSHASA: The ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) could be up to three times larger than the official tally, with only 30 to 40 percent of cases currently being detected, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said Thursday. The continent»»»

Former U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-CA, speaks during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on June 14, 2023. The FBI has executed a number of warrants against Swalwell over sexual-misconduct allegations. File Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI | License Photo Aug. 20 (UPI) -- The FBI on Thursday seized e»»»

Everything that has kept the Russian economy growing since 2020 has now been exhausted and long-term growth could drop to 1.6%, a Kremlin think tank told Vladimir Putin on August 19. Without a change of model, growth settles at 1.6% a year over the coming decade - roughly half the 3% Putin has set »»»

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Monday laid out his vision for a future where everyone has a powerful personal AI agent, arguing that open-source technology can prevent control of advanced artificial intelligence from becoming concentrated among a handful of companies, governments or institutions. Meta»»»

Washington: The United States on Thursday warned allies and China alike to join President Donald Trump's new campaign to isolate the Iranian economy and "collapse" the government in Tehran. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's comments underscored how Trump is shifting to economic rather than mili»»»

BARCELONA: The Joan Gamper Trophy has inaugurated FC Barcelona’s league season for the past seven decades. Every August, the Catalan giants go to great lengths to line up a marquee opponent, and this year they invited the biggest club in Africa and the Arab world — Al-Ahly SC. When the friendly was»»»

Leeds: Pakistan dismissed Jordan Cox and Joe Root to give themselves renewed hope in the first Test against England at Headingley on Thursday. Both Cox (73) and Root (66) hit fifties as they shared a third-wicket partnership of exactly 150 on a rain-marred second day that threatened to leave Pakist»»»

The USS George Washington nuclear-powered aircraft carrier docks at a naval base in Busan, South Korea, on Nov. 5. File Photo by Yonhap/EPA Aug. 20 (UPI) -- The USS George Washington reached the Arabian Sea in the U.S. Central Command's area of responsibility, following reports of poor conditions f»»»

AMMAN — Jordan Chamber of Industry (JCI) President Fathi Jaghbir said that the industrial sector achieved a qualitative transformation across various indicators in recent years, including production, value added, exports and employment, reinforcing industry as a key driver of economic growth.Speaki»»»

AMMAN — Jordan's strategic location, skilled workforce and expanding digital infrastructure are strengthening its role as an important hub for Ericsson's regional operations, according to Patrick Johansson, President and Head of Europe, Middle East and Africa at Ericsson.In an interview with The Jo»»»

An upcoming network of railways and highways stretching from Russia to the Indian Ocean coast will become a mega project comparable to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, Andrey Grozin of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Oriental Studies explains to Sputnik. The recent transport crises a»»»

Washington: The Asia-based USS George Washington aircraft carrier is now operating in the Middle East, the US military said Thursday, relieving a long-deployed carrier following reports of mental health challenges and supply shortages aboard while it was supporting the Iran war. US Central Command,»»»

MOKHA: To children in the village of Al-Thoubani, north of Yemen’s western port city of Mokha, the sound of a drone overhead has become a source of fear that follows them even inside their homes. Anas Mohammed Daoud and Mahdi Mohammed Youssef were among a group children gathered together in the vil»»»

Demand remained buoyant in Central and Eastern Europe with consumers continuing to spend more on average during each visit to NEPI Rockcastle shopping centres with average basket spend up 3.3%. This supported like-for-like tenant sales which were 2.7% higher than a year ago. Occupancy remained clos»»»

Over the past decade, Bulgaria has lost over 100 protected birds of prey, most often due to illegally placed poisoned baits as stated by WWF Bulgaria in a position on its website regarding the dead birds found in the Central Balkan National Park, including protected species of vultures. "This lates»»»

EL ALAMEIN: Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani announced that the State of Qatar and the Arab Republic of Egypt have signed four agreements in the areas of customs cooperation and regulatory work, in addition to development and heal»»»

Members of the Panama Police guard the entrance to the port of Balboa (Pacific) in Panama City, Panama, in February The ports of Balboa (Pacific) and Cristobal (Atlantic), near the Panama Canal, were paralyzed amid the transition of the operator after the departure of Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutc»»»

Supertree is launching Modullo, a new semi-private mini-office concept, following a 20% increase in demand for workspaces designed for professionals and small teams in the first half of 2026, compared to 2025. This new segment is developing alongside steady demand for offices for medium-sized teams»»»

Dubai: A six-year-old boy collapsed in his classroom and died after being slapped by his teacher for not completing his homework at a private school in Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam on Thursday, police said. The incident, involving Pranay Teja, took place at a school in the city’s One Town area, I»»»

BusinessGlobal issuesDrought in Germany and Europe are driving up costsAstrid Prange de OliveiraOngoing drought in Europe is causing rivers to dry up and crops to fail. Transport costs are rising and the price of food has exploded. Is inflation due to extreme weather? https://p.dw.com/p/5J9iUThe Rh»»»

LONDON: A British-Palestinian teenager who died along with her parents off a beach in southern England was described on Thursday as a “sweet girl” who will be greatly missed. Sara Al-Khawas, 14, her father Hassan, 55, and mother Zeina Alayn, 37, were pulled from the water at Shoreham-by-Sea in West»»»

CAIRO: Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Fahmy on Thursday condemned Israel’s move to advance the E1 settlement project in the occupied West Bank, warning that it would divide Palestinian territory and further isolate East Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings. Fahmy also condemned recent I»»»

WASHINGTON: The United States will impose “the toughest sanctions in history” on Iran, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday as he urged Beijing ​to cooperate with Washington. Bessent said he would hold a press conference on Monday to discuss details. “It is a one-two punch. We have »»»