Their names are Oleksandr, Sofiia, Bohdan, and Angelina. They are between 18 and 28 years old and live in Ukraine. On February 24, 2022, their lives and plans for the future were turned upside down by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. FRANCE 24 sp»»»

A draft National Plan to increase defence spending to 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2035 must be approved, caretaker Defence Minister Atanas Zapryanov said on Tuesday at the opening of the annual conference of the Chief of Defence. This year's conference reviews the development of the Bulga»»»

Foreign minister Youssef Rajji said Tuesday that Lebanon fears its infrastructure could be hit by Israeli strikes if the situation with Iran escalates. Rajji said Lebanese authorities had appealed to Hezbollah, which has fought several wars with Israel, most recently in 2024, not to respond in any »»»

Dubai: Fresh satellite imagery and flight-tracking data point to a significant expansion of US military assets across Europe and the Middle East, underscoring rising tensions with Iran and fuelling renewed debate over whether Washington is preparing for a sustained military campaign. Signals of pos»»»

France has blocked US Ambassador Charles Kushner from direct government access after he ignored a summons to the Foreign Ministry to explain American comments on the death of right-wing activist Quentin Deranque. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot summoned Kushner to the Quai d’Orsay after Wa»»»

Foreign minister Youssef Rajji said Tuesday that Lebanon fears its infrastructure could be hit by Israeli strikes if the situation with Iran escalates. Rajji said Lebanese authorities had appealed to Hezbollah, which has fought several wars with Israel, most recently in 2024, not to respond in any »»»

Polish retail sales grew 4.4% year-on-year (y/y) in constant prices in January, easing somewhat from a 5.3% y/y rise in December, the statistics office GUS said on February 23. The January reading beat market consensus, wh»»»

Dubai: We know what you must be thinking. A holiday for under Dh2,000? A few weeks away from the Eid holidays, no way, José. Sign up for our daily business newsletter, Cheques & Balances.Fortunately, travel agents have confirmed that UAE travellers have a few short- and mid-haul options that offer »»»

Dubai: Dubai’s consumer protection department has urged residents to shop responsibly during promotional seasons and avoid excessive purchasing, warning that misleading discounts and unnecessary stockpiling can place pressure on household finances and disrupt market stability. Ahmad Ahli, Acting Di»»»

Kuwait has brought into force a new compulsory national service law requiring every male citizen to report for military service within 180 days of turning 18, in a move aimed at strengthening defence readiness and closing gaps in previous legislation. The amended law entered into effect last Sunday»»»

Delivery of the second batch of eight F-16 jet fighters for the Bulgarian Air Force will probably be delayed by a year, caretaker Defence Minister Atanas Zapryanov said here on Tuesday. Under two contracts with the US, Bulgaria has purchased a total of 16 F-16 Block 70 aircraft worth USD 2.5 billio»»»

Acting Defence Minister Atanas Zapryanov has indicated that the delivery of Bulgaria’s second batch of eight F-16 fighter jets is likely to be postponed by approximately one year. Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the annual conference of the Chief of Defence, he explained that the delay »»»

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Ukraine's status as a nuclear-weapon-free state should not be subject to revision, Russian Federation Council speaker Valentina Matvienko said on Tuesday. "Ukraine's nuclear-weapon-free status was one of the key conditions for its recognition as an independent state. This status »»»

Dubai: "The damage has been done. He hurt me. He just needs to move on," says Dubai Bling star Farhana Bodi, her voice steady, but exhausted. We are at her home in Business Bay, Dubai, where Farhana, 40, is quietly managing a chaotic month. Her co-star from the glossy Netflix show has been taking t»»»

Foreign minister Youssef Rajji said Tuesday that Lebanon fears its infrastructure could be hit by Israeli strikes if the situation with Iran escalates. "There are signs that the Israelis could strike very hard in the event of an escalation, potentially including strategic infrastructure such as the»»»

Share: GENEVA/BEIRUT – Israel has sent an indirect message to Lebanon that it would strike Lebanon hard, targeting civilian infrastructure including the airport, in the event that Hezbollah gets involved in any U.S.-Iran war, two senior Lebanese officials said on Tuesday. The office of the Israeli »»»

US President Donald Trump takes to the podium tonight to deliver the first State of the Union address of his second term. "It’s going to be a long speech because we have a lot to talk about," Trump said ahead of the address. The State of the Union—an annual speech delivered by the US president to C»»»

New York: Neighbours, government workers and a powerful railroad snow-clearing machine nicknamed “Darth Vader” scrambled to dig out much of the northeastern United States from a brutal and - in some areas - record-breaking storm that blanketed the region with snow and resulted in thousands of fligh»»»

Neighbors, government workers and a powerful railroad snow-clearing machine nicknamed “Darth Vader” scrambled to dig out much of the northeastern United States from a brutal and — in some areas — record-breaking storm that blanketed the region with snow and resulted in thousands of flight cancellat»»»

With the black-market foreign exchange rate plunging the Libyan dinar to over the LD 10.50 to the US dollar yesterday, Tripoli based Libyan Prime Minister Abdel Hamid Aldabaiba pre-empted a potentially explosive public political reaction by issuing a statement yesterday placing the blame squarely o»»»

With battle lines essentially frozen after four years of war in Ukraine, Russia has begun to use a new tactic known as a "thousand cuts" – simultaneous attacks by smaller groups that are able to advance deeper into Ukrainian territory by exploiting weaknesses in its defences. After four years of wa»»»

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has said his country will not provide emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine until Kiev restores the flow of Russian oil to Slovakia through the Druzhba pipeline. Fico made the announcement on Monday, when the ultimatum he issued over the weekend to Ukraine to r»»»

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia will have to use any weapons, including non-strategic nuclear arms, against targets in Ukraine in case of the transfer of nuclear technologies to Kiev, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday. "There can be no shadow of a doubt that in such»»»

What’s it like to have millions of fans but struggle to make friends? For Punch, a 7-month-old macaque, fame and loneliness have collided, leaving the world watching as he clings to a stuffed orangutan toy from Ikea. Punch was abandoned shortly after birth and raised by the staff at the Ichikawa Ci»»»

The caretaker government led by Prime Minister Andrey Gyurov has officially removed the position of Deputy Prime Minister for Fair Elections from its organizational structure, following the resignation of Stoil Tsitselkov. The change was formalized in the recently adopted amendments to the Council »»»

The US Department of the Air Force and Northrop Grumman Corp. have agreed to expand production capacity for the B-21 Raider stealth bomber by 25%, using $4.5bn in funding already authorised under fiscal year 2025 reconciliation legislation, the Department of the Air Force announced on February 23. »»»

Hungary accuses Brussels of "colluding with Kyiv" to threaten the energy supplies of Hungary and Slovakia, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said after an EU foreign ministers’ meeting on February 24. At the meeting in»»»

Romania is gearing up for what could be a record year in the absorption and spending of EU Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) funds, as the government races to meet ambitious targets agreed with the European Commission. »»»

As the black-market exchange rate of the Libyan dinar plunged to unprecedented rates over the LD 10.50 to the dollar yesterday, and the leadership of the House of Representatives (HoR), in collusion with the Central Bank of Libya (CBL), attempted to force-through without parliamentary or government»»»

The European Commission has delivered a critical assessment of Hungary’s public debt outlook in its latest Debt Sustainability Monitor (DSM), financial website Portfolio.hu writes. Although short-term financing condit»»»

Hungary accuses Brussels of "colluding with Kyiv" to threaten the energy supplies of Hungary and Slovakia, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said after an EU foreign ministers’ meeting on February 24. At the meeting in»»»

Hungary accuses Brussels of "colluding with Kyiv" to threaten the energy supplies of Hungary and Slovakia, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said after an EU foreign ministers’ meeting on February 24. At the meeting in»»»

In February 2022, days before the start of the full-scale conflict with Russia, Zelensky threatened to revoke Ukraine’s non-nuclear status. It wasn’t the first such threat, and wouldn’t be the last. Here’s a chronological overview: July 2021: David Arakhamia, the head of Zelensky’s parliamentary fa»»»

Work must continue on the projects already approved by the European Commission under the SAFE instrument, as they are essential for the Bulgarian Army. We need to see whether and how we can tackle the stages ahead, because it will not be easy, President Iliana Iotova told journalists on Tuesday. Io»»»

The US is seeking to limit the political and military costs of potential direct action against Iran to avoid being formally cast as the “initiator of war,” an Iranian defense source has told RT. However, any attempt to reallocate responsibility is unlikely to alter the outcome, the official warned.»»»

Cooking chicken can flummox even the more confident home cooks among us. What’s the best way to keep it from drying out? What internal temperature should I aim for? How do I avoid spreading bacteria all over the kitchen? Practice is more than half the battle, but picking the right recipe to boost y»»»

Defence spending amounting to 2.5% of GDP is insufficient to build Armed Forces capable of meeting the demands of the contemporary security environment, Bulgaria’s Chief of Defence, Admiral Emil Eftimov, told journalists on Tuesday. He was speaking to the media after presenting the Analysis of the »»»

The USS Gerald R. Ford, the world's largest aircraft carrier, has reached the US naval base of Souda Bay on Crete, en route to joining a massive military build-up in the Middle East. President Donald Trump, who ordered strikes on Iran last year, has repeatedly threatened Tehran with fresh military »»»

1 of 2 | An FBI image released on Feb. 10 shows a person of interest in the kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie, mother of Today show host Savannah Guthrie. The high-profile case has sparked discussions about who may want or need "kidnap and ransom" insurance. File Photo by FBI/UPI | License Photo ST. PAUL»»»

Doha, Qatar: Ramadan is seen as a suitable opportunity for smokers in their efforts to quit smoking, due to the religious and social factors this month provides that help in overcoming this scourge, as fasting for several hours forces the smoker to reduce nicotine, which trains the body to graduall»»»

Dubai: A disturbing case involving allegations of rape, forced religious conversion and an alleged sex trafficking network has rocked Madhya Pradesh’s capital, with police arresting two sisters accused of luring and exploiting vulnerable young women under the pretext of offering jobs. The accused —»»»

Dubai: A key panel at the house of representatives of the Philippines has approved a measure seeking to abolish the Philippines’ travel tax, a move that could lower the cost of flying out of the country for millions of passengers. The house committee on tourism, chaired by Romblon representative El»»»

Manama, Bahrain — Bahrain’s banking industry is entering a significant consolidation phase as profitability pressures increase, with competition among lenders intensifying and margins softening in a smaller, highly over-banked market. The most notable development is the ongoing merger discussions b»»»

The ‌United States imposed an additional tariff from Tuesday of 10% on all goods not covered by exemptions, a notice issued by US Customs and Border Protection said, the rate initially announced by President Donald Trump on Friday rather than the 15% he promised a day later. Reacting to the Supreme»»»

President Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with what aides describe as the limits of military leverage against Iran, CBS News reported late on Monday, citing sources familiar with the matter. According to the report, unlike previous targeted operations, including the recent one removing Vene»»»

Manila: After Adolf Hitler, the murderous dictator of Nazi Germany, and Hideki Tojo, the murderous dictator of Japan during World War II, there emerged Ferdinand Marcos Sr., the murderous dictator of the Philippines. Other lesser Hitlers emerged in Asia, the Americas and Europe. Then after decades »»»

A tanker widely believed to be carrying Russian fuel is heading towards Cuba, potentially setting the stage for a fresh confrontation between Moscow and Washington as the island struggles under a de facto US fuel embargo that has crippled power generation, transport and basic services. »»»

A tanker widely believed to be carrying Russian fuel is heading towards Cuba, potentially setting the stage for a fresh confrontation between Moscow and Washington as the island struggles under a de facto US fuel embargo that has crippled power generation, transport and basic services. »»»

A tanker widely believed to be carrying Russian fuel is heading towards Cuba, potentially setting the stage for a fresh confrontation between Moscow and Washington as the island struggles under a de facto US fuel embargo that has crippled power generation, transport and basic services. »»»

Manila: After Adolf Hitler, the murderous dictator of Nazi Germany, there emerged Ferdinand Marcos Sr., the murderous dictator of the Philippines. Other lesser Hitlers emerged in Asia, the Americas and Europe. Then after decades of darkness, came the EDSA "People Power" revolt, which sparked a sea-»»»