DUBAI: The flow of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz should not be interrupted, the UAE foreign minister told his Iranian counterpart on Friday, after a ship using a UN-approved corridor in the waterway came under fire. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed's comments came during a phone call with Iran's F»»»

BELGRADE - Serbian First Deputy PM and Finance Minister Sinisa Mali received French Ambassador to Belgrade Florence Ferrari on Friday to discuss bilateral economic cooperation as well as numerous joint projects involving French companies. "They are projects such as the Belgrade metro, which is enor»»»

Taleb al-Abdulmohsen was sentenced to life in prison for driving into a German Christmas market and killing 6 people. Pool Photo Filip Singer/EPA June 26 (UPI) -- The man convicted of driving his car into a German Christmas market killing six people and injuring more than 300 was sentenced to life »»»

Representatives of the National Association of Mediators (NAM) met with a Vietnamese government delegation led by Deputy Justice Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Nguyen Thanh Ngoc and Ambassador Nguyen Thi Minh Nguyet at the headquarters of the Union of Bulgarian Jurists in Sofia. Mile»»»

Rossiya Segodnya intends to set up a Pakistani editorial center, expand its nationwide correspondent network, and roll out Urdu-language social media channels, Director-General Dmitry Kiselev said. Coverage is expected to focus on foreign policy issues and domestic developments.The organization als»»»

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has called for a more inclusive approach and collective security in the region during the Gulf-Mediterranean Summit in Rome this week. Representing the Kingdom at the summit, Minister Plenipotentiary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Manal Radwan emphasized that the region’s c»»»

Cairo: The Shura Council, is participating in the 8th Conference of the Arab Parliament and Speakers of Arab Councils and Parliaments, which will be held in Cairo, Egypt on Saturday. Speaker of the Shura Council HE Hassan bin Abdullah Al Ghanim, will lead the Council's delegation to the conference.»»»

Germany’s new military registration program has fallen disastrously short of the numbers expected by the Bundeswehr, Die Zeit has reported, citing data from the Defense Ministry. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said in April that the size of the German military should increase from the current 184»»»

Tunis, June 26 (TAP) - The first edition of the "Energy Efficiency Grand Prize" will be officially launched at a press conference to be held on June 29 at the headquarters of the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Commerce and Handicrafts (French:...»»»

The Cabinet is calling off all "outrageous public procurements" and a crash barrier contract for some EUR 500 million is among them, Prime Minister Rumen Radev told journalists on Friday, taking an opportunity to attack his predecessors. "We are ending all outrageous public procurements, we are end»»»

John Bolton, a national security adviser in the first Trump administration, is expected to enter a guilty plea Friday for mishandling classified information. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo June 26 (UPI) -- John Bolton, a national security adviser in the first Trump administration, »»»

GENEVA: International search and rescue teams from at least 17 countries are being scrambled to Venezuela to help look for survivors of the devastating twin earthquakes, the United Nations said Friday. Getting those search and rescue teams to the scene is the “top priority,” the UN humanitarian age»»»

A young man dives from a bridge over the Saint-Martin Canal in Paris on Thursday amid a searing heat wave that prompted authorites in the capital to impose restrictions on drinking alcohol in public and takeout sales for the second time in five days. Photo by Yoan Valet/EPA June 26 (UPI) -- Authori»»»

Tunis, June 26 (TAP) – The Tunisian Federation of Travel and Tourism Agencies (FTAV) will introduce a new quality certification, "Omra Trusted by FTAV," in the coming weeks for travel agencies that meet a set of strict standards, FTAV President...»»»

LOS ANGELES, USA: A mouthwatering duel between in-form goalscorers Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland will take center stage at the World Cup on Friday as France face Norway in a crucial Group I decider. Real Madrid star Mbappe and Manchester City striker Haaland have started the tournament in bliste»»»

U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated suggestions that Syria’s new leader, Ahmad Sharaa, can better curb Iran-backed Hezbollah than Israel have alarmed Lebanon and Syria. Photo by Aaron Schwartz/UPI | License Photo BEIRUT, Lebanon, June 26 (UPI) -- U.S. President Donald Trump's repeated suggestion»»»

South Korea plans to eventually equip every soldier with their own personal drone, in a massive expansion of aerial weapons. To counter the threat from North Korea, Seoul says it will train half a million soldiers in how to use drones, and manufacture more than 100 thousand of them in the next thre»»»

A mass amnesty of undocumented immigrants is currently underway in Spain. Bucking the trend of its European neighbours, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialist government is embracing immigration to underpin its growing economy. However, the plan d»»»

Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Rumen Radev has drawn political attention after comparing the roles of the Bulgarian Patriarch and Russia’s Patriarch Kirill, in remarks that sparked a broader debate about religion, sanctions, and foreign policy. The comments were made following earlier statements from Ra»»»

Vaccination against chickenpox (varicella) will become mandatory in Bulgaria from July 2026, according to the country's immunization ordinance published in the State Gazette in January. The vaccine will be provided free of charge. A total of 14,570 cases of chickenpox have been registered in Bulgar»»»

As Keir Starmer prepares to leave the UK’s highest office after less than two years, the media has lined up to explain why he failed to deliver on the enormous hype he received as opposition leader, and during his initial months in office. A repeated trope has been that Starmer was a “decent man,” »»»

Ukraine will seek to secure more than €1.5bn in reconstruction agreements at this week's Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC2026) in the Polish city of Gdańsk, with railways, ports, energy infrastructure and private investment expected to dominate the agenda as Kyiv looks to strengthen the economy aga»»»

BELGRADE - Serbian Minister for European Integration Nemanja Starovic spoke with Slovenian Deputy PM and Minister of Infrastructure and Energy Jernej Vrtovec by phone on Friday to discuss further strengthening of cooperation between the two countries. In an Instagram post, Starovic wrote that he ha»»»

There will be a full inspection of the guardrails on the section of Trakia Motorway where the severe crash occurred a few days ago, Prime Minister Rumen Radev told journalists on Friday. He specified that the inspection would focus on guardrails manufactured in 2024 during the large-scale replaceme»»»

London: Stock markets retreated Friday, capping a rollercoaster week for technology shares as doubts spread about the huge AI-fuelled gains for technology stocks that have propelled indexes to record territory. Oil prices meanwhile sank more than three percent as fears eased after an attack on a ve»»»

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The death toll from the devastating earthquake in Venezuela rose to 589 and another 2,980 people are injured, Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodriguez said on Friday. "Unfortunately, a total of 589 people died and 2,980 were injured," Rodriguez during a meeting broadcast by th»»»

Los Angeles: A mouthwatering duel between in-form goalscorers Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland will take centre stage at the World Cup on Friday as France face Norway in a crucial Group I decider. Real Madrid star Mbappe and Manchester City striker Haaland have started the tournament in blistering »»»

Arab Finance: Talaat Moustafa Group (TMG Holding) has entered into a strategic partnership with SOKNA to provide a comprehensive, organized, and dignified cemetery experience in Egypt, according to an emailed press release. This collaboration integrates the group’s extensive experience in real esta»»»

"The Movement for Rights and Freedom (MRF) strongly condemns the Government's intention to quietly shut down the communist-era secret police files committee [officially the Committee for Disclosing the Documents and Announcing Affiliation of Bulgarian Citizens to State Security and to the Intellige»»»

June 25 (UPI) -- Authorities in California said an attempt to retrieve a pair of dropped sunglasses from a campground toilet led to a man having to be rescued from the sewage tank. The Fresno County Sheriff's Office said deputies responded Saturday alongside Cal Fire personnel when a man was report»»»

DUBAI: Season five of the acclaimed kitchen-based dramedy “The Bear” arrives with great expectations attached, since it’s also the show’s final outing. Can creator Christopher Storer pull off the often-bungled trick of producing a satisfying ending to a beloved show? It picks up the morning after s»»»

Bulgaria has recorded the sharpest increase in the cost of building new homes among all European Union member states over the past decade, according to data cited from Eurostat and included in the 2026 edition of the report Key European Business Indicators. The figures show that between 2015 and 20»»»

An investigation linked to the “Baba Alino” case has led to the detention of 25 individuals, including five employees of Varna Municipality, as authorities expand inquiries into alleged illegal construction and related practices in the region. Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said the operation i»»»

Denmark is considering a nationwide ban on the Islamic call to prayer. Immigration Minister Morten Bodskov has said it has “no place” in the country. The move comes amid a Danish government crackdown on “Islamization.” Speaking to local news outlet Ritzau on Wednesday, Bodskov, a senior figure in t»»»

Georgian Dream's repeated invocation of Georgia's strategic transit importance to fend off Western criticism is built on a temporary advantage tied to Russia's war in Ukraine that could evaporate once the conflict ends, Kornely Kakachia, director of the Tbilisi-based Georgian Institute of Politics,»»»

LUXEMBOURG - Serbia is among the central, eastern and southeast European states with particularly robust and highly profitable banking sectors, according to an European Investment Bank (EIB) CESEE Bank Lending Survey for the first half of 2026. "The banking sector in Central, Eastern and South-East»»»

Hungary’s new government has confirmed its ambition to join the eurozone by around 2030, with Prime Minister Péter Magyar arguing that adopting the euro would bring greater economic stability and prevent future governments from repeating what he described as the fiscal mistakes of Viktor Orbán’s ad»»»

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan clarified the procedure for voluntary departure for foreign citizens who have violated migration laws. According to the ministry, within the framework of the presidential decree, foreign nationals will be issued exit visas free of charge, and administra»»»

Director of the State Civil Aviation Agency of Kyrgyzstan Daniyar Bostоnov and U.S. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Bishkek Lesslie Viguerie discussed the possibility of launching cargo flights. The sides reviewed prospects for developing Kyrgyzstan — USA cooperation in civil aviati»»»

King Charles III salutes members of the Brtish armed forces at the annual Trooping the Color at Horseguards Parade in London on June 13. On Thursday he became the first ever monarch to reveal how much tax he pays. Photo by Hugo Philpott/UPI | License Photo June 26 (UPI) -- Britain's King Charles II»»»

Rainbow flags are expected to flutter across Seattle's stadium on Friday when Iran meets Egypt in the World Cup Group G match as the city marks its annual Pride parade. The two countries last year asked for Pride-themed celebrations to be cancelled, a request FIFA denied. Players and officials of b»»»

As negociations are underway to end the war launched by Israel and the United Stated against Iran, talks have lagged over the subject of Iran's nuclear programme. The UN's nuclear chief emphasized Friday the need for a "very strong verification system" to ensure the country does not develop nuclear»»»

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday Washington would not accept any Iran deal allowing Tehran to impose fees on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, warning it would cause "total chaos". His remarks came after an attack on a vessel forced the United Nations to suspend mariner evacu»»»

Sharjah: The UAE has moved its Electronic Invoicing System (EIS) from planning into practical testing, with the Ministry of Finance launching the pilot phase of the system’s five-corner model. Sign up for our daily business newsletter, Cheques & Balances.The pilot phase, announced during an awarene»»»

Europe’s record heatwave in the month of June would have been "virtually impossible" 50 years ago, scientists said Friday, proof that human-caused climate change is "unequivocally" responsible for the intensity of the latest scorcher. Half-a-century ago, a similar heatwave would have been 3.5°C coo»»»

PRESS REVIEW – Friday, June 26: Papers discuss the scientific and political aspects of the earthquakes in Venezuela. Next: a new study sheds light on who makes the most money after university in the UK. Finally, we look at a heatwave headline that will make you giggle. International media discuss w»»»

The United States and Iran have entered a new phase of negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program, but the most difficult questions have only been postponed. High-level delegations from the two countries have been meeting in Switzerland, with Pakistan and Qatar acting as mediators, after the signin»»»

A 21-year-old driver with only five months of driving experience caused a fatal collision near Mezdra that killed two teenagers riding a moped, according to police and eyewitness accounts cited in multiple reports. The accident occurred between Mezdra and the village of Bodenets, when a BMW reporte»»»

The United States is considering moving some of its Gulf bases to the Zionist entity, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, noting that damage at some bases is far more extensive than Washington has publicly acknowledged. The report said the US is considering refurnishing the base in Bahrai»»»

Iran’s top military command issued a stark warning on Friday against Israeli military aircraft approaching its airspace through neighboring countries, declaring such maneuvers a “dangerous act” and asserting Tehran’s unequivocal right to retaliate against any perceived hostile threat. The Khatam al»»»