BEIRUT: Lebanon will formally urge Israel to immediately halt attacks on journalists and paramedics during US-sponsored talks in Washington, a day after an Israeli strike killed a Lebanese reporter and wounded another in southern Lebanon. An official source told Arab News that the demand was added »»»

Senate Republican Leader John Thune, R-S.D., helped the Senate pass a bill to begin the budget reconciliation process early Thursday Morning. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo April 23 (UPI) -- Senate Republicans were up all night voting, eventually adopting a budget reconciliation pack»»»

Britain and France Thursday voiced hope that a military plan to protect the Strait of Hormuz was coming together and would succeed in restoring trade flows through the vital passage. At a two-day meeting in London, a dedicated operational planning group on Wednesday presented a decision brief to mi»»»

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has secured top rankings in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2025-2026 report, reflecting a highly competitive environment and reinforcing its position as a premier hub for entrepreneurship. The Kingdom led all high-income economies in entrepreneurial finance, highlighting t»»»

BELGRADE - A 360-degree observation deck on top of Belgrade Tower, situated in the Belgrade Waterfront complex, was opened on Thursday at a ceremony also attended by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Eagle Hills founder and CEO Mohamed Alabbar. Accessed via lifts directly from the Galerija mal»»»

Secretary's SpeechLebanon PalestineZionist EntityRegional and International International More Video Language Ar En Fr EsSubscribe for Weekly Updates Subscribe Democrats in the US Coalesce Against “Israel” Amid Deepening Party Shift: WSJ 23-04-2026 17:07 PM WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 19: U.S. Sen. B»»»

DUBAI: The US military on Thursday seized another tanker associated with the smuggling of Iranian oil, ratcheting up a standoff with Iran a day after its paramilitary Revolutionary Guards took control of two vessels in the crucial Strait of Hormuz. The Defense Department released video footage of U»»»

DHAKA: Bangladesh has recorded 194 child deaths due to measles in an outbreak that began last month, while the number of suspected child cases has exceeded 28,000, government data showed on Thursday. Between three and five children have died from the disease every day for the past week. Five childr»»»

For the first time in decades, Israeli and Lebanese civilian officials sat across a table in Washington and began talking. The discussions—convened in the shadow of a wider war with Iran, mediated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and given a 10-day ceasefire window by Donald Trump—are truly histo»»»

Since the fall of the Assad regime in Syria on 8 December 2024, the country’s border with Lebanon has been subject to an unprecedented mobilisation, with Damascus ramping things up in recent weeks by sending heavy reinforcements to the frontier to confront Hezbollah’s smuggling operations. Under As»»»

Today (23 April), the US hosts the second round of talks between the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to Washington. The first meeting of these diplomats on 14 April was significant, not because it was the first direct legal contact between senior officials of these states since 1993, or because th»»»

BELGRADE - Serbian Armed Forces Chief of General Staff Gen Milan Mojsilovic says the security situation in Serbia is stable but that certain challenges and risks do exist, above all, the Autonomous Province of Kosovo-Metohija, and noted that the Serbian Armed Forces are fully capable of executing a»»»

BEIRUT: Spread across a hillside of southern Lebanon, the tiny village of Beit Lif had been almost entirely flattened. Once home to a few thousand people, nearly every house had been reduced to piles of concrete by Israeli military demolitions. “They were demolishing it gradually until they reached»»»

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index slipped on Thursday, losing 135.40 points, or 1.2 percent, to close at 11,109.59. The total trading turnover of the benchmark index was SR6.02 billion ($1.6 billion), as 45 of the stocks advanced and 212 retreated. Similarly, the Kingdom’s parallel mar»»»

The U.S. military on Thursday seized another tanker associated with the smuggling of Iranian oil, ratcheting up a standoff with Iran a day after its paramilitary Revolutionary Guards took control of two vessels in the crucial Strait of Hormuz. The Defense Department released video footage of U.S. f»»»

Saudi Arabia’s debt market is set for a strategic shift in early 2027, following J.P. Morgan’s announcement that local-currency bonds will be included in its global emerging markets bond index. The move represents a vote of confidence in the Kingdom’s structural reforms and is expected to open the »»»

Dhaka: Bangladesh has recorded 194 child deaths due to measles in an outbreak that began last month, while the number of suspected child cases has exceeded 28,000, government data showed on Thursday. Between three and five children have died from the disease every day for the past week. Five childr»»»

SHENZHEN,- Serbian Deputy PM and Minister of Economy Adrijana Mesarovic met with top executives of Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD in Shenzhen on Thursday to discuss active inclusion of Serbian automotive companies in a sustainable supply chain of a BYD factory in Szeged, Hungary, due to »»»

NEW DELHI (Sputnik) - Sri Lanka is planning to pay for future imports of Russian crude oil in Chinese yuan, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported on Thursday, citing the country's new energy minister, Aruna Karunatilake. The discussions on the matter are still ongoing, the minister said. "We expect t»»»

US Navy Secretary John C. Phelan has stepped down in an abrupt move announced by the Pentagon without any public explanation or indication that his exit was linked to the naval blockade of Iran. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement that Phelan was “departing the administration” at on»»»

Warsaw: A 58-year-old woman was killed by a bear in Southeastern Poland on Thursday, Pawel Giba, press officer for the District State Fire Service Headquarters in Sanok, told AFP. A report received by the fire department "indicated that in the village of Plonna a woman was allegedly attacked by a b»»»

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has urged the Trump administration to pressure Israel to scale back its demands and end its military invasion of the country. In an interview with the Washington Post, Salam said Lebanon could not sign any agreement that does not include a “full withdrawal” of Israeli for»»»

LONDON: Independent Arabia has won a Fetisov Journalism Award prize for its investigation into an adoption-brokers network in Egypt, adding to the outlet’s growing list of honors since its launch in 2019. Journalist Salah Labban won the 2025 prize in the civil rights category for his investigation,»»»

MP George Adwan said Thursday at a press conference held by the Strong Republic bloc in parliament that "what happened over the past two years is that a certain faction dragged Lebanon into a war in support of Gaza, and the result was the destruction of Gaza and hundreds of thousands of martyrs. Th»»»

Five new cases of the deadly livestock disease sheep pox have been recorded in the second fortnight of April, authorities said Thursday, while a total 486,666 animals have been culled since the epidemic started. The Rural Development ministry said 2,152 cases of sheep or goat pox have been recorded»»»

London: Both chambers of Britain's parliament have approved a bill that would ban children aged 17 and under from buying cigarettes during their lifetime. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill aims to stop anyone born after January 1, 2009 (now aged 17) from taking up smoking. Health minister Wes Streeting ca»»»

On April 25, the Indian Premier League will be halfway through its 19th edition. Coverage of it dominates the Indian-owned and based cricket media. Last week, Harsha Bhogle, one of its long-serving commentators and journalists, declared that the IPL “has to be one of the greatest sporting phenomena»»»

Journalist Gabriela Naplatanova has been elected to chair the Council for Electronic Media (CEM). She was nominated for the position by the previous leader, Simona Veleva, and by member Kadrinka Kadrinova. During a CEM meeting on Thursday, Naplatanova was also supported by Prolet Velkova, while Gal»»»

BUDAPEST - The Hungarian oil firm MOL said on Thursday it would retain the Pancevo oil refinery for the long term if it became the majority owner of the Serbian oil company NIS. MOL said the refinery had a very important strategic role in ensuring stable and uninterrupted energy supply. "MOL's obje»»»

BARCELONA: A feature of Jordan’s rise to footballing prominence over the past two years has been their fearsome attacking triumvirate. Stade Rennais’ Musa Al-Taamari might win all the plaudits but his partners in crime, Ali Olwan and Yazan Al-Naimat, scored the goals that delivered World Cup qualif»»»

In 2025, the national poverty line in Bulgaria was set at BGN 866.67 per person per month, with 1,368,700 people, or 21.2% of the population, living below it, according to data published on Thursday by the National Statistical Institute. Compared with the previous year, the poverty line increased b»»»

As the United States edges closer to a critical May 1 deadline in its war with Iran, a decades-old law is quietly becoming one of the most consequential forces shaping the next phase of the conflict. Nearly eight weeks after Washington joined Israeli strikes against Iran, President Donald Trump fac»»»

RIYADH: Female labor force participation across Gulf Cooperation Council countries climbed to 39.3 percent in 2025, as employment gains and falling joblessness signal steady progress in the region’s workforce diversification efforts. The number of employed women rose to 7.3 million in 2025 from 5.7»»»

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that regular and reserve soldiers in the Israeli army have been looting civilian property from homes and shops in southern Lebanon, with the knowledge of their commanders and without any prevention or accountability. Citing testimonies, the Israeli paper said »»»

Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk affirmed that the new fiscal year 2026/2027 budget aims to meet citizens’ basic needs, improve services, and support economic activity. During his presentation of the financial statement for the 2026/2027 draft budget before the House of Representatives on Wednesday,»»»

The results of the April 19 parliamentary elections and the resignation of acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov dominate Thursday’s news media. POLITICS & ELECTION RESULTS Dnevnik.bg has an article about the news members of Parliament who were elected on April 19. The 52nd National Assembly w»»»

BELGRADE - Official talks between an International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission and representatives of the Republic of Serbia began with a plenary meeting at the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) on Thursday. The Serbian delegation is headed by NBS Governor Jorgovanka Tabakovic, who is also Serbia's gov»»»

Lulu Group Chairman M.A. Yusuff Ali held a meeting with Minister of Commerce Dr. Majid Al-Qasabi, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar bin Ibrahim Al-Khorayef and Minister of Investment Fahad bin Abduljalil Al-Saif. During the meeting, Ali briefed the ministers on the steps taken by Lu»»»

Serbian General Ratko Mladić is in the most severe condition he has ever been in, according to assessments by Serbian doctors who examined him in the detention unit of the Hague tribunal, his son Darko Mladić said in a statement to SRNA, stressing that the authorities in the Hague have effectively »»»

When uncertainty hits, leadership stops being a title and starts showing its true shape. At the the Tristar presents Limitless: The UAE Power Women’s Forum in association with Gulf News, held at Taj Exotica Resort & Spa, The Palm, five women leaders cut through the noise on what it really takes to »»»

A ​top envoy to US President Donald Trump has asked FIFA to replace Iran with Italy in the upcoming World Cup, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. The plan is an effort to repair ties between Trump and Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni after the two fell out amid the American president’s»»»

Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) Chairman, Masoud Suleiman, revealed yesterday that he had met with representatives of Nigerian company Aiteo, one of the companies that won the public bidding round for exploration, securing Block M1 in the Murzuq Basin. During the meeting, they discussed the »»»

BEIRUT: Lebanon and Israel were set to begin a second session of direct talks in Washington on Thursday to discuss the possibility of extending a truce between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group and plans for future negotiations between the two neighbors with a long history of hostile relation»»»

Turkish lawmakers passed a bill late Wednesday that includes restricting access to social media platforms for children under 15, state media reported. The legislation is the latest in a global trend to protect young people from dangerous online activity. Its passage comes a week after a 14-year-old»»»

Amid clear signs of uncertainty and the continued “arm-wrestling”-style negotiations between the United States and Iran, the sudden decline in what only a few days ago was described as an imminent agreement or settlement to end the war between the two sides, mediated by Pakistan, raises many fundam»»»

Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked a fifth Democrat bid to curb President Donald Trump's ability to wage war with Iran. File Photo by Mike Theiler/UPI | License Photo April 23 (UPI) -- Senate Republicans have again blocked the Democrats from curbing President Donald Trump's ability to wage war»»»

Britain's budget deficit for the last financial year narrowed to a six-year low as a percentage of economic output although borrowing for March alone exceeded forecasts, official data showed on Thursday. The Office for National Statistics reported 132.0 billion pounds ($178.1 billion) of public sec»»»

WASHINGTON: The United States slammed China’s “intimidation campaign” on Wednesday after several African countries were reportedly pressured by Beijing to derail an official trip by Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te by revoking overflight permits. Taiwan announced Tuesday that Lai was postponing his »»»

More than half of children and adolescents in Argentina were living in poverty in 2025, with nearly a third going without adequate food, according to a report by the Catholic University of Argentina (UCA), underscoring the uneven social impact of President Javier Milei's austerity-driven economic o»»»

Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on April 22 called on countries to refrain from using the Caspian Sea for military purposes. Tokayev did not name any particular countries in his appeal, though since Russia lau»»»