Dubai/Abu Dhabi: Onam celebrations are under way across the UAE, with Indian expats from the south Indian state of Kerala gearing up for a festival that runs an extra day this year. Homes, community groups, shops and public venues are all preparing for the annual celebrations of the state festival.»»»

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) — A NASA spacecraft circling the moon is providing the sharpest views yet of the crater carved by a crashing SpaceX rocket. The space agency released before-and-after photos of the impact area on Tuesday. The Falcon rocket’s upper stage plowed into the moon at 5,400 mph»»»

WASHINGTON: A US Navy destroyer with about 300 sailors aboard suffered a major breakdown in the Pacific Ocean last month that left it without power for four days, the Navy confirmed in a statement. The USS Benfold “reported an engineering casualty involving its generators, causing a loss of power” »»»

SEOUL: South Korea and the United States are expected to conclude the current phase of their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise on Friday, Aug. 21, several days earlier than the previously announced Aug. 27 end date, as Seoul and Washington adjust the scale of the drills following US Presid»»»

Millions more people may be able to get smaller, lightweight Amazon packages delivered by drones by the end of the year under a plan the company announced Thursday to expand the airborne shipping to suburban areas in nearly 500 U.S. cities. Customers could receive the drone deliveries in as fast as»»»

At first glance, this title may seem unusual coming from a humanitarian foundation. Yet the greatest success any humanitarian organisation can achieve is not to expand its programmes, increase its budgets, or extend its reach to more countries. It is to reach a day when its mission has been fulfill»»»

Dubai: UAE airfares could remain elevated throughout 2026, with a new report warning that the disruption affecting Gulf airspace, airline capacity and fuel markets could take months to unwind. Sign up for our daily business newsletter, Cheques & BalancesUnder a relatively positive resolution, globa»»»

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Tuesday announced two Iranian diplomats would be expelled from France. The move comes in retaliation for incident last month in Tehran in which two French diplomats were arrested. File Photo by Radek Pietruszka/EPA Aug. 18 (UPI) -- France will expel two I»»»

Climate change is the main driver of Europe's rising marine temperatures, directly adding around 2C of warming in the Mediterranean this summer and severely impacting ecosystems, a study said Wednesday. "From the Atlantic waters off Ireland to the Mediterranean Sea, Europe's seas are experiencing a»»»

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney held urgent talks with US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, hours before fresh US tariffs on Canadian goods were set to come into force. Trump signed orders for the steep 50-percent duties last month, with the White House alleging "discriminatory treatment" by C»»»

UN nuclear watchdog head Rafael Mariano Grossi said Tuesday that his agency had found several "tons of nuclear materials" at a previously undeclared site dating from the rule of Syria's previous authorities. Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said the material was not dangerous and that Dam»»»

A shallow earthquake of magnitude 5.9 struck in China's central Qinghai province early Wednesday, the US Geological Survey said. The quake was situated in a mountainous rural area, 269 kilometers southeast of the city of Dunhuang and had a depth of 10 kilometers. The China Earthquake Networks Cente»»»

WASHINGTON: A Massachusetts woman who told police that she brought homemade firebombs to the US Capitol to kill Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was sentenced on Tuesday to just over six years in prison. Riley English, a 26-year-old transgender woman, said she was in the grips of a mental health cr»»»

WASHINGTON: A Trump administration task force created to combat antisemitism pushed for settlements with Ivy League universities despite government investigations that were rushed and incomplete or that failed to establish legal violations by the schools, a former Justice Department lawyer alleged »»»

NEW YORK: US authorities expanded its prosecution of a sprawling Iranian hacking network Tuesday, bringing to 17 the number of indicted suspects for an alleged campaign against universities, companies, and government agencies. The Department of Justice unveiled a new indictment targeting eight addi»»»

A trio of medical experts and the former mother-in-law of Lindsay Clancy testified in her defense during her Massachusetts triple-murder trial on Tuesday. File Photo by Mike Theiler/UPI | License Photo Aug. 18 (UPI) -- Medical experts and a family member testified in a Massachusetts courtroom Tuesd»»»

Iran is rejecting another temporary ceasefire with the United States and is instead demanding a permanent end to the conflict, according to Iranian officials and analysts monitoring the stalled diplomacy, as a 60-day interim agreement expired this week without a broader deal. The Islamabad Memorand»»»

Israel on Tuesday accused Turkey of posing a threat by preparing to send troops to a base in Syria, which was hit in a strike condemned by the United States which blamed its ally. The strike marks extraordinary defiance by Israel of the United States, which has sought to support Syria's new governm»»»

Prices fell on all three major U.S. stock indices on Tuesday as 30-year Treasury yield surpassed 5.30% for the first time since the global financial crisis in 2007. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo Aug. 18 (UPI) -- Stocks fell on all three major U.S. indices Tuesday as investors wer»»»

Two of China’s largest state-owned oil shipping companies have halted all tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandab strait, according to a Reuters report on Tuesday, citing industry executives, vessel trackers and a ship broker. The decision by COSCO Shipping Energy Transpor»»»

Warmer ocean waters fueled by the El Niño climate pattern are drawing more sharks to Southern California, including species that typically remain farther south, as a marine heat wave raises water temperatures along the coast. In Newport Beach, lifeguards have reported increased shark activity durin»»»

The structure of developers’ housing supply is shifting in Poland’s largest cities, with more expensive apartments entering the market and fewer lower-priced units available. Apartments priced above PLN 20,000 per square meter increased 42 percent year over year in Warsaw and the Tricity area, 35 p»»»

Krakow is renewing efforts to introduce a tourist tax similar to those used in major European cities. The city has had a legislative proposal ready since 2017 and wants the government to change current rules, which effectively prevent large cities from charging a standard tourist fee. Krakow propos»»»

Poland’s hotel market has entered a new phase of growth, driven by larger projects, international brands and extensive modernization of older properties. The country now has more than 2,600 hotels, while hotel bed capacity has increased about 42 percent since 2015. Warsaw remains the largest market»»»

Poland’s food processing industry increased revenue in Q1 2026, but profitability weakened as high labor, energy and service costs continued to pressure margins. Revenue rose 6.2 percent year over year to PLN 93.39 bln, while EBITDA fell 2.8 percent to PLN 7.94 b