MOSCOW (Sputnik) - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said at a closed-door meeting at the EU summit that it was high time to consider providing a mandate for EU negotiations with Russia, Euronews reported on Friday, citing sources. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedl»»»

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US intelligence agencies are warning that Israel is likely to try derailing the final peace deal between the United States and Iran, The Washington Post reported on Friday, citing current and former officials. On June 14, Iran and the United States confirmed that work on a me»»»

Air Force One arrives at the Yokota Air Base in Tokyo, Japan, on in 2022. One of the two planes being actively used as Air Force One is retiring. Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI | License Photo June 19 (UPI) -- A Boeing 747-200 made its last flight as Air Force One after it brought President Donald Trump h»»»

A National Muslim Conference, at which a new Chief Mufti and new leadership of the Muslim denomination in Bulgaria will be elected, will take place at 10 am on June 21 at the National Palace of Culture, the Office of the Chief Mufti said. More than 1,000 delegates, elected by local Muslim communiti»»»

TEHRAN (Sputnik) - Russia and Iran are placing special emphasis on developing financial mechanisms that are independent of restrictive measures and aimed at facilitating trade, Iranian Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati said on Friday. This week, the official visited Moscow on a trip focused »»»

EU leaders have cautiously welcomed Donald Trump's signing of an interim agreement with Iran, after nearly four months of war in the Middle East. But it is only a Memorandum of Understanding, and Europeans know the US president too well to celebrate prematurely. The conflict has led to the most sev»»»

Hezbollah Secretary General, His Eminence Sheikh Naim Qassem, affirmed in his speech at the central Ashura council that “Al-Hussein is our approach, a standard of victory, rejection of injustice, and jihad for defense, a standard of victory. We do not fear death and there are no limits to sacrifice»»»

US President Donald Trump pushed for a memorandum of understanding with Iran because he found himself in a dire situation, the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has said. The 14-point document was signed remotely by Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian late on »»»

DAKAR: The gunfire and explosions that ripped through Niger’s main international airport are the latest sign of armed groups increasingly targeting cities and urban centers in Africa’s Sahel region, where they are competing for influence and territories, analysts say. The Al-Qaeda-linked JNIM milit»»»

Damascus, June 19 (SANA) The head of the Foreign Relations Committee and member of the Union of Syrian Chambers of Commerce, Anas al-Bou, met on Friday with Aziz Alper Biten, director general of external relations and the European Union at the Turkish Health Ministry, and his accompanying delegatio»»»

In the lead-up to Colombia's presidential runoff, François Picard is pleased to welcome Renata Segura, Program Director for Latin America and the Caribbean at the International Crisis Group. "What we're seeing in this election are two options that are very different from past elections," Segura exp»»»

The Obama museum and civic center has been inaugurated in Chicago. It tells the story and cements the legacy of the former president, championning the principles of democracy. All former US presidents attended the event, as well as several celebrities. The nearly 20-acre (8-hectare) campus includes»»»

Share: Smoke billows from southern Lebanon following an Israeli strike, as seen from Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, June 19, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer WASHINGTON, BEIRUT- – Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon on Friday after an escalation in fighting there jeopardized the chances of an »»»

Achraf Hakimi will stand trial for rape a Paris appeals court has ruled. The captain of the Moroccan team was first accused of rape in 2023, by a then 24 year old woman. In February this year, an investigative judge ruled that Hakimi would face trial followed recommendations from public prosecutors»»»

France is in the grip of a heatwave, which Météo France expects to be "wisdespread, prolonged and intense". The thermometer is set to climb even higher in the coming days, reaching or exceeding 40°C on June 21, leading to several municipalities to cancel Fete de la Musique celebrations. The state-o»»»

The start of a new heatwave in France has prompted multiple schools to announce changes to their opening hours from Thursday onwards. As climate change makes high temperatures an annual – and increasingly early – phenomenon, France and other countries in southern Europe are debating »»»

Polling station officials count votes on Election Day in Medellin, Colombia,on May 31. Conservative businessman Abelardo de la Espriella and leftist Sen. Iván Cepeda will face off in a runoff to determine the country's next president on Sunday. File Photo by Stringer/EPA June 19 (UPI) -- Colombia w»»»

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa signed a decree authorizing the deployment of foreign military personnel in the country to assist in operations against organized crime. File Photo by Peter Foley/UPI | License Photo June 19 (UPI) -- Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa signed a decree authorizing the»»»

Dubai: The General Directorate of Identity and Foreigners Affairs – Dubai (GDRFA Dubai) has taken decisive action against violations involving the promotion of unauthorised visa and residency services through social media platforms, in a move aimed at safeguarding the public and ensuring that all s»»»

Prime Minister Péter Magyar has announced that the European Commission has recommended Hungary’s revised Recovery and Resilience Plan for approval, potentially unlocking billions of euros in EU funding. Speaking after the European Council’s two-day summit in Brussels, Magyar said the Commission had»»»

BELGRADE - Serbian PM Djuro Macut held on Friday a video meeting with the Director of the European Commission’s Directorate for Enlargement and Eastern Neighbourhood Geert Jan Koopman to review the results achieved in the implementation of a Reform Agenda and define the next steps in the process. M»»»

Beirut: Lebanon's health ministry says at least 47 people have been killed and 97 injured in Israeli air strikes since midnight, marking a significant escalation in violence across the country. The ministry's emergency operations center said the cumulative death toll from Israeli military actions s»»»

London: Police said Friday they had released a man on bail after a three-year-old boy ended up in a private zoo's crocodile enclosure in eastern England, suffering serious injuries. The toddler remained in a "critical but stable" condition in hospital in the nearby city of Cambridge, police said. P»»»

Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab held a meeting last Saturday to follow up a number of development projects in South Sinai governorate. The get-together was attended by ministers of trade and industry; water resources and irrigation; as well as agriculture ; and south Sinai governor and some officials»»»

The Rotherham rape gang scandal exposed a profound civilizational betrayal at the heart of modern Britain: a once-cohesive nation, shaped by centuries of shared history and identity, is now undermined by universalist delusions and forced to confront harsh tribal realities, incompatible loyalties, a»»»

International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan walked with Asaad al-Shaibani, right, in Damascus, Syria, in 2025. Khan has been suspended from the British bar over sexual misconduct allegations. File Photo by SANA/UPI. | License Photo June 19 (UPI) -- Karim Khan, chief prosecutor for the Intern»»»

RIYADH: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke on the phone with Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa on Friday, during which the two leaders reviewed the latest developments in the region. The call focused on ongoing efforts to enhance security and stability across the region, according t»»»

DENPASAR, Indonesia: Authorities in Indonesia ‘s tourist island of Bali foiled an attempt to illegally trade 21 protected green sea turtles, police said on Friday. Bali police seized the live animals during a raid on the Pegametan coast of the island on June 10, after local residents reported suspe»»»

LONDON: A British court sent two men to prison Friday for setting fire to property linked to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in a plot orchestrated by a mysterious Russian-speaking figure. Ukrainian national Roman Lavrynovych, 22, and Stanislav Carpiuc, a 27-year-old Romanian citizen, were jail»»»

PARIS: French hurdler Dimitri Bascou, an Olympic medallist in 2016, was banned for four years on Friday for a positive test for steroids. The 38-year-old athlete had been provisionally suspended since April 2024, three months after testing positive for testosterone and boldenone, two banned anaboli»»»

LONDON: England tail-ender Matthew Fisher made a defiant unbeaten half-century to frustrate New Zealand and take his side to 291-9 at lunch on day three of the second test on Friday, a deficit ‌of 100. Earlier ‌New Zealand’s Matt ‌Henry ⁠had taken three ⁠quick wickets as the visitors sought to wrap»»»

TOKYO/TAIPEI: The CEO of UFORCE, a Ukrainian producer of attack drones, flew to Tokyo in April with a pitch for Japanese officials and defense contractors: build thousands of our drones to defend yourself and allies. Days earlier, US troops had used waterborne UFORCE drones to sink a ship during a »»»

PARIS: Much of Western Europe was sweltering in a gruelling heatwave on Friday with the mercury expected to continue rising in the coming days, shattering temperature records. France was hit hard, forcing hundreds of schools to tweak their timetables to cope. Forecasters warned of an “intense and l»»»

TIRANA: Albanian police charged 27 more demonstrators with public order offenses on Friday after overnight rallies against a resort development linked to US President Donald Trump’s family. Since late May, protesters have gathered in thousands to oppose the construction of a luxury hotel, linked to»»»

BERLIN: World number one Aryna Sabalenka stormed back from the cusp of defeat to beat Czech Nikola Bartunkova and reach the last four of the WTA event in Berlin on Friday. Sabalenka won 2-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 in sweltering conditions in the German capital in the traditional Wimbledon warm-up event. “I»»»

BELGRADE - Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic met with Russian Ambassador to Belgrade Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko on Friday to discuss bilateral cooperation in the energy sector and a resolution of the issue of the Serbian oil company NIS, and expressed the hope the »»»

The US-funded Ukrainian laboratories were studying the disease-causing properties of plague, anthrax, tularemia, and the Marburg and Ebola viruses, stated Lieutenant General Alexei Rtishchev, head of the Russian Armed Forces’ Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops. It is important to not»»»

The news that the talks between US and Iran are postponed has cast a shadow over the EU summit, as EU leaders hoped that the memorandum of agreement would bring attention back to the conflict in Ukraine. But the Middle East is not totally set aside, with EU leaders set to discuss whether to severe »»»

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a video posted on X Friday that she was "frankly stunned" by US President Donald Trump's claim that she "begged" him for a photo during the G7 summit. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said he was cancelling a visit to the US planned for June»»»

EU leaders are meeting in Brussels to talk about the bloc's next seven-year budget, set to go on for the next six months. The European Commission proposed last July a two-trillion-euro seven-year spending plan for the 27-country bloc -- which so-called frugal countries immediately made clear was t»»»

Varna Municipality has launched formal proceedings to remove a series of illegal buildings in the Baba Alino area, with Mayor Blagomir Kotsev announcing that 12 demolition orders were issued on Friday and that the first has already been signed. Speaking at a briefing, Kotsev said the targeted struc»»»

Secretary's SpeechLebanon PalestineZionist EntityRegional and International International More Video Language Ar En Fr EsSubscribe for Weekly Updates Subscribe Sheikh Qassem: Hezbollah believes that “Hussein is our path” means that Muhammad is our path, that Islam is our path, and that the religion»»»

Secretary's SpeechLebanon PalestineZionist EntityRegional and International International More Video Language Ar En Fr EsSubscribe for Weekly Updates Subscribe Sheikh Qassem: The principles from which we proceed are national, humanitarian, and moral; they are among the noblest values on earth 19-06»»»

Secretary's SpeechLebanon PalestineZionist EntityRegional and International International More Video Language Ar En Fr EsSubscribe for Weekly Updates Subscribe Sheikh Qassem: We confront all forms of subordination, and when the enemy confronts us with weapons, we confront it with weapons 19-06-2026»»»

Vice President JD Vance was set to travel to Switzerland to continue into the next phase of negotiations with Iran. Vance’s trip has been postponed while Israel has opened up more strikes on Lebanon. Photo by Aaron Schwartz/UPI | License Photo June 19 (UPI) -- Global oil prices have fluctuated slig»»»

VIENNA: A Saudi delegation, represented by the Communications, Space and Technology Commission and the Saudi Space Agency, participated in the 69th session of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, held in Vienna from June 10 to 18. The Kingdom’s participation reflects its commitment»»»

Dubai: Sudden lane swerving, tailgating and speeding continue to rank among the leading causes of traffic accidents on Dubai's roads, prompting Dubai Police to launch a new awareness campaign aimed at changing driver behaviour and reducing preventable crashes. The "Drive with Awareness" campaign, l»»»

UAE-based Emirates Airlines is set to add four weekly services between Dubai and Accra from July 12, a new report by regional media noted. The new options take its growing Ghana operation to 11 flights a week, the airline said, as it continues to rebuild capacity. The expansion comes afte»»»

A Chinese worker has died following a workplace accident at the construction site of BYD’s new car factory in Szeged, southern Hungary. According to the Csongrád-Csanád County Police Headquarters, the fatal incident occurred on Thursday within the construction area of the factory. Police said a lor»»»

The electronic ink was barely dry, and Israel already knew what it thought about the emerging agreement. "Bad deal," read the main headline of Yediot Aharonot on 14 June, in two blunt Hebrew words that captured the national mood with the economy of a tombstone inscription. There is a reason for Isr»»»