LONDON: A Norwegian teenager convicted of traveling to Britain to carry out a contract killing on behalf of an international crime gang linked to Iran was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison. Johannes Kongsnes Natland, 19, was found guilty in July of conspiracy to murder for agreeing to shoot an»»»

As they met separately with Finance Minister Galab Donev in Sofia Friday, trade union and employer organizations disagreed on the minimum wage and public-sector wage increase in the government's 2027 budget plan. Representatives of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) a»»»

DHAHRAN: It took Riyadh-resident Amal Sghaier nearly 22 hours and several detours to return home from her vacation in South Korea this week. Airport closures due to recent unrest meant her original journey was not possible, so she entered the Kingdom by car via King Fahd Causeway. While she enjoyed»»»

PAPHOS, Cyprus: A British man who pleaded guilty in the fatal fall of his 3-year-old son from a hotel window is free to return home after a Cyprus court fined him 3,000 euros ($3,380). Joshua Patric Foster, 38, wept Friday in Paphos District Court as Judge Froso Christodoulidou ruled a prison term »»»

LONDON: Downing Street Friday distanced itself from comments by the wife of the British prime minister’s national security adviser who voiced support for banned activist group Palestine Action. Sarah Helm, a journalist and author and wife of Jonathan Powell, Andy Burnham’s national security adviser»»»

The United Nations aviation agency has found Lebanon’s main airport lacks valid certification, according to a report summary seen by Reuters, in a setback to US President Donald Trump’s move to revive direct US-Beirut flights. Trump made the announcement in July and signed an order last month for t»»»

Former Budapest mayor István Tarlós has made unusually sharp remarks about Viktor Orbán’s responsibility for corruption under Fidesz. However, the veteran politician was far from complimentary about Péter Magyar’s Tisza government either. Former Budapest mayor István Tarlós has spoken openly about »»»

LONDON: US President Donald Trump ruled out using nuclear weapons against Iran but raised the possibility of further strikes on its nuclear facilities, saying Washington wanted to ensure Tehran could never develop an atomic weapon. “No, I wouldn’t use nuclear. We don’t have to,” Trump said in an in»»»

VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo XIV spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone on Friday, calling for a ceasefire in a Russian-occupied city in southern Ukraine, as he recovers in hospital from a lung cancer operation. The Vatican said that Pope Leo “expressed his deep concern about the grave huma»»»

Presidential candidate Iliana Iotova called on Friday for the next budget to support Bulgaria's poorest and most vulnerable people as part of efforts to overcome poverty. Speaking in Vratsa, Iotova said every effort must be made to lift Bulgaria out of poverty. Around 30% of the population lived in»»»

A historic monastery complex in southern Slovakia, purchased with Hungarian public money under the former Orbán government, remains unusable despite HUF hundreds of millions of being spent on its renovation. The Orbán administration paid approximately EUR 219,000 for the properties in Šahy (Ipolysá»»»

Information Services, Bulgaria's national system integrator, publicly demonstrated the computer system that will process voting data for Bulgaria's October 25 presidential election. At the Parliament building on Friday, the company explained how the election process works, from voting and vote coun»»»

Bulgaria marked Aviation and Air Force Day on Friday with the laying of wreaths and flowers at the Monument to the Aviator in Sofia. In 2026, Bulgarian military aviation marks the 114th anniversary of its first combat flight. President Iliana Iotova inspected the guard of honour and laid a wreath i»»»

DAMASCUS/LONDON: Iran has managed to export some liquefied petroleum gas and jet fuel since July, despite a US naval blockade, shipping intelligence showed and people involved in security said. Tehran has in recent weeks been concealing such cargoes among a growing volume of ship-to-ship transfers »»»

RIYADH: The restraint shown by Saudi Arabia to prevent escalation is highly appreciated and demonstrates the Saudi leadership’s commitment to a return to normalcy in the region, the Indian ambassador to the Kingdom has said. In an interview with Arab News, Shri Vipul said: “India has consistently c»»»

Israel said commercial goods usually delivered into Gaza by private merchants have not entered the beleaguered territory for days because of Hamas threats and a taxation scheme, an accusation the group rejected. Despite a fragile ceasefire observed since October 2025, the Gaza Strip remains engulfe»»»

KABUL: Lying in her hospital cot, the 3-year-old girl roamed the room with her gray-green eyes, but her body was listless. Her mother sat by her bedside, quietly weeping. Just a few months ago, she lost her 5-year-old daughter, Khadija, to the same condition: malnutrition. Both girls had the same s»»»

Iran-linked espionage networks raise concerns across Gulf and Arab nations Abu Dhabi: Dr Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, Chairman of the Defence, Interior and Foreign Affairs Committee at the Federal National Council (FNC), said the UAE faced multiple security challenges during the Iranian missile and drone »»»

SportsRwandaFormula One in Rwanda: More sportswashing or opportunity for Africa?Jonathan HardingFormula One will return to Africa for the first time since 1993. There is concern Rwanda are using it as another sportswashing opportunity, but there is also hope the event's legacy can impact wider Afri»»»

Sofia Municipality and three companies from the construction and innovation sectors have established a platform to promote climate-neutral buildings and construction in the capital through expert exchange, joint work and innovative solutions, the municipality said on Friday. The founding memorandum»»»

By Staff, Agencies Hamas has marked the second anniversary of the martyrdom of its former political bureau chief, Yahya Sinwar, praising his role in the movement’s military and political leadership and describing his legacy as part of the broader Palestinian struggle for freedom and independence. I»»»

Amendments to the Waste Management Act will promote competition, reduce costs and potentially lower the final prices of a range of products, Progressive Bulgaria MP Stefan Sabrutev told reporters at Parliament on Friday. The amendments, adopted at second reading, halve the required bank guarantees »»»

On the night of October 16, 1946, 10 individuals were hanged in the Nuremberg prison. These were the main Nazi criminals who had been captured and brought to trial. Despite the horrifying scale and brutality of the crimes, the Nuremberg Trials remain one of the most controversial proceedings in wor»»»

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Ukraine likes to hit its infrastructure in order to denigrate Russia and ask for help from the West, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday. "Committing attacks, including on its own civilian infrastructure and civilians, followed by accusations again»»»

By Staff, Agencies The Handala hacking group has claimed responsibility for breaching the communications of Tzipi Livni, a former “Israeli” foreign minister and deputy prime minister, alleging that leaked documents expose undisclosed cooperation between her and the entity's Prime Minister Benjamin »»»

Shevchenko claimed the title at the U23 World Wrestling Championships, defeating Belarusian Kseniya Terene in the final of the women’s 68kg category. Japan’s Rai Hoshino and Italy’s Laura Godino took bronze. The championships run through October 18. In May, United World Wrestling (UWW) announced th»»»

Russia could make a major return to the Olympics in 2028 under its national flag for the first time in years, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Paolo Zampolli, has said. Russian athletes were barred from numerous international competitions following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict i»»»

Romania faces a difficult path to economic recovery as weak household consumption, elevated energy costs, and fiscal consolidation weigh on growth, according to the World Bank’s October 2026 Macro Poverty Outlook. The institution expects economic activity to recover gradually from 2027, but warns t»»»

The United States has extended the exemption allowing four Bulgarian companies in the Lukoil group to continue certain operations despite US sanctions until April 24, 2027, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Pulev said. The Bulgarian entities have received another six-month extension under a general l»»»

Bulgaria's government is moving away from trusting what companies report and towards watching what they do. In the space of two weeks, Prime Minister Rumen Radev has announced plans for a central registry of food prices and published draft rules that would require gambling operators to feed betting»»»

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) - The European Union increased imports of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) by 60% in September compared to August, despite existing restrictions and Brussels' policy of abandoning Russian energy resources, according to a report by the Finland-based Centre for Research on Energ»»»

By Latifa Husseiny From the moment news erupted that a truck was intercepted on Dahr Al-Baydar truck, Hezbollah opponents at home began exploiting the incident for political purposes. Fabricating hypothetical scenarios about the truck’s intended purpose and focusing on claims that it was to be used»»»

Major parties reject Arab-led coalition partners despite the prospect of election gridlock Baqa Al Gharbiyye: Mansour Abbas has done nearly everything Israel asks of its Palestinian citizens. The leader of a small Arab political party condemned Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack. He rarely speaks about th»»»

SECURITY Capital Weekly has a story titled "How Bulgaria Became Target of Russia’s Hybrid Warfare." The article argues that Bulgaria is particularly vulnerable to Russian hybrid warfare, including suspected sabotage, cyberattacks, disinformation and economic pressure. "This country has a strategica»»»

By Staff, Agencies Senior US Department of War officials are planning to postpone the release of an internal investigation into a deadly strike on an Iranian primary school in Minab until after the upcoming US midterm elections, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday. The investigation concerns the Fe»»»

François Picard is pleased to welcome Layla Abdelké Yakoub, Tax Justice and Inequality Advocacy Officer at Oxfam France. "Today in France a billionaire pays less taxes proportionally than a nurse or a firefighter," explains Yakoub. She challenges the foundations of France's fiscal system, arguing t»»»

Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry launched coordinated police operations in Sofia, Burgas and Aytos on Friday to combat vote-buying ahead of the October 25 elections, with officers also uncovering a laboratory producing synthetic drugs at a private residence in Burgas. The operations began early in the »»»

The draft 2027 state budget envisages increases in a range of social benefits, Labour and Social Policy Minister Nataliya Efremova told journalists in Varna on Friday. She said pensions will be increased in the middle of next year. All family benefits for children will rise, Efremova added, explain»»»

The American midterm elections may lack pomp, but they won’t lack drama ‘Midterms’ may lack the pomp of a presidential race, but the world will be watching closely when Americans go to the polls on November 3. We have already seen the campaigning turning up a notch in the USA with President Donald »»»

Zacharia says she had registered to take the bar exam but then moved to China Washington: New White House press secretary Katie Zacharia, under scrutiny over her legal credentials, seemed to acknowledge Thursday that she had failed the bar exam, but argued she was accurate in presenting herself as »»»

US President Donald Trump could have Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky arrested on corruption charges, former British MP George Galloway has predicted. Tensions between the two men escalated after Zelensky challenged Trump’s deal with Moscow to ease restrictions on Russian diesel exports. Washington has »»»

BANJUL: Rescuers have recovered 12 bodies after a boat transporting migrants sank off the coast of Gambia, with an unknown number still missing, the Red Cross said. The boat had set sail from the village of Jinack Kajata, which sits on an Atlantic island that residents say has become a frequent dep»»»

DOHA: Al Sadd have strengthened their attack with the signing of Qatar international striker Mohammed Muntari from Al Gharafa on a two-year deal. The reigning Qatar Stars League champions announced the arrival of the 32-year-old on their official X account. Muntari joined Al Jaish in 2012 before mo»»»

Rachna Shroff, 47, dies after dedicating her career to cancer research Indian-American cancer researcher Dr Rachna Shroff, an internationally recognised specialist in gastrointestinal cancers, has died at the age of 47 after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of the disease she spent her caree»»»

Alberta votes on separation path in Monday’s referendum Calgary: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney warned Thursday that the United States is trying to break Canada so it can “own us” as he urged oil-rich Alberta not to begin a process toward separation in Monday’s referendum. The vote is not a di»»»

Representatives of trade union organizations are meeting with Finance Minister Galab Donev as part of budget preparations for next year. Ahead of the talks, the leaders of the Confederation of Labour Podkrepa and the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) called for a higher »»»

DOHA: Minister of Commerce and Industry H E Sheikh Faisal bin Thani bin Faisal Al Thani participated in the eighth Bloomberg New Economy Forum, held in New Delhi, India, from 13 to 15 October 2026. The forum brought together the Prime Minister of India, heads of state and government, ministers, and»»»

The Strait of Hormuz remains closed and will stay so until the enemy fully respects the legitimate rights of the Iranian nation, Commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army Major General Amir Hatami said. Speaking Thursday evening at the closing ceremony of the 11th National I’tikaf Festival at »»»

DOHA: Sidra Medicine, a member of Qatar Foundation, Sidra Medicine, a member of Qatar Foundation, will host the Qatar Paediatric Endocrine and Diabetes Conference (QPED 2026) from 27 to 28 November 2026. The conference will cover the latest approaches to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of d»»»

Why national coordination is vital for sustainable industrial growth in the Philippines Debate over Pax Silica in the Philippine has reached fever-pitch. All shades of people — from the left to the right, the clergy, greens, industrialists, policy makers, academics, indigenous people advocates — ha»»»