BusinessGlobal issuesDrought in Germany and Europe are driving up costsAstrid Prange de OliveiraOngoing drought in Europe is causing rivers to dry up and crops to fail. Transport costs are rising and the price of food has exploded. Is inflation due to extreme weather? https://p.dw.com/p/5J9iUThe Rh»»»

CAIRO: Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Fahmy on Thursday condemned Israel’s move to advance the E1 settlement project in the occupied West Bank, warning that it would divide Palestinian territory and further isolate East Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings. Fahmy also condemned recent I»»»

WASHINGTON: The United States will impose “the toughest sanctions in history” on Iran, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday as he urged Beijing ​to cooperate with Washington. Bessent said he would hold a press conference on Monday to discuss details. “It is a one-two punch. We have »»»

Cases of salmonella from jalapeno peppers have been reported in 32 states with 431 infections reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. File Photo by Erik S. Lesser/EPA-EFE Aug. 20 (UPI) -- Cases of salmonella from jalapeno peppers have been reported in 32 states with 431 inf»»»

waterdrop®, the Austrian hydration brand founded in Vienna in 2016, celebrates its 10th anniversary this year with “10 Years of Making Waves”, a global campaign running from 20 August to 30 September 2026 across its international markets, including Romania. A decade after introducing the Microdrink»»»

The political will and the actions taken by the Bulgarian government to combat money laundering, the shadow economy, and corruption are another guarantee for Bulgaria's strong position to leave the shameful "grey list", Prime Minister Rumen Radev said during a Council for Coordination and Cooperati»»»

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has distributed meals to delivery riders at temporary rest areas across the emirate, offering support to workers who spend long hours on the roads, particularly during the summer heat. The meals were provided by the UAE Food Bank in collaboration with Del»»»

Among the main factors behind the recovery are hopes of progress toward an agreement between the conflicting parties regarding the future of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, as well as stronger demand through exchange-traded funds (ETFs), with particularly strong activity during Asian trading»»»

Central bankers do not usually forecast the weather. The European Central Bank's chief economist has just put one into his. The Climate Crisis has gone beyond a fringe obsession of hippie tree-hugers and entered the studies of central bankers, who have been forced to sit up and take notice of the u»»»

Russia and Myanmar signed ten documents in the Kremlin on August 18, including a joint declaration on countering Western sanctions. The talks between Vladimir Putin and Myanmar's president Min Aung Hlaing produced a package covering nuclear power, liquefied natural gas, a deep-water port and search»»»

At the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Nov 20, 2004, a NASA Boeing Delta II rocket lifts off with the Swift Gamma Ray Observatory on board from launch complex 17A. The payload has been used to observe and monitor gamma ray bursts and relay the information to scientists for 21 years. File Photo »»»

A frigate from Russia’s Northern Fleet is escorting the LNG carrier Portovyy en route from the Baltic Sea towards Murmansk. The tanker is likely to proceed to the Northern Sea Route. The two vessels were spotted together in the Baltic Sea earlier this week. The frigate Admiral Kasatonov was on its »»»

US President Donald Trump has vowed to target any country helping Iran’s economy, shifting from his previous focus on military threats. Trump made the remarks after a 60-day window to negotiate a peace deal with Tehran expired on Monday without breakthroughs. “I am announcing the MOST CRUSHING ECON»»»

JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index edged higher on Thursday, gaining 28.77 points, or 0.26 percent, to close at 10,954.46. Total trading turnover on the benchmark index reached over SR5.07 billion ($1.35 billion), with 170 stocks advancing and 90 declining, as nearly 260.86 million shar»»»

Doha, Qatar: Nesto, one of the GCC’s prominent retail groups, has entered the Qatari market with the opening of its first hypermarket in Al Gharrafa, Doha. The new outlet marks the group’s 152nd store worldwide and the beginning of an expansion programme that will see eight more outlets opened acro»»»

President Donald Trump’s social media rhetoric threatening a “crushing economic operation” against Iran preceded a 3% bump in oil prices on Thursday. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo Aug. 20 (UPI) -- Oil prices were up 3% Thursday after President Donald Trump's threat to impose a "c»»»

The Management Board of State Fund for Agriculture has decided to provide extraordinary aid for 2026 in the amount of EUR 42.6 million for farmers in animal breeding and crop farming, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food announced on Thursday. The funds are intended to cover part of the production »»»

Central bankers do not usually forecast the weather. The European Central Bank's chief economist has just put one into his. The Climate Crisis has gone beyond a fringe obsession of hippie tree-hugers and entered the studies of central bankers, who have been forced to sit up and take notice of the u»»»

Dubai: Turkish authorities have detained 90 suspects in raids targeting a large fraud network accused of swindling 801 people out of about 116 million lira ($3 million) through a telephone scam involving fake or low-value internet modems, according to Turkish media reports. The operation, centred i»»»

Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent gives a press briefing in May. The national debt is rising significantly. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo Aug. 20 (UPI) -- The national debt hit $40 trillion Tuesday, a record high, signaling that the government is borrowing at a record pace. Th»»»

DUBAI: Yemeni troops carried out 81 precision strikes against Houthi targets across the country in the past 24 hours, according to a statement issued by the Yemeni Armed Forces. Staff Col. Majid Abdullah Al-Nazili, official spokesperson for the Yemeni Armed Forces, said the strikes targeted Houthi »»»

Dubai: Iran says it controls the Strait of Hormuz. Donald Trump insists the United States has broken Tehran’s grip on the vital waterway. The reality is more complicated — and could help explain why a conflict now deep into its sixth month remains so difficult to end. Shipping traffic remains sever»»»

Dubai: Tensions across the Middle East escalated on multiple fronts on Thursday, with a US aircraft carrier strike group arriving in the region, a tanker reportedly seized by armed men off Yemen, and President Donald Trump threatening further economic pressure on Iran. Gulf states called for de-esc»»»

Dubai: There's that one moment at a boarding gate when a person's true character shows itself. The first boarding call sounds — group one, mind you — and suddenly half the waiting area rises as if to a starting gun only they could hear. Sign up for our daily business newsletter, Cheques & BalancesS»»»

The founder of China Evergrande Group, the world's most-indebted property developer, was sentenced to life in prison by a Chinese court on Thursday, five years after the firm's collapse shook the nation's economy and financial markets. China sentenced the founder of embattled property giant Evergra»»»

Tehran: Six months into its war with the United States, Iran's military has begun signalling a shift from retaliation to offence, which analysts say could reflect Tehran's belief it holds leverage to advance its demands and break the stalemate. Since US-Israeli strikes launched the war on February »»»

The Sofia City Prosecution Office (SCPO) has opened an investigation into whether officers from the General Directorate Combating Organized Crime (GDCOC) overstepped their powers while checking Movement for Rights and Freedoms Chair Delyan Peevski, who enjoys immunity as a Member of Parliament. Off»»»

This week The Telegraph reported that “Russians withdraw billions from banks amid fears Putin could seize deposits.” What actually happened is Russian bank deposits have doubled since the start of the war in Ukraine and are still rising. Russians are not taking money out of banks; they are putting »»»

A senior commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has warned that Tehran would deploy significantly more advanced and destructive weaponry than those used in previous conflicts should a new war break out, signaling a major escalation in the Islamic Republic’s military posture. Bri»»»

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has launched its first energy hackathon, set to take place ahead of the 25th WPC Energy Congress in Riyadh in October. The Ministry of Energy opened submissions for the inaugural hackathon, held under the patronage of Energy and Industry Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman. “U»»»

Natalie Harp has spent years operating close to US President Donald Trump while attracting little public attention. But recent events have thrust the 35-year-old presidential aide into the spotlight, including accompanying Trump on a secret flight from Turkey during a reported security threat. »»»

Dubai: Bitcoin climbed above $70,000 for the first time in more than two months on Thursday, extending a two-day rally that has brought buyers back into the cryptocurrency market following lower US Treasury yields, fresh institutional inflows and renewed hopes of regulatory progress in Washington. »»»

JEDDAH: Morocco’s consumer price index fell 0.6 percent year on year in July, as a decline in food prices more than offset higher non-food costs, official data showed. According to Morocco’s High Commission for Planning, food prices fell 3.7 percent from a year earlier in July, while non-food price»»»

Donald Trump said just before midnight Washington time that he has a deal with Canada to avoid 50% tariffs, and thus the tariffs are on pause for three days. Although that may not be the case a few more seconds from now. Just ask Iran. Whoops, here we go already. Canada has already disputed the exi»»»

Dubai: A 50-kilometre automated people mover (APM) will be built at Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC), creating what its developer Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) says will be the world’s largest airport APM system. Sign up for our daily business newsletter, Cheques & BalancesThe sys»»»

International payment platforms Sendwave and Wise Group (Nasdaq: WSE; LSE: WISE) have restricted services for Kenyan users amid heightened scrutiny of the country’s anti-money-laundering regime, Business Daily reported on August 18. Sendwave told a Kenyan customer that it was currently unable to pr»»»

The scenario that keeps Western planners awake is easy to describe and, it turns out, almost entirely unstudied: Russia moves on a Nato member while China moves on Taiwan, The Atlantic reported on August 17. Asked what the West would actually do if Russia and China opened two fronts in Europe and T»»»

Eating and entertainment establishments in Bulgaria that have been awarded two or more stars are required to have POS terminals available to customers, consumer rights expert Gabriela Rumenova said. The requirement is set out in the Tourism Act and has been in force since March 1, 2024. Rumenova, f»»»

RIYADH: Syria produced 14.8 million barrels of crude oil in the first half of 2026, about 79 percent below its 2010 pre-war production levels, as the energy sector works to rebuild infrastructure and restore output. Raw natural gas production reached 1.43 billion cubic meters during the period, whi»»»

The scenario that keeps Western planners awake is easy to describe and, it turns out, almost entirely unstudied: Russia moves on a Nato member while China moves on Taiwan, The Atlantic reported on August 17. Asked what the West would actually do if Russia and China opened two fronts in Europe and T»»»

U.S. President Donald Trump pledged "economic warfare" against Iran and threatened any country that trades with it, prompting Iran to dismiss the plan on Thursday as a continuation of failed policies. The war between the two countries, started by the U.S. and Israel in February, appears stalemated,»»»

Egypt is quietly solidifying its footprint as a massive global manufacturing engine, and Beijing is writing a hefty check to prove it. Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Hussein Issa recently met with executives from a top-tier Chinese industrial giant to hammer out a massive two billion do»»»

Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Ivan Shishkov has alerted the Sofia City Prosecution Office about unfavorable contracts and financial losses caused by the previous management of Water and Sewerage (W&S) Energy Group from March 2025 to March 2026. At the time, the managing director»»»

IRAN EYES STRIKING US ASSETS IN BULGARIA The topic that Iranian forces had assessed striking US military assets in Bulgaria dominates Thursday’s media. Citing “two regime insiders”, the Financial Times said that “Iranian forces had assessed striking US assets in south-eastern European countries suc»»»

Romania’s real estate investment market attracted transactions worth around EUR 300 million in the first half of 2026, down from approximately EUR 400 million a year earlier and equivalent to around 5% of the total volume recorded across the six largest economies in Central and Eastern Europe – Bul»»»

It is often said that no one is a prophet in their own country. For years, investors, business organisations, and economists have warned that Romania has been gradually losing its attractiveness: rules changed overnight, less efficient institutions, rising costs, and infrastructure that continues t»»»

Around 1 billion soms has already been paid to oil traders in Kyrgyzstan in subsidies to keep retail prices for gasoline, diesel fuel and autogas down, the Antimonopoly Regulation Service reported. According to the agency, the actual cost of fuel is currently significantly higher than the prices mo»»»

Colombia's President Abelardo de la Espriella has asked his ally U.S. President Donald Trump to suspend tariffs to help the South American nation recover from a powerful earthquake that killed at least 289 people. De la Espriella took office earlier this month just days before the 7.4 magnitude qua»»»

Doha, Qatar: Qatar Central Bank (QCB) has released its Annual Report for the year 2025, providing a comprehensive overview of the State of Qatar's monetary, financial, and institutional developments. The report also highlights the key achievements and QCB-led initiatives that strengthened the resil»»»

Damascus, Aug. 20 (SANA) Gold prices remained stable in the Syrian market Thursday, while global bullion retreated after reaching its highest level in more than two months. According to a bulletin issued by the General Authority for the Management of Precious Metals, 21-carat gold stood at SYP 16,5»»»