The European Union has unveiled plans to shield households and businesses from the energy crisis triggered by the war with Iran. The bloc says it has spent an additional €24 billion on energy imports because of higher prices since the war began, and it urged more investment in r»»»

Air defense systems were activated in parts of Tehran on Thursday evening amid reports of hostile aerial activity, Iranian state media said in the first such reports since a ceasefire began. The IRNA state news agency said the "sound of air defense firing" was heard in western Tehran, while the Meh»»»

A French soldier who was gravely wounded in an attack on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon last week has succumbed to his wounds, President Emmanuel Macron has said. Another French peacekeeper was killed in the incident and two more were injured; their patrol came under small-arms fire in the village of G»»»

PARIS: Italy has played down suggestions that its national team could replace Iran at the World Cup, following reports that an envoy to US President Donald Trump had asked FIFA to consider the move. US special envoy Paolo Zampolli told the Financial Times it would be a “dream” to see four-time Worl»»»

1 of 2 | Two trains collided between Hilleroed and Kagerup at Isteroedvejen, Denmark, Thursday morning. At least 19 are injured. Photo by Steven Knap/EPA April 23 (UPI) -- Two passenger trains crashed head-on in Denmark on Thursday leaving 18 injured, five of them critically, law enforcement offici»»»

As US-brokered direct talks between Lebanon and Israel unfold in Washington, Congress is stepping up pressure of a different kind, pushing the Lebanese army to act on pledges to disarm Hezbollah or face a freeze in annual US military aid. Senior congressional sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Repub»»»

JERUSALEM: Defense minister Israel Katz said on Thursday that Israel was “prepared to resume the war against Iran,” adding that his country was awaiting a green light from the United States to return Iran to “the Stone Age.” “The IDF is ready both defensively and offensively, and the targets have b»»»

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Lebanese government will not sign any agreement with Israel as part of negotiations unless it includes a "full withdrawal" of the Israeli troops from its territory, the Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. "We cannot live with a so»»»

OSLO: The Iran war is having a devastating humanitarian impact globally with ​higher energy prices making everything from filling the tank of an aid lorry to paying employees and buying food for displaced people costlier, the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council said on Thursday.The NRC is one of »»»

Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday that Israel was "prepared to resume the war against Iran", adding that his country was awaiting a green light from the United States to return Iran to "the Stone Age". "The IDF is ready both defensively and offensively, and the targets have been marked,»»»

Brussels, Apr.23 ( SANA) The eurozone’s private sector slipped back into contraction in April, marking its weakest performance in nearly a year and a half since November 2024, as the war in Iran hit services and fuelled inflation. The war in the Middle East, involving Iran, has now done what no tra»»»

Tonight's second round of preparatory direct talks between Lebanon and Israel will be held at the White House instead of the State Department, Lebanese TV networks said. The meeting is scheduled for 11:00 pm Beirut time (8:00 pm GMT). MTV and Al-Arabiya later reported that U.S. President Donald Tru»»»

Accra, Ghana: Newly-appointed Ghana coach Carlos Queiroz said Thursday that leading the Black Stars at the 2026 World Cup will be "the biggest challenge" of his career. The arrival of the veteran Portuguese coach, who oversaw Iran at the 2022 World Cup and also spent a season at Real Madrid, has sp»»»

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel speaks at an event commemorating the 65th anniversary of the proclamation of the socialist character of the Cuban Revolution, in Havana on April 16. Photo by Ernesto Mastrascusa/EPA April 23 (UPI) -- President Miguel Díaz-Canel said any negotiations with the United»»»

Dubai: Iran’s decision-making core has undergone a quiet but profound transformation, with real power shifting away from clerics to a hardened network of military commanders, according to a detailed report by The New York Times. At the centre of this shift is Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamen»»»

Iran has the justification for its Hormuz tolls, as it can cite “severe constraint” from US sanctions and war, Professor Azmi Hassan, senior fellow at the Nusantara Academy of Strategic Research in Malaysia, tells Sputnik. It also has unique leverage in that it effectively controls the waterway, he»»»

The US is not setting any deadlines for concluding the war against Iran, President Donald Trump has said. The remarks contrast with Trump’s earlier claim, made shortly after the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28, that the fighting would last “four to five weeks.” He also repeate»»»

GENEVA: An Iranian government spokesperson says the men’s national team are preparing for “proud and successful participation” in their World Cup games in the United States. Iran’s ability and willingness to go to the World Cup across north America starting June 11 has been unclear since the US and»»»

LONDON: Syrian authorities announced on Thursday the resumption of flights to Damascus International Airport from Doha and Jeddah, beginning May 1, following weeks of stoppage amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran. The Syrian General Authority of Civil Aviation and Air Transport said that Qatar Ai»»»

Italian officials have rebuked a US proposal for their national football team to replace Iran at the upcoming FIFA World Cup. Italy lost the chance to participate at the World Cup for a third successive time after a humiliating penalty shootout defeat to Bosnia and Herzegovina in a playoff last mon»»»

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia will continue seeking recognition of Nazi crimes against Soviet people as genocide, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday. "Our diplomacy will consistently strive to ensure that the crimes of the Nazis and their collaborators against Soviet citizens of al»»»

The abrupt departure of US Navy Secretary John Phelan has come at a particularly sensitive moment — with American naval forces deeply engaged in operations linked to the Iran conflict and a fragile ceasefire still holding. The Pentagon announced that Phelan was leaving “effective immediately,” offe»»»

Lebanon's leaders accused Israel on Thursday of committing a war crime, after an airstrike killed a Lebanese journalist in the country's south, with the Israeli army saying it was reviewing the incident. Rescuers and the reporter's employer on Wednesday confirmed the death of Amal Khalil, a 42-year»»»

ANKARA: Turkiye is making efforts to revive negotiations between Russia and Ukraine and bring together the leaders of the warring sides, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in a meeting in Ankara, the Turkish presidency said on Wednesday. Earlier on Wednesday, Ky»»»

Dubai: Dubai's flagship Emirates is confident it will rebound quickly from disruptions caused by the Iran conflict, with President Tim Clark saying strong demand will help the airline recover lost ground and fend off competition. Sign up for our daily business newsletter, Cheques & Balances.Speakin»»»

BERLIN: The son of the ‌former Shah appealed to Western countries to join the war against Iran and criticised the decision of the German government not to meet him during his visit to Berlin on Thursday. Reza Pahlavi, whose father was deposed in the revolution that brought Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomei»»»

MALABO, Equatorial Guinea: Pope Leo XIV wrapped up his African odyssey on Thursday with a final Mass in Equatorial Guinea, bringing to an end one of the newsiest papal trips in the history of popes on the road, thanks to his extraordinary back-and-forth with President Donald Trump. A powerful rains»»»

The Pentagon blasted as cherry picking and false on Thursday a news report saying that the department assessed it could take six months to completely clear the Strait of Hormuz of Iranian-laid mines. The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that the Pentagon shared the six-month estimate during a »»»

The 9th meeting of the Transport Ministers of the Organization of Turkic States was held in Bishkek. The meeting was chaired by the Minister of Transport of Kyrgyzstan, Talantbek Soltobaev. During the meeting, the parties noted the active development of cooperation in the transport sector and ident»»»

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»»»

Lebanon has accused Israel of war crimes after a reporter for a Lebanese newspaper was killed on Wednesday in a strike on a house in the southern village of al-Tiri, where she had taken cover after an earlier attack targeted the vehicle she was traveling in. Amal Khalil, a reporter for Al-Akhbar, w»»»

The UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar, along with Saudi Arabia, are among the most exposed to undersea cable failures. Possible damage would result in a 70 to 90% loss of connectivity for Arab Gulf States, and up to 35% for Saudi Arabia alone, risking slowdowns in e-commerce, banking, and global servi»»»

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»»»

Wall Street stocks retreated from records early Thursday as markets digested a trove of mixed earnings reports and monitored the latest dynamics between the United States and Iran. Analysts cited profit-taking after both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq shrugged off a jump in oil prices to finish at records »»»

US President Donald Trump has ordered the US military to “shoot and kill” Iranian small boats choking the Strait of Hormuz.In a social media post Thursday morning, he said the military is intensifying its mine clearing efforts in the critical waterway. The move intensified the US-Iran standoff in t»»»

1 of 2 | The Pentagon posted a video on social media Thursday showing what it says is U.S. forces boarding a vessel on the Indian Ocean with ties to Iran. File Photo via U.S. European Command/UPI | License Photo April 23 (UPI) -- The Pentagon posted a video on social media Thursday showing what it »»»

Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi said Lebanon “has started to gradually reclaim its natural right to determine its own fate independently of others’ calculations,” stressing that the Lebanese state “alone holds the decision to negotiate,” and that Lebanon “is not subordinate to anyone and is»»»

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»»»

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan voiced hope for progress in US-Iran negotiations, stressing the need to sustain diplomatic channels to address the escalating Middle East crisis. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, in talks with US Charge d'Affaires in Islamabad Natalie Baker, called for maintaining momentum, inclu»»»

Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi said Lebanon “has started to gradually reclaim its natural right to determine its own fate independently of others’ calculations,” stressing that the Lebanese state “alone holds the decision to negotiate,” and that Lebanon “is not subordinate to anyone and is»»»

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»»»

ISLAMABAD (Sputnik) - Iran still considers Pakistan as the preferred mediator in the negotiations with the United States, an Iranian diplomatic source told Sputnik. "Iran continues to consider Islamabad as the preferred and reliable mediator in the negotiations between Iran and the United States," »»»

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»»»

Free Patriotic Movement leader Jebran Bassil suggested Thursday that Hezbollah "has lost its internal legitimacy" and "its justification for defending Lebanon." "The great damage to Lebanon is caused by Hezbollah," Bassil, once a key ally of Hezbollah, said in an interview with Al-Arabiya's Al-Hada»»»

Washington, United States: President Donald Trump on Thursday vowed the United States would destroy any vessel laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, as he rachets up pressure on Iran to reopen the crucial sea passage. "I have ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat, small boats th»»»

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»»»

Global — Gold prices retreated toward $4,700 per ounce, declining by nearly 1%, as a stronger US dollar and rising oil prices weighed on the metal, according to data reported by Bloomberg. The pullback follows the extension of a ceasefire between the United States and Iran, which has shifted market»»»

Global — Gold prices retreated toward $4,700 per ounce, declining by nearly 1%, as a stronger US dollar and rising oil prices weighed on the metal, according to data reported by Bloomberg. The pullback follows the extension of a ceasefire between the United States and Iran, which has shifted market»»»

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»»»