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The mobile phones of at least five French ministers and a diplomatic adviser to President Emmanuel Macron were infected by the Israeli-made Pegasus spyware, sources told AFP on Friday, confirming a report by the Mediapart investigative website. French security services detected the software while inspecting the phones, with the intrusions …

Mexican officials are urging Haitians on the Texas border trying to reach the United States to give up and return to Mexico’s frontier with Guatemala to request asylum, even as discontent grows over the treatment meted out to the beleaguered migrants. Up to 14,000 mostly Haitians were camped just north …

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday France would continue to support Lebanon, adding the country’s new government needed to take urgent reform measures. “Lebanon can count on France,” Macron said during a news conference held after a meeting with Lebanese new Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

Yemeni forces have fired a domestically-designed ballistic missile at a position of Saudi militants loyal to the resigned Yemeni president in the country’s central province of Ma’rib. Military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Yemen News Portal website that massive explosions were heard Thursday evening as the missile …

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian says Iran is ready to resume talks on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal but the administration of US President Joe Biden is sending a “negative sign” by keeping illegal sanctions on Tehran. Amir-Abdollahian made the remark in an interview with NBC News on Thursday, saying Iran …

Exiled former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont has been arrested in Italy on Thursday, his lawyer and an aide say, four years after fleeing following an independence referendum that Madrid ruled unconstitutional. The European MEP was expected to appear in court on Friday at a hearing that could see him extradited …

China intensified a crackdown on cryptocurrency trading on Friday, vowing to root out “illegal” activity and banning crypto mining nationwide, hitting bitcoin and other major coins, and pressuring crypto and blockchain-related stocks. Ten Chinese government agencies, including the central bank as well as banking, securities, and foreign exchange regulators, said …

Teaching assistant Georgina was settling into a new life in the shipbuilding town of Cherbourg with her Australian husband when Canberra revealed it was scrapping the $40 billion submarine order that he had been sent to France to work on. Ten months after the couple arrived in France, Georgina was …

Under fire from human rights groups and some progressive Democrats, the administration of US President Joe Biden has temporarily suspended the use of horse patrols in Del Rio, Texas. “We have ceased the use of the horse patrol in Del Rio temporarily,” a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official told …

A gun battle left seven soldiers and five militants dead in Pakistan’s restive northwestern tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, the military said on Wednesday. The fighting took place during an intelligence-based operation in the country’s South Waziristan region, the site of several military operations and US drone strikes targeting homegrown and …

The powerful sister of North Korea’s leader has criticized South Korean President Moon Jae-in and threatened a “complete destruction” of relations hours after Moon said South Korea’s growing missile capabilities will serve as a “sure deterrence” against North Korean provocations. Moon made the comments after South Korea’s first successful test …

A group of Afghan diplomats from Kabul’s deposed government issued on Wednesday a joint statement calling on the leaders of the international community to deny the Taliban formal recognition and blames them for leaving a nation “at the mercy of a terrorist group.” The statement was signed by 24 officials …

China wrapped up the country’s first multinational peacekeeping exercise on Wednesday, demonstrating the extent of its military might on a huge training ground ringed by mountains. China’s defense spending is the second-largest in the world after the US, and tensions have dramatically increased between rival powers as Beijing has poured …

Tajikistan has summoned the US ambassador over the offensive remarks President Joe Biden made about Tajik people during his visit to Pennsylvania. The Central Asian country took offense to a jibe Biden used to deflect criticism from his handling of the chaotic US withdrawal from neighboring Afghanistan. In a statement, Tajikistan’s …

A branch of the second largest teacher’s labor union in the United States, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), has condemned Israel’s brutal military regime and “apartheid,” besides its forced evictions of Palestinians from the occupied al-Quds and flagrant violations of human rights. AFT Guild Local 1931, which serves colleges …

North Korea has reportedly fired two ballistic missiles off its east coast amid the prolonged deadlock in the denuclearization talks with the United States. According to Press TV, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement the two missiles launched from a site in central North Korea flew …

South Korea says it has successfully test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) for the first time, becoming the seventh country in the world with the advanced technology. According to reports, the presidential Blue House announced on Wednesday that a missile was fired underwater from the submerged 3,700-ton submarine Ahn Chang-ho …

China has highlighted its role in United Nations peacekeeping operations by hosting multinational exercises called “Shared Destiny 2021.” About 1,000 troops from China, Pakistan, Mongolia and Thailand participated in the comprehensive exercise, which kicked off on September 6 at a training base in Queshan County of central China’s Henan Province, …

The Libyan National Army (LNA) of eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar clashed with Chadian rebel forces in the south of Libya on Tuesday and Wednesday, both sides said. The fighting underscores the risk of further instability in the Sahel region, where an array of groups operate across borders and where fighting …

Iran says the US needs to cease its violations of the 2015 nuclear deal signed between Tehran and world powers without preconditions and drop its addiction to sanctions, stressing the Islamic Republic is not indebted to the other parties as it was fully committed to the agreement although it did …