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The United States on Friday increased pressure on Myanmar’s junta in response to the February military coup, adding four companies it said support the military to its trade blacklist and imposing sanctions on key military officials. The U.S. Treasury Department said it imposed sanctions on seven key members of the …

A Swiss court ordered the son of former leader Muammar Gaddafi’s oil minister to pay $1.5 million in a corruption case on Friday, a decision that his lawyer said he may appeal. The case involving Mohamed Ghanem, the CEO of a Bahrain-based Islamic investment bank and the son of Shokri …

The email accounts of about a dozen members of parliament were hacked recently, Polish counter-intelligence said on Friday, disclosing further details of one of the biggest cyberattacks on the country in recent years. The revelations come two weeks after the authorities said top Polish government officials had been hit by …

An explosion at Petromidia’s Black Sea crude oil refinery in Romania has sent plumes of black smoke rising into the sky. Several people are injured, and ambulances have arrived at the scene, according to reports. A government official, Silviu Cosa, told local TV station Digi24 on Friday that an explosion …

The Taliban say Afghanistan can get closer to peace and stability now that all US troops are leaving the country, as the foreign forces’ main base, Bagram, gets fully evacuated. “We consider this withdrawal a positive step,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters on Friday, hours after US military officials …

A truck filled with 2,000kg of illegal fireworks has exploded while police officers were in the process of seizing the goods. EXPLOSION! LAPD was disposing of illegal fireworks in South LA when the explosion occurred. At least 5 are injured. @KTLA @heli_CvP pic.twitter.com/99e9TzVtOr — Ryder Christ (@RyderChristNews) July 1, 2021 …

A night-time curfew will be imposed in several Portuguese municipalities, including the capital Lisbon and the city of Porto, as authorities scramble to bring under control a surge in COVID-19 infections, the government said on Thursday. The 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew, which starts on Friday, will be in …

UK Labor party is calling for a “full-scale” investigation into cabinet ministers’ use of private emails after the leaked information from a meeting at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) showed that Matt Hancock had been using an unofficial account since the onset of the pandemic. Angela Rayner, …

The United States on Thursday added Turkey to a list of countries that are implicated in the use of child soldiers over the past year, placing a NATO ally for the first time in such a list, in a move that is likely to further complicate the already fraught ties …

More than six million videos were removed from TikTok in Pakistan in three months, the app said on Wednesday, as it battles an on-off ban in the deeply conservative country. Wildly popular among Pakistani youth, the Chinese-owned app has been shut down by authorities twice over “indecent” content, most recently …

The residents of a village in Canada’s British Columbia province have been ordered to evacuate after a wildfire sparked by the country’s hottest-ever temperatures ripped through homes and other buildings. On Wednesday evening, Mayor of Lytton Jan Polderman issued an evacuation order after a high of 49.6C (121.1F) was registered …

Ethiopia’s government urged Tigrayan rebels to join a unilateral ceasefire in their conflict on Thursday as aid agencies struggled to reach hundreds of thousands of people facing famine. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the former rulers of Ethiopia’s Tigray region, said on Monday it was back in control of …

Hundreds took to the streets to demand the gov’t’s resignation over IMF-backed reforms. Hundreds of Sudanese protesters took to the streets across the country on Wednesday to demand the government’s resignation over the International Monetary Fund-backed (IMF) economic reforms. The protests erupted a day after the IMF approved a $2.5bn …

The former crown prince of Saudi Arabia has suffered serious injuries to his feet from beatings and can no longer walk unaided, sources familiar with his situation said, citing torture during his detention by the kingdom. NBC News, citing two people familiar with his situation, reported on Wednesday that Mohammed …

Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations says a guarantee by the United States that it will never unilaterally withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal again is crucial to a successful conclusion of the ongoing talks in Vienna aimed at reviving the agreement. Speaking to reporters after a United Nations Security …

Police deployed in the streets of Hong Kong in large numbers on Thursday to prevent protests on the anniversary of its return to Chinese rule, and its acting leader said a national security law had brought order back to the city after chaos. Police vans, water cannon trucks, armoured vehicles, …

A Swedish police officer died from his wounds after being fatally shot in Gothenburg on Wednesday. It reportedly marks the first killing of a law enforcement officer in 14 years, as gun violence in the country continues to soar. The officer’s death was announced by police in a statement on …

The Japanese embassy in Manila has announced that Japan and the Philippines will deepen their defense ties by holding their first-ever joint exercises next week, in an apparent attempt to counter Chinese influence in the region. In a statement on Thursday, the Japanese embassy hailed the drills as a “significant …

Donald Rumsfeld’s legacy is “death and destruction, and a militarized American public,” American journalist Don DeBar has said, commenting on the death of the former US defense secretary who was the main architect of the Iraq war. Rumsfeld died at the age of 88 in Taos, New Mexico, his family …

Multiple cities scrapped Canada Day celebrations on Thursday after the discovery of hundreds of remains of children at former indigenous schools sparked a reckoning with the country’s colonial past. Calls to scale back or cancel celebrations snowballed after, beginning in May, almost 1,000 unmarked graves were found at former so-called …