Worldwide

European governments are working with the United States on plans to overhaul the World Health Organization, a top health official for a European country said, signaling that Europe shares some of the concerns that led Washington to say it would quit. The European health official, who spoke on condition of …

A police operation is underway in the French city of Dijon following earlier gang violence in the city, the local police force said on Friday. “Following the events of the last few days in the Dijon area, police operation is underway in the Dijon districts of Gresilles and Chenove,” it …

Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, two Canadians detained in China in December 2018, have been formally charged with spying by Chinese prosecutors, in a move that is likely to raise tensions between the two countries. The People’s Procuratorate of Beijing Municipality filed prosecution against Kovrig on Friday for “for spying …

China has released 10 Indian army soldiers, including at least two senior officers, it captured in a high-altitude border clash in the Himalayas which left at least 20 Indian soldiers dead, media reports said. The release follows several rounds of talks between the two sides in a bid to ease …

Australia has been targeted in a “sophisticated state-based” cyberattack, the country’s prime minister has said. Scott Morrison did not name the country responsible, and he said he made the threat public to “raise awareness.” He said: “This activity is targeting Australian organisations across a range of sectors, including all levels …

The court’s ruling allows 650,000 undocumented immigrants who arrived in the US as children to legally remain and work. The US Supreme Court on Thursday dealt a President Donald Trump a major setback on his hardline immigration policies, ruling against his bid to end a programme that protects from deportation …

A significant earthquake has struck New Zealand, registering a preliminary magnitude of 7.4 Friday morning local time. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the tremor struck 684 kilometers northeast of Opotiki, New Zealand, at a depth of 10 kilometers. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) stated on Twitter …

The app has been officially blocked in Russia since April 2018 when the tech company refused to provide security services with backdoor encryption keys. In reality, Russian authorities struggled to enforce the ban, with Telegram moving to hide traffic behind mobile IP addresses. In often clumsy attempts to block access, …

Could Algeria soon send troops from its army, the pillar of the regime, to join peace-keeping missions led by the United Nations or African Union? President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has urged a constitutional change that would allow deployments abroad, signalling a departure from a military doctrine that has barred interventions outside …

The Russian Foreign Ministry says the UN chief’s report on Iran’s involvement in the last year attacks on Saudi oil facilities is biased and not substantiated by facts. The Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said during a press briefing on Wednesday “What we surely won’t argue with is, unfortunately, that the …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday urged the European Union to reach an agreement on a recovery plan worth €750 billion ($843 billion) by the end of July to kickstart an economy battered by the coronavirus pandemic. “It would be best if we could reach an agreement before the summer …

A statue of Christopher Columbus will be removed from California‘s state capitol, amid a growing campaign to take down monuments of the Italian explorer. The statue, which also features Queen Isabella of Castile, who sponsored Columbus’ voyage in 1492, currently stands in the rotunda of the Capitol in Sacramento and …

Nepal’s National Assembly on Thursday unanimously passed the Constitution Amendment Bill to update the country’s political and administrative map incorporating three Indian territories. India has termed as untenable the “artificial enlargement” of territorial claims by Nepal after its lower house of Parliament on Saturday unanimously approved the new political map …

Iranian Navy announced that it has successfully test-launched short- and long-range missiles in a military exercise in the south of the country. In a military exercise dubbed as ‘brave martyrs of Ramadan’ in the north of the Indian Ocean and Sea of Oman on Thursday, the Navy has test-fired short- …

Beijing has published a slew of measures to tighten the control of personnel flow after new clusters of COVID-19 infections emerged, according to a press conference Thursday. People belonging to three categories are not allowed to leave Beijing, according to Pan Xuhong, deputy head and spokesperson of the municipal public …

Relations between China and India have always been complicated. During British colonialism, India was the source of opium foreign traders forced onto Chinese markets, sparking war between the UK and the Qing Empire that ended in humiliation for China. Since independence, India’s relations with its largest neighbor have been tested …

President Emmanuel Macron visits London on Thursday to mark the 80th anniversary of General de Gaulle’s appeal to the French resistance and to discuss Brexit with Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Macron, who will be hosted by heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles, will mark de Gaulle’s June 18, 1940 “Appel” from BBC headquarters …

Donald Trump pleaded with China’s leader Xi Jinping for help to win re-election in 2020, the US president’s former national security advisor John Bolton writes in an explosive new behind-the-scenes book, according to excerpts published Wednesday. Bolton alleges in a blistering critique that Trump’s focus on winning a second term …

Nearly 80 million people have been forced to flee their homes due to violence and persecution, marking a near-doubling of global displacement in a decade, the UN said Thursday. By the end of 2019, one out of every 97 people in the world was living uprooted and displaced, according to …

Beijing’s two major airports canceled two-thirds of all their flights Wednesday, and the government has also shut down schools as the Chinese city faces a new COVID-19 outbreak. More than 60% of flights at Beijing Capital International Airport were canceled Wednesday, while around half of all flights were canceled at …