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Iran begins air drills, featuring both manned and unmanned aircraft, as it complains about ‘Zionist presence’ on borders

Iran has kicked off its latest military drill, this time exhibiting army air force units, including both manned and unmanned aircrafts, amid ongoing concern from Tehran about the presence of “Zionists” near their borders. Brigadier General Hamid Vahedi, the commander of Iran’s Army Air Force, was present on Thursday for the operational phase of the […]

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North Korea says it tested NEW type of submarine-launched ballistic missile with ‘advanced’ guidance & control system

Pyongyang has tested a novel submarine-launched missile system, North Korean state media said. The launch became North Korea’s first of its kind since 2019. It comes amid talks between the US, South Korea and Japan in Washington. North Korea’s Academy of Defense Science said Tuesday’s test went off without a hitch and proved the missile’s […]

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Sacrificing sovereignty is ‘the opposite’ of why Poland joined EU, but don’t expect ‘Polexit’ from it, veteran observer tells RT

Poland joined the EU to protect its sovereignty, but its idea of the bloc clashes with that of the original members, political columnist Mary Dejevsky told RT. But, she says, despite the rule-of-law row Warsaw’s exit is unlikely. The bitter row between the EU and Poland, revolving around the country’s rule of law in general […]

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Facebook attacks media over not-yet-published reports and accuses it of orchestrated ‘gotcha’ campaign

Spooked by impending reports of revelations from leaked papers, the embattled company has accused journalists of orchestrating a ‘gotcha’ campaign against it, and claims they are misrepresenting its actions. Facebook has been in hot water in recent weeks, after former employee Frances Haugen blew the whistle and lambasted the company for not doing enough to […]

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EMA greenlights new Pfizer-BioNTech manufacturing sites and Covid vaccine formula as it mulls extending jab for ages 5-11

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has approved two additional manufacturing sites for the production of Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid vaccine, as well as a new formula, as it considers rolling out the shots for those aged five to 11. In a statement issued on Monday, the EU’s drug regulator revealed that its human medicines committee (CHMP) has given […]

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‘Democracy is being tested’: Polish PM hits out at Brussels, claiming it infringes on rights of member states

Poland’s prime minister has lashed out with accusations that EU institutions impede on the rights of its member nations following a ruling by the country’s Constitutional Tribunal that Warsaw’s laws reign supreme over Brussels’. Speaking to the Polish parliament on Thursday, Mateusz Morawiecki proclaimed that “we are at a crucial moment, you could say at […]

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WATCH: Protests hit major European port of Trieste amid threats to block it completely over Italy’s mandatory Green pass

Several thousand people staged a rally at the port of Trieste on Friday to protest the Italian government’s decision to make coronavirus health passes mandatory for all workers, which went into force on that day. The port of Trieste, which is the seventh-largest in Europe and a key oil terminal in the Mediterranean, remained functional […]

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Taiwan will ‘meet enemy full on’ if it must, but won’t start a war, defense minister says, amid heightened tensions with Beijing

The Taiwanese defense minister has vowed that the island won’t be the one instigating conflict amid a spike in tensions with Beijing, which recently staged beach war drills in a nearby province. Speaking on Thursday, Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng told a parliamentary committee meeting that the island will defend itself if attacked, but that it […]

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Israel claims ‘right’ to strike Iran ‘at any moment’ to prevent it from obtaining nukes, FM Lapid says after meeting with Blinken

Israel reserves the right to attack Iran at any time of its choosing, under the pretext of stopping it from acquiring a nuclear weapon, Tel Aviv’s FM Yair Lapid said after meeting with his American and Emirati counterparts. Addressing reporters after a sit-down with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and United Arab Emirates Foreign […]

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Spain evacuates 160 more Afghans in repatriation mission as it aims to rescue ‘all former collaborators at risk’

Madrid has evacuated a further 160 Afghans that were left behind after August’s hasty evacuations from Kabul following the Taliban’s takeover. Spain’s Defense Ministry said the evacuation took place via Pakistan. On Tuesday, the ministry announced that the second repatriation plane arriving from third countries had landed in Torrejón Air Base near the Spanish capital […]

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Bild roasts YouTube for stifling free speech in Germany after court rules it was wrong to delete Covid-19 interviews

YouTube censorship of Covid-19 debate is a “dangerous encroachment” on the freedom of speech, an editor at leading German tabloid Bild has said, after the platform deleted two videos of an online debate on the pandemic. The preliminary injunction was issued by the Cologne Regional Court in response to a legal challenge filed by the […]

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Merck files in US for emergency FDA authorization for Covid treatment pill after trial data showed it cut hospitalizations in half

Merck and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics announced on Monday that they’ve submitted an emergency authorization application to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for their oral antiviral Covid treatment molnupiravir. The US-based pharmaceutical company revealed the request had been made to the FDA, with the hope that it will become the first authorized oral […]

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EU gives Lithuania millions to deal with influx of migrants entering from Belarus, but Vilnius says it needs a lot more 

The Lithuanian government has received €29.6 million ($34.2 million) of its allocated aid from the European Commission to help tackle Vilnius’ influx of migrants seeping in from neighboring Belarus.  On Friday, Vilnius’ Interior Ministry confirmed it had received the bulk of its whopping €37 million Brussels payout, saying the rest of the funds would reach […]

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Beijing calls on US to clarify details of nuclear-powered submarine collision in South China Sea, accusing it of of hiding details

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has expressed its concern about an incident in the South China Sea in which a US submarine collided with an “unknown” object, sustaining significant damage and injuring several mariners. Speaking on Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian called on the US to clarify details concerning the USS ‘Connecticut’, a nuclear-powered […]

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Aussie PM Morrison labels social media ‘coward’s palace’ as he mulls further crackdown on IT giants

Social media companies should prevent users from spreading toxic content anonymously or they will face the same legal liability as if they were publishers of this information, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has warned. “Social media has become a coward’s palace, where people can just go on there, not say who they are, destroy people’s […]