World News

The European Union on Monday invited presumptive U.S. President-elect Joe Biden to help mend tattered trans-Atlantic ties and urged him to join it in a long-term “strategic dialogue” that would address global issues ranging from COVID-19 to climate change.

China influenced American policies for decades through a covert network of “old friends” — sympathizers and agents — who had penetrated the highest levels of the U.S. government and financial institutions before the Trump administration, according to an academic linked to the Chinese government.

The killing of Iran’s top nuclear scientist last month was carried out remotely with artificial intelligence and a machine gun equipped with a “satellite-controlled smart system”, Tasnim news agency quoted a senior commander as saying.

A well-known Iranian journalist Momahad Ahwaze has said that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has transferred his power to his son Mojtaba Khamenei because of increasing concerns about the state of his health, Newsweek reported on Saturday.

Chinese scientists claim to have built a quantum computer that is able to perform certain computations nearly 100 trillion times faster than the world’s most advanced supercomputer, representing the first milestone in the country’s efforts to develop the technology.

Iran has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that it plans to install several cascades, or clusters, of advanced uranium-enriching centrifuges at the Natanz plant in violation of its commitments under the nuclear deal, Reuters reported Friday.

After Britain’s exit from the European Union, or Brexit, the two sides now face deadlock over an important trade deal. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen instructed representatives to secure their annual $1 trillion in trade.

Russia has become the first country to officially launch a massive immunization effort against the coronavirus, despite concerns about the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness. Russia provides the vaccine for free to people aged 18 to 60 who don’t suffer from chronic illnesses and aren’t pregnant or breastfeeding.

The British government has granted Pfizer a legal indemnity protecting it from being sued for possible side effects of its new coronavirus vaccine.

Iranian parliament has passed a “double-urgency” bill to increase the level of uranium enrichment to weapons-grade, Jerusalem Online reports. The move follows the recent assassination of top Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in Damavand, east of Tehran on November 27.

In June, elites at important international institutions such as the World Economic Forum and the United Nations launched a far-reaching campaign to “reset” the global economy.

China has conducted human testing on members of its military in an effort to develop “biologically enhanced” soldiers, the head U.S. intelligence wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed Thursday.

A major congressional report has concluded that China is fast expanding its military such that in the next 10 years it will be capable of prosecuting wars in distant countries around the world, the Washington Times reports. In its annual report published Tuesday, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission concluded that the Chinese government is working to turn the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) into “a global expeditionary force in a matter of decades.”

The Trump administration ordered a drawdown of diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq until some time in January due to risks of a potential attack, according to a new report.

European legislator József Szájer, who co-authored Hungary’s new constitution banning gay marriage, has resigned after reportedly attending a gay sex party in Brussels.

Iranian officials have taken a major step to suspend U.N. inspections of the country’s nuclear facilities.

Members of Iran’s parliament Tuesday chanted “death to Israel,” and they voted to increase the level of uranium enrichment to 20% and to halt U.N. nuclear inspections in reaction to the killing Friday of the country’s top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. At the same time, Arab and Iranian media reported the killings of two more high-level Iranian military and intelligence officials within the past 48 hours.

China’s growing military power holds potential dangers for the transatlantic alliance, according to NATO’s civilian chief.

A former head of Israel’s military intelligence service has said it will be almost impossible for Iran to replace top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was assassinated Friday in an operation attributed to Israeli spy agency Mossad, World Israel News reports. Moreover, Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanon-based Iranian terror proxy Hezbollah, has reportedly gone underground out of concern he may be targeted next.

Following major protests across France, President Emmanuel Macron’s governing party announced Monday that it will “totally rewrite” a controversial new law that would have made it an offense to film and identify police officers online if there is intent to harm their “physical or psychological integrity,” Euro News reports.