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Pedro Sánchez is the first acting head of Spanish government to acknowledge having been spied on by the Israeli Pegasus software, with which Morocco also infiltrated one of the mobile phones of French President Emmanuel Macron. The Spanish Government has reported this Sunday that the mobile phones of the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez and the Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, were subjected to "illegal and external" wiretapping by the Pegasus program, according to two technical reports from the Cryptologic Center National. It is the first time that espionage with this software of an acting head of government has been confirmed. Already last summer, an investigation uncovered that Morocco had infected one of the mobile phones of the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, with Pegasus, who however did not confirm the information. The Pegasus software from the Israeli manufacturer NSO is able to read all data from mobile phones attacked with it. In addition, Pegasus can switch o...

The first soldiers of a peacekeeping force led by Russia have arrived in Kazakhstan. Meanwhile, the country has opened the first proceedings against demonstrators. Because of the violent protests in Kazakhstan, the first soldiers of a peacekeeping force led by Russia have arrived in the country. The Russian Ministry of Defense announced.  The Kazakh head of state Kassym-Shomart Tokayev had previously discussed a "terrorist threat" and requested military aid from the Russian-led military alliance, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). The "peacekeeping force" had been sent to Kazakhstan for a limited time "in order to stabilize and normalize the situation," said a statement from the CSTO. In addition to Russia and Kazakhstan, four other former Soviet republics are members of the military alliance. The alliance did not provide any information on the number of soldiers sent. Kazakhstan: Police and protesters clashed again The US government, me...

Under pressure from Russia, the EU is again taking care of its Eastern European partners. But it also becomes clear that there is no prospect of membership. One is missing. Between Finland and Estonia a space remains empty, and a chair is no longer needed there either. Only a lonely flag and a name tag with the inscription "Belarus" symbolically indicate which country should be represented here.  One that is "missed" in this group, as Council President Charles Michel says in his short opening speech. On Wednesday, the heads of state and government of the EU member states and their so-called Eastern Partnership met for a summit in Brussels. These include Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, but also Armenia and Azerbaijan. And actually Belarus too. But after the fraudulent 2020 election and the forced landing of a foreign plane in Minsk, during which an opposition member was arrested, the EU imposed severe sanctions on the ruler Alexander Lukashenko and his entourage. Since...

A new military conflict has flared up in the border region of the two Caucasian republics. There are supposed to be dead. Russia tries to intervene. On the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the worst fighting has broken out since the 44-day war last year. Armenia announced the deaths of more than a dozen soldiers on Tuesday and asked ally Russia to help defend the country. Both sides blamed each other for the escalation. Russia called on the conflicting parties to exercise restraint.   In the evening, the Armenian Ministry of Defense announced that it had declared a ceasefire in the border area following Russian mediation. According to the Russian Presidential Office, President Vladimir Putin had previously spoken to the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan about the conflict. According to Armenian sources, local troops were attacked by Azerbaijani artillery and tanks. In turn, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense announced that the army had reacted to the shelling of d...

According to unofficial estimates, US spending on the 20-year war in Afghanistan was double that of the Department of Defense (DOD), an official report said. Dawn newspaper reported that according to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (sygar) is a government agency that reports directly to Congress, said the latest data released this week. The figures draw attention to the fact that the United States had reconsidered its Afghan strategy on rising spending. The report points out that the United States spent 2.2 trillion on the Brown University war plan for the 20-year war from 2001 to 2021. The project was sponsored by the university's leading Watson Institute for International Public Affairs. Watson's report covers the DOD's 933 billion overseas potential operation (OCO) budget, and the US spending of 59 billion in the OCO budget in Pakistan and Afghanistan. In contrast to the DOD Expenditure Report, the Watson Report estimates the total cost of th...