Iran is using aerial drones, facial recognition systems, and a citizen-reporting app to enforce mandatory hijab laws on women, according to a United Nations report released Friday. The report highlights Iran’s escalating reliance on technology to monitor and punish women defying the mandatory dress code. Central to this crackdown is the “Nazer” mobile application, a government-backed tool that allows citizens ...

Advocates in Mexico are calling for an immediate and independent investigation after the discovery of what they’re describing as an “extermination camp” in Jalisco that cartels allegedly used to kill missing persons. There, the organization found at least three crematoriums with incinerated skeletal remains hidden under a layer of earth and a brick slab. The group said they also found ...

The head of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has been killed in Iraq in an operation by members of the Iraqi national intelligence service along with US-led coalition forces, the Iraqi prime minister announced Friday. “The Iraqis continue their impressive victories over the forces of darkness and terrorism,” Prime Minister Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in a statement ...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on Ukrainian troops in the Russian region of Kursk to surrender, as diplomatic back-and-forth continues over a potential US-brokered ceasefire with Ukraine. At a meeting with members of Russia’s security council on Friday, Putin accused Ukrainian troops in the region of committing crimes against civilians, but acknowledged US President Donald Trump’s wish to spare ...

Romania, a country on Europe’s eastern fringe, is perhaps a surprising focus of attention for a new US administration whose foreign policy priorities include ending the war in Ukraine, reshaping the Middle East and expanding American territory. Accustomed to flying under the radar, many in the country have been stunned by the Trump administration’s interest in its politics, which rarely ...

Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot be allowed to “play games” over the US-backed ceasefire proposal in Ukraine, Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer said ahead of a key summit of European leaders. Starmer is hosting a meeting on Saturday of the “coalition of the willing,” a group of Western nations who have pledged to help defend Ukraine from Russian aggression in ...

Cuba’s power grid collapsed Friday night, triggering a nationwide power outage and plunging its more than 10 million people into darkness. “At around 8:15 p.m. tonight, a failure at the Diezmero substation caused a significant loss of generation in the west of #Cuba and with it the failure of the National Electric System,” Cuba’s Ministry of Energy and Mines said ...

Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos said on Thursday that inflation continues to hurt the discounter’s customers and that the macroeconomic environment won’t improve this year. On the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call, Vasos said customers are expecting value and convenience “more than ever” from the dollar-store chain. “Our customers continue to report that their financial situation has worsened over the last year, as they ...

After surging for much of the year, egg prices have declined sharply over the past week as consumers pulled back on purchases, allowing supplies to resettle at more normal volumes. The result: The average cost of a dozen large white eggs is now $4.90, compared with an all-time high of $8.64 on March 5, the United States Department of Agriculture ...

A Russian presidential aide has cast doubt on a US ceasefire proposal for Ukraine, as American special envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow to brief Kremlin officials on the peace plan. Kremlin aide Yuriy Ushakov said Thursday that Moscow doesn’t want a temporary ceasefire as it would give a break to the Ukrainian army, saying that he explained Russia’s position ...