Iran Receives Mojahedin-e Khalq's Computers Seized by Albania

Members of the People's Mojahedin Organization in front of the entrance to Camp Ashraf 3 near the Albanian capital, Tirana, on June 20 (AFP)
Members of the People's Mojahedin Organization in front of the entrance to Camp Ashraf 3 near the Albanian capital, Tirana, on June 20 (AFP)
TT

Iran Receives Mojahedin-e Khalq's Computers Seized by Albania

Members of the People's Mojahedin Organization in front of the entrance to Camp Ashraf 3 near the Albanian capital, Tirana, on June 20 (AFP)
Members of the People's Mojahedin Organization in front of the entrance to Camp Ashraf 3 near the Albanian capital, Tirana, on June 20 (AFP)

Albanian authorities handed over computer devices to Iran that were confiscated during a police raid of a camp inhabited by the opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (Mojahedin-e Khalq) about two weeks ago near Manze, Iranian presidency official said on Tuesday.

On June 20, Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) said one of its members had been killed during a raid by hundreds of Albanian police officers on the Ashraf-3 camp, which Tirana denied. It also reported that the Albanian police confiscated 200 computers.

Chief of the Government's Information Council Sepehr Khalaji announced on Twitter that Iran received part of the hard drives and computer cases seized from Mojahedin-e Khalq.

Khalaji said the Iranian specialists are "busy retrieving information, identifying operatives, and the destructive cores and blind spots," adding that the "results so far are promising."

MEK warned that collaboration with Iran would lead to the "arrest, torture, and execution of the families, prisoners, and supporters of the MEK."

It accused Western countries of appeasing the Iranian regime amid reports about accelerating Iranian and European talks to revive the nuclear agreement.

Albanian police said they carried out searches at Ashraf-3, which is home to members of the People's Mojahedin suspected of plotting cyberattacks against foreign institutions, according to local media.

Albanian media reported that these operations were carried out as part of investigations into cybercrimes, noting that the police confiscated computers and software. It also announced the indictment of six members of the organization.

Iranian General Prosecutor, Mohammad Jaafar Montazeri, vowed that the trial of 700 MEK members would start soon.

Relations between Tehran and Tirana have been strained in recent years after the Balkan country agreed to receive on its territory 2,800 MEK members, the most prominent Iranian opposition faction in exile, at the request of Washington and the UN in 2013.

The Organization created a base camp near Durres, the country's main port.

Earlier, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Nasser Kanaani, warned France of the repercussions of "supporting and hosting terrorists" after the MEK held its annual conference in Paris.

The conference was held in the presence of former US Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and British ex-Prime Minister Liz Truss.

The "Iranian regime has never been weaker than it is today," said Pence, one of the potential Republican candidates for the presidential elections.

"I call upon the Biden administration, and leaders of all freedom-loving nations, to stand with the people of Iran, to stand up for the cause of freedom and justice and to cease and desist all nuclear negotiations with Tehran immediately," Pence said.

Thousands of MEK supporters staged a rally in the center of the French capital that the police had initially banned.

Kanaani "strongly condemned" the decision by the French government to host the meeting, reported AFP.

"Instead of compensating for the gross mistakes of the past in supporting the murderers of the Iranian people ... the French statesmen are providing an arena for the gathering of terrorists," Kanaani said, urging the French government "to heed the demands" of its people instead of "supporting terrorist groups."

The spokesman warned Paris of the political and legal repercussions of continuing to support and host terrorists and murderers of Iranian citizens and officials.

In 1979, the People's Mojahedin Organization supported the revolution led by Khomeini, which overthrew the Shah's regime before joining the opposition.

Tehran has banned the group since the early eighties, accusing it of being behind many attacks and bombings that have claimed the lives of thousands of Iranians.

The group also supported the Iraqi army during the war with Tehran between 1980 and 1988.



EU, France, Germany Slam US Visa Bans as 'Censorship' Dispute Deepens

European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton holds a press conference in Brussels, Belgium March 25, 2024. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton holds a press conference in Brussels, Belgium March 25, 2024. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
TT

EU, France, Germany Slam US Visa Bans as 'Censorship' Dispute Deepens

European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton holds a press conference in Brussels, Belgium March 25, 2024. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton holds a press conference in Brussels, Belgium March 25, 2024. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo

The European Union, France and Germany condemned US visa bans on European citizens combating online hate and ​disinformation, with Brussels saying on Wednesday it could "respond swiftly and decisively" against the "unjustified measures".

US President Donald Trump's administration imposed visa bans on Tuesday on five European citizens, including French former EU commissioner Thierry Breton, who it accuses of working to censor freedom of speech or unfairly target US tech giants with overly burdensome regulation.

A European Commission spokesperson said it "strongly condemns the US decision", adding: "Freedom of expression is a fundamental right in Europe and a shared core value with the United States across the democratic world."

EU FINED ELON MUSK'S X THIS MONTH

The visa bans are likely to exacerbate growing divergences between Washington and some European capitals over issues including free speech, defense, immigration, far-right politics, trade and the Russia-Ukraine war.

They come just weeks after a US National Security ‌Strategy document warned Europe ‌faced "civilizational erasure" and must change course if it is to remain a reliable ‌US ⁠ally.

Breton ​was one ‌of the architects of the EU's Digital Services Act, a landmark piece of legislation aimed at making the internet safer that has irritated US officials.

They were particularly riled by Brussels' sanction earlier this month against Elon Musk's X platform, which was fined 120 million euros for breaching online content rules. Musk and Breton have often sparred online over EU tech regulation, with Musk referring to him as the "tyrant of Europe".

The bans also targeted Imran Ahmed, the British CEO of the US-based Center for Countering Digital Hate; Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon of the German non-profit HateAid; and Clare Melford, co-founder of the Global Disinformation Index, according to US Under Secretary for Public ⁠Diplomacy Sarah Rogers.

EU LAW AIMS TO MAKE ONLINE WORLD SAFER

The EU's DSA is meant to make the online environment safer, in part by compelling tech giants to do ‌more to tackle illegal content, including hate speech and child sexual abuse material.

Washington ‍has said the EU was pursuing "undue" restrictions on freedom of ‍expression in its efforts to combat hateful speech, misinformation and disinformation, and that the DSA unfairly targets US tech giants ‍and US citizens.

The European Commission spokesperson said the EU had the right to regulate economic activity, and had requested more information from Washington about the measures.

"If needed, we will respond swiftly and decisively to defend our regulatory autonomy against unjustified measures," they said.

French President Emmanuel Macron said: "These measures amount to intimidation and coercion aimed at undermining European digital sovereignty."

On X, he said the DSA was approved in a democratic process, and existed "to ​ensure fair competition among platforms, without targeting any third country, and to ensure that what is illegal offline is also illegal online."

Breton, a former French finance minister and the European commissioner for the internal ⁠market from 2019 to 2024, was the most high-profile individual targeted.

"Is McCarthy's witch hunt back?" he wrote on X.

"As a reminder: 90% of the European Parliament - our democratically elected body - and all 27 Member States unanimously voted the DSA. To our American friends: Censorship isn't where you think it is."

GERMANY SAYS BANS ON ACTIVISTS 'UNACCEPTABLE'

Germany's justice ministry said the two German activists had the government's "support and solidarity" and the visa bans on them were unacceptable, adding that HateAid supported people affected by unlawful digital hate speech.

"Anyone who describes this as censorship is misrepresenting our constitutional system," it said in a statement. "The rules by which we want to live in the digital space in Germany and in Europe are not decided in Washington."

A Global Disinformation Index spokesperson called the visa bans "an authoritarian attack on free speech and an egregious act of government censorship."

"The Trump Administration is, once again, using the full weight of the federal government to intimidate, censor, and silence voices they disagree with," they said. "Their actions today are immoral, unlawful, and un-American."

Breton is not the first French person to ‌be sanctioned by the Trump administration.

In August, Washington sanctioned French judge Nicolas Yann Guillou, who sits on the International Criminal Court, for the tribunal's targeting of Israeli leaders and a past decision to investigate US officials.


Putin Has Been Briefed on US Proposals for Ukraine Peace Plan, the Kremlin Says

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia December 23, 2025. (Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via Reuters)
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia December 23, 2025. (Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via Reuters)
TT

Putin Has Been Briefed on US Proposals for Ukraine Peace Plan, the Kremlin Says

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia December 23, 2025. (Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via Reuters)
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia December 23, 2025. (Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via Reuters)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been briefed about contacts with President Donald Trump's envoys on US proposals for a possible Ukrainian peace deal and Moscow will now formulate its position, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.

Trump, who says he wants to be remembered as a peacemaker, has repeatedly complained that ending the Ukraine war - the deadliest in Europe since World War Two - has been the most elusive foreign policy ‌aim of his ‌presidency.

Ukraine and its European allies are worried ‌that ⁠Trump could ​sell ‌out Ukraine and leave European powers to foot the bill for supporting a devastated Ukraine after Russian forces took 12-17 square km (4.6-6.6 square miles) of Ukraine per day in 2025.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that envoy Kirill Dmitriev had briefed Putin on the trip to Miami for contacts with Trump's envoys.

But Peskov refused to be drawn on Russia's reaction to the proposals, or the ⁠exact format of the documents, saying that the Kremlin was not going to communicate via ‌the media.

"All the main parameters of the ‍Russian side's position are well known ‍to our colleagues from the United States," Peskov told reporters.

"Now we ‍mean to formulate our position on the basis of the information that was received by the head of state and continue our contacts in the very near future through the existing channels that are currently working."

Putin has said in recent ​weeks that his conditions for peace are that Ukraine should cede the around 5,000 square km of Donbas that it still ⁠controls and that Kyiv should officially renounce its intention to join the NATO military alliance.

Asked about the format of the documents brought back to Moscow by Dmitriev from Miami, Peskov said it was not appropriate to speak to the media about it.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in remarks to reporters released by his office on Wednesday, said Ukrainian and US delegations had inched closer to finalizing a 20-point plan at the talks over the weekend in Miami.

But Zelenskyy said Ukraine and the United States had not found common ground on demands that Ukraine cede the parts of Donbas that ‌it still controls - or on the future of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant which is controlled by Russian forces.


6.0-Magnitude Earthquake Hits Taiwan

19 May 2024, Taiwan, Taipei: Taiwanese flags fly on a main road. (dpa)
19 May 2024, Taiwan, Taipei: Taiwanese flags fly on a main road. (dpa)
TT

6.0-Magnitude Earthquake Hits Taiwan

19 May 2024, Taiwan, Taipei: Taiwanese flags fly on a main road. (dpa)
19 May 2024, Taiwan, Taipei: Taiwanese flags fly on a main road. (dpa)

A shallow 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck southeastern Taiwan on Wednesday evening, the US Geological Survey said, but there were no immediate reports of damage.

The quake struck at 5:47 pm (0947 GMT) at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) in Taitung county, USGS said.

Earlier, Taiwan's Central Weather Administration estimated its magnitude at 6.1.

According to the National Fire Agency, so far no damage to the island's transport networks has been reported.

The quake was felt farther north in capital Taipei, where some buildings shook.

Local television channels showed footage of products falling from supermarket shelves and shattering in Taitung.

Taiwan is frequently hit by earthquakes due to its location on the edge of two tectonic plates near the Pacific Ring of Fire, which the USGS says is the most seismically active zone in the world.

The last major earthquake occurred in April 2024 when the island was hit by a deadly 7.4-magnitude tremor that officials said was the strongest in 25 years.

At least 17 people were killed in that quake, which triggered landslides and severely damaged buildings around Hualien.

It was the most serious in Taiwan since a 7.6-magnitude tremor struck in 1999 -- the deadliest natural disaster in the island's history.