The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has said he is concerned about the “arbitrary detention” and health of Boualem Sansal, days after the French-Algerian author began a hunger strike over his imprisonment in Algeria. On Tuesday, Pen America issued a statement calling for the immediate release of 75-year-old Sansal, noting that “his hunger strike adds to grave concerns for his wellbeing.” In November, the writer was arrested on national security charges…

President Donald Trump is planning to sign an executive order making English the official language of the United States, multiple White House sources tell CBS News. English is already the most commonly used language in the country, but the U.S. has never had an official language at the federal level. The Wall Street Journal first reported the president’s plan to sign the executive order. The English language executive order will…

An Illinois man was found guilty Friday in the fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy and the wounding of his mother, an attack that prosecutors said was motivated by anti-Muslim hate and a response to the Israel-Hamas War. Joseph Czuba was convicted of first-degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated battery and hate crimes in the Oct. 14, 2023, killing of Wadee Alfayoumi, who was stabbed 26 times, and in…

An American multinational investment bank, Citigroup has mistakenly credited $81 trillion to a customer’s account instead of $280 before reversing the transaction hours later. According to an internal account and two people familiar with the matter, a third employee caught the error one-and-a-half hours after the payment was processed and the transaction was ultimately reversed several hours later, FT said. No funds left Citi, which disclosed the near miss –…

More than 40 construction workers were missing after an avalanche in India’s Himalayan state of Uttarakhand on Friday following heavy snowfall, officials said. Rescue teams dug for hours through heavy snow, Ridhim Agarwal of the state disaster relief force said in a statement, adding: “So far, 15 workers are safe while 42 are missing.” The avalanche hit a construction camp in Chamoli district, burying the workers under snow and debris.…

Police in South Korea have summoned a Japanese woman for questioning over allegations that she kissed Jin, a member of the K-pop boy band BTS, without his permission at an event last year. A police official overseeing the case at the Songpa police station in Seoul, the South Korean capital, told NBC News by phone Friday that the woman was being asked to appear for questioning on a sexual harassment…

A White House meeting intended to kick off negotiations over a deal over Ukraine’s rare earth minerals devolved Friday afternoon into a remarkable confrontation. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance chastised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and told him he wasn’t grateful enough to the United States. After the meeting, Trump said in a statement on his Truth Social website that Zelenskyy “is not ready” for peace and that…

China has vowed to take all necessary countermeasures after President Donald Trump announced a fresh 10 percent tariff hike on Chinese imports. According to CNBC, this latest escalation in the ongoing trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies has raised concerns over global market stability and potential economic ramifications. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce, in a statement released on Friday, expressed firm opposition to the U.S. decision, warning of…

The Trump administration has terminated its funding of the joint United Nations programme on HIV/Aids, known as UNAids, delivering another devastating blow to the global fight against the disease. The notice that US funding of UNAids is being cut off is the latest move by the administration to end American involvement in life-saving health and anti-poverty programs around the world. It was issued by Peter Marocco, a Trump loyalist who…

…Says it’s ‘very different place’ where he has investments President Donald Trump has hinted that the United Kingdom (UK) may avoid the sort of swingeing tariffs that he has threatened to impose on the European Union ( EU). When it was put to him that he said yesterday the EU was constructed to “screw” the US on trade, and when he was asked what Keir Starmer could say to him…

…As he meets with PM Keir Starmer President Trump said Thursday he will visit the United Kingdom in the “near future” and accepted an invitation for a state visit with King Charles during a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the White House. “It’s a great honor to have Prime Minister Starmer in the Oval Office,” Trump said. “It’s a very special place and he’s a special man.…

Hamas is willing to cede political power and administrative governance of the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian unity government, but would not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is achieved, Dr. Basem Naim, a senior political official for Hamas, told NBC News. “We are ready today, if not yesterday, to step back from governance to hand it over to a body, a government, a committee, that is ready to run…