WASHINGTON (AP) — A Bangkok-based plastics firm has agreed to pay $20 million to settle with the U.S. over 467 “egregious” violations of Iran sanctions, the U.S. Treasury announced on Friday.SCG Plastics Co. used U.S. banks to process $291 million in sales of Iranian high-density polyethylene resin from 2017 to…

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A Belarusian hacker activist group claims to have infiltrated computers at the country’s largest fertilizer plant to pressure the government to release political prisoners.The state-run Grodno Azot plant has made no comment on the claim by the Belarusian Cyber-Partisans group to have done damage including destroying…

Iranian leadership is downplaying Israeli strikes against their country, despite previously vowing total war in the event of the “tiniest invasion.”During a Friday speech, President Ebrahim Raisi did not mention the Israeli missile strike launched against the Isfahan region of Iran earlier the same day.Instead, Raisi focused on justifying Iran’s…

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has voiced her concerns about the security implications of Finland’s border closure with Russia.Finland extended border closures due to perceived risks orchestrated by Moscow, leaving only one checkpoint open for rail travel.Finland shares an 832-mile land border with Russia, spanning from forests in…

French athletes at the Paris Olympics will be offered better protection for their mental health, officials said.This comes in response to heightened online harassment and cyberbullying.France’s sports minister is working with other ministries on ways to better support the mental health of athletes.French athletes at the Paris Olympics will be…

Two men have been detained in Poland on suspicion of attacking Russian activist Leonid Volkov, an ally of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny.The attack on Volkov occurred on March 12 outside his home in Vilnius, Lithuania.The suspects, Polish citizens known to police, allegedly traveled to Vilnius before the attack…

Iranian nuclear sites are “fully safe” and have not been impacted by Israeli strikes, the country’s regime says.Israel carried out limited strikes on areas of Iran early Friday in retaliation for Tehran firing a barrage of missiles and drones at Israel last Saturday.The region surrounding the city of Isfahan —…

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the American envoy to the United Nations, visited Nagasaki, Japan, becoming the first U.S. cabinet member to do so.Thomas-Greenfield voiced the need for nations possessing atomic weapons to pursue disarmament.She also called for cooperation to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons globally and advocated for arms control measures.The…

A judge in Tunisia sentenced a journalist and political commentator to six months in prison in the country’s latest assault on members of the media who criticize the government.Mohamed Boughalleb, who had been charged with insulting a public official, was sentenced Wednesday and will remain behind bars, where he has…

An Iranian senior official has revealed that Tehran has no plan to hit back immediately against Israel after the Jewish state carried out limited strikes inside the country early Friday, a report says. The strikes in Iran’s Isfahan province — which is where Natanz, one of Iran’s nuclear facilities, is located…