Author: admin@primenews

Spotify has launched an outspoken attack on new transaction fees of up to 27% being levied by Apple in the US. On Wednesday, Apple announced it would permit app developers to sell products in places other than its own store – but only if they still paid commission. Spotify said that was “outrageous” and accused Apple of “stopping at nothing” to protect its profits. It is urging the British government to prevent similar fees being levied in the UK. Apple has been approached for comment. The firm introduced the fees in the US as a result of a long-running legal…

North Korea says it has carried out a test of its “underwater nuclear weapons system” in response to drills by the US, South Korea and Japan this week. The test of its supposedly nuclear-armed underwater drones took place off its east coast, state media reported. The North has claimed tests of its “Haeil-5-23” system before but the weapons have never been independently verified. South Korea and allies have yet to respond to the latest provocation. But it comes as the North has ramped up military action in recent weeks, including claiming to have deployed a new solid-fuelled intermediate-range ballistic missile…

The US Congress has passed legislation to fund the government through early March, avoiding a partial government shutdown on Saturday. The House of Representatives passed the short-term funding measure about two hours after the Senate passed it, despite political tensions. Democrats and Republicans had been far apart in their budget negotiations. But the deadline and an incoming Washington DC snowstorm hastened speedy passage of the bill. Once signed into law by President Joe Biden, the $1.66tn (£1.3tn) piece of legislation will punt the fight over government spending into early March. After senators easily passed the funding extension by a vote…

Israel says its troops have reached the southernmost area of Khan Younis, as they expand their operations in the Gaza Strip’s second biggest city. The military announced that dozens of Palestinian fighters from Hamas had been killed in “close quarter combat”. Armed groups also reported clashes in the area, while health officials said 172 people had been killed across Gaza. Meanwhile, Israel’s president said he was praying that medicines delivered to the Strip would reach Israeli hostages. Qatar said on Wednesday night that the supplies had arrived via the border crossing with Egypt, along with a shipment of humanitarian aid…

President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, has agreed to testify directly to a Republican committee as part of an impeachment probe against his father. The decision, announced by the House Oversight Committee on Thursday, comes after he refused for months to testify in any hearing not open to the public. The standoff brought Mr Biden on the brink of being held in contempt of Congress. The hearing will be held on 28 February, the committee said. It is unclear where Mr Biden’s testimony will take place, and whether it will be private or public. The BBC has contacted Mr Biden’s legal…

Security forces in Ecuador have launched an operation in a major prison complex in the port city of Guayaquil. Soldiers and police officers have entered the facility and say they have restored order following a week of rioting in jails across the country. Ecuador’s President, Daniel Noboa, has said his government is at war with gangs and organised crime. Earlier this month, gang leader Adolfo Macías Villamar, known as “Fito”, escaped from the same complex. Images show hundreds of troops storming the main prison in Guayaquil, as President Daniel Noboa’s crackdown on gangs shows little sign of slowing down. The…

The leader of a faction of the notorious Gulf Cartel in Mexico has been arrested, local media reports. José Alberto García Vilano, also known as La Kena or Ciclon 19, allegedly leads the violent Los Ciclones cell. His group is accused of kidnapping four US citizens in March last year, killing two of them. Vilano was reportedly captured in a shopping plaza in the city of Monterrey, after information about his whereabouts was leaked to officials. Unverified footage on social media purports to show Vilano and his associates being marched through a mall by armed police. The four US citizens…

Chaos and a “lack of urgency” plagued the police response to the deadly 2022 mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, the US justice department has found. Teachers and students “were trapped in a room with an active shooter for over an hour”, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said. “That should not have happened.” His comments followed Thursday’s release of a long-awaited report into one of the deadliest school shootings in US history. The sharply critical report, spanning more than 600 pages, described how police officers remained in a hallway or outside the school as the gunman shot dozens of people in…

Houthi forces launched a new missile attack on a US-owned vessel on Thursday, after President Joe Biden said American strikes have not deterred the militants’ campaign in the Red Sea. The Pentagon said no damage or injuries were reported after Houthis fired two missiles at the MV Chem Ranger. The attack followed a fifth round of US strikes in Yemen earlier on Thursday. The White House said US forces “took out a range of Houthi missiles” that were to be fired towards the Red Sea. Speaking after the US strikes, Mr Biden was asked by reporters in Washington DC if…

The United Nations refugee agency has said a remote British territory in the Indian Ocean, which hosts a secretive UK-US military base, is “not a suitable location” for migrants to be held long-term, after being granted rare access. Dozens of Sri Lankan Tamils have been stranded for more than two years in a makeshift camp on Diego Garcia. It is the first time asylum claims have been filed in the territory. The UK government said it was looking for a “long-term solution”. “The wellbeing and safety of migrants is the… top priority” of the British Indian Ocean Territory administration, a…