Briefly

SPAIN

Alleged phone hacks reach highest levels

The mobile phones of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Defense Minister Margarita Robles were tapped by the Pegasus spyware system, a Spanish official said on Monday. Their phones were subjected to "illegal and external listening" using Pegasus, according to two technical reports from the Spanish National Cryptologic Center, said Felix Bolanos, Spain's minister for the presidency, at a hastily arranged news conference alongside government spokesman Isabel Rodriguez. He said previous attempts to spy on Sanchez's phone were reported in May 2021, while those against Robles were reported a month later.

THAILAND

Visiting Kishida inks deals with counterpart

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met on Monday with his Thai counterpart, Prayut Chan-ocha, for talks about economic, security and geopolitical issues, including the situation in Myanmar and Russia's special military operation in Ukraine. The two leaders also oversaw the signing of three agreements covering financial cooperation, the transfer of defense equipment and technology, and support for COVID-19 emergency response. Kishida is in the middle of a five-nation overseas trip. He earlier visited Indonesia and Vietnam and will travel to Italy and the United Kingdom after Thailand.

SOMALIA

Al-Shabaab attacks African Union camp

Somalia's al-Shabaab militant group attacked an African Union mission military camp in the Shabelle region in the center of the country, a local elder and the group said on Tuesday. Another resident said three civilians died in the crossfire. The resident, who lives in a village near the scene, later said he saw two helicopters flying by and gunfire coming from them. Al-Shabaab, which has been fighting for years to topple the central government and establish its own rule based on its strict interpretation of Islam's sharia law, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Agencies - Xinhua