World

Organized on the eve of the first round of parliamentary elections and after "an unprecedented anti-trans campaign", the Paris Pride March gathered several thousands people in the French capital, with the fight against transphobia as its main theme.

The Paris Pride March for LGBTQ rights saw an "exceptional" turnout in the French capital on Saturday, according to the Inter-LGBT group, as tens of thousands protested for the fight against transphobia, this year's theme.

So-called cannabis clubs will be allowed to sell the drug legally in Germany starting Monday, but in practice it will be some time before the associations get up and running.

Germany legalized cannabis in April, allowing adults to possess 25 grams (0.9 ounces) and cultivate up to three marijuana plants at home.

A Panamanian court on Friday acquitted 28 people charged with money laundering in connection with the now-defunct law firm Mossack Fonseca, the epicenter of the "Panama Papers" international tax evasion scandal.

Among those acquitted were the firm's founders, Jurgen Mossack and Ramon Fonseca, the latter of whom died in May in a Panamanian hospital.

A United Nations agency said it has discovered five bombs in a wall of Mosul's iconic Al-Nuri mosque, planted years ago by Islamic State group jihadists, during restoration work in the northern Iraqi city.

Five "large-scale explosive devices, designed to trigger a massive destruction of the site," were found in the southern wall of the prayer hall on Tuesday by the UNESCO team working at the site, a representative for the agency told AFP late Friday.

Ultraconservative former Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, who will face a reformist in a runoff for president, is widely recognised for his steadfast anti-Western stance.

Jalili, 58, will aim to unify Iran's fragmented conservative factions in the bid for the presidency when he faces Masoud Pezeshkian next Friday.

Washington and its allies challenged North Korea at the United Nations on Friday over claims Pyongyang is breaching arms control measures by supplying weapons to Russia to use in its war in Ukraine.

Washington's deputy envoy to the UN Robert Wood hit out at what he said were "unlawful arms transfers from the DPRK (North Korea) to Russia" as the two sides forge ever closer ties.

Parisians looking to pocket a fortune by renting out their apartments to tourists visiting the French capital for the Olympics have been left disappointed as prices crash close to the start of the Games.

With a month to go before the opening ceremony, many say they have been forced to dramatically lower their prices to attract renters, while others have given up altogether.

Russia should start producing previously banned midrange missiles, President Vladimir Putin said Friday, as Moscow warned the United States that drone reconnaissance flights over the Black Sea risked a "direct" military clash.

The call to bolster Russia's military arsenal came days after Moscow angrily blamed Washington for a Ukrainian strike on the annexed Crimean peninsula that it says used US-supplied ATACMS missiles equipped with cluster munitions, killing four.