Washington, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump’s administration has made clear it sees Moscow as complicit in the latest suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria, but Pentagon planners are taking pains to avoid hitting Russian military assets. A clash — intentional or otherwise — between the West and …
Read More »Mattis should protect world from Trump: Pentagon Papers whistleblower
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg called Friday on the Pentagon chief to “protect us” from President Donald Trump by resisting orders to launch military actions or use nuclear weapons. “The situation is closer to the possible use of nuclear weapons since any time I would …
Read More »Russia says West only interested in overthrowing Assad
United Nations, United States | AFP | Russia on Friday accused the West of having the sole aim in Syria of overthrowing the government as it urged US, French and British leaders to refrain from military action. “We continue to observe dangerous military preparations for an illegal act of force …
Read More »UN calls urgent Syria meeting after Trump threat
Washington, United States | AFP | The United Nations warned world powers against letting the crisis over an alleged chemical attack against civilians in Syria from “spiraling out of control” after US President Donald Trump said “missiles will be coming.” As tensions mounted over a face-off with Damascus-ally Russia, opponents …
Read More »Russia vetoes UN bid to set up Syria chemical weapons probe
United Nations, United States | AFP | Russia on Tuesday vetoed a US-drafted United Nations Security Council resolution that would have set up an investigation into chemical weapons use in Syria following an alleged toxic gas attack in rebel-held Douma. It was the 12th time that Russia has used its …
Read More »Bill Clinton hails ‘genius’ of N.Ireland peace deal 20 years on
Belfast, United Kingdom | AFP | Former US president Bill Clinton on Tuesday celebrated the “genius” of the Northern Ireland peace deal 20 years ago, as he joined key political figures in Belfast to mark the anniversary of the historic accord. “The Good Friday Agreement is the work of genius that’s …
Read More »Erdogan vows perpetrators of E. Ghouta massacre will pay ‘heavy price’
Ankara, Turkey | AFP | Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday vowed those behind the killings of civilians in the Syrian rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta would pay a “heavy price”, after an alleged chemical assault killed dozens. “I curse those who carried out this massacre. Whoever has done …
Read More »Former South Sudan military chief Gen Malong launches rebel group
Juba, South Sudan | AFP | South Sudan’s powerful ex-army chief on Monday announced the formation of a rebel movement to “arrest the carnage” in the country, saying President Salva Kiir could not be trusted to lead the nation to peace. Paul Malong, a hardline ethnic nationalist who fled into …
Read More »Assad, backers ‘must be held to account’ if chemical attack confirmed: British PM
Copenhagen, Denmark | AFP | Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his backers “must be held to account” if a suspected poison gas attack on the rebel-held town of Douma is confirmed, British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Monday. “If confirmed this is yet another example of the Assad regime’s …
Read More »Catholic priest shot dead in eastern DR Congo
Goma, DR Congo | AFP | A Catholic priest was found shot dead hours after he said mass in Democratic Republic of Congo’s restive North Kivu province, a member of the church told AFP. “Father Etienne Sengiyumva was killed Sunday by the Mai Mai Nyatura (militia) in Kyahemba where he had …
Read More »