Chu Jeong Woo and his tour group from South Korea were supposed to visit Britain’s Houses of Parliament on Thursday. But with the area cordoned off, they had to settle for selfies with the symbol of British democracy — and the scene of Wednesday’s lethal terror attack — as a backdrop. “Change in plans,” Mr Chu, a student, explained as many in his group snapped pictures of […]
By Frank Jack Daniel and Matt Spetalnick | MEXICO CITY/WASHINGTON MEXICO CITY/WASHINGTON A group of 14 nations on Thursday urged Venezuela to hold elections and release “political prisoners,” in a joint statement that kept open the option of seeking to suspend the South American country from the Organization of American States. The statement, which Mexico’s Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said was aimed at encouraging Venezuela to “re-establish […]
MOSCOW — It’s 2017, and the new Cold War is in full swing. The West is winning, for now. U.S. sanctions have impoverished Russia. But the two sides are poised at a critical juncture. The Russians have come up with new technology to drill for gas that could send their economy skyrocketing again, putting the West on the back foot. And so, the CIA sends President Donald […]
By Michelle Nichols | UNITED NATIONS UNITED NATIONS The United States warned South Sudan’s government on Thursday that preventing humanitarian aid workers from reaching parts of the war-torn state that are suffering famine could “amount to deliberate starvation tactics.” A civil war erupted in 2013 when President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, fired his deputy, Riek Machar, a Nuer, who has fled and is now in South […]
CAIRO — Ten Egyptian soldiers and 15 militants were killed during a raid on an Islamist insurgent base in the restive Sinai Peninsula, a military spokesman said Thursday. The deaths underscored the strength of the Sinai insurgency, led by an Islamic State affiliate, despite almost four years of concerted Egyptian counterterrorism operations. In recent months Sinai militants have expanded their area of operations, targeted Christian civilians and […]
When Flavio Evers Cassou, an employee of the world’s biggest meatpacker, JBS, dropped off a large cooler of meat at a friend’s home last year in southern Brazil, he could not have foreseen the crisis of confidence it would cause in the industry and the country’s wider corporate sector. The friend in question happened to be Maria do Rocio Nascimento, the chief inspector of products of animal […]
By Pavel Polityuk and Alexei Kalmykov | KIEV KIEV Ukraine accused Russia of “state terrorism” after a former Russian lawmaker and key witness in a treason case against former leader Viktor Yanukovich was shot dead in broad daylight outside a hotel in central Kiev on Thursday. Russia called the allegation “absurd”. Former MP Denis Voronenkov was killed by an assailant who was armed with a pistol and […]
GENEVA Fighting around Syria’s capital Damascus has cut 300,000 people off from humanitarian aid and pauses in the fighting are needed to let aid convoys in, Jan Egeland, U.N. humanitarian advisor on Syria, said in an interview on Thursday. “They are totally dependent on our supplies. Starvation will be just around the corner unless we get there in the coming weeks,” Egeland told Reuters after chairing the […]
The man who killed three people and injured at least 40 in the terror attack on Westminster was British born and has previously been investigated by MI5, Theresa May said on Thursday. Although the attacker, who was fatally shot by police, was known to the domestic security service, it is believed he acted alone and was “not part of the current intelligence picture”, the prime minister said. […]
ANKARA Turkey summoned the Russian charge d’affaires to convey its unease after a Turkish soldier was killed by sniper fire from a part of Kurdish-held Syria where Russian forces are active, Turkey’s foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday. The Turkish military fired into the northwestern Syrian border region of Afrin on Wednesday, an area contolled by the Kurdish YPG militia, after the soldier was killed by cross-border […]
BEIRUT The Syrian army and rebels, including jihadist groups, fought in the capital Damascus and north of Hama on Thursday after the insurgents’ biggest offensive for months, underscoring the bleak prospects for peace talks which resume later in the day. The offensive seems unlikely to reverse 18 months of steady military gains by the government, culminating in December’s capture of the rebel enclave in Aleppo, but it […]
“The fighting is raging on as I speak and is expected to last several weeks until the dam, airfield and city are free from ISIS control,” said Col. Joseph E. Scrocca, a spokesman for the American-led command in Baghdad. Continue reading the main story As the operation unfolded, Syrian state television and local residents asserted that at least 30 Syrian civilians were killed in an airstrike that […]
“Reflecting on the past year or so, we should be encouraged by the significant progress we as a coalition are making,” Mr. Tillerson said. Continue reading the main story Mr. Trump has long insisted that citing “radical Islamic terrorism” is key to defeating the Islamic State. “You can’t solve a problem if you refuse to talk about what the problem is,” he said in November 2015. Yet […]
In the wake of the terror attacks in England, France, Germany and elsewhere, can we finally admit that the war on terror is an utter and complete failure? 10 Ways to Reduce Terrorism So if the war on terror has failed, what should we do to stop terrorists? I. Stop Overthrowing the Moderates and Arming Crazies We know it’s a difficult concept to grasp, but if we […]
Virtustream announced on Thursday that its enterprise cloud platform is officially available in Australia and New Zealand. The cloud company — which was acquired by EMC in 2015 for $1.2 billion, before the storage giant itself was acquired by Dell for $67 billion in 2016 — said the expansion is a strategic response to customers that are looking to bring their products and services to the ANZ […]
By Chine Labbé and Adrian Croft | PARIS PARIS Militants are increasingly turning to vehicle-ramming attacks, like the one staged near Britain’s parliament on Wednesday, because they are cheap, easy to organise and hard to prevent. Experts say the tactic of mowing people down avoids the need to obtain any explosives or weapons and can be carried out by a “lone-wolf” attacker without using a network of […]
Korea Electric Power Corp has ruled out buying Toshiba’s controlling stake in Westinghouse, but confirmed it is interested in joining the NuGen consortium that is planning to build a new UK nuclear plant. The decision by the South Korean state-run utility is a blow to Toshiba’s efforts to find a buyer for its troubled US nuclear subsidiary as the Japanese conglomerate grapples with the worst financial crisis […]
Former US VP Stresses Role of Governments in Reaching Global Consensus to Fight Climate Change SHARJAH-UAE: March 22, 2017 His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Mohamed Al Qasimi, Member of Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah today attended a conversation panel with Al Gore, former US Vice President and founder-chairman of the Climate Reality Project as part of the sixth edition of International Government Communication Forum (IGCF […]
Rex Tillerson says he did not seek to be US secretary of state but was persuaded to take the job by his wife, who told him “God’s not through with you”. “I was supposed to retire in March, this month. I was going to go to the ranch to be with my grandkids,” the 64-year-old former oil executive told the Independent Journal Review in his first full-length […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon — At least 30 Syrian civilians have been killed in an airstrike by the United States-led coalition fighting Islamic State militants in a rural area of Raqqa Province, according to residents, activists and state television. The attack, which hit a school where civilians had taken shelter Tuesday night, marked the second time in a week that Syrians had accused the United States of involvement in […]
MOSUL Islamic State militants shelled areas recaptured by Iraqi forces in western Mosul, hitting civilians fleeing the fighting early on Wednesday as troops edged their way through the narrow, dangerous streets of the Old City. Heavy mortar fire killed at least five civilians and wounded more than 20 in Mosul Jadida and Rifak districts – areas that the militants had recently lost to Federal Police and Rapid […]
LISBON Portugal’s Prime Minister demanded the resignation of eurogroup chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem on Wednesday over remarks he called “racist, xenophobic and sexist” and said Europe would only be credible once he left. Dijsselbloem suggested in an interview at the weekend with German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that southern European countries that received EU financial aid were spending their money “on booze and women”. “Europe will only be […]
By Maria Tsvetkova | GELENDZHIK, Russia GELENDZHIK, Russia Russia’s force in Syria has suffered losses since late January more than three times higher than the official toll, according to evidence gathered by Reuters, a tally that shows the fight in Syria is tougher and more costly than the Kremlin has disclosed. Eighteen Russian citizens fighting alongside Moscow’s allies, the Syrian government forces, have been killed since Jan. […]
Authored by Robert Parry via The Strategic Culture Foundation, The Kagan family, America’s neoconservative aristocracy, has reemerged having recovered from the letdown over not gaining its expected influence from the election of Hillary Clinton and from its loss of official power at the start of the Trump presidency. Former Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Victoria Nuland, who pushed for the Ukraine coup and helped pick […]
