WASHINGTON The United States disclosed on Friday a secret military ground operation that killed an Islamic State operative seen as a close associate of leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and linked to an attack on a Turkish nightclub that left 39 people dead. Abdurakhmon Uzbeki, who was believed to be from Uzbekistan, was killed during the ground assault near Mayadin, Syria, on April 6, said Colonel John Thomas, […]
By Eyanir Chinea and Efrain Otero | CARACAS CARACAS Eight people were electrocuted to death during a looting incident in Caracas, a firefighter said on Friday, amid violent protests against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by opponents accusing him of seeking to create a dictatorship. The accident occurred when a group of looters broke into a bakery in the working class neighborhood of El Valle, according the firefighter, […]
CARACAS A man was killed in a protest in the Venezuelan capital on Thursday night, an official said on Friday, marking the ninth death in a wave of sometimes violent demonstrations against President Nicolas Maduro’s government. Melvin Guaitan died of a bullet wound in the slum of Petare, municipal mayor Carlos Ocariz said via Twitter. Local media reported looting and street clashes with security forces in poor […]
ABU DHABI // Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, held bilateral talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday to discuss efforts to bring about an end to conflicts in the region as well as increasing security cooperation and economic ties. The UAE is Russia’s closest partner in the GCC, and Moscow has […]
The biggest risk, critics say, is that Mr. Trump will talk himself into a war. Only slightly less dangerously, he could weaken the nation’s standing by backing off from a threat to use force. Continue reading the main story “In Beijing, Moscow, Tehran, they are recalibrating their strategies — you can’t deny it — because they don’t have any idea of how Trump will respond,” said Senator […]
“We lost everything,” said Hiba Beidak, 34, whose husband ran a pharmacy in the Syrian city of Aleppo. He had thyroid surgery before the war and needs medical care now, as does their 10-year-old daughter, who is unable to walk. Ms. Beidak brought her 6-year-old daughter on the tour. Ms. Taki’s older sister, Ghosoom Taki, 38, left the city of Homs for Jordan in 2011. She arrived […]
By Lesley Wroughton | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday accused Iran of ‘alarming ongoing provocations’ to destabilise countries in the Middle East as the Trump administration launched a review of its policy towards Tehran. Tillerson told reporters the review, which he announced on Tuesday, would not only look at Tehran’s compliance with a 2015 nuclear deal but also its behaviour in the […]
JERUSALEM Israel’s military said on Wednesday it believes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces still possess several tonnes of chemical weapons, issuing the assessment two weeks after a chemical attack that killed nearly 90 people in Syria. Israel, along with many countries, blames the strike on Assad’s military. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said French intelligence services would provide proof of that in the coming days. A senior […]
By Steve Holland | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. President Donald Trump may add a visit to Saudi Arabia to a trip to Europe in May in what will be his first overseas journey since becoming president, a senior administration official said on Wednesday. Such a trip is “being discussed,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Trump is already planning to attend a NATO summit in Brussels […]
Photo The Monastery of St. Catherine, near Mount Sinai in Egypt, where a policeman was killed and four others were wounded on Monday. Credit Pedro Costa Gomes/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images CAIRO — Gunmen attacked a checkpoint near the iconic St. Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai, one of the oldest Christian monasteries in the world, killing one police officer and wounding four others on Tuesday evening, Egypt’s Interior […]
MOSCOW The Russian Defence Ministry on Wednesday dismissed as false a Reuters report which said Russia had understated the number of its servicemen and private contractors killed during a period of intense fighting to retake the city of Palmyra. Reuters reported on Tuesday that the death toll over the period from late January until late March was 21, more than four times higher than the official toll […]
The near-5 per cent advance in the $20tn benchmark S&P 500 this year has been reliant on the performance of only a few dozen stocks — with gains by the likes of Apple and Facebook accounting for more than 20 per cent of the index’s climb. Ten stocks in the index, including ecommerce behemoth Amazon, Google owner Alphabet as well as the more defensive cigarette maker Philip […]
KHAN SHEIKHUN: A suspected chemical attack killed at least 58 civilians in opposition-held northwestern Syria on Tuesday, a monitor said, prompting global outrage and calls for international action.The attack in the town of Khan Sheikhun also left dozens suffering respiratory problems and symptoms including vomiting, fainting and foaming at the mouth, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.Hours later, airstrikes hit a hospital in the town […]
BEIRUT Warplanes mounted five air strikes on Wednesday in a rebel-held area of northwestern Syria where dozens of people were killed the day before in a suspected chemical attack, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. The Syrian army could not immediately be reached for comment on the reported air strikes in town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province on Wednesday. An Observatory report did not identify […]
Photo On Tuesday, the Islamic State released its first official statement on President Trump, though he was not called out by name. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times Although members and supporters of the Islamic State have frequently commented on President Trump and his policies, analysts have been puzzled by the terrorist group’s official silence about him. Mr. Trump had not been mentioned in any of the […]
UNITED NATIONS The United States, Britain and France on Tuesday proposed a United Nations Security Council resolution to condemn a suspected deadly chemical weapons attack in Syria, which diplomats said is likely to be put to a vote on Wednesday. The draft resolution, seen by Reuters, asks U.N. chief Antonio Guterres to report monthly on whether the Syrian government is cooperating with an international inquiry into chemical […]
At the hospital in Reyhanli, a small Turkish border town that took in many of the victims, the mourners gathered outside mostly came from just two extended families, Mr. Youssef’s and the Abu Amash family. Continue reading the main story The families are connected by marriage and both come from Khan Sheikhoun, the village in rebel-held Idlib Province that residents said been hit with chemical weapons earlier […]
By Phil Stewart | QAYYARA WEST AIRFIELD, Iraq QAYYARA WEST AIRFIELD, Iraq President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, voiced optimism about the long-term U.S. alliance with Iraq’s military and its campaign to retake Mosul from Islamic State on Tuesday, as he visited a base about 10 miles (16 km) from the city. Kushner was on the last day of a two-day trip to Iraq as the guest […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon — The United States blamed the Syrian government and its patrons, Russia and Iran, on Tuesday for one of the deadliest chemical weapons attacks in years in Syria, one that killed dozens of people in Idlib Province, including children, and sickened scores more. A senior State Department official said the attack appeared to be a war crime and called on Russia and Iran to restrain […]
RIYADH British Prime Minister Theresa May called for an investigation into reports of a chemical weapons attack in northern Syria on Tuesday. “I’m appalled by the reports that there’s been a chemical weapons attack on a town south of Idlib, allegedly by the Syrian regime,” May said while visiting Saudi Arabia. “If proven, this will be further evidence of the barbarism of the Syrian regime.” She urged […]
British Prime Minister Theresa May arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday hoping to tap the oil-rich kingdom’s “immense potential” as she looks to secure post-Brexit investment and trade. May landed at a military airport in the Saudi capital, state news agency SPA said, coming from Jordan. Facing criticism at home and calls to raise rights issues with Saudi leaders, May insisted she had no problem talking about […]
GENEVA United Nations war crimes investigators said on Tuesday they were looking into an alleged chemical weapons attack on a Syrian town in Idlib as well as reports of a subsequent attack on a medical facility where injured people were being treated. In a statement condemning the attack that killed scores of civilians, the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria said that the use of chemical weapons […]
Photo Rifaat al-Assad in Paris in 2011. A Spanish judge ordered the seizure of numerous properties associated with him or his family. Credit Michel Euler/Associated Press LONDON — Rifaat al-Assad, an uncle of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, was named on Tuesday in a European money laundering investigation. A Spanish judge, José de la Mata Amaya, ordered the seizure of properties in Spain that are controlled by […]
BEIRUT A suspected gas attack by Syrian government or Russian jets killed at least 35 people, including nine children, in the northwestern province of Idlib on Tuesday, a British-based war monitoring group said. The Syrian army could not immediately be reached for comment. Damascus has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons. The attack caused many people to choke or faint, and some had foam coming out of their […]
