BEIRUT: A top Syrian Kurdish official on Wednesday welcomed the US decision to arm Kurdish fighters with heavier weapons, saying it would “legitimize” the force as it prepares to march on Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Daesh group.But Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli said the decision, announced by the Trump administration Tuesday, was “unacceptable.”The US said it would provide heavier arms to the Kurdish-led […]
By STEPHEN FARRELL and JOSEPHINE SEDGWICK | May. 10, 2017 | 3:02 In Syria, what lessons can America draw from its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Our Kabul bureau chief, Rod Nordland, discusses airstrikes with Stephen Farrell. NYtimes
BEIRUT Air strikes killed at least 11 people, including four children, in a village north of the Syrian city of Raqqa overnight, a war monitoring group said on Wednesday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said warplanes, thought to belong to the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, hit al-Salihiya village before midnight and also injured several civilians. A spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition could not immediately be […]
The World Health Organization, the public health arm of the United Nations, reported 2,022 suspected cases of cholera and acute watery diarrhea in Yemen from April 27 to this past Sunday, including at least 34 deaths. Continue reading the main story Cholera has long been an underlying risk in Yemen, but it subsided during the cold winter months this year. With the sudden spike of cases, health […]
WASHINGTON U.S. President Donald Trump will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the White House on Wednesday to discuss Syria and a wide range of international issues, a senior U.S. official said. It will be the highest-level contact between Trump and the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin since Trump took office on Jan. 20. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on the agenda […]
By Suleiman Al-Khalidi | AMMAN AMMAN Syrian government warplanes struck rebel outposts near the Jordanian border early on Tuesday, rebels said, bringing the war closer to Syria’s U.S.-allied neighbour to the south. The air strikes, at around 3 a.m. (0000 GMT) were the first near that part of the border, a Jordanian official said. They came hours after Syria’s foreign minister warned Jordan against sending troops into […]
Even so, Russia has sent signals it is hoping to gain support for the agreement from the United States despite their deep differences over the Syria war, now in its seventh year. Continue reading the main story Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov of Russia will visit with his American counterpart, Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, in Washington on Wednesday to discuss Syria and other issues, both […]
“We should all agree that in our constitutional democracy, the executive’s ability to attack another country is constrained by the law,” Justin Florence, the group’s legal director and a former Obama White House lawyer, wrote in an essay announcing the lawsuit. He added: “Some countries may tolerate a head of state launching a new conflict without offering a clear legal justification, but we should not.” Continue reading […]
Sinclair Broadcast Group, the biggest US local television station owner, has struck an agreement to buy Tribune Media for $43.50 a share, valuing Tribune at about $3.9bn. The transaction is the first big move of an expected consolidation wave in media unleashed by the Federal Communications Commission’s recent decision to effectively loosen a cap on local television station ownership. The rule change has US media companies jostling […]
By Phil Stewart | COPENHAGEN COPENHAGEN U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Monday the United States would closely examine proposed de-escalation zones aimed at easing Syria’s civil war but warned “the devil’s in the details” and that much needed to be worked out. The deal to create “de-escalation” zones in the major areas of conflict in western Syria took effect on Saturday. The initiative was proposed […]
Authored by James Holbrooks via TheAntiMedia.org, “It was easy enough to spot my cheerleader: She was the only person shouting in a crowd of quiet, curious, shy supporters. Her visage dug with deep wrinkles, but she was full of energy and smiles. When I saw her, I merged to the right and gave her a high-five. When I did, a group of women started to cheer me, […]
BAGHDAD Iraqi forces faced stiff resistance from Islamic State in northwest Mosul on Sunday after opening a new front against the militants there in a push to rout them from the city after seven months of fighting. Trapped in a steadily shrinking area of the city, the militants are fighting back with a barrage of suicide car bombs and snipers concealed amongst hundreds of thousands of civilians […]
America First Policies Group type: 501(c)(4) nonprofit Why it matters: America First Policies grew out of Trump’s political operation. Headed by Brad Parscale, who ran the digital and data portion of Trump’s campaign, and featuring a coterie of former aides, it was meant to serve as a quasi-independent outside group providing support for the president’s initiatives. Parscale has said America First Policies had raised around $25 million. […]
KUNDUZ, Afghanistan Taliban militants captured a district just outside the northern Afghan city of Kunduz on Saturday, officials said, pointing to renewed pickup in fighting after the insurgents announced their annual spring offensive last week. Mahfouz Akbari, a police spokesman for eastern Afghanistan, said security forces had pulled out of Qala-i-Zal district, west of Kunduz city, on Saturday to avoid further civilian and military casualties after more […]
Significantly, the agreement to establish the de-escalation zones has not been accepted by all opposition groups, and it left loopholes for Syria to continue undiminished attacks on the rebels, factors that combined to hinder the last attempt by Iran, Russia and Turkey to forge a cease-fire. Continue reading the main story Nevertheless, one of the representatives of the Syrian opposition groups at talks in Astana, Kazakhstan, Col. […]
Saudi Arabia should urgently review its definition of terrorism under a law used to prosecute non-violent journalists and human rights defenders, a United Nations special rapporteur said on Thursday. After a visit to the kingdom, Ben Emmerson told reporters that a 2014 counter-terrorism law contains an “unacceptably broad definition” of the crime and does not comply with international rights standards. “I strongly condemn the use of counter-terrorism […]
JERUSALEM: A Palestinian attempted to stab Israeli police near a flashpoint holy site in Hebron in the occupied West Bank on Thursday and was shot and wounded, Israeli authorities said.The incident occurred near the site known to Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque and to Jews as the Cave of the Patriarchs in the tense city, where several hundred Israeli settlers live under heavy guard among some 200,000 […]
Earlier today, MarketWatch highlighted the rather blunt investing advice that the ‘highly reputable’ investing newsletter, The Prudent Speculator, and its editor, John Buckingham, recently offered up to millennial investors: “If you are 50 or younger, or have 10 years before taking money out, and do not have 100% in equities, you are crazy.” And while we can certainly appreciate his attempt to achieve crystal clarity with his […]
In 2001, “Frontline” aired a documentary by investigative reporting legend Lowell Bergman. The movie, which chronicled the new cowboys of “Energy Alley,” contained never-before-seen interviews with Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling and other players in the energy scandal. It was compelling footage. After Enron imploded, filmmaker Alex Gibney bought the video from PBS and used some of it in his 2005 documentary about the scandal, “The Smartest Guys […]
(Corrects professor’s name in paragraph 7) SANAA Famine and disease haunt the living, but not even the dead are spared the calamities of Yemen’s two-year-old civil war. Ancient mummies are withering away in a major museum for lack of electricity and preservative chemicals from abroad – a sign that the conflict is harming not only the country’s present and future but also its rich past. The dozen […]
When North Korea deployed hundreds of artillery units, submarines and soldiers to take part in its largest live-fire drill, it was intended as a chilling display of the reclusive regime’s military might. The country boasts the world’s fourth-largest standing army, with more than 1m troops as well as 7m reserves, and last week’s military exercise came as US President Donald Trump ramped up the pressure on Pyongyang […]
A union representing 1,200 U.S. air maintenance workers at United Parcel Service Inc (UPS.N) turned up pressure on the company on Sunday to settle a three-year contract dispute, saying it would seek clearance to strike. The union is taking its grievances directly to UPS shareholders, running as an advertisement an open letter to David Abney, the company’s chief executive, ahead of a Thursday shareholders meeting. The letter, which has […]
WASHINGTON At least 352 civilians have been killed in U.S.-led strikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria since the operation began in 2014, the U.S. military said in a statement on Sunday. The Combined Joint Task Force, in its monthly assessment of civilian casualties from the U.S. coalition’s operations against the militant group, said it was still assessing 42 reports of civilian deaths. It added […]
ISTANBUL: A convoy of Turkish military vehicles has relocated to a base near the Syrian border as tensions with US-backed Kurdish militants escalate.Footage shot Friday night shows armored vehicles and personnel carriers on the road. Private Ihlas news agency reports they were moved to Sanliurfa province from Kilis in the west with the completion of Turkey’s cross-border operation in Syria and may be used against Syrian Kurdish […]
