Category

War/Peace/Conflicts

Home » World News » War/Peace/Conflicts

187 posts
Bookmark?Remove?

Iraq strikes Islamic State in Mosul days after declaring victory

Destroyed buildings from clashes are seen in the Old City of Mosul, Iraq July 10, 2017. Iraqi forces clashed with Islamic State militants holding out in Mosul’s Old City on Wednesday, more than 36 hours after Baghdad declared victory over the jihadists in what... More »

Bus blast kills fighters at Syrian border crossing with Turkey

BEIRUT A suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest on a bus in Syria near the Atmeh border crossing with Turkey late on Sunday, killing at least 32 people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The bus was carrying fighters from foreign-backed rebel f... More »

Militants stage Kashmir attacks as Modi gives annual address

NEW DELHI Two armed militants attacked a police station in Indian-ruled Kashmir on Monday, police said, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered his annual Independence Day speech in the national capital, New Delhi. The gunmen were unable to take control of t... More »

Modi, in address, chides Pakistan and urges Indian unity

By Douglas Busvine and Nidhi Verma | NEW DELHI NEW DELHI Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took aim at supporters of “terrorism” in his Independence Day speech on Monday, ratcheting up criticism of Pakistan while avoiding direct mention of month-long protest... More »

U.S. Democrat Pelosi gets ‘obscene and sick’ calls after hack

By John Whitesides | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said on Saturday she has been flooded with “obscene and sick” calls and text messages after a hacker linked to Russia posted personal contact information online for her and hu... More »

Russian helicopter downed in rebel-held Idlib province

BEIRUT A Russian military helicopter carrying five people was shot down in the north of Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province on Monday, the Russian defence ministry said. Russian air forces are supporting President Bashar al-Assad in Syria’s five-year-old civil w... More »

Rebels launch major assault to try to break Aleppo siege

BEIRUT Syrian rebel fighters have launched a major assault on government-held southwestern parts of Aleppo to try to reopen supply lines after the army and its allies tightened their siege of opposition-held parts of the city last week. The rebels are trying t... More »

Taliban claim Kabul truck bomb blast

KABUL The Taliban claimed responsibility for a truck bomb attack on a military and logistics services compound, mainly used by foreigners, in Kabul early on Monday after a powerful explosion was heard all around the city. However, casualties appear to have bee... More »

Russia has motive, capability and form for U.S. email hack

MOSCOW The Kremlin says it had zero involvement in the hacking of Democratic Party emails while U.S. officials say the hack originated in Russia. We may never know who is right, but one thing is for sure – Russia had motive, capability and form. Seen through K... More »

Many in Hong Kong look for the exit door amid China tension

HONG KONG When activists began setting fire to trash bins and hurling bricks at police during a February riot in Hong Kong, Chris Lee became more convinced his decision to leave his siblings and mother behind and move to Taiwan was the right one. Hong Kong, lo... More »

Science group warns of shortcomings in U.S. missile defense

WASHINGTON The U.S. missile defense system to counter attacks from rogue states like North Korea has no proven capability to protect the United States and is not on a credible path to achieve that goal, a science advocacy group said on Thursday. The ground-bas... More »

Aleppo rebels brace for long Syrian government siege

BEIRUT/AMMAN Rebel areas of Aleppo have stockpiled enough basic supplies to survive months of siege by Syrian pro-government forces that cut off their half of the city last week, even though some goods are running out, an opposition official said. Government f... More »

Iraqi forces retake Islamic State holdout in Falluja

FALLUJA, Iraq Iraqi forces recaptured the last district held by Islamic State militants in the city of Falluja on Sunday and the general commanding the operation declared the battle complete after nearly five weeks of fighting. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi c... More »

Flow of civilians from Iraq’s Falluja slows as IS tightens grip

BAGHDAD/ERBIL, Iraq About 40,000 residents of Falluja, Islamic State’s besieged stronghold near Baghdad, have fled in the last three weeks, but a similar number are trapped despite the Iraqi army’s attempts to secure escape routes for them, officials said on T... More »

French police couple killed in attack claimed by Islamic State

PARIS/LES MUREAUX A Frenchman who pledged allegiance to Islamic State stabbed a police commander to death outside his home and killed his partner, who also worked for the police, in an attack the government denounced as “an abject act of terrorism”. Larossi Ab... More »

NATO to send troops to deter Russia, some allies want more

BRUSSELS Britain, Germany and the United States advanced plans on Tuesday to spearhead a new NATO force on Russia’s border from next year, but some eastern allies said the alliance’s effort must go further to deter Moscow. Weeks before a critical NATO summit i... More »

London art gallery showcases Calais migrant stories

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – When British art curator Sue McAlpine first visited makeshift migrant camps in Calais on Frances’s northern coast, the sight of families living in muddy tents and children wearing flip-flops in the middle of winter saddene... More »

Kerry warns Beijing over air defense zone for South China Sea

ULAANBAATAR U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday the United States would consider any Chinese establishment of an air defense zone over the South China Sea to be a “provocative and destabilizing act”. U.S. officials have expressed concern that an ... More »

Syrian army presses offensive against Islamic State

AMMAN The Syrian army pushed into Raqqa province, home to the de facto capital of Islamic State, after a major Russian-backed offensive against the militants, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday. The offensive is the third big assault on t... More »

U.S. flexes muscles as Asia worries about South China Sea row

SINGAPORE The United States stepped up pressure on China on Saturday to rein in its actions in the South China Sea, with top defense officials underlining Washington’s military superiority and vowing to remain the main guarantor of Asian security for decades t... More »

Genes of slain Cincinnati gorilla to live on

After shooting dead a gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo to save a 3-year-old boy, zoo officials said they had collected a sample of his sperm, raising hopes among distraught fans that Harambe could sire offspring even in death. But officials at the main U.S. body ... More »

Bosnia pays tribute to David Bowie with vast mural

SARAJEVO A group of artists unveiled a huge mural of David Bowie in Sarajevo on Saturday to commemorate the British musician’s humanitarian work during the Bosnian war. To the sound of Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” up to 300 people attended the inauguration of the m... More »

Trump says unlikely to have good relationship with UK’s Cameron

LONDON Donald Trump said he was unlikely to have a good relationship with David Cameron because the British prime minister cast the U.S. presidential candidate as “divisive, stupid and wrong” for proposing a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States.... More »

Knife attacker kills one at Munich train station

MUNICH A German national stabbed four passengers at a train station near Munich early on Tuesday, killing one man and injuring three, in an attack police said appeared to have an Islamist motive. Witnesses said the assailant, a 27-year-old man, shouted “Allahu... More »

Russia says truce extended for 48 hours in Syria’s Aleppo: RIA

MOSCOW Russia and the United States have agreed to extend the “regime of calm” in Syria’s city of Aleppo for another 48 hours starting from May 10, RIA news agency on Tuesday quoted Russia’s Defence Ministry as saying. (Reporting by Lidia Kelly- Editing by Dmi... More »

Ex-NATO and U.S. defense chiefs warn UK against EU exit

LONDON Former NATO secretary generals warned on Tuesday that a British exit from the European Union would help enemies of the West while ex-U.S. foreign and defense chiefs cautioned that Britain would have less clout outside the bloc. The double warning comes ... More »

Cannes on high alert ahead of film festival opening

CANNES, France Security at the Cannes film festival, which opens on Wednesday, will be intense as France is still facing a high risk of attack, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Monday. With 45,000 people expected to visit the May 11-22 event,... More »

U.S. investigates security of mobile devices

WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission have asked mobile phone carriers and manufacturers to explain how they release security updates amid mounting concerns over security vulnerabilities, the U.S. agencies said on Monday... More »

Syrian refugee brings his art to Lithuania

VILNIUS A faceless skull with a crown of spikes and blood pouring from its wounds, symbolizing a Syrian caught in the horror of civil war, stares out from a painting on the wall in a student theater in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. This is just one image by ... More »

Pussy Riot founder sets sites on Russian media

VILNIUS Pussy Riot punk performer Nadya Tolokonnikova is looking for a new audience — readers and, ideally, financial backers who can turn her two-year-old news website into a full-blown contender on Russia’s media scene. She first rose to prominence by donnin... More »

White House to make decision on 9/11 report by June: Bob Graham

WASHINGTON The White House will likely make a decision by June on whether it will release some classified material withheld from the public 9/11 Commission Report, a former U.S. senator who co-chaired the congressional inquiry into the attacks said on Sunday. ... More »

Trump bashes Clinton, promises not to become boring

HOLLYWOOD, Fla./WASHINGTON Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump attacked his top Democratic rival Hillary Clinton on Friday, calling her “crooked,” and promised his supporters that he would not bore them by becoming overly presidential. The commen... More »

China to launch ‘core module’ for space station around 2018

BEIJING China will launch a “core module” for its first space station some time around 2018, a senior official told the state-run Xinhua news agency on Thursday, part of a plan to have a permanent manned space station in service around 2022. Advancing China’s ... More »

Recreation of destroyed Palmyra arch unveiled in London

LONDON A meticulous recreation of the 1,800-year-old Arch of Triumph in Palmyra, Syria, destroyed by Islamic State militants last year, has been erected in Trafalgar Square in what London Mayor Boris Johnson called an act of defiance. The 5.5-metre (20ft) mode... More »

Italian police recover Nazi-looted paintings in Milan

MILAN Three late 15th century paintings missing since they were looted by Nazi troops from a Tuscan villa over 70 years ago have been recovered and two people have been accused of receiving stolen goods, police announced on Monday. The works, of religious them... More »

Yemen peace talks delayed by ongoing combat

KUWAIT Peace talks in Kuwait aimed at ending over a year of civil war and a Saudi-led intervention in Yemen will not begin on Monday as planned, officials from the warring sides said, amid objections over continued fighting despite an announced ceasefire. Dele... More »

Syrian rebels declare new battle against government

BEIRUT Syrian rebel groups announced a new battle against government forces on Monday, a sign of escalating violence that has undermined a ceasefire deal and threatens to derail U.N.-led peace talks. The groups, which included factions fighting under the banne... More »

Precarious truce starts in Yemen, fighting reported in Taiz

ADEN A shaky truce took hold in Yemen on Monday under a U.N.-backed effort to end a war that has made the country a front in Saudi Arabia’s region wide rivalry with Iran and caused one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. The war-damaged capital Sanaa spe... More »

France’s Valls meets youth leaders over contested labor reform

PARIS French Prime Minister Manuel Valls was to meet student and youth leaders on Monday in an attempt to defuse opposition to proposed labor reforms that have triggered public demonstrations and a nocturnal protest movement in several cities. The labor bill s... More »

Boston Globe denounces Trump candidacy in ‘front page’ satire

Headlines screaming “Deportations to begin” and “Markets sink as trade war looms” top a parody newspaper front page the Boston Globe posted on Saturday, with a scathing editorial denouncing Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump’s candidacy. The mock... More »

Slapping row pushes Portuguese minister to resign

LISBON Portuguese Culture Minister Joao Soares resigned on Friday, a day after threatening to slap critics who had called him incompetent and rude. A post on his Facebook page saying he wanted to slap two newspaper columnists, followed by what was seen as a ha... More »

South Africans try to see funny side of Zuma crisis

JOHANNESBURG With their economy flatlining, currency on the ropes and politics in turmoil, many South Africans are turning to humor for relief, mainly at the expense of President Jacob Zuma and his $16-million home improvements. Within minutes of Zuma survivin... More »

Congo police, gunmen exchange fire in wake disputed of election

BRAZZAVILLE Police in Congo’s capital Brazzaville exchanged heavy fire with unidentified gunmen on Monday, witnesses said, in the first significant outbreak of violence since President Denis Sassou Nguesso won re-election last month in a disputed poll. Young o... More »

Ties between Germany and Russia enter new chill

BERLIN At an hour-long meeting in Moscow on March 23, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov irritated his German counterpart by raising the case of a German-Russian girl who said she was raped by migrants in Berlin earlier this year. After the girl’s claims w... More »

Trump predicts ‘very massive recession’ in U.S.

MILWAUKEE Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump predicted that the United States is on course for a “very massive recession,” warning that a combination of high unemployment and an overvalued stock market had set the stage for another economic slum... More »

Obama, Republicans urge Trump to soften tone

WASHINGTON Donald Trump is facing bipartisan pressure to adopt a more presidential tone in his White House run including from Democratic President Barack Obama and Republicans who worry his missteps may do irreparable harm to the party and his campaign. The Re... More »

Saudi-owned newspaper Beirut office attacked after cartoon

BEIRUT Protesters attacked the Beirut office of Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq al-Awsat on Friday in response to a cartoon published by the paper criticizing the Lebanese state. The cartoon depicted the Lebanese flag with the words “an April fool…” written above... More »

U.S. hospitals face growing ransomware threat: security group

U.S. hospitals should brace for a surge in “ransomware” attacks by cyber criminals who infect and shut down computer networks, then demand payment in return for unlocking them, a non-profit healthcare group warned on Friday. The Health Information Trust Allian... More »

Saudi-led alliance confirms Yemen prisoner swap

DUBAI A Saudi-led military coalition on Monday said it had completed a prisoner swap in Yemen, exchanging nine Saudi prisoners for 109 Yemeni nationals ahead of a planned truce and peace talks aimed at ending the year-long war with Houthi rebels. The statement... More »

Iran congratulates Syria’s Assad on regaining Palmyra

DUBAI The secretary of the Iranian National Security Council has congratulated Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on regaining the city of Palmyra, Tasnim news agency reported on Monday. “The determination of the Syrian nation, government and army to eliminate t... More »

Pakistanis hunt militants behind blast that killed at least 70

LAHORE, Pakistan Pakistani authorities hunted on Monday for breakaway Taliban militants who once declared loyalty to Islamic State after the group claimed responsibility for an Easter suicide bomb targeting Christians, that killed at least 70 people. The attac... More »

Iraq launches offensive against Islamic State south of Mosul

BAGHDAD/ERBIL, Iraq Iraq’s armed forces started an offensive against Islamic State in the northerly Nineveh province on Thursday in what a military statement described as the first stage of an operation aimed at liberating the city of Mosul. The assault was la... More »

Abdeslam no longer to oppose extradition to France: lawyer

PARIS Salah Abdeslam, the prime surviving suspect for November’s Paris attacks, will no longer fight extradition to France but wants to return to his home country to explain himself as soon as possible, his lawyer said on Thursday. “Salah Abdeslam has asked me... More »

U.S. charges consultant to Iran’s U.N. mission

NEW YORK A consultant to Iran’s mission to the United Nations has been criminally charged with violating a U.S. law against dealing with that country, according to an indictment made public on Wednesday. Ahmad Sheikhzadeh, 60, faces seven charges including con... More »

Brazil’s restive rich draft a duck to protest president

SÃO PAULO If any symbol captures the anger of rich and upper-middle class Brazilians who have taken to the streets to protest against President Dilma Rousseff, it might be a giant, inflatable yellow duck. The 40-foot (12-meter) high duck presides over Sao Paul... More »

Record Brazil protests put Rousseff’s future in doubt

SAO PAULO/BRASILIA Hundreds of thousands of Brazilians flooded the streets on Sunday in the biggest ever protests calling for President Dilma Rousseff’s removal, reflecting rising popular anger that could encourage Congress to impeach the leftist leader. The d... More »