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Macron says intelligence shows Islamic State was behind Russia concert attack

Macron says intelligence shows Islamic State was behind Russia concert attack

FRANCE joined the United States in saying intelligence indicated Islamic State was responsible for an attack on a concert hall outside Moscow that killed 137 people, while Russia continued to suggest that Ukraine was to blame. In the deadliest attack inside Russia for two decades, four men burst into the Crocus City Hall on Friday night, spraying bullets during a concert by the Soviet-era rock group Picnic. Alongside the dead, 182 people were wounded. Four men, at least one a Tajik, were remanded in custody on terrorism charges. They were led separately into a cage at Moscow's Basmanny district court. Islamic State…
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US pushes peace talks to avert ‘point of no return’ in Sudan

US pushes peace talks to avert ‘point of no return’ in Sudan

The United States hopes for a relaunch of talks aimed at ending the conflict in Sudan and opening up humanitarian access soon after Ramadan ends in mid-April, Washington's newly appointed envoy said on Thursday. Saudi Arabia and the United States led talks in Jeddah last year to try to reach a truce between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), but the negotiations faltered amid competing international peace initiatives. "We need to restart formal talks. We hope that will happen as soon as Ramadan is over," Tom Perriello, who took up his role as U.S. special envoy to…
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US issues sanctions on Russian, Central African Republic entities over Wagner ties

US issues sanctions on Russian, Central African Republic entities over Wagner ties

THE United States imposed sanctions on two entities it accused of advancing Russia's "malign activities" in the Central African Republic (CAR) and enabling the Wagner mercenary group, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement. The entities, a CAR-based timber company and a Russia-based company sought to benefit financially "from illicit natural resource extraction and provided material and financial support to the Wagner Group and other organizations" tied to Wagner's former owner Yevgeniy Prigozhin, who died in a 2023 plane explosion in Russia, the Treasury said. The action targets CAR-based Bois Rouge SARLU for its ties to Wagner and St. Petersburg-based Broker Expert…
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US issues fresh curbs on Zimbabwe president, others; terminates sanctions program

US issues fresh curbs on Zimbabwe president, others; terminates sanctions program

THE United States terminated a Zimbabwe sanctions program and reimposed curbs on nine people and three entities, including the country's president, over their alleged involvement in corruption or serious human rights abuse. WHY IT MATTERS Washington is seeking to make clear that the sanctions are not intended to target the people of Zimbabwe with Monday's move, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in a statement. "Today we are refocusing our sanctions on clear and specific targets: President (Emmerson) Mnangagwa’s criminal network of government officials and businesspeople who are most responsible for corruption or human rights abuse against the people of…
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US pushes for UN Security Council action to end war in Sudan

US pushes for UN Security Council action to end war in Sudan

THE United States pushed for the United Nations Security Council to take action to help end a nearly year-long conflict in Sudan between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The United States says the warring parties have committed war crimes and the RSF and allied militias have also committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. The U.N. says that nearly 25 million people - half Sudan's population - need aid and some 8 million have fled their homes and hunger is rising. "It is clear that this is an urgent matter of peace and security that demands greater attention from the…
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Kremlin says Biden calling Putin a ‘crazy SOB’ debases the US

Kremlin says Biden calling Putin a ‘crazy SOB’ debases the US

THE Kremlin said that Joe Biden had debased the United States by calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a "crazy SOB", casting the U.S. president's remark as part of a failed "Hollywood cowboy" act. The U.S. president made the "crazy SOB" remark as part of a sentence about threats to the world - including "that guy Putin and others", the risk of nuclear conflict and the existential threat to humanity from climate change. "The use of such language against the head of another state by the president of the United States is unlikely to infringe on our president, President Putin," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry…
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US pushes for UN to support temporary Gaza ceasefire, oppose Rafah assault

US pushes for UN to support temporary Gaza ceasefire, oppose Rafah assault

THE United States has proposed a rival draft United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a temporary ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and opposing a major ground offensive by its ally Israel in Rafah, according to the text seen by Reuters. The move comes after the U.S. signalled it would veto on Tuesday an Algerian-drafted resolution — demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire — over concerns it could jeopardize talks between the U.S., Egypt, Israel and Qatar that seek to broker a pause in the war and the release of hostages held by Hamas. Until now, Washington has been averse to the word ceasefire in any U.N.…
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US condemns worsening violence in east of DR Congo, accuses Rwanda

US condemns worsening violence in east of DR Congo, accuses Rwanda

THE United States condemned worsening violence in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), blaming it on M23, an armed group it said is backed by Rwanda. A statement from the U.S. State Department called on M23 to cease hostilities immediately and withdraw from its current positions around Sake and Goma. "The United States condemns Rwanda's support for the M23 armed group," the statement said. It called on Rwanda to immediately withdraw all of its military personnel from the DRC and remove surface-to-air missile systems, saying these threatened the lives of civilians, U.N. and other regional peacekeepers, humanitarian workers and…
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Russia warns the West: we will be very tough if you ‘steal’ our assets

Russia warns the West: we will be very tough if you ‘steal’ our assets

RUSSIA warned the West that Moscow would be very tough if the United States and European Union seized hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Russian assets. After President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, the United States and its allies prohibited transactions with Russia's central bank and finance ministry, blocking around $300 billion of sovereign Russian assets in the West. The EU on Monday adopted a law to set aside windfall profits made on frozen Russian central bank assets, it said on Monday, in a first concrete step towards the bloc's aim of using the money to finance the reconstruction of…
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U.S. launches strikes in Iraq, Syria, nearly 40 reported killed

U.S. launches strikes in Iraq, Syria, nearly 40 reported killed

THE United States launched airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against more than 85 targets linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) and the militias it backs, reportedly killing nearly 40 people, in retaliation for a deadly attack on U.S. troops. The strikes, which included the use of long-range B-1 bombers flown from the United States, were the first in response to the attack last weekend in Jordan by Iran-backed militants, and more U.S. military operations are expected in the coming days. The strikes intensified a conflict that has spread into the region since war erupted between Israel and Hamas after the militant Palestinian group's deadly assault…
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