Syria bars access to chemical weapons investigators, says watchdog
Syrian officials have refused access to a newly created chemical weapons investigation team formed to identify culprits behind attacks with banned munitions, the organization's top official said in remarks published on Wednesday. Member countries of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) voted ...
France has unverified 'indication' of chemical attack in Syria
France's top diplomat said Tuesday that the country had an "indication" that a chemical attack had been carried out in Syria's Idlib province this month, an attack alleged by Washington last week. "We have an indication that chemical weapons were used in the Idlib region, ...
Vietnamese woman in Kim Jong Nam murder case freed, but plotters may never face trial
A Vietnamese woman who had been accused of assassinating the North Korean leader's half-brother was freed from prison Friday, ending legal proceedings over the brazen killing after an often-bizarre two-year saga. Kim Jong Nam, the estranged relative of Kim Jong Un and once seen as ...
Chlorine was used in 2018 attack on rebel Syrian town of Douma, OPCW watchdog says
The world's chemical weapons watchdog said Friday that chlorine was used against the rebel-held Syrian town of Douma in 2018, in a long-awaited final report on the deadly attack. The report by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was based on a ...
Focus on North Korea's nuclear arsenal obscures threat posed by chemical and biological weapons
As U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held their summit in Vietnam, the narrow focus on nuclear weapons obscured a major danger: Kim holds the whip in a three-ring circus of weapons of mass destruction. The other two rings, ...
Pentagon warns Russia and Assad against tampering with site of alleged Syria chemical attack
The Pentagon warned Russia on Tuesday against interfering with the site of an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria's regime-held city of Aleppo. Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime has accused armed groups of carrying out a "toxic gas" attack Saturday that left dozens of people ...
Alleged Syria chemical attack, retaliatory Russian airstrikes seen imperiling Idlib rebel truce deal
A 10-week-old truce deal in northern Syria looked as precarious as ever Monday after an alleged chemical attack, which has already drawn retaliatory raids despite its origins being unclear. The exact circumstances of the purported attack on three districts of the government-held city of Aleppo ...
Chemical arms team to assign blame for Syrian attacks despite Russia, Iran opposition
The global chemical weapons watchdog will in February begin to assign blame for attacks with banned munitions in Syria's war, using new powers approved by member states but opposed by Damascus and its key allies Russia and Iran. The agency was handed the new task ...
U.S. prepares for biggest-ever Agent Orange cleanup in Vietnam
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Wednesday visited a former American air base in southern Vietnam that will soon become the biggest-ever U.S. cleanup site for contamination left by the defoliant Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. Standing near a skull-and-crossbones warning sign meant to ...
The United States on Thursday charged seven Russian intelligence officers with conspiring to hack computers and steal data from the nuclear energy company Westinghouse Electric Co. as well as anti-doping watchdogs, sporting federations and an international agency probing the use of chemical weapons. The charges ...
'No James Bond': Dutch hotel says four alleged Russian spies went quietly
Four alleged Russian spies were arrested by Dutch agents as they walked out of a hotel elevator in The Hague without force and with "no James Bond involved," the manager said Thursday. Dutch security forces said they had seized the men on April 13 as ...
U.N. documents further Syrian regime use of banned chemical arms, fears Idlib 'massacre'
U.N. investigators said on Wednesday that they had documented three further uses of banned chlorine weapons by Syrian government forces that constituted war crimes, and urged major powers to help avert a "massacre" in the final battle for Idlib. The attacks caused injuries in the ...
