NEW YORK — Terrorism is a persistent and evolving global menace. No country is immune. Social media, encrypted communications and the dark web are being used to spread propaganda, radicalize new recruits and plan atrocities. The threat ranges from the crude tactics of lone actors to sophisticated coordinated attacks and the horrific prospect of terrorists using chemical, biological or radioactive weapons.
Britain will remain a “very important pillar” of the United Nations after Brexit, the organization's secretary general has said. Antonio Guterres’s comments appear to contradict the fears of some opponents of Brexit that the UK’s withdrawal from the EU might throw into question its position as one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, alongside the US, Russia, China and France.
President Trump vowed Tuesday to look for common ground with his French counterpart in dealing with Iran but made no commitment to stick with the nuclear agreement he described as “insane” and “ridiculous.” Receiving French President Emmanuel Macron for a state visit at the White House, Trump repeated his criticism of the agreement to freeze Iran's nuclear program, saying it doesn't address Tehran's missile program or its attempts to foment unrest in the region.
We, the G7 foreign ministers, of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States of America and the High Representative of the European Union, are united in condemning, in the strongest possible terms, the attack that took place against Sergei and Yulia Skripal, using a nerve agent in Salisbury, United Kingdom, on March 4, 2018. A British police officer and numerous civilians were exposed in the attack and required hospital treatment, and the lives of many more innocent British civilians have been threatened. We express our deepest sympathies to them all and our admiration and support for the UK emergency services for their courageous response.
The G7 leaders have united in condemning the use of chemical weapons in Syria and support recent actions by the US, UK and France to degrade and deter further use. Likewise G7 foreign ministers condemned the nerve agent attack and share the UK's assessment that it is highly likely that the Russian Federation was responsible.
Britain and the US have issued a formal alert about “malicious cyber activity” by Russia amid warnings that relations with Moscow have hit an all-time low. The UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) combined with the FBI and the US Department of Homeland Security to issue an unprecedented joint “technical alert” setting out the threat across the public and private sectors.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau backed air strikes by the United States and its allies on Syria’s chemical weapons program but Argentina, Brazil and Peru voiced caution during a regional summit about the escalating military action.
Bombs have fallen. Damascus has been beaten again. The United States, United Kingdom and France coalition launched airstrikes against Syrian targets as Donald Trump sought to punish Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for a suspected chemical attack last weekend near Damascus that killed more than 40 people.
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been arrested on Tuesday at west of Paris as part of an investigation that revealed he received millions of euros in illegal financing from the regime of the late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in 2007.
UN chief Antonio Guterres was criticized on Thursday by a watchdog group for failing to condemn Syria’s election to a committee charged with working towards decolonization. UN Watch called on US Ambassador Nikki Haley, and European ambassadors to condemn the world body for handing Bashar Assad’s regime what it called “a propaganda victory.”