Former U.N. diplomat Giandomenico Picco, whose negotiating skills helped resolve some of the thorniest crises of the 1980s and 1990s, including the Iran-Iraq war and the kidnappings of Westerners by Hezbollah in Lebanon, has died. Picco passed away peacefully Sunday after a long illness, his son, Giacomo Picco, said. He was 75. Picco worked at the United Nations from 1973 …
Read More »Tag Archives: War and unrest
China trumpets rising car exports to Russia as its envoy holds talks in Ukraine
BEIJING (AP) — In Beijing and Kyiv, the divide between China and Europe over the war in Ukraine was on display this week. As a Chinese envoy crisscrossed Europe for talks on ending the war, his boss, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, trumpeted a sharp rise in China-Russia trade — which the West sees as providing an economic lifeline to Moscow …
Read More »Meet Ukraine’s small but lethal weapon lifting morale: Unmanned sea drones packed with explosives
Uncrewed, remote-controlled boats have been around since the end of World War II. Late last century, technological innovations broadened their potential uses. Lethal, advanced sea drones developed and deployed by Ukraine in its war with Russia have opened a new chapter in that story. Ukraine claims it is the first country to set up a specific unit dedicated to producing …
Read More »Israel plans to build 3,300 new settlement homes. It says it’s a response to a Palestinian attack
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel plans to build more than 3,300 new homes in settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in response to a fatal Palestinian shooting attack, a senior Cabinet minister said. The decision drew an angry response from the U.S. at a time of growing tensions over the course of Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Israel’s …
Read More »Why isn’t desperately needed aid reaching Palestinians in Gaza?
From the earliest days of the Israel-Hamas war, the United States and much of the international community have pressed Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. But as the fighting rages on with no end in sight, the humanitarian catastrophe there has only worsened. United Nations agencies and aid groups say the ongoing hostilities, the Israeli military’s …
Read More »Britain’s top diplomat says he hopes the Falkland Islands will wish to stay in the UK family forever
LONDON (AP) — British Foreign Secretary David Cameron on Monday toured battle sites of the Falklands War during a visit meant to underline that the Falkland Islands are a “valued part of the British family.” The visit by Cameron — the first British foreign secretary to make the trip to the South Atlantic archipelago in three decades — came amid …
Read More »Facing setbacks against resistance forces, Myanmar’s military government activates conscription law
BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s military government on Saturday activated for the first time a decade-old conscription law that makes young men and women subject to at least two years of military service if called up, effective immediately. The announcement of the measure on state television amounts to a major, though tacit, admission that the army is struggling to contain the …
Read More »Syria says Israeli airstrikes over Homs have killed and wounded civilians
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Israeli airstrikes over Syria’s central city of Homs and nearby areas killed and wounded civilians, the Syrian military said Wednesday without giving details. There was no immediate comment from Israel. The strikes come as tensions across the Middle East grow with the Israel-Hamas war and a drone attack last month that killed three U.S. troops in …
Read More »Israel and Lebanon are prepping for a war neither wants, but many fear it’s becoming inevitable
BEIRUT (AP) — The prospect of a full-scale war between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia terrifies people on both sides of the border, but some see it as an inevitable fallout from Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza. Such a war could be the most destructive either side has ever experienced. Israel and Hezbollah each have lessons from their …
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