Section: Free Malaysia Today (Malaysia)
Kerry seeks Russian cooperation despite deep misgivings within US administration
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State John Kerry heads to Moscow on Thursday to again seek deeper Russian cooperation in the war against Islamic State in Syria, but he faces strong opposition from defense and intelligence officials who argue that Washington and Moscow have diametrically opposite objectives in the country. Kerry’s trip, which...
UN air warning site to publish threats more quickly
MONTREAL: A UN website launched as part of a global response to the downing of a Malaysian airliner in 2014 will post warnings about potential attacks against aircraft more quickly but only when they come from the country where the threat originates. The UN’s civil aviation agency said on Friday that a country’s warnings about threats...
Obama downplays Brexit impact at NATO summit
WARSAW: US President Barack Obama insisted Friday Brexit would not harm transatlantic unity but warned against a bitter divorce undermining security in the face of a resurgent Russia. Britain’s shock vote to leave the European Union dominated Obama’s final NATO summit, which comes at what he called the most critical time for the...
Internet reposts can mean jail in Russia crackdown
MOSCOW: Recent graduate Maxim Kormelitsky did not think twice when he shared a picture online with an expletive-ridden caption about Russian Orthodox believers and their tradition of jumping into freezing cold water. But then he got a summons from investigators in his small Siberian hometown. Within a few months the 21-year-old was put on trial...
Dutch pressed Moscow for MH17 radar evidence
THE HAGUE: Dutch investigators probing who is to blame for the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 two years ago have pressed Russian authorities to hand over outstanding evidence, officials said Thursday. Initial results from the criminal inquiry into who shot down the ill-fated flight over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014 killing all 298...
Merkel: Russian actions caused ‘loss of trust’ with NATO
BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday that Russia’s actions in Ukraine had eroded mutual trust with the West, speaking on the eve of a major NATO summit in Poland. “If through words and deeds the validity of (international) law and the inviolability of borders are questioned, then of course trust is lost,” she told the...
IS prime suspect after suicide bombers kill 36 at Istanbul airport
ISTANBUL: Turkish investigators pored over video footage and witness statements on Wednesday after three suspected Islamic State suicide bombers opened fire and blew themselves up in Istanbul’s main airport, killing 36 people and wounding almost 150. The attack on Europe’s third-busiest airport was one of the deadliest in a series of...
First foreign victims confirmed in Istanbul blasts
ISTANBUL: An Iranian and a Ukrainian have been confirmed as the first foreign victims in the Istanbul airport suicide attack, a Turkish official said Wednesday. “I confirm one Iranian and one Ukrainian national have been killed in yesterday’s terror attack,” the official told reporters on condition of anonymity. At least 36 people died in...
Kerry raises harassment of US diplomats in Moscow with Putin
WASHINGTON: Russian harassment and surveillance of US diplomats in Moscow has increased significantly and US Secretary of State John Kerry raised the issue recently with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the State Department said on Monday. Kerry last raised the matter with Putin on March 24 this year, a State Department official said. “He has...
Trudeau: Canada has ‘real concerns’ about Russia
OTTAWA: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday expressed “real concerns” over a more assertive Russia, as his government reportedly considers taking command of a new NATO battalion in the Baltics. “We have real concerns about Russia and about its actions and we will be thoughtful and firm, as I have always been, on how we re-engage...
