Europe

US, Britain warn of Russian campaign to hack networks

by Rosie Scammell Agence France Presse BRITAIN, United Kingdom (AFP) — Russian government-sponsored hackers are compromising the key hardware of government and business computer networks like routers and firewalls, giving them virtual control of data flows, Britain and the United States warned Monday. The operation was “to support espionage, extract intellectual property, maintain persistent access to victim networks and potentially lay a foundation for future offensive operations,” Washington and London said in a joint statement. […]

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US, Britain warn of Russian campaign to hack networks

  by Rosie Scammell © Agence France-Presse UNITED KINGDOM (AFP) — Russian government-sponsored hackers are compromising the key hardware of government and business computer networks like routers and firewalls, giving them virtual control of data flows, Britain and the United States warned Monday. The operation was “to support espionage, extract intellectual property, maintain persistent access to victim networks and potentially lay a foundation for future offensive operations,” Washington and London said in a joint statement. […]

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G7 calls on Russia to answer for Salisbury nerve agent attack

  CANADA (AFP) — Foreign Ministers of the Group of Seven industrialized nations on Monday called on Russia to come clean about a nerve agent attack on a former spy in Britain, calling it “a threat to us all.” “We call on Russia to urgently address all questions related to the incident in Salisbury,” they said in a joint statement. The G7 nations urged Russia to provide a “full and complete disclosure of its previously […]

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US-led strikes steer clear of Russian military

  by Thomas Watkins © Agence France-Presse UNITED STATES (AFP) — President Donald Trump’s administration has made clear it sees Moscow as complicit in the latest suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria, but Pentagon planners are taking pains to avoid hitting Russian military assets. A clash — intentional or otherwise — between the West and Russia in Syria could have disastrous consequences that could quickly flip the seven-year-old conflict in a new and dangerous direction. […]

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NATO chief ‘supports’ Syria strikes: statement

  BELGIUM (AFP) — The head of NATO expressed his support for Western strikes in Syria on Saturday after bombings targeting Bashar al-Assad’s regime in retaliation for a suspected chemical attack. “I support the actions taken by the United States, the United Kingdom and France… This will reduce the regime’s ability to further attack the people of Syria with chemical weapons,” Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement. Explosions were heard in the Syrian […]

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Syria has reached ‘point of no return’ over chemical attacks: France

  UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — France warned Friday that Syria’s government had reached a “point of no return” by using chemical weapons and vowed to confront the “intolerable threat” of such attacks to global security. French Ambassador Francois Delattre told a Security Council meeting that world powers must respond to the threat of repeated use of toxic gas as a weapon in Syria’s war. By “deciding once again to use chemical weapons” in the […]

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US, France, Britain launch strikes on Syria

  by Andrew Beatty / with AFP correspondents in Damascus © Agence France-Presse UNITED STATES (AFP) — The United States, Britain and France carried out a wave of punitive strikes against Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian regime on Saturday in response to alleged chemical weapons attacks that President Donald Trump branded the “crimes of a monster.” As Trump embarked on a White House address to announce the action — taken in defiance of Russia’s threat to respond — […]

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May mulls Syria action despite cautious mood in UK

by Alice Ritchie Agence France-Presse UNITED KINGDOM (AFP) — Britain’s government weighed the possibility of military action against Syria on Thursday, agreeing the “need to take action” despite polls showing the public remains wary of military intervention. Prime Minister Theresa May held an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss joining mooted strikes by the US and allies, with ministers agreeing “on the need to take action”, her Downing Street office said in a statement. Her office […]

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‘Burning man’ image wins AFP top prize at World Press Photo

  by Jan Hennop Agence France-Presse NETHERLANDS (AFP) — Agence France-Presse photographer Ronaldo Schemidt won the prestigious 2018 World Press Photo of the Year Award Thursday with a fiery image of a masked Venezuelan protester which judges said symbolised a country “burning.” Schemidt’s photo, taken during violent clashes with riot police and protesters demonstrating against President Nicolas Maduro’s regime in Caracas last year, invoked an instant emotion, the judges said. AFP also scooped other awards, […]

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Azerbaijan’s Aliyev wins election boycotted by opposition

by Elman Mamedov © Agence France-Presse BAKU, Azerbaijan (AFP) — Azerbaijan strongman Ilham Aliyev on Wednesday secured a fourth consecutive term in a snap election boycotted by the main opposition parties, near-complete results showed. An Aliyev victory was widely seen as a foregone conclusion with the Caspian state’s downtrodden opposition unable to mount a serious challenge to his authoritarian rule. Aliyev’s position has been boosted in recent years by the steady influx of petrodollars into his […]

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NGOs urge Spain not to sell warships to Saudi Arabia

  MADRID, Spain (AFP) — A coalition of NGOs on Wednesday urged Spain not to sign off on a planned sale of warships to Saudi Arabia during an upcoming visit to Madrid by the kingdom’s crown prince. The “Arms Under Control” collective, which includes Amnesty International, Oxfam and Greenpeace, also called on Spain to stop exporting arms to the Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, where thousands of civilians have been killed. During his […]

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Vatican arrests ex-diplomat in child sex abuse probe

VATICAN CITY (AFP) — The Vatican said on Saturday a monsignor who was a former advisor at its US embassy in Washington has been arrested on suspicion of watching child sex abuse. A Vatican statement said that an arrest warrant had been issued for Carlo Alberto Capella, which was carried out by the Vatican Gendarmerie. “The accused is being detained in a cell in the barracks of the Gendarmerie Corps, available to the judicial authorities,” […]

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