Paris (AFP) – They talk regularly, have shared memorable handshakes and supposedly have an “unbreakable” friendship. When US President Donald Trump and France’s Emmanuel Macron meet next week, there will be more back-slapping — but also major differences. The Trump-Macron relationship has been one of the few stable elements in recent American foreign policy, with […]

Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will absolutely not allow armed confrontation between Russia and the US, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told RIA Novosti in an interview. “Speaking about risks of a military confrontation, I am 100 percent sure that [both the US and Russian] militaries won’t allow this, and of course neither will President […]

“The Iranian octopus is trying to strangle us and break our spirit,” a key member of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet warned. TEL AVIV — Israel has reportedly canceled plans to send warplanes to a joint military exercise with the U.S. amid concern over the buildup of Iranian forces across the border in Syria. The decision not […]

SANTA CLARA/HAVANA, Cuba  – The man likely to become Cuba’s next president is from a younger generation of leaders and has advocated modernizing the island but he is also a longtime Communist Party apparatchik who is not expected to push for sweeping political change. Miguel Diaz-Canel, 57-year-old first vice president, is expected to be named […]

BEIRUT (AP) — The latest on the Syrian conflict (all times local): 2:05 a.m. Syrian state-run television says Syria’s air defenses have confronted a new “aggression,” shooting down missiles over the area of Homs in the country’s center. It did not elaborate or say who carried out the airstrikes early Tuesday. The Syrian Central Media […]

DAMASCUS/THE HAGUE  – The United States accused Russia on Monday of blocking international inspectors from reaching the site of a suspected poison gas attack in Syria and said Russians or Syrians may have tampered with evidence on the ground. Moscow denied the charge and blamed delays on retaliatory U.S.-led missile strikes on Syria at the […]

Two prominent Iranian diaspora opposition groups welcomed Saturday’s U.S.-led air strikes on Syrian chemical weapons facilities, saying the operation will help save lives in Syria’s civil war. Organization of Iranian American Communities (OIAC) political director Majid Sadeghpour told VOA Persian via Skype that the U.S. and its allies should go further with their military action […]

President Donald Trump on Saturday described the alleged chemical attacks in Syria as the “crimes of a monster” as the US launched precision strikes on the war-torn nation jointly with the UK and France. Trump ordered the launch of air strikes on Syria and accused President Bashar al-Assad of “barbarism and brutality”. The US president […]

Ministers agree ‘need for action’ in Syria Downing Street says ministers have agreed the use of chemical weapons in Syria “must not go unchallenged”, but no mention has been made of any plans to use force. Nevertheless, BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg says she understands the UK is planning a “genuinely joint effort” with the […]

Strained relations between Ankara and Washington have started going in a positive direction in recent months amid “accelerated cooperation” against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a senior U.S. official in Ankara has stated. “We have seen in recent months that U.S. and Turkish collaboration against the PKK has accelerated,” the official told the Hürriyet […]