Month: March 2017

Belgium’s King Philippe on Wednesday urged citizens to listen to each other and draw lessons from the “deadly madness” that led three bombers to kill 32 people in the Brussels airport and subway a year ago. Marking the anniversary of the suicide attacks, in which more than 300 people were injured, the King paid homage to the victims in ceremonies timed with the blasts during the morning peak travel period on March 22, 2016.   “It’s the responsibility of each and every one of us to make our society more humane, and more just. Let’s learn to listen to each …

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A German-led NATO battle group of tanks, armored vehicles, and troops, including Lithuanians, engaged “enemy attackers” mid-March on a field outside a military base in Rukla, Lithuania.   The NATO group fired flares, smoke canisters, and blanks for what a press officer said was the first demonstration of maneuvers since they arrived in Lithuania earlier this year.   A group of visiting German military and other European dignitaries watched from nearby stands.    “We are from Norway, we are from Belgium and from the Netherlands. We all accomplished a very high intensity training,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Christoph Huber, commander of the …

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Russia’s force in Syria has suffered losses since late January more than three times higher than the official toll, according to evidence gathered by Reuters, a tally that shows the fight in Syria is tougher and more costly than the Kremlin has disclosed. Eighteen Russian citizens fighting alongside Moscow’s allies, the Syrian government forces, have been killed since Jan. 29 — a period that coincided with intense fighting to recapture the city of Palmyra from the Islamic State group. The Russian defense ministry has publicly reported only five servicemen’s deaths in Syria over the same period, and its officials’ statements …

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Belgian leaders, victims and families of those who died in the March 22 suicide bomb attacks on the Brussels airport and subway are making the first anniversary of the attacks, which killed 32 people. King Philippe and Queen Mathilde joined Prime Minister Charles Michel at the airport, where two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the departure hall during the morning peak travel period. More than 300 people were wounded in the attacks, claimed by the Islamic State group, but around 900 people now number themselves among the victims to have suffered physical or mental trauma. Commemorations are also taking …

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Kurdish commanders in northern Syria said this week Russia is building a military base there, and will help train its fighters. Moscow disputed the claims, but analysts say it is a sign of the Kurds’ growing role in the region. Across the border, Iraq faces a potential watershed moment as the battle for Mosul nears its end, with speculation growing that Kurds in the autonomous north could make a renewed push for independence. Despite the claims by Kurdish YPG fighters, Moscow denied it has plans to open any new bases. But Russia remains the game-changer, analyst Zeynep Kaya, of LSE …

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If much of the United States was transfixed by the Congressional testimony of two of America’s top intelligence officials on allegations of Russian meddling in the U.S. elections, the Kremlin claimed it had better things to do. “We have many concerns in the Kremlin and following that [debate] isn’t one of them,” said Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “New information we’re not hearing and doubtfully will hear,” said Peskov, who went on to compare the hearings to a “broken record” being played ad nauseam. “It’s an internal American issue … our relationship to all this hysteria is well known.” During testimony …

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French Interior Minister Bruno Le Roux resigned Tuesday over allegations that he hired his daughters for multiple parliamentary aide positions for which they did not do all the work. The presidential palace promptly announced that Matthias Fekl had been picked to replace Le Roux. The girls were still in high school when the first of the contracts began, and they continued working for him throughout their university studies, but reports say that the daughters did not do all of the work for which they were paid. Le Roux admitted to paying his daughters as parliamentary aides during their summer vacations, …

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Three teenage boys were sentenced to six to seven years in prison Tuesday for detonating a homemade bomb outside a Sikh temple in Germany last year. A state court in Essen found two of the boys, identified only as T. and B. as they are minors, guilty of attempted murder. According to court records, the two largely admitted to the charges. The third, identified as I., denied being involved, but was found guilty of complicity and sentenced to six years. Prosecutors said the three had conspired to create explosives from items they purchased online and planned to attack the Sikh …

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The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam welcomed home two paintings by the Dutch master Tuesday, more than 14 years after they were ripped off the museum’s wall in a nighttime heist. “They’re back,” said museum director Axel Rueger. He called their return one of the “most special days in the history of our museum.” The paintings, the 1882 “View of the Sea at Scheveningen,” and 1884-85 work “Congregation leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen,” were discovered last year by Italian police investigating suspected Italian mobsters for cocaine trafficking. It wasn’t an easy find. The two paintings were wrapped in cotton …

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The 27 remaining members of the European Union will hold a special summit April 29 to create a plan for negotiating with Britain about the country’s exit, European Council President Donald Tusk said Tuesday. The announcement by Tusk comes a day after Britain said it would trigger proceedings for its departure from the union on March 29. “Our main priority for the negotiations must be to create as much certainty and clarity as possible for all citizens, companies and member states that will be negatively affected by Brexit,” he said. Once Britain triggers its departure from the EU next week, …

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