North America
Orwellian exploitation of Quebec mosque attack
The Trump White House actually has the chutzpah to exploit the deadly Quebec mosque attack to justify the very anti-Muslim policy that may have inspired it.
North America
White nationalist to National Security Council
With a constitutional crisis looming over Trump's "Muslim ban," white nationalist mouthpiece Steve Bannon has been named to the inner ring of the National Security Council.
North America
Court issues stay on Trump immigration order
A Brooklyn federal judge blocked Trump's order barring immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries, as activists occupied JFK and several other US airports.
Syria
Trump’s Syria plan: ‘safe zones’ or kill zones?
Will Trump’s proposed “safe zones” become areas where hapless Syrians can be detained as the US, Russia and Assad regime alike bomb the hell out of the rest of the country?
Planet Watch
Doomsday Clock: 2.5 minutes of midnight
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the minute hand of its symbolic Doomsday Clock from three minutes to two-and-a-half minutes to midnight.
North America
Trump approves pipelines, withdraws from TPP: contradiction?
Trump's approval of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines comes just as he has withdrawn the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a seeming contradiction in his agenda.
Syria
Syria: first joint US-Russian air-strikes?
The Pentagon denied Moscow’s claims of joint US-Russian air-strikes against ISIS, but the White House signalled its willingness to cooperate with Russia in Syria.
Iran
Iran’s land-grab in Syria
Iran's government and companies close to the elite Revolutionary Guards have signed major economic contracts with Syria, gaining control of large areas of the country.
Syria
Russia signs pact for long-term Syria bases
Russia signed a long-term pact to greatly enlarge its military presence in Syria, more than doubling the space for warships at Tartus, Russia’s only Mediterranean port.
North Africa
Libya: Obama’s parting air-strikes
US B-2 Stealth bombers and drones carried out a raid against presumed ISIS camps in the Libyan desert—part of a final spate of air-strikes ordered by President Obama.
Iraq
Iraq: mass exodus from embattled Mosul
Three thousand displaced persons are fleeing the embattled city of Mosul on a daily basis as US-backed Iraqi and Kurdish forces advance on the ISIS stronghold.
Mexico: Tarahumara forest defender assassinated
Isidro Baldenegro López (left), a Tarahumara indigenous activist in Mexico's Chihuahua state who fought for the preservation of forest lands, was assassinated last week, in an attack on the home of a family member in the pueblo of Coloradas de… Read moreMexico: Tarahumara forest defender assassinated