VIDEO: Horrific pictures show ‘entire families gassed to death’ in Syria’s Douma 4/8/2018 8:28:38 AM   facebook Google+ ► Print Medical relief organization Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) said a chlorine bomb hit Douma hospital Reuters, Beirut, 8 April 2018 -- A Syrian rebel group accused government forces on Saturday of dropping a barrel bomb containing poisonous chemicals on civilians in eastern Ghouta, and a medical relief organization said 35 people had been killed in chemical attacks on the area. Syrian state media denied government forces had launched any chemical attack as soon as the reports began circulating and said rebels in the eastern Ghouta town of Douma were in a state of collapse and spreading false news. The US State Department said on Saturday reports of mass casualties from an alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma were “horrifying” and would, if confirmed, “demand an immediate response by the i...

Trump administration charges Iranians for international cyber theft 3/23/2018 3:25:58 PM   facebook Google+ ► Print U.S. Deputy Attorney General at a news conference announces nine Iranians charged with conducting massive cyber theft campaign, in, March 23, 2018 Reuters- 23  March 20  18- WASHINGTON  -  The United States on Friday charged nine Iranians and an Iranian company with attempting to hack into hundreds of U.S. and international universities, dozens of companies and parts of the U.S. government on behalf of the Tehran government. The cyber attack pilfered more than 31 terabytes of academic data and intellectual property from 144 U.S. universities and 176 universities in 21 foreign countries, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement. The U.S. Treasury Department said on its website that it was placing sanctions on those accused and the Mabna Institute, a company described by U.S. prosecutors as designed to ...

Ambassador John Bolton Will Replace Gen. McMaster as National Security Adviser 3/23/2018 1:26:13 AM John Bolton, who will take office April 9, has met regularly with President Trump to discuss foreign policy Lt. Gen. McMaster is the latest in a series of high-profile exits from President Trump’s administration. He will be replaced as national security adviser by John R. Bolton, a former ambassador to the  United Nations  . WASHINGTON, The New York Times, March 22, 2018  — Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, the battle-tested Army officer tapped as President Trump’s national security adviser last year to stabilize a turbulent foreign policy operation, will resign and be replaced by John R. Bolton, a former United States ambassador to the United Nations, White House officials said Thursday. General McMaster will retire from the military, the officials said. He has been discussing his departure with President Trump for several weeks, they said, but decide...

US condemns 'unacceptable' treatment of news media in Iran 3/16/2018 5:08:49 AM “The United States notes with concern the grave conditions facing the press in Iran,” State Department spokeswoman said in a statement. Hill- 15  March 20  18-  The State Department on Thursday called the Iranian government’s treatment of the news media “unacceptable,” noting reports that journalists have been jailed and harassed. The State Department cited a  United Nations  Human Rights Council report released earlier this week on Iran that indicated journalists there have been harassed, arbitrarily detained, banned from traveling and monitored by intelligence operatives. “The United States notes with concern the grave conditions facing the press in Iran as detailed in the U.N. Special Rapporteur’s report,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement. The already hostile relationship between the U.S. and Iran has grown even more tense w...

French FM in Tehran to discuss missiles, Syria 3/5/2018 7:49:53 PM   facebook Google+ ► Print The French Foreign Minister in Tehran amid rising global tensions Iran’s role in the seven-year-long war in Syria. Orient Net, 5  March 20  18 -- The French Foreign Minister has arrived in Tehran amid rising global tensions over the future of the 2015 nuclear deal and Iran’s role in the seven-year-long war in Syria. Jean-Yves Le Drian’s visit was originally scheduled for January, but it was delayed after mass protests broke out in many Iranian cities. An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said that during his two-day visit, Le Drian was due to meet with President Hassan Rohani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to discuss 'bilateral, regional, and international issues,' including the implementation of the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers under which Tehran has significantly limited its nuclear activities in exchange for sanctio...

Trump: US will not tolerate the atrocities of the Assad regime 3/3/2018 8:30:57 AM   facebook Google+ ► Print A wounded Syrian child is treated at a makeshift hospital in the rebel-held town of Douma, in the besieged Eastern Ghouta The National, March 3, 2018  - With the reported death toll in Eastern Ghouta exceeding 670 since the air bombardment started on February 13, the US administration upped the ante on Friday, threatening the Assad regime that it “will not tolerate the atrocities” and calling on Russia to immediately uphold a ceasefire all over Syria. The White House, following Donald Trump calls to Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, issued a statement on Friday that stresses the urgency of the situation in Syria. The leaders agreed that “the Syrian regime, and its Russian and Iranian supporters, should immediately and fully implement  United Nations  Security Council Resolution 2401” c...

Blacklisted Iranian Official Stirs Outrage at U.N. Human Rights Council 2/28/2018 8:55:19 PM   facebook Google+ ► Print A speech by Seyyed Alireza Avaei, Iran’s minister of justice, at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday caused an uproar because of his role in human rights violations. GENEVA, New York Times, Feb. 27, 2018  — He was a prosecutor of Iran’s Islamic revolution and acquired a notorious reputation for the arbitrary executions of thousands of opponents. A few decades later he oversaw the judiciary’s 2009 trials of anti-government protesters and was denounced overseas, not least by the  United Nations  . But on Tuesday the former prosecutor, Alireza Avaei, now Iran’s minister of justice, appeared at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, one of nearly 100 ministers and dignitaries to speak at the start of its main session this year. The reaction inside and outside the council was outrag...

Iranian regime minister addresses UN rights body despite harsh criticism 2/28/2018 9:46:19 PM   facebook Google+ ► Print Alireza Avaei, Iran regime Minister of Justice delivers a speech at the 37th session of the Human Rights Council, GENEVA, Washington Post, Feb. 28, 2018  — Iran’s justice minister, a sanctioned human rights violator, unapologetically took the podium at the U.N.’s top human rights body Tuesday to berate U.S. and Saudi policies, defying calls for him to stay away in a visit a top U.S. diplomat said made a “mockery” of the body. Justice Minister Alireza Avaei’s visit has been criticized because he’s faced EU sanctions for six years for his role in arbitrary arrests, denying prisoners’ rights, and increasing executions in Iran. Switzerland, which hosts a key U.N. office and the council, has also handed him economic sanctions — but not banned him from visiting. U.N. Geneva spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci said Avaei did not face...