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Trump Orders Strikes on Syria Over Suspected Chemical Weapons Attack

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, New York Times

Trump Orders Strikes on Syria Over Suspected Chemical Weapons Attack

The United States and European allies launched strikes against Syrian targets, President Donald Trump announced Friday, seeking to punish President Bashar Assad for a suspected chemical attack near Damascus last weekend that killed more than 40 people. Trump said Britain and France had joined the United States in the strikes, which he said were underway. “These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead,” Trump said of the chemical attacks that he blamed on Assad. He said the allied strikes of precision weapons sought to deter the production, spread and use of chemical weapons as “a vital national security interest of the United States.”

U.S. Says Syria Has Used Chemical Weapons at Least 50 Times During War

The United States accused the Syrian government Friday of using banned chemical arms at least 50 times since Syria’s civil war began seven years ago — substantially more than previous official estimates. The accusation, made by the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki R. Haley, came during a vitriolic exchange with her Russian counterpart at a meeting of the Security Council, which focused on a suspected chemical weapons assault in a Damascus suburb last weekend. The United States and its allies have blamed the assault on President Bashar Assad of Syria.

Britain Gives Theory on How Russia Executed Nerve Attack

Russia has been researching the application of chemical agents to door handles to assassinate its enemies and has been training personnel “from special units” to carry out such attacks, said Mark Sedwill, Britain’s national security adviser, in a letter Friday to the secretary-general of NATO. Sedwill’s letter also reported that President Vladimir Putin of Russia was “closely involved in the chemical weapons program” beginning in the mid-2000s. During that period, the letter claims, Russia was secretly developing the nerve agents known as Novichok that British officials say were used in the attack on Sergei V. Skripal and his daughter.

U.S. Declines to Call China Manipulator of Currency

The Trump administration, which has been on the verge of a trade war with China, opted Friday not to label the country a currency manipulator, breaking a key campaign promise by President Donald Trump to punish a government he has called the “greatest currency manipulators ever.” The Treasury Department, in its biannual currency exchange report, scolded China for its lack of progress in reducing the bilateral trade deficit with the United States but did not find that it was improperly devaluing its currency, known as the renminbi.

One Killed, Hundreds Injured at Gaza-Israel Fence in 3rd Protest Week

Thousands of Palestinians made their way to the fence separating Gaza from Israel again Friday, and Israeli soldiers repulsed attempts to cross or damage the barrier with tear gas and live fire, wounding hundreds. By nightfall one man was reported killed in the demonstrations, which had claimed dozens of lives on the two previous Fridays. Nearly 1,000 protesters were wounded, including 223 from gunshots, the Gaza Health Ministry said. Tear gas sufferers included 10 nurses and paramedics in Khan Younis. Islam Herzallah, 28, of Gaza City, was shot in the abdomen and killed, bringing the overall death toll to 35.

Ecuador Says Rebels Killed 2 Journalists Near Border

Marxist rebels have killed two journalists and their driver abducted near the southern border of Colombia and Ecuador, President Lenín Moreno of Ecuador said Friday. The three — a reporter, Javier Ortega; a photographer, Paúl Rivas; and their driver, Efraín Segarra — were working for El Comercio, a daily newspaper in the Ecuadorean capital, Quito. They were kidnapped March 26, the newspaper said. The group that killed the journalists, the Oliver Sinisterra Front, is believed to be headed by a former commander in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC.

Russian Court Bans Telegram App After 18-Minute Hearing

A Moscow court cleared the way Friday for the government to ban Telegram, the messaging app, over its failure to give Russian security services the ability to read users’ encrypted messages. Roskomnadzor, the Russian communications and technology watchdog, had asked the court for the authority to block the app and for the ban to take immediate effect. It took the court all of 18 minutes to grant the request, after scheduling the hearing just one day before. Telegram had ordered its lawyers to skip the hearing in protest of the hurried process.

Sister of Korean ‘Nut Rage’ Heiress Accused of Throwing Her Own Tantrum

Police on Friday began looking into accusations that a sister of Korean Air’s infamous “nut rage” heiress physically abused an advertising executive, insulting him and hurling water in his face. Cho Hyun-min, 35, is a younger sister of Cho Hyun-ah, a Korean Air vice president whose 2014 tantrum over how macadamia nuts had been served to her in first class made the company a target of ridicule and outrage. Both women are daughters of Cho Yang-ho, the airline’s chairman. On Friday, Korean Air officials said Cho had raised her voice after becoming displeased with answers she got from the advertising executive.

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