The commander of the US Africa Command cites fight with Somalia’s piracy during a visit by the Pentagon chief. US Marine General Thomas Waldhauser made the remarks alongside Defense Secretary Jim Mattis during a press conference in Djibouti, a tiny African country at the southern entrance to the Red Sea, which makes it ideal for US military operations in Somalia as well as Yemen.

Waldhauser made the comments amid reports of an increase in piracy attacks off the coast of Somalia, considered an international threat since the early 2000s. “The bottom line is there have been a half dozen or so (incidents),” Waldhauser.”We’re not ready to say there is a trend there yet but we’ll continue to watch.”

Two ships have been captured this month and a third rescued by Indian and Chinese forces. The attacks peaked to 237 in 2011 but decreased afterwards. Famine and drought in the region is behind the alleged new rise in the attacks, according to the US Africa Command chief.

Over 20 million people from Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen are at risk of death from starvation, according to UN World Food Program. The Pentagon chief said, however, that he did not expect the US forces to respond to piracy rise off the coast of Somalia.

Source: Presstv

The Special Representative of the UN Secretary General has reacted to the Biya decision to order the restoration of internet in Southern Cameroons. A statement from the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA) said Mr. François Louncény Fall, has learnt of the decision by the 84 year old dictator instructing that internet services be fully restored in West Cameroon.

The Special Representative welcomed the measure and hope that the decision will go a long way to help reduce tension and to create conditions conducive for the resolution of the Anglophone crisis.

The Head of UNOCA called on the Biya Francophone government to continue to promote appeasement and dialogue, and to take all other appropriate measures for a speedy and lasting resolution of the crisis in order to strengthen unity, stability and prosperity in the region.

By Fru James

Cameroon Concord News Group

Former US President George H.W. Bush has been re-admitted to a hospital in Houston, Texas, for a recurrence of a case of pneumonia. Bush, 92, has been at the Methodist Hospital since Friday, his spokesman Jim McGrath said in a statement on Tuesday.

A source close to Bush said he will probably be kept at the hospital for several more days for medical observation. Bush has suffered from poor health in recent years. In January, he spent 16 days at the same hospital in Houston being treated for pneumonia. During that time, he was on a ventilator and was in ICU.

He was also hospitalized in 2015 after falling at his summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine, and breaking a bone in his neck. In 2014, he was hospitalized in Houston for about a week for shortness of breath. He also spent Christmas 2012 in intensive care for a bronchitis-related cough and other issues. Bush has a form of Parkinson’s disease and uses a motorized scooter or a wheelchair for mobility.

The 41st president is also referred to as “Bush 41”, “Bush the Elder” and “George Bush Senior” to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who became the 43rd US president. Bush served as US president from 1989 to 1993, and was vice president from 1981 to 1989 during the 8-year administration of former President Ronald Reagan.

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The United States has deployed several of its F-35 aircraft to the UK on their first operational mission to Europe, as part of an initiative to protect the NATO military pact against what Washington and its allies call “Russian aggression.”

The advanced aircraft flew from Hill Air Force Base in Utah to Royal Air Force’s Lakenheath airfield over the weekend, British media reported Monday.

The Pentagon had announced earlier that the aircraft would partake in joint exercises with NATO forces and further demonstrate their “operational capabilities.”

“As we and our joint F-35 partners bring this aircraft into our inventories, it’s important that we train together to integrate into a seamless team capable of defending the sovereignty of allied nations,” said USAF General Tod Wolters, Commander of US Air Forces in Europe.

Culled from Presstv

Some 3,000 refugees and asylum seekers have reportedly been rescued from unseaworthy boats off the Libyan coast during a second day of operations in the Mediterranean Sea. The Italian coastguard made the announcement on Saturday, saying that the refugees had been pulled to safety during 35 rescue operations launched in the day. It said another 15 operations would be underway before nightfall.

An official with the German NGO Jugend Rettet, which participated in the operations, said a further 1,000 people remained to be rescued from inflatable dinghies as rescue ships had reached capacity. She added that the number of incoming refugees was expected to rise owing to the fine spring weather. Reports said most of the refugees were from sub-Saharan Africa, fleeing poverty and starvation there.

A day earlier, the Italian coastguard had carried out 19 rescue operations aided by NGOs, including the medical charity Doctors without Borders. A total of 2,074 refugees aboard 16 rubber rafts and three small wooden boats were taken to safety in those operations. Libya remains a major gateway for asylum seekers attempting to reach Europe via the Mediterranean Sea, with more than 450,000 people having made the crossing over the past three years.

Culled from Presstv

Pyongyang has showcased its submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) for the first time during a massive military parade, with a senior North Korean official vowing due response to any attack against the East Asian nation. On Saturday, state TV showed images of the Pukkuksong-2 SLBMs and several KN-08 and KN-14 missiles on trucks along with tanks and other heavy military hardware being paraded on Kim Il Sung Square in the capital, Pyongyang.

Leader Kim Jong-un oversaw the parade which was celebrating the 105th birthday of state founder Kim Il Sung, his grandfather. He also addressed thousands of soldiers and people taking part in the celebrations. The event also paraded what appeared to be a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

It is the first time North Korea publicly displays the ballistic missiles, which have a range of over 1,000 km (600 miles), at a military parade. The parade comes as tensions have been simmering between North Korea and the US in recent weeks, raising fears of a potential military confrontation between the two sides. Washington has voiced concerns over  Pyongyang’s nuclear tests, but the North says such launches are an act as deterrence against a potential invasion by the US or South Korea.

Prior to the parade, Kim’s close aide Choe Ryong-hae also addressed the participants, voicing the country’s readiness to respond in kind to any attack by enemies. “We’re prepared to respond to an all-out war with an all-out war and we are ready to hit back with nuclear attacks of our own style against any nuclear attacks,” Choe said.

Choe, who is believed to be the second-most powerful official in North Korea, further stated that the new US government under Donald Trump was “creating a war situation” on the Korean Peninsula by dispatching strategic military assets to the region.

Pyongyang also warned Washington on Saturday to end its “military hysteria” or face retaliation as a US aircraft carrier strike group headed towards the region. “All the brigandish provocative moves of the US in the political, economic and military fields pursuant to its hostile policy toward the DPRK will thoroughly be foiled through the toughest counteraction of the army and people of the DPRK,” the KCNA state news agency said, citing a spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army.

DPRK stands for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the official name of the East Asian state. “Our toughest counteraction against the US and its vassal forces will be taken in such a merciless manner as not to allow the aggressors to survive,” it added. The development comes days after the US dispatched what Trump referred to as an “armada” of warships in a show of force into waters off the Korean peninsula amid concerns that Pyongyang was preparing another round of nuclear or missile tests.

Fears have grown since the US Navy fired Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian airfield last week in a unilateral decision claiming ‘retaliation’ for an alleged chemical attack in the Arab country. The move triggered questions about Trump’s plans for North Korea, which has conducted several missile and nuclear tests. Moreover, Washington has warned that a policy of “strategic patience” with North Korea is over as US Vice President Mike Pence travels to South Korea on Sunday on a 10-day tour of Asia. This is while political analysts have played down Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric on different topics, including North Korea, saying he makes tough statements on an issue before understanding its complexity.

Source: Presstv

As US President Donald Trump is mulling a tougher border action, reports say that his new “extreme vetting” policy could make agents ask Britons, Germans and the French entering the country to hand in passwords for their digital devices and social media pages or risk being denied entry. The policy under consideration in the White House can require the tourists to reveal personal data, disclose financial information or even face lengthy and detailed ideological questioning ahead of entering.

“All international travellers arriving to the US are subject to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) inspection. This inspection may include electronic devices such as computers, disks, drives, tapes, mobile phones and other communication devices, cameras, music and other media players and any other electronic or digital devices,” the US Border Patrol and Protection told The Guardian on Sunday.

“Keeping America safe and enforcing our nation’s laws in an increasingly digital world depends on our ability to lawfully examine all materials entering the US,” it added. The UK Foreign Office, meanwhile, declined to comment or provide advice for the tourists. The soc-called “extreme vetting” of foreign nationals is part of the new president’s measures to fight terrorism.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, an American NGO campaigning for digital civil rights, also acknowledged that the tourists could truly be deported by an agent if they refuse to cooperate in this regard.

“Border agents cannot deny a US citizen admission to the country. However, if a foreign visitor declines, an agent may deny them entry,” it said. “If a foreign visitor refuses a border agent’s demand to unlock their digital device, provide the device password, or provide social media information, and the agent responds by denying entry, the foreign visitor may have little legal recourse.” Trump’s executive order to ban travelers from some Muslim-majority countries has so far been blocked in courts twice.

Presstv

Russia has reportedly sent a missile-armed frigate to its naval base in Syria’s Mediterranean coastal city of Tartus following a recent US missile strike against an airbase in the Arab country. An informed military-diplomatic source in Moscow told Russia’s TASS news agency on Friday that the Admiral Grigorovich, a Russian Black Sea Fleet’s frigate, was due to arrive in the Mediterranean later on the day.

“The Russian ship armed with cruise missiles Kalibr will visit the logistics base in Tartus,” the source said. The 4,000-ton warship’s presence off Syria’s coast would depend on the situation, but “in any way it will last more than a month,” the source added.

The Russian ship was deployed to Syria after taking part in a joint exercise with Turkish ships in the Black Sea. Early on Friday, US warships in the eastern Mediterranean launched a barrage of 59 Tomahawk missiles against Shayrat Airfield in Syria’s Homs Province, which Washington alleged was the origin of a suspected chemical attack on the town of Khan Shaykhun in Syria’s Idlib Province earlier this month.

Washington has not provided any evidence to support the accusations, prompting criticisms from many countries and international intuitions for choosing to take unilateral military action hastily and without proof. The strike drew the praise from anti-Damascus militant groups as well as the parties long viewed as their staunch supporters, including Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey and their Western allies.

Syria has categorically denied carrying out the purported gas attack, with Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem stressing that the Idlib airstrike had targeted a depot, where terrorists stored chemical weapons.

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Representatives from Russia and Western countries have been engaged in a war of words during an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) concerning a recent suspected chemical attack in Syria. They clashed on Wednesday over a resolution drafted by Britain, France and the US, which condemned the suspected toxic gas attack in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province and demanded a full investigation into Tuesday’s incident.

Russia’s Deputy Ambassador to the UN Vladimir Safronkov said such attacks were provoked by ex-US President Barack Obama’s threat of military action if a “red line” was crossed and chemical weapons were used in Syria. “That decision served as a starting point for future provocations by terrorists and extremist structures with the use of chemical weapons, they sought to discredit… Damascus… and to create a pretext for the use of military force against a sovereign state,” he said.

Five permanent members of the Security Council, among them Russia, have the power to veto UN resolutions that need nine positive votes and no vetoes to pass. Russia has on several occasions blocked anti-Damascus motions at the Security Council. Separately on Wednesday, Russia denounced as “unacceptable” the Western-proposed draft resolution. “We do not believe it is expedient to pass a resolution on the chemical weapons attack in its present form,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying on Wednesday.

Elsewhere in her comments, Zakharova questioned the data on which the latest proposed UN resolution was based, stressing that the motion would exacerbate tensions in Syria and the region. “Unfortunately, based on totally fake information, the United States, France and Great Britain have once again planted – one cannot put it any other way – into the UN Security Council a draft resolution which has a completely anti-Syrian character,” she said.

The motion “pre-empts the results of an investigation and just immediately designates the guilty,” she added. The suspected chemical attack targeted the town of Khan Shaykhun in Idlib province on Tuesday. It was followed by alleged air raids that hit a hospital where victims of the assault were being treated. The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll at 72. Syria’s opposition accused the Syrian government of bombing Khan Shaykhun with chemical munitions.

However, the Syrian army categorically denied the accusation about its involvement in the deadly attack, emphasizing that it “has never used them, anytime, anywhere, and will not do so in the future.” Russia’s Defense Ministry said the deaths were caused when a Syrian air strike struck a “terrorist warehouse” used for making bombs containing “toxic substances.”

Presstv

Ten people have been reportedly killed and several others injured after a bomb blast hits a metro station in Russia’s St. Petersburg. According to preliminary information released by Russia’s TASS news agency, rescue teams were being dispatched to the site of the blast, with a witness telling Reuters that eight ambulances were seen near the Sennaya Ploshchad metro station.

Another Russian news agency, RIA Novosti, however, reported that there had been apparently two separate explosions at two metro stations.

Three metro stations have been closed, according to Fontanka local media outlet. “An evacuation from the stations is ongoing, there are people injured,” the St. Petersburg metro said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies, adding, “An unidentified object supposedly blew up in a (train) carriage.”

Another report by St. Petersburg emergency services indicated that there had been blasts in two train carriages at two metro stations.

Russia’s Interfax news agency cited a source as saying that at least one of the blasts involved a device filled with shrapnel, adding that at least 50 people had been injured.

Putin condoles with victims’ families, says all possibilities considered

Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a message of condolence, sympathizing with the families of those killed in St. Petersburg subway explosion. Putin is currently in St. Petersburg for a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko.

Speaking to reporters, he said the cause of the blasts was not clear yet, adding that all possibilities, including terrorism, were being considered. “I have already spoken to the head of our special services, they are working to ascertain the cause (of the blasts),” Putin said at a meeting with Lukashenko, adding, “The causes are not clear, it’s too early. We will look at all possible causes, terrorism as well as common crime.”

St. Petersburg metro closed after bomb attack

Early videos showed injured people lying bleeding on a platform to be treated by emergency services while others ran away from the platform amid clouds of smoke.

The metro network servicing Russia’s second largest city said in a statement later on Monday that it had closed all stations at 15:40 local time (12:40 GMT) to facilitate an ongoing evacuation operation. It is still unclear when the underground system will open again.

Following the incident, Moscow’s deputy mayor told media that authorities in the Russian capital were taking steps to tighten security on Moscow subway.

No group or individual has assumed responsibility for St. Petersburg metro blasts yet.

‘Only one blast between two stations’

Later on, an unnamed source in Russia’s emergency services was quoted by Reuters as saying that there was only one blast in St. Petersburg’s metro system, which happened on a train between two stations.

“There was one blast in one site in between (stations) as the train arrived at the Technology Institute station from Sennaya (Ploshchad) station,” the source added.

Second explosive device ‘made safe’

Meanwhile, Russian security agencies reported that they had found an explosive device at a metro station in central St. Petersburg and made it safe.

A statement by the National Anti-Terrorist Committee said in on Monday that the device was found at the Ploshchad Vosstaniya metro station, which was a different location from where a blast earlier took place.

‘Images of possible organizer of metro attack probably captured’

A later report indicated that surveillance cameras in St. Petersburg’s metro system may have captured images of the person suspected of organizing Monday’s deadly train blast, Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed source as saying.

“Images of the suspected organizer of the metro blast were captured on metro station cameras,” the source noted, adding that the explosive device may have been left in a briefcase in a metro train carriage.

Russia investigating suspected “act of terror” after metro attack

Russia’s Investigative Committee said later on Monday that it was probing a suspected “act of terror” after a blast in the Saint Petersburg metro killed about 10 people and injured dozens, AFP reported.

“Despite the fact that a criminal case under article 205 of the Criminal Code (act of terror) has been opened, the investigation intends to verify all other possible versions of this incident,” the committee said in a statement.Russia’s public transportation system has been targeted by attacks in the past.

EU condoles with Russia after blast: Mogherini

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, has extended her “condolences to all Russian people” after a blast hit the metro system in Russia’s St. Petersburg.

“We have been following in the past hour the news coming from St. Petersburg, together with foreign ministers of all the member states,” Mogherini said.

She added, “”I expressed my condolences also to the Foreign Minister [Sergei] Lavrov in a message we sent him earlier.” Mogherini continued by saying that EU foreign ministers will show a “more precise reaction” as further details about the blast transpire.

France beefs up Paris public transport security after Russia blast

France also announced on Monday that it was increasing security at public transport locations in Paris following deadly explosion in St. Petersburg. “Following the events in the St. Petersburg metro, and as a precautionary measure, Interior Minister Matthias Fekl has decided to redeploy security means in public transport across the Paris region,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

“Amid an extremely high terrorism threat, the government continues to take measures to protect the French people,” the statement added. Russia’s public transportation system has been targeted by attacks in the past. In December 2013, twin separate bombings a day apart claimed the lives of 34 people in Russia’s southern city of Volgograd.

The first bombing at the main railway station of Volgograd killed 18 people while the second strike hit a trolley bus and claimed 16 lives. The attacks followed a bus bombing carried out in the same city two months earlier.

In January 2011, an attack on Moscow’s Domodedovo airport, claimed by militants from North Caucasus, killed 37 people.

Report by Presstv International News Desk