Tillerson in Moscow: Pushing on Syria where Obama failed
Tillerson in Moscow: Pushing on Syria where Obama failed
MOSCOW (AP) — The Trump administration veered toward deeper conflict with Russia Tuesday as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived in Moscow, gambling that an unpredictable new president armed with the willingness to threaten military action gives the U.S. much-needed leverage to end Syria’s carnage.
Yet there were no guarantees Tillerson’s arguments would prove any more successful than the Obama administration’s failed effort to peel Russia away from its Syrian ally. Tillerson’s mission, coming days after 59 Tomahawk missiles struck a Syrian air base, also carries serious risks: If Russia brushes off the warnings, President Donald Trump could be forced into another show of force in Syria or see his credibility wane.
“I hope that what the Russian government concludes is that they have aligned themselves with an unreliable partner in Bashar al-Assad,” Tillerson said before flying to the Russian capital, referring to Syria’s embattled leader.
“The reign of the Assad family is coming to an end,” he confidently predicted.
But Tillerson’s claim is one President Barack Obama, too, argued for years, only to see Assad outlast his own term in office. And the Trump administration’s nascent Syria policy seems to be increasingly centering on the same tactic Obama unsuccessfully employed: persuading Russia, Assad’s staunchest ally, to abandon him.
CEO issues new apology as details of passenger’s past emerge
CHICAGO (AP) — After people were horrified by video of a passenger getting dragged off a full United Express flight by airport police, the head of United’s parent company said the airline was reaching out to the man to “resolve this situation.”
Hours later on Monday, his tone turned more defensive. He described the man as “disruptive and belligerent.”
By Tuesday afternoon, almost two days after the Sunday evening confrontation in Chicago, CEO Oscar Munoz issued his most contrite apology yet as details emerged about the man seen on cellphone videos recorded by other passengers at O’Hare Airport.
“No one should ever be mistreated this way,” said Oscar Munoz, chief executive of United’s parent company.
The passenger was identified as physician David Dao, 69, of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, who was convicted more than a decade ago of felony charges involving his prescribing of drugs and spent years trying to regain his medical license.
North Korea decries US carrier dispatch as parliament meets
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea’s parliament convened Tuesday amid heightened tensions on the divided peninsula, with the United States and South Korea conducting their biggest-ever military exercises and the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier heading to the area in a show of American strength.
North Korea vowed a tough response to any military moves that might follow the U.S. decision to send the carrier and its battle group to waters off the Korean Peninsula.
“We will hold the U.S. wholly accountable for the catastrophic consequences to be entailed by its outrageous actions,” a spokesman for its Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
The statement followed an assertion by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that U.S. missile strikes against a Syrian air base in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack carry a message for any nation operating outside of international norms. He didn’t specify North Korea, but the context was clear enough.
“If you violate international agreements, if you fail to live up to commitments, if you become a threat to others, at some point a response is likely to be undertaken,” Tillerson told ABC’s “This Week.”
Turkey: Autopsies show sarin gas used against Syrian town
BEIRUT (AP) — Turkey’s health minister said Tuesday that test results confirm sarin gas was used in an attack on a northern Syrian town earlier this month and the Russian military said the Syrian government is willing to let international experts examine its military base for signs of chemical weapons.
Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy of the Russian General Staff said in televised remarks that Russia will provide security for international inspectors seeking to examine Syrian bases, and that Damascus has agreed to allow the inspections. His comments came shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow will appeal to the United Nations to investigate the attack on Khan Sheikhoun.
The April 4 chemical weapons attack on the rebel-held town in Idlib province left nearly 90 people dead. The United States blamed President Bashar Assad’s government and launched nearly 60 cruise missiles on Friday at the Shayrat air base in the central province of Homs, where it claims the attack originated.
Moscow, which is a strong backer of the Syrian government, has dismissed suggestions that the Damascus could be behind the attack. The Syrian government also denied the allegation, saying its air force bombed a rebel arsenal that had chemical weapons stored inside.
Putin told reporters on Tuesday that Russia would appeal to a U.N. agency in the Hague, urging it to launch an official probe. The Russian president also said Moscow has received intelligence about planned “provocations” using chemical weapons that would be used to pin the blame on the Syrian government.
Police: San Bernardino school shooter threatened his wife
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) — The man who opened fire in a San Bernardino school was a pastor and Navy veteran who accused his newlywed wife of infidelity. When he failed in his efforts to win her back, he went to her classroom and fatally shot her and one of the special needs children she taught, police said Tuesday.
In the weeks before Monday’s violence Karen Smith told family members her new husband, Cedric Anderson, had tried to get her to return home and threatened her, San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said. She didn’t take him seriously and thought he was just seeking attention, he said.
Police do not know what triggered the attack or why Anderson chose to attack Smith at the school, Burguan said, adding she never shared any information about her marital problems with colleagues.
“She effectively kept her private life private,” Burguan said.
On Monday morning, hundreds of panicked parents descended on the North Park School in San Bernardino, waiting for hours for information on their children in a city that is still on edge 16 months after a terror attack that killed 14 people and wounded 22 others at a meeting of county employees.