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"The public in West African countries has become increasingly wary of hosting a Western military presence," said Mucahid Durmaz, a senior analyst at London-based risk firm Verisk Maplecroft. "The French exit from Niger will push Western troops further away from the central Sahel." The U.S. has refused to call the Niger takeover a coup, meaning it can avoid severing ties for now. Unlike France, American forces do not actively engage with Niger forces against Islamist militants and could be open to working within a transition to civilian rule. Tens of thousands of people gathered outside the French military base in the capital calling for the troops' departure.

Persons: Mahamadou, Mucahid Durmaz, Verisk, Emmanuel Macron, Russia's, Washington's, Defence Lloyd Austin, Washington, Nathaniel Powell, Joe Biden, Macron, Aissami Tchiroma, It's, Oxford Analytica, Paris, Jalel Harchaoui, John Irish, Edward McAllister, Abdel, Kader Mazou, Andrew Gray, George Obulutsa, Andrew Heavens Organizations: French Army, REUTERS, London, Russia's Wagner, Defence, Oxford, Protesters, France, Military, Royal United Services Institute, Thomson Locations: France, Nigerien, Niamey, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger PARIS, DAKAR, West Africa, West, Russia, United States, Libya, The U.S, Nairobi, American, West African, Afghanistan, AFRICA, French, Africa, It's, CHAD, GUINEA France, Chad, Paris, Sahel, Europe, Ukraine, Italy, Germany, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Gabon, London, Brussels

☆ Citadel Securities is locked in a legal battle with 2 ex-staff who left to start a crypto firm and say they're victims of 'corporate bullying'
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-24 | by ( Chris Johnston | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The venture has faced legal challenges by Citadel Securities, whose European arm filed a case in London in June 2022. Portofino said in its initial response that Citadel's legal action was "unmeritorious, anticompetitive and a classic example of corporate bullying." AdvertisementAdvertisementIn January 2022 Griffin sold a $1.2 billion stake in Citadel Securities to venture capital firms Sequoia and Paradigm. "Further, their attempt to improperly poach Vincent Prieur, a New York-based employee described as the 'aggregator of all things crypto' at Citadel Securities, is undisputed. Prieur, who later joined Portofino, had also been the subject of legal action by Citadel Securities that was settled out of court, Bloomberg reported.

Persons: Alex Casimo, Leonard Lancia, Ken Griffin, Griffin, Peter Thiel, Slack, Zalando, Portofino, Casimo, it's, Peng Zhao, Matt Huang, Lancia, poach Vincent Prieur, Prieur Organizations: Citadel Securities, Portofino Technologies, Citadel, New, Service, Ventures, Global Founders Capital, Global Founders, Lancia, London Court, Portofino, Court, Southern, of, Sequoia, Paradigm, Financial Times, Bloomberg Locations: New York, Wall, Silicon, Miami, Swiss, London, Europe, of New York, Portofino

PARIS (AP) — President Emmanuel Macron announced Sunday that France will end its military presence in Niger and pull its ambassador out of the country after its democratically elected president was deposed in a coup. He noted that France’s military presence in Niger was in response to a request from Niger’s government at the time. The military cooperation between France and Niger had been suspended since the coup. The junta leaders claimed that Bazoum's government wasn’t doing enough to protect the country from the insurgency. After the deadline expired without France recalling him, the coup leaders then revoked his diplomatic immunity.

Persons: Emmanuel Macron, Macron, Mohamed Bazoum, ”, Sylvain Itte, U.N, Antonio Guterres Organizations: PARIS, “, African Locations: France, Niger, Africa, Mali, Burkina Faso, French, “ France, New York

☆ Rights groups condemn arrest of French journalist over defense reporting
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Rights groups condemned the arrest of reporter Ariane Lavrilleux, who authored the report that said French intelligence intended to track jihadist militants had been misused by Egypt to target smugglers on the Libyan border and kill civilians. Lavrilleux's lawyer, Virginie Marquet, said her client was being questioned by a judge and police officers from the French intelligence service DGSI as part of an investigation into compromising national security. The documents included purported messages from those involved alerting their superiors that their information was being misused for bombing civilians. Reporters Without Borders and other rights groups also released statements condemning the arrest. Reporting by Juliette Jabkhiro; Editing by Daniel WallisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Ariane Lavrilleux, France's, Virginie Marquet, Marquet, Katia Roux, Juliette Jabkhiro, Daniel Wallis Organizations: Reuters, Amnesty, Thomson Locations: Egypt, Libyan, Paris, Cairo, Amnesty France

A three-storey building standing opposite had been swept 60 metres (200 feet) down the road by the floodwaters, Hasadi said. "The situation is very, very tragic," said Qais, a rescue worker from Tunisia at the seafront who only gave his first name. [1/4]A view shows the destruction, in the aftermath of the floods in Derna, Libya September 16, 2023. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-fetori Acquire Licensing Rights"The work is ongoing and is very, very, very complicated," he told Reuters. Libya's continuing political divisions, with rival administrations and parliaments in the east and west, could hamper the aid effort.

Persons: Tarek Faheem al, Hasadi, Qais, Kamal Al, Omran, Storm Daniel, Hayder Al, Muammar Gaddafi, Khalifa Haftar's, Derna, Ayman al, Ahmed Elumami, Omar Abdel, Emma Farge, Aidan Lewis, Helen Popper, Alex Richardson Organizations: Organization for, REUTERS, Reuters, Health Organization, Italy's, United Nations, Libya's National, for Disease, NATO, Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army, Thomson Locations: DERNA, Libya, Derna, Derna's, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Italian, Italy's Embassy, Infrastructure, Razek, Cairo, Geneva

☆ Opinion: The Proud Prosecution doesn’t mean we’re any safer
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Anna Lee | Opinion Jon Lewis | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Editor’s Note: Jon Lewis is a research fellow at the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, where he studies domestic violent extremism. However, the 814-page document devoted less than three pages to making recommendations, and in those, perplexingly failed to offer a meaningful set related to domestic terrorism. There is little question that right-wing extremism, particularly white supremacist extremism, is currently the deadliest and most pervasive domestic terrorism threat facing the United States. Nearly 1 in 4 of these right-wing extremist killings were committed in the name of white supremacist terrorism – a staggering 251 total deaths. We stand at a crossroads in the fight against domestic terrorism.

Persons: Jon Lewis, Timothy Kelly, Proud, Enrique Tarrio, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, Ethan Nordean, Jon Lewis Jon Lewis, perplexingly Organizations: Extremism, George Washington University, CNN, Proud Boys, Justice Department, Biden, Terrorism, Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Twitter, Facebook Locations: United States, Poway, El Paso, Pittsburgh, Buffalo

Stills pulled from the Aleppo security camera footage were shared with CNN exclusively by the Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA). Another still image pulled from the Aleppo security camera footage, provided to CNN by CIJA, shows men in a stairwell. Photo of Arkel, in the Netherlands, where Ayham al S. was arrested on January 17, 2023. So people are not always so willing to talk to the judicial authorities.”By all accounts, Ayham al S. led a quiet life in Arkel. ‘Not a safe haven for war criminals’The legal principle that allows the Dutch government to pursue Ayham al S. is known as universal jurisdiction.

Persons: ”, Chris Engels, “ We’re, ” CIJA, Stills, Didier Francois, CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, “, ” Francois, Francois, Engels, CIJA, –, “ It’s, ” Engels, ” Mirjam Blom, Mick Krever, Ayham, Nicole van den, ” Blom, Ayham al, Blom Organizations: CNN, ISIS, Commission, International Justice, Islamic, CIJA, Global Coalition, European Union, Netherlands Public Prosecution Service, Syrian Center for Media, ICC, Criminal, Counterterrorism, Security Locations: Syrian, Aleppo, Aleppo’s Qadi, Europe, French, Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France, Arkel, Damascus, Qaeda, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Record numbers of migrants have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally since President Joe Biden, a Democrat, took office in 2021, including many from distant nations. Of the nearly 2 million migrants encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border between October 2022 and July 2023, 216 were on U.S. watchlists for potential links to terrorism, according to U.S. government statistics. U.S. authorities have no indication that migrants aided by the smuggling network were tied to extremist groups or plotting terrorist attacks, Watson said. Watson did not confirm links to the Islamic State specifically or that the smuggler was based in Turkey. U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered some 3,200 Uzbeks at U.S borders in fiscal year 2022, up from fewer than 700 a year earlier.

Persons: Joe Biden, Biden, Donald Trump, Adrienne Watson, Watson, Ted Hesson, Humeyra Pamuk, Mica Rosenberg, Lizbeth Diaz, Mary Milliken, Andy Sullivan Organizations: Texas Army National Guard, U.S, CNN, Democrat, Republicans, Republican, White, National Security, Migrants, FBI, . Customs, Protection, Thomson Locations: Rio, Eagle Pass , Texas, U.S, Mexico, WASHINGTON, Turkey, State, United States, Washington, New York, Mexico City

The military takeover in Niger has upended years of Western counterterrorism efforts in West Africa and now poses wrenching new challenges for the Biden administration’s fight against Islamist militants on the continent. American-led efforts to degrade terrorist networks around the world have largely succeeded in longtime jihadist hot spots like Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. Not so in Africa, especially in the Sahel, the vast, semiarid region south of the Sahara where groups linked to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State are gaining ground at an alarming pace. Niger, an impoverished nation of 25 million people that is nearly twice the size of Texas, has recently been the exception to that trend. Niger has slowed, but not stopped, a wave of extremists pushing south to coastal states.

Persons: Biden, Mohamed Bazoum Organizations: Islamic, Nigerien Locations: Niger, West Africa, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Africa, Sahel, Al Qaeda, Texas

☆ Niger's tailors rush to make Russian flags after coup
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The flags have been in demand since President Mohamed Bazoum was toppled late last month in a military takeover, leading to some Russian support among crowds that celebrated the coup. It echoes similar outpourings of pro-Russian sentiments after recent military takeovers in other West African countries, worrying Western powers who see their influence slipping in some old regional allies. He said the flags of neighboring Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali, where military takeovers have also occurred since 2020, were also popular. Citizens in Burkina Faso also waved Russian flags during violent anti-France demonstrations that followed a coup in September 2022, the second in the country that year. "Before the coup d'etat I didn't know the Russian flag," he added.

Persons: Yahaya, Mohamed Bazoum, Oumarou, Okacha Abdoul, Aziz, Boureima Balima, Abdel, Kader Mazou, Sofia Christensen, Sandra Maler Organizations: Citizens, Thomson Locations: NIAMEY, Niamey, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Russia, West Africa, France, Sahel, Russian

☆ Niger's ousted prime minister hopes talks can end military coup
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/5] Niger's Prime Minister Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou speaks about the situation in Niger during an exclusive interview with Reuters, in Paris, France, August 5, 2023. Niger's military takeover, the seventh in West and Central Africa in three years, has rocked the western Sahel region, one of the poorest in the world, which has strategic significance to global powers. Still, as the deadline loomed, Bazoum's Prime Minister Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou believed a last-minute intervention was possible, he said in an interview in Paris. France said on Saturday it will support efforts to overturn the coup, without specifying whether its backing would entail military assistance for an ECOWAS intervention. Niger's neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso, where military juntas have also seized power in recent years, said they would support Niger in the event of military intervention.

Persons: Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou, Stephanie Lecocq, Niger's, Mohamed Bazoum, Mahamadou, Bazoum, General Abdourahamane Tiani, Abdel, Fatau Musah, Mahamadou shrugged, Julitte Jabkhiro, Michel Rose, Clotaire Achi, Louise Dalmasso, Edward McAllister, Jan Harvey Organizations: Niger's, Reuters, REUTERS, Economic, West African States, ECOWAS, Sunday, Bazoum's, Thomson Locations: Niger, Paris, France, Stephanie Lecocq NIAMEY, West, Central Africa, Niamey, Rome, China, Europe, Russia, Nigeria's, Abuja, Mali, Burkina Faso

“I write this as a hostage,” Bazoum wrote in the Washington Post. Bazoum also cautioned that foreign aid makes up 40% of the national budget – and it would not be delivered if the coup succeeds. ‘Determined, optimistic’CNN has not been able to independently confirm the conditions under which Bazoum is being detained in his residence. Bazoum also warned of growing Russian influence in the Sahel region. “With an open invitation from the coup plotters and their regional allies, the entire central Sahel region could fall to Russian influence via the Wagner Group,” Bazoum wrote.

Persons: CNN —, Mohamed Bazoum, ” Bazoum, ”, –, Bazoum, “, ‘, Idrissa Waziri, he’s, ” Waziri, Waziri, Abdourahamane Tiani, Tiani, he’d, Wagner, Russia’s Wagner, Salifou Mody, Joe Biden, Patrick Ryder, evacuates Organizations: CNN, Washington Post, Burkina, junta, Nigerien, Wagner, Pentagon, US Defense Department Locations: Washington, Niamey, United States, West, “ Niger, Niger, Europe, France, Mali, Burkina Faso, Sahel

☆ Niger coup leaders blamed insecurity; conflict data paints a different picture
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Edward Mcallister | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

In Burkina Faso, where there were two coups last year, deaths rose 80% to more than 4,000 in 2022. Military spokespeople in Mali and Burkina Faso did not respond to requests for comment. Military leaders in Mali and Burkina Faso kicked out French forces after their coups. Niger army operations could falter, he said. "You saw it in Burkina Faso after the second coup.

Persons: Abdourahmane Tiani, Balima, Mohamed Bazoum, Ibrahim Yahaya Ibrahim, Wagner, Leonardo Santos Simao, Tiani, Simao, Bazoum, Ulf Laessing, Konrad Adenauer, Edward McAllister, Michelle Nichols, Alexandra Zavis, Giles Elgood Organizations: REUTERS, Security, Islamic, Crisis, Wagner Group, Reuters, spokespeople, United Nations, Economic, West, Sunday, Local, Military, Burkina Faso, European Union, Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Thomson Locations: Niger, Niamey, DAKAR, U.S, Mali, Burkina Faso, al Qaeda, Islamic State, West Africa's, Brussels, Boko, Nigeria, West Africa, West African States, Burkina, French, France, New York

☆ Judge orders 3 of the 'Newburgh Four' freed in New York synagogue bomb plot
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Rich Mckay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] David Williams, one of four suspects arrested in an FBI sting operation, is escorted out of FBI offices in New York in this May 21, 2009 file photo. The men to be released are: Onta Williams, David Williams and Laguerra Payen, who were three of what became known as the "Newburgh Four." But Judge McMahon wrote that Cromitie was a small-time "grifter" who was broke and unemployed when he was enlisted in the FBI driven plot, who provided fake bombs to plant in exchange for $250,000 in the "jihadist mission." Cromitie enlisted the other three men to serve as lookouts, the judge wrote. The FBI invented the conspiracy," McMahon wrote.

Persons: David Williams, Onta Williams, Laguerra Payen, James Cromitie, Colleen McMahon, Cromitie, Judge McMahon, McMahon, Rich McKay, Michael Perry Organizations: Chip, New, FBI, Reuters, U.S, Thomson Locations: New York, New York City, Newburgh, Atlanta

'ONLY HOPE' FOR STABILITY IN SAHELNiger became a democratic outlier in West Africa's Sahel region following military takeovers in neighbouring Mali, Burkina Faso and Chad since 2020. All four countries of the arid Sahel region, just south of the Sahara, are now run by military leaders after soldiers in Niger said on Wednesday night they had ousted President Mohamed Bazoum. France, which has had counter-insurgency troops in West Africa for a decade, has turned to Niger to base the bulk of its forces. Their role is solely to support Niger's army when local forces identify operations in the border regions connecting Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. The European Union decided in December to set up a three-year military training mission in Niger, to which Germany contributes troops.

Persons: Mohamed Bazoum, juntas, Moussa Aksar, John Irish, Nellie Peyton, Bate Felix, Emelia Sithole, Leslie Adler Organizations: Islamic, National Assembly, REUTERS, European Union, DEMOCRATIC, Economic, West African States, ECOWAS, John, Thomson Locations: West Africa, Niger, Africa's Sahel, Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, al Qaeda, Islamic State, Russia, France, United States, U.S, Russian, Niamey, ACLED, Germany, Italy, Guinea, Bissau, Guinea Bissau, Paris

☆ Analysis: How Michael Flynn went down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-08 | by ( Zachary B. Wolf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

When you have General Flynn and Sidney Powell suggesting somehow the military should indeed seize voting machines. As we say in the podcast, Trump called him publicly at a recent conference in May, where he vowed to bring back Mike Flynn again, implying that Flynn would be part of his national security team. WOLF: Do you have any insight into how this kind of conspiracy theory fever afflicts a person? Why does it happen to Michael Flynn and not retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who I learned from your podcast was a mentor to Flynn in Afghanistan? From intelligence work to conspiracy theoriesWOLF: You talk in the podcast about encountering Flynn in his previous line of work – somebody involved in the intelligence community.

Persons: Donald Trump, Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Michael Flynn, Patrick Byrne, Giuliani, Powell, Flynn, Byrne, Jack Smith, Peter Bergen, ”, who’s, Smith, WOLF, “, ” He’s, President Trump, Mike Flynn, It’s, Covid, Stanley McChrystal, Richard, Hofstadter, ” There’s, that’s, You’ve, they’re, Vladimir, Putin, That’s, Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Locher, Osama bin Laden Organizations: CNN, … Prosecutors, Trump, Twitter, New, Apple, Spotify, White, Defense Intelligence Agency, World Economic, Army, State Department, Republican, New America, Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Black Panthers, Puerto Locations: New America, Bergen, BERGEN, Washington ,, United States, America, Davos, Switzerland, Afghanistan, Russian, Ukraine, Bedford , New Hampshire, New York, Miami, Puerto Rican

☆ Russian jets said to step up strikes on Syrian rebel enclave
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( Suleiman Al-Khalidi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

White Helmets/Handout via REUTERSAMMAN, June 25 (Reuters) - Russian jets bombed villages and towns near the northwestern Syrian city of Idlib on Sunday, killing at least nine civilians and wounding dozens in a major flare-up of violence in the country's last opposition stronghold, witnesses and rescuers said. No immediate comment was available from Russia or its allies in the Syrian army, whose artillery pounded rebel areas in the countryside west of Aleppo. During past outbreaks of fighting, Damascus and Russia have said they only target insurgent groups and deny indiscriminate attacks on civilians. Damascus has in recent rounds of Russian-brokered talks with Ankara demanded that Turkey withdraw a formidable military presence in the last foothold of the Syrian rebellion. Turkish troops based in the region have held back Russia and Damascus from a final assault to wrest back control of the enclave.

Persons: Sham, jihadists, Suleiman Al, Khalidi, Giles Elgood Organizations: REUTERS, Russian Sukhoi, Ankara, Thomson Locations: Russian, Jisr, Shughour, Syria, REUTERS AMMAN, Syrian, Idlib, Jabal al, Russia, Turkey, Aleppo, Damascus, Turkish, Hayat, Qardaha, Latakia, Moscow

☆ Opinion | How Conservatives Went From Demonizing Muslims to Wooing Them
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Michelle Goldberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

“As your president, I will do everything in my power to protect our L.G.B.T.Q. At the time, this sort of rhetoric was common among Trump and his allies, who fashioned themselves in the mold of European right-wing populists, demonizing Muslims as a threat to hard-won Western sexual freedoms. Seven years later, as the battle against wokeness has supplanted the war on terror in the right-wing imagination, conservative sympathies are reversing. “Republicans are wooing Muslim voters by promising to protect them from L.G.B.T.Q. “The revolt against the radical L.G.B.T.Q.I.+ takeover of the U.S. won another battle this week,” the article crowed.

Persons: Donald Trump, ”, Trump, Geert Wilders, Lucian Wintrich, wokeness, ” David Weigel, Laura Ingraham, ” Ingraham, Kareem Monib Organizations: Republican, Republican National Convention, Trump, White House, Pundit, Fox News, Muslim City Council, U.S Locations: Orlando, MAGA, Semafor, Maryland, Hamtramck, Mich

☆ One U.N. peacekeeper killed and four injured in north Mali attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

DAKAR, June 9 (Reuters) - At least one United Nations peacekeeper was killed and four others seriously injured when their patrol was attacked in northern Mali on Friday, the peacekeeping mission MINUSMA said. MINUSMA said on Twitter the patrol first encountered an improvised explosive device and was then hit with a direct fire attack. It did not name perpetrators but said it was a "complex attack" and that updates on casualties would follow. Islamist militants, some with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State, have been waging an insurgency in northern Mali since they hijacked a Tuareg rebellion in 2012. At least 303 MINUSMA personnel have been killed in hostile acts in Mali since the start of the mission in 2013, making it the deadliest U.N. peacekeeping mission in the world.

Persons: MINUSMA, Sofia Christensen, Toby Chopra, Sriraj Organizations: United Nations peacekeeper, Twitter, Islamic, United Nations, Thomson Locations: DAKAR, Mali, Ber, Tombouctou, al Qaeda, Islamic State, Sahel

☆ US says Wagner Group is trying to use third countries to obscure weapons shipments to Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Natasha Bertrand | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —The Russian mercenary organization Wagner Group has been working to obscure its efforts to acquire military equipment for use in Ukraine, including by trying to source the materials from Mali, where the group has a strong foothold, a US official told CNN. That document also said that Wagner was likely trying to use weapons procured from Turkey for use in its operations in Mali. The White House has also previously accused North Korea of supplying Russia’s Wagner Group with missiles and rockets for use in Ukraine. “Wagner is directly supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine, and we oppose efforts by any other country to assist Russia through Wagner,” the US official said. We will continue to identify, expose, and counter these efforts by Wagner to procure military equipment for use in Ukraine.”

☆ After years of war, Assad returns to Arab fold
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

* Aug. 2011 - U.S. President Barack Obama says Assad has lost legitimacy to rule and should surrender power. * Nov. 2011 - The Arab League suspends Syria and urges its army to stop killing civilians. * Sept. 2015 - Russia joins the war on Assad's side, deploying war planes that bomb rebel-held areas - a turning point in the conflict. * March 2022 - Assad visits the United Arab Emirates and meets its leaders, his first trip to an Arab state since 2011. Assad says he will only meet Erdogan when Turkey is ready to withdraw forces from Syria.

☆ Turkey, Syria, Russia and Iran in highest-level talks since Syrian war
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ANKARA, May 10 (Reuters) - Foreign ministers for Turkey, Syria, Russia and Iran met on Wednesday in Moscow, marking the highest-level talks so far on rebuilding ties between Ankara and Damascus after years of animosity during Syria's civil war. NATO member Turkey has backed political and armed opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during the 12-year civil war, and sent its own troops into the country's north. Cavusoglu said "taking the political process in Syria forward and protection of Syria's territorial integrity" were the other issues discussed. Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement there had been a "positive and constructive atmosphere" and that the countries' deputy foreign ministers would be tasked with preparing a roadmap to advance Syria-Turkey ties. Syrian and Turkish defence ministers had also held talks in Moscow in December.

ANKARA/BAGHDAD, May 2 (Reuters) - ISIS leader Abu Hussein al-Qurashi's six-month rule ended when he detonated a suicide vest during a Turkish special forces raid in northwest Syria on Saturday after refusing to surrender, a senior Turkish security official said. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday Qurashi "was neutralized" as part of the intelligence forces' operation. Images of the site provided by the security official showed a red-roofed building with most of the walls on its ground floor blown out. An Iraqi intelligence official said: "The only safe haven for the senior Daesh (ISIS) leaders is in Syria, and specifically in areas bordering Turkey." A Turkish security official declined to comment on any Iraqi intelligence involvement in the operation.

☆ U.S. Pledges Aid for Niger, Other Sahel Nations
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( William Mauldin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

NIAMEY, Niger—The Biden administration pledged new humanitarian assistance to Niger as part of a broader effort to raise living standards and buttress the government’s fight against a rise in jihadist violence. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. would provide nearly $150 million in new humanitarian assistance to Niger and other countries of the semiarid Sahel region south of the Sahara, with a focus on the needs of refugees and internally displaced people. One of the world’s poorest countries, Niger is a key U.S. ally in a region that has seen a sharp rise in Islamist terrorism and where other countries have deepened relations with Russia in recent years.

☆ Dozens of Senate Republicans oppose overturning the law that made the disastrous 2003 Iraq invasion possible
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Bryan Metzger | John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The Senate began the process on Thursday to repeal the 1991 and 2002 Iraq War AUMFs. "It should be easy to remove," quipped Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, a supporter of repeal. "I don't want to do anything that reduces the President's ability to kill somebody like Soleimani," said Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida. For Sen. Paul, repealing the Iraq War AUMFs — which he called "symbolic" — isn't going far enough. The 2001 AUMF opened the door for the invasion of Afghanistan, launching the longest war in US history.

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