Syrian army 'recaptures city of Palmyra from ISIL'
Government troops, backed by waves of Russian strikes, take ancient city in central Syria after days of intense battles.
| Middle East
Syrian government forces, backed by Russian air power, have recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) after days of intense fighting, state media and a monitoring group said.
Syrian state television quoted a military source as saying the army and allied militias had taken "complete control over the city of Palmyra".
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said gunfire could still be heard in the eastern part of the city on Sunday morning, but that the bulk of ISIL's forces had retreated.
Palmyra, known as the "bride of the desert", used to attract tens of thousands of tourists a year before the conflict started in 2011.
Suspected suicide bomber claims to be one of the Chibok girls abducted by Boko Haram
Parents of the 270 schoolgirls seized by Islamic militants two years ago will travel to Cameroon to verify her identity
The Nigerian government is sending parents from the Chibok community of north-east Nigeria to neighbouring Cameroon to verify whether a suspected female suicide bomber is one of the schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram nearly two years ago.
Garba Shehu, spokesperson for Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari, said Cameroonian authorities had shown a willingness to assist the Nigerian government.
The abduction of about 270 school girls by Islamic militants from a school in Chibok on 14 April 2014, sparked international outrage and the campaign ž#bringbackourgirls. While about 50 of the girls managed to escape, 219 of these girls remain missing.It's time that the US faced up to the 'G word' and finally recognised the Armenian genocide
It’s not difficult to accuse the bad guys of genocide – Colin Powell had no problem over Darfur in 2004. We should stand up to the real bullies
All week, the G-word has been rattling around the foreign ministries of the world. Ever since John Kerry – he of Israeli-Palestinian peace "in six months" fame – announced that Isis was committing genocide against Yazidis, Christians and Shia Muslims, we’ve been trying to work out just what he’s talking about. Even the poor old Canadians and their super-liberal prime minister Justin Trudeau, have since been refusing to recognise the Isis atrocities as "genocide" – the attempt to exterminate an entire race of people – preferring instead to talk about “crimes perpetrated…against religious and ethnic minorities.” Could this be, ask Canadian critics, because Canada last month withdrew the last of its clapped out CF-18 fighter jets from the battle against Isis?
More likely the Canadians have caught on to the whole genocide trap. But first: yes, Isis have indeed committed horrific crimes against minorities under their control. Their massacre of Shia Muslims and the murder and enslavement of Yazidi and Christian women and children are all real – perhaps 10,000, perhaps 100,000, the figures are as numbing as they are vague. The Isis magazine Dabiq admits all this – perhaps the closest anyone has come to self-incrimination since Pol Pot listed his crimes in Cambodia.
Postcard from a Failed State? Attacks Cast Light on Belgium's State Crisis
With bombs set off in the airport and the subway system, the deadly Islamic State attacks on Brussels have struck the heart of the European Union. Belgium, once the nucleus of Europe, will now have to combat its reputation as a failed state. By SPIEGEL StaffBart De Wever doesn't have much faith in his country. In fact, you can hardly call it a country, this artificial construct created sometime in the 19th century as the result of an accident of history, a power struggle among major powers. The centralized Belgian state is "slow, complicated and inefficient," says De Wever, one of the most powerful men in Belgian politics.
He represents a party that went into the last election campaigning for an end to this centralized state, and for an independent Flanders, which it argued would be more viable than Belgium, a broken construct.
De Wever heads the strongest party, the conservative right-wing New Flemish Alliance (N-VA). He is not part of the government, but rather the mayor of Antwerp, and yet he knows that people in Belgium pay very close attention to what he says.
The untold story of Pakistan’s blasphemy law
ARAFAT MAZHAR
A few days ago, a video of erstwhile pop icon and widely heard Islamic evangelist, Junaid Jamshed went viral on the Internet, in which his remarks were perceived as blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and his wife, Ayesha (RA).
By the time of the writing of this article, he has been charged under the Blasphemy Law (clause 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code). The clause reads:
295-C – Use of derogatory remarks, etc., in respect of the Holy Prophet:Whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representation or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.
The law prescribes a fixed death penalty for all those who are found guilty. The option of life imprisonment was made defunct after a 1991 Federal Shariat Court judgement.
Vaxxed: Tribeca festival withdraws MMR film
- 4 hours ago
- Entertainment & Arts
New York's Tribeca Film Festival will not show Vaxxed, a controversial film about the MMR vaccine, its founder Robert De Niro says.
As recently as Friday, Mr De Niro stood by his decision to include the film by anti-vaccination activist Andrew Wakefield in next month's festival.
The link the film makes between the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine and autism has been widely discredited.
"We have concerns with certain things in this film," said Mr De Niro.
Robert De Niro, who has a child with autism, said he had hoped the film would provide the opportunity for discussion of the issue.
But after reviewing the film with festival organisers and scientists, he said: "We do not believe it contributes to or furthers the discussion I had hoped for."
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