Special to WorldTribune.com Two men who survived when an overcrowded boat sank in the Mediterranean between Libya and Italy described the tragic events that led to the deaths of as many as 500 people. Muaz Mahmud Aymo, a 25-year-old Ethiopian, and Mowlid Isman, a 28-year-old Somali, said they had been on a boat of about […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Upon gaining independence and becoming the world’s newest nation in 2011, South Sudan was touted as a major foreign policy success for President Barack Obama. Celebrities such as George Clooney and Don Cheadle led the chorus of congratulatory praise for the president. Five years later, amid civil war, squalid and dangerous conditions […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Russian planes have carried out “simulated attacks” on U.S. jets over Syria in what is seen as a breach of last year’s military agreement between Moscow and Washington, a report said. The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding in October 2015 stating that all Russian and American jets in Syria would […]
The decriminalization of marijuana would strike a huge blow against the Italian Mafia and Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), the mob’s trafficking partners in North Africa, Italy’s top prosecutor said. “Decriminalization or even legalization would definitely be a weapon against traffickers, among whom there could be terrorists who make money off of it,” […]
Special to WorldTribune.com by Dr. Jack Caravelli, Geostrategy-Direct Russian president Vladimir Putin’s use of Russian conventional forces to destabilize Ukraine and prop up Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime certainly got the attention of Western analysts and policy makers. But now, Russia’s nuclear forces are undergoing dramatic modernization. Russia’s strategic modernization march has been impressive, including […]
Special to WorldTribune.com U.S. air strikes killed about a dozen members of Al Qaida’s affiliate in Somalia on April 11 and 12, the Pentagon said. The strikes targeted members of Al-Shabab in southern Somalia, who Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said posed an “imminent threat to U.S. personnel” in the region. The strikes were carried […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — Calling for an end to “human trafficking and other forms of human slavery,” British Cardinal Vincent Nichols presented a stunning testimony against the “resurgence of slavery” where up to 21 million people are affected by the scourge. As Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Nichols has led […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Russia defended the pilots of two Su-24s that buzzed an American guided-missile destroyer in the Baltic Sea. The Russian jets approached the USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) on April 11 at an “unsafe” speed and altitude, a U.S. official told Fox News. On April 12, U.S. officials said a Russian jet came within […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Germany will require asylum seekers to take courses on German language and culture “to integrate as many people as possible into the labor market,” Chancellor Angela Merkel said on April 14. New measures agreed on by Merkel’s conservative Christian Union bloc and the Social Democrats (SPD) mark a “historic” first for Germany, […]
Special to WorldTribune.com A new twist on the Panama Papers bombshell posits that Russian President Vladimir Putin may be the mastermind behind the leaked documents. Clifford Gaddy, an adviser to the Russian finance ministry in the 1990s, contends that Putin will ultimately emerge unscathed from the revelations in the documents and that major American names […]