Category: News

Officials say suspected Islamist gunmen who stormed a hotel in Mali’s capital, Bamako, have “no more hostages,” the BBC reports.

The Radisson Blu Hotel was stormed by special forces after gunmen entered it and seized 170 people. At least 30 of the hostages are known to have escaped.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and its offshoot al-Murabitoun said they carried out the attack, according to an agency used by jihadists in the region.

At least 18 people have died and two soldiers wounded.

One of those killed was Geoffrey Dieudonne, a member of parliament in Belgium’s Wallonia region.

The Kremlin believes that the forthcoming visit of French President Francois Hollande to Washington and Moscow as a step towards creation of anti-terrorist coalition, Russian Presidential aide, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters on Friday, Reuters reports.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Hollande in Moscow on Nov. 26 to discuss fighting against terrorism and Syrian crisis, Ushakov said.

“Before Moscow, French President will visit Washington, and we consider it as a creation of the widest anti-terrorist coalition,” he said, adding that Putin and Hollande would meet again during a conference in Paris on Nov. 30.

Ushakov also added that during Russia’s President visit to Iran on Nov. 23, Putin would meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to discuss with Syrian conflict, Iran nuclear program, and tackling terrorism, including the Islamic State.

Putin will take part in a meeting of Gas Exporting Countries Forum in Iran.

According to Ushakov, presidents of Bolivia and Venezuela have requested meetings with Putin and the Kremlin “is trying to find slots” in Russian president’s schedule for these meetings.

published by the Institute for Economics and Peace rates Armenia as one of the safest countries in the world in terms of potential terrorist threats.

Armenia is ranked 116th among 162 countries, where a lower place means less danger in terms of terrorism.

Armenia’s neighbors in the region are placed as follows: Georgia – 71th, Turkey – 27th, Azerbaijan – 93rd and Iran – 39th.

Armenia’s partners in the Eurasian Economic Union Russia and Belarus are ranked 23rd and 77th respectively, Kazakhstan is 83rd, Kyrgyzstan is 86th.

The Global Terrorism Index provides a detailed analysis of the changing trends in terrorism across 162 countries over the last 15 years. It investigates the patterns of terrorism by geographic activity, methods of attack, organizations involved and national economic and political contexts.

According to the report, the number of lives lost to terrorism increased by 80% in 2014, reaching the highest level ever recorded at 32,658. This compares to 18,111 in 2013. According to the third edition of the Global Terrorism Index (GTI), out today, this increase represents the largest yearly increase in deaths ever recorded. The report also highlights the dramatic rise in terrorism over time, with deaths increasing by nine-fold since the year 2000.

The report, developed by the Institute for Economics and Peace and based on data from the Global Terrorism Database of START, reveals that just two terrorist groups, ISIL and Boko Haram, are now jointly responsible for 51% of all global fatalities from claimed terrorist attacks. Boko Haram, which pledged its allegiance to ISIL as the Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP) in March 2015, has become the world’s deadliest terrorist group, causing 6,644 deaths compared to ISIL’s 6,073.

Gunmen have launched an attack on the Radisson Blu Hotel in the centre of Mali’s capital, Bamako, witnesses say, the BBC reports.

“Apparently it’s an attempt to take hostages. The police are there and are sealing off the area,” a security source told Reuters news agency.

Automatic weapon fire could be heard from outside the 190-room hotel, AFP reports.

“It’s all happening on the seventh floor, jihadists are firing in the corridor,” a security source told AFP.

Witnesses say the police have surrounded the hotel and are blocking roads leading into the neighbourhood.

The Rezidor Hotel Group, which owns the Radisson Blu, said it was aware of “the hostage-taking that is ongoing at the property today”.

“As per our information two persons have locked in 140 guests and 30 employees,” AFP quotes its statement as saying.

Photo: Sputnik/ Michael Alaeddin

 

The Syrian armed forces have thwarted the terrorists’ attempt to seize a military airfield in Syria’s northeastern Deir-az-Zor province, killing 25 attackers and wounding many others, Russian media reported Friday.

“The airfield’s defenders beat back the attack coming from eastern, northeastern and southeastern directions, killing 25 of them,” a military source told RIA Novosti news agency.

“A series of airstrikes by the Syrian air force helped the army to repel the enemy attack and then counterattack, seizing several villages outside the airbase,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Most of the Deir-az-Zor province remains under the terrorists’ control and the local airbase is the government forces’ main stronghold there.

The militants make regular attempts to storm the base using explosives-laden trucks and armor.

The latest such attack in September lasted for 15 hours, but the Syrian garrison, backed by aviation, has successfully been repelling all enemy attacks and driving out the ISIL fighters holed up in the nearby villages.

Photo: Getty Images

 

South Korea has confirmed it has accepted an offer from North Korea to hold talks next week, the BBC reports.

The talks, to be held at the Panmunjom truce village, will set the stage for high-level meetings which were agreed in principle in August.

That deal followed a stand-off in August that began with landmine explosions on the border and involved an exchange of artillery fire.

Seoul said it had sent requests for meetings before but had no response.

Conan O’Brien made history on November 17 as the first American late-night host to broadcast a show from Armenia.

O’Brien announced last month that he’d be traveling to the country with his longtime assistant Sona Movsesian, who is of Armenian descent. The two went to a market in the Armenian capital of Yerevan, where the talk show host explored local delicacies and practiced his Armenian with lines like “I want to eat your liver” and “I die on your body.”

The host herds sheep, learns a new language and lands a role on an Armenian talk show. He also visitsthe Armenian Genocide memorial with his assistant, Sona Movsesian.

President of the Republic of Armenia, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Serzh Sargsyan visited the defense positions in the northeast of the country.

Accompanied by Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan and the senior command staff of the Armed Forces, the President toured the frontline military units and visited the defense positions.

The President attended simulation exercises involving divisions of the Second Army Corps, listened to a report by the commander of the Corps on the situation and problems in the military unit under his command.

In one of the military units President Sargsyan participated in the opening of a new canteen for servicemen.

The same day President Serzh Sargsyan left got the Nagorno Karabakh Republic for a working visit.

On November 19, in accordance with the arrangement reached with the authorities of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, the OSCE Mission conducted a planned monitoring of the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan in the direction of Hadrut near Horadiz settlement.

From the positions of the NKR Defense Army, the monitoring was conducted by Field Assistants of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Yevgeny Sharov (Ukraine) and Khristo Khristov (Bulgaria), as well as by representative of the OSCE High-Level Planning Group (HLPG), Colonel Andrey Barashkin (Russia).

From the opposite side of the Line of Contact, the monitoring was conducted by Field Assistant of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Jiri Aberle (Czech Republic) and staff member of the Office Peter Svedberg (Sweden), as well as by representative of the OSCE High-Level Planning Group (HLPG), Lieutenant-Colonel Dan Harvey (Ireland).

The monitoring passed in accordance with the agreed schedule. No violation of the cease-fire regime was registered. However, the Azeri side did not lead the OSCE mission to its front-lines.

From the Karabakh side, the monitoring mission was accompanied by representatives of the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defense.