INTERNATIONAL

G7 nations are meeting in Italy to try to hammer out a unified approach to the Syria conflict, in the wake of last week’s suspected chemical attack. Foreign ministers will seek to pressure Russia to distance itself from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said possible sanctions against Russian military officials would be discussed. Allies will also ...

The US is “disappointed but not surprised” at Russia’s response to its strikes on a Syrian air base suspected of storing chemical weapons. At least six people are reported to have been killed in the US missile strikes early on Friday. Syria’s ally Russia accused the US of encouraging “terrorists” with its unilateral actions. “I’m disappointed in that response,” said ...

Russia has promised to strengthen Syria’s anti-aircraft defences after the US bombarded a Syrian air base with missiles, reportedly destroying it. US officials said the base had been used to launch a chemical weapons attack in north-western Syria that left dozens of civilians dead on Tuesday. Russia, which backs President Bashar al-Assad, condemned the US strike. It also suspended a ...

The US has carried out a missile attack against an air base in Syria in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town. Fifty-nine Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from two US Navy ships in the Mediterranean, the Pentagon said. President Donald Trump said they hit a base from which the Syrian government launched Tuesday’s chemical attack. ...

The head of a key US congressional investigation into alleged Russian hacking has temporarily stepped down amid an ethics inquiry into him. House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes is now himself under investigation by the House Ethics Committee. The panel is looking into claims that the Republican disclosed classified intelligence. Mr Nunes called the charges “entirely false” and “politically motivated”. ...

An explosive device has been made safe in a flat in St Petersburg by Russian police, three days after a suspected bomber on the city’s metro killed 13 people. A city official said several suspects were held when police raided the flat early on Thursday, Ria Novosti said. Neighbours were moved away and witnesses said three men were led out ...

Aung San Suu Kyi has denied there is ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar, despite widespread reports of abuses. In an exclusive interview with the BBC, the Nobel peace prize winner acknowledged problems in Rakhine state, where most Rohingya people live. But she said ethnic cleansing was “too strong” a term to use. Instead, Myanmar’s de-facto leader ...

South Africa’s embattled president has been backed by a major decision-making body within the ruling ANC. It was looking at a complaint by some of the ANC top executives that Jacob Zuma had failed to consult them over reshuffling his cabinet. After considering the complaint, the ANC has decided not to press for Mr Zuma to resign, a party official ...

Russia is objecting to a draft resolution on the chemical weapons deaths in northern Syria as the UN Security Council meets in New York. Russian suggestions that civilians were poisoned by rebel weapons on the ground have been widely rejected. The UK’s foreign secretary, a rebel commander and a weapons expert all said the evidence pointed to an attack by ...

Russia says that chemical gas that killed and injured dozens of civilians in a rebel-held town in northern Syria came from rebel weapons on the ground. Its defence ministry acknowledged that Syrian planes had attacked the town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province. But it said the aircraft had struck a depot producing mines filled with a poisonous substance, for ...