Author: RT

‘We are trying to prevent open war,’ Iraqi PM tells US ambassador as tensions mount Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi has told US ambassador Matthew Tueller that Baghdad is doing all it can to prevent “descent into open war” as tensions flare over the US killing of top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani. Speaking at a meeting with Tueller in the Iraqi capital on Monday, Abdul-Mahdi said his government's policy has “always been to have relations with all sides.” He said Iraq wants to build its relations with other countries on “cooperation, mutual respect, and protection of foreign sovereignty,” adding that a strong Iraqi government is in “everyone's interest” in the region. The PM also "stressed the importance of mutual cooperation" on implementin...

Iran reserves right to self-defense, ‘harsh revenge’ for Soleimani coming – Tehran’s envoy to UN Calling the US killing of General Qassem Soleimani “criminal” and example of terrorism, the Iranian envoy to the UN said his country reserved the right to act in self-defense and threatened vengeance in US media interviews. The killing of Soleimani “by any measure, is an obvious example of State terrorism and, as a criminal act, constitutes a gross violation of the fundamental principles of international law, including, in particular, those stipulated in the Charter of the United Nations,” Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi wrote in a letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the Security Council on Friday. Also on rt.com...

US stock market takes a dive as defense & oil shares soar after Soleimani’s killing in US strike Dow Jones and S&P 500 stock indexes posted their biggest losses in a month after a US airstrike killed Iran’s Quds Force chief Qassem Soleimani, tempered only by the buoyant mood of defense and oil-related shares. Wall Street stocks went down at the news of the US assassination of Soleimani, an influential general who led the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force. His death in a Thursday night attack at Baghdad International airport also claimed lives of 9 other people, including senior Iraqi militia officials. #MarketWrap Major indexes close lower on concerns over global tensions following US killing of Iranian General Q...

Libyan forces claim to have shot down Turkish aircraft after Haftar declares 'jihad' on Ankara The Libyan National Army (LNA) said it shot down a Turkish airplane, shortly after its leader General Khalifa Haftar called for a holy war against Turkey for supporting a rival government in Tripoli, Arabic media reported. Conflicting reports from Libya on Friday evening said that the LNA had shot down a Turkish military plane south of Tripoli, the seat of the Government of National Accord (GNA). At least one report said it was a TB2 armed drone, downed after targeting a column of LNA vehicles. #BREAKING: An hour ago, 2 #Turkish Bayraktar TB2 armed drones supporting Islamist militias of #GNA targeted a convoy of #Libya National Army on its way t...

Libyan National Army head Haftar declares JIHAD to ‘confront & expel’ Turkish troops General Khalifa Haftar has warned that his Libyan National Army (LNA) forces will mobilize to repel any foreign soldiers sent to Libya, after Turkey approved a troop deployment to assist the rival government in Tripoli. The general vowed to “confront and expel” foreign forces in a statement on Friday, singling out Ankara by name. “We declare jihad and general mobilization to counter the Turkish invasion,” Haftar said. “The Turkish friendly people must rise up against the adventurers who force their army to be wiped out in Libya.” Also on rt.com Turkish parliament backs govt plan to send troops to Libya in emergency session ...

Russian pranksters strike again: Fake Greta Thunberg convinces eager US politician that she has dirt on Trump US Congresswoman Maxine Waters has allegedly fallen for a prank call in which she thought activist Greta Thunberg was offering her a tape of Donald Trump confessing to pressuring Ukraine into investigating his political rivals. YouTube pranksters Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov, who go by the names Vovan and Lexus, are claiming they tricked Waters (Dem-Calif.) into thinking she was speaking to teen climate change activist Greta Thunberg. Vovan and Lexus made names for themselves by previously pranking Congressman Adam Schiff (Dem-Calif.) into thinking there were nude photos of US President Donald Trump that Schiff could get his hands o...

No war or regime change, Trump assures Iran after praising the killing of ‘#1 terrorist’ – ISIS-fighting general Soleimani US President Donald Trump described the Iranian general who fought Islamic State as “number one terrorist” in the world and said the decision to kill him was made “to stop a war,” rather than start regime change in Tehran. Addressing the media at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Friday, Trump said General Qassem Soleimani was “plotting imminent and sinister attacks on American diplomats and military personnel” when the US “terminated” him.  “We take comfort in knowing that his reign of terror is over,” he said of Soleimani, who led the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force before his assassination on Thursday nigh...

French prosecutors say Paris suburb knifeman had Koran but ‘no sign’ of radicalization The man who stabbed four and killed one person in a Paris suburb before he was shot by police had a history of mental illness and owned a Koran, prosecutors have revealed, adding they’d found “no evidence” he’d been radicalized. While some witnesses reported hearing the man shout “Allahu Akhbar” as he began stabbing people - seemingly at random - in a park in the Paris suburb of Villejuif on Friday, prosecutors have stated they do not have evidence of radicalization as a motive, though “elements linked to religion” that “suggested he had converted to Islam” were found among his belongings, according to AFP. Also on rt.com Attacker...

Catalan president barred from holding office by Spain’s electoral board The head of Catalonia’s regional government Quim Torra has been barred from office by Spain’s Central Electoral Board (JEC). The official was earlier found guilty of disobedience after he failed to remove pro-independence signs. The decision to dismiss Torra from the office was made by the JEC on Friday, with the board annulling an earlier ruling by a local Catalan electoral body, which had said Torra could remain in power until he exhausts all appeal options. The Catalan leader was found guilty of disobedience by a Spanish court  on December 19, was fined the hefty sum of €33,000 and banned from holding public office for a year. The politician has already vowed to challenge the c...