chemical weapons

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US: Russia's Using Chemical Agents in Ukraine

Russia said to be using the choking agent chloropicrin and tear gases banned in war

(Newser) - Weeks after Russia launched its war in Ukraine, President Biden warned his Russian counterpart would pay a "severe price" if he approved the use of chemical weapons. Now, the US is handing out new sanctions, alleging Russia has indeed used chemical weapons. The State Department accuses Russia of using...

US Eliminates Its Last Chemical Weapon

The world is now free of them, at least those that are declared

(Newser) - The US has long stored a considerable arsenal of illegal-to-use chemical weaponry—until now. On Friday, the Pentagon destroyed its last remaining such weapon, the culmination of a decades-long effort, reports NPR . The dismantling took place at the Army's Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado and at the Blue Grass...

US Destroys Stock of Deadliest Chemical Agent It Ever Made

America's stockpile of VX agent is no more

(Newser) - The last stockpiles of a deadly chemical agent in the US have been safely eliminated, according to Kentucky officials in charge of destroying the Cold War-era weapons. The final M55 rocket containing VX nerve agent was destroyed Tuesday at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent plant, the AP reports. Officials at...

Pentagon Monitoring Social Media Report on Russian Chemical Weapons

'These reports, if true, are deeply concerning'

(Newser) - The Pentagon is confirming it is concerned about a report on Telegram that Russia used chemical weapons in Mariupol, Ukraine. "We are aware of social media reports which claim Russian forces deployed a potential chemical munition," Defense Department press secretary John Kirby said in a Monday night statement....

They Figured Out How to Destroy Assad's Chemical Arsenal

4 women were the core of an international effort that garnered a Nobel Prize, but not for them

(Newser) - In 2013, the Nobel Peace Prize went to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for its role in ultimately destroying 1,200 tons of Syrian chemical weapons. In a deep dive for Rolling Stone , Tessa Stuart gives much of the credit to four women: two civilians not long...

US: Russian Claim Could Be Setup for Chemical Weapons

Ukraine, US denounce claim of biological arms program

(Newser) - President Biden's spokesperson said Wednesday that false claims Russia made about US involvement with biological weapons in Ukraine fit a familiar pattern and raise a new concern. The allegations are the sort of "false pretexts we have been warning the Russians would invent," Jen Psaki said in...

He Used Bitcoin to Try to Buy Killer Chemical: 'I Plan to Use It Soon'

Jason Siesser of Missouri apparently had had a difficult breakup that may have spurred purchase

(Newser) - A Missouri man was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years behind bars after prosecutors say he tried to buy off the dark web a dangerous chemical weapon that could kill hundreds, using cryptocurrency for his purchase. Per court documents cited in a Justice Department release , Jason William Siesser, now 46, pleaded...

Soldier Gets 11 Years for Detonating Chemical Weapon

'Everything I had worked so hard for, given my all for, was ripped away from me,' one victim says

(Newser) - He'd faced up to life in prison, but Ryan Keith Taylor got a decidedly lighter sentence after pleading guilty to setting off a bomb near a US Army post in April 2017. CNN reports the 24-year-old got hit with just over 11 years behind bars for "manufacturing, possessing,...

Why Assad Is Still Able to Kill With Gas

That there was no gas leak at the target sites isn't a great sign

(Newser) - If your takeaway from the reports on Friday's air strikes on Syria's chemical weapons facilities by US, French, and British forces was that President Bashar al-Assad's ability to conduct future chemical strikes had been eliminated, you'd be wrong. In an analysis titled, "A Hard Lesson...

Pundits Weigh In: Syria Airstrikes 'Make Me Sick'
Radio Pundit
Openly Weeps
Over Syria 
Airstrikes
the rundown
Apr 14, 2018 2:00 PM CDT

Radio Pundit Openly Weeps Over Syria Airstrikes

(Newser) - Pundits are calling the latest airstrike in Syria everything from "a restrained operation" to a risky move that could throw the US into "a cycle of escalation" in the Syrian conflict. Supporters of President Trump from Fox News and other conservative outlets were surprisingly negative, with Infowars' Alex...

Trump: US, Allies Striking Syria Over Chemical Weapons

President says US prepared to 'sustain' pressure

(Newser) - The US, France, and Britain together launched military strikes in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for a suspected chemical attack against civilians and to deter him from doing it again, President Trump announced Friday. The AP reports that explosions lit up the skies over Damascus, the Syrian capital, as...

May Summons Cabinet to Debate Syria Strike

She says use of chemical weapons 'cannot go unchallenged'

(Newser) - British Prime Minister Theresa May summoned her Cabinet back from vacation Thursday to discuss military action against Syria over an alleged chemical weapons attack. May has indicated she wants Britain to join in any US-led strikes in response to the attack in Douma. She has said "all the indications"...

Russia Warns US on Syria. Trump's Response: a Taunt

President say 'get ready'

(Newser) - If the US tries to launch missiles at Syria, they will be shot down and the warships or planes they're launched from will become targets, Russia's ambassador to Lebanon said Tuesday night, echoing earlier warnings from Moscow. "If there is a strike by the Americans, then …...

Russia Says Israel, Not US, Hit Syria Base

Strike was initially blamed on 'American aggression'

(Newser) - Syria initially denounced "American aggression," but Russia says Israel, not the US, was to blame for a missile strike on a Syrian air base early Monday believed to have killed at least 14 people, including Iranian fighters. Syria now also accuses Israel of being behind the strike on...

Syria Slams 'US Aggression' as Missiles Hit Air Base

Activists say strike killed at least 14

(Newser) - In what Syria's state-run news agency says was probably an act of "American aggression," missiles hit an air base in central Syria early Monday. Syrian activists say the strike killed at least 14 people, including Iranian citizens and fighters with Iran-backed groups, the AP reports. The US...

Trump: 'Big Price' Will Be Paid for 'Mindless CHEMICAL Attack'

The president hits Twitter after Syria strike

(Newser) - President Trump responded to news of a Syrian chemical-weapons attack near Damascus with his own weapon of choice: the tweet. "Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria," he tweeted Sunday, per CNN . "Area of atrocity is in lockdown and encircled by Syrian...

In a Syrian Rebel-Held Town, a Fresh Horror

Rescuers say at least 40 are dead in apparent chemical attack

(Newser) - Syrian opposition activists and rescuers said Sunday that a poison gas attack on a rebel-held town near the capital has killed at least 40 people, reports the AP . The alleged attack in Douma occurred late Saturday amid a resumed offensive by Syrian government forces after the collapse of a truce...

Russia Tries to Join Spy Poisoning Probe, Gets Rejected

Brits call proposal 'ludicrous'

(Newser) - The international chemical weapons watchdog on Wednesday rejected Russia's call for a joint investigation with Britain of the nerve-agent poisonings of an ex-spy and his daughter in England. But Russia said the number of countries that abstained from the vote suggested many have doubts about Britain's allegations that...

Nerve Agent That Poisoned Ex-Spy More Toxic Than VX

Novichok agents developed in secret in Russia in the 1970s and '80s

(Newser) - British Prime Minister Theresa May says the chemical used to poison Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his adult daughter in England was a Novichok nerve agent, tied to Russia not only through its name. Novichok—meaning "newcomer" in Russian—is a class of chemical agents developed in the Soviet...

US: North Korea Used Chemical Agent to Kill Kim's Half Brother

Additional sanctions have been imposed against Pyongyang

(Newser) - The US has imposed additional sanctions on North Korea after determining the country used chemical weapons to assassinate Kim Jong Un's estranged half brother in Malaysia last year, Reuters reports. Kim Jong Nam died after two women smeared his face with the banned nerve agent VX in the Kuala...

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