President Trump has vowed to carry out further airstrikes on Syria if the regime dares to use chemical weapons again, as Nikki Haley lashed out at Russia during a fiery meeting of the UN Security Council.

Scores of fast jets, fighters and destroyers fired more than 100 missiles at three military targets in Syria on Friday night in retaliation for President Assad’s chemical weapons attack on the rebel enclave of Douma on April 7, reports Daily Mail.

While President Trump greeted the end of the attacks with a tweet saying “mission accomplished”, Ambassador Haley promised the US was ready for another strike if Assad crossed the chemical weapons “red line” in the future.

“The time for talk ended last night,” Haley told an emergency meeting of the Security Council called by Russia. “We are prepared to sustain this pressure, if the Syrian regime is foolish enough to test our will.

“I spoke to President Trump this morning and he said if the Syrian regime uses this poisonous gas again, the United States is locked and loaded.”

She also accused the Russians of covering up crimes committed by its ally, Assad, who she said had used chemical weapons 50 times in the past seven years of warfare.

“Russia can complain all it wants about fake news, but no one is buying its lies and its cover-ups,” she said of Syria’s strongest ally, Haley said. “Russia was supposed to guarantee Assad would not use chemical weapons, and Russia did the opposite.

“We cannot stand by and let Russia trash every international norm that we stand for, and allow the use of chemical weapons…

Pope Francis plans to have the bishops of Chile gather at the Vatican to deal with a recent sex abuse and cover-up scandal among its ranks.

In a publicly letter released earlier this week, the head of the Roman Catholic Church expressed his intention to hold a meeting with the bishops regarding the scandal.

“I will convoke you to Rome to discuss the conclusions of the mentioned visit and my conclusions. I have thought of this meeting as a fraternal moment, without prejudices or pre-conceived ideas, with the sole objective of having the truth in our lives shine,” wrote Francis, as translated by the Catholic news site Zenit.

In his letter to the bishops, Francis also acknowledged that there were “serious mistakes” on his part regarding the “assessment and perception of the situation, especially because of a lack of truthful and balanced information.”

“From now on I ask forgiveness from all those I offended and I hope to do so personally in the coming weeks, in the meetings I will have with representatives of the persons interviewed,” the pope added.

At the center of the scandal is the Rev. Fernando Karadima, who in 2011 was found guilty by a Vatican investigation of abusing several teenage boys. For his part, Karadima has denied the accusations.

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Source: Christian Post

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The Western airstrikes targeting suspected Syrian chemical weapons facilities might have rained down punishment from the sky, but they will not fundamentally degrade a war machine whose main bases, weaponry and personnel remain in place.

As a symbol, they might reflect the inability to prevent President Bashar Assad from marching toward a professed victory in the civil war — still denying he ever even used banned substances, and perhaps not even needing them.

Any opposition expectations that the airstrikes might try to destroy or degrade Assad’s lethal air power or target bases where his warplanes and helicopters begin their bombing missions were quickly dashed: The U.S., British and French precision attacks only singled out Assad’s alleged chemical weapons capabilities.

The Pentagon said the strikes targeted three facilities — a scientific research center in the Damascus area, allegedly linked to the production and testing of chemical and biological warfare technology; a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs; and a chemical weapons equipment storage facility and key command post, also west of Homs.

“If this is it, Assad should be relieved,” Randa Slim, an expert with the Washington-based Middle East Institute, wrote on Twitter.

For Assad, it was business as usual Saturday — or so his office sought to portray it, posting a short video of him walking into work, briefcase in hand.

More pertinently, Syrian police units triumphantly entered the battered town of Douma, site of the suspected April 7 chemical weapons attack and also the last rebel-held town in…

Tens of thousands of people sang, cheered and cried as the flag-draped casket of anti-apartheid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was escorted from her official funeral on Saturday, after supporters defended her complex legacy with poetry and anger.

Thunder rumbled and it began to rain as the casket left the 40,000-seat stadium — a blessing, witnesses said.

Heads of state joined the five-hour celebration of the powerful figure who will be buried as a national hero following lively debate over how she should be remembered after her death on April 2 at age 81.

Often called the “Mother of the Nation” and “Mama Winnie,” Madikizela-Mandela fought to keep South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle in the international spotlight while her husband, Nelson Mandela, was imprisoned.

“Long before it was fashionable to call for Nelson Mandela’s release from Robben Island, it was my mother who kept his memory alive,” elder daughter Zenani Mandela-Dlamini said as the crowd erupted in cheers.

Many South Africans have stood up for Madikizela-Mandela’s memory against critics who characterized her as a problematic figure who was implicated in political violence after she returned from years of banishment in a rural town.

“Proud, defiant, articulate, she exposed the lie of apartheid,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said during his tribute. “Loudly and without apology, she spoke truth to power.”

He recited Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise.”

And as the casket left the stadium, another speaker read out Alice Walker’s poem , “Winnie Mandela We Love You.”

Since her…

Hundreds of Syrians gathered at landmark squares in the Syrian capital Saturday, honking their car horns, flashing victory signs and waving Syrian flags in scenes of defiance that followed unprecedented joint airstrikes by the United States, France and Britain.

A few hours earlier, before sunrise, loud explosions jolted Damascus and the sky turned orange as Syrian air defense units fired surface-to-air missiles in response to three waves of military strikes meant to punish President Bashar Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons.

Associated Press reporters saw smoke rising from east Damascus and what appeared to be a flame lighting up the sky. From a distance, U.S. missiles hitting suburbs of the capital sounded like thunder. Shortly after the one-hour attack ended, vehicles with loudspeakers roamed the streets of Damascus blaring nationalist songs.

“Good souls will not be humiliated,” Syria’s presidency tweeted after the airstrikes began.

Immediately after the attack, hundreds of residents gathered in Damascus’ landmark Omayyad square, celebrating what they said was the army’s success in shooting down or derailing some of the missiles. Many waved Syrian, Russian and Iranian flags. Some clapped their hands and danced, others drove in convoys, honking their horns in defiance.

“We are not scared of America’s missiles. We humiliated their missiles,” said Mahmoud Ibrahim, half his body hanging outside his car window, waving a Syrian flag. The crowd then…