UNITED NATIONS

Doctor describes children’s deaths from chlorine gas

U.N. Security Council members were moved to tears Thursday as the first eyewitness to the latest suspected chlorine attacks on civilians in Syria emerged from the country to give a graphic eyewitness account of dying children.

A Syrian doctor who treated victims from a half-dozen attacks over the past month, Mohamed Tennari, was helped out of the country by the United States, which arranged for the closed-door briefing.

He showed a video of a suspected chlorine attack March 16 in his town of Sarmin in Idlib province, with images of three children, ages 1 through 3, dying despite attempts to resuscitate them.

“Everyone smelled bleach-like odors” and heard the sound of helicopters, Tennari later told reporters after showing them the video.

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The U.S. and other council members have repeatedly blamed the Syrian government for such attacks, saying no one else has helicopters to deliver the toxic chemicals.

VATICAN CITY

Overhaul of U.S. nuns’ group ends abruptly 2 years early

The Vatican has unexpectedly ended its controversial overhaul of the main umbrella group of U.S. nuns, cementing a shift in tone and treatment of the U.S. sisters under the social justice-minded Pope Francis.

The Vatican said Thursday it had accepted a final report on its investigation of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and declared the “implementation of the mandate has been accomplished” nearly two years ahead of schedule. The umbrella group for women’s religious orders had been accused of straying from church teaching.

MOSCOW

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Putin offers economic optimism in call-in TV show

Russia has weathered the worst of its economic troubles and is on the road to recovery, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday during a four-hour call-in TV show, offering to normalize ties with the West if it treats Moscow as an equal partner and not as a “vassal.”

He also defended the delivery of a long-range air defense missile system to Iran, casting it as a reward for Tehran’s flexibility in nuclear talks and vowing to continue working with global partners to reach a definitive solution to the country’s contested nuclear program.

In addition, he made it clear that Russia wants an end to fighting in eastern Ukraine and is interested in rebuilding damaged ties with the United States and other Western nations.

– From news service reports


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