Experts say Syria used chemical weapons
UNITED NATIONS -- The head of the international chemical weapons watchdog told the U.N. Security Council that its experts have investigated 77 allegations against Syria and concluded that in 17 cases chemical weapons were likely or definitely used.
Fernando Arias called it "a disturbing reality" that eight years after Syria joined the Chemical Weapons Convention, which bans the production or use of such weapons, many questions remain about its initial declaration of its weapons, stockpiles and precursors and its ongoing program.
He said Thursday that the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons will be taking up a new issue at its next consultations with Syria -- "the presence of a new chemical weapons agent found in samples collected in large storage containers in September 2020."
Arias said he sent a letter informing the Syrian government that he intended to send an organization team to look into this issue from May 18 to June 1 and requested visas but never got a response. He said he informed Damascus he was postponing the arrival to May 28.
With no reply from Syria by May 26, he said, "I decided to postpone the mission until further notice."
Syria was pressed to join the weapons convention in 2013 by its ally Russia after a deadly chemical weapons attack that the West blamed on Damascus. By August 2014, President Bashar Assad's government declared that the destruction of its chemical weapons was completed, but that has remained in dispute.
Russia has sharply criticized the watchdog and its investigators, accusing them of factual and technical errors and acting under pressure from Western nations.
French police clear large migrant camp
PARIS -- Several hundred police Friday cleared out a makeshift migrant camp in the northern French port city of Calais, a magnet for people trying to get into Britain illegally across the English Channel.
The prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais region said about 500 migrants were removed from several structures near the Calais hospital and taken to centers in northern France and elsewhere. About 30 children were among those removed.
The operation came two days after violent clashes between scores of migrants and police in two locations -- near the hospital and on the road leading to the port where ferries ply the channel between France and Britain. Seven riot police were treated for injuries, the prefecture said.
Friday's sweep came on instructions from Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin and a court order. The prefecture said in a statement that the illegal occupation of the structures "generated serious trouble to public order."
Makeshift camps set up by migrants in Calais are occasionally cleared on court orders, but the number of migrants involved is usually far smaller.
Bill to repay sterilized Roma gains ground
PRAGUE -- The lower house of the Czech Parliament on Friday approved legislation to compensate Roma women who were sterilized against their will.
Human-rights groups believe hundreds of Roma women were sterilized without their informed consent. Up to 400 women are expected to be entitled to claim the one-time compensation of $14,350.
Under the country's past communist regime, sterilization was a semiofficial tool to limit the Roma population in what is now the Czech Republic. But the practice continued after the end of communist rule in 1989, according to a 2005 report by the national ombudsman.
Women who were illegally sterilized between 1966 and 2012 are to be eligible for the compensation. They would have up to three years from the time the legislation takes effect to file claims.
The bill still needs to be considered by the upper house, the Senate and Czech President Milos Zeman.
The government apologized to the women in 2009. Some have filed individual lawsuits against hospitals.
Nigeria bans Twitter over deleted tweet
LAGOS, Nigeria -- Nigeria's government said Friday that it was suspending Twitter indefinitely in Africa's most populous nation, a day after the company deleted a tweet that President Muhammadu Buhari made about a secessionist movement.
It was not clear when the suspension would take effect, as users could still access Twitter late Friday, and many said they would simply use VPNs to maintain access.
Others mocked the government for using the platform to announce the action.
"You're using Twitter to suspend Twitter? Are you not mad?" one user tweeted.
Information Minister Lai Mohammed said Friday that government officials took the step because the platform was being used "for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria's corporate existence."
Mohammed criticized Twitter for deleting the post. "The mission of Twitter in Nigeria is very suspicious," he said, adding that Twitter had in the past ignored "inciting" tweets against the government.
Twitter deleted Buhari's post Wednesday, calling it abusive, after the president threatened suspected separatist militants.