The Tuesday news briefing: An at-a-glance survey of some top stories
Highlights from the news file for Tuesday, April 11
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FREELAND PUSHES RUSSIA TO CUT ASSAD LOOSE: Western countries are presenting a high-stakes ultimatum to Russia: Allow regime-change in Syria and cut loose Bashar Assad, or remain a pariah moored on the fringes of the international community. Different U.S. allies articulated different versions of that warning Tuesday, including Canada. During a G7 meeting in Italy, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland urged Russia to seize the moment as a chance to break with Assad. The twin events of a horrific chemical attack on Syrian civilians, combined with U.S. air strikes, had created new momentum in pursuing a long-term political solution to the Syrian civil war, Freeland said. “Russia needs to decide whether it wants to double down on its support of a murderous regime that is committing war crimes, or whether right now it wants to say, ‘You know what? We do not want to be associated with this, this is not where we want our country to be,’” she told a conference call. The same point was delivered with a twist of mockery from the White House. A spokesman for President Donald Trump insinuated that Russia’s behaviour of recent years had left it confined to an international alliance of losers. “Russia is isolated. They have aligned themselves with North Korea, Syria, Iran. That’s not exactly a group of countries you’re looking to hang out with,” Sean Spicer said.
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