Mes: septiembre 2019

JERUSALEM (CBS/AP) – Israelis rushed to get government-issue gas masks Wednesday, the latest sign of mounting fears that Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles could be used against them as the crisis there deepens. Until a few days ago, the possibility of getting dragged into Syria’s civil war was not a major issue in Israel, whose leaders have had a laser-like focus on the potential threat posed by Iran’s suspect nuclear program. That changed when Syrian President Bashar Assad’s grip on his country turned more doubtful last week, following startling military gains by rebels and a bomb attack that killed four top officials. Syria on Monday threatened to unleash chemical and biological weapons if the country faces a foreign attack. Besides biological agents such as anthrax, Syria is believed to have hundreds of tons worth of chemical weapons ranging from paralyzing nerve agents like Sarin and VX to old-fashioned blister agents like mustard gas, CBS News correspondent David Martin reports. They can be launched by missiles, fired by artillery, or dropped from airplanes. It would take more than gas masks to protect against them Reflecting the fears, Israeli officials reported a run on gas masks in recent days. Demand has almost doubled in the past few days, to 4,200 requests on Tuesday from a years-old average of about 2,200, said Merav Lapidot, a spokeswoman for the Israeli postal service, which distributes...

(CBS/AP) The British hacking scandal has bled into another celebrity’s life as former Beatle Paul McCartney said he’d contact police over his ex-wife Heather Mills’ claim that her phone had been hacked. In comments to U.S. television journalists delivered via videolink from Cincinnati, Ohio,McCartney said that he would be in touch with law enforcement as soon as he was finished with his summer tour. “I will be talking to them about that,”‘ McCartney told the Television Critics Association in Los Angeles, just hours before a performance. Pictures: UK hacking scandal’s famous targets “I don’t think it’s great. I do think it is a horrendous violation of privacy, and I do think it’s been going on a long time, and I do think more people than we know knew about it. But I think I should just listen and hear what the facts are before I comment,” he said. McCartney is the latest celebrity to be dragged into Britain’s phone hacking scandal, which centers on allegations that journalists routinely eavesdropped on private phone messages, bribed police officers for tips and illegally obtained confidential information for stories. Until recently the scandal was largely been limited to the British arm of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, but an allegation made Wednesday by McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills implicates the Trinity Mirror PLC group of newspapers, and CNN celebrity interviewer Piers Morgan, who once...

(AP) BEIRUT – Armed Shiite clansmen in Lebanon said Wednesday they had captured more than 20 Syrians and will hold them until one of their relatives seized by rebels inside Syria is freed. The tensions were a stark reminder of how easily Syria’s civil war could spill over to neighboring states. In Geneva, a U.N. investigation said Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces and pro-government militiamen were responsible for war crimes during a May bloodbath in the village of Houla that killed more than 100 civilians, nearly half of them children. It also said rebels were blamed for war crimes in at least three other killings. The report by the U.N. Human Rights Council said the scale of the Houla carnage indicated “involvement at the highest levels” of Syria’s military and government. It is first time the U.N. has described events in Syria’s civil war as war crimes and could be used in possible future prosecution against Assad or others. The council also said the conflict is moving in increasingly “brutal” directions on both sides. Hotel used by U.N. observers rocked by explosion in Damascus, Syria’s capital cityPentagon: Iran training militiamen for AssadU.S. lifts sanctions on ex-Syria PM More in After the Arab Spring As the fighting deepens, so do the fears of it triggering unrest in fragile Lebanon, which is deeply divided between supporters and opponents of President Bashar...

(AP) CARACAS, Venezuela – President Hugo Chavez announced Thursday that security forces arrested a U.S. citizen and suspect he is a mercenary who could be involved in an alleged plot to destabilize Venezuela if the opposition’s candidate loses the upcoming presidential election. Chavez said the Hispanic man was detained Aug. 4 while crossing into Venezuela from Colombia. The president said the man was carrying a U.S. passport with entrance and exit stamps from countries including Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya as well as a notebook containing geographical coordinates. The man’s identity was not released. Chavez did not say where he was being interrogated. An official from the U.S. Embassy in Caracas did not answer repeated telephone calls seeking comment on Chavez’s announcement. “He has all the appearance of a mercenary,” Chavez said, 윈 토토 speaking during a campaign rally in the coastal state of Vargas. “We are interrogating him.” The man tore up part of the notebook in his possession when he was detained, Chavez said. Chavez suggested, without offering evidence, the American might have been recruited by government opponents to instigate violent protests if opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles loses the Oct. 7 election. Chavez has repeatedly vowed to win re-election and continue trying to steer Venezuela toward socialism. The president has repeatedly claimed the opposition plans to accuse election officials of rigging the vote and refuse to accept...