ShoTechno

A request by the Russian Embassy to visit Yulia Skripal in hospital is being considered by the UK government. The UK holds Russia responsible for the poisoning of Ms Skripal and her father, ex-spy Sergei Skripal,  by a nerve agent  in Salisbury on 4 March. The Russian Embassy in London says it "insists on the right to see" Ms Skripal, who is a Russian citizen. The rights and wishes of Ms Skripal will be taken into account, the UK said. The Foreign Office said it would consider Russia's request in line with its obligations under international and domestic law. The BBC understands  Ms Skripal, 33, is now conscious  and talking. Salisbury District Hospital has said that she was no longer in a critical condition, adding that her father, 66, remained critically ill but stable. Meanwhile, Russia has  announced more measures against UK diplomats , insisting that a total of more than 50 diplomats will have to leave. Moscow initially expelled 23 Br...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is threatening to follow up the capture of the Kurdish enclave of Afrin by launching an across-the-board military offensive against the remaining Kurdish-held areas in northern Syria and the main Yazidi population centre in the Sinjar region of Iraqi Kurdistan. He claimed that the next target of Turkish troops would be the cities of Manbij, which the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) captured from Isis in 2016, and  Kobani , which withstood a famous siege by Isis that ended in 2015. Unlike Afrin, both places are protected by the US Air Force, backed by 2,000 US specialised ground troops. Mr Erdogan undoubtedly intends in the long term to eliminate the de facto Kurdish state that developed in northern and eastern Syria as the result of the advance of the YPG, backed by US air power, in the war against Isis. But it is unlikely that he will seek a confrontation with the US, which is sending out  patrols of armo...