dead and vowed to “face and root out terrorism.” The attack is the worst in Cairo since a bombing at a
chapel adjacent to Egypt’s main Coptic Christian cathedral killed 30 people during Sunday mass in
December 2016. That attack was claimed by Egypt’s affiliate of Isis. AP
Russia threatens retaliation if US deploys Asian missile posts
Russia said yesterday it would take measures to defend itself if the United States stationed missiles in Asia
following the collapse of a landmark arms control treaty, and that it expected Japan to deploy a new US
missile launch system. US defence secretary Mark Esper said on Saturday that he was in favour of placing
ground-launched, intermediate-range missiles in Asia relatively soon – a comment that came a day after
Washington withdrew from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, a Cold War-era pact signed in
1987 that banned land-based missiles with a range of between 310 and 3,400 miles (500-5,500 km).
Asked about the possible American missile deployment, Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister,
said the Kremlin did not plan to get sucked into an arms race with Washington, but that it would respond
defensively to any threats. “If the deployment of new US systems begins specifically in Asia then the
corresponding steps to balance these actions will be taken by us in the direction of parrying these threats,”
Mr Ryabkov told a news conference. Reuters
He said Moscow expected Tokyo to soon station the US MK-41 missile-launching system in Japan. “The
universal MK-41 launch system that will appear, it seems, in Japan can also be adapted to be used to launch
medium-range cruise missiles ... So these new systems when they appear in Japan will without doubt also be
taken into account during our corresponding planning,” he said.
Venezuelan migrant children granted Colombian citizenship
Colombia will grant citizenship to at least 24,000 children born to Venezuelan parents and at risk of
statelessness. President Ivan Duque announced that in a gesture of solidarity his government will begin
recognising those born in Colombia as citizens.
Colombian law does not offer birthright citizenship to children whose parents are not legal migrants. Many
of the 1.4 million Venezuelans now in Colombia entered illegally, meaning their children born in the
neighbouring Andean country didn’t qualify. Children born to Venezuelan parents abroad are entitled to
Venezuelan citizenship but many have been unable to access that right because of severed diplomatic ties
with Colombia.
Colombia has received more Venezuelan migrants than any other nation from an unprecedented exodus.
The new measure is expected to remain in place for two years. AP
Thousands rescued after explosions at Russian military base
A series of blasts rocked an arms depot at a Russian military base in Siberia yesterday, injuring eight people
and prompting aluminium producer Rusal to suspend operations at the country’s biggest alumina producing
plant.
Eleven thousand Russians were being evacuated from neighbourhoods in Krasnoyarsk region’s city of
Achinsk following blasts and a fire at a military storage facility, Tass news agency cited local authorities as
saying. Photographs showed a huge explosion on the horizon with flames leaping into the sky followed by
belching black smoke.
According to a local source, one Russian soldier was killed, although the defence ministry denied the