War

Former U.N weapons inspector Scott Ritter warned before the start of the Iraq war that claims that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction were false.

Sunday, Ritter wrote that current claims that the leader of Syria launched a chemical weapons attack was false:

Some sort of chemical event took place in Khan Sheikhoun; what is very much in question is who is responsible for the release of the chemicals that caused the deaths of so many civilians.

Update:  In his opening statement, Secretary of Defense Mattis looked to quickly quash doubts over which party was responsible for the recent sarin gas attacks in Syria saying there was "no doubt" that the Assad regime "planned, orchestrated it and executed it." 

With everyone putting down new and/or revised "red lines", be it on Syria or North Korea, it was now China's turn to reveal its "red" or rather "bottom line", and in a harshly worded editorial titled "The United States Must Not Choose a Wrong Direction to Break the DPRK Nuclear Deadlock on Wednesday" Beijing warned it would attack North Korea's facilities producing nuclear bombs, effectively engaging in an act of war, if North Korea crosses China's "bottom line."

Authored by Zainab Calcuttawala via OilPrice.com,

Twelve dead and 29 injured after an attempt to scavenge oil from a pipeline in the Bajel district of Yemen two days ago, according to a security official who confirmed reports of the incident on Monday.

With Rex Tillerson on his way to Russia, moments ago Russian president Vladimir Putin shocked reporters when he said that Russia has received intelligence from "trusted sources" that more attacks using chemical weapons are being prepared on the Damascus region, meant to pin the blame on the Assad government.