diplomacy - Page 15

The Palestinian Authority’s official al-Hayat al-Jadida daily published a front-page editorial claiming President Donald Trump may have “fabricated” his COVID19 diagnosis in order to garner sympathy and avoid his upcoming debate with Democratic opponent Joe Biden.

Legislation was introduced in the U.S. House which essentially guarantees Israel’s qualitative military edge over Middle East countries.

In a rare diplomatic rebuke Sunday, Israel’s defense minister accused Turkey of destabilizing the region and called on the international community to put pressure on Ankara to “pull their hands from direct terrorism.”

U.S. Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, on Sunday warned a Joe Biden victory would have serious consequences for Israel and the Gulf states, especially with regards to Iran.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Friday he and his wife are free of the Wuhan coronavirus. President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, and presidential adviser Hope Hicks tested positive for the same late Thursday.

The announcement U.S. President Donald Trump has tested positive for the coronavirus means he joins a short list of other world leaders who have also been infected.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “lying” to the United Nations when he exposed what he said was a secret arms depot belonging to the Iranian-backed terror group in a residential area near Beirut’s International Airport.

U.S. President Donald Trump received his third nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize on Monday, with four Australian law professors citing the “Trump Doctrine” against endless foreign wars as reason for their support.

ATHENS, Greece — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is due to arrive in Greece on an official visit early Monday, has had a conversation on tensions in the eastern Mediterranean with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

The government of South Korea confirmed on Friday that it had received a letter from North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un saying he was “immensely sorry” for the killing of a South Korean official reportedly found in the North’s water this week.

Vietnamese President Nguyễn Phú Trọng called for China to “exercise restraint” in the South China Sea on Thursday in a virtual speech at the 75th annual U.N. General Assembly. The call for moderation follows months of Beijing’s belligerent actions in the contested maritime region.

A U.S.-based think tank published a study on Tuesday alleging the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has forced over half a million rural Tibetans into military-style labor camps in the first half of 2020.

Honduras will relocate its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and Israel will open an embassy in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa by the end of 2020, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement released early Monday.

The commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Saturday repeated his threat to avenge the U.S. killing of Iran’s top general Qasem Soleimani in early January, personally warning President Donald Trump a response is on its way.

An increasingly frustrated China lashed out at what it called “stupid” Australia on Wednesday, using an editorial in a Communist Party mouthpiece to demand an end to Canberra’s “smears” against Chinese journalists, diplomats and academics.

The Palestinians need to want to help themselves and understand that the normalization deal between the United Arab Emirates and Israel will aid their cause if they allowed it to, a senior Emirati diplomat told The Times of Israel ahead of the inking of the deal at a White House ceremony on Tuesday.

Iran is plotting to assassinate the U.S. ambassador to South Africa to avenge the killing of senior Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, the Politico news site reported Sunday.

Oman on Sunday welcomed the normalization deal between Bahrain and Israel, saying it hopes it will contribute to peace throughout the region, state media reported.

Former Vice President Joe Biden acknowledged Thursday that President Donald Trump is making peace between Israel and several Arab states, but he said that he was doing so “accidentally.”

This is a miraculous development, one that the foreign policy establishment in Washington, DC, said was impossible. But it is happening, thanks to President Donald Trump.

A member of the Swedish Parliament has nominated the United States under President Donald Trump for a second Nobel Prize for work in Kosovo and Serbia.

Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner on Wednesday warned the Palestinians if they continue to reject President Donald Trump’s peace proposal for solving the conflict with Israel, their plight will worsen because Israel will continue building on West Bank territory earmarked for a Palestinian state.

Ahead of next week’s signing of the historic U.S.-brokered normalization accord between the United Arab Emirates and Israel, Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism has instructed hotels to begin providing kosher food in preparation for the influx of Israeli and Jewish tourists expected to visit the Gulf nation.

Over 160 human rights groups came together Tuesday and called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to drop China’s hosting rights to the 2022 Winter Games in light of Beijing’s worsening human rights record.

The Trump administration has blacklisted two former Lebanese ministers, accusing them of conspiring with Iran-backed Hezbollah and participating in widespread corruption at the expense of the Lebanese people.

Rabbi Pesach Lerner, President of the Coalition for Jewish Values, praised the Trump administration’s Serbia-Kosovo agreement over the weekend, noting that it had made a special effort to include normalization of relations between Kosovo and Israel, and both Balkan countries putting embassies in Israel’s capital city of Jerusalem.

Saudi Arabia supports a “fair” solution for the Palestinian cause, King Salman has told Donald Trump in a phone call, as the US President praised the kingdom for opening its airspace to Israel-UAE flights.

Malawi announced Saturday that it would open an embassy in Jerusalem, making it the third country to do so over the weekend.

The Muslim-majority Balkan nation of Kosovo has agreed, along with neighboring Serbia, to establish full diplomatic relations will Israel and will open embassies in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced.

BEIRUT — Rescuers resumed a search Friday for possible survivors under rubble in Beirut, buoyed by faint hopes of a miracle a month after a monster blast ripped through the city’s port.

As a joint U.S.-Israeli delegation prepared to wrap up its historic visit to the United Arab Emirates in the wake of an agreement to establish diplomatic ties, Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner told a local news agency all 22 Arab countries would eventually normalize ties with Israel.

President Donald Trump spoke with Japan Prime Minister Abe Shinzo on Sunday after the Japanese leader announced his plan to resign for health reasons.

Chinese dictator Xi Jinping addressed strengthening border security in Tibet – where most of China’s border with India is located – for the first time since a bloody encounter between the two nations’ militaries resulted in dozens of deaths in June, the state-run People’s Daily reported on Monday.

Jerusalem — An Israeli-American delegation will fly on the first commercial flight from Israel to the United Arab Emirates on Monday after a landmark deal between the countries, officials said Friday.

China’s state-run Global Times on Thursday published a poll that purportedly found 70 percent support among Chinese for their government to retaliate “strongly” against “Indian provocation.”

OMAN — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrapped up his trip to the Middle East and Sudan with a stop in Oman on Thursday to meet with Omani Sultan Haithambin Tarik Al Said.