US President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, an Israeli official said, amid efforts to secure a hostage deal and ceasefire in Gaza. A second Israeli official said some progress had been made in the indirect talks between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, mediated…
US President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin wanted to meet and that a rendezvous between the pair was being arranged. He made the statement just a week and a half before taking office, following promises during his campaign to bring peace to Ukraine, which has been under Russian invasion since February…
The European Union could begin lifting sanctions on Syria if the war-torn country’s new rulers take steps to form an inclusive government that protects minorities, the bloc’s top diplomat said Friday. “The EU could gradually ease sanctions provided there is tangible progress,” foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas wrote on X, a day after a meeting…
“On the F-16 program, we’ve been co-leading the international Air Capability Coalition,” Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said The United States, its allies and partners plan to continue training more Ukrainian pilots for combat use of American F-16 fighter jets, Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said at a regular briefing. “On the F-16 program, <…>…
Hundreds of veterans and current and former US officials want President-elect Donald Trump to preserve US special visa and resettlement programs for Afghans at risk of retribution for working for the United States during the 20-year war against the Taliban, according to a letter reviewed by Reuters. The letter, signed by the veterans, officials and others, will be sent to…
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday dismissed a suggestion by US President-elect Donald Trump that he might use “economic force” to make Canada the 51st US state. “There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States,” he said in a post on X. “Workers and communities in both our…
Germany is pushing the EU to ease sanctions on Syria as western countries seek to build bridges with its new rulers, diplomats said Tuesday. The 27-nation bloc had imposed wide-ranging sanctions on the regime of ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad and broad swathes of the country’s economy during its civil war. Berlin is now pressing to facilitate financial…
Talks aimed at cementing a truce in Gaza between Israel and Hamas are ongoing, with “technical meetings” taking place between the parties, mediator Qatar’s foreign ministry said Tuesday. “The technical meetings are still happening between both sides,” ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said, referring to meetings with lower-level officials on the details of an agreement. “There…
Russia’s defense ministry said on Tuesday its troops had inflicted heavy strikes on Ukrainian units in Russia’s western Kursk region, where Ukraine’s military reported an escalation in fighting in the previous 24 hours. Ukraine, which seized part of the Kursk region in early August and has held on to it for five months, launched a new…
French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday urged Ukraine to have “realistic” expectations on territory as its fight against the Russian invasion heads into a fourth year, saying he saw no “quick and easy solution” to the conflict. Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, is currently occupying about 20 percent of the neighboring country’s territory….
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday that the United States believed Russia was expanding space cooperation with North Korea in exchange for its troop contribution in fighting Ukraine. “The DPRK is already receiving Russian military equipment and training. Now we have reason to believe that Moscow intends to share advanced space and satellite technology…
Honduras President Xiomara Castro’s comments earlier this week threatening to stop her country’s cooperation with the US military if President-elect Donald Trump follows through on promised mass deportations have generated political heat at home, even as the US government has remained silent. In a New Year’s Day speech on a national television channel, Castro said…
The Israeli military said Sunday it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen, the latest in a series of recent attacks. “Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in Talmei Elazar, a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted prior to crossing into Israeli territory,” the military said in a statement posted to Telegram. On…
The Palestinian militant group Hamas released a video on Saturday of an Israeli hostage held in Gaza since its October 2023 attack. In the undated, three-and-half-minute video recording, 19-year-old soldier Liri Albag called in Hebrew for the Israeli government to secure her release. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a campaign group for relatives of those abducted,…
Commenting on the top German diplomat’s statement that Russia should refuse from having military bases in Syria, Maria Zakharova noted German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock should better talk about the future of US bases in her country than speculate about Russian bases in Syria, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. Commenting on the top…
