Israel and Lebanon will hold talks next week in Washington after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered direct talks, a source familiar with the situation told AFP Thursday.
The talks are expected to take place at the U.S. State Department, the source said on condition of anonymity, after Israel said that a U.S.-Iran ceasefire did not apply to Lebanon.
Relief is on the way for Georgia drivers who have been feeling the pain at the gas pump. Gov. Brian Kemp has signed a bill that temporarily suspends the state‘s gas tax for 60 days.
On Thursday, the Senate passed House Bill 1199 with a 51-0 vote, sending the bill to Kemp‘s desk for his signature. Officials are hoping that putting it on pause will help lower fuel prices.
“I am writing to confirm that the department is making unredacted versions of the more than 3 million pages of publicly released documents available for review by both houses of Congress starting Monday,” Assistant Attorney General Patrick Davis wrote in a letter to all 535 members that was obtained by The Hill.
The letter obtained by The Associated Press says that lawmakers will be able to review unredacted versions of the more than 3 million files that the Justice Department has released to comply with a law passed by Congress last year.
To access the files, lawmakers will need to give the Justice Department 24 hours’ notice. They will be able to review the files on computers at the Department of Justice. Only lawmakers, not their staff, will have access to the files, and they will be permitted to take notes, but not make electronic copies.
(December 19, 2025)
Putin, 73, has ruled the country for 25 years and uses the event to cement his power and air his views on domestic and global affairs during a broadcast that mixes criticism of the West with promises of more social payments. Although he is sometimes asked about his personal life, he gives scant details.
This year, the news conference took place against the backdrop of a peace plan in Ukraine put forward by U.S. President Donald Trump. Despite the extensive diplomatic push, Washington’s efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands from Moscow and Kyiv.
Earlier, US President Trump’s 20-point Gaza plan stated that full aid would be immediately sent into the Strip once the plan is accepted
„153 aid trucks entered through the Rafah crossing‘s bypass road, en route to the Kerem Shalom crossing, to be brought into the Gaza Strip“, sources told Reuters.
Among the trucks were 80 from the UN, 21 from Qatar and 17 from the Egyptian Red Crescent, they added.
(November 22, 2024)
Hamas political bureau member Mousa Abu Marzouk knows a thing or two about Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s decades-long support for the group.
In fact, Mr. Abu Marzouk is Exhibit A.
Thanks to Mr. Netanyahu, Mr. Abu Marzouk operates from the luxury of Doha instead of rotting in an Israeli jail since 1996 when Mr. Netanyahu first became prime minister.
In a move never adequately justified, Mr. Netanyahu, in his first year in office, dropped a request by his predecessor, Shimon Peres, for Mr. Abu Marzouk’s extradition from the United States, where he was a resident.
Farhan will lead a delegation to Ramallah, a Palestinian embassy source told the AFP, in the first such trip since Israel conquered the territory from Jordan in 1967.
The two leaders expressed their commitment to the ongoing Higher Military Commission (HMC) process and its results, and the three working groups that will assess: the continued threat from ISIS, operational and environmental requirements, and bolstering Iraq’s security force capabilities. The two leaders affirmed they would review these factors to determine when and how the mission of the Global Coalition in Iraq would end, and transition in an orderly manner to enduring bilateral security partnerships, in accordance with Iraq’s Constitution and the U.S.-Iraq Strategic Framework Agreement.
„The two leaders affirmed they would review these factors to determine when and how the mission of the Global Coalition in Iraq would end,“ the statement noted.
According to AP, the objective would be to transform talks into a bilateral agreement that could still keep a few US troops in Iraq, which already exist as 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria as part of the coalition, knowing that in Syria they are officially considered occupation forces.
The State Department has not named Barghouti in public statements, but U.S. officials said they are aware of allegations of abuse. The department said in a statement to The Post that it has informed Israel that it must “thoroughly and transparently investigate credible allegations of and ensure accountability for any abuses or violations.”
We are already halfway through Ramadan, a month-long holy period marked by pronounced grief and suffering in the Palestinian territories. The Israeli campaign in Gaza has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians, including many women and children, forced the overwhelming majority of people in Gaza to flee their homes and plunged more than half of Gaza’s population into a de facto famine. Small children are dying of malnutrition in what U.N. officials describe to be the broadest and most severe food crisis in the world.
Amid growing global pressure for a truce in the fighting that has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians, the US abstained from the vote to allow the Security Council to demand an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramazan, which ends in two weeks.
It also demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
(25.03.2024)
After more than five months of war in Gaza, the UN Security Council for the first time on Monday, March 25, demanded an immediate ceasefire after the United States, Israel‘s ally which vetoed previous draft resolutions, abstained. Drawing unusual applause in the often staid Security Council, all 14 other members voted in favor of the resolution which „demands an immediate ceasefire“ for the ongoing Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
“No excuses, because the truth is aid flowing to Gaza is nowhere nearly enough,” he said. “I won’t stand by, we won’t let up and we’re trying to pull out every stop we can to get more assistance in.”
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Friday the airdrops were intended to “supplement delivery on the ground,” not replace it.
“You can’t replicate the size and scale and scope of a convoy of 20 or 30 trucks,” he said.
(today)
The U.S. airdrop used C-130 transport aircraft which dropped more than 38,000 meals along Gaza‘s Mediterranean coastline, the U.S. military said in a statement. (…)
A second U.S. official told Reuters the airdrops took place over southwestern Gaza and the town of Mawasi.
President Joe Biden is under increasing pressure to respond in a way that stops these attacks for good. Iran-backed militants have targeted US military facilities in Iraq and Syria over 160 times since October, and several Republican lawmakers have called for the US to hit inside Iran directly to send a clear message.
But the biggest challenge now for the Biden administration is how to respond to the drone strike – the deadliest attack on US forces in the region since the bombing at Abbey Gate killed 13 US service members in the closing days of the Afghanistan withdrawal – without sparking a regional war.
The resolution, sponsored by Arab states, called for a major increase in aid to desperate civilians in the Gaza Strip, dropping calls from an earlier version for a suspension of hostilities.
The U.S. did not vote in favor of the resolution, but rather abstained, allowing it to pass. As a permanent member of the council, the U.S. has veto power, and a “no” vote would have killed the measure.
Scores of people holding foreign passports left the war-torn Gaza for Egypt after the Rafah border crossing opened for the first time since the beginning of the war on October 7, reported AFP. Scores of people and cars moved through the gates as Gaza suffered „complete interruption of all communications and internet services” for a second time, reported Al Jazeera.
Convoys of desperately needed aid have passed between Egypt and Gaza but no people have been allowed to cross.
View of the Rafah crossing as humanitarian aid enters Gaza.
The main thing the Saudis would get in exchange — security guarantees — wouldn’t come from Israel but from its closest ally — the US. Israel, a high-tech power, would play a major role in ambitious Saudi plans to move its economy beyond oil. It would also be expected to make concessions to the Palestinian self-ruling authority in the West Bank. The US would regain some of its influence over Saudi Arabia, stemming efforts by China to expand its sway in the Middle East. The deal offers significant rewards to all four governments, not least of them additional ways of dealing with Iranian military activity in the region. But the prospect of the pact stirs populist forces among all of their constituencies, posing risks to those in power.
Wir teilen das Urteil über die russische Aggression als Bruch der Grundnorm des Völkerrechts. Wir teilen auch die Überzeugung, dass es eine prinzipielle politisch-moralische Pflicht gibt, vor aggressiver Gewalt nicht ohne Gegenwehr zurückzuweichen. Doch alles, was sich daraus ableiten lässt, hat Grenzen in anderen Geboten der politischen Ethik.
Zwei solche Grenzlinien sind nach unserer Überzeugung jetzt erreicht: Erstens das kategorische Verbot, ein manifestes Risiko der Eskalation dieses Krieges zu einem atomaren Konflikt in Kauf zu nehmen. Die Lieferung großer Mengen schwerer Waffen allerdings könnte Deutschland selbst zur Kriegspartei machen. Und ein russischer Gegenschlag könnte so dann den Beistandsfall nach dem NATO-Vertrag und damit die unmittelbare Gefahr eines Weltkriegs auslösen. Die zweite Grenzlinie ist das Maß an Zerstörung und menschlichem Leid unter der ukrainischen Zivilbevölkerung. Selbst der berechtigte Widerstand gegen einen Aggressor steht dazu irgendwann in einem unerträglichen Missverhältnis.