Defense Secretary James Mattis on Tuesday voiced his implicit support for a so-called ‘Arab NATO’ that would include the small, oil-rich nation of Qatar, despite Doha’s ongoing diplomatic conflicts with Saudi Arabia and its Middle East allies.
China will further open its economy in the face of rising protectionism, Premier Li Keqiang said as he arrived in Singapore on Monday for meetings with Asia-Pacific leaders that will focus on speeding up work on a major new trade pact.
A U.S. think tank said on Monday it had identified at least 13 of an estimated 20 undeclared missile bases inside North Korea, underscoring the challenge for American negotiators hoping to persuade Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.
The U.S. is pulling back some support for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen, as it presses for a ceasefire and peace talks by the end of the month. In statement, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis portrayed the decision to stop U.S. refueling of Saudi warplanes attacking Houthi rebels in Yemen as a Saudi initiative.
Less than five months before Britain leaves the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May’s parliamentary enforcers are on the prowl.
British foreign minister Jeremy Hunt will visit Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on Monday to press for an end to the war in Yemen and to call on Saudi leaders to cooperate with an investigation into the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
A top Kremlin foreign affairs aide says the French government requested that President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump back away from plans to meet during their Paris visit.
Prime Minister Theresa May steps up attempts to court European support for a Brexit deal on Thursday as negotiations on securing a smooth British divorce from the world’s biggest trading bloc enter their final stages.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has postponed without explanation a planned meeting with a top North Korean official in New York Thursday meant to pump new momentum into talks over Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal.
Saudi Arabia has begun work on its first nuclear research reactor, prompting fresh concern Riyadh will soon seek to develop nuclear weapons if Iran restarts its own weapons program amid Washington’s reimposition of sanctions and withdrawal from the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal.
President Trump said he’ll probably meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin later this month at the Group of 20 nations summit in Argentina.
Iran greeted the re-imposition of U.S. sanctions on Monday with air defense drills and an acknowledgement from President Hassan Rouhani the nation faces a ‘war situation,’ raising Mideast tensions as America’s maximalist approach to the Islamic Republic takes hold.
The Trump administration on Friday restored U.S. sanctions on Iran that had been lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal, but carved out exemptions for eight countries that can still import oil from the Islamic Republic without penalty.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet with North Korea’s No. 2 official in New York next week, as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing diplomatic effort to persuade Pyongyang to embrace complete denuclearization on the peninsula.
Despite regional turmoil, President Trump’s grand Middle East strategy to unite Israel with the Saudis and other Gulf Arab powers against Iran and lay the groundwork for a comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian peace deal is making unexpected progress away from the limelight.
Britain on Wednesday said there was no set date for Brexit talks to finish, backtracking from a letter by Brexit secretary Dominic Raab that suggested a deal on the terms of its departure from the European Union could be finalised by Nov. 21.
Iranian infrastructure and strategic networks have come under attack in the last few days by a computer virus similar to Stuxnet but ‘more violent, more advanced and more sophisticated,’ and Israeli officials are refusing to discuss what role, if any, they may have had in the operation, an Israeli TV report said Wednesday.
President Trump may follow through as early as December with his threat to impose tariffs on all of China’s exports to the United States.
Angela Merkel set off Monday on what could be a three-year countdown to the end of her leadership of Germany, a stint that has made her the European Union’s longest-serving leader and a key figure in facing the continent’s many crises.
Brazil’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal declared Sunday that far-right congressman Jair Bolsonaro, a champion of traditional Brazilian values, has won the country’s election for the presidency of Latin America’s biggest country and the world’s fourth-largest democracy.