Category Archives: US foreign policy

Joe Biden issues strident defence of refusal to call for ceasefire in Gaza

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US president says Hamas has said it will not stop attacking Israel and said Israeli forces had switched from aerial bombardment to more targeted operations

Joe Biden has presented an unapologetic defence of his refusal to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, arguing that Hamas presented a continuing threat to Israel and that Israeli forces were seeking to avoid civilian casualties.

After a summit meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Apec summit in San Francisco, Biden told reporters on Wednesday night that Hamas had pledged to continue its attacks on Israel.

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UN security council backs resolution calling for humanitarian pause in Gaza

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Resolution calls for release of hostages held by Hamas and for humanitarian corridors across the Gaza Strip

Six weeks after the start of the war in Gaza, the UN security council has come together to back a resolution calling for “urgent extended humanitarian pauses for [a] sufficient number of days to allow aid access” to the embattled territory.

The vote late on Wednesday overcame an impasse which saw four unsuccessful attempts to adopt a resolution.

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Biden: China and US military to resume ‘open, clear communications on a direct basis’ – as it happened

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Despite the US and China’s joint climate plan being welcomed by experts, the plan lacks specific emission reductions or a commitment to phase out fossil fuels.

The Guardian’s Oliver Milman reports:

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China and US pledge to fight climate crisis ahead of Xi-Biden summit

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Announcement fuels hope rivals can use Apec summit as a chance to reduce tensions

China and the US have pledged to work together more closely to fight global heating, declaring the climate crisis “one of the greatest challenges of our time”, hours before a key meeting in San Francisco between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping.

The announcement further fuels hopes that the two nations can mend relations after years of turmoil over issues including trade, human rights and the future of Taiwan.

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Woman who fled Saudi Arabia with daughter wins court battle to stay in US

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Bethany Alhaidari granted permission to defy custody order because of serious risk of death if she returned to Saudi Arabia

A US court has ruled that an American activist who fled Saudi Arabia with her daughter in 2019 will be allowed to defy a Saudi custody order and remain in the country with her child because she would face a serious risk of being put to death if she returned to the kingdom.

The case represents the first time that Saudi rules governing child custody and its use of the death penalty against female activists have faced judgment in a US court.

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US announces fresh strikes on Iran-linked sites in Syria

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Defence secretary says US will defend its personnel and interests in the region amid surge in attacks on US troops in Iraq and Syria

The United States carried out strikes against two Iran-linked sites in Syria on Sunday in response to attacks on American forces, the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, said.

It is the third time in less than three weeks that the US military has targeted locations in Syria it said were tied to Iran, which supports armed groups that Washington blames for a spike in attacks on its forces in the Middle East.

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US in ‘ongoing negotiations’ for release of hostages held by Hamas, Sullivan says

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Nine Americans still missing as Hamas says it’s suspending talks amid Israel’s handling of besieged al-Shifa hospital in Gaza

Nine Americans are still missing following the 7 October attack by Hamas on Israel, the US national security adviser said on Sunday.

Jake Sullivan, the White House’s chief security adviser, said the US is involved in “ongoing negotiations” for the release of hostages believed to be held by Hamas in Gaza.

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Joe Biden and Xi Jinping to meet on sidelines of Apec summit

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‘Everything is on the table,’ US official says of first face-to-face interaction between leaders in a year, on Wednesday

The US president, Joe Biden, will meet the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, face to face for the first time in a year on Wednesday, the White House said, in high-stakes diplomacy aimed at curbing tensions between the world’s two superpowers.

The closely watched interaction, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in the San Francisco Bay Area, could last hours and involve teams of officials from Beijing and Washington.

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US forces targeted in broadest Iraq attacks since start of Israel-Hamas war

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Armed drones attack two airbases and explosive device targets patrol in most widespread strikes in a single day

US forces were targeted in three attacks in Iraq on Thursday but suffered no casualties, security sources have said, in the most geographically widespread series of strikes on US assets in a single day since the Israel-Hamas conflict started.

Spokespeople for the US embassy in Baghdad and US-led international forces stationed in Iraq did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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Israel cannot reoccupy Gaza at end of conflict, says Antony Blinken

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US secretary of state echoes White House line, while UK favours rule by ‘peace-loving Palestinian leadership’

Israel must not reoccupy Gaza, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has said, adding however that Israel might control the territory for a transition period.

The comments, made at the end of a G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Japan, echoed White House remarks on Tuesday suggesting opposition to a long-term occupation of Gaza.

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Netanyahu says Israel will have ‘overall security responsibility’ in Gaza after war

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Prime minister rules out general ceasefire as Israel marks a month since Hamas attack

Israel will keep control over Gaza indefinitely after its war against Hamas ends, Benjamin Netanyahu has stated, saying his country will take “overall security responsibility” for the territory.

One month after Hamas’s attack killed 1,400 people, the Israeli prime minister also said he would consider hour-long “tactical little pauses” in fighting to allow the entry of aid or the exit of hostages from the Gaza Strip, but again rejected calls for a ceasefire.

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Israeli troops encircling Gaza City expected to enter in force within 48 hours

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Gaza split into two parts, says Israel, as US sends missile-carrying submarine to Middle East

The Israeli military says it has completely encircled Gaza City after more than a week of heavy fighting, in effect severing the territory into two, as Israeli ground troops appeared poised to enter the dense urban sprawl from the south.

What seemed to be the beginning of the second stage of the Israeli ground operation was accompanied by a barrage of 16 rockets fired from southern Lebanon towards the Israeli city of Haifa on Monday afternoon.

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Bernie Sanders calls for end to Israeli strikes and killing of thousands

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In his strongest words in the 30-day war, Vermont senator demands end to killing of ‘innocent men, women and children’

Bernie Sanders has stepped up his calls for a humanitarian pause in Gaza, demanding an immediate stop to Israeli bombing and an end to the killing of thousands of “innocent men, women and children” in the enclave.

In some of his strongest words in the 30-day war, the independent US senator from Vermont decried the 7 October Hamas attack inside Israel. He labelled Hamas as an “awful terrorist organization” that had “slaughtered 1,400 people in cold blood”, reiterating his belief that Israel had the right to defend itself.

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Leftist Democrats invoke human rights law in scrutiny of Israel military aid

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Congressional progressives say proposed $14.3bn breaches 1997 Leahy act as assault on Gaza has overwhelmingly harmed civilians

Leftwing Democrats in Congress have invoked a landmark law barring assistance to security forces of governments deemed guilty of human rights abuses to challenge the Biden administration’s emergency military aid program for Israel.

Members of the Democratic party’s progressive wing say the $14.3bn package pledged by the White House after the 7 October attack by Hamas that killed more than 1,400 Israelis breaches the Leahy Act because Israel’s retaliatory assault on Gaza has overwhelmingly harmed civilians. An estimated 9,000 people have been killed in Gaza so far, among them 3,700 children, according to the Gaza health ministry, run by Hamas.

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Israeli PM tells US: no pause in Gaza fighting without release of hostages

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Netanyahu says ‘full force’ offensive will continue, despite growing concerns over civilian casualties

Israel will continue its offensive in Gaza “with full force” and will refuse any temporary ceasefire that does not include the release of more than 240 hostages held by Hamas, Benjamin Netanyahu has said, rejecting US calls for a pause in the fighting.

Earlier on Friday, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, flew into Israel to urge the Israeli prime minister to temporarily stop its military offensive to allow aid into the territory amid rising concerns over civilian casualties as the fighting intensifies.

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Blinken to urge Israel to show restraint in campaign to destroy Hamas

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US secretary of state in Tel Aviv to call for pauses in fighting to allow more aid to enter Gaza

Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, has arrived in Tel Aviv to meet Israel’s war cabinet and urge it to show greater restraint in its campaign to destroy Hamas, starting by allowing more aid to enter Gaza and implementing humanitarian pauses.

Israel says it has Hamas surrounded in Gaza City and has shown no willingness to back a break in the fighting advocated by the US president, Joe Biden, let alone agree a ceasefire.

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Biden says 74 Americans with dual citizenship evacuated from Gaza

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The evacuees were able to cross from the Gaza Strip into Egypt, the US president said on Thursday

The United States has been able to get 74 Americans with dual citizenship out of the Gaza Strip, Joe Biden said at the White House on Thursday, one day after evacuees began crossing into Egypt.

“Good news, we got out today 74 American folks, dual citizens,” the president told reporters in the Oval Office at the start of a meeting with the president of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader.

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Biden urges pause in Gaza fighting as Hamas says refugee camp death toll nearing 200

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US president says pause will allow time to rescue hostages, amid fresh Israeli airstrikes on enclave’s Jabalia refugee camp

Joe Biden has said there should be a “pause” in the fighting in Gaza to enable the release of hostages, as Hamas said nearly 200 people had been killed in two days of Israeli airstrikes on the enclave’s Jabalia refugee camp.

The US president was speaking at a campaign fundraiser in Minneapolis on Wednesday when a woman shouted: “Mr President, if you care about Jewish people, as a rabbi, I need you to call for a ceasefire.”

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China and US reportedly agree to rare nuclear arms control talks

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Talks expected on Monday would be first since Obama administration and follow visit to Washington by Wang Yi, Chinese foreign minister

China and the United States will reportedly discuss nuclear arms control next week, the first such talks since the Obama administration.

The talks would be led on Monday by Mallory Stewart, a senior state department official, and Sun Xiaobo, the head of the arms control department at China’s foreign ministry, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

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Biden expected to meet with Xi Jinping next month for ‘constructive’ talks

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White House comments come after China’s foreign minister made rare visit to Washington to pave way for Xi to meet Biden

Joe Biden is expected to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a summit in San Francisco in November for “constructive” talks, the White House said on Tuesday.

The comments came days after China’s foreign minister made a rare visit to Washington to pave the way for Xi to meet Biden at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit.

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