Trump’s criminal hush-money trial continues in New York, while both Trump and Biden fight for voters in swing states
Hello! Welcome back to our new US elections newsletter.
Non-Trump supporters have been all jittery this week, after a poll appeared to show Joe Biden getting royally stuffed by Trump in the election.
Continue reading...US secretary of state promises long-awaited $60bn Ukraine aid package will make ‘real difference on battlefield’
The US secretary of state has arrived in Kyiv delivering a message that Washington remains committed to supporting Ukraine as the country’s forces face their toughest situation on the battlefield for months.
In recent days, Russia has launched an offensive in the north-eastern Kharkiv region, forcing thousands to flee their homes, and on Tuesday hit the centre of Kharkiv, the country’s second biggest city, with airstrikes.
Continue reading...Mission by US secretary of state comes shortly after Congress approved a long-delayed $60bn package of aid
In Kyiv, the American secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said a new weapons package is already arriving and more more is coming, Reuters reported.
“That’s going to make a difference,” he said.
Continue reading...Democrat warns Hamas could become stronger if Israel wages all-out Rafah assault, while Blinken offers more measured comments
Politicians in the US on Sunday stepped up their denunciation of Israel over its conduct in Gaza, with a leading Democratic senator accusing the key American ally of “strategic and moral mistakes” – and secretary of state, Antony Blinken, saying it was testing the boundaries of international law.
In an interview on CNN’s State of the Union, the Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy, a member of the Senate foreign relations committee, warned that Hamas was likely to become stronger if Israel waged an all-out assault in Rafah.
Continue reading...State department also says not enough concrete evidence to link specific US-supplied weapons to violations
The US says it is “reasonable to assess” that the weapons it has provided to Israel have been used in ways that are “inconsistent” with international human rights law, but that there is not enough concrete evidence to link specific US-supplied weapons to violations or warrant cutting the supply of arms.
In a highly anticipated report to Congress, the state department said that the assurances given by Israel and a handful of other countries under scrutiny that they had been using US-supplied weapons in accordance with international humanitarian law (IHL) were “credible and reliable”.
Continue reading...Antony Blinken holds two-hour meeting with Netanyahu while Hamas considers ceasefire proposal
Israel’s leaders were under renewed pressure to allow more aid into Gaza on Wednesday after the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, told Benjamin Netanyahu to “accelerate and sustain improvements” seen during recent days in the amount of humanitarian assistance reaching the territory.
Humanitarian agencies say that though the number of lorries entering Gaza after being vetted by Israel has increased significantly, these still deliver only a fraction of what is needed.
Continue reading...Riyadh seeks more modest agreement with Washington in absence of Gaza ceasefire and Netanyahu resistance to Palestinian state
The US and Saudi Arabia have drafted a set of agreements on security and technology-sharing which were intended to be linked to a broader Middle East settlement involving Israel and the Palestinians.
However, in the absence of a ceasefire in Gaza and in the face of adamant resistance from Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israeli government to the creation of a Palestinian state – and its apparent determination to launch an offensive on Rafah – the Saudis are pushing for a more modest plan B, which excludes the Israelis.
Continue reading...Current proposed deal includes 40-day ceasefire and release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli hostages, says David Cameron
Antony Blinken has told a meeting of regional leaders in Riyadh that the most effective way to alleviate humanitarian suffering in Gaza is to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Speaking in Saudi Arabia, the US secretary of state said that there had been “measurable progress” in delivering aid to Gaza, which Israel has beseiged for six months, but more is needed.
Continue reading...US secretary of state to discuss avoiding regional conflict amid fears about Israeli ground invasion of Rafah
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, will travel to Saudi Arabia to try to restart fraught ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel and discuss efforts to prevent spiralling regional conflict, while other senior US officials claimed Israel was willing to listen to their fears about a ground invasion of Gaza’s southernmost city.
A delegation from Hamas, expected in Cairo in parallel to Blinken’s visit, said they would provide a response to an Israeli proposal focused on an initial hostage release.
Continue reading...End of secretary of state Antony Blinken’s three-day visit marks upsurge in military activity after period of relative calm
Taiwan has reported that a dozen Chinese warplanes flew sorties close to the island on Saturday, in a sudden surge of military activity just hours after the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, left Beijing following talks with President Xi Jinping and top Chinese officials.
Before Blinken’s three-day visit to China, US officials had pointed to a period of relative calm in the Taiwan strait over the past few months, after years of aggressive Chinese military manoeuvres and threats, as a factor in improving US-Chinese relations since Joe Biden held a summit meeting with Xi in November.
Continue reading...Secretary of state met Xi Jinping in Beijing and warned of sanctions over China’s support for Russian arms industry
Washington has seen evidence of attempts by Beijing to “influence and arguably interfere” in this year’s US elections, the secretary of state has said during a trip to China, also warning that Chinese companies face new sanctions if they do not stop supplying material and equipment to the Russian arms industry.
Antony Blinken told CNN that he had reiterated Joe Biden’s message to Xi Jinping not to interfere in November’s vote – a warning that reportedly received assurances from the Chinese president that he would not do so. Asked whether China was keeping to its promise, Blinken said: “We have seen, generally speaking, evidence of attempts to influence, and arguably interfere, and we want to make sure that that’s cut off as quickly as possible.
Continue reading...US secretary of state to hold talks with Chinese counterpart and most likely with President Xi Jinping
Antony Blinken has landed in China amid a worsening rift between the world’s two most powerful countries that threatens to overshadow otherwise improving relations.
The US secretary of state arrives with a warning that the US and its European allies are no longer prepared to tolerate China’s sale of weapon components and dual-use products to Russia, which are helping Vladimir Putin rebuild and modernise his arms factories, enabling him to intensify his onslaught on Ukraine.
Continue reading...Comments come as US state department report finds that Gaza war has had negative impact on human rights in Israel
The US secretary of state has rejected the idea that Washington might have a “double standard” when applying US law to allegations of abuses by the Israeli military in Gaza, while suggesting that examinations of such charges are ongoing.
“In general, as we’re looking at human rights and the condition of human rights around the world, we apply the same standard to everyone. That doesn’t change whether the country is an adversary, a competitor, a friend or an ally,” Antony Blinken told a news conference as he announced the department’s annual human rights country reports.
Continue reading...Foreign secretary says Britain’s position on export licences is ‘unchanged’ after reviewing latest legal advice
David Cameron has confirmed the UK government will not suspend arms exports to Israel after the killing of seven aid workers in an airstrike on Gaza last week, as he insisted the UK would continue to act within international law.
The foreign secretary said that he had reviewed the most recent legal advice about the situation on the ground but this left the UK’s position on export licences “unchanged”.
Continue reading...‘If the United States threatened to suspend aid, maybe my son would be alive today,’ John Flickinger told the US secretary of state
When the US’s top diplomat called with condolences over the killing of John Flickinger’s son in the Israeli airstrikes on a World Central Kitchen aid convoy in Gaza, Flickinger knew what he wanted to say.
The grieving father told Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, that the killings by Israel in the Hamas-run territory must end – and that the United States needs to use its power and leverage over its closest Middle East ally to make that happen.
Continue reading...Humanitarian groups say they cannot operate safely after Israeli targeting of food charity convoy prompts international outcry
The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza seems likely to worsen after charities announced they are suspending operations in the territory in the aftermath of an Israeli drone attack which repeatedly targeted a clearly identified convoy of international aid workers, killing seven.
The strikes on a team from World Central Kitchen (WCK) led the charity – along with other aid organisations such as Anera, which helps refugees around the Middle East, and the US-based Project Hope, which focuses on healthcare – to announce that it would pause operations in Gaza to protect its staff.
Continue reading...Secretary of state’s characterization of West Bank settlements signals return to longstanding US policy reversed by Trump
Israel’s expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank was inconsistent with international law, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Friday, signaling a return to longstanding US policy on the issue, which had been reversed by the previous administration of Donald Trump.
The Trump administration in 2019 in effect backed Israel’s right to build West Bank settlements by abandoning a long-held US position that they were “inconsistent with international law”.
Continue reading...More than 127 reportedly killed in bombings, including in Rafah where more than a million people are sheltering
Israeli airstrikes across Gaza killed scores of people overnight, as fears grow of the military campaign intensifying in the southern city of Rafah, a tiny pocket of the territory where more than a million people are sheltering.
Amid intensifying divisions in Israel’s government over the war, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, was expected to arrive in the region on Sunday, his fifth trip since the militant group attacked Israel on 7 October, killing at least 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostage.
Continue reading...But federal judge in California says lawsuit aimed at stopping US military support for Israel is outside court’s jurisdiction
A federal court in California has ruled that Israel’s military campaign in Gaza “plausibly” amounts to genocide, but dismissed a case aimed at stopping US military support for Israel as being outside the court’s jurisdiction.
“There are rare cases in which the preferred outcome is inaccessible to the court. This is one of those cases,” the US district court in the northern district of California ruled. “The court is bound by precedent and the division of our coordinate branches of government to abstain from exercising jurisdiction in this matter.
Continue reading...US secretary of state met Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, on visit dismissed as ‘theatre’ by residents
Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, restated Washington’s commitment to the creation of a Palestinian state during a brief trip to the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, a visit dismissed by many residents as “theatre”.
Blinken told Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president and head of the Palestinian Authority (PA), that the US position was that a Palestinian state must stand alongside Israel, “with both living in peace and security”, a spokesperson said.
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