Author: AFP
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed he was prepared to do “everything” to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons in an interview broadcast on Thursday. “I will do everything to prevent it from becoming a nuclear (power), I will use all the resources that can be used,” Netanyahu told Israeli broadcaster Channel 14.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Thursday ruled out a trade war with the United States after speaking with President-elect Donald Trump, who has threatened stiff tariffs to halt illegal immigration. “There will not be a potential tariff war,” Sheinbaum, who has been scrambling to head off threatened tariffs of 25 percent on Mexican goods, told a daily news conference. She was speaking a day after a telephone call with Trump, who has threatened to slap tariffs on Canada and China in addition to Mexico over illegal immigration and drug trafficking. After their call, Sheinbaum and Trump offered differing accounts of…
US President Joe Biden will launch a renewed drive Wednesday for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal after Israel and Hezbollah began a truce in Lebanon, his national security adviser said. Jake Sullivan said Hamas faces increased pressure to cut a deal now that Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement is no longer fighting in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance group. Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu right before the US- and French-brokered truce with Hezbollah was announced Tuesday and they agreed to try again for an elusive Gaza truce, Sullivan said. “President Biden intends to begin that work…
Provisions for immunity from prosecution at the International Criminal Court apply to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the French foreign ministry said Wednesday. It said the Israeli leader was covered by immunity rules that apply to states which are not a party to the ICC. Israel is not an ICC member. “A state cannot be held to act in a way that is incompatible with its obligations in terms of international law with regards to immunities granted to states which are not party to the ICC,” the French statement said. “Such immunities apply to Prime Minister Netanyahu and other ministers…
Russia gave a belated welcome to Wednesday’s ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, saying it hoped the agreement would be “actually effective”. The truce, which entered into force Wednesday morning, came after almost 14 months of fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed group that has killed thousands in Lebanon and triggered mass displacement on both sides of the border. “We look favourably on any agreement, potential or concluded, that would stop the spiral of violence, stop the bloodshed in Lebanon… but they have to be actually effective,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. “Despite the efforts…
Russia on Tuesday banned a string of Britain’s cabinet ministers from entering the country in response to what it called London’s “Russophobic” policies. Among those it was targeting included Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, interior minister Yvette Cooper and more than a dozen other senior politicians in the new Labour government.
G7 foreign ministers said Tuesday they “will comply with our respective obligations” regarding the arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Group of Seven industrialised nations brings together Britain, Canada, Germany, France, Japan, host Italy and the United States. “We reiterate our commitment to International Humanitarian Law and will comply with our respective obligations,” the ministers said in a joint statement issued following two days of talks near Rome. The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu last week, prompting outrage from Israel and its allies — including the US, which…
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday said efforts to secure a ceasefire in Lebanon were “in the final stages”, and added that a deal could help end the Gaza conflict. “We’re not there yet, but I believe we are in the final stages,” Blinken told reporters after a meeting near Rome with G7 counterparts, adding that “by de-escalating tensions in the region, it can also help us to end the conflict in Gaza”.
Israel’s military said Tuesday at least 20 projectiles had been identified crossing from Lebanon into northern Israel, as the security cabinet met to discuss a potential ceasefire with Hezbollah. “Following the sirens that sounded between 17:26 (1526 GMT) and 17:35 in the Western Galilee area, approximately 10 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon,” the army said in a statement, adding that some were intercepted. It also said that in a separate incident, a “suspicious aerial target was identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory”, but that no injuries were reported. Earlier, the military said it had identified another 10 projectiles…
Russia on Tuesday expelled a British diplomat it accused of spying, telling London it would not tolerate “undeclared” intelligence officers operating on its territory, accusations that have ignited a fresh diplomatic feud with London. Britain has rejected the claims one of its embassy employees was a spy, the latest in a string of espionage allegations that come with relations between the two countries running at an all-time low. The spat also comes a week after Ukraine was given permission to start firing UK-supplied long-range missiles at Russia — drawing scorn and threats of direct military retaliation from President Vladimir Putin…