Belgium, which currently heads the rotating EU Council presidency, reportedly seeks to gather support for new trade sanctions against Israel from other European Union member states.
The Western European nation is Israel’s fourth largest European trading partner, with an extensive focus on the diamond trade. Belgium has also been one of Israel's harshest critics in the European Union for years.
HOUSTON (AP) — Storms in Texas brought additional rain Sunday to the already saturated Houston area where hundreds of people have been rescued from flooded homes and roads, while to the north in the Fort Worth area, a child died after being swept away when the car he was traveling in got stuck in floodwaters.
Over the last week, areas near Lake Livingston, located northeast of Houston, have gotten upwards of 23 inches (58 centimeters) of rain, National Weather Service meteorologist Jimmy Fowler said on Sunday afternoon. Meanwhile, he said, areas in northeastern Harris County, the nation’s third-largest county that includes Houston, had a range of 6 inches (15 centimeters) to almost 17 inches (43 centimeters) of rain in that same period.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Monday that the military would hold drills involving tactical nuclear weapons — the first time such an exercise has been publicly announced by Moscow.
A look at tactical nuclear weapons and the part they play in the Kremlin’s political messaging.
The Biden administration has frozen a planned arms shipment to Israel, according to a report Sunday, raising concerns among Israeli leaders of a major shift in American policy vis-a-vis the Jewish state.
Two Israeli officials told Axios and Walla that the Biden White House last week froze a weapons shipment to Israel, which includes ammunition and other American-made arms.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Friday that the U.S. military intends to deploy fighter jets, reconnaissance planes and armed drones to the Al Udeid Air Base in Doha, Qatar. The move is reportedly designed to circumvent restrictions on airstrikes conducted from an airbase located in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
An unnamed Emirati official explained the restrictions on U.S. aerial strikes in the region.
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL — Anyone who watches the evening news or cable news outlets in the United States might conclude that Americans have turned against the Jewish state and support the Hamas terrorist organization instead.
But a new Harvard/Harris poll makes it clear that such a conclusion would be wildly inaccurate.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced on Wednesday that Turkey has decided to officially join South Africa's lawsuit against Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague. The lawsuit accuses Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
“We presented the results of our assessments today to our president, and in accordance with the political decision that was made, I would like to announce for the first time that we have decided to intervene in the case filed by South Africa against Israel at the International Court of Justice,” Fidan said at a press conference, alongside the Indonesian foreign minister.
(May 2, 2024 / JNS) Colombia’s president announced on Wednesday that his country will be breaking off diplomatic ties with Israel due to the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.
“Here in front of you, the government of change, of the president of the republic, announces that tomorrow we will break diplomatic relations with the state of Israel…for having a government, for having a president who is genocidal,” said President Gustavo Petro in Bogota.
The United Methodist Church, one of the largest Protestant denominations in the U.S., has voted to repeal its ban on LGBTQ clergy as well as prohibitions on its ministers from officiating at same-sex weddings.
Delegates overwhelmingly approved the changes, 692 to 51, during the United Methodist Church's General Conference.
(April 30, 2024 / JNS) Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction has reiterated its desire to reconcile with Hamas, China’s Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday following talks in Beijing.
Representatives of Fatah and Hamas recently held negotiations in the Chinese capital with a view to forging a Palestinian unity government.
(April 30, 2024 / JNS) At least five European Union countries will unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state by the end of May, the E.U.’s top diplomat revealed on Monday.
Spain, Ireland, Belgium, Slovenia and Malta are expected to make the move, Josep Borrell said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum special meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Reuters reported.
(April 30, 2024 / JNS) Saudi Arabia has decided to normalize relations with Israel and is debating the timing of the announcement, a foreign diplomat familiar with the details told Haaretz on Monday.
According to the source cited in the article by the daily’s diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Lis, Riyadh is discussing whether to make the move in the coming weeks or after the U.S. presidential election this November, in which either Democrat Joe Biden will continue to lead the country or his challenger Republican Donald Trump will return to the White House.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Flash floods and a landslide swept through houses and cut off a major road in Kenya, killing at least 45 people and leaving dozens missing on Monday, the Interior Ministry said.
Police official Stephen Kirui initially told The Associated Press that the Old Kijabe Dam, located in the Mai Mahiu area of the Great Rift Valley region that is prone to flash floods, had collapsed, carrying with it mud, rocks and uprooted trees.
BEIJING (AP) — China on Wednesday blasted the latest package of U.S. military assistance to Taiwan on Wednesday, saying that such funding was pushing the self-governing island republic into a “dangerous situation.”
The U.S. Senate late Tuesday passed $95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan after months of delays and contentious debate over how involved the United States should be in foreign wars. China claims the entire island of Taiwan as its own territory and has threatened to take it by force if necessary.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — On a recent morning at a hospital in the heart of gang territory in Haiti’s capital, a woman began convulsing before her body went limp as a doctor and two nurses raced to save her.
They stuck electrodes to her chest and flipped on an oxygen machine while keeping their eyes on a computer screen that reflected a dangerously low oxygen level of 84%.
(April 22, 2024 / JNS) Iran is in contact with the Biden administration about restarting moribund talks on a new nuclear agreement amid a direct military confrontation between Tehran and U.S. ally Israel, the dpa German news agency reported on Sunday, citing a report in the Iranian Shargh newspaper.
Knowledgeable sources told Shargh that the Islamic Republic’s U.N. mission is coordinating the talks with the Americans and that Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri is no longer leading the negotiations. Instead, Iran’s U.N. Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani is doing so.
US President Joe Biden released a Passover message on Sunday night that began well, focusing on the Biblical aspect of the Jewish holiday. It stayed focused on Jews and Israel, condemning the Oct. 7 attack on Israel and Hamas. But Biden strayed off course, claiming that he was working to bring about a ceasefire and humanitarian aid to Gaza, both of which benefit Hamas.
“Tomorrow night, Jews around the world will celebrate Passover, recounting their miraculous Exodus story from hundreds of years of enslavement in Egypt and their journey to freedom,” the statement read. “This holiday reminds us of a profound and powerful truth: that even in the face of persecution, if we hold on to faith, we shall endure and overcome.”
Saudi Arabia, a country that was on the verge of normalization with Israel before the October 7th massacre, helped not only with intelligence but may have also assisted in neutralizing missiles fired from Iran overnight on Saturday according to one report.
Many of the drones and missiles had to travel through Jordanian and Saudi airspace to reach Israel.
A greater proportion of young Americans sympathize with the Palestinian people and government than with the Israeli people and government, while almost one in five sympathize with Hamas and a growing number want the US to end or reduce its alliance with the Jewish State, according to a new poll.
The national poll — released by the Institute of Politics at Harvard University’s Kennedy School — was of Americans aged 18-29. It found that while 52 percent of young people sympathize with Israelis, 56 percent sympathize with the Palestinian people.
MEXICO CITY (AP) — By mid-2024, Claudia Sheinbaum will most likely become Mexico’s first female president. She would also be its first leader with a Jewish background in a country that’s home to nearly 100 million Catholics.
On June 2, voters will choose a new president, 628 congressmen and thousands of local positions — Mexico’s largest election ever, according to the National Electoral Institute.
