JERUSALEM: Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held secret talks in Saudi Arabia with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, several media said, in the first reported trip by an Israeli premier to the kingdom. The meeting, reported Monday by Israeli public broadcaster Kan and other outlets, comes weeks after the Jewish ...
Read More »US secretary of state in India on first leg of Asia trip over China ‘threats’
NEW DELHI: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has landed in India, the first leg of a five-day Asia trip aimed at strengthening strategic ties in the face of growing Chinese influence in the region. Pompeo is due to meet India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar later on Monday. On Tuesday, ...
Read More »Pompeo insists China ‘tide is turning’ at contentious US Senate hearing
WASHINGTON: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted the “tide is turning” in dealings with China, citing international support for Washington s policies even as he expressed “dismay” at the number of countries supporting Beijing s new security law for Hong Kong. Reflecting rising tensions between the world s two largest economies, Pompeo ...
Read More »US to Hit Huawei Employees With Visa Bans
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration said Wednesday it will impose travel bans on employees of the Chinese technology giant Huawei and other Chinese companies the U.S. determines are assisting authoritarian governments in cracking down on human rights, including in China’s western Xinjiang province. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also said the ...
Read More »Pompeo presses China to allow lab inspections amid pandemic
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday pressed China to allow inspectors into sensitive laboratories, voicing concern about their security amid the global COVID-19 pandemic. Pompeo has refused to rule out that the deadly virus leaked out of a laboratory in the Chinese metropolis of Wuhan, a scenario ...
Read More »Iran condemns US show of support for ‘rioters’
TEHRAN: Iran condemned the United States’ support for “rioters” in a statement issued late Sunday, after two days of violent protests in the Islamic republic against a petrol price hike. The foreign ministry said that it was reacting to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s “expression of support… for a ...
Read More »Syrian Kurds defend key town as Pence, Pompeo sent to press Turkey
RAS AL-AIN: Kurdish fighters battled to defend a key Syrian border town from Turkish-backed forces in a flare-up of violence as US President Donald Trump sent his vice president and top diplomat to Ankara to demand a ceasefire. Russia, already the key foreign power in Syria, stepped into the void ...
Read More »Pompeo says United States aims to avoid war with Iran
WASHINGTON – The United States aims to avoid war with Iran and the additional troops ordered to be deployed in the Gulf region are for “deterrence and defence,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday. Speaking to Fox News, Pompeo added that he was confident U.S. President Donald ...
Read More »Release of Iranian tanker ‘very unfortunate’: Mike Pompeo
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed frustration Monday over the “very unfortunate” decision to release an Iranian tanker held off Gibraltar, in an implicit rebuke to ally Britain. The British overseas territory rejected a US demand to seize the vessel, which has since departed Gibraltar and entered international ...
Read More »Pompeo warns UK over China 5G network role
LONDON: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Britain on Wednesday that allowing China a role in its 5G network risked undermining the historic allies’ intelligence sharing, during a visit to London that also highlighted their differences on Iran. Following talks with Prime Minister Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Jeremy ...
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