Senior Lebanese officials on Monday defended procedures at Beirut airport during a tour for journalists and diplomats, a day after a British daily alleged Hezbollah was storing weapons at the facility. The accusations came during escalating exchanges of fire and bellicose rhetoric between Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement and Israeli forces, which have engaged in near-daily fire […]
Diplomats on Tuesday said at least 550 pilgrims died during the hajj, underscoring the gruelling nature of the pilgrimage which again unfolded in scorching temperatures this year. At least 323 of those who died were Egyptians, most of them succumbing to heat-related illnesses, two Arab diplomats coordinating their countries’ responses told AFP. “All of them […]
Poland is to restrict the movement of Russian diplomats on the grounds that Russia is engaging in hybrid warfare targeting Poland and the European Union, Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski announced in Brussels on Monday. Sikorski said a diplomatic note to this effect would soon be sent to the Russian embassy in Warsaw. The restrictions will […]
By Andrew Gray and John Irish BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Talks on deploying a European Union mission at the Rafah border crossing in Gaza are at a preliminary stage and the deployment will not happen without an end to the war between Israel and Hamas, a senior EU official said on Friday. EU foreign ministers will […]
By Karen Lema MANILA (Reuters) -The Philippines’ national security adviser called on Friday for Chinese diplomats to be expelled over an alleged leak of a phone conversation with a Filipino admiral, in a significant escalation of a bitter row over the South China Sea. China’s embassy in Manila had orchestrated “repeated acts of engaging and […]
Burkina Faso’s military junta has expelled three French diplomats, accusing them of “subversive activities”. France said there were “no grounds” to expel the diplomats. The expulsions are the latest sign of worsening relations between the two nations since Captain Ibrahim Traoré seized power in a coup in 2022. He has pivoted Burkina Faso towards Russia, […]
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron were in Israel on Wednesday for crisis diplomacy talks. Cameron spoke in favor of a measured response by Israel to Iran’s recent attack. He hopes the country responds “in a way that is smart, as well as tough, but it’s also does as little […]
Foreign diplomats in Russia have laid flowers at the site of last week’s attack on a suburban Moscow concert hall that killed 144 people. Those in attendance included British deputy head of mission to Russia Tom Dodd and representatives of the US, countries in the EU, Africa and Latin America. Russian state news agency RIA […]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son discussed expanding cooperation in semiconductors and supply chain diversification in a meeting on Monday in Washington, the State Department said. In September, U.S. President Joe Biden visited Hanoi and signed an agreement to elevate ties between the two countries […]
Experts and diplomats from 36 countries along with representatives of international aid organizations met in Cyprus on Thursday to discuss further aid deliveries by sea for the war-torn Gaza Strip. Cypriot Foreign Minister Konstantinos Kombos said the focus was on logistical issues for transport by freighter from the Cypriot port of Larnaca to Gaza. A […]
VIENNA (AP) — Austria said on Wednesday it has ordered two diplomats from Russia’s Embassy in Vienna to leave the country. An Austrian official said the expulsions were related to spying activities. The Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement that the two Russian diplomats had “engaged in acts incompatible with their diplomatic status” and […]
ROME (AP) — The Vatican secretary of state is seeking to defuse outrage over Pope Francis‘ latest diplomatic foray, insisting in media interviews that a primary condition for negotiations to end the war in Ukraine is an end to Russia’s aggression and that any peace must be a “just peace.” Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s […]