USA

Christian-Islamic Spiritual Summit Calls for National Unity, Implementation of 1701

A Christian-Islamic spiritual summit convened on Wednesday at the seat of the Maronite Church in Bkerke, at the invitation of Patriarch Beshara al-Rai, to reaffirm national unity and call for an immediate cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah. The urgent implementation of resolution 1701 was emphasized in the meeting's final ...

What Is THAAD, the US Missile Defense System Sent to Israel?

Washington announced on Sunday the deployment of a powerful American missile defense system to Israel, along with one hundred soldiers to operate it. Known as THAAD, the system is intended to bolster Israel's defenses against threats from Tehran and its allies. This is not the first time Washington has deployed such a weapons system on Israeli ...

Harris, Trump Seek Advantage in Knife-Edge Election Battle

Kamala Harris and rival Donald Trump campaigned in battleground states Sunday seeking 11th-hour advantages in a deadlocked White House race, as new polling shows the vice president underperforming among some traditional Democratic voter demographics. Harris was in North Carolina, a state hard-hit by a hurricane two weeks ago that devastated ...

US Embassy Reiterates Security Alert, Urges Citizens to Leave Lebanon Now

The United States Embassy in Lebanon reiterated its security arlert on Monday, “strongly” advising American citizens to depart from the embattled country immediately.  In a statement, the embassy noted that “since September 27, the US government has added thousands of (airplane) seats in extra capacity to accommodate US citizens and their ...

What Successful Diplomacy Looks Like

One of the things to know about ceasefires is they don't just happen because an American leader wants one, or because there is a piece of paper in circulation in New York labeled "ceasefire."  Unless an outside power is prepared to impose a ceasefire by force, it happens when the parties to a conflict no longer believe they can achieve their ...

Nobel Prize in Economics Awarded for Research into Wealth Inequality

The Nobel prize in economics was awarded on Monday to Turkish-American Daron Acemoglu and British-Americans Simon Johnson and James Robinson for research into wealth inequality between nations. By examining the various political and economic systems introduced by European colonisers, the three have demonstrated a relationship between societal ...

Pentagon to Send THAAD Missile Defense System to Israel

The Pentagon said Sunday it will deploy a high-altitude anti-missile system and its US military crew to Israel to help the ally protect itself from potential Iranian missile attacks. At the direction of US President Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin "authorized the deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery and ...

Ceasefire: Washington Shifts Responsibility to Lebanon

The United States has now placed the responsibility for achieving a ceasefire in southern Lebanon on Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. This shift was made clear during the phone call between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Berri, as well as statements by Senior Advisor to the US President, Amos Hochstein, to Lebanese media, and in his ...

US Forces Strike Islamic State Group in Syria

US forces “conducted a series of airstrikes against multiple known ISIS camps in Syria in the early morning of Oct. 11,” the US Central Command said in a statement on X, using an acronym for the Islamist militant group. “The strikes will disrupt the ability of ISIS to plan, organize, and conduct attacks against the United States, its allies ...

US Expands Sanctions Against Iran’s Oil Industry Over Israel Strikes

The United States hit Iran's oil and petrochemicals sectors with fresh sanctions on Friday in response to Tehran's October 1 attack against Israel, designating dozens of new companies and firms. In a statement on Friday, the Treasury Department said it was going after Iran's so-called "shadow fleet" of ships involved in selling Iranian oil in ...

The World’s Three Biggest Nuclear Hotspots

After Japan's anti-nuclear group Nihon Hidankyo won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, here is an overview of today's biggest nuclear hotspots. Israel-Iran trade warnings Israel regards Iran's nuclear facilities as an existential threat and has promised a "deadly, precise and surprising" response after Iran launched its second-ever direct strike ...

Zelensky in Berlin Hopes War With Russia Will End Next Year

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky voiced hope on Friday that the war with Russia will end next year. He was speaking during a visit to Berlin to ask for sustained military support. As Ukraine faces a grueling third winter at war, Zelensky has been seeking support on a two-day whirlwind tour of European capitals that took him to London, Paris ...