united states

Saudi Arabia and the Dilemma of Recognizing Israel

With a pending Gaza ceasefire and Donald Trump returning as US president, Saudi Arabia's de facto leader must now decide whether to recognize Israel before a Palestinian state is created. For Trump, normalization of Israeli-Saudi ties would be the deal of all deals. But Riyadh has insisted a Palestinian state must be established before such a ...

Trump Administration Plans Nationwide Immigration Raids Starting Tuesday

US immigration authorities will carry out mass arrests of undocumented immigrants across the country on Tuesday, a top border official in the incoming administration of Donald Trump has said. The move would be among the first by Republican Trump, who returns to the White House on Monday, to uphold a campaign pledge to deport millions of ...

TikTok's US Future in Limbo after Supreme Court Ruling

The US Supreme Court on Friday upheld a law that could force TikTok to shut down in the United States, potentially cutting off the app's 170 million users  within days. The unanimous ruling, which found the law does not violate free speech rights, dealt a major blow to TikTok and created uncertainty about what will happen when the ban ...

US President-Elect Trump Holds Phone Talks with Chinese Leader Xi

Chinese President Xi Jinping held phone talks Friday with US president-elect Donald Trump, Chinese state media reported. CCTV said the phone call happened "on the evening of January 17", without providing any immediate further details. Earlier on Friday, China announced Xi would send Vice President Han Zheng to attend Trump's inauguration next ...

IEA Forecasts Record Nuclear Electricity Production in 2025

Nuclear-powered electricity generation is set to hit a record level in 2025, accounting for nearly 10 percent of global production, the International Energy Agency forecast on Thursday. The leading energy monitor said in a report that 70 gigawatts of new generating capacity were under construction worldwide – one of the highest levels in 30 ...

Biden Worries About An ‘Oligarchy’ Taking Over America

In a sombre farewell speech on Wednesday, Joe Biden expressed concern that America was falling into the hands of an ‘oligarchy’, targeting Donald Trump and the tech multi-billionaires now lining up behind him. It was a far cry from the ‘optimism’ professed by the outgoing president over the last four years, during this short address of ...

Trump's Diplomatic Chief to be Heard by US Senate

Marco Rubio, Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of state, will say Wednesday that China cheated its way to superpower status and that the "liberal world order" long cherished by the US elite should be discarded. Rubio will face fellow senators at his confirmation hearing in what is likely to be among the least contentious sessions for Trump's ...

Private US, Japanese Lunar Landers Launch on Single Rocket

One rocket, two missions: lunar landers built by US and Japanese companies launched their "rideshare" to the Moon on Wednesday, showcasing the private sector's growing role in space exploration. On board the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that took off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida were Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost and ispace's Resilience ...

US Removes Cuba From State Sponsors of Terror List

President Joe Biden is removing the US designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, the White House said Tuesday, in a deal that will see imprisoned protesters released in the communist country. The move will likely be overturned after the return to office next week of Republican Donald Trump, who reinstated the designation in the last ...

Qatar Says Gaza Truce Talks in 'Final Stages'

Key mediator Qatar said negotiations for a Gaza truce and hostage release deal were in their "final stages" on Tuesday, adding that it was hopeful an agreement could be reached "very soon". Qatar, Egypt and the United States have stepped up efforts to broker a ceasefire to enable the release of hostages held in Gaza since ...

Blinken Claims Hezbollah Is Now 'Just a Memory'

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Tuesday, referred to "Hezbollah's retreat to the north of the Litani River," noting that "Iran has lost the ability to supply the party with weapons." "Hezbollah has lost and is now a thing of the past. His attacks have harmed the Lebanese and the Israelis," he said at a press conference on the situation ...