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Netanyahu says Israel probably killed Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar

Netanyahu says Israel probably killed Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar

Reuters21-05-2025

JERUSALEM, May 21 (Reuters) - Israel has probably killed Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday.
An Israeli air strike on a hospital in southern Gaza targeted Sinwar earlier this month but his death had not so far been confirmed either by Israel or Hamas.

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US Senate rejects bids to block arms sales to Qatar, UAE
US Senate rejects bids to block arms sales to Qatar, UAE

Reuters

time22 minutes ago

  • Reuters

US Senate rejects bids to block arms sales to Qatar, UAE

WASHINGTON, June 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Wednesday blocked resolutions that would have halted more than $3 billion in military sales to the governments of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The Senate voted 56-39 against considering legislation that would have blocked the $1.9 billion sale of armed drones and associated equipment to Qatar. The vote was largely along party lines, with Trump's fellow Republicans opposing the effort to stop the sale and most Democrats backing it. The 100-member chamber later voted by the same 56 to 39 margin against an effort to block a $1.6 billion sale to the UAE of helicopters and other equipment. Backers of the resolutions of disapproval said they opposed the sales for reasons including Qatar's offer of a luxury jet as a gift to Trump and an agreement for a firm backed by the Emiratis to use a stablecoin launched by Trump's World Liberty Financial crypto venture. Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, a lead sponsor of the resolutions, called the agreements a corruption of U.S. foreign policy. The embassies of Qatar and the UAE did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Senator Jim Risch, the Idaho Republican who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, described both countries as reliable partners to the U.S. and dismissed the resolutions as partisan politics.

US orders non-essential embassy staff out of Iraq amid growing Middle East tensions
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The Guardian

timean hour ago

  • The Guardian

US orders non-essential embassy staff out of Iraq amid growing Middle East tensions

The United States has ordered the departure of 'non-essential' diplomatic staff and their families from embassies in the Middle East amid growing diplomatic tensions in the region. The US diplomatic draw-down came as Iran threatened to target US military bases in the region if conflict breaks out, while Donald Trump said he was 'less confident' about reaching a nuclear deal. The state department said on Wednesday it had ordered the departure of all non-essential personnel from the US embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, based on its commitment 'to keeping Americans safe, both at home and abroad'. The embassy already had been on limited staffing, and the order will not affect a large number of personnel. The US is also authorizing the departure of non-essential personnel and family members from Bahrain and Kuwait. Defense secretary Pete Hegseth 'has authorized the voluntary departure of military dependents from locations' across the region, US Central Command said in a statement. The command 'is monitoring the developing tension in the Middle East'. The partial evacuations come at a moment of heightened tensions in a region already aflame after 18 months of war in Gaza that has raised fears of a wider conflagration pitting the US and Israel against Iran and its allies. Tensions in the region have risen further in recent days as nuclear talks between the US and Iran appear to have hit an impasse. On Wednesday, Iran's defence minister, Aziz Nasirzadeh, responded to US threats of military action if the talks fail, saying: 'All its bases are within our reach, we have access to them, and without hesitation we will target all of them in the host countries. 'God willing, things won't reach that point, and the talks will succeed,' Nasirzadeh said, adding that the US side 'will suffer more losses' if it came to conflict. Iran and the US have been locked in a diplomatic standoff over Iran's uranium enrichment, with Tehran defending it as a 'non-negotiable' right and Washington calling it as a 'red line'. Trump had previously expressed optimism about the talks, saying during a Gulf tour last month that Washington was 'getting close' to securing a deal. But in an interview published on Wednesday, Trump said he was 'less confident' the US and Iran could reach a deal, in response to a question about whether he believed he could stop Tehran enriching uranium. Speaking to the New York Post's podcast Pod Force One, which was recorded on Monday, Trump said he was losing hope a deal could be reached. 'I don't know. I did think so, and I'm getting more and more – less confident about it. They seem to be delaying and I think that's a shame. I am less confident now than I would have been a couple of months ago,' he said. 'Something happened to them but I am much less confident of a deal being made … Maybe they don't wanna make a deal, what can I say? And maybe they do. There is nothing final.' Trump maintained that Washington would not allow Tehran to obtain nuclear weapons, saying 'it would be nicer to do it without warfare, without people dying'. The top US military officer for the Middle East, Gen Erik Kurilla, had been scheduled to testify before the Senate armed services committee on Thursday, but that testimony has now been postponed, according to the committee's website. The Pentagon did not have an immediate comment on why Kurilla's testimony was postponed.

Syria orders women to wear burkinis on public beaches
Syria orders women to wear burkinis on public beaches

Telegraph

time2 hours ago

  • Telegraph

Syria orders women to wear burkinis on public beaches

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