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Blinken to Press Mideast Allies for Stronger Support for Ukraine

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Blinken to Press Mideast Allies for Stronger Support for Ukraine

JERUSALEM — When he joins a summit on Sunday targeted on Center East unity, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken will ask a few of the area’s prime diplomats to rally behind one other trigger: serving to Ukraine repel Russia’s invasion.

The swiftly organized summit assembly within the Negev desert has been billed as a historic occasion, designed to showcase rising diplomatic and financial ties between some Arab states and Israel that Mr. Blinken on Sunday referred to as “unthinkable just some years in the past.” However foremost on his thoughts was the modest help for Ukraine amongst international locations within the area that even have ties with Russia.

“That is very a lot part of the dialog we’ve had at the moment, and I’ll be having all through the course of my go to right here, together with with our companions,” Mr. Blinken mentioned Sunday in Jerusalem throughout a information convention with Israel’s overseas minister, Yair Lapid.

“We will probably be speaking all through about varied technique of help that Israel and different international locations may give to Ukraine,” he mentioned. “That will probably be a dialog that’s ongoing all through this journey.”

Mr. Blinken praised Israel’s humanitarian assist to Ukraine, together with by aiding refugees and sending a discipline hospital to the battle zone. Mr. Blinken additionally famous Israel’s function in attempting to barter with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia — one of many few international locations nonetheless ready to take action — to finish the disaster even because it has condemned the invasion.

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However up to now, Israel has not despatched weapons to Ukraine, nor joined a broad coalition of nations worldwide, together with the seven largest industrial nations, in imposing harsh financial sanctions designed to isolate Russia and hamper its conflict footing.

Israel buys about $1 billion in Russian coal, wheat, diamonds and different items yearly, and in 2020 despatched about $718 million in agricultural merchandise to Russia, in response to the Observatory of Financial Alternative on the Massachusetts Institute of Know-how. Israel additionally coordinates with Russia to forestall coming into direct however unintentional navy battle in neighboring Syria, the place Iranian troopers or their proxy fighters search to threaten the Jewish state.

Mr. Lapid referred to as relations between america and Israel “unbreakable” however famous disagreements over the Biden administration’s makes an attempt to return to a nuclear cope with Iran and open a diplomatic consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem. Whereas Israel has not imposed sanctions in opposition to Russia, it’s working to forestall Moscow from evading the financial penalties, Mr. Blinken mentioned.

Mr. Lapid mentioned, “I believe there is no such thing as a doubt in anybody’s thoughts, whereas our staff was presenting this to the American delegation, that Israel is doing every thing it could possibly with the intention to be a part of the hassle.”

In attempting to keep up relations with Russia in opposition to the backdrop of conflict, Israel just isn’t alone within the Center East.

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Russia exports much more items to Morocco than to Israel, amounting to about $1.35 billion in coal, petroleum and chemical compounds in 2020. Morocco, which is able to attend the summit assembly celebrating the so-called Abraham Accords with Israel on Sunday and Monday, has not condemned Moscow for the invasion and maintains it desires to assist mediate the disaster by holding open communication with each Russia and Ukraine.

Morocco additionally desires to maintain Russia from straight arming the Polisario Entrance, the pro-independence group within the Western Sahara.

“Morocco’s relations with Russia are very previous and date again to a number of centuries again,” Faouzi Ahmed, previously a high-ranking Moroccan diplomat, mentioned in an interview. He famous “good relations” with Ukraine as properly and defended Morocco’s neutrality within the conflict as “constructive.”

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“The concept is to not irritate the state of affairs,” Mr. Ahmed mentioned. “It’s crucial for different international locations to seek out widespread grounds. Full-fledged conflict advantages no one.”

Mr. Blinken will journey to Morocco later this week, his first go to there as secretary of state. Whereas there, he’s additionally anticipated to satisfy with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed of the United Arab Emirates, which refused late final month to denounce Russia’s invasion by abstaining from an American-backed decision on the United Nations Safety Council.

The Persian Gulf nation additionally has sidestepped U.S. requests to extend oil manufacturing for European markets that had relied on Russian vitality. The Emirates buys navy weapons from Moscow and has given haven to Russian oligarchs and others intently linked to Mr. Putin who’ve relocated to Dubai to flee the worldwide sanctions’ chew.

The disconnect over Russia represents the newest signal of frayed relations between Washington and the Emirates that started cooling when President Biden made clear that the Center East wouldn’t be a prime overseas coverage precedence for his administration. It has sought as a substitute to deal with america’ advanced relations with China and, extra just lately, on deterring Russia.

This month the Emirati ambassador to Washington described a “stress take a look at” underway between the U.A.E. and america, brought on partly by the Biden administration’s renewed negotiations for a nuclear cope with Iran and by a dispute over a $23 billion arms sale that might have despatched superior American warplanes to the U.A.E. The ambassador, Yousef al-Otaiba, described “sturdy days the place the connection may be very wholesome, and days the place the connection is below query.”

Bahrain, one of many unique signatories of the Abraham Accords, has additionally sought to stroll a line between Russia and Ukraine. The energy-rich kingdom voted in favor of the Safety Council decision that denounced the invasion. However it is usually persevering with to speak to Russia in hopes of discovering a approach out of the conflict, together with in a telephone name between Mr. Putin and King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa two weeks in the past.

An evaluation revealed this month by the Washington Institute for Close to East Coverage famous that Russia’s invasion may have broad financial impacts on the area, from calls for to export extra oil and fuel to Europe, to attainable shortages on wheat and different merchandise from Ukraine. It concluded that a lot of the Center East “could also be caught within the center because the battle in Ukraine unfolds.”

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“Additional fallout may enhance instability within the area and past,” the evaluation concluded. “Amid broad issues about Washington reducing its deal with the Center East, the U.S. response to the Ukraine disaster may form perceptions about American pursuits within the area.”

In Jerusalem, Mr. Blinken acknowledged rising bread costs within the Center East, brought on by the wheat shortages, in describing the conflict’s fallout as “hitting probably the most weak folks the toughest.”

He mentioned his travels this week, together with to Algiers, Algeria, and Ramallah within the West Financial institution, would look “to alleviate a few of the burden that that is putting on folks, together with all through the Center East.”

Patrick Kingsley contributed reporting from Sde Boker, Israel, and Aida Alami from Paris.

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RFK Jr is reviewing resumes for top Trump health jobs, sources say

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RFK Jr is reviewing resumes for top Trump health jobs, sources say

Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the former independent presidential candidate, is reviewing candidate resumes for the top jobs at the US government’s health agencies in Donald Trump’s new administration, a former Kennedy aide and a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.

Kennedy, of the famed political family, has been asked to recommend appointees for all regulatory health agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Food and Drug Administration, said Del Bigtree, who was director of communications for Kennedy’s campaign and remains close to the former candidate.

A source familiar with the matter, who declined to be identified, echoed that Kennedy had taken on that role. Trump’s transition team did not respond to a request for comment.

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Iran denies involvement in Trump assassination plot outlined in DOJ report: 'Malicious conspiracy'

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Iran denies involvement in Trump assassination plot outlined in DOJ report: 'Malicious conspiracy'

Iran’s Foreign Ministry dismissed a report released by the Department of Justice on Friday stating that it thwarted an Iranian plot to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump.

A criminal complaint filed in a New York City federal court stated that an unnamed official in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps told Farhad Shakeri, 51, of Iran, to “focus on surveilling, and, ultimately, assassinating, former President of the United States, Donald J. Trump.”

“Shakeri has informed law enforcement that he was tasked on Oct. 7, 2024, with providing a plan to kill President-elect Donald J. Trump,” it added.

On Saturday, spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei “categorically dismissed allegations that Iran was involved in attempts to assassinate former and current US officials,” according to the foreign ministry. 

IRANIAN ASSET CHARGED IN PLOT TO ASSASSINATE TRUMP, DOJ SAYS

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Esmaeil Baghaei, spokesman of Iran’s Foreign Ministry, described a report from the DOJ stating that it thwarted an Iranian plot to kill President-elect Donald Trump as “completely baseless and rejected.” (ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

Baghaei, who described the report as “completely baseless and rejected,” said Iran has been accused of similar scenarios in the past that have been “firmly denied and proven false.”

He said that repeating these types of claims “is a malicious conspiracy orchestrated by Zionist and anti-Iranian circles, aimed at further complicating the issues between the US and Iran.”

Baghaei concluded by saying Iran “remains committed” to using “all legitimate and legal means” at domestic and international levels to “restore the rights of the Iranian nation.”

Protester against the IRGC

An official in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) is accused of tasking an Iranian man with assassinating President-elect Donald Trump. Protesters across the world have previously asked that the IRGC be placed on the EU’s terrorist list after blaming the group for repression within Iran, and terrorism and warmongering abroad. (Siavosh Hosseini/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

INTELLIGENCE REPORT SAYS IRAN WILL KEEP TRYING TO KILL TRUMP REGARDLESS OF ELECTION OUTCOME

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Shakeri, who remains at large and is believed to be living in Iran, “immigrated to the United States as a child and was deported in or about 2008 after serving 14 years in prison for a robbery conviction,” according to the DOJ.

Shakeri is also accused of tasking two New York men, 49-year-old Carlisle Rivera and 36-year-old Jonathon Loadholt, with surveilling and killing an American of Iranian origin — who “is an outspoken critic of the Iranian regime” — for $100,000. 

The person, who identified herself as journalist Masih Alinejad, lives in America and has also been targeted by the Iranian government, the DOJ report said.

WATCH: MASIH ALINEJAD: I DON’T DESERVE TO BE FOLLOWED BY KILLERS

“We will not stand for the Iranian regime’s attempts to endanger the American people and America’s national security,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

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Shakeri, Rivera and Loadholt face charges of murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and money laundering conspiracy, which carry maximum penalties of 10 to 20 years in prison. 

Prosecutors said Shakeri has also been charged with conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization and conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and sanctions against the Government of Iran, which each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Fox News’ Greg Norman and David Spunt contributed to this report.

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Stefanos Kasselakis announces new party in Greece after leaving Syriza

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Stefanos Kasselakis announces new party in Greece after leaving Syriza
This article was originally published in Greek

The leader of Greece’s main SYRIZA opposition party has stepped down and launched a new party, without even giving it a name.

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After many turbulent months, which led the leader of the left wing SYRIZA party to step down after being voted out by its central committee, Stefanos Kasselakis has announced the launch of a new one.

The party is so new it hasn’t yet been given a name, but Kasselakis said it is “the continuation of the democratic SYRIZA party, not the one that is now blocking people from taking part in the processes of the party.”

Kasselakis wasn’t allowed to enter the meeting hall in Athens on Friday where SYRIZA’s congress was being held, as he is no longer a member. Tension then escalated, with Kasselakis organising a meeting of his supporters for Saturday afternoon.

At the meeting at his office he announced the birth of the not-yet-named party:

“Today a movement is being created, a movement of democracy and free citizens. I will talk about the name in a few minutes. Yesterday we had a dilemma. The dilemma was do we legitimise the process and by our silence make it right or do we speak out? Because indeed silence is not guilt, it is complicity.”

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“You will decide what to call this movement. You will be the owners and its president will be your servant,” he added.

Following Kasselakis’ announcement, some of SYRIZA’s MPs said they would also leave the party and become independents.

It means the centre-left Pasok party will now become Greece’s biggest opposition party.

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