US and Chinese defense ministers met on Friday for their first in-person talks since the start of President Joe Biden’s administration, trying to ensure that broader tensions between the two countries do not spill over into military misunderstandings or miscommunication, officials said.Relations between China and the US have been tense, with the world’s two largest economies clashing over everything from Taiwan and China’s human rights record to its military activity in the South China Sea.US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chinese Minister of National Defense General Wei Fenghe met in Singapore on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s premier security meeting. Previously, the two had spoken by phone in April.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Before the meeting, a senior US official said the focus would be about trying to set guard rails in the tense relationship between the two countries.“We are taking every effort to ensure that it is a professional, substantive meeting and we are going to be talking about some very serious issues, but no desire on the part of the United States to make a public spectacle,” the official said.Chinese media have also said Beijing will use the meeting to discuss cooperation with the US.China, which claims democratic Taiwan as its own territory, has increased military activity near the island over the past two years, responding to what it calls “collusion” between Taipei and Washington.Last month, Biden said the US would get involved militarily should China attack Taiwan, although the administration has since clarified that US policy on the issue has not changed and Washington does not support Taiwan’s independence.Washington has had a longstanding policy of strategic ambiguity on whether it would defend Taiwan militarily.This year, Washington warned that Beijing appeared poised to help Russia in its war against Ukraine.But since then, US officials have said while they remain wary about China’s longstanding support for Russia in general, the military and economic support that they worried about has not come to pass, at least for now.China has not condemned Russia’s attack and does not call it an invasion, but has urged a negotiated solution.Beijing and Moscow have grown closer in recent years, and in February, the two sides signed a wide-ranging strategic partnership aimed at countering US influence and said they would have “no ‘forbidden’ areas of cooperation.”Read more:In shadow of Ukraine war, US and China set to clash during Shangri-La DialogueAfter veto on North Korea, China says ‘let’s see’ on UN action over a nuclear testBerlin, London, Paris urge Iran to ‘cease its nuclear escalation’
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: US, Chinese defense ministers meet face-to-face, seeking to avoid misunderstandings
Syria halts Damascus airport flights after Israeli strikes
Syria on Friday halted flights to and from Damascus airport, the transport ministry said, after Israeli airstrikes damaged a runway, according to sources.The ministry said the “suspension of incoming and outgoing flights through Damascus International Airport” was due to technical disruptions, but an airport employee told AFP that the dawn strikes by Israel had “affected” the facility.“We had to postpone all flights for at least 48 hours and some flights have been rerouted through Aleppo airport,” the airport employee said on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak on the issue.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.An official at an Arab airline who also spoke on the condition of anonymity said separately that an airport landing strip had been hit during the Israeli assault - a development the pro-government newspaper al-Watan also reported.Syrian state media had reported the Israeli strikes on southern Damascus, saying a volley of missiles were fired from the occupied Golan Heights at around 4:20 am (0120 GMT).Syrian air defenses intercepted most of the missiles, but those that reached their target left at least one civilian wounded and caused material damage, said the official news agency SANA.Read more:Turkey hopes allies ‘respect’ planned Syria offensiveSyrian and Russian air forces conduct joint drill over SyriaUS has no plans to support normalization efforts with Syria’s Assad: Diplomat
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Syria halts Damascus airport flights after Israeli strikes
UAE reports highest number of new daily COVID-19 cases in four months
The UAE has recorded 1,085 new COVID-19 cases – marking the highest daily toll of new infections since February, state news agency WAM reported on Friday.It marks the second day running that cases have surpassed the 1,000 mark - a figure which has not been recorded in four months.For more coronavirus news, visit our dedicated page.WAM also reported 876 new recoveries, No new deaths have been reported.To date, the UAE has recorded 915,068 cases of COVID-19, 897,324 recoveries, and 2,305 deaths.In recent weeks both the UAE and Saudi Arabia have reported a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Earlier this month, the UAE earlier announced it had achieved a 100 percent vaccination of all targeted categories.Read more:UAE’s daily COVID-19 cases rise above 1,000, highest toll of new infections in months
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: UAE reports highest number of new daily COVID-19 cases in four months
China will ‘not hesitate to start a war’ over Taiwan: Defense spokesman
Beijing will “not hesitate to start a war” if Taiwan declares independence, China’s defense minister warned his US counterpart Friday in the pair’s first face-to-face talks, officials said. “If anyone dares to split Taiwan from China, the Chinese army will definitely not hesitate to start a war no matter the cost,” Wu Qian quoted Defense Minister Wei Fenghe as saying during a meeting with Lloyd Austin.The Chinese minister also vowed that Beijing would “smash to smithereens any ‘Taiwan independence’ plot and resolutely uphold the unification of the motherland,” according to the Chinese defense ministry.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.He “stressed that Taiwan is China’s Taiwan... Using Taiwan to contain China will never prevail,” the ministry said. Austin told his Chinese counterpart during the talks in Singapore that Beijing must “refrain from further destabilizing actions toward Taiwan,” the US Department of Defense said. Taiwan, a self-ruled, democratic island, lives under the constant threat of invasion by China. Beijing views the island as its territory and has vowed to one day seize it, by force if necessary.Read more:Philippines protests China ‘swarming’ around disputed reefJapan calls for defense spending hike in policy paper, notes threats to TaiwanPutin’s invasion of Ukraine forces Biden to rewrite US security plan
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: China will ‘not hesitate to start a war’ over Taiwan: Defense spokesman
US to drop COVID testing for incoming international air travelers
The Biden administration will drop pre-departure COVID-19 international air testing requirements effective Sunday at 12:01 a.m. after heavy lobbying from airlines and the travel industry, a senior administration official told Reuters.The Biden administration will announce on Friday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will no longer require pre-departure COVID-19 testing for travelers coming to the United States after it determined based on the science and data that this requirement is no longer necessary.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.CDC will do a reassessment of this decision in 90 days, the official said.Since December, the CDC has required travelers to test negative within one day before flights to the United States but does not require testing for land border crossings.The official said, “If there is a need to reinstate a pre-departure testing requirement - including due to a new, concerning variant - CDC will not hesitate to act.”American Airlines Chief Executive Robert Isom said last week at a conference that the testing requirements were “nonsensical” and were “depressing” leisure and business travel.Airlines have said that many Americans are not traveling internationally because of concerns they will test positive and be stranded abroad.Isom said 75 percent of countries American serves do not have testing requirements.“We’re really frustrated and this is something that is damaging not only US travel but it just doesn’t make sense,” Isom said last week.In December, the CDC tightened requirements for international air travelers to get a negative test within one day rather than three days of coming to the United States.Read more:UAE reports highest number of new daily COVID-19 cases in four monthsShanghai faces unexpected round of COVID-19 testing for most residentsChina calls COVID-19 ‘lab leak’ theory a lie after WHO report
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: US to drop COVID testing for incoming international air travelers
Six Day War: What's left of Israel's Left, 55 years later?
The Six Day War that initially led the Labor Party to its biggest victory ever, actually caused its demise.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Six Day War: What's left of Israel's Left, 55 years later?
Six Day War: IDF troops became an unwitting symbol of unified Jerusalem
The photograph appeared throughout the country – in newspapers, on posters and later in books about the war. Yifat suddenly had become more than a soldier who participated in an extraordinary event.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Six Day War: IDF troops became an unwitting symbol of unified Jerusalem
In massive dragnet, Kuwait launches clampdown on illegal residents
Kuwait Ministry of Interior dispatched patrols in the vicinity of Jleeb al-Shuyoukh, while security units were stationed at the entrances and exits of Jleeb, Abbasiya and Al-Hasawi..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: In massive dragnet, Kuwait launches clampdown on illegal residents
In Morocco, gender-challenging artists take to the stage
The group travels across the North African nation mapping out the many varieties of Aita, a genre that has long been popular in the countryside..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: In Morocco, gender-challenging artists take to the stage
After years of violence, Iraq continues to exhume mass graves
The years of violence have made Iraq one of the countries with the highest number of missing persons in the world, says the International Committee of the Red Cross..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: After years of violence, Iraq continues to exhume mass graves