China has reaffirmed its commitment to fostering ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran "across various fields" during talks to advance a Beijing-brokered detente between the two long-time foes.

At a meeting in the Saudi capital, senior diplomats from the three nations also collectively called for "an immediate end" to Israel's military operations in Gaza and Lebanon, according to a joint statement released by China's foreign ministry.

They also condemned Israeli "attacks and violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity" of Iran.
It came a day after Israel confirmed that its air attack on Iran last month hit part of Tehran's nuclear programme while degrading its defence and missile production capabilities, and amid ongoing concerns about a further escalation of tensions in the Middle East.

"The three parties believe that the continuing cycle of violence and escalation is a serious threat to the security of the region and the world, as well as to maritime security,"

The Israeli prime minister was quick to congratulate the Republican leader, and the two have chatted by phone repeatedly since the election.

Trump's message? He reportedly told Netanyahu he wants Israel to wrap up its conflicts in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon before the Jan. 20 inauguration. That has led to speculation that Netanyahu will announce cease-fire agreements as Trump takes office, a kind of congratulatory reward.
That means Netanyahu has roughly 70 days to inflict as much damage as possible against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, both of which are backed by Iran.

Several Israeli officials are also eyeing the Trump victory as an opportunity to annex territory in the occupied West Bank, home to 3 million Palestinians. Such an action would be considered illegal under international law.
"This will be the year" for full Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said

Hezbollah's leader delivered a defiant speech on Wednesday saying Israel cannot impose its conditions for a truce, as US envoy Amos Hochstein headed from Lebanon to Israel to try to end the war.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, in a near-simultaneous statement, said any ceasefire deal must ensure Israel has the "freedom to act" against Hezbollah.

Hochstein announced in Lebanon that he would head to Israel on Wednesday to try to seal a ceasefire agreement in the war in Lebanon, which escalated in late September.

Israel expanded the focus of its operations from Gaza to Lebanon, vowing to secure the north and allow tens of thousands of people displaced by the cross-border fire to return home.
"Israel cannot defeat us and cannot impose its conditions on us," Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem.
Qassem added that his armed group seeks a "complete and comprehensive end to the aggression" and "the preservation of Lebanon's sovereignty".

The Biden administration is aggressively pushing senators to bless continued U.S. weapons shipments for Israel ahead of a first-of-its-kind vote in Congress on the policy, HuffPost has learned ― and administration officials are suggesting lawmakers who vote against the arms are empowering American and Israeli foes from Iran to the militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah, which the U.S. treats as terror organizations.

HuffPost obtained a copy of talking points the administration is circulating on Capitol Hill ahead of a Wednesday vote on several tranches of military equipment that President Joe Biden wants to send Israel. The White House sent the document to multiple Democratic Senate offices on Tuesday, two Senate aides who requested anonymity to speak frankly told HuffPost.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is also privately pressing senators to endorse the ongoing flow of military equipment to Israel, according to one of the aides.

Hundreds of people in Belarus who have shown solidarity with Ukraine have been arrested in a sweeping crackdown under authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, a key ally of Russia in the war, human rights activists said Wednesday.

At least 1,671 Belarusians were detained for their anti-war stance or for expressing solidarity with Ukraine, and at least 200 of them have been given prison sentences ranging from one to 25 years on charges of “extremism and “conspiracy against the state,” according to a report.

In addition to the arrests, convictions and prison sentences, the report alleged that people were tortured, held in inhumane conditions and given fines, with some subjected to forced psychiatric treatment.

At least 12 Ukrainians in Belarus have been convicted on charges of “extremism” and purported links to Ukrainian security agencies, and given prison terms, said Ihor Kyzym, a Ukrainian diplomat who previously served as that country’s ambassador to Belarus.

US special envoy Amos Hochstein said Tuesday in Beirut that an end to the Israel-Hezbollah war was "now within our grasp" as he met officials to discuss a truce plan largely endorsed by Lebanon.

Israel expanded the focus of its operations from Gaza to Lebanon, vowing to secure its northern border to allow tens of thousands of people displaced by the cross-border fire to return home.

After meeting with Hezbollah-allied parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who has led mediation on behalf of the group, Hochstein told reporters he saw "a real opportunity" to end the fighting.

"I'm here in Beirut to facilitate that decision, but it's ultimately the decision of the parties... It is now within our grasp."

Berri told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat after the meeting that "the situation is good, in principle", adding his team and US representatives still had "some technical details" to settle.

Hochstein also met Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and army chief Joseph Aoun.

US admiral says sending Israel and Ukraine weapons like Patriot missiles is eating into what's needed for countering China.
Adm. Sam Paparo is concerned that the US is giving out vital defenses it needs to deal with China.

"It's now eating into stocks,"
Paparo urged the Pentagon to start replenishing those stocks and expand beyond its original inventory.

The US Navy's top commander in the Indo-Pacific raised concerns on Tuesday that the Pentagon's advanced weapons shipments to Ukraine and Israel could sap the strength it needs to deal with China.

"Up to this year, where most of the employment of weapons were really artillery pieces and short-range weapons, I had said: 'Not at all,'" said Paparo, who's been commander of US Indo-Pacific Command since May.

"But now, with some of the Patriots that have been employed, some of the air-to-air missiles that have been employed, it's now eating into stocks," he added. "And to say otherwise would be dishonest."

Throughout his campaign, President-elect Donald Trump heaped scorn on the federal Department of Education, describing it as being infiltrated by “ radicals, zealots and Marxists.”

He has picked Linda McMahon, a former wrestling executive, to lead the department. But like many conservative politicians before him, Trump has called for dismantling the department altogether — a cumbersome task that likely would require action from Congress.

Trump has every right to clean up the unhealthy teaching in America school system teach mostly transgender and LGBTQ+...Before we learn more of Christianity. Trump state against teaching of unhealthy things and if possible any teacher found teaching unhealthy and Un-Godly beliefs. Make America "God's Own Country Again"

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China rejected a meeting with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during a conference in southeast Asia this week, marking the latest turn in a tumultuous relationship between the two countries’ defense leaders.

Austin sought to meet with his Chinese counterpart, Dong Jun, at the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting-Plus in Laos as part of a long-standing effort to maintain military lines of communication between the US and the People’s Republic of China. But China did not accept the offer, pointing to a recent Taiwan arms sale as their rationale.

Three weeks ago, the US approved a $2 billion arms sale to Taiwan, including a first-time provision of advanced surface-to-air missiles to the self-governed island. China immediately criticized the sale, promising to take “resolute countermeasures” to defend its sovereignty.

The Chinese rejection of the meeting in Laos comes just days after US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Peru

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called on his country's military to focus all efforts on completing war preparations.

KCNA reported Kim as describing the Korean peninsula as "the world's biggest hotspot,".

Kim also accused the US and South Korea of having brought tensions in the peninsula "to the worst phase in history,"

UK newspaper, some 50 M1989 Koksan self-propelled howitzers and almost 20 multiple rocket launchers produced in North Korea have arrived in Russia.

The US State Department claimed that thousands of North Korean soldiers are actively fighting alongside Russian forces in the border region near Kursk.

South Korean intelligence reports further suggest that North Korea has deployed over 10,000 soldiers to Russia, in addition to supplying artillery ammunition to Russian forces.

The increasing military cooperation between the two countries has been solidified through a recently signed agreement, which includes a mutual defence pact.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for Beijing and Berlin to develop ties with a "strategic" and "long-term" perspective Tuesday as he met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Rio de Janeiro, state media said.
"China and Germany are both major countries with significant influence," Xi told Scholz on the sidelines of the G20 summit, according to Beijing's state news agency Xinhua.

"The two countries need to view and develop bilateral relations from a long-term and strategic perspective," Xi said.
Scholz last met Xi in April in Beijing, where he pressed China's president to use his influence on Russia to end the war in Ukraine.

After the meeting Scholz told reporters he had pressed home to Xi that the alleged deployment of North Korean soldiers by Russia risks worsening the conflict.
Scholz said that the reported presence of North Korean troops fighting for Russia "is a further escalation," adding: it was "something which should worry everyone in Asia."

The Houthis appear determined to strike US and allied warships in the Red Sea.
The US and Europe have committed a significant naval presence toward battling the Yemeni rebels.
The Houthis have launched tons of missiles and drones at Western warships but haven't hit one.

The Houthis appear determined to strike American and European warships as part of their ongoing campaign of Red Sea attacks, a senior US State Department.

"Our leadership is all extremely concerned about the Houthis' determination to seemingly strike us — to strike our friends — in the Red Sea, their perseverance in doing so, their determination to do what they've been doing better," US Special Envoy.
US Navy, in particular, has committed a large amount of firepower to the counter-Houthi mission. The naval force has regularly consisted of an aircraft carrier and several other warships capable of air defense and land-attack operations.
"We have shot down pretty much everything that they have fired our way,"

U.S. allies warned of "hybrid warfare" Tuesday after two undersea communication cables were severed in the Baltic Sea, raising suspicions that they may be the latest acts of sabotage targeting the West as it clashes with Russia.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Tuesday that "no one believes that these cables were cut accidentally" after a rupture in a 730-mile cable linking Germany and Finland was detected Monday.

"We have to state, without knowing specifically who it came from, that it is a ‘hybrid’ action," he said. "And we also have to assume, without knowing it yet, that it is sabotage.”

Lithuania’s navy said Tuesday that it had increased monitoring of its waters after damage to a separate cable connecting the Baltic nation with Sweden’s Gotland Island was detected Sunday.

Swedish operator Arelion said Monday that it was “in contact with Swedish authorities and the Swedish Armed Forces regarding the incident.”

The U.S. government recognized Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo González as the “president-elect” of the South American country on Tuesday, months after President Nicolás Maduro claimed to have won the July election.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken recognized González.

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden previously said González earned the most votes in the disputed July 28 election but it had fallen short of acknowledging him as president-elect.

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared Maduro the election winner hours after polls closed. Unlike previous presidential elections, electoral authorities did not provide detailed vote counts.
“We deeply appreciate the recognition of the sovereign will of all Venezuelans,” González said after Blinken's statement Tuesday. “This gesture honors the desire for change of our people and the civic feat that we carried out together on July 28.”

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has pledged a 45% increase in the country's contribution to the World Bank's International Development Association fund to more than $600 million, the finance ministry said on Tuesday.

The country, once a beneficiary during the 1960-1970s, will contribute this year around 845.6 billion won ($608.26 million) to the fund for financial aid to low-income countries, up from 584.8 billion won in the previous fund replenishment round in 2021.

"It is for South Korea to play a leading role as a global pivot state and to induce active contributions from other countries," the ministry said in a statement.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday pledged a record $4 billion contribution during a closed session of the Group of 20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, up from $3.5 billion in 2021.

Chinese President Xi Jinping urged G20 leaders Monday to support efforts to de-escalate the war in Ukraine and reach a "political solution,".

His remarks shortly after Ukraine received a US green light to launch long-range missiles provided by Washington against targets inside Russia

"The G20 should support the United Nations and its Security Council in playing a greater role, and support all efforts conducive to the peaceful settlement of crises," Xi said

He called for leaders to avoid "spillovers" from battlefields and escalation of fighting, and to help "cool the Ukraine crisis and seek a political solution."

War in Ukraine continues to rage since Russia's invasion in 2022

China presents itself as a neutral party in the war and says it is not sending lethal assistance to either side, unlike the United States and other Western nations.

China is a close political and economic ally of Russia. NATO members have branded Beijing a "decisive enabler" of the war, China nev

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that it defeated a Ukrainian ATACMS attack in the western Bryansk region, shortly before the Kremlin updated its nuclear weapons doctrine to allow for nuclear strikes.

Ukrainian forces fired six "ballistic missiles," Russian Defense, five of which were downed and the sixth damaged. "According to confirmed data, American-made ATACMS operational-tactical missiles were used,".

"ATACMS fragments fell on the technical territory of a military facility in the Bryansk region, a fire broke out, it was extinguished,"
A U.S. official provided a differing account of the strike, saying Russia intercepted two of eight total ATACMS missiles launched by Ukraine. The other six were assessed to have hit an ammunition storage site in Karachev, the official said.
U.S. official said they are not surprised by what they called "irresponsible rhetoric" from the Kremlin, but that the U.S. sees no indications Russia actually plans to use nuclear weapons.