Israeli politicians battling to unseat veteran right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were locked in last-ditch talks on Wednesday to hammer out their “change” coalition composed of bitter ideological rivals.

Netanyahu’s opponents have until the end of the day – 2059 GMT – to cobble together an administration that would end 12 straight years of rule by the hawkish heavyweight, Israel’s longest-ruling premier.

They had yet to announce a new line-up as parliament convened at 11:00 am to elect a new president for the country, a largely honorary position, with a masked Netanyahu casting the first vote.

The high-stakes push for a government is led by former television presenter Yair Lapid, a secular centrist who on Sunday won the crucial support of hardline religious nationalist Naftali Bennett.

“The coalition negotiation team sat all night and made progress toward creating a unity government,” a Bennett spokesman said in a statement.

But to reach a majority in the 120-seat Knesset, their unlikely alliance would also have to include other left and right-wing parties — and would probably need the support of Arab-Israeli politicians.

That would result in a government riven by deep ideological differences on flashpoint issues such as Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the role of religion in politics.

Lapid, leader of the Yesh Atid party, was tasked with forming a government by President Reuven Rivlin after Netanyahu again failed to put together his own coalition following elections in March, the fourth such inconclusive polls in less than two years.

Power-sharing deal

Lapid has reportedly agreed to allow Bennett, a tech multi-millionaire who heads the Yamina party, to serve first as a rotating prime minister in a power-sharing agreement, before swapping with him halfway through their term.

Late Tuesday, a source close to the talks told AFP negotiators were hammering away to “finalise a deal as soon as possible”.

Lawmakers were to vote Wednesday in a secret ballot for one of two candidates to replace Rivlin and become their country’s 11th president since the creation of Israel in 1948.

The first candidate is Myriam Peretz, 67, a settler and former headmistress widely known as “the mother of sons” after she lost two of her six children while officers in the Israeli army.

The second, 60-year-old Isaac Herzog, is a former leader of the centre-left Labor party, the son of a previous president, and an ex-minister who supports a separate state for the Palestinians.

Israel’s latest political turmoil adds to the woes of Netanyahu, who is on trial for criminal charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust while in office — accusations he denies.

If he were to lose power, he would not be able to push through changes to basic laws that could give him immunity, and would lose control over certain justice ministry nominations.

In recent years, Netanyahu has clinched historic normalisation agreements with four Arab states and unrolled a world-beating Covid-19 vaccination campaign.

But he has not engaged in substantive peace talks with the Palestinians, who have been angered by a boom in expansion of Israel’s illegal West Bank settlements under Netanyahu’s watch.

The latest developments follow weeks of escalating tensions between Israel and the Palestinians, which peaked in an 11-day exchange of rocket fire from Gaza and devastating Israeli air strikes.

Netanyahu, who served an earlier three-year term in the 1990s, had warned on Sunday of “a left-wing government dangerous to the state of Israel”.

The premier, who heads the Likud party and has developed a reputation as a wily political operator, was scrambling to scupper the new alliance.

Likud’s lawyers on Tuesday tried to hobble the emerging coalition by challenging Bennett’s right to serve first as prime minister, given that it was Lapid who was charged with forming the government.

But the legal adviser to Israel’s president dismissed the challenge.

Arab Israeli support?

In order to build the anti-Netanyahu bloc, Lapid must sign individual agreements with seven parties, whose members would then vote in parliament to confirm their coalition.

They include the hawkish New Hope party of Netanyahu’s former ally Gideon Saar and right-wing secular nationalist Avigdor Lieberman’s pro-settlement Yisrael Beitenu party.

The centrist Blue and White party of Defence Minister Benny Gantz, the historically powerful Labor party and the dovish Meretz party would also join.

If all those parties indeed sign on, the emerging alliance still needs the backing of four more lawmakers.

For that, Lapid is counting on parties representing Palestinian citizens of Israel, which have yet to announce their intentions.

Mansour Abbas, head of the Islamic conservative Raam party, which has four seats, has generally voiced openness to any arrangement that improves living conditions for Israel’s 20 percent Arab minority of Palestinian descent.

Abbas told reporters Tuesday that negotiations appeared to be heading “in a good direction”.

If no agreement is reached on a government, Israel risks — yet again — heading back to the polls for a fifth general election in around two years.

Source: AFP

US President Joe Biden and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin will hold their first summit next month in Geneva, both sides said Tuesday, setting the stage for a new chapter in their fraught relationship.

The meeting in the Swiss city will be on June 16, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.

“The leaders will discuss the full range of pressing issues, as we seek to restore predictability and stability to the US-Russia relationship,” she said.

The Kremlin confirmed the summit details and said in a statement that Putin and Biden would be discussing “issues of strategic stability,” as well as “resolving regional conflicts” and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Biden, making his first international trip as president, will go to Geneva immediately after separate summits with his key Western allies in the G7, NATO and the European Union.

The face-to-face meeting with the Kremlin leader comes amid levels of tension not seen for years, with Washington now dialling back its ambitions to little more than establishing a relationship in which both sides understand each other and can work together in specific areas.

Since taking office, Biden has launched new sanctions against Moscow over what US authorities say was the Russian role in the massive Solar Winds cyber attack and repeated meddling in the 2020 presidential election.

Washington has also harshly criticized Moscow for the near-death poisoning and subsequent imprisonment of one of the last open opponents to Putin, Alexei Navalny.

And where Biden told an interviewer that he agreed with the description of Putin as a “killer,” the Russian government has formally declared the United States to be an “unfriendly” country.

Moves to ease tension

The open recriminations are a long way from the often puzzling relationship between Trump and Putin.

The Geneva summit will come almost three years after Trump famously sided with the Kremlin leader over the US intelligence agencies on the question of whether Moscow interfered in the 2016 US presidential election.

However, both sides are working to calm the waters ahead of the Geneva summit, with the White House emphasizing hopes for working alongside Russia on well-defined strategic issues like nuclear weapons control and the Iran nuclear negotiations.

To prepare the ground, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and veteran Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met last week in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said after the Blinken-Lavrov meeting that repairing ties “will not be easy” but he saw “a positive signal.”

Moscow welcomed a US decision to waive sanctions that had been holding up completion of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline — a major energy supply route from Russia to Europe that US officials worry will make the EU overdependent on the Russians.

Source: AFP

Iranian ultra-conservative ex-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad put his name forward Wednesday as a candidate to succeed moderate President Hassan Rouhani in elections next month.

“Millions of people across the country have invited me to stand for election, and even ordered me to come here to register, placing a heavy responsibility on my shoulders,” Ahmadinejad said, speaking after he submitted his application to the interior ministry.

The build-up to June 18 polls comes as Iran and world powers wrangle over reviving a 2015 nuclear accord, from which the US withdrew unilaterally in 2018, reimposing crippling sanctions.

Hopefuls have until Saturday to register, and will then be vetted by the conservative-dominated Guardian Council before a list of approved candidates is published by May 27, after which campaigning begins.

But Iranian media considers Ahmadinejad’s chance of being approved are close to zero.

The 64-year-old said that if he is not approved, he will “not participate” in the election, either by backing a candidate or voting.

Ahmadinejad claimed, as he has often done in recent years, that the Iranian people have lost confidence in the country’s authorities.

He added that he considered the upcoming election “perhaps the last chance” to save the Islamic republic in the face of “very sensitive” challenges, both domestic and international.

Ahmadinejad, president from 2005 to 2013, had to stand down at the end of two consecutive terms as per the constitution — like outgoing president Rouhani will in June.

In 2009, Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election sparked protests that were severely put down, shaking the Islamic republic.

On Wednesday he was cheered by several supporters as he submitted his name, chanting “we support you!”

The populist ex-president had also put his name forward for the 2017 presidential election, against the advice of the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Unsurprisingly, his candidacy was rejected by the Guardian Council, an unelected body dominated by conservatives and responsible for overseeing the presidential polls.

Source: AFP

Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli lost a confidence vote on Monday, triggering fresh political uncertainty just as the Himalayan nation reels from the pandemic.

Oli, 69, decided to seek a vote of confidence following months of feuding within his ruling communist party and coalition partners.

“If you want a stable parliament you should vote for the continuity of this government,” he said in his address to the legislature before the vote.

But the former political prisoner was able to secure only 93 votes in the parliament instead of the 136 needed.

More than 120 parliamentarians voted against and nearly two dozen leaders from Oli’s own party skipped the process.

According to procedure, the president will now call for parties to propose a new candidate, backed by a majority.

Nepal has been roiled by months of turmoil after Oli dissolved parliament in December, accusing members of his Nepal Communist Party (NCP) of being uncooperative.

The NCP was formed in 2018 by a merger between Oli’s communist party CPN-UML and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) of former rebel leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

Two months later, the Supreme Court reinstated parliament. Another ruling broke the merger and split the ruling party into two.

In recent months, Oli has faced fierce criticism over his handling of the pandemic as the second wave sweeps over the country, with half of people tested now returning positive.

However it was more political infighting rather than his handling of the pandemic that caused him to lose the vote of confidence.

On Monday, Nepal reported 9,127 cases, the highest increase yet. Nearly 4,000 people have died since the pandemic began, according to official figures.

“Both the parliament and the government have failed to address the Covid-19 crisis in the country. Instead they are engaging in a political game when most citizens were struggling for oxygen cylinders and hospital beds,” said Gunaraj Luitel, editor of Nagarik newspaper.

The NCP’s triumph over the incumbent Nepali Congress party in elections in 2017 had been seen as the final step in Nepal’s post-civil war transformation into a republic.

Brittle alliances have been struck between Nepal’s three dominant parties since 2008, and there was hope a majority government would bring stability and much-needed development to the nation.

Source:AFP

An increasingly powerful China is challenging the world order, acting “more repressively” and “more aggressively” as it flexes its influence, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview that aired Sunday.

“What we’ve witnessed over the last several years is China acting more repressively at home and more aggressively abroad. That is a fact,” the top American diplomat said in an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes.”

His comments came after President Joe Biden, in his first address to Congress on Wednesday, underscored that he was not seeking conflict with Beijing.

Biden said he told Chinese President Xi Jinping that in the competition to be the dominant power of the 21st century, “we welcome the competition — and that we are not looking for conflict.”

Blinken said China is “the one country in the world that has the military, economic, diplomatic capacity to undermine or challenge the rules-based order that we care so much about and are determined to defend.

“But I want to be very clear about something… our purpose is not to contain China, to hold it back, to keep it down; it is to uphold this rules-based order that China is posing a challenge to.”

Tensions have risen sharply with China over the past few years as the United States also takes issue with Beijing’s assertive military moves and human rights concerns, including what Washington has described as genocide against the mostly Muslim Uyghur minority.

Source: AFP

The US House of Representatives on Thursday narrowly voted, for the second time in less than a year, to make the District of Columbia the 51st state, sending it to the Senate where it faces stiff Republican opposition.

By a vote of 216-208, the Democratic-controlled House approved the initiative with no Republican support.

The population of Washington, DC, is heavily Democratic. As a state, it likely would elect two Democratic senators, potentially altering the balance of power in the Senate, which now has 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans.

Democrats, who have been advocating statehood for the capital of the United States for decades, hope to take advantage of last November’s election of President Joe Biden as well as control of the Senate and House to admit a new state for the first time since 1959, the year Alaska and Hawaii joined the union.

Democrats argued statehood would fix a centuries-old wrong of “more than 700,000 Americans citizens who pay federal taxes, who fight and die in wars, who serve on our juries and yet have no vote in the Senate or the House of Representatives,” said Democratic Representative Jan Schakowsky. “That is the definition of taxation without representation.”

The new state would be named “Washington, Douglass Commonwealth” after George Washington, the first US president, and Frederick Douglass, a former enslaved person who became a famous abolitionist.

Republicans, accusing Democrats of a “power grab” to advance a “far-left” agenda, are expected to block the bill in the Senate, where 60 of 100 members need to agree to advance most legislation.

“This is about government-run healthcare, a $93 trillion Green New Deal, packing the Supreme Court, higher taxes and a bigger, less efficient form of government,” said Republican Representative Nancy Mace during a spirited House debate.

The House first passed this bill last June by a vote of 232-180. Republicans, who controlled the Senate then, refused to act on it.

Statehood would also give Washington at least one House member. Its population of around 700,000 is more than that of the states of Wyoming and Vermont. About half of its residents are Black.

Currently, Washington, DC, has only one member of Congress – a House “delegate” who is not allowed to vote on legislation.

If the city became a state it would maintain its three electoral votes, which are used in the presidential election process. States’ electoral votes are based on population.

(Source: Reuters)

Former Cuban President Raul Castro has announced his resignation as the head of the country’s ruling Communist Party, the most powerful position in the Caribbean island nation.

Castro made the announcement during a speech Friday on the first day of the party’s eighth congress, saying he is handing over power to a younger generation that is “full of passion and anti-imperialist spirit.”

“I believe fervently in the strength and exemplary nature and comprehension of my compatriots, and as long as I live, I will be ready with my foot in the stirrups to defend the fatherland, the revolution and socialism,” he told party delegates at the closed-door meeting at a convention center in Havana.

Castro underlined that he was retiring with the sense of having “fulfilled his mission and confident in the future of the fatherland.”

He is expected to formally step down on April 19, the last day of the congress, when the party’s new leadership will be elected.

The 89-year-old was elected to the top position in 2011, succeeding his older brother and ex-president Fidel Castro, who had held that position since the founding of Cuba’s Communist Party in 1965.

Raul Castro announced in 2018 that he expected incumbent President Miguel Diaz-Canel to replace him after his retirement in 2021. The 60-year-old represents a new generation and has been serving the first of two five-year terms as president.

Castro’s retirement comes as Cuba is facing multiple challenges exacerbated by US-led sanctions against the Caribbean island nation as well as the coronavirus pandemic.

Cuba’s economy shrank 11 percent last year due to the deadly viral pathogen and tightened US sanctions which have caused a decline in aid from its ally, Venezuela.

Moreover, the US returned Havana to its so-called list of “state sponsors of terrorism” just nine days before Republican President Donald Trump left office.

The then US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, said Cuba was being blacklisted for “repeatedly providing support for acts of international terrorism,” and cited Cuba’s security support for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Source: Presstv

US President Joe Biden has asked Vladmir #Putin to show restraint with #Ukraine, amid signs #Russia has mobilised thousands of troops in the border region in recent weeks.

 In a phone call Tuesday, Biden urged his Russian counterpart to de-escalate tensions on the border, and invited him to an in-person summit.

Queen Elizabeth II faces the twilight of her record-breaking reign without her most trusted adviser and personal confidant — husband Prince Philip.

But his death last week aged 99 is not expected to change the monarch’s lifetime commitment to duty, as a new chapter beckons for Britain’s most famous family.

The Queen, who turns 95 next week, once described the Duke of Edinburgh as her “strength and stay”, in a rare moment of public candour.

He has been credited with the successful running of “The Firm”, cementing its position in national life, and helping it to weather crises and scandal.

“The Queen, as you would expect, is an incredibly stoic person,” said the couple’s second son, Prince Andrew, who has been under a shadow because of his links to the late Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender.

“She described (the duke’s death) as having left a huge void in her life,” he told reporters, adding the family was “rallying round to make sure we’re there to support her”.

– Life of service –

A steady stream of close family members have visited the Queen since last week, including her eldest son and heir, Prince Charles, Andrew, and youngest son, Edward.

Edward said his mother was “bearing up”, despite the understandable shock at the loss.

The Times reported on Tuesday that she is currently not being given her daily red boxes of government papers during the two weeks of official royal mourning.

But early signs are the Queen will remain faithful to the commitment she made in a radio address to the Commonwealth as a 21-year-old princess from Cape Town, South Africa, in 1947.

“I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service,” she said.

Just a day after her husband’s death was announced, she had an audience with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, according to the Court Circular, which lists royal events and engagements.

On Tuesday, she hosted an event at Windsor Castle, west of London, to mark the retirement of the Lord Chamberlain, the most senior officer in the royal household.

She has links to more than 600 charities, military associations, professional bodies and public service organisations.

– Family support –

Prince Philip was almost ever-present at the Queen’s side since she acceded to the throne in 1952 but had been seen less after retiring from public duties in 2017.

It is expected she will now rely more heavily on Charles, his second wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, as well as second-in-line Prince William and his wife at engagements, according to British media reports.

Charles, now 72, has already taken on more of her duties in recent years, including overseas, in preparation for his long-awaited succession.

He is expected to accompany his mother for the state opening of Parliament on May 11.

Younger royals have also accompanied her at events, including online over videoconference during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Times quoted royal sources as saying she will still carry out solo engagements.

The Queen’s apparent desire to get out and about is in stark contrast to Britain’s last female monarch, Queen Victoria, who wore black for four decades and barely made any public appearances after her husband Albert’s death in 1861.

Her seclusion led her to being called the “widow of Windsor” and increased the popularity of the republican movement.

– Step up –

Public sympathy for the Queen after her husband’s death is high, and she has consistently topped polls as the most popular royal.

Her presence and longevity as Britain’s longest-serving monarch have helped stave off republican sentiment, even as attitudes to the monarchy have changed over the years.

Charles has effectively taken over his father’s role as the most senior royal male, and if he follows in his footsteps, he has a series of pressing issues to deal with.

Andrew’s public reappearance last weekend caused outrage in some quarters, as US prosecutors still want to speak to him about his links to Epstein.

The palace is also dealing with the fall-out of Charles’ youngest son Prince Harry and his wife Meghan’s shock move to the United States last year — and their explosive claims of racism and treatment in the royal family.

Saturday’s funeral will also see Harry and elder brother William reunited, with widely-reported claims of a deep rift between the pair.

The brothers — once close after the death of their mother, princess Diana, in a Paris car crash in 1997 — pointedly issued separate tributes to their grandfather after his passing.

Source: AFP

Top US officials are in Europe this week seeking to shore up allied support on countering Iran and China as well as recent Russian moves at the Ukraine border. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived in Berlin on his inaugural tour of Europe while Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed to Brussels on Tuesday for talks on Ukraine and NATO troops in Afghanistan.

Nearly a year after President Donald Trump ordered thousands of troops to leave Germany, capping a series of setbacks for U.S. relations with major allies, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin began an inaugural tour of Europe to shore up partnerships that are a cornerstone of the post-World War II order.

Austin arrived in Berlin on Monday against the backdrop of a newly emerging crisis with Iran, which on Monday blamed Israel for a recent attack on its underground Natanz nuclear facility. Israel has not confirmed or denied involvement, but the attack nonetheless imperils ongoing talks in Europe over Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal.

Also at stake in Austin’s visit is the future direction of U.S. defense commitments in Europe at a time of growing concern about Russian military intervention on NATO’s periphery, including a buildup of Russian forces near Ukraine’s border. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was headed to Europe to discuss with U.S. allies the Ukraine situation as well as the administration’s thinking on further withdrawals of troops from Afghanistan.

The United States also seeks European support for its approach to countering China around the world and for efforts to restore an international agreement with limits on Iran’s nuclear program.

Austin arrived in the German capital on Monday night and will hold talks Tuesday with senior government officials. He will also visit NATO headquarters later this week in Belgium and meet with British defense officials in London. He began his trip Sunday in Israel, where he underscored U.S. defense support in meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz.

Austin, a former four-star Army general whose overseas military experience was primarily in Iraq, is likely to assure German officials of intentions by the Biden administration to keep troops in Germany, though the number is subject to discussion as part of a monthslong global review of the basing of U.S. troops. Last year, Trump ordered the number in Germany reduced by about 12,000, to about 24,000.

In his first visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels since taking office, Austin will meet with Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who declared on President Joe Biden’s inauguration day that the arrival of a new administration marked “the start of a new chapter for the trans-Atlantic alliance.”

Trump’s departure from the world stage gave the Biden administration an opening to restore a more supportive U.S. approach to Europe and the NATO alliance, but complications will persist. For example, the NATO allies are anxious for Biden to decide whether to pull out of Afghanistan. NATO has more troo ps there than does the United States, and Biden’s indecision troubles them, not least because they count on U.S. military support for removing troops and equipment.

The attack on Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility further complicates U.S. efforts to draw Iran back into a nuclear deal. Austin was asked about this earlier Monday while in Israel, and he said only that he expects the administration’s diplomatic efforts with Iran will continue.

‘Pivot’ to Asia

On the broader horizon, the European allies remain uncertain how their defense and security relationship with the United States will be affected by Biden’s push to focus more on China as the chief threat to U.S. security. That shift in U.S. thinking began during the Obama administration, which announced a “pivot” to Asia that left Europeans thinking their U.S. ally was turning its back. Washington adjusted diplomatically and rhetorically, assuring the Europeans that it was just a “rebalancing.”

Then came Trump. His administration further emphasized China as the prime security threat, but of greater concern to the Europeans was his frequent, sometimes shocking, denigration of the trans-Atlantic partnership that had been the foundation of U.S. security policy for decades. He dismissed the NATO allies as freeloaders, and last summer he ordered the removal of about one-third of the U.S. force in Germany, as well as the move of U.S. European Command headquarters from Germany to Belgium.

“We don’t want to be the suckers anymore,” Trump told reporters last July, calling the Germans ingrates who don’t spend enough on defense but expect the United States to protect them from Russia.

Germany has been an anchor for the U.S. military presence in Europe since the early post-World War II years. In addition to hosting the headquarters for U.S. European and U.S. Africa commands, Germany’s Ramstein Air Base is headquarters for NATO air and missile defenses. The U.S. Army’s largest overseas hospital, the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, is a few miles from Ramstein Air Base. The U.S. Air Force also has a substantial presence in Germany, including the 52nd Fighter Wing at Spangdahlem.

In his first speech to an international audience, Biden in February declared to the Munich Security Conference: “America is back, the trans-Atlantic alliance is back, and we are not looking backward. We are looking forward together.”

Biden suspended the Trump decision on a partial withdrawal of troops from Germany, which had not yet been implemented. It seems likely the administration will decide not to carry out the Trump order.

Jim Townsend, who served throughout the Obama administration as the Pentagon’s lead policy official on Europe and NATO, said in an interview that he sees lasting value in Austin’s touring of European capitals early in his tenure.

“It’s a better way to repair the torn fabric of that trans-Atlantic relationship,” Townsend said.

Even if the Europeans can put the Trump-era tensions behind them, they will still have questions about the Biden emphasis on China, which is not a front-burner issue for the Europeans. They largely view NATO as a bulwark against Russia, particularly since Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its intervention in eastern Ukraine, which is not a NATO member but aspires to join.

(AP)