Merkel and Biden to chart a course for the future of US-German relations in White House meeting
CNN
President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are set to meet in Washington on Thursday in what is likely the European leader's final appearance at the White House before she steps down from her long-held position this fall.
The ongoing dispute between the United States and Germany over a Russian gas pipeline, called Nord Stream 2, is expected to play out between the two leaders in the Oval Office on Thursday, according to senior administration officials. Climate change, Covid-19 vaccines, Russian cyber attacks, Ukraine and shoring up their democracies are also topics on the agenda, an official said. The visit comes just three months before Merkel leaves her role as chancellor of Germany in October, after having served in the position for more than 15 years. Elections to replace the "chancellor of the free world" are in September.
Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has ordered preparations for the annexation of settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
More than 80 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon and northern Gaza since late Saturday, according to reports.
Several United Nations agencies are again sounding the alarm on the rapid deterioration of humanitarian conditions in much of Gaza and the civilian toll of more than a year of Israeli military operations.
France condemned the brief detention of two consulate members after it said Israeli police forced their way into a French-owned holy site in Jerusalem, in what is the latest diplomatic spat in a series of events that have sent relations between the two plummeting.
An Israeli airstrike on a multi-story building in northern Gaza killed at least 27 people, relief officials said, as the Israeli military issued new evacuation orders in the area – where it is mounting a major offensive.
If his first term in the White House is any indication, President-elect Donald Trump is likely to keep the Middle East high on his agenda.
Rights groups say journalist Reza Valizadeh has been detained, amid heightened tensions between the United States and Iran.
A female student stripped to her underwear outside her university in Iran in what some student and rights groups say was a protest against the country’s strict Islamic dress code.
Israel is at a “high level of readiness” for a response from Iran, an Israeli military source told CNN, as US officials visited the Middle East for a renewed push to resolve the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon. Follow live updates.