SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for his military and diplomats to prepare unspecified “offensive measures” to protect the country’s security and sovereignty, the North’s state media said Monday, before his end-of-year deadline for the Trump administration to make major concessions to salvage a fragile...
Israel’s West Bank Settlements: 4 Questions Answered
Editor’s note: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Nov. 18 said that Israel’s settlements in the West Bank do not violate international law. That pleased Israeli Jews who see the territory as rightfully theirs and infuriated the Palestinians who live there and claim it as their land. Here, a...
US Angers Palestinians With Reversal on Israeli Settlements
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Monday softened the U.S. position on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, reversing four decades of American policy and further undermining the effort to gain Palestinian statehood. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the U.S. is repudiating the 1978 State Department legal...
Top US Diplomat Struggles to Shrug off Impeachment Inquiry
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tries to shrug off the impeachment inquiry that has ensnared the State Department and raised questions about his leadership. Pompeo portrays the inquiry, which centers on President Donald Trump's attempt to link U.S. military aid to Ukraine to a corruption probe of a...
Pence Meets with Erdogan, Seeking Syria Border Cease-Fire
ANKARA, Turkey — A senior U.S. delegation led by Vice President Mike Pence pursued an uphill mission Thursday to persuade Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to call for a cease-fire in his fight with Kurdish forces in northern Syria. Pence and Erdogan wore dour expressions as they shook hands before...
Trump Fires National Security Adviser John Bolton
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Tuesday he fired national security adviser John Bolton, citing strong disagreements on a number of policy issues. Trump tweeted that he told Bolton Monday night his services were no longer needed at the White House and said Bolton submitted his resignation on Tuesday morning....
Analysis: Trump Moves Show Him to Be Unreliable Partner
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's abrupt decision against military strikes may have prevented open military conflict with Iran, but it also showed him anew to be an unpredictable, unreliable, partner at home and abroad. Trump won his job partly on his claims to be a great dealmaker. But the celebrity...
Trump: Strikes on Iran 'Cocked and Loaded,' Then Called Off
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday the U.S. was "cocked and loaded" to retaliate against Iran for downing an unmanned American surveillance drone, but he canceled the strikes 10 minutes before they were to be launched after being told 150 people could die. Trump's tweeted statement raised several questions, including...
White House Says Tariffs 'Going Forward' as Talks Continue
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's threatened tariffs on Mexico are set to take effect Monday as planned, the White House said Friday, even as negotiators continued to meet to try to stave off his latest push to force the U.S. ally to stem the flow of Central American migrants into the United...