World Echo

US President Donald Trump on Thursday told China's Xi Jinping their countries would have "a fantastic future together", as they began a superpower summit in Beijing on thorny issues including Iran, trade and Taiwan. Heaping praise on his host, Trump told Xi it was "an honour to be your friend", as the Chinese leader, in less effusive tones, said the two sides "should be partners and not rivals". Xi warned his US counterpart that the issue of Taiwan could push their two countries into "conflict" if mishandled, a stark opening salvo as a superpower summit set to tackle numerous thorny issues began in Beijing Thursday. Temple of Heaven Trump had arrived in China with accolades for his host, calling Xi a "great leader" and "friend", as he predicted that their countries would have "a fantastic future together". Trump visited the Temple of Heaven. Xi greeted Trump outside the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests....

Dozens of Israeli occupiers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the occupied East Jerusalem on Thursday morning under the protection of Israeli forces, the official news agency Wafa reported. Local sources said occupiers entered the compound and publicly performed Talmudic rituals in its courtyards under Israeli protection, Wafa added. Under Israeli occupation police protection, a group of Zionist settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque's courtyards, desecrating the holy site by singing and dancing. Follow: https://t.co/B3zXG74hnU pic.twitter.com/AuPjbboebY — Press TV 🔻 (@PressTV) May 14, 2026 The Turkish foreign ministry condemned the act in a statement posted on X, saying, "Such provocative acts, which violate the historical and legal status of Al-Aqsa Mosque as a holy site belonging to Muslims, risk further deepening tensions and instability in the region." The statement ended with a call to protect the rights of Palestinians and prevent "violations ...

In Taybeh, one of the few Palestinian communities with a Christian majority in the occupied West Bank, fears are growing that Israeli occupier attacks on farmland and property could push more families to emigrate, threatening the town’s demographic character and historic Christian presence. Local officials and clergy warned of the impact of rising violence by Israeli occupiers, which has coincided with worsening living and economic conditions in the town. Taybeh, east of Ramallah, is one of the few Palestinian towns in the West Bank that still has a Christian majority, according to church and local accounts. Residents say the town’s Christian roots go back thousands of years. Residents say the attacks have deepened fears in the town, even as they stress their determination to remain on their land. Also Read: Pakistan raises red flag over illegal settlements in West Bank, calls for Israel accountability In recent years, Israeli occupiers have established several ill...

The United States on Tuesday announced visa restrictions against 13 individuals linked to Indian online pharmacy KS International Traders for allegedly distributing counterfeit prescription drugs containing fentanyl. In a statement, the US State Department said the individuals were close associates of KS International Traders and its owner, which was based in India. “Sanctioned online pharmacies like KS International Traders, based in India, have sold hundreds of thousands of counterfeit prescription pills laced with illicit fentanyl to unsuspecting victims across the US,” the statement said. Read: Iran war to cast a shadow on BRICS foreign ministers meeting in Delhi The department said KS International Traders generated revenue through fentanyl trafficking, noting that US President Donald Trump had designated fentanyl a “Weapon of Mass Destruction.” The statement said the move underscored the US’ and India’s “enduring and shared commi...

A New York Times opinion columnist has reported that Palestinian detainees have been subjected to sexual violence and other forms of abuse in Israeli detention facilities, citing interviews with former detainees and findings from rights organisations. In a column published on Sunday, columnist Nicholas Kristof said he interviewed 14 Palestinian men and women who described alleged sexual assaults, beatings, threats of sexual violence and humiliation during detention or encounters with Israeli forces and settlers. Kristof noted that there was “no evidence that Israeli leaders order rapes,” but argued that Israeli authorities had created “a security apparatus where sexual violence has become,” citing a United Nations report. Read More: 'No home left' for Gazans stranded in West Bank since Oct 7 The article also referenced testimonies from former detainees who alleged abuse during imprisonment, as well as reports by organisations including Euro-Med H...

Israel's parliament passed a law late on Monday establishing a military tribunal to try hundreds of Palestinian militants who took part in the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, a step lawmakers said would help heal national trauma. The surprise attack, led by elite "Nukhba" force fighters from the Palestinian militant group Hamas, was Israel's deadliest single day and the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust. At least 1,200 people were killed, most of them civilians. Israel responded by launching an assault on the enclave that killed more than 72,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and left much of Gaza in ruins. Israel has been holding an estimated 200-300 fighters - the precise number is classified - captured in Israel during the attack, who have not yet been charged. Also Read: Israeli strikes in Gaza kill three, medics say, testing fragile ceasefire The special military court established by the law, to be presided over by a three-judge panel in Jeru...

China on Tuesday reiterated its opposition to US arms sales to Taiwan ahead of US President Donald Trump's visit to China. China's "firm opposition to US arms sales to China's Taiwan region is consistent and clear," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told reporters in Beijing. Trump said on Monday that he plans to discuss US arms sales to Taiwan with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to Beijing this week. According to The New York Times, a bipartisan group of senators has urged Trump to move ahead with the delayed $14 billion weapons package for Taiwan, which has been stalled at the State Department for months. Guo added that during Trump and Xi's summit in Beijing, the two leaders will have an "in-depth" exchange of views on China-US relations and other major issues concerning world peace and development. Also Read: Stung by Iran war, Trump heads to China in need of wins Trump also said that he would bring up the ca...

US President Donald Trump’s complaints about media leaks on the Iran war have triggered an aggressive investigation by the Justice Department, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday, citing sources. Trump privately complained to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche about media leaks following last month’s Iran war, prompting the Justice Department to aggressively pursue leak investigations. Blanche pledged to seek subpoenas targeting reporters involved in sensitive national security stories, according to the report. In one meeting, Trump handed Blanche a stack of articles he viewed as threats to national security, marked with a sticky note reading “treason.” Also Read: Stung by Iran war, Trump heads to China in need of wins Senior Justice Department and Pentagon officials have also discussed the investigations, the report said. In particular, the report said, Trump has focused his ire on articles that provided details on how he arrived at his deci...

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday called for deeper cooperation between Africa and Europe in technology, energy, and innovation as the Africa Forward Summit opened in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. Speaking during a high-level youth engagement forum at the University of Nairobi alongside Kenyan President William Ruto, Macron said Africa and Europe face similar challenges in reducing technological dependence on major global powers. “A lot of solutions are made in the US or made in China,” he said. “A lot of us today are consumers. So, I think we have a common fight, a common battle together of investment, which is to build our strategic autonomy for Europe and Africa.” Macron emphasised the need for stronger investment in infrastructure and energy to support artificial intelligence and digital development across the two continents. “No chance to build any AI infrastructure and computing capacities without energy,” he said, calling for ...

The British prime minister on Monday said he takes responsibility for "not walking away" and "not plunging our country into chaos" over last week's what he called "very tough" election results. "The election results last week were tough, very tough. We lost some brilliant labour representatives; that hurts, and it should hurt. I get it, I feel it, and I take responsibility," Keir Starmer said during an event in London. He noted that he is not going to shy away from the fact that he has got "some doubters, including in my own party," adding that he has to prove them wrong, and he will. "I take responsibility for navigating us through a world that is more dangerous than at any time in my life, and I take responsibility for not walking away, not plunging our country into chaos." Also Read: UK's Starmer vows to fight on after Labour punished in local polls During his speech, Starmer vowed to rebuild the relationsh...

Three people were killed and six others injured on Monday in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon despite an ongoing ceasefire, Lebanese media reported. The state news agency NNA said two people were killed and five others injured in an airstrike in the town of Ebba in Nabatieh. In a separate incident, a drone strike on a car in the town of Haris in the Bint Jbeil district killed one person and injured his brother, the agency said. Israeli warplanes also targeted the home of a former municipal chief in Sajd, while another strike was reported in Kfar Rumman. No casualty information was immediately available from those locations. Also Read: Israel strikes across Lebanon The Israeli army continues to conduct daily strikes in Lebanon and exchange fire with Hezbollah despite a ceasefire in place since April 17, which was later extended to mid-May. Since March 2, Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed 2,846 people, injured 8,693 and displaced more than 1 million, according to the l...

President Donald Trump on Sunday rejected Iran's long-awaited response conveyed through Pakistan to Washington's proposals for ending the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, saying that he deemed it "totally unacceptable". "I have just read the response from Iran's so-called 'Representatives.' I don't like it -- TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!" Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, without describing elements of Tehran's response. Earlier, Iran formally conveyed its long-awaited response to Pakistan, amid a flurry of behind-the-scenes diplomatic engagements that signalled a renewed momentum for a negotiated settlement. According to Iranian state-run IRNA, the current phase of diplomacy focuses primarily on securing a cessation of hostilities and preventing any further escalation in the region. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei had earlier said Tehran would communicate its official position once internal consultatio...

As fears of renewed conflict hang over Iran, conservationists are shoring up battered historic sites and taking stock of the damage caused by the war with the United States and Israel, though experts warn some repairs could take years. At Golestan Palace, a defining cultural landmark in central Tehran, shattered mirrors, broken doors and debris from ornate ceilings now lie scattered across parts of the site after shockwaves from strikes on the capital following the outbreak of war on February 28. The former royal residence, known for its sprawling gardens, pools and royal halls, has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2013. The fragile truce in place since April 8 has allowed experts to begin gauging the scale of the damage, though the complex remains closed to the public. "The damage has been assessed at several levels, but a more detailed specialised evaluation is still underway," Ali Omid Ali, a restoration specialist and head of the technical engine...

Israeli strikes killed at least three Palestinians in Gaza on Sunday, including two ​members of the Hamas‑run police force, ‌health officials said, in violence that underscored the fragility of a U.S.‑brokered ceasefire. Medics said an air strike killed ​one person in the Maghazi refugee camp ​in the Gaza Strip, while another killed ⁠the head of the criminal police force ​in Khan Younis, Wessam Abdel‑Hadi, and his ​aide, according to Gaza’s Hamas‑run interior ministry. Reuters has previously reported that Israel has heightened its attacks on Gaza's Hamas-run police ​force that the militants have used to ​re-establish governance in areas under their control. Read More: 'No home left' for Gazans stranded in West Bank since Oct 7 The Israeli military didn't ‌immediately ⁠comment on either incident. Violence in Gaza has persisted despite an October 2025 ceasefire, with Israel conducting almost daily attacks. At least 850 Palestinians ​have been ​ki...

An Israeli ministerial committee is expected to discuss a bill on Sunday that seeks to scrap the Oslo Accords and prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, according to Hebrew media reports Saturday. Channel 12 said the Ministerial Committee for Legislation will review the proposal, which seeks to revoke the 1993 agreement signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation. The bill was submitted by Knesset Deputy Speaker Limor Son Har-Melech, who claimed the Oslo Accords had brought “terror instead of peace” and said it was time for what she described as a “national correction,” according to Israel’s Channel 7. Read: Gaza flotilla activists to be released from Israel detention and deported “We promised to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, and now it is time to encourage settlement in Areas A and B and cancel the disastrous Oslo Accords,” Har-Melech wrote on X. She described the proposed legisla...

A member of the European Parliament (EP) called for an immediate and impartial investigation into the deadly attack on a girls’ elementary school in Iran’s Minab, saying the strike may have been deliberate and could constitute a war crime, according to Al Jazeera, citing Iranian media. Speaking at a memorial gathering outside the Iranian embassy in Brussels, Slovak MEP Milan Uhrik said the scale and nature of the attack suggested it was preplanned. According to him, this was a war crime, and the European Union and European countries should not be involved in such actions, Al Jazeera reported. Read: US investigation points to likely US responsibility in Iran school strike, sources say He drew parallels with civilian casualties in Gaza, Lebanon and Beirut, saying attacks on women, children and the elderly reflected a willingness to target non-combatants to create fear and panic for strategic purposes. Uhrik said he had sent a letter to the European Commission demandin...

The US and Iran appeared no closer on Saturday to finding an end ​to the US-Israeli-imposed war after the two sides traded fire in the Gulf amid a tenuous ceasefire. At the same time, a US intelligence analysis concluded Tehran could ‌withstand a naval blockade for months. Recent days have seen the biggest flare-ups in fighting in and around the Strait of Hormuz since a ceasefire began a month ago, and the United Arab Emirates came under renewed attack this week, a claim that Iran has denied responsibility for. Washington has been awaiting Tehran's response to a US proposal that would formally end the war before talks on more contentious issues, including Iran's nuclear program. Speaking in Rome ​on Friday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US was expecting a response that day, although an Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson said Tehran was ​still weighing its response. Trump threatens 'Project Freedom Plus' if Iran deal not sealed US President Dona...

Youssef Ajissa, the head of the International Committee to Break the Siege on Gaza (ICBSG), relayed on Friday testimonies from the Global Sumud Flotilla activists that were subjected to Israel's violations during their detention following the interception of their Gaza-bound aid mission. Some activists who were able to give testimonies confirmed that a number of participants were subjected to "sexual violence, in addition to beatings, dragging, handcuffing, and blindfolding," Ajissa told Anadolu. He added that "Israeli violations included sexual assaults and harassment," as well as beatings, describing what happened as "a blatant violation of human dignity." "These violations reveal the true nature of the Israeli entity, its criminality, and brutality, and the extent of its danger to the region and the world," he said. Read: Israel questions two Gaza flotilla activists Speaking of what he described as "the weak international re...

A Vatican statement after Pope Leo's meeting with United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, which said the two had pledged to improve bilateral relations, ​was a recognition of unprecedented tensions, insiders and analysts said. Rubio's meeting on Thursday with Leo, the first US pope, garnered wide ‌public attention as President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked the pontiff over the US-Iran war. The Vatican statement after the 45-minute encounter, the first between the pope and a Trump cabinet official in nearly a year, said two leaders had "renewed the shared commitment to fostering good bilateral relations". "[The] statement makes it clear that, at present, there is work to do," Peter ​Martin, a former diplomat at the US Embassy to the Holy See who served during Democratic and Republican administrations, told Reuters. Break with tradition of saying all is well Austen Ivereigh, a Vatican specialist who co-wrote a book with the late Po...

German police said on ​Friday several people, including ‌one cash transport driver, had been taken hostage at a ​savings bank branch ​in the western town of ⁠Sinzig. "It is currently believed ​that there are several ​perpetrators and hostages inside the bank," police said in a statement, ​adding that the ​situation was currently "stable". Police also said they ‌had ⁠launched extensive operations and had cordoned off a large area. The incident was reported ​in ​the ⁠town's centre in the regional state of ​Rhineland-Palatinate at 0700 ​GMT, ⁠police added. There is no danger to the public outside ⁠the ​cordoned-off area, ​according to the police. Police believe at least one suspect and a bank employee are currently inside the building’s vault area, the Bild newspaper reported. A police spokesperson stated they could not yet rule out the presence of multiple perpetrators or additional hostages. A man is reported to have approached an employee...