A senior Israeli minister yesterday met Chinese officials for talks expected to focus on winning Beijing’s support for tougher sanctions against Iran over its controversial nuclear program.
The visit by the high-level Israeli delegation comes as Beijing, a close ally of Iran with oil interests in the Islamic republic, has come under increased pressure to agree to punitive measures against Tehran.
China has so far been reluctant to back such a move, and has repeatedly said there was still time for more talks to resolve the standoff over Iran’s atomic program, which the West says is a covert weapons drive.
Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Yaalon held talks with Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo as he wrapped up a two-day visit, said Guy Kivetz, a spokesman for the Israeli embassy.
“They’re going to discuss key issues — bilateral, regional, international — of mutual concern to both countries, among them the Iranian situation,” he said, declining to provide further details about the talks.
The Israeli delegation also includes central bank chief Stanley Fischer. Iran has so far failed to take up a nuclear fuel swap offer from the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, under which Russia would enrich its uranium and France would process it.
Tehran says its atomic program is solely for civilian energy purposes. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this week urged the UN Security Council to move on new sanctions within 60 days.
The US is working with Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany to try to halt Iran’s uranium enrichment program.
Beijing now appears to be the sole holdout on sanctions among the five permanent veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council, after Russia called on Thursday for “responsible behavior” from Iran, signaling its impatience.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of