Washington DC

25 July 2022; MEMO: In a Monday phone call, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin discussed last week's deal to reopen Ukrainian ports for grain exports, says Anadolu Agency.

The call came after Turkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine signed a deal on Friday to reopen three Ukrainian ports – Odesa, Chernomorsk, and Yuzhny – for grain exports stuck for months due to the Russia-Ukraine war, now in its sixth month.

Washington, Jul 23 (AP-PTI) COVID-19 symptoms left President Joe Biden with a raspy voice and cough as he met Friday via videoconference with his top economic team. But the president tried to strike a reassuring tone, declaring, I feel much better than I sound.

Biden took off a mask and sipped water as he opened the meeting to discuss the decline in gas prices in recent weeks. Reporters were allowed into a White House auditorium to view a few minutes of the proceedings, and when they asked how Biden was feeling, he flashed a thumb's up.

21 July 2022; AA: US President Joe Biden said, last week in Jerusalem, on the first leg of his Middle East tour that Washington is "not going to wait forever" for Iran to revive a 2015 agreement on its nuclear program, hours after warning of using force against Tehran "as a last resort".

The White House, on Monday, said it anticipates major oil producers in the OPEC+ alliance to increase crude production following President Joe Biden's trip to the Middle East, Reuters reports.

"We will measure success in the next couple of weeks," said White House spokesperson, Karine Jean-Pierre, at a press briefing. "We anticipate [it] to be an increase in production, but it's going to take the next couple of weeks, and that will be up to OPEC+."

13 July 2022; MEMO: The United States called on Wednesday for "accountability" over the death of Palestinian-American journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, whose killing during an Israeli West Bank raid is expected to be a major issue during President Joe Biden's Middle East visit, Reuters reports.

Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist working for the Al Jazeera network, was shot in the head on 11 May, while reporting on an Israeli raid in the town of Jenin in the occupied West Bank.

13 July 2022; MEMO: Former US National Security Advisor, John Bolton, has admitted that he helped Washington plan coups in foreign countries, seeming to confirm an unspoken practice which many have long accused the US of conducting.

Manila, Jul 12 (AP/PTI) US Secretary of State Antony Blinken renewed a call to China to comply with a 2016 arbitration ruling that invalidated Beijing's vast claims in the South China Sea and warned that Washington is obligated to defend treaty ally Philippines if its forces, vessels or aircraft come under attack in the disputed waters.

09 July 2022; MEMO: Russia, on Friday, vetoed a bid to extend UN Security Council approval for 12 months of UN aid deliveries to some 4 million people in opposition-controlled north-west Syria from Turkiye, Reuters reports.

The resolution, drafted by Ireland and Norway, received 13 votes in favour, while China abstained. A resolution needs nine votes in favour and no vetoes by Russia, China, the United States, Britain or France to be adopted.

06 July 2022; MEMO: The United States, on Wednesday, imposed sanctions on a network of Hong Kong, Emirati and other companies that it accused of helping to deliver and sell Iranian petroleum and petrochemical products to East Asia, applying pressure on Tehran as Washington seeks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, Reuters reports.

05 July 2022; MEMO: The US Presbyterian Church has voted to declare Israel to be an "apartheid state" and has set aside "Nakba Remembrance Day" within the church calendar. The decisions were taken at the church's 225th General Assembly.