April 24, 2026 6:10 PM

US Iran peace talks could resume in Pakistan; Iran’s foreign minister due, say sources

Peace talks between Iran and the United States could resume soon in Pakistan, where Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was expected to arrive on Friday night, three Pakistani sources said. Two of the sources, from the Pakistani government, said a U.S. logistics and security team was already in place for potential talks. There was no immediate direct response from Washington or Tehran to the report, but U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking around the same time, told a briefing that...

April 22, 2026 5:51 PM

Lebanon hopes for extension of ceasefire at Washington meeting

Lebanese and Israeli envoys will meet for the second time in two weeks in Washington on Thursday, building on nascent contacts between the states, with Lebanon hoping for the extension of a shaky ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel. The 10-day, U.S.-mediated ceasefire is set to expire on Sunday. Underlining its fragility, Iran-backed Hezbollah said on Tuesday it had fired rockets at northern Israel in response to Israeli violations, while Israel also accused the group of breaches. Hostiliti...

April 16, 2026 3:18 PM

Pope Leo to hold peace meeting in Cameroon amid Trump attacks

Pope Leo was travelling to the biggest city in Cameroon's conflict-hit anglophone region on Thursday, the latest stop on an ambitious four-country Africa tour amid attacks on the pontiff by U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump's attacks on Leo, who has emerged as a vocal critic of the Iran war, have caused dismay in Africa, where more than a fifth of the world's Catholics live. Vice President JD Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, joined in on Tuesday, saying the pope was wrong to say t...

April 11, 2026 4:27 PM

US, Iran teams in Pakistan for peace talks amid doubts over Lebanon, sanctions

Senior U.S. and Iranian leaders were in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Saturday for negotiations to end their six-week-old war, although Tehran threw the talks into doubt by saying they could not begin without commitments on Lebanon and sanctions. The U.S. delegation, led by Vice President JD Vance and including President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, landed in two U.S. Air Force planes at an air base in Islamabad on Saturday morning, where they we...

February 13, 2026 3:30 PM

Rubio strikes warmer tone as Trump’s upheaval of Atlantic ties looms over Munich meet

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned transatlantic ties faced a "defining moment" in a rapidly changing world but struck a warmer tone ahead of the Munich Security Conference on Friday after a year of unprecedented upheaval. At the same gathering of top security officials last year, Vice President JD Vance had attacked European allies, triggering a series of confrontations, with the U.S. seemingly set on dismantling much of the international order it helped to build. In response, Washing...

February 14, 2025 4:50 PM

Vance warns Moscow on Ukraine, urges Europe to spend more on defence

U.S. Vice President JD Vance warned Russia that Washington could hit Moscow with sanctions if it does not agree to a good peace deal with Ukraine, while urging Europe to spend more on defence as he arrived for the Munich Security Conference. Ukraine, and prospects for peace talks, preoccupied many at the high-profile global gathering after Donald Trump startled U.S. allies by calling Russian President Vladimir Putin and announcing the start of talks to end the war in U...

February 11, 2025 5:44 PM

Vance warns Europeans that heavy regulation could kill AI

U.S. Vice President JD Vance warned Europeans on Tuesday that what he called their excessive regulation of artificial intelligence could strangle the technology, and rejected content moderation as "authoritarian censorship."  The mood on AI has shifted as the technology takes root, from one of concerns around safety to geopolitical competition, as countries jockey to nurture the next big AI giant.  Vance, forthright in setting out the Trump administration's America First agenda, said the Uni...

January 21, 2025 9:17 AM

Great honour to represent India at Trump inauguration ceremony: EAM Jaishankar

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that it was a "great honour" to represent India at the inauguration ceremony of US President Donald Trump. Sharing the pictures of the inauguration ceremony on X, he wrote, "A great honour to represent India at the inauguration ceremony of @POTUS President Donald J Trump and @VP Vice President JD Vance in Washington DC today." His attendance underscores the importance of India-US relations and the global diplomatic ties shared between the two nati...