AFP, Washington
Russia has canceled a meeting with senior US diplomats in the wake of Washington’s decision to reinforce sanctions imposed over its interference in Ukraine and occupation of Crimea.
US Under Secretary of State Tom Shannon had been due in St Petersburg on Friday to mend diplomatic fences with Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.
China invites Ivanka, Jared Kushner to visit
AP, Washington
China has invited US President Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to visit Beijing later this year, a White House official said on Tuesday. China’s overture appeared aimed at deepening engagement with the influential young couple, who played a role in the first summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in April, which set an improved tone for relations between the world’s two biggest economies.
Sudan military copter crashes killing crew
AFP, Khartoum
A Sudanese military helicopter has crashed in Northern State, killing all four crew members on board, the army said on Wednesday, in the latest accident to hit its ageing fleet. The Russian-built Mi-17 helicopter crashed late on Tuesday due to “bad weather” in state capital Dongola, army spokesman Brigadier Ahmed Khalifa Shami said in a statement.
“All four crew members on board were martyred.”
Egypt delivers fuel to ease Gaza electricity crisis
AFP, Rafah
Egypt began on Wednesday to deliver a million litres of fuel to Gaza, a Palestinian official said, in an attempt to ease the Palestinian enclave’s desperate electricity crisis. The fuel, trucked in through the Rafah border between Egypt and Gaza, will be routed to the territory’s only power station-closed since April due to fuel shortages.
The deliveries come two days after Israel began reducing its electricity supplies to Gaza, following Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s decision to stop paying for them.
