Egypt Today's international news wrap-up - FILE
CAIRO – 23 December 2017: Egypt Today brings you the latest top of the hour news from around the world over the past 24 hours in this round-up.
Middle East
Sisi, Anastasiades praise mutual relations in phone call
President
praised the Egyptian-Cypriot relations with his Cypriot counterpart Nicos Anastasiades in a phone call on Friday, December 22.
According to presidency spokesperson Bassam Rady, both of the leaders affirmed the importance of following up on and developing the distinguished relations between the two countries.
Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades (R) and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi are seen during a welcome ceremony the Presidential Palace in Nicosia, Cyprus November 20, 2017. REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou
Arab League hails UN resolution over Jerusalem
The Arab League welcomed on Friday the UN General Assembly’s resolution on Thursday which considers the U.S. decision regarding Jerusalem "null and void" and that it must be cancelled.
On behalf of the
chief, the assistant secretary-general and Ambassador Said Abu Ali said that Jerusalem is a part of occupied Palestine, stressing the importance of proceeding Arab efforts within the international organization to end the occupation.
A general view of the Arab League delegates meeting- Egypt December 5 -2017 - REUTERS
Saudi Arabia shuts land border with Qatar
Saudi authorities ‘permanently’ shut Salwa crossing that links
with Qatar, news outlets reported Tuesday.
The Salwa border gate has been shut since Monday, according to a document issued by Saudi Arabia’s customs directorate.
The crossing is controlled by Saudi interior and finance ministries. It provides services related to passports and customs.
FILE – The flag of Qatar
Europe
German pleads not guilty to U.S. charges in Siemens' Argentine bribe case
A former
AG employee pleaded not guilty on Thursday to U.S. charges he took part in a $100 million scheme to bribe Argentine officials to win a contract to produce national identity cards, according to prosecutors.
Eberhard Reichert, a 78-year-old German national, was released on a $500,000 bond following a hearing before U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan, the U.S. Justice Department said. Cote scheduled a trial for July 16.
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German pleads not guilty to U.S. charges in Siemens' Argentine bribe case - Reuters
Ousted Catalan leader offers to meet PM outside Spain
Ousted Catalan leader
on Friday offered to meet Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy outside Spain for talks on the region's independence crisis, a day after separatists won a parliamentary majority in snap polls.
Puigdemont was speaking to reporters in Brussels, where he fled after his region's parliament declared independence from Spain. Should he return, he faces arrest on charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of funds.
© AFP | Axed Catalan president Carles Puigdemont gives a press conference in Brussels on December 22, 2017
Turkish police arrest 15 senior military officers in Gulen probe
arrested 15 senior military officers in an investigation into the network of a U.S.-based cleric who Ankara accuses of orchestrating last year's attempted coup, state-run Anadolu news agency said on Friday.
It said police were seeking one more officer in the operation, focused on the capital Ankara and spread across nine provinces, adding that 12 of the total 16 suspects were serving officers.
Among the suspects were seven colonels and nine lieutenant colonels from Turkey's gendarmerie force, which maintains security in rural areas, the Hurriyet news website said.
A Turkish special forces police officer guards the entrance of the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, August 5, 2016. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
United States
U.S. partially suspends Ukraine from preferential trade program
U.S. President
will suspend some of Ukraine's benefits under a preferential trade program in four months unless Kiev improves its protection of property rights, the U.S. Trade Representative's Office said in a statement on Friday.
It said Ukraine's suspension from the Generalized System of Preferences program "stems from its failure to provide adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights despite years of encouragement and assistance from the U.S. government."
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U.S. President Donald Trump listens as South Korean President Moon Jae-in delivers a statement from the Rose Garden after meetings at the White House - Reuters
U.S. senators seek to stop expansion of airport facial scans
Two U.S. senators on Thursday urged
to halt the planned expansion of a $1 billion airport facial scanning program, saying the technology used to identify travelers on some flights departing from nine U.S. airports for international destinations may not be not accurate enough and raises privacy concerns.
Congress has approved the use of the program for non-U.S. citizens, but never expressly authorized its use for Americans. The Department of Homeland Security has said the system is needed to prevent travelers from leaving the country using someone else's identity and to prevent visitors to the United States from overstaying their visas.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks flanked by Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Tim Scott (R) as he celebrates with Congressional Republicans after the U.S. Congress passed sweeping tax overhaul legislation, on the South Lawn of the White House in Was
In victory for Trump, judge tosses suit on foreign payments
A federal judge in
on Thursday threw out a lawsuit claiming that President Donald Trump violated the U.S. Constitution by accepting foreign payments through his hotels and other businesses, handing him a major victory on an issue that has dogged him since before he took office in January.
In victory for Trump, judge tosses suit on foreign payments - Reuters
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