President Trump has decided not to publish his Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, or parts of it, before Israel's Sept. 17 elections, White House special envoy Jason Greenblatt said in a tweet.
Why it matters: Trump has spoken twice about this issue in the last 2 weeks, and he had raised the possibility the plan would be at least partially released before the elections. That could have had a big influence on the outcome of the elections and on the formation of the next governing coalition. The president and his Middle East “peace team," headed by Jared Kushner, had several discussions on this issue before deciding to wait, a White House official tells me.
Queen Elizabeth II approved Wednesday U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson's request to "prorogue," or suspend, Parliament between the second week of September and Oct. 14.
Between the lines: In a letter to lawmakers, Johnson said he had asked the queen to suspend Parliament to give his government a fresh chance to set out a "new bold and ambitious domestic agenda." While this may be grounded in some truth, the real purpose of the dramatic move is to limit the amount of time opposition members of Parliament have to block a "no-deal" Brexit, the default — and potentially disastrous — legal option on Oct. 31.
Queen Elizabeth II has approved a request from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government to suspend Parliament when it returns from its summer recess until it can lay out its plans with a traditional Queen's Speech on Oct. 14, per the BBC.
Why it matters: While the request is largely standard process for a new administration — the Queen's Speech is akin to an incoming State of the Union — these are not standard times. The length of the suspension is longer than usual, and Johnson's opposition would have little time to use parliamentary procedure to stop a no-deal Brexit. Assuming that negotiations with the European Union remain stalled, it means that the U.K. will likely either crash out of the bloc on Oct. 31 — or face a snap general election called by Johnson's opposition.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said in a statement Tuesday Russia had refused to grant him a visa to visit the country as part of a bipartisan congressional delegation.
Why it matters: Murphy's statement comes a day after fellow Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said Russia had refused to grant him a visa. President Trump has been trying to press G7 members to let Russia rejoin the group, after it was disinvited in 2014 from attending the summit for annexing Crimea.
Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) joked at a town hall in Audubon, Iowa, Tuesday about sterilizing Muslim women in China "so there’s no more Uighurs to be born," and "trying to force them to eat pork," the Sioux City Journal reports.
Why it matters: King has been struggling to attract donors over his previous controversial comments about race and abortion. Per Axios' Dave Lawler, China has detained an estimated 1 million to 2 million Uighur Muslims in the region of Xinjiang in internment camps. Under Islamic law, Muslims are forbidden from eating pork.
In the midst of French efforts to de-escalate tensions between Tehran and Washington at the G7 summit in Biarritz, the conflict between Israel and Iran may have entered a dangerous new stage.
Why it matters: French President Emmanuel Macron is seeking to ease tensions between the U.S. and Iran and arrange a meeting between President Trump and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in the coming weeks. But an Israeli-Iranian blow up could tank the prospects for any of this.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says he's open to meeting with President Trump, but only if crippling U.S. sanctions are lifted first, reports AP.
Why it matters: The statement comes a day after French President Emmanuel Macron said at the G7 that he plans to arrange a meeting between the two leaders in the coming weeks. Rouhani yesterday expressed interest in meeting Trump, but returned today to the insistence that the U.S. remove its crippling economic sanctions if it wants to de-escalate tensions.
The Australian government said in a statement Tuesday it's "very concerned" that Chinese-Australian writer Yang Hengjun has been formally arrested on espionage charges in China after being in detention for months.
Why it matters: The arrest of the New York-based writer comes at a tense time between Australia and China after the U.S. pressed Australia to take a stronger stance against Beijing, per the New York Times, which notes that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on a recent trip to Sydney that China’s increasingly aggressive behavior worldwide required greater attention and pushback.
The G7 summit began with a sense of impending doom and included a twist in the form of a surprise guest, but ended with smiles and a delicate breakthrough — President Trump may now be on course to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
Driving the news: French President Emmanuel Macron, the host, revealed during a joint press conference with Trump today that he has been working to broker such a meeting. That explained his decision to invite Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to Biarritz, a move that raised eyebrows around the world yesterday.
