Jamal Khashoggi’s US lawyer sentenced to three years following detention in UAE

Washington Post publisher Fred Ryan hit out at President Joe Biden on Tuesday over the inclusion of Saudi Arabia on the itinerary for his upcoming Middle East trip.

In a column published in the newspaper’s opinion pages, Mr Ryan wrote that Mr Biden’s trip “erodes our moral authority” and represents an “embarrassing reversal” after the president vowed during the 2020 campaign to hold Saudi Arabia’s leadership accountable for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Mr Khashoggi, who wrote frequently for the Washington Post and other outlets, was murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018 following his critical reporting on his native country’s government.

Abe Asher reports.

Inflation has hit a 40-year high as prices increased 9.1 per cent year over year, according to the latest numbers from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers jumped 1.3 per cent last month, with gasoline, shelter and food being the largest contributors to inflation.

The numbers are a devastating blow for President Joe Biden as many voters continue to express frustration about rising prices.

Eric Garcia reports.

Joe Biden will touch down in Saudi Arabia on Friday in a move that will bring an unceremonious end to his campaign promise to make the wealthy Gulf state a “pariah” in the global community.

The president’s visit, which he attempted to explain in a Washington Post op-ed and through a statement from his press secretary last month, is a clear reversal of his onetime vow to make the Kingdom pay for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist critical of the Saudi crown prince, Mohamed bin Salman.

A year and a half into his White House term, Mr Biden’s evolving view on Saudi Arabia remains one of the starkest differences between Joe Biden the president and Joe Biden the presidential candidate.

John Bowden reports.

There will be several issues on the agenda when Joe Biden touches down friday in Jeddah, the centuries-old port city on the coast of Red Sea.

Mr Biden will arrive in Saudi Arabia on Friday, his first visit to an Arab country since taking office, as part of his participation at King Salman’s invitation in a summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council: a political, economic and military alliance which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates alongside Saudi Arabia, which is hosting the summit.

He’ll also attend a bilateral meeting with the leaders of Saudi Arabia itself including King Salman and his controversial heir, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The White House says Mr Biden’s visit with Saudi leaders is meant to ‘reorient’ America’s relationship with Riyadh. But as Andrew Feinberg reports, foreign policy experts are split on whether the president should be going at all.

When president Joe Biden heads to the occupied West Bank on Friday for talks with Palestinian leaders, he will have little to offer beyond US money aimed at buying calm.

He’s expected to announce $316m in financial assistance — about a third of which will require congressional approval — and a commitment from Israel to modernize wireless access for Palestinians.

Mr Biden acknowledged this week that while he supports a two-state solution, it won’t happen “in the near-term”. The US also appears to have accepted defeat in its more modest push to reopen a Jerusalem consulate serving the Palestinians that was closed when president Donald Trump recognized the contested city as Israel’s capital.

But although Mr Biden will reiterate his support for an independent Palestinian state, there’s no clear path to one. The last round of serious peace talks broke down more than a decade ago, leaving millions of Palestinians living under Israeli military rule.

Palestinian leaders also fear being further undermined by the Abraham Accords, a diplomatic vehicle for Arab nations to normalize relations with Israel despite the continuing occupation. Mr Biden, who heads next to Saudi Arabia to attend a summit of Arab leaders, hopes to broaden that process, which began under Mr Trump.

The United States would use force to prevent Iran from acquiring or developing nuclear weapons if all other options fail, President Joe Biden has said.

Mr Biden said the US would use its military to prevent Iran’s nuclear program from succeeding in bringing about a working nuclear weapon during an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 news.

After his interviewer raised prior comments in which Mr Biden had said he’d do anything to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power, she asked if that meant he would use force against Iran.

Andrew Feinberg reports.

Saudi Arabia said it would open its airspace to all air carriers, paving the way for more overflights to and from Israel, in a decision welcomed by US president Joe Biden, who is due to visit the kingdom on Friday.

The Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation said the country’s airspace was now open to all carriers that meet its requirements for overflights, in line with international conventions that say there should be no discrimination between civil aircraft.

The decision will “complement the efforts aimed at consolidating the kingdom’s position as a global hub connecting three continents and to enhance international air connectivity,” it added.

Mr Biden welcomed the decision, said White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

President Joe Biden will discuss energy supply, human rights and security cooperation in Saudi Arabia on today on a trip designed to reset the US relationship with the country he once pledged to make a “pariah” on the world stage.

Mr Biden will hold meeting with Saudi Arabia’s king Salman bin Abdulaziz and crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, along with other government officials, a senior Biden administration told reporters.

The visit is also being closely watched as US intelligence had concluded that the crown prince directly approved the 2018 murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. But he had denied playing a role in the incident.

White House advisers have declined to comment on whether Mr Biden will shake hands with the prince.

“The president’s going to meet about a dozen leaders and he’ll greet them as he usually does,” the administration official said.

US president Joe Biden has expressed confidence about a possible rematch with Donald Trump in 2024 and said he would not be “disappointed” if that were to happen.

“I’m not predicting, but I would not be disappointed,” Mr Biden said in an interview with Israeli television outlet Channel 12 on Wednesday.

When pressed further on what he meant, the president said: “The one thing I know about politics — and American politics in particular — is there’s no way to predict what’s going to happen.