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It was more than 70 years ago, in the closing months of the war in Europe, that Princess Elizabeth launched her first warship at the age of 18. Then it was the mighty battleship Vanguard, the last of its kind to serve in the Royal Navy. And yesterday, aged 91, the Queen commissioned Britain’s biggest ever warship, the HMS Queen Elizabeth, into the Royal Navy. In a moving speech to the crew while stood in the hangar of the 65,000 ton aircraft carrier at Portsmouth naval base, she said it embodied the ‘best of British’. The Queen said: ‘The most...

An Iranian-backed militia in Iraq threatened on Thursday to attack US forces in the country over US President Donald Trump recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. "The decision by Trump on Al-Quds [Jerusalem] makes it legitimate to strike the American forces in Iraq," Al-Nojaba militia chief Akram al-Kaabi said in a statement. The group, established in 2013 and supported by Iran's Revolutionary Guards, numbers around 1,500 fighters and is part of the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization) auxiliary force that has fought alongside the army against ISIS. Following Trump’s announcement, Iran strongly condemned the decision, saying it threatened a...

It is impossible to imagine a worse outcome for Britain than failing to agree a Brexit deal, the House of Lords will warn on Thursday, in a last-ditch warning to ministers under increasing pressure to walk away from stalled talks with the EU. In a 60-page report that predicts legal and economic chaos without an exit agreement, the cross-party committee of peers cautions that a government strategy of brinkmanship with Brussels “risks becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy”. “‘No deal’ would mean the abrupt cessation of over 40 years of economic, political and legal partnership,” they conclude. “It is difficult, if not...

Every six months for more than two decades, U.S. presidents have had to decide all over again whether to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Since the Clinton administration, they decided each time to keep the embassy where it is, seeking not to throw a wrench into delicate Middle East peace talks. On Tuesday, however, after signing a waiver putting off the move in June, President Donald Trump informed the Palestinian Authority’s President Mahmoud Abbas that he’s going to recognize the contested holy city as Israel’s capital and begin the process of moving the embassy...

Monday, The New York Times published the Palestinian response to an alleged Saudi peace plan. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly presented it to PLO chief and Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas last month. According to the Times’ report, Mohammed told Abbas he has two months to either accept the Saudi proposal or leave office to make way for a new Palestinian leader who will accept it. The Palestinians and their European supporters are up in arms about the content of Mohammed’s plan. It reportedly proposes the establishment of limited Palestinian sovereignty over small portions of Judea and Samaria....

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel on Tuesday warned the US about the dangers of moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. “Recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel does not calm a conflict; rather, it fuels it even more,” Gabriel said. “It’s in everyone’s interest that this does not happen.” Despite widespread international opposition to the move, Trump is expected to recognize the city as Israel’s capital on Wednesday. A senior administration official speaking on the condition of anonymity told AFP news agency that the president would make the announcement during a speech slated for 1 p.m. local...

Full title............................Theresa May 'will challenge' Trump over his controversial decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israeli capital in a showdown call after their diplomatic spat over Britain First tweet.................................'It is that the status of Jerusalem should be determined in a negotiated settlement between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and Jerusalem should ultimately form a shared capital between the Israeli and Palestinian states.

A man planned to bomb Downing Street's gates before attacking Theresa May with a knife and suicide vest inside Number 10, a court has heard. Naa'imur Zakariyah Rahman, 20, has been charged with preparing acts of terrorism and was remanded in custody during a hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court. The 20-year-old appeared alongside Mohammed Aqib Imran, 21, who is accused of trying to join Islamic State and preparing acts of terror.

President Trump on Wednesday will order the State Department to begin moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, senior administration officials said, a move that fulfills a campaign promise made to religious conservatives but one that could inflame tensions across the Middle East. In his announcement, Trump will say that the U.S. government recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. One official described it as an "honest" acknowledgement of a "seven-decade old fact." “While President Trump recognizes that the status of Jerusalem is a highly sensitive issue, he does not think it will be resolved by...

When making a decision about who to choose as his running mate, Donald Trump was concerned with potential ticket mate Mike Pence. Why? Because he thought then Governor Pence was “embarrassingly poor.” Before Trump chose Pence, he sized him up over a game of golf. The Atlantic reported: “Coming into the game, Trump had formed an opinion of the Indiana governor as prudish, stiff, and embarrassingly poor, according to one longtime associate." Pence knew the (Trump politics) game and had some help from one of his longtime advisers, Kellyanne Conway. Conway suggested Pence talk to Trump about “stuff outside of...

We have some breaking news coming from the United Kingdom. Apparently, British intelligence and security services have foiled an assassination plot against Prime Minister Theresa May.  Sky News reports that the head of MI5, Britain’s internal security service, briefed the May’s cabinet, telling them that a plot to launch some sort of explosive device at Downing Street in the hopes of killing Prime Minister May. We’ll keep you updated on the matterVia Sky News: Sky's Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt said: "It's the latest in a number of terror plots that police and MI5 believe they've foiled this year."I understand that...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump informed Palestinian President Mahmolud Abbas on Tuesday that he intends to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, Abbas’s spokesman said.

Wait. It comes as a surprise to President Trump that many world leaders, especially from the Middle East, oppose him recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's historic and undivided capital? Facing dark warnings of a historic misstep and widespread unrest, US President Donald Trump on Monday delayed a decision on whether to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and move the US embassy there. The White House said Trump would miss a deadline to decide on shifting the embassy from Tel Aviv, after a frantic 48 hours of public warnings from allies and private phone calls between world leaders. When he was...

(AFP) - The European Union warned on Tuesday of possible "serious repercussions" if United States President Donald Trump decides to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and move the US embassy there. EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini's office said, in a statement, that "any decision or unilateral action affecting Jerusalem's status" might have "serious repercussions on public opinion in large parts of the world." It added, "The focus should therefore remain on the efforts to restart the peace process and avoiding any action that would undermine such efforts." ....

Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan says the Jerusalem issue is likely to bring an end to the diplomatic relations between Turkey and Israel, according to Reuters. .....

Video A top Democrat warned President Donald Trump against recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital Monday night, calling the expected declaration “a horrible tragedy”. .....

The security waiver used by every president since Bill Clinton to avoid implementation of a 1995 law requiring the US embassy in Israel be relocated to the capital city of Jerusalem lapsed Monday night amid speculation President Donald Trump could officially recognize the city as Israel’s capital or even announce an embassy move as early as this week. .....

The head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency warned Sunday of the risk wives and children of Islamic State fighters pose upon their return to Europe. About one-third of the close to 1,000 Germans who travelled to fight for ISIS have returned to the country. Hans-Georg Maassen, the head of Germany’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), warned that many women and children “had become so radicalized and identify so deeply with IS-ideology that, by all accounts, they must also be identified as jihadis.”“There are children who have been brainwashed and highly radicalized at ‘schools’ in IS-held areas,” Maassen...

Flight times from London to New York could be slashed to just 3 hours 15 minutes by 2025, thanks to a $10 million (£7.45 million) investment from Japan Airlines. Boom Supersonic is developing a 55-seat passenger plane that it says will halve flight times and will be faster, quieter and more affordable to fly than Concorde. As part of the deal Japan's number two carrier has the option to purchase up to 20 Boom aircraft and will provide its knowledge and experience as an airline to hone the aircraft design and help refine the passenger experience.

Donald Trump’s banking information has formally been turned over to Robert Mueller, the special prosecutor who is investigating whether the president’s campaign conspired with the Kremlin during the 2016 presidential election. Deutsche Bank, the German bank that serves as Trump’s biggest lender, was forced to submit documents about its client relationship with the president and some of his family members, who are also Deutsche clients, after Mueller issued the bank with a subpoena for information, according to multiple media reports. The news was first reported by Handelsblatt, the German newspaper.