India vs Pakistan Asia Cup match hit by ‘no handshake’ controversy
Dubai, UAE – The wide-ranging ramifications of an ongoing political standoff between India and Pakistan have led to a controversial conclusion of the archrivals’ cricket match at the Asia Cup 2025 in Dubai, where India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav confirmed that his squad opted against shaking hands with their opponents as a mark of protest. When Sunday’s Group A fixture between the South Asian archrivals was confirmed after long deliberations from the Indian government, fans and experts had hoped that the on-field action could help cool the off-field heat. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Yadav, though, crushed all expectations by saying his team’s thumping seven-wicket win in the T20 match was a “perfect reply” to Pakistan in the wake of the intense four-day cross-border conflict that brought both countries to the brink of an all-out war in May. “Our [Indian] government and the BCCI [Board of Control for Cricket in India] were aligned on the decision to play this match. We came here just to play the match and gave them [Pakistan] a perfect reply,” Yadav told the media shortly after the match. What happened at the end of the India vs Pakistan match? Yadav, who hit the winning runs for India, walked off the field alongside his batting partner, Shivam Dube, without approaching the Pakistani captain and team for the traditional post-match handshakes. Pakistan’s players trudged off in a group and waited for the Indian squad and support staff to come out and shake hands, as is the norm at the end of cricket matches. However, the Indian contingent only shook hands with each other before walking into their dressing room and shutting the door as the waiting Pakistan players looked on. No handshakes between the teams. Salman Agha looked to lead Pakistan over to the India dressing room, but nothing doing. They all headed straight in #INDvPAK pic.twitter.com/0BbJtYdkAf — Paul Radley (@PaulRadley) September 14, 2025 Advertisement Why did Indian team refuse to shake hands with Pakistani players? The Indian captain was asked to clarify his team’s actions and whether they were in contradiction with the spirit of the sport. “A few things in life are above sportsman’s spirit,” the 35-year-old swiftly responded. “We stand with all the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack and with their families, and dedicate this win to our brave armed forces who took part in Operation Sindoor.” Yadav was referring to the Indian armed forces’ multiple missile attacks on six locations inside Pakistan. India said the missiles were in response to the April 22 attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir in Pahalgam, in which 26 men were killed. An armed group called The Resistance Front (TRF), which demands independence for Kashmir, claimed responsibility for the attack, but India had alleged Pakistani involvement. Two days later, Pakistan responded to the missile strikes by attacking military installations across its frontier with India and Indian-administered Kashmir, striking at least four facilities. The conflict ended four days later, thanks to an internationally-brokered ceasefire. While the exchange of aerial fire came to a halt, the diplomatic ties between the neighbours remained suspended, and the political tension spilled over into cricket when the fixture between India and Pakistan was announced by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC). Did India break any rules by not shaking hands? As a result, the match was played under a highly charged political climate, and when both captains did not indulge in the customary handshake at the pre-match toss, the focus swiftly shifted to the interactions between the teams. However, Al Jazeera has learned that the match referee, Andy Pycroft, had asked Yadav and his counterpart, Agha, to skip the pre-toss ritual. “The match referee requested both captains to not shake hands at the toss,” an official of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), requesting anonymity, told Al Jazeera after the match. Match officials also granted India permission to skip the post-match handshakes with Pakistan, but did not inform Agha or his team, according to the source. This resulted in an awkward-looking post-match scenario, where the Pakistani players followed Yadav off the pitch and waited for the Indians to emerge, only to watch them shut the dressing room door. How did Pakistan respond? Pakistan’s manager Naveed Akram Cheema lodged a protest against the Indian cricket team’s actions with Pycroft, who is an International Cricket Council (ICC) accredited match referee. Advertisement “The umpires had allowed the Indians to walk off the field without shaking hands for which the match referee apologised after the protest of our team manager,” the official said. Additionally, Pakistan captain Agha did not speak at the post-match captain’s chat with the host broadcaster in a mark of protest. Mike Hesson, Pakistan’s head coach, confirmed that Agha’s refusal to show up for the talk and the media briefing was a “follow-on effect” of the Indian team’s actions. “We were ready to shake hands at the end of the game, but our opposition did not do that,” Hesson said. “We sort of went over there to shake hands, and they had already gone into the changing room.” Indian and Pakistani players stand for their national anthems before the start of the match [Fadel Senna/AFP] Why are handshakes important in cricket, and what’s the protocol? As per the norm in cricket, the two on-field players of the team batting second shake hands with the fielding team and the umpires before walking off. And in what is now a common practice in all international cricket matches, the batting team then enters the ground to shake hands with their opponents. It offers both sides to end the match on a friendly note and exchange words of encouragement. In the same manner, both teams’ captains shake hands before the toss, which takes place 30 minutes before the start of play. The toss is conducted by the match referee on the pitch and usually broadcast live. Both captains and the match referee can also indulge in a pre-match chat regarding team lineups or any other matters of
Suspect in Charlie Kirk’s murder has ‘leftist ideology’, Utah governor says
The suspect in the assassination of the conservative American activist Charlie Kirk espoused left-wing views, Utah’s governor has said, amid heightened tensions and recriminations over surging political violence in the United States. In an interview with NBC News’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Utah Governor Spencer Cox said the arrested suspect, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, had a “leftist ideology” despite growing up in a conservative family. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list “We can confirm that, again, according to family and people that we’re interviewing, he does come from a conservative family. But his ideology was very different than his family, and so that’s part of it,” Cox said. Cox, a Republican, did not elaborate on Robinson’s suspected motive, but said the suspect had spent time in “dark places” online. “We do know, and again, this has been well publicised, that this was a very normal young man, a very smart young man,” Cox said. According to public records, Robinson registered as a nonpartisan voter in Utah, while his parents are registered Republicans. In a separate interview with CNN’s State of the Union, Cox said the information about Robinson’s left-wing views had come from interviews with family members and friends. “I really don’t have a dog in this fight. If this was MAGA, and a radicalised MAGA person, I would be saying that as well,” Cox said, referring to US President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again movement. “That’s not what they’re sharing.” Cox also confirmed reports that Robinson had a romantic relationship with his transgender roommate, who was transitioning from male to female. Advertisement “This partner has been incredibly cooperative, had no idea that this was happening, and is working with investigators right now,” he said. Cox said he was not aware if Robinson’s relationship had any relevance to the assassination, but that authorities were investigating. “We’re trying to figure it out. I know everybody wants to know exactly why, and point the finger, and I totally get that. I do too,” he said. Kirk, the leader and cofounder of youth activist group Turning Post USA and a close ally of Trump, was shot dead on Wednesday during a speaking appearance at Utah Valley University. A key figure on the political right, Kirk was described in media profiles as a “rock star” among young conservatives, and played a pivotal role in driving the youth vote in Trump’s November re-election. A polarising figure, Kirk was lionised by conservatives as a defender of traditional values and a champion of free speech, but seen by liberals as an incendiary figure who stoked hatred towards racial minorities and members of the LGBTQ community. While both Republican and Democratic leaders have condemned Kirk’s murder, the killing has drawn attention to the extreme political polarisation pitting everyday Americans against one another. In the aftermath of Kirk’s assassination, some left-leaning Americans took to social media to celebrate, prompting outrage from conservatives and the launch of online campaigns to get people deemed disrespectful of Kirk’s memory fired from their jobs. On the right, some figures invoked the rhetoric of retribution and war. “If they won’t leave us in peace, then our choice is to fight or die,” tech billionaire Elon Musk said on X. Trump, who swiftly denounced the rhetoric of the “radical left” after Kirk’s killing, has declined opportunities to stress the need for unity and avoid partisan blame since the assassination. Speaking on Fox News’s Fox & Friends on Friday, Trump sought to paint left-wing extremism as worse than extremism on the right. “The radicals on the right oftentimes are radical because they don’t want to see crime,” Trump said. “The radicals on the left are the problem, and they’re vicious and they’re horrible, and they’re politically savvy.” In an interview with NBC News on Saturday, Trump said that while he would like to see the country heal, “we’re dealing with a radical left group of lunatics, and they don’t play fair and they never did”. Kirk’s assassination has prompted fears of further violence amid a documented increase in politically motivated attacks. Advertisement According to a tally by the Reuters news agency, the US experienced at least 300 instances of political violence between the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol and the 2024 presidential election, marking it out as the worst period for such violence since the 1970s. Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,299
Here are the key events on day 1,299 of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Published On 15 Sep 202515 Sep 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Here is how things stand on Sunday, September 14: Fighting Russian forces killed two people in Ukraine’s Kherson, including a 49-year-old woman who was found dead in the rubble of her home, authorities said, a day after Russian attacks killed six people across the country. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian soldiers were advancing in the border areas of the northern Sumy region, and said Russian forces had suffered significant losses in the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions along the 1,000km (620-mile) front line. Ukrainian forces said they had regained control of the village of Filia in the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, and reported bringing down a Russian ballistic missile and 164 drones of different types over the past day. Ukraine’s military also claimed a strike on Russia’s Kirishi oil refinery in the northwestern Leningrad region, causing “explosions and a fire”. The governor of the Leningrad region, Alexander Drozdenko, said the fire on the refinery’s grounds was caused by “falling drone debris”, after Russian forces shot down three Ukrainian drones. The fire was extinguished, and no one was injured, Drozdenko added. Drozdenko also said that two trains derailed in the Leningrad region due to “sabotage”, with one driver dying of his injuries while being transported to a hospital. The death toll from an explosion on another railway line in Russia’s Oryol region on Saturday has risen to three. All of the victims were Russian national guard troops, said Alexander Khinstein, the governor of the Kursk region. A Ukrainian military source claimed responsibility for the attack in Oryol, but not the deadly derailment in Leningrad, the AFP news agency reported. The Russian Ministry of Defence reported intercepting 361 Ukrainian drones and four aerial bombs and rockets from a US-made high mobility artillery rocket system (HIMARS) in a 24-hour period, according to the TASS news agency. Five people were injured in a Ukrainian attack on the city of Horlivka, in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region, Russian-appointed local official Ivan Prikhodko said in a post on Telegram. Cyberattacks Advertisement Russia’s Central Election Commission said that it experienced an “unprecedented attack” on its digital systems during elections on Sunday for dozens of regional officials, including 21 out of the country’s 80 governors. Russian officials did not immediately comment on who they thought might be behind the alleged attacks. Politics and Diplomacy United States President Donald Trump again said he was willing to impose sanctions on Russia, but said Europe must do more, including ceasing to buy oil from Russia. “Europe is buying oil from Russia. I don’t want them to buy oil,” Trump told reporters. “And the sanctions… that they’re putting on are not tough enough, and I’m willing to do sanctions, but they’re going to have to toughen up their sanctions commensurate with what I’m doing.” Romania summoned Moscow’s envoy after a drone breached its airspace during a Russian attack on neighbouring Ukraine, informing him that “such recurring incidents contribute to the escalation and amplification of threats to regional security”. Annalena Baerbock, the new president of the United Nations General Assembly, said that UN peacekeepers could play a role in supporting a peace solution to the war in Ukraine. “If a peace treaty is reached, it must be secured as best as possible,” Baerbock told the Sunday edition of the Bild newspaper. Former United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson called for European troops to be deployed on Ukrainian soil in an interview with the Kyiv Independent. “If they don’t want foreign troops on Ukrainian soil, I’ve got a brilliant idea – they bog off,” Johnson said. Adblock test (Why?)
Are weddings a financial nightmare?
Today on The Stream: Weddings used to be about the couple; now they’re about the content. Social media’s influence and society’s pressure for the “perfect” wedding often push couples into debt before they even say “I do”. We’re breaking down whether a budget-friendly wedding is still truly possible – and examining the heavy financial burden that comes with a lavish celebration. Presenter: Stefanie Dekker Guests:Claudia Sokolova – Wedding planner and content creatorKiara Brokenbrough – Content creatorSumera Batool – Associate professor at Lahore College for Women University Published On 14 Sep 202514 Sep 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Adblock test (Why?)
Marc Marquez wins San Marino MotoGP to close in on world championship title
Marquez’s latest victory means he can clinch a seventh MotoGP world title at the next race in Japan in a fortnight. Ducati’s Marc Marquez resisted a spirited challenge from Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi to win the San Marino Grand Prix on Sunday, taking his revenge after crashing out of the lead in Saturday’s sprint, and inching closer to the MotoGP title. Bezzecchi had inherited victory in the sprint when Marquez crashed out. This time, however, the determined Spaniard overtook the Aprilia rider on lap 12, having started on the second row of the grid, and never looked back. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Marquez’s 11th race victory of the season takes him to 512 points – a record tally for a MotoGP rider in a single season – and he celebrated his victory by unzipping his leathers and holding his red suit up on the podium like a matador. Gresini Racing’s Alex Marquez finished a distant third, and brother Marc, with a 182-point lead, can clinch his seventh title at the Japanese Grand Prix this month. “Today I gave everything I had. It’s true that the mistake from yesterday gave me extra concentration, extra power, extra energy,” an exhausted Marc Marquez said. “I was just there following him [Bezzecchi], trying to push him always super close, because it’s impossible to do 27 laps without any mistake. And in the end, he did a small mistake on turn eight, and then I led the race. “Super important for Ducati; I felt the pressure this weekend.” Six more rounds remain, but Marc Marquez can now win his first title since 2019 if he outscores brother Alex by just three points in Japan. Superb launch At the start, Marc had a superb launch off the line and he veered to the outside to quickly move up to second behind polesitter Bezzecchi while Alex was pushed down to third. Advertisement As the top three streaked away, Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo found it difficult to maintain that pace, and he was soon battling with KTM’s Pedro Acosta, who eventually found his way past the former champion to chase the leading pack. But Acosta’s hopes of fighting for the podium went up in smoke when he retired with a broken chain, with the young Spaniard furiously wagging his finger at the bike after he stopped on the side of the track. Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia had another race to forget in a nightmare season for the twice champion, who crashed out of seventh place, his third place in the championship now seriously under threat from Bezzecchi. Up front, Marc continued piling the pressure on Bezzecchi, and the Aprilia rider finally buckled on lap 12 when he was a breath late on the brakes and went wide, opening the door for the red Ducati to ease past him and into the lead. Marc Marquez, left, trailed polesitter Marco Bezzecchi for the first 12 laps of the San Marino MotoGP [Andreas Solaro/AFP] Unrelenting Bezzecchi Bezzecchi gave chase, unrelenting and eager to reclaim the lead. But Marc remained calm and the Spaniard was in no mood to crash out of the lead twice in one weekend. Bezzecchi shook his head in frustration with six laps left as Marc set the fastest lap of the race. Marc tried his best to shake off the younger Italian, who found an extraordinary late race pace to challenge for the lead. But the Ducati rider responded once again as they traded fastest laps and left third-placed Alex more than six seconds behind. “Besides [missing out on] the victory, this is maybe the best race of my life, because I was super competitive all weekend – pole position, sprint win, second place,” Bezzecchi said. “I was close to Marc, who is at the moment the strongest on the grid. I’m very happy, I gave my all, I’m destroyed!” VR46 Racing riders Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Di Giannantonio finished fourth and fifth, respectively, while Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer was sixth. Ducati Lenovo Team’s Marc Marquez crosses the line to win the San Marino MotoGP [Andreas Solaro/AFP] Adblock test (Why?)
More Middle East mayhem amid unconditional US support for Israel?
US political analyst John Mearsheimer argues that Israel attacked Qatar to preclude any closure to the war on Gaza. In the aftermath of an Israeli attack on Qatar targeting the leadership of Hamas, American political scientist John Mearsheimer argues, “The Israelis are interested in making sure there are no negotiations that settle the conflict in Gaza.” Mearsheimer tells host Steve Clemons that the United States and Israel “basically act as a tag team”, and despite a mild rebuke by President Donald Trump, “the US supports Israel unconditionally”. He adds that Israel has three main strategic goals: expand territory, move the Palestinians out of all conquered territory, and ensure that all countries in the region are weak. Published On 14 Sep 202514 Sep 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Adblock test (Why?)
Iran considers nuclear inspection access, urges action against Israel
Tehran, Iran – Iran’s authorities are discussing what comes next following an agreement with the global nuclear watchdog, as they urge the region to go beyond issuing statements in reaction to Israel’s attack on Qatar. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is heading to an emergency meeting of the parliament’s national security commission on Saturday evening, with hardline lawmakers looking for answers as to whether the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will be allowed to access nuclear sites bombed by the United States and Israel in June. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list He is expected to reassure the hardline-dominated parliament that no access will be given to the IAEA without strict permission from the top echelon. Araghchi had reached an agreement with the IAEA in Cairo, Egypt, on Tuesday, to try to resume cooperation that had been suspended after Tehran accused the nuclear watchdog and its chief, Rafael Grossi, of having paved the way for the strikes. Grossi told the IAEA Board of Governors on Wednesday that the technical agreement includes “all facilities and installations in Iran” and “contemplates the required reporting on all the attacked facilities, including the nuclear material present”. But Araghchi told Iranian state television that agency inspectors have no access to Iranian nuclear sites beyond the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant. He said case-by-case permission would have to be granted by the country’s Supreme National Security Council, which includes the president, parliament and judiciary chiefs, several ministers, military commanders and those appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Advertisement Araghchi also confirmed that Iran’s high-enriched uranium is “under the rubble of bombed facilities”, and said the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran is investigating and assessing whether the sites are accessible or contaminated. Europe’s ‘snapback’ and Iranian threats Amir Hayat Moghadam, a hardline member of the parliament’s national security commission, claimed that Araghchi said Iran will leave the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if United Nations sanctions are reinstated against the country, according to the state-linked Tabnak news website, ahead of the meeting on Saturday. Araghchi and the foreign ministry have confirmed that legislation is in motion aimed at abandoning the global non-proliferation pact, but that finalising such a move would only potentially come if the “snapback” mechanism of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers is abused by European countries. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, during a meeting with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty at Tahrir Palace in Cairo, on September 9, 2025 [Khaled Elfiqi/AP] France, Germany and the United Kingdom triggered the snapback mechanism in late August and were slammed by China and Russia, the other signatories to the landmark nuclear accord that the US unilaterally abandoned in 2018. The European countries, known as the E3, gave Iran one month to reach a new agreement over its nuclear programme or face international sanctions. Iran maintains that the three would lose legitimacy if they go through with the threat, and will “empower the US and marginalise Europe in future diplomatic engagements”. Despite the rising tensions, Araghchi announced on Thursday that Iran and France are close to agreeing on a prisoner swap and expressed hope that an exchange would happen “in the coming days”. Iran’s top diplomat did not detail which French prisoners held in Iran would be released, but said the exchange would include Mahdieh Esfandiari, an Iranian woman arrested in France over posts about Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Esfandiari, a translator living in the French city of Lyon since 2018, was arrested in February, with French authorities accusing her of incitement to and glorification of “terrorism” and “hate speech” against Jewish people over posts on Telegram. Tehran calls her a “hostage”, employing the word used by France and other European countries that have accused Iran for decades of holding foreign and dual-national citizens in relation to espionage charges. Advertisement ‘Joint operation room against Israeli madness’ Fighting off surging pressure from the US and its allies, Iranian authorities have tried to warm ties with China and Russia, and to find common ground with regional players, particularly Arab neighbours, over Israel’s aggressions. After Israel attacked Qatar for the first time this week in a failed attempt to assassinate the top leadership of Hamas, Iran joined the chorus of regional and international condemnation. Ali Larijani, who was appointed Iran’s security chief last month, went further on Saturday and issued what he called a “warning to Islamic governments”. “Holding a conference of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation filled with speeches without any practical outcome (as happens in UN Security Council meetings) in truth amounts to issuing a new order of aggression in favour of the Zionist entity!”, he wrote on X in Arabic, in reference to Israel. “At the very least, form a ‘joint operations room’ against the madness of this entity,” Larijani said, adding that “you have done nothing for the hungry and oppressed Muslims in Palestine, at least take a modest decision to avert your own annihilation”. Qatar announced on Saturday that it will host an emergency Arab-Islamic summit on Monday in Doha, preceded by a preparatory meeting of foreign ministers on Sunday. Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed bin Mohammed al-Ansari said in a statement that “the summit will discuss a draft statement” on the Israeli attack. Iran said President Masoud Pezeshkian will represent the country in the summit. Adblock test (Why?)
Taliban official says US envoy agrees to prisoner swap in Kabul meeting
The reported visit follows one in March 2025 which led to the release of a US citizen held for more than two years in Afghanistan. Published On 13 Sep 202513 Sep 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share United States officials have agreed to a prisoner exchange after a rare talk with the authorities in Kabul, according to the Taliban administration’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Adam Boehler, the Trump administration’s special envoy for hostage response, and Zalmay Khalilzad, a former US special envoy for Afghanistan, met with the Taliban’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list “Adam Boehler, referring to the issue of detained citizens between Afghanistan and the United States, said that both countries will exchange prisoners,” deputy prime minister Abdul Ghani Baradar’s office said after their meeting. There was no immediate statement from Washington regarding the meeting, and Khalilzad did not immediately respond to a phone call from Reuters when asked for comment. Mahmood Habibi, a naturalised US citizen and businessman who previously worked for a telecommunications company in Kabul, is the highest-profile American detainee, according to Washington. The US is offering a $5 million reward for information to find him, with the Taliban authorities denying any involvement in his 2022 disappearance. The Taliban has reportedly pressed for the release of Muhammad Rahim, the last Afghan national held at Guantanamo Bay, who has been detained without charge since 2008. Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba [File: Alex Brandon/AP] Another American, airline mechanic George Glezmann, was freed after more than two years in detention during a March visit to Kabul by Boehler. That deal, mediated by Qatar, was described by the Taliban as a “humanitarian” gesture and a “sign of goodwill”. Advertisement Before that, in January 2025, the two sides carried out a prisoner exchange in which US citizens Ryan Corbett and William Wallace McKenty were released in exchange for Khan Mohammad, an Afghan national serving two life sentences in the US. Both sides also agreed to continue discussions regarding nationals imprisoned in each other’s countries, the statement added. The Taliban administration, which took power in 2021 after 20 years of US military intervention in Afghanistan, is not recognised by Washington. Adblock test (Why?)
Video: Tens of thousands march in rival London protests over immigration
NewsFeed Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in London on Saturday for an anti-immigration rally called ‘Unite the Kingdom’, organised by far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson. Anti-racism campaigners also marched in counterprotests. Published On 13 Sep 202513 Sep 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Adblock test (Why?)
Qatar PM meeting Trump after Israel’s deadly strike on Doha
Prior to talks with Trump, Sheikh Mohammed met US Secretary of State Rubio, who is heading to Israel to pledge continued support. Published On 12 Sep 202512 Sep 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani is meeting United States President Donald Trump in New York in the wake of Israel’s deadly strike on Doha this week. Sheikh Mohammed, who is also the country’s foreign minister, has been engaged in a flurry of diplomatic activity in the US since Israel’s attack on a Hamas meeting in Doha on Tuesday, which killed a Qatari security official and five Hamas members who were discussing a new deal proposed by Trump to end the Gaza war. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Ahead of Friday’s dinner meeting with the US president, Sheikh Mohammed met US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the White House, where they discussed Israel’s strikes and the US-Qatar security arrangement, according to Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett. Washington counts Qatar, which hosts its Al Udeid airbase in the desert outside Doha, as a strong Gulf ally. Trump has already said he was “very unhappy” about Israel’s targeting of Qatar, which appeared designed to derail ongoing Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks. “The concern is that the relationship between Qatar and the United States has become increasingly complicated as a result of those strikes, so they’re looking for a path forward on both of those issues,” said Al Jazeera’s Halkett, reporting from Washington, DC. Halkett said Friday’s scheduled meeting with Trump would “continue the conversations regarding Israel’s attack on Doha earlier this week and the negotiations to end Israel’s war on Gaza”. Advertisement The location and time of the dinner remain unclear, but Trump is currently in New York and is staying at his eponymous Manhattan tower. Balancing act This week has also seen the Trump administration engaged in a balancing act between Middle East allies and Israel. The issue was brought to the fore on Thursday, when the US – which traditionally shields Israel on the international stage – joined fellow members of the United Nations Security Council in condemning the country for its attack on Qatar. But in what appears to be a show of continued support for Israel, Rubio will arrive in Israel this weekend for a two-day visit before attending an upcoming UN summit on September 22, where a number of Western countries plan to recognise a Palestinian state. That meeting signals growing international momentum towards a viable post-conflict settlement for Israel and Palestine, which was manifest at Friday’s meeting of the UN General Assembly, which endorsed a resolution pushing for a revival of the two-state solution. France and Saudi Arabia have been instrumental in pushing for “collective action to end the war in Gaza, to achieve a just, peaceful and lasting settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”, which has so far killed at least 64,756 people. During his visit to Israel, Rubio will speak to leaders about “our commitment to fight anti-Israel actions, including unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state that rewards Hamas terrorism”, State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement. “He will also emphasise our shared goals: ensuring Hamas never rules over Gaza again and bringing all the hostages home,” Pigott added. Adblock test (Why?)