Page 5 - aruba-today-20220714

A5
WORLD NEWS Thursday 14 July 2022

Amid COVID worries, fist bumps for Biden — with exceptions

Associated Press
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The
White House said President
Joe Biden would try to limit
physical contact during his
Middle East trip because of
concern about rising COV-
ID-19 cases — but the presi-
dent swiftly reverted to his
old-school, back-slapping
ways after landing in Israel
on Wednesday.
He doled out a few fist
bumps after stepping off
the plane but then threw
an arm around Israeli Prime
Minister Yair Lapid and
shook hands with former
Prime Minister Benjamin Ne-
tanyahu.
The issue of contact is aris-
ing amid intense specula-
tion about Biden's upcom- President Joe Biden fists bumps Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, right, after arriving at Ben Gurion
ing meeting with leaders in Airport, Wednesday, July 13, 2022, in Tel Aviv, as President Isaac Herzog, left, looks on.
Saudi Arabia and whether Associated Press
he will shake hands with to Holocaust victims, Biden infections, has revived con- when he mingled and
Crown Prince Mohammed held hands and kissed the cerns about the threat of shook hands with mem-
bin Salman, who U.S. intel- cheeks of survivors Rena the pandemic. bers of Congress at a White
ligence officials said prob- Quint, 86, and Giselle Cy- "We're trying to minimize House picnic.
ably sanctioned the killing cowicz, who is about 95. contact as much as pos- Biden is set to meet with
of a critic. It remained to "Did you see the president sible where we can," White Saudi King Salman and
be seen how Biden would hug me?" Quint asked. "He House press secretary Kar- the crown prince when he
greet other Israeli, Palestin- asked permission to kiss me ine Jean-Pierre told report- flies to the kingdom on Fri-
ian and Arab leaders dur- and he kept on holding my ers traveling aboard Air day. The highly anticipated
ing his trip, which includes hand and we were told not Force One with the presi- meeting is being closely
a summit in Saudi Arabia to touch him." dent. scrutinized as the White
of the Gulf Cooperation A new omicron variant, But such precautions did House looks to reset the
Council. Later Wednes- which is able to more eas- not appear to be in place U.S.-Saudi relationship after
day in Jerusalem at Yad ily evade immunity from on Tuesday before Biden a rocky start in the Biden
Vashem, Israel's memorial vaccinations and previous left for the Middle East, presidency. q

Foundation: $250 million lawsuit filed over Beirut blast

By BASSEM MROUE legal challenges brought filed in Texas names U.S.- the additional evidence
Associated Press by officials wanted for Norwegian geophysical "we could get through this
BEIRUT (AP) — Families questioning against the in- services group TGS, which case will help the judiciary
of some of the victims of vestigative judge working owns the British firm Spec- in Lebanon and outside
Beirut's deadly port blast on the case. trum Geo, saying it had of Lebanon to assign indi-
have filed a $250 million Hundreds of tons of am- entered into a series of vidual responsibilities and
lawsuit against an Amer- monium nitrate, a highly "highly profitable but sus- hence hold the perpetra-
ican-Norwegian firm sus- explosive material used in picious contracts with tors accountable."
pected of involvement in fertilizers that had been the Ministry of Energy in Sarah Copland, whose
bringing the explosive ma- improperly stored in the Lebanon." It added that in son Isaac was the young-
terial to the port, a Swiss port for years, exploded 2012, Spectrum chartered est victim of the blast that
foundation announced on Aug. 4, 2020 killing the Moldavian flagged destroyed the port and
Wednesday. nearly 220 people, injur- vessel Rhosus to come to damaged entire Beirut
Accountability Now, ing over 6,000 others and Beirut while carrying 2,750 neighborhoods, tweeted
which says its mission is causing damage worth tons of ammonium nitrate that "in a step forward in
to support Lebanese civil billions of dollars. on board. the pursuit of justice for
society efforts to put an The Lebanese probe "This claim will force TGS to the #beirutblast a lawsuit
end to the impunity of the shows that most govern- disclose Spectrum's com- has been filed in the US
country's leaders, said the ment officials knew of the munications with various against the company that
lawsuit was filed Monday. dangerous material stored third parties who are all chartered the ship that
There are nine plaintiffs at the port. The blast wors- relevant to the investiga- brought" the material to
who are either Americans ened the country's eco- tions in Lebanon," said Beirut.
or relatives of an Ameri- nomic meltdown rooted Zena Wakim, a lawyer for Copland, an Australian
can, the group said. in decades of corruption Accountability Now who citizen, said her son, Isaac
The move comes as a and mismanagement that assisted the plaintiffs. was a U.S. citizen, "so we
domestic investigation in began a year earlier. Wakim said the domestic have joined this lawsuit on
Lebanon has been stalled Accountability Now said investigation is currently his behalf, but also on be-
since December, following the $250 million lawsuit stalled by obstruction and half of all victims."q