FIRST DIRECT ISRAEL-UAE FLIGHT LANDS IN ABU DHABI AMID DEAL

A Star of David-adorned El Al plane flew from Israel to the United Arab

Emirates on Monday, carrying a high-ranking American and Israeli delegation

to Abu Dhabi in the first-ever direct commercial passenger flight between

the two countries.

The Israeli flag carrier's flight marked the implementation of the historic

U.S.-brokered deal to normalize relations between the two nations and

solidifies the long-clandestine ties between them that have evolved over

years of shared enmity toward Iran.

With the U.S. as matchmaker, Israel and the Emirates agreed earlier this

month to work toward normalization, which would make it the third Arab

nation to have full relations with Israel, after Egypt and Jordan. Unlike

those two nations, Israel has never fought a war against the UAE and hopes

to have much-warmer relations.

The American delegation included President Donald Trump's senior adviser and

son-in-law Jared Kushner, as well as national security adviser Robert

O'Brien. Israel was represented by national security adviser Meir

Ben-Shabbat and other top officials.

At an airport ceremony in Abu Dhabi, Kushner called the visit a "historic

breakthrough" and expressed hope this "will be the first of many" such

flights.

"There is great urgency between the people of both countries to break down

old barriers, to get to know each other, to form new and hopefully very deep

friendships," he said.

State television in Abu Dhabi broke into its broadcast to show the airplane

on the tarmac and aired the comments of all officials, including

Ben-Shabbat, who spoke in Arabic and Hebrew. No Emirati officials spoke at

the ceremony.

MERIT-BASED IMMIGRATION SYSTEM IN THE WORKS, PENCE TELLS INDIANS

With just over two months to go for the elections, U.S. Vice-President Mike

Pence told potential Indian immigrants that there would be a merit-based

immigration system if there is a second term for the Trump administration.

". I would just say to anyone looking on and people coming and taking

opportunities at our great colleges and universities, is that we want to

grow together and they should have no doubt about that. We've had challenges

with our immigration system in the United States, particularly along our

southern border. President Trump has been working to secure our border.

We've made historic investments in border security. We'll continue to do

that," Mr. Pence told John Chambers, Chairman of the U.S.-India Strategic

Partnership Forum (USISPF), at the Forum's leadership summit.

"But we're also going to fix our broken immigration system once and for all.

And as the President and I have spoken many times, part of that second term

agenda is going to be, it's going to be the kind of immigration reform

that's built on the principle of a merit-based immigration system. We want

.it's what India wants is . we want the people to come to this country that

are ready to participate, ready to contribute as people from India have

done, as people in the United States have done in India," he said.

The Trump administration has temporarily suspended new green cards for those

outside the U.S. as well as H1-B visas (temporary skilled worker visas),

most of which go to Indians each year. These actions, as well as other

restrictive measures around student visas, increasing application fee for

immigration services and so forth, has increasingly made the U.S. a less

attractive destination for immigration.

Mr. Pence, who repeatedly praised the 4 million strong diaspora, said he

wanted "the rising generation in India" and Indian business leaders who are

looking to invest in the U.S. to know that America "is not only open for

business" but also looking forward to growing the U.S.-India relationship.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SAYS SINOCHEM AND OTHERS BACKED BY CHINESE MILITARY

The Trump administration has determined that another 11 Chinese firms,

including construction giant China Communications Construction Company, are

owned or controlled by the Chinese military, the Pentagon said on Friday,

laying the groundwork for new sanctions.

The Department of Defense earlier this year designated 20 top Chinese firms

as Chinese military companies operating directly or indirectly in the United

States, including those "owned or controlled" by the People's Liberation

Army that provide commercial services, manufacture, produce or export.

The updated list also included China Three Gorges Corporation Limited,

Sinochem Group Co Ltd and China Spacesat.

The Pentagon's designations do not trigger penalties, but a 1999 law that

mandates compilation of the list says the president may impose sanctions

that could include blocking all property of the listed parties.

The Pentagon has come under pressure from lawmakers of both U.S. political

parties to publish the list, amid rising tensions between Washington and

Beijing over technology, trade and foreign policy.

The list will likely add to tensions between the world's two largest

economies, which have been at loggerheads over the handling of the

coronavirus pandemic and China's move to impose security legislation on Hong

Kong, among multiple points of friction that have worsened this year.

LEBANON'S PRESIDENT AOUN DESIGNATES MUSTAPHA ADIB AS PRIME MINISTER

Lebanese President Michel Aoun designated ambassador Mustapha Adib on Monday

to form a new government after he secured the support of a majority of MPs.

The previous government quit on August 10 in the wake of the catastrophic

explosion at Beirut port.

Mr Adib arrived at the palace in Baabda near Beirut to meet President Michel

Aoun and parliament speaker Nabih Berri.

Earlier, Mr. Adib secured the support of a majority of lawmakers to be

designated as the new Prime Minister, according to a Reuters tally of votes

cast by lawmakers in official consultations.

Mr. Adib, Lebanon's ambassador to Germany, secured at least 66 votes, or

more than half of the 120 MPs currently serving in the Lebanese parliament,

after the Christian Free Patriotic Movement announced it had nominated him.

TRUMP DEFENDS SUPPORTERS ACCUSED IN DEADLY CLASHES

US President Donald Trump has defended supporters of his for their alleged

roles in recent deadly street clashes.

He suggested a teen accused of killing two in Wisconsin last week and Trump

fans involved in clashes in Oregon on Saturday were acting in self-defence.

Mr Trump pointed out his Democratic White House challenger, Joe Biden, has

not specifically disavowed far-left activists accused of civil disorder.

At Monday's White House news conference, Mr Trump blamed Mr Biden and his

allies for violence in cities run by Democratic mayors and governors.

A CNN reporter asked the Republican president whether he would condemn

supporters of his who fired paint pellets during a confrontation with

counter-protesters at the weekend in Portland, Oregon.

"Well, I understand they had large numbers of people that were supporters,

but that was a peaceful protest," Mr Trump replied to the CNN reporter, in

an apparent veiled dig at US media outlets whom he has previously accused of

ignoring violence at Black Lives Matter demonstrations.

"Paint as a defensive mechanism, paint is not bullets.

"Your supporters, and they are your supporters indeed, shot a young

gentleman who - and killed him, not with paint, but with a bullet. And I

think it's disgraceful."

Earlier on Monday, Mr Biden forcefully condemned the violence at recent

protests while blaming President Trump for making the country unsafe.

"Do I look like a radical socialist with a soft spot for rioters?" said Mr

Biden, speaking in Pittsburgh, in the critical US election state of

Pennsylvania. "Really?"

The former US vice-president accused Mr Trump of having fomented violence in

the US for years.

WITH A WARY EYE ON CHINA, TAIWAN MOVES TO REVAMP ITS MILITARY

On a cloudy day last month, thousands of soldiers massed on a beach in

central Taiwan for the culmination of five days of exercises intended to

demonstrate how the island's military would repel an invasion from China.

Jets, helicopters and artillery and missile batteries fired live ammunition

at targets offshore, sending plumes of sea spray into the air. Then, a few

hours later, a military helicopter taking part in the same exercise crashed

at an airfield farther up the coast, killing two pilots and casting a shadow

over the show of force.

China's growing aggression across Asia in recent months has created fears

that it may make brash moves in Taiwan, the South China Sea or elsewhere.

The ruling Communist Party's recent crackdown on dissent and activism in

Hong Kong, a former British colony that has long been a bastion of

democratic values, has added to those concerns.

Beijing's posturing has forced Taiwan, an island of 24 million, to reexamine

with new urgency whether it is prepared for a confrontation, the possibility

of which now seems less remote. But there are questions about its readiness

to defend its people - with or without the help of the United States.

"I have to be honest: Taiwan's military needs to improve a lot," Wang

Ting-yu, a member of the parliament's foreign affairs and defense committee,

said in a telephone interview.

The crash last month was the latest in a string of deadly mishaps, including

one in January that killed the military's top commander.

Taiwan's leaders have been moving to shake up the military and increase

spending. Military tensions across the Taiwan Strait have surged in recent

months as Taiwan has increasingly become a focal point in the confrontation

between China and the United States.

CHINA'S TOP DIPLOMAT DISMISSES EUROPEAN RIGHTS CONCERNS

China's foreign minister defended detention camps in Xinjiang and Hong

Kong's new security law on Sunday, brushing off human rights concerns by

European countries and cautioning against interference in Chinese affairs.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi is on his first European tour since the virus

pandemic erupted, seeking to revive trade and relations strained by the

resulting global health and economic crisis.

Speaking in Paris on Sunday, Wang repeated the claim that all those sent to

reeducation centers in Xinjiang have been released and placed in employment

- even as rights groups and families report on continuing detentions of

Uighur Muslims and the loss of contact with loved ones.

"The rights of all trainees in the education and training program, though

their minds have been encroached by terrorism and extremism, have been fully

guaranteed," he told a conference at the French Institute of International

Relations. "Now all of them have graduated, there is no one in the education

and training center now. They all have found jobs."

Asked about Hong Kong's security law, Wang said, "We certainly couldn't sit

idly by and let the chaos go on, so we enacted a law maintaining national

security that specifically suited Hong Kong's situation."

Wang called both issues internal Chinese affairs and said foreign powers

shouldn't interfere.

At a meeting Friday with Wang, French President Emmanuel Macron expressed

"his strong concern about the situation in Hong Kong, and around human

rights, notably the Uighurs, and the need for China to respect its

international commitments," according to Macron's office.

Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian raised similar concerns, as did

officials on other legs of Wang's Europe trip, which includes Italy, the

Netherlands, Norway and Germany.

'HEZBOLLAH OPEN TO NEW LEBANON PACT PROPOSAL'

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said on Sunday that his powerful

Iran-backed Shia movement is "open" to a French proposal for a new political

pact for Lebanon.

His comments came a day before French President Emmanuel Macron was due in

blast-hit Beirut for his second visit in less than four weeks to press for

political reform and reconstruction in tandem with the start of political

consultations to name a new Lebanese Premier. Western leaders have joined

calls from Lebanese at home and abroad for deep-rooted political change

after the explosion at Beirut port killed more than 180 people and laid to

waste entire districts of the capital.

"On his latest visit to Lebanon, we heard a call from the French President

for a new political pact in Lebanon... Today we are open to a constructive

discussion in this regard," Mr. Nasrallah said in a televised speech. "But

we have one condition: this discussion should be carried out... with the

will and consent of the various Lebanese factions."

Mr. Nasrallah said his movement would be "cooperative" in the formation of a

government capable of spearheading reform and reconstruction.

BERLIN HALTS 'ANTI-CORONA' RALLY AS EUROPEAN CITIES PROTEST MASKS

German police halted a Berlin march by thousands of people opposed to

coronavirus restrictions in the biggest of several European protests

Saturday against anti-virus curbs and masks to halt the pandemic.

With new COVID-19 cases on the rise, European nations are starting to

tighten controls while trying to avoid the major lockdowns imposed earlier

this year to contain the outbreak that has killed more than 800,000 people

worldwide.

Across the globe, governments are struggling to revive battered economies

while managing public frustration over new restrictions and masks to curb

infections.

In Germany, around 18,000 people massed in Berlin's iconic Brandenburg Gate,

before the rally was forced to stop due to a police injunction because many

were not respecting social distancing measures.

The demonstration had initially been allowed to go ahead after a bitter

legal battle.

SAUDI KING SACKS DEFENCE OFFICIALS

A number of Saudi officials, including two members of the royal family, have

been sacked.

A royal decree said Saudi King Salman had relieved Prince Fahad bin Turki of

his role as commander of joint forces in the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.

His son, Abdulaziz bin Fahad, was also removed as a deputy governor.

The men, along with four other officials, face an investigation into

"suspicious financial dealings" at the Ministry of Defence, the decree said.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is the king's son and is considered

Saudi Arabia's de-facto ruler, has spearheaded a campaign against alleged

corruption in the government.

However, critics say the high-profile arrests have been aimed at removing

obstacles to the prince's hold on power.

SYRIA SAYS ISRAEL FIRED MISSILES ON AREAS SOUTH OF DAMASCUS

A Syrian military official said Israel's military fired missiles Monday

night on areas south of the capital Damascus.

The unnamed military official gave no further details adding that Syrian air

defenses opened fire on hostile targets. It was not clear what the targets

were but state TV said the strikes were carried by warplanes flying Syria's

Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The air raids started shortly before 11 p.m.

(2000 GMT).

Residents of the capital Damascus said they heard explosions south of the

city.

An opposition war monitor said Israel's military targeted military posts

south of Damascus. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

said Syrian air defenses were responding to the attack.

Israel rarely comments on such reports, but is believed to have carried out

scores of raids targeting Iran's military presence in Syria. In the past

three months alone, Syria has accused Israel of carrying out at least eight

air raids on its territory. The last reported strikes came on July 20.