U.S. lawmakers and experts have renewed calls for sanctions against China over rights abuses in its Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), in a swift response to the leak of hundreds of pages of documents detailing a crackdown on ethnic Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities ordered by President Xi Jinping.

The Trump Administration has already stepped up pressure on its NATO allies, namely Germany and Canada, to increase defence spending. Now the US wants to get more from its closest allies in Asia, Tokyo and Seoul, which are already paying billions to cover the cost of stationing tens of thousands …

In a Monday statement, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Washington no longer regards Israeli settlements in the West Bank as violating international law, reversing the Obama administration’s position and taking no legal position on the question or that of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank itself.