President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Friday changing the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War, reverting to a moniker not used since the 1940s in line with his oft-expressed desire to pump up projections of US military might.
The plans to change the department’s name were described by a White House official on condition of anonymity ahead of the signing. The official said changes would include renaming the Pentagon’s briefing room the “Pentagon War Annex” and modifying the department’s website and signage. The plans were first reported by Fox News Digital.
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, from left Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto , Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un look out from Tiananmen Gate as they attend a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on September 3, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP
China defended on Thursday (September4, 2025) its decision to invite the leaders of Russia and North Korea to World War II commemorations, which President Donald Trump accused them of using to conspire against the United States.
Mr. Trump wrote a testy Truth Social post addressing his Chinese counterpart after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russia’s Vladimir Putin flanked Xi Jinping at a massive parade in Beijing showcasing Chinese military hardware.
“Give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against The United States of America,” Mr. Trump wrote.
Asked about Mr. Trump’s post, Beijing’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday (September 4, 2025) “foreign guests” had been invited to commemorate 80 years since the end of World War II.
“It is to work together with peace-loving countries and peoples to remember history, cherish the memory of the martyrs, cherish peace, and create the future,” spokesman Guo Jiakun told reporters.
“China’s development of diplomatic relations with any country is never directed against any third party,” he said.
The Kremlin, meanwhile, said Wednesday (September 3, 2025) it thought Mr. Trump’s allegation was “not without irony”.
Beijing had much stronger words for the European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas, who also criticised the parade.
Ms. Kallas said Wednesday (September 3, 2025) that Mr. Xi, Mr. Putin and Mr. Kim appearing together was part of efforts to build an anti-Western “new world order” and was “a direct challenge to the international system built on rules”.
“The remarks made by a certain EU official are full of ideological bias, lack basic historical knowledge and blatantly stir up confrontation and conflict,” Mr. Guo said Thursday (September 4, 2025).
“Such statements are profoundly misguided and utterly irresponsible.”
He added: “We hope that those people will abandon their frog-in-the-well prejudice and arrogance…and do more things that are conducive to world peace and stability and China-Europe relations.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on as he speaks at an event. — Reuters/File
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned on Thursday that international recognition of a Palestinian state would create further complications, urging countries to hold back from such a move.
“We told all these countries, we told them all, we said if you guys do this recognition stuff, it’s all fake, it’s not even real, if you do it, you’re going to create problems,” Rubio said from Quito, where he met with President Daniel Noboa and his Ecuadorean counterpart.
“There’s going to be a response, it’s going to make it harder to get a ceasefire, and it may even trigger these sorts of actions that you’ve seen, or at least these attempts at these actions,” Rubio said, adding he would not opine on Israeli discussion of annexation of the West Bank but that it was not final.
“What I am going to tell you is it was wholly predictable,” he said.
“We told all these countries before they went out, and they did this… there wasn’t going to be a Palestinian state, because that’s not the way a Palestinian state is going to happen, because they have a press conference somewhere.
He also repeated his charge that the push to elevate the Palestinian Authority, which is based in the West Bank, emboldened rival Hamas in Gaza.
“The minute — the day — that the French announced the thing they did, that day, Hamas walked away from the negotiating table,” Rubio said.
French President Emmanuel Macron has called a UN summit for September 22, where he will recognise a Palestinian state, voicing exasperation at the dire humanitarian situation and what he sees as Israeli intransigence.
On Wednesday, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for annexation of swaths of the West Bank to “bury the idea of a Palestinian state” after countries including Belgium, Canada, and Australia joined the French push on statehood.
The United Arab Emirates — which took the landmark step of normalising relations with Israel in 2020 in the so-called Abraham Accords — quickly warned that annexation was a “red line” that would “severely undermine” the agreement, seen by both US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a legacy-defining achievement.
Trump has been an outspoken supporter of Israel in its relentless assault on Gaza that followed the unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks at an event. —Reuters/File
Rubio says it may trigger new strikes, could harden conflict lines.
Avoids comment on Israeli annexation plans, calls them not final.
US Secretary of State makes these remarks during Ecuador visit.
The United States has told other countries that recognition of a Palestinian state will cause more problems, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday.
“We told all these countries, we told them all, we said if you guys do this recognition stuff, it’s all fake, it’s not even real, if you do it, you’re going to create problems,” Rubio said from Quito, where he met with President Daniel Noboa and his Ecuadorean counterpart.
“There’s going to be a response, it’s going to make it harder to get a ceasefire, and it may even trigger these sorts of actions that you’ve seen, or at least these attempts at these actions,” Rubio said, adding he would not opine on Israeli discussion of annexation of the West Bank but that it was not final.
“What I am going to tell you is it was wholly predictable,” he said.
“We told all these countries before they went out, and they did this… there wasn’t going to be a Palestinian state, because that’s not the way a Palestinian state is going to happen, because they have a press conference somewhere.
He also repeated his charge that the push to elevate the Palestinian Authority, which is based in the West Bank, emboldened rival Hamas in Gaza.
“The minute — the day — that the French announced the thing they did, that day, Hamas walked away from the negotiating table,” Rubio said.
French President Emmanuel Macron has called a UN summit for September 22, where he will recognise a Palestinian state, voicing exasperation at the dire humanitarian situation and what he sees as Israeli intransigence.
On Wednesday, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for annexation of swaths of the West Bank to “bury the idea of a Palestinian state” after countries including Belgium, Canada, and Australia joined the French push on statehood.
The United Arab Emirates — which took the landmark step of normalising relations with Israel in 2020 in the so-called Abraham Accords — quickly warned that annexation was a “red line” that would “severely undermine” the agreement, seen by both US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a legacy-defining achievement.
Trump has been an outspoken supporter of Israel in its relentless assault on Gaza that followed the unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Palestinians displaced by the Israeli military offensive take shelter in a tent camp, as Israeli forces escalate operations around Gaza City, in Gaza City, September 2, 2025. — Reuters
Major European powers have said they could recognise an independent Palestinian state in coming weeks. What would that mean for the Palestinians and Israel?
What is the status of Palestinian statehood now?
The Palestine Liberation Organization declared the independence of a Palestinian state in 1988, and most countries in the global South quickly recognised it. Today, 147 of the 193 member states of the United Nations have recognised a Palestinian state, most recently Mexico in January 2025.
Israel’s main ally the United States has long said it intends to recognise a Palestinian state eventually, but only at the end of negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel on an agreed “two-state solution”. Until recent weeks, this was also the position of the major European powers. Israel and the Palestinians have held no such negotiations since 2014.
A delegation officially representing the State of Palestine has permanent observer status but no voting rights at the United Nations. No matter how many individual countries recognise Palestinian independence, full UN membership would require approval of the Security Council, where Washington has a veto.
Palestinian diplomatic missions worldwide, including the mission to the UN, are controlled by the Palestinian Authority, which is recognised internationally as representing the Palestinian people.
The PA, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, exercises limited self rule in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank under agreements with Israel. It issues Palestinian passports and runs the Palestinian health and education systems.
In the Gaza Strip, administration has been under the control of the Hamas group since 2007, when it drove out Abbas’s Fatah movement, although the PA still funds many salaries.
Who is promising to recognise Palestine and why?
Britain, France, Canada, Australia and Belgium have all said they will recognise a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly later this month, although London said it could hold back if Israel were to take steps to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and commit to a long-term peace process.
The countries say these moves are intended to put pressure on Israel to end its assault on Gaza, curtail the building of new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and recommit to a peace process with Palestinians.
French President Emmanuel Macron, the first leader of a major Western power to endorse recognition, has said the move would be accompanied by a commitment by the PA to enact reforms, which would improve Palestinian governance and make the PA a more credible partner for the post-war administration of Gaza.
What has recognition meant in practice?
Those who see recognition as a largely symbolic gesture point to the negligible presence on the ground and limited influence in the conflict of countries such as China, India, Russia and many Arab states that have recognised Palestinian independence for decades.
Without a full seat at the United Nations or control of its own borders, the Palestinian Authority has only limited ability to conduct bilateral relations. There are no missions with the status of embassies in Palestinian territory, and countries cannot freely send diplomats there.
Israel restricts access for trade, investment and educational or cultural exchanges. There are no Palestinian airports. The landlocked West Bank can be reached only through Israel or through the Israeli-controlled border with Jordan, and Israel controls all access to the Gaza Strip.
Still, countries planning recognition and the PA itself say it would be more than an empty gesture.
While Western countries considering recognition have not made explicit commitments to provide additional funding to the PA, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Kingdom, Husam Zomlot, said recognition could lead to strategic partnerships.
“We will stand at equal footing,” he told Reuters, adding that every avenue will be pursued “to bring an end to the insanity and to the mistakes of the past”.
Recognising Palestinian independence could also require countries to review aspects of their relationships with Israel, said Vincent Fean, a former British consul general to Jerusalem.
In Britain’s case, this could result in steps such as banning products from Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories, he said, although such moves could also be seen as “symbolic in that sense that those goods are a pinprick in the overall size of the Israeli economy”.
How have Israel and the United States reacted?
Israel, facing a global outcry over its conduct in the Gaza war against Hamas, has reacted angrily to recognition gestures, which it says would reward the Palestinian resistance group for the October 2023 attacks that precipitated the war.
After decades during which Israel was formally committed to a peace process ending in Palestinian independence, Israel is now run by the most far-right government in its history, including parties who say their mission is to make it impossible for the Palestinians ever to gain a state.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will never give up ultimate security control of Gaza or the West Bank.
The United States strongly opposes any move by its European allies to recognise Palestinian independence. It has responded by imposing sanctions on Palestinian officials, including denying and revoking visas which will block Abbas and other PA figures from attending the UN General Assembly in New York.
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 04 (APP): A senior official from the UN human rights office, OHCHR, on Thursday voiced extreme concern over intensifying Israeli military operations in northern Gaza – including Gaza City – and warned against any attempt to annex parts of the West Bank.
Ajith Sunghay, Head of OHCHR’s Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), told UN News, an international media website, that the escalation has caused extensive destruction to residential buildings in southern parts of North Gaza governorate and in northeastern areas of Gaza City.
This has led to further civilian casualties and forced displacement, with local health authorities reporting that 816 Palestinians were killed between 26 August and 1 September – nearly double the number of fatalities compared to the previous week.
Roughly one million Palestinians reportedly remain in northern Gaza, and he said they are being pushed into increasingly smaller areas in the west of the enclave.
“Many are unable to relocate – there are no safe areas and movement is dangerous. Others are still trapped in eastern Gaza City, with humanitarian workers unable to reach them,” he said.
Meanwhile, Israeli military attacks on people seeking aid continued across the Gaza Strip, where humanitarians are still struggling to bring in desperately needed supplies.
OHCHR has recorded over 2,146 deaths in the vicinity of sites run by the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which began operations in late May, and along convoy routes.
