Michael McCaul

US Senator Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, has approved the sale of Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 fighter jets to Greece, adding the last signature needed before the deal can go through, Hellas Journal reported on Thursday.

China's military said it had launched a three-day exercise with 42 warplanes and 8 ships around Taiwan, which it described as a "serious warning" to Taiwanese separatists who are "in cahoots with outside forces".

The US administration has been silent, so far, on the delivery of the Russian S-400 anti-aircraft  missile system to Turkey. The opposite is true for Congress, where there has been bipartisan condemnation and demands for sanctions.

Representative Eliot L. Engel, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Representative Michael McCaul, Ranking Member, have urged the US administration to support the membership of Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) in the NATO security alliance.

US senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz and Congressman Michael McCaul have written to US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urging him to use all diplomatic means available to help Greek authorities bring those responsible for the death last summer in Greece of Texan Bakari Henderson to justice.

The Islamic State of Iraq an the Levant (ISIL) group claimed responsibility Tuesday for the assault on a Texas cartoon contest that featured images of the Prophet Muhammad, but counterterrorism experts said ISIL has a history of asserting involvement in attacks in which it had no operational role.