Members of the United States Congress

US Senator Bob Menendez, a ranking member of the upper house's Foreign Relations Committee, issued a statement on Monday expressing his "great sadness" at the death of former senator Paul Sarbanes, and saying that his life and work was a "testament to what is possible."

Paul Sarbanes, a longtime US senator from Maryland who championed the enforcement of an arms embargo against Turkey after the 1974 invasion of Cyprus, has died at the age of 87.

His death was announced by his son, US Representative John Sarbanes. 

"My father, Senator Paul S. Sarbanes, passed away peacefully this evening in Baltimore," his son's statement said.

On the final day of his official visit to the US and his second day at Washington, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with prominent members of the two congressional legislatures, the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Not since Turkey's aptly named "Operation Attila" - its 1974 invasion of Cyprus and its Srebrenica-style citizen executions and mass graves - have I seen a more just reaction from Capitol Hill. This time it's a reaction to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's acquisition of Russian S-400 missiles.

Two Democratic women were denied access to Israel. They often criticize the policy of Benjamin Netanyahu's government. Until now, a member of the United States Congress has been denied entry into Israel.

The US Senate on Thursday voted to lift a decades-old arms embargo against Cyprus and to cut Turkey off the American F-35 fighter jet program if it proceeds with the acquisition of the Russian S-400 missile defense system. 

The Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC) celebrated Wednesday's passage of the "Eastern Mediterranean Security and Energy Partnership Act," authored by Senators Robert Menendez  and Marco Rubio, through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The strengthening of ties with the United States' "real allies" is at the heart of the EastMed Act, said US Senator Robert Menendez, referring to the Eastern Mediterranean Security and Energy Partnership Act of 2019, a bipartisan legislation that would allow the US to fully support the trilateral partnership of Greece, Cyprus and Israel through energy and defense cooperation initiatives.

US Congressmen Ted Deutch and David Cicilline from the Democrats and Gus M. Bilirakis from the Republicans introduced on Wednesday the bipartisan, bicameral Eastern Mediterranean Security and Energy Partnership Act of 2019 to highlight and support the growing partnership in the eastern Mediterranean between Israel, Greece, and Cyprus.

Greece's Defense Minister Evangelos Apostolakis met with US Ambassador to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt on Thursday to discuss security in the Eastern Mediterranean and other issues of bilateral interest.

This is the second meeting between the two officials this week, after Apostolakis met with the ambassador and visiting US Senator Robert Menendez on Monday.