PALESTINE
UN backs two-state plan
The UN General Assembly on Friday voted overwhelmingly to support a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict and urge Israel to commit to a Palestinian state, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vehemently opposes. The 193-member world body approved a nonbinding resolution endorsing the “New York Declaration,” which sets out a phased plan to end the nearly 80-year conflict. The vote was 142-10 with 12 abstentions. Hours before the vote, Netanyahu said, “There will be no Palestinian state.” He spoke at the signing of an agreement to expand settlements that would divide the West Bank, which the Palestinians insist must be part of their state, saying, “This place belongs to us.” The resolution was sponsored by France and Saudi Arabia, who cochaired a high-level conference on implementing a two-state solution in late July, where the declaration was approved.
Photo: AP
UNITED STATES
Bolton document released
A US judge on Friday released a heavily redacted document used to justify a recent search of the home of John Bolton, who was national security adviser during US President Donald Trump’s first term, saying that revealing more could harm a criminal investigation. The FBI’s search warrant affidavit said there was probable cause to believe classified information and national defense information were being illegally kept at Bolton’s Maryland home. Bolton has not been charged with a crime. A coalition of news organizations had urged a judge in Maryland to unseal records related to the Aug. 22 search, citing a “tremendous public interest” that outweighed the need for continued secrecy. However, US Magistrate Judge Timothy Sullivan said limits were necessary. “The investigation involves matters of national security and highly classified materials to which the public has no right of access,” Sullivan said. More than a dozen pages in the affidavit have partial or full redactions. The FBI seized phones, computer equipment and typed documents. Bolton served in the first Trump administration for 17 months. He subsequently criticized Trump’s approach to foreign policy and government, including in a 2020 book, The Room Where It Happened, that portrayed the president as ill-informed.
SYRIA
Talks with Israel under way
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Friday said that Syria was negotiating with Israel to reach a security agreement that would see Israel leave areas it occupied after the overthrow last year of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. As Islamist-led forces toppled Assad on Dec. 8 of that year, Israel deployed troops to the UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights, which has separated Israeli and Syrian forces since an armistice that followed the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. Israel has also launched hundreds of air strikes on targets in Syria and carried out incursions deeper into the south. Syria’s new authorities have not responded to the attacks. “We are now in a state of negotiations and dialogue on the issue of a security agreement,” al-Sharaa said in an interview with state television channel Alekhbariah. He said that Israel believed that Syria had “quit” the 1974 disengagement agreement after Assad’s fall, “even though Syria, from the first moment, expressed its commitment” to the accord. “Now, negotiations are underway on a security agreement to return Israel to where it was before December 8,” al-Sharaa said. Israel and Syria have no diplomatic relations, with the two countries technically at war since 1948.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
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