Israeli settlement plan. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu backs a plan to build three thousand new housing units in an area that would divide the West Bank, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said yesterday. He called it a way to “bury the idea of a Palestinian state” after several countries recently announced plans to recognize one. Such settlements are illegal under international law. The UN and European Union rejected the plan, while the U.S. State Department said “a stable West Bank keeps Israel secure.”
No deal on plastics. UN-facilitated talks in Geneva about reaching a deal to limit plastic pollution ended early this morning without an agreement. Negotiations fractured over whether such a treaty should cover plastic production; fossil-fuel producing countries including the United States, Russia, and several Gulf states rejected that possibility. This was the sixth round of UN talks on the matter in around three years.
U.S.-India ties. U.S. defense officials will travel to New Delhi this month for talks, while India’s plans to purchase arms from the United States are on track, India’s foreign ministry said yesterday. After the United States recently imposed 50 percent tariffs on Indian goods, Reuters reported that India had paused some plans to procure new U.S. weapons. In spite of that, the Indian spokesperson said New Delhi hopes the relationship will move forward based on “mutual respect and shared interests.”
Jimmy Lai trial. Trump raised the case of imprisoned Hong Kong media executive Jimmy Lai in bilateral talks with China, he said yesterday. Trump said he would do “everything [he] can” to “save” Lai. Lai founded a pro-democracy newspaper and is being tried on sedition charges that he rejects. A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington said Beijing opposed interference in its affairs.
Vietnam’s economic plan. Hanoi will partner with private investors on an infrastructure investment plan worth $49 billion, it announced yesterday. Vietnam is highly reliant on exports, but has been hit by 20 percent tariffs from the United States. This plan aims to simulate the economy through domestic demand.
Report on Syria violence. A UN report about a spate of violence in coastal and western central Syria this year found that both government forces and other armed groups likely committed war crimes. The report was the most detailed public account yet of the incidents. It found that Syria’s central government did not direct its forces to carry out killings; those forces responded to an ambush by fighters loyal to ousted President Bashar al-Assad.
Korean peninsula pact. South Korea will take “proactive” but “gradual” steps to restore a 2018 agreement to stabilize military relations with North Korea, President Lee Jae Myung said today. In 2024 the previous South Korean government suspended the pact, which had created buffer zones on land, sea, and air around the border.
Map endorsement. The African Union (AU) is urging the adoption of a map called Equal Earth instead of the commonly used Mercator map from the sixteenth century, its deputy chair Selma Malika Haddadi said. The Mercator map makes continents closer to the poles appear bigger than they are while Africa and South America look smaller. The World Bank has begun sometimes using Equal Earth. A UN spokesperson said the organization would review the AU’s petition on the matter.
