UNITED NATIONS -- French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday at a UN meeting on the two-state solution that his country recognizes the State of Palestine, joining most of the other UN member states that have already done so.
"I declare today that France recognizes the State of Palestine," Macron said at the High-Level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia. (UN-France-State of Palestine)
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UNITED NATIONS -- The UN Security Council on Monday held an emergency meeting to discuss the alleged intrusion of Estonian airspace by Russian fighter jets.
UN Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas Miroslav Jenca, in his briefing, said the world body is not in a position to confirm any of the claims regarding the incident and does not have any further details of the events. He, therefore, based his briefing solely on information available from public sources. (UN-Estonia-Meeting)
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TOKYO -- Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) officially launched its leadership election campaign on Monday, with five candidates filing their candidacies.
The contenders are Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, former Economic Security Ministers Takayuki Kobayashi and Sanae Takaichi, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, and former LDP Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi. (Japan-LDP-Election)
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JERUSALEM -- The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Monday that its air force killed the deputy commander of Hamas's naval police in Gaza.
According to the IDF, Iyad Abu Yusuf was targeted in a precision strike on a refugee camp area in central Gaza. The army said Yusuf had participated in the deadly Hamas raid in southern Israel in October 2023 and later planned ambushes against Israeli forces while safeguarding Hamas's assets during the ongoing conflict. (Israel-Hamas-Strike) ■
