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Israeli-Palestinian Divide Deepens, With No Sign of Compromise at U.N.

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, New York Times

Israeli-Palestinian Divide Deepens, With No Sign of Compromise at U.N.

Israeli and Palestinian leaders gave diametrically different appraisals of their protracted conflict Thursday, with speeches at the U.N. General Assembly that suggested the dispute is more intractable than ever. There were no hints of compromise in speeches by the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Abbas described as racist a new Israeli law on self-determination. Netanyahu upbraided him as a hypocrite. What Abbas vilified as a brutal occupier, Netanyahu exalted as a vibrant democracy. While Abbas pilloried the Trump administration for actions that he said had stripped Palestinians of their rights, Netanyahu thanked President Donald Trump for his support.

Israeli Leader Claims Iran Has ‘Secret Atomic Warehouse’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel told the U.N. on Thursday that intelligence agents discovered a “secret atomic warehouse” in Tehran, escalating a growing confrontation with Iran and setting up a challenge to its government to open the facility to inspectors and prove it is not in violation of the nuclear deal. Netanyahu’s claim came with photographs and map coordinates of the facility. He described it as a warehouse 3 miles from the one Israeli agents broke into in January, making off with documents and computer discs of warhead designs and production plans. Iran maintains that the archive is a fraud, invented by the Israelis.

North Korea Progressing, Pompeo Says, With Caveat

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday that the world is at “the dawn of a new day” in confronting the threat posed by North Korea’s weapons programs but sanctions against the country must continue for now. In a speech before the U.N. Security Council, Pompeo said President Donald Trump’s summit in Singapore with Kim Jong Un laid the groundwork for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. But he said that until that is complete, the world must abide by the economic sanctions against Pyongyang. Both Russia and China, however, called for the sanctions to be eased to reward North Korea for the progress made in talks.

Human Rights Council Ratchets Up Pressure on Myanmar

The U.N. Human Rights Council stepped up pressure to punish Myanmar’s military commanders for a brutal campaign against Rohingya Muslims, deciding Thursday to create a body to expedite criminal prosecutions. The council overwhelmingly supported a resolution to set up an “independent mechanism” that will collect and analyze evidence of the “most serious international crimes” and prepare dossiers that will make it easier for prosecutors to bring cases to trial in national, regional or international courts. The action came a month after a U.N. team said Myanmar’s army commander and other top generals should be prosecuted in an international court on charges of genocide.

Duterte Says, ‘My Only Sin Is the Extrajudicial Killings’

President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines on Thursday said for the first time that extrajudicial killings had happened under his government’s brutal war on drugs, an admission that could bolster two cases filed against him at the International Criminal Court. In a rambling speech before government executives at the presidential palace, Duterte said he had challenged the s military and police to remove him from office if they were not satisfied with the way he was running the country. “I told the military, what is my fault? Did I steal even one peso?” Duterte said. “My only sin is the extrajudicial killings.”

Suspects Are Arrested in Killing of Slovak Journalist and His Fiancée

Police in Slovakia arrested eight people Thursday suspected of being connected to the killing of an investigative journalist and his fiancée seven months ago, a grisly crime that shocked the Central European nation and spurred demonstrations that forced the prime minister to resign. Jan Kuciak, 27, was investigating links between top government officials and people suspected of links to organized crime, when he and his fiancée, Martina Kusnirova, 27, were shot dead in their home in February. In an early-morning raid in Kolarovo, police arrested eight people, including one man the authorities said might have been a paid hit man who carried out the killings.

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