Israel-Palestinian conflict: France holds world summit
A major international conference to try to kick-start peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians is being held in the French capital, Paris.
Delegates from 70 nations are expected to reaffirm support for a two-state solution to the decades-old conflict.
Palestinians have welcomed the meeting but Israel - which is not attending - says the conference is loaded against it.
The last round of direct peace talks collapsed amid acrimony in April 2014.
Israel and the Palestinians have been invited to hear the conclusions of the meeting, but not to participate in the summit itself.
China warns Trump that Taiwan policy is 'non-negotiable'
Beijing says accord which regards Taiwan as part of China is the political basis for all Sino-US relations and of ‘high sensitivity’
China has warned Donald Trump that he has no chance of striking a deal with Beijing involving Taiwan’s political status following the US president-elect’s latest controversial intervention on the subject.
The Chinese foreign ministry told Trump that the US’s longstanding “One China” policy, by which it does not challenge Beijing’s claim over the self-ruled island, was the political basis for all Sino-US relations.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Saturday Trump said all options were on the table as he considered how he might reshape Washington’s relations with China, a country he accused of deliberately devaluing its currency in order to hamstring US businesses.
When Isis finally leaves Mosul, Iraq risks resorting to infighting once again
One of the symptoms of this deep-seated sectarianism is the proliferation of local militia groups. As young men return home, they are being enlisted by tribal leadersMaya Mailer
“Isis is like a mushroom. It was able to grow here, in Iraq, because there is a fertile environment. It didn’t just come from nowhere.” That is what one Iraqi activist told me, with an edge of anger and passion in her voice, when I was in Iraq late last year. She went on to say that Isis could not be – and should not be – eradicated through bombs and fighting. Instead, Iraq desperately needed to embark on a national programme of reconciliation and reform.
To be honest, this jarred with me. I had heard harrowing stories of the systematic cruelty Isis meted out to the civilian population. I had seen the destruction it left in its wake, from flattened villages to burning oil fields that coated everything, including the faces of children, in a black film.
But her words were a vital reminder of the nature of Iraq’s challenges; that atrocities had been committed by all sides; that the country needed to acknowledge and address layers of grievance.
War and PeaceDisunity and Impotence at the United Nations
The mandate of the United Nations is to preserve peace in the world, but when it comes to the Syrian crisis, the global body has failed badly. Will the UN's new secretary-general be able to finally introduce necessary reforms? By SPIEGEL Staff
The man who, by simply raising his hand, prevented all efforts to end the war in Syria is sitting in a bunker-like room on 67th Street in Manhattan. Chandeliers are hanging above his head, a pendulum clock is keeping the time behind him and the furniture recalls Soviet-era filmography. "We have had this problem with Syria, of course, and ...… I (have) thought a lot about it," says Vitaly Ivanovich Churkin, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations. An ironic expression on his face, the white-haired diplomat leans back in his leather chair.
Churkin is one of the men charged with saving the world. As absurd as it might sound, that is his job. The 15 members of the UN Security Council, in particular the five permanent members -- China, France, Great Britain, Russia and the United States -- bear "primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security," according to Article 24 of the Charter of the United Nations.
Riots erupt in Tunisia on anniversary of revolution
Hundreds of protesters demanding jobs clashed with police in several Tunisian towns on Saturday, blocking the route of visiting President Beji Caid Essebsi in one region, on the sixth anniversary of the country’s revolution.
Local residents said protests that erupted in the southern town of Ben Guerdane had spread over the weekend to several other areas such as Sidi Bouzid, Meknassi and Gafsa, where Essebsi visited to mark the 2011 uprising that ousted autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Six years after that revolt, Tunisia is hailed as a model of democratic transition, but rural central and southern regions remain flashpoints for rioting in marginalised towns where many young Tunisians see little economic opportunity or progress.
Police: Mosque outside Seattle torched
Updated 0601 GMT (1401 HKT) January 15, 2017
A mosque was badly burned outside Seattle early Saturday, and police believe the fire was intentionally set.
The incident occurred in Bellevue, Washington. No one was in the Islamic Center of Eastside at the time and no injuries were reported.
CNN affiliate KCPQ said firefighters spotted 40-foot flames on the back side of the building. "Crews were able to save half of the building," the station reported..
"We have confirmed it was arson, but do not know a motive," Bellevue Police Chief Steve Mylett said.
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