Reuters, Jerusalem
Israel on Wednesday recalled its ambassador to UNESCO for consultations after the U.N. culture body adopted a second resolution in two weeks that Israeli leaders said ignored Judaism’s connection with one of Jerusalem’s holiest sites.
According to a text provided by Palestinian officials, the resolution adopted by UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee in Paris refers to the compound – revered by Jews as Temple Mount and by Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) – only as a “Muslim holy site of worship”, just as a similar motion did on Oct. 13.
Philippines, US to determine fate of joint exercises
Reuters, Manila
Philippine and US military officials will meet late next month and decide the fate of decades-old joint exercises, defense sources said on Wednesday, amid doubts over the future of the security alliance and a stream of mixed messages from Manila.
The meeting, an annual get-together to plan events for the year ahead, could bring some clarity to a Philippine position muddied by President Rodrigo Duterte’s pronouncements about ending an alliance that he says has little value, contrary to the opinions of some military commanders.
Iran FM to meet Russian, Syrian counterparts
AP, Tehran, Iran
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will travel to Moscow on Friday for three-way talks with his Syrian and Russian counterparts on the situation in Syria, his ministry said.
Zarif will also hold a one-to-one meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said late Wednesday.
Iran and Russia are key financial and military supporters of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
More than 300,000 people have been killed and millions forced to flee their homes since Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011 with protests calling for Assad’s ouster.
Moscow faces growing diplomatic pressure over a Russian-backed Syrian offensive against rebel-held areas of the battleground city of Aleppo that the UN says has left hundreds dead since September 22.
