Israel gives initial approval to annexation of West Bank during Vance visit

Today's headlines: Burmese junta regains territory with Chinese weapons ahead of elections; Mongolia's Supreme Court blocks parliamentary vote to remove Gombojav as “unconstitutional”; India announces new rules to regulate AI capable of creating “deepfakes”; Death penalty carried out in Saudi Arabia against a 17-year-old.

ISRAEL - PALESTINE

The Knesset voted in favour of approving - 25 votes to 24 - two bills on the annexation of the occupied West Bank, a goal openly promoted by far-right ministers in recent months. The vote came during JD Vance's visit to Israel to support the Trump-brokered ceasefire in Gaza, who made it clear that he would not support the annexation. Netanyahu had called on Likud party MPs to abstain from voting, branding the action a “provocation”.

MYANMAR

The Burmese army is regaining control of territory with relentless air strikes and the help of China, which supports the military junta's plan to hold elections in December. This plan excludes the National League for Democracy, which won in 2021. The junta is trying to regain as much territory as possible in order to delay the elections, using new lethal technologies such as Chinese drones. Meanwhile, SpaceX has announced that it has cut off Starlink satellite connections to more than 2,500 devices used in scam centres in Myanmar. The decision comes after raids on the centres and the seizure of at least 30 devices.

MONGOLIA

Mongolia's Supreme Court has blocked an attempt to dismiss Prime Minister Zandanshatar Gombojav, exacerbating the political stalemate. The court ruled last Friday's parliamentary vote unconstitutional, a move that could cause further turmoil in the coal-rich country, where factions of the ruling party are at odds over the economy. The court ruled in favour of President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa, who vetoed the vote on Monday, citing procedural irregularities.

INDIA

India's Ministry of Information Technology has announced radical new rules to regulate artificial intelligence, with the aim of curbing the wave of disinformation in the nation with over 900 million internet users. The ministry cited “the growing abuse of technologies used to create or generate synthetic media”. With ‘incidents of deepfake audio, video and synthetic media’ that ‘have demonstrated the potential of generative AI to create convincing falsehoods’.

SAUDI ARABIA

The death penalty was carried out on Abdullah al-Derazi, who had participated in protests against the treatment of the Shia minority when he was 17 years old. Abdullah al-Derazi is the second minor to be killed by the Saudi authorities in two months. Arrested in 2014 and tried three years later by Saudi Arabia's Special Criminal Court, he was accused of ‘targeting security personnel’ and ‘throwing Molotov cocktails’. In August 2018, he was sentenced to death.

CHINA - TAIWAN

According to a study by a Taiwanese NGO, in 2024 more than 10,000 Taiwanese took part in over 110 religious trips to China, supported or organised by government agencies across China. Taipei considers the evidence part of a Chinese campaign to win support on the island, reiterating that China has no right to speak on its behalf. Yesterday, Taiwan's Ministry of Defence stated that it intends to strengthen cooperation with the United States, with reciprocal visits and military exercises, for peace and stability in the region.

RUSSIA - UKRAINE - UNITED STATES

The meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary Marco Rubio, which was supposed to prepare for the summit in Budapest between Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and possibly Volodymyr Zelenskyj, has been postponed to a date to be determined after a telephone conversation between the two diplomats, described by the Kremlin as “very constructive”, while CNN sources say that Russia's position “has not shifted from its goals”.

ARMENIA

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has decided to attend a liturgy of the Armenian Apostolic Church in the monastery of Hovannavank, presided over by a priest reduced to the lay state, Father Aram Asatryan, for his public statements against Catholicos Karekin II, who decided to no longer mention him in the Eucharistic canon, and denouncing the corruption of other Armenian bishops and priests opposed to the government in power in Yerevan.

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