UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. chief said Monday that the United Nations has offered to monitor any cease-fire in Gaza and demanIded an end to the worst death and destruction he has seen in his more than seven-year tenure.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in an interview with The Associated Press that it’s “unrealistic” to think the U.N. could play a role in Gaza’s future, either by administering the territory or providing a peacekeeping force, because Israel is unlikely to accept a U.N. role.

“Of course, we’ll be ready to do whatever the international community asked for us,” Guterres said. “The question is whether the parties would accept it, and in particular whether Israel would accept it.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government have accused the U.N. of being anti-Israel and have been highly critical of U.N. humanitarian operations in Gaza, including accusing U.N. workers of collaborating with Hamas. He also has voiced skepticism about peacekeeping missions, saying only Israel can protect itself.

Israel is lobbying members of Congress to press South Africa to drop its legal proceedings in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the war in Gaza, according to an Israeli foreign ministry cable obtained by Axios.

Why it matters: South Africa has until Oct. 28 to give the top UN court its arguments for continuing the case against Israel over alleged violations of the Genocide Convention during the war in Gaza.

• Israeli officials say they want members of Congress to make clear to South Africa that there will be consequences for continuing to pursue the case.

Behind the scenes: Israeli officials said the Israeli foreign ministry started a diplomatic campaign in recent weeks to press South Africa not to push forward with the case at the ICJ. The U.S. congress is a main tool in the effort.

• On Monday, the Israeli foreign ministry sent a classified cable to the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC and to all Israeli consulates in the U.S. about South Africa's ICJ case.

• "We are asking you to immediately work with lawmakers on the federal and state level, with governors and Jewish organizations to put pressure on South Africa to change its policy towards Israel and to make clear that continuing their current actions like supporting Hamas and pushing anti-Israeli moves in international courts will come with a heavy price," the cable read.

https://www.axios.com/2024/09/06/earth-hottest-summer-globe

The army refused to send a delegation to Switzerland, partly due to the involvement of the UAE, the RSF’s main patron, as a moderator. After 10 days, no clear breakthrough was achieved, despite the announcement of the opening of two humanitarian corridors intended to save Sudanese civilians from famine and the ongoing war.

A member of the Sudanese army-aligned delegation that met mediators in Cairo at the end of August said they thought the RSF was stalling for time by claiming a commitment to peace.

“The RSF wants to pass the rainy season [March to October, with most rain falling between June and September], which obstructs the movement of its forces due to the inaccessibility of the roads and difficulties to sustain the supply, then it will carry out wide attacks,” the source, who requested anonymity due to not being authorised to speak to the media, told MEE.

Sudanese political analyst Elwathig Kameir said that the army had made significant gains from the last round of talks, including US recognition of Burhan as the president of Sudan’s sovereign council and de facto head of state, as well as clear US condemnation of RSF atrocities.

However, he criticised the army’s leadership for boycotting the Geneva talks, arguing that they risked losing credibility and missing the chance to represent their position. He also stated that the UAE’s participation was an insufficient reason for staying away.

“In my opinion, the presence of the UAE as an observer does not harm Sudan in any way. Indeed, the UAE remains accused of its role in fuelling the war by supporting the RSF, making it a stakeholder,” he wrote.

In late August, the top-ranking U.S. military commander in Africa toured Libya — and had a cordial meeting in Benghazi with a notorious warlord: Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter.

Left out of the AFRICOM announcement is any mention that Hifter is a notorious “warlord,” according to members of Congress, whose LNA, which the State Department lumps in with “other nonstate actors, including foreign fighters and mercenaries,” has been accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and gross violations of human rights.

A 2011 revolution and NATO intervention, including U.S. airstrikes, toppled Gaddafi and plunged Libya into chaos from which it has never fully emerged. In the years that followed, Hifter renewed his long-dormant project to seize power in his homeland.

In 2014, railing against the Libyan central government’s failure to beat back terrorists, Hifter announced a military coup that quickly evaporated. But the warlord’s fortunes changed after he launched a campaign to clear the eastern half of the country of Islamist militant groups like Ansar al-Sharia, which conducted the 2012 attack in Benghazi that killed U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. Hifter forged a reputation for attacking terrorist groups, but critics questioned his commitment and effectiveness, casting his activities as a cultivated effort to curry favor, including with the United States.

Over the years, Hifter’s LNA has been backed by Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Olivier Faure, the first secretary of the Socialist party (PS), said Macron's decision to name Barnier PM put him in the far right's pocket.

"Macron and his friends could have chosen not to punish the NFP, to let it govern while accepting it would have to compromise because it would not have an absolute majority. Instead, he preferred to put himself under the control of the RN," Faure posted on X.

A poll by Elabe on Friday suggested 74% of French people thought Macron had disregarded the election result with 55% saying they believed he had stolen the vote. At the same time, 40% said Barnier was a good choice for PM.

Three Israeli border guards have been killed in a shooting at the Allenby Crossing on the border between the occupied West Bank and Jordan, the Israeli Emergency Services said Sunday.

The manager of the crossing, Alex Chen, said the shooter was a Jordanian driver, adding that the crossing has been closed until further notice. “The terrorist shot dead three employees of the Allenby terminal at close range,” before being killed by a security guard, he said.

All three land crossings between Israel and Jordan were closed following the attack, the Israel Airports Authority said. The Allenby crossing mainly serves Palestinians and foreigners, with Israelis not permitted to use it.

Global and country findings

• China’s lead continues to grow
• China significantly strengthened its standing in the middle of the last decade
• The US is losing the strong historical advantage that it has built
• China has built up potential monopoly positions in scientific expertise and top performing institutions
• India accelerates: India now ranks in the top 5 countries for 45 of 64 technologies
• The UK ranks in the top 5 countries for 36 technologies—a decline from 44 technologies in last year’s results
• The European Union, as a whole, is a competitive technological player
• Germany is the top-performing European Union country
• South Korea’s performance shows that Japan has work to do
• Iran excels at defence-sensitive technologies
• Australia has improved in some technologies and slipped in others
• AUKUS—the trilateral security and technology partnership involving the US, the UK and Australia28—closes the gap in some Pillar 2–relevant technologies, but not all

Technology monopoly risk metric results

• Scientific breakthroughs and research innovations in key defence technologies are increasingly likely to occur in China:
• China’s research lead in advanced materials and manufacturing technologies grows

Institutional findings: US tech companies, government agencies and CAS

• Private-sector research is increasingly concentrated in US technology giants
• Private sector research was more diverse between 2003-2007
• The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) is the global science and research powerhouse
• Government agencies and national laboratories feature prominently
• Chinese companies play a relatively small role in the global research ecosystem

In a statement to Anadolu, Daghlas said the autopsy results indicated Eygi’s cause of death was a gunshot wound inflicted by a sniper, specifically targeting her head. Eygi had been rushed to a nearby hospital where she was declared dead upon arrival.

Eygi, 26, a dual citizen of Turkiye and the US, had been actively involved in solidarity movements supporting Palestinian rights. Her death has sparked outrage and calls for accountability from both local and international communities.

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis protested across the country on Saturday for the eighth consecutive night with some clashes reported with the police. The demonstrations were ignited on Sunday last week after the bodies of six captives were recovered from the Gaza Strip.

In Tel Aviv, the main site of the protests, organisers reported that over 500,000 people participated. Other significant demonstrations took place in Jerusalem, Haifa, Be'er Sheva, and near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's private residence in Caesarea.

Earlier on Saturday Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich expressed opposition to a captives-ceasefire deal, even if it allows Israel to maintain a presence on the Egyptian-Gaza border.

Smotrich clarified that he seeks "a deal of surrender," but not one where Israel surrenders by leaving Gaza. Instead, he envisions a scenario where Hamas is forced to disarm and is expelled from Gaza, paving the way for a demilitarised Gaza to be rehabilitated. He has previously advocated for Israel to regain full control of Gaza and restore Jewish settlements there.

Saturday’s march was the 19th national demonstration for Palestine since the start of the war last October and the first time a pro-Palestine march has been held in the vicinity of the Israeli embassy in South Kensington.

the circus continues

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