Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu, in Washington for meetings, is seeing US following sharp criticism from the US and increased tensions over Israel’s decision to build new settlements in East Jerusalem, but he came out forcefully on Israel’s right to build on land that is part of disputed territory taken during the 1967 Middle East War. “”The Jewish people were building Jerusalem 3,000 year ago and the Jewish people are building Jerusalem today. Jerusalem is not a settlement. It’s our capital,” Netanyahu said at a meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, an American pro-Israel lobby group.
He met Monday with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vice-president Joe Biden and he meets Tuesday with President Barack Obama.
Links to other sites: BBC, Jerusalem Post, New York Times, Xinhua
Warships from South and North Korea have reportedly fired at each other, media from both countries are reporting. The cause of the incident, which the BBC says is the third exchange of fire in a decade, differs according to the two sides. South Korea claims the North’s ship crossed a disputed water boundary, while the North reports that one of its patrol boats that was checking on an unidentified object in its own waters was chased by a warship from the South. Tensions between the two have increased in recent months, largely over North Korea’s nuclear programme and missile tests.
Links to other sites: BBC, Bloomberg, Sindh Today
