Jimmy Carter, the architect of the Camp David Accords and relations with Beijing, has died
Today's headlines: WHO director-general calls on Israel to stop attacks on Gaza hospitals. New board game simulates Chinese invasion of Taiwan. Taliban leader bans windows (and imposes the closure of existing ones) on the upper floors of buildings overlooking courtyards or areas used by women. Cambodia pardons and sends home 13 Philippine women jailed for illegal trafficking of surrogate mothers.
MIDEAST – UNITED STATES
Jimmy Carter, the 39th US President, died yesterday at the age of 100. A Democrat in office from 1976 to 1980, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, and will be remembered for two episodes related to the Middle East: the successful 1978 Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, the first Arab nation under President Anwar Sadat to recognise the Jewish state, then led by Prime Minister Menachem Begin, and the 1979-81 Iran hostage crisis, when the US embassy staff was taken hostage in Tehran, ending with their release under his successor, Republican Ronald Reagan, to whom he lost the 1980 presidential election. Carter was also the president who completed the process of normalising relations with China on 1 January 1979 breaking formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
GAZA – WHO
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organisation (WHO), has called for an end to attacks on hospitals in Gaza, after Israel struck one and raided another. “People in Gaza need access to health care,” he said. Israeli forces arrested more than 240 Palestinians, including dozens of staff at Kamal Adwan Hospital, among them its director Hussam Abu Safiya.
TAIWAN – CHINA
A new board game titled 2045, on sale next January, simulates a Chinese invasion of Taiwan over the next 20 years. Players must study war-related issues and events, using colourful action cards and role-playing characters involved in operations, in the 10 days leading up to the "fictional" invasion. The characters include members of Taiwan’s armed forces, pro-Chinese agents and politicians who work to sabotage defences, as well as citizens taking up arms to defend the homeland.
AFGHANISTAN
The Taliban's supreme leader has issued an order banning the construction of windows in residential buildings overlooking areas used by women, and blocking existing ones. The “courtyard, the kitchen, the neighbour's well and other places usually used by women" should not be visible because seeing women work “can lead to obscene acts.”
CAMBODIA – PHILIPPINES
Cambodia pardoned 13 Philippine women and sent them home yesterday, after they were convicted of trafficking of surrogate mothers, a practice outlawed in Cambodia. The women were part of a group of 24 foreigners arrested by police in September and sentenced to four years in prison on 2 December for attempted cross-border human trafficking.
JAPAN
Japan’s Mount Fuji has lost a winter month because of faster global warming. According to a report published by Climate Central, the town of Fuji, Shizuoka Prefecture, added 35 days above freezing per year on average between 2014 and 2023, the highest among 901 cities in the northern hemisphere involved in the study. Human activities are increasingly impacting snowfall and ecosystems, highlighting the urgent need to reduce the use of fossil fuels.
RUSSIA – AZERBAIJAN
Azerbaijan could tighten entry rules for Russian nationals after Russia imposed restrictions on Azerbaijani migrants. This decision also reflects Azerbaijan’s irritation over the Aktau air disaster involving an Azerbaijani plane, probably shot down by Russia, following “the principles of parity and reciprocity,” reads a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Baku.
UZBEKISTAN
Even though the country has ample gas and oil resources, people in Uzbekistan are forced to burn coal and wood to keep warm. The practice is causing pollution levels to soar, as experts and environmentalists report with increasing unease massive deforestation.
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