PARIS – Top diplomats from around the world on Friday endorsed France’s efforts to revive long-dormant Mideast peace talks aimed at “fully ending” Israel’s half-century-old occupation of lands the Palestinians seek for their state.
France wants to set up an international conference by the end of the year that would restart negotiations – despite slim chances of bridging wide gaps between Israelis and Palestinians.
France has said it felt compelled to act because the opportunities for setting up a Palestinian state alongside Israel are slipping away, while the situation in the region is deteriorating.
Israel has rebuffed the French plan, saying only direct negotiations could work.
ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey’s prime minister says his government intends to take further measures in response to the German Parliament’s decision to label as genocide the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a century ago. But he says no one should expect ties to “deteriorate entirely.”
Binali Yildirim said Friday that Germany had made a “historic” error, which it should rectify.
In Berlin, Germany’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman expressed hope that the “deep” and “close” relations between the two nations won’t be further compromised.
“We trust that what we’ve built up in recent decades is so strong that it won’t be shaken,” Sawsan Chebli told reporters.
TOKYO – The 7-year-old Japanese boy who went missing nearly a week ago after his parents left him in a forest as punishment was found unharmed Friday in an army training ground hut, police said, in a case that had set off a nationwide debate about parental disciplining.
Appearing outside the hospital the boy was taken to after he was found, his father apologized and vowed to do a better job of raising him.
“We have raised him with love all along,” said the father, Takayuki Tanooka, who along with the boy’s mother had made him get out of their car as punishment on Saturday. The couple said that they left him in a forest, and when they returned several minutes later, he had vanished.
Associated Press
