While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Sept 13, 2025
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Members of the UN General Assembly voting on a two-state solution declaration for Israel and Palestine on Sept 12.
PHOTO: REUTERS
UN assembly votes for Hamas-free Palestinian state
The UN General Assembly voted on Sept 12 to back a resolution which seeks to breathe new life into the two-state solution between Israel and Palestine - without the involvement of Hamas.
The text was adopted by 142 votes in favour, 10 against - including Israel and key ally the United States - and 12 abstentions.
It clearly condemns Hamas and demands that it surrender its weapons.
Although Israel has criticised UN bodies for nearly two years over their failure to condemn Hamas’ attack on Oct 7, 2023, the declaration, presented by France and Saudi Arabia, leaves no ambiguity.
Nato to beef up defence of Europe’s eastern flank
PHOTO: AFP
Nato announced plans to beef up the defence of Europe’s eastern flank on Sept 12, two days after Poland shot down drones that had violated its airspace in the first known action of its kind by a member of the Western alliance during Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Warsaw has portrayed the drone incursions as an attempt by Russia to test the capabilities of Poland and Nato to respond.
On Sept 12, Poland rejected Donald Trump’s suggestion that the incursions could have been a mistake, a rare contradiction of the US president from one of Washington’s closest European allies.
Moscow says peace talks frozen
PHOTO: @ZELENSKYYUA/X
Moscow said on Sept 12 that peace talks with Kyiv were on “pause” as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin still had plans to try to capture the whole of Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump warned, meanwhile, that he was fast running out of patience with Mr Putin, who has shown no intention of halting or slowing his ground offensive or barrage of aerial attacks on Ukrainian cities.
The latest setback to the faltering diplomacy comes as Russia’s army staged major military drills with its key ally Belarus, and as Nato said it planned to bolster forces on its eastern flank after Russian drones were downed over Poland this week.
Lawsuit says Tesla hires visa holders to save money
PHOTO: REUTERS
Tesla, the electric vehicle company led by billionaire Elon Musk (above), was accused in a lawsuit on Sept 12 of favouring visa holders over Americans when making employment decisions so it can pay less.
According to a proposed class action filed in San Francisco federal court, Tesla violates federal civil rights law through its “systematic preference” to hire visa holders, and fire US citizens at disproportionate rates compared with visa holders.
The complaint said Tesla is dependent on holders of H-1B visas for skilled workers, including in 2024 when it hired an estimated 1,355 visa holders while laying off more than 6,000 workers domestically, “the vast majority” believed to be US citizens.
Family member told officials Kirk shooter confessed
PHOTO: AFP
Utah Governor Spencer Cox said that investigators arrested Tyler Robinson after a family member alerted the authorities that he had confessed, or at least implied involvement, in the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The tip was passed from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office to investigators at Utah Valley University and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who then reviewed surveillance footage of Robinson arriving on campus in a grey Dodge Challenger on the morning of Sept 10.
When investigators encountered him in Washington County in the early hours of Sept 12, he was wearing clothes consistent with those images, Mr Cox said on Sept 12.
