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The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution on Thursday to upgrade Palestine to a “non-member state” at the United Nations, implicitly recognizing a Palestinian state.
There were 138 votes in favor, nine against and 41 abstentions.
Addressing the assembly in New York ahead of the vote, President Mahmoud Abbas said the UN bid was the last chance to save the two-state solution.
Ansar Dine, an Islamist group linked to al-Qaeda has moved into a town near Mali’s border with Mauritania after separatist Tuareg rebels withdrew without a fight, an Islamist spokesman said on Thursday.
Islamist fighters from several groups have taken over an initial uprising by Tuareg MNLA rebels since an uneasy alliance of armed groups seized control of the north in March after a military coup paralyzed the central government.
Syrian rebels claim they shot down a MiG fighter jet not far from the Syrian-Turkish border on Wednesday. Along with the downing of a military helicopter on Tuesday, it would appear to be one of the first times rebels have successfully used a kind of weapon called a MANPAD, or portable, shoulder-fired, surface-to-air missile that can hit a plane in fight.
The development would mark a turning point in the rebels’ bid to unseat Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Rebels say the Russian-made MiG fighter jet was shot down Wednesday morning near the town of Daarat Azzah, on the road north of the embattled city of Aleppo.
Three armed Taliban militants were killed and 5 others wounded in combined operation of Afghan and NATO forces in Nahersaraj district of Helmand province.
Fareed Ahmad Farhang spokesman of Helmand security commandment said to BNA, the Afghan and NATO forces conducted operation in Nashersaraj district of Helmand province, in which 3 armed Taliban militants were killed and 5 others wounded.
The political chief of Congolese rebel group M23 says his forces will leave the captured city of Goma by Friday as a sign of good will, even if the government has not addressed their grievances.
The rebels seized the eastern city last week and have since taken the town of Sake to the west.
Jean-Marie Runiga of M23 told VOA News Tuesday that if regional leaders think the departure will help bring peace, than they will do so by the end of the week. Runiga said even if M23 withdraws it does not mean the group will back down on its demands for foreign groups and the Congolese army to leave the region