
Israeli Likud party ministers urge Netanyahu to annex West Bank, World News
They issued a petition ahead of Netanyahu's meeting next week with US President Donald Trump, where discussions are expected to centre on a potential 60-day Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas.
The petition was signed by 15 cabinet ministers and Amir Ohana, speaker of the Knesset, Israel's parliament.
There was no immediate response from the prime minister's office. Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, long a confidant of Netanyahu, did not sign the petition. He has been in Washington since Monday for talks on Iran and Gaza.
"We ministers and members of Knesset call for applying Israeli sovereignty and law immediately on Judea and Samaria," they wrote, using the biblical names for the West Bank captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.
Their petition cited Israel's recent achievements against both Iran and Iran's allies and the opportunity afforded by the strategic partnership with the US and support of Trump.
It said the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel demonstrated that the concept of Jewish settlement blocs alongside the establishment of a Palestinian state poses an existential threat to Israel.
"The task must be completed, the existential threat removed from within, and another massacre in the heart of the country must be prevented," the petition stated.
Most countries regard Jewish settlements in the West Bank, many of which cut off Palestinian communities from one another, as a violation of international law.
With each advance of Israeli settlements and roads, the West Bank becomes more fractured, further undermining prospects for a contiguous land on which Palestinians could build a sovereign state long envisaged in Middle East peacemaking.
Israel's pro-settler politicians have been emboldened by the return to the White House of Trump, who has proposed Palestinians leave Gaza, a suggestion widely condemned across the Middle East and beyond.
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AsiaOne
41 minutes ago
- AsiaOne
US Senate passes Trump's sweeping tax-cut and spending bill, setting up House battle, World News
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The legislation has also drawn criticism from billionaire Elon Musk, the former Trump ally who has railed against the bill's enormous cost and vowed to back challengers to Republican lawmakers in next year's midterm elections. House Democrats are expected to remain unanimously opposed to the bill. "This is the largest assault on American healthcare in history," House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters. "It's the largest assault on nutrition in American history." Tax breaks, immigration crackdown, tighter benefits The Senate bill would deliver some of its biggest benefits to the top one per cent of US households, earning US$663,000 or more in 2025, according to the Tax Foundation. These high earners would gain the most from the bill's tax cuts, the CBO has said. Independent analysts have said the bill's tightening of eligibility for food and health safety net programmes would effectively reduce poor Americans' incomes and increase their costs for food and healthcare. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office forecast that nearly 12 million more people would become uninsured under the Senate plan. The bill's increase in the national debt effectively serves as a wealth transfer from younger to older Americans, nonpartisan analysts have said. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said the vote "covered this chamber in shame," adding that the bill would be "ripping health care away from millions of Americans, taking the food out of the mouths of hungry kids." Republicans rejected the cost estimate generated by the CBO's longstanding methodology and have argued the Medicaid cuts would only root out "waste, fraud and abuse" from the system. [[nid:719722]]

Straits Times
an hour ago
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Bolivian congress brawls over China, Russia lithium deals
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Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
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The estate tax exemption rises to US$15 million for individuals – totalling US$30 million for married couples – and then adjust with inflation. The 2017 Trump income tax rate cuts also become permanent, with benefits skewing toward the wealthy. Residents of high-tax states Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. 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Trump administration officials and GOP allies in Silicon Valley had pushed the measure saying it would prevent a patchwork of cumbersome state-by-state regulations. Electric vehicle makers Tesla, General Motors and other electric vehicle makers are hit by elimination of a consumer tax credit of up to US$7,500 for the purchase of electric vehicles. Elite universities Add tax Bills to the escalating battle the Trump administration is waging against elite universities such as Harvard and Columbia. The current 1.4 per cent tax on net investment income of private college and university endowments ratchets up for better-funded institutions. The new tiered tax rate structure climbs as high as 8 per cent for colleges with the most endowment income per student. Immigrants Several provisions raise taxes on immigrants. That includes a new 1 per cent tax on transfers of money to foreign countries, known as remittances. 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