No showdown at UN over Israel settlements: The UAE will not push for a vote at the UN Security Council today demanding that Israel "immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory,” Reuters reported, citing a document that it has seen. Abu Dhabi will instead work on drafting a formal statement in which the 15-member council needs to approve unanimously. "Given the positive talks between the parties, we are now working on a presidential statement which would garner consensus," the note said. “Accordingly, there will not be a vote on the draft resolution on Monday…,” it added. The move comes days after the Gulf country circulated the text of a resolution that it drafted with the Palestinians to the Security Council.

A push for peace in Libya: The African Union is working on a national reconciliation conference for Libya, AU Commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat told AFP yesterday. "We have met with the different parties and we are in the process of working with them on a date and place for the national conference," he said. The meeting will be headed by Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso, who chairs the AU committee on Libya, he added.