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What to know about how much the aid from a US pier project will help Gaza
A U.S.-built pier is in place to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza by sea, but no one will know if the new route will work until a steady stream of deliveries begins reaching starving Palestinians.
The trucks that will roll off the pier project installed Thursday will face intensified fighting, Hamas threats to target any foreign forces and uncertainty about whether the Israeli military will ensure that aid convoys have access and safety from attack by Israeli forces.
Even if the sea route performs as hoped, U.S, U.N. and aid officials caution, it will bring in a fraction of the aid that's needed to the embattled enclave.
Here's a look at what's ahead for aid arriving by sea:
WILL THE SEA ROUTE END THE CRISIS IN GAZA?
No, not even if everything with the sea route works perfectly, American and international officials say.
U.S. military officials hope to start with about 90 truckloads of aid a day through the sea route, growing quickly to about 150 trucks a day.
Samantha Power, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, and other aid officials have consistently said Gaza needs deliveries of more than 500 truckloads a day — the prewar average — to help a population struggling without adequate food or clean water during seven months of war between Israel and Hamas.
Israel has hindered deliveries of food, fuel and other supplies through land crossings since Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel launched the conflict in October. The restrictions on border crossings and fighting have brought on a growing humanitarian catastrophe for civilians.
International experts say all 2.3 million of Gaza's people are experiencing acute levels of food insecurity, 1.1 million of them at "catastrophic" levels. Power and U.N. World Food Program Director Cindy McCain say north Gaza is in famine.
At that stage, saving the lives of children and others most affected requires steady treatment in clinical settings, making a cease-fire critical, USAID officials say.
At full operation, international officials have said, aid from the sea route is expected to reach a half-million people. That's just over one-fifth of the population.
WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES FOR THE SEA ROUTE NOW?
The U.S. plan is for the U.N. to take charge of the aid once it's brought in. The U.N. World Food Program will then turn it over to aid groups for delivery.
U.N. officials have expressed concern about preserving their neutrality despite the involvement in the sea route by the Israeli military — one of the combatants in the conflict — and say they are negotiating that.
There are still questions on how aid groups will safely operate in Gaza to distribute food to those who need it most, said Sonali Korde, assistant to the administrator for USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, which is helping with logistics.
U.S. and international organizations including the U.S. government's USAID and the Oxfam, Save the Children and International Rescue Committee nonprofits say Israeli officials haven't meaningfully improved protections of aid workers since the military's April 1 attack that killed seven aid workers with the World Central Kitchen organization.
Talks with the Israeli military "need to get to a place where humanitarian aid workers feel safe and secure and able to operate safely. And I don’t think we’re there yet," Korde told reporters Thursday.
Meanwhile, fighting is surging in Gaza. It isn’t threatening the new shoreline aid distribution area, Pentagon officials say, but they have made it clear that security conditions could prompt a shutdown of the maritime route, even just temporarily.
The U.S. and Israel have developed a security plan for humanitarian groups coming to a "marshaling yard" next to the pier to pick up the aid, said U.S. Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, deputy commander of the U.S. military’s Central Command. USAID Response Director Dan Dieckhaus said aid groups would follow their own security procedures in distributing the supplies.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces have moved into the border crossing in the southern city of Rafah as part of their offensive, preventing aid from moving through, including fuel.
U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said that without fuel, delivery of all aid in Gaza can't happen.
WHAT'S NEEDED?
U.S. President Joe Biden's administration, the U.N. and aid groups have pressed Israel to allow more aid through land crossings, saying that's the only way to ease the suffering of Gaza's civilians. They've also urged Israel's military to actively coordinate with aid groups to stop Israeli attacks on humanitarian workers.
"Getting aid to people in need into and across Gaza cannot and should not depend on a floating dock far from where needs are most acute," U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters Thursday.
"To stave off the horrors of famine, we must use the fastest and most obvious route to reach the people of Gaza — and for that, we need access by land now," Haq said.
U.S. officials agree that the pier is only a partial solution at best, and say they are pressing Israel for more.
WHAT DOES ISRAEL SAY?
Israel says it places no limits on the entry of humanitarian aid and blames the U.N. for delays in distributing goods entering Gaza. The U.N. says ongoing fighting, Israeli fire and chaotic security conditions have hindered delivery.
Under pressure from the U.S., Israel has in recent weeks opened a pair of crossings to deliver aid into hard-hit northern Gaza. It said a series of Hamas attacks on the main crossing, Kerem Shalom, have disrupted the flow of goods.
Justice Dept. makes arrests in North Korean identity theft scheme involving thousands of IT workers
The Justice Department announced Thursday multiple arrests in a series of complex stolen identity theft cases that officials say are part of a wide-ranging scheme that generates enormous proceeds for the North Korean government, including for its weapons program.
The conspiracy involves thousands of North Korean information technology workers who prosecutors say are dispatched by the government to live abroad and who rely on the stolen identities of Americans to obtain remote employment at U.S.-based Fortune 500 companies, jobs that give them access to sensitive corporate data and lucrative paychecks. The companies did not realize the workers were overseas.
NORTH KOREA'S MENACING NUCLEAR THREAT IS TOO DANGEROUS TO IGNORE. US MUST LEAD BEFORE TIME RUNS OUT
The fraud scheme is a way for heavily sanctioned North Korea, which is cut off from the U.S. financial system, to take advantage of a "toxic brew" of converging factors, including a high-tech labor shortage in the U.S. and the proliferation of remote telework, Marshall Miller, the Justice Department's principal associate deputy attorney general, said in an interview.
The Justice Department says the cases are part of a broader strategy to not only prosecute individuals who enable the fraud but also to build partnerships with other countries and to warn private-sector companies of the need to be vigilant — and not duped — about the actual identities of the people they're hiring.
FBI and Justice Department officials launched an initiative in March centered on the fraud scheme and last year announced the seizure of more than a dozen website domains used by North Korean IT workers.
"More and more often, compliance programs at American companies and organizations are on the front lines of protecting our national security," Miller said. "Corporate compliance and national security are now intertwined like never before."
The Justice Department said in court documents in one case that more than 300 companies — including a high-end retail chain and a "premier Silicon Valley technology company" — have been affected and that more than $6.8 million in revenue has been generated for the workers, who are based outside of the U.S., including in China and Russia.
Those arrested include an Arizona woman, Christina Marie Chapman, who prosecutors say facilitated the scheme by helping the workers obtain and validate stolen identities, receiving and hosting laptops from U.S. companies who thought they were sending the devices to legitimate employees and helping the workers connect remotely to companies.
According to the indictment, Chapman ran more than one "laptop farm" where U.S. companies sent computers and paychecks to IT workers they did not realize were overseas.
At Chapman’s laptop farms, she allegedly connected overseas IT workers who logged in remotely to company networks so it appeared the logins were coming from the United States. She also is alleged to have received paychecks for the overseas IT workers at her home, forging the beneficiaries’ signatures for transfer abroad and enriching herself by charging monthly fees.
Other defendants include a Ukrainian man, Oleksandr Didenko, who prosecutors say created fake accounts at job search platforms that he then sold to overseas workers who went on to apply for jobs at U.S. companies. He was was arrested in Poland last week, and the Justice Department said it had seized his company's online domain.
A Vietnamese national, Minh Phuong Vong, was arrested in Maryland on charges of fraudulently obtaining a job at a U.S. company that was actually performed by remote workers who posed as him and were based overseas.
It was not immediately clear if any of the three had lawyers.
Separately, the State Department said it was offering a reward for information about certain North Korean IT workers who officials say were assisted by Chapman.
And the FBI, which conducted the investigations, issued a public service announcement that warned companies about the scheme, encouraging them to implement identity verification standards through the hiring process and to educate human resources staff and hiring managers about the threat.
Peruvian lawmakers begin yet another effort to remove President Dina Boluarte from office
Peruvian lawmakers on Thursday began yet another effort to remove President Dina Boluarte from office as authorities continue various investigations against her and her inner circle.
The small legislative opposition cited "moral incapacity" as the reason for the removal request they submitted to Parliament. Boluarte has already survived four attempts to cut her term short thanks to a coalition of conservative lawmakers who have rallied behind her and have kept the measures from getting the necessary votes to move forward.
PERU’S PRESIDENT WILL ANSWER QUESTIONS OVER OWNERSHIP OF LUXURY WATCHES, HER LAWYERS SAY
Lawmaker Susel Paredes explained on X that the opposition group presented the request due to "the serious new acts" she alleged Boluarte committed, which "are incompatible with continuing to lead the country." Paredes’ announcement came less than a week after prosecutors opened an investigation into the Boluarte administration’s decision to disband a police unit that was looking into the activities of her inner circle, including one of her brothers.
The lawmakers’ effort is the latest step in mounting pressure on Boluarte, who became president in December 2022, when she replaced then-President Pedro Castillo. He was dismissed by Parliament and is now imprisoned while being investigated for alleged corruption and rebellion.
Boluarte is under investigation for her use of three luxury watches and fine jewelry that she did not list in a mandatory asset declaration form and that authorities estimate could be worth more than $500,000. In late March, armed police officers broke down the front door of Boluarte’s house with a battering ram and entered the property to search for the watches.
The raid marked the first time in Peru’s history that police forcibly entered the home of a sitting president. Days later, lawmakers filed the fourth request to remove Boluarte from office.
The move must earn 52 votes in order for Parliament to accept it and open a debate. To remove Boluarte, the move requires 87 votes from the 130-seat unicameral Parliament.
Boluarte, a 61-year-old lawyer, was a modest district official before entering the government of then-President Pedro Castillo on a monthly salary of $8,136 in July 2021. Boluarte later assumed the presidency with a lower salary of $4,200 per month. Shortly thereafter, she began to display the luxury watches.
Late last week, authorities arrested one of Boluarte’s brothers and her lawyer in connection with an investigation into influence peddling. The document accuses the president’s sibling, Nicanor Boluarte, of working to appoint government officials in exchange for money and an agreement to gather signatures to register a political party.
Meanwhile, authorities accuse attorney Mateo Castañeda of interfering with the investigation into Nicanor Boluarte by offering certain benefits to members of the now-disbanded police unit, which focused on tax probes.
A judge granted the prosecutors’ request to keep both men incommunicado for 10 days, meaning they won't be able to communicate with anyone — a legal maneuver that authorities typically reserve for cases they deem highly serious.
Nicanor Boluarte said he is "innocent" as he left his home handcuffed after his arrest last week, while Castaneda in a handwritten letter shared on social media by his law firm also denied any wrongdoing.
Ex-South African leader's corruption trial date set as he fights another case to run for election
Former South African President Jacob Zuma will go on trial for alleged corruption next April, four years after he was formally charged with taking bribes in connection with a multi-billion-dollar arms deal and 20 years after he was first implicated, prosecutors said Thursday.
Zuma is charged with multiple counts of corruption as well as racketeering, fraud, tax evasion and money laundering over a huge deal the South African government signed to revamp its armed forces in 1999. Zuma is accused of taking bribes from French arms company Thales, then named Thomson-CSF, and a subcontractor in the deal.
HOW SOUTH AFRICA'S FORMER LEADER ZUMA TURNED ON HIS ALLIES AND BECAME A SURPRISE ELECTION FOE
The arms deal became one of South Africa's biggest political scandals and was clouded in corruption allegations.
Zuma pleaded not guilty to the charges at a hearing in 2021 that was supposed to mark the start of his trial, but it has been subject to long delays after Zuma launched appeals asking for the judge and the prosecutor to be removed from the case, alleging they were personally biased against him. The original trial judge recused himself but Zuma's attempt to remove the prosecutor was rejected.
Prosecutors said the trial would now begin on April 14 next year, with a pre-trial hearing set for this August. Thales is a co-defendant in the case and has also pleaded not guilty.
"We are hoping that there are no hurdles that we will have to navigate now and that, finally, the matter will proceed," Mthunzi Mhaga, spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority, told South African media. He said Zuma had engaged in "delaying tactics."
The charges against Zuma relate to a period between 1995 and 2005, before he became president. During that time, he was an influential politician on the rise and later the deputy president of South Africa. He is accused of receiving bribes in return for giving the deal political protection and ensuring it went through despite questions over it.
Zuma was fired as deputy president in 2005 after his financial adviser, who is alleged to have been the fixer for the bribes, was convicted of corruption and sentenced to prison.
Zuma was served with a preliminary indictment in 2005 but the charges were dropped and reinstated multiple times over the years.
Zuma made a dramatic political comeback to become president of South Africa in 2009. He resigned as leader of Africa's most developed country in 2018 because of separate corruption allegations.
If Zuma is convicted of the charges in the arms deal trial, he faces a possible sentence of between 15 years and life in prison. The 82-year-old served part of a 15-month prison sentence for contempt of court in 2021 for refusing to testify at a corruption inquiry that was not related to his trial.
Zuma has since made yet another political return, this time as the leader of a new political party, and is involved in another court case over whether he's eligible to run as a candidate in a national election this month. The national election body says he is ineligible because of his criminal conviction for contempt.
Russia expels British defense attaché in a tit-for-tat move
Russia on Thursday declared Britain's defense attaché persona non grata and gave the diplomat a week to leave the country in response to London's decision to expel the Russian defense attaché earlier this month over spying allegations.
Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it summoned a representative of the British Embassy in Moscow on Thursday to express its "strong protest in connection with the unfriendly and groundless decision" to expel the Russian attaché from London. "We emphasized that we regard this step as a politically motivated action of clearly Russophobic nature, which is causing irreparable damage to bilateral relations," the statement read.
BRITAIN TO EXPEL RUSSIAN DIPLOMAT IN RESPONSE TO MOSCOW'S 'RECKLESS AND DANGEROUS ACTIVITIES'
Britain on May 8 announced several measures to target Moscow’s intelligence gathering operations in the U.K. Those included a decision to boot Maxim Elovik, a Russian colonel who the British government termed an "undeclared military intelligence officer," rescinding the diplomatic status of several Russian-owned properties because they are believed to have been used for intelligence purposes, and imposing new restrictions on Russian diplomatic visas and visits.
The government said the measures followed criminal cases in London alleging espionage and sabotage by people acting on behalf of Russia.
It also cited allegations that the Russian government planned to sabotage military aid for Ukraine in Germany and Poland and carried out spying in Bulgaria and Italy, along with cyber and disinformation activities, air space violations and jamming GPS signals to hamper civilian air traffic.
In response, Russia's Foreign Ministry on Thursday announced the expelling of the British defense attaché Adrian Coghill, and vowed "further retaliatory steps."
The U.K. has had an uneasy relationship with Russia for years, accusing its agents of targeted killings and espionage, including cyberattacks aimed at British lawmakers and leaking and amplifying sensitive information to serve Russian interests. After Russia sent troops into Ukraine, Britain has also sanctioned hundreds of wealthy Russians and moved to clamp down on money laundering through London’s property and financial markets.
Panama president-elect builds business-friendly cabinet
Panama President-elect Jose Raul Mulino on Thursday pulled business leaders and an economist into his ranks, the first cabinet selections in what Mulino has promised will be an administration friendly to the private sector.
Mulino, whose government will begin the transition process next month, tapped business leader Felipe Chapman for the economy and finance minister post and economist Javier Martinez-Acha as foreign minister.
TREACHEROUS MIGRATION ROUTE THROUGH PANAMA TO SHUT DOWN UNDER NEWLY ELECTED PRESIDENT
"The campaign is over, from here on out it's our job to lead the country with the best people possible," Mulino said.
Chapman is the son of former Planning Minister Guillermo Chapman.
His appointment is "clearly a positive development, one that increases the likelihood of more sound fiscal management in upcoming years," wrote analysts from BancTrust & Co. in a note to clients.
Julio Molto, head of the national police under Martinelli, will also serve as trade minister. In his role, Molto will oversee the closure of the once-lucrative First QuantumFM.TO copper mine in the nation.
Martinelli is a close ally of Mulino's and had headed the presidential ticket before his run in this month's elections was disqualified and Mulino took his place.
The former president holed up in the Nicaraguan embassy in Panama City after his conviction in a money-laundering case known as "New Business" was upheld, though he still wielded outsized influence on the election, with Mulino visiting him after the vote.
Despite the legal troubles, Martinelli's 2009-2014 administration was an economic bonanza, with businesses and job creation booming.
Mulino has vowed to follow Martinelli's economic strategy, though "the new authorities will have to overcome the challenges that are being inherited from the (outgoing) administration," the BancTrust analysts wrote.
"Maintaining the country on the path of fiscal consolidation continues to be unlikely in the short term," they cautioned.
Mulino also named Jose Icaza, the former head of Panama's chamber of commerce, as minister for the Panama Canal. The trade route, one of the world's busiest, has been hit by a recent drought and daily crossings have been limited.
The president-elect said on Thursday he still had to name an interior minister and education minister.
A look at high-profile political assassinations and attempts this century
Slovakia's prime minister Robert Fico was gravely injured in an apparent assassination attempt that rocked the small country and the rest of Europe just weeks before an election.
Here’s a global look at other notable political assassinations and attempts during the 21st century:
— Sept. 1, 2022: Argentina's then-Vice President Cristina Fernández is targeted by a man who reportedly aimed a handgun at point-blank range toward the politician in what government ministers characterize as an assassination attempt.
SLOVAKIA PRIME MINISTER ROBERT FICO SHOT MULTIPLE TIMES, IN 'LIFE-THREATENING CONDITION'
— July 8, 2022: Japanese former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is assassinated by a gunman who opened fire on him as he delivered a campaign speech on a street in western Japan.
— Nov. 6, 2021: Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi survives an assassination attempt when two armed drones target his residence in Baghdad's Green Zone area. While al-Kadhimi is uninjured, seven of his security guards are injured in the attack.
— Oct. 15, 2021: British lawmaker David Amess is stabbed to death by an Islamic State supporter while meeting with voters.
— July 7, 2021: Haitian President Jovenel Moïse is assassinated by gunmen in an overnight raid on his Port-au-Prince home. His widow, Martine, ex-prime minister Claude Joseph and the former chief of Haiti’s National Police, Léon Charles, among others, are indicted in his killing in February 2024.
— April 20, 2021: Chad President Idriss Deby Itno is killed while battling rebels in the north. Hours earlier he had been declared the winner of an election that would have given him another six years in power.
— Aug. 4, 2018: Drones armed with explosives detonate near Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in an apparent assassination attempt while he is delivering a speech to hundreds of soldiers being broadcast live on television. Six people are later arrested in connection with the attack.
— Dec. 19, 2016: Russia’s ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov is shot dead by a Turkish policeman shouting condemnation of Russia’s military role in Syria, in front of a shocked gathering at a photo exhibit. The gunman was later killed in a shootout with police.
— July 15, 2016: A group of Turkish soldiers using tanks, warplanes and helicopters launch a plot to overthrow Turkey's president and government. The coup attempt fails. One year later, 40 people are sentenced to life in prison after being convicted on charges that include attempting to kill President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
— June 16, 2016: British lawmaker Jo Cox is shot and stabbed to death by a far-right supporter in the English village of Birstall, part of her constituency.
— Feb. 6, 2013: Tunisian left-wing opposition leader Chokri Belaid is fatally shot outside his Tunis home. His killing — followed six months later by that of another left-wing leader, Mohammed Brahmi — plunged Tunisia into political chaos. Four people are sentenced to death and two others to life in prison in March 2024 for their roles in his death.
— Oct. 20, 2011: Longtime Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi is hunted and summarily killed by insurgents after being toppled in a NATO-backed uprising.
— Jan. 8, 2011: U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords survives an assassination attempt after being shot by a man in an Arizona grocery store parking lot while meeting with constituents. Giffords' injuries are so significant that she has to re-learn how to walk and talk. The attack kills six other people and wounds 11 more.
— March 2, 2009: Guinea-Bissau President Joao Bernardo Vieira is killed by renegade soldiers in his palace, hours after a bomb blast killed his rival in the West African nation.
— December 27, 2007: Benazir Bhutto, the first female prime minister in a Muslim-majority country as well as Pakistan’s second nationally elected prime minister, is shot at and then fatally attacked by a suicide bomber at a political rally in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
— Feb. 14, 2005: Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri is killed by a suicide truck bomb on a seaside boulevard in Beirut. Another 21 people die and 226 are wounded in the attack, which is seen by many in Lebanon as the work of neighboring Syria.
— March 12, 2003: Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic is shot dead in front of the Serbian government headquarters in Belgrade. He was a key leader of the revolt that toppled former President Slobodan Milosevic in October 2000. Twelve people are later convicted in connection with the killing, which was carried out to halt his pro-Western reforms, according to a Serbian court ruling.
— July 2, 2002: French President Jacques Chirac survives an assassination attempt by a far-right right supporter who shoots at him and misses during Bastille Day celebrations on Paris' Champs-Elysees. Chirac is uninjured.
— May 6, 2002: Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn is gunned down in a northern Netherlands city, days before a general election in which he was a candidate, by an animal rights activist.
— June 1, 2001: Nepal’s King Birendra is killed when his son, Crown Prince Dipendra, opens fire on his family in the royal palace. The dead include Queen Aiswarya, a prince and five others. Officials said the shooting followed a dispute over the prince’s marriage.
— Jan. 18, 2001: Congo President Laurent Kabila is assassinated in the presidential palace in the capital, Kinshasa, by one of his bodyguards, who is killed minutes later by security forces.
Belarus targets opposition activists with raids and property seizures
Authorities in Belarus on Thursday announced raids and the seizure of property belonging to 104 opposition activists who have fled the country, the latest step in a crackdown on dissent that has continued unabated for nearly four years.
Belarus' authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko, unleashed the crackdown in August 2020, when mass protests erupted against his rule following his disputed reelection that the opposition and the West have denounced as rigged.
BELARUS RAIDS TARGET OPPOSITION-RUN 'PEOPLE'S EMBASSIES,' AUTHORITIES CONFIRM
More than 35,000 people have been arrested, thousands have been brutally beaten in custody, and dozens of independent news organizations and rights groups have been shut down, and journalists imprisoned.
About 500,000 people have since fled the country of 9.5 million, and the authorities this year began a campaign against Belarusians abroad who call for tougher sanctions against the country.
Belarus' Investigative Committee said Thursday the latest raids and seizures targeted activists who criticized Belarusian authorities abroad and rallied to mark the anniversary of Belarus' independence. The authorities launched a criminal probe on the charges of "forming an extremist group" and "discrediting Belarus," criminal offenses that can result in prison terms of up to seven years.
Officials said they tracked down participants of the rallies in Poland, Lithuania, Belgium, Georgia, the Czech Republic, the U.S. and other countries that took place on March 25 to mark the first time Belarus had been declared an independent state in 1918 — an anniversary the Belarusian opposition celebrates every year.
Investigative Committee spokesman Sergei Kabakovich said in a statement that the activists were "fugitive puppets," and he accused them of "calling for economic and political pressure on our country."
Belarus' opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who in 2020 left the country under pressure from the authorities, said the raids and the seizures are "the authorities’ revenge on Belarusians who continue to fight the dictatorship."
"Lukashenko's regime tries to sow fear among Belarusians not just inside Belarus, but abroad, as well," Tsikhanouskaya said. "Belarusians are living in tough conditions that appear similar to Stalin times — toughening repressions, arbitrary arrests and constant instability."
Viasna, Belarus' oldest and most prominent rights group, has counted just under 1,400 political prisoners in Belarus, including the group's founder Ales Bialiatski, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022.
South Africa urges UN's top court to order cease-fire in Gaza to shield citizens in Rafah
South Africa urged the United Nations’ top court on Thursday to order a cease-fire in Gaza during hearings over emergency measures to halt Israel’s military operation in the enclave’s southern city of Rafah.
It was the third time the International Court of Justice held hearings on the conflict in Gaza since South Africa filed proceedings in December at the court, based in The Hague in the Netherlands, accusing Israel of genocide.
US CONCERNED OVER SOUTH AFRICA'S GROWING TIES WITH RUSSIA, IRAN AND HAMAS: 'FALLEN' FOR PROPAGANDA
The country’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Vusimuzi Madonsela, urged the panel of 15 international judges to order Israel to "totally and unconditionally withdraw" from the Gaza Strip.
The court has already found that there is a "real and imminent risk" to the Palestinian people in Gaza by Israel’s military operations. "This may well be the last chance for the court to act," said Irish lawyer Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh, who is part of South Africa’s legal team.
Judges at the court have broad powers to order a cease-fire and other measures, although the court does not have its own enforcement apparatus. A 2022 order by the court demanding that Russia halt its full-scale invasion of Ukraine has so far gone unheeded.
During hearings earlier this year, Israel strongly denied committing genocide in Gaza, saying it does all it can to spare civilians and is only targeting Hamas militants. The country says Rafah is the last stronghold of the militant group.
The latest request focuses on the incursion into Rafah.
South Africa argues that the military operation has far surpassed justified self-defense. "Israel’s actions in Rafah are part of the end game. This is the last step in the destruction of Gaza," lawyer Vaughan Lowe said.
According to the latest request, the previous preliminary orders by The Hague-based court were not sufficient to address "a brutal military attack on the sole remaining refuge for the people of Gaza." Israel will be allowed to answer the accusations on Friday.
In January, judges ordered Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza, but the panel stopped short of ordering an end to the military offensive that has laid waste to the Palestinian enclave. In a second order in March, the court said Israel must take measures to improve the humanitarian situation.
South Africa has to date submitted four requests for the international court to investigate Israel. It was granted a hearing three times.
Most of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people have been displaced since fighting began.
The war began with a Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which Palestinian militants killed around 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages. Gaza’s Health Ministry says over 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, without distinguishing between civilians and combatants in its count.
South Africa initiated proceedings in December 2023 and sees the legal campaign as rooted in issues central to its identity. Its governing party, the African National Congress, has long compared Israel’s policies in Gaza and the occupied West Bank to its own history under the apartheid regime of white minority rule, which restricted most Blacks to "homelands." Apartheid ended in 1994.
On Sunday, Egypt announced it plans to join the case. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Israeli military actions "constitute a flagrant violation of international law, humanitarian law, and the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 regarding the protection of civilians during wartime."
Several countries have also indicated they plan to intervene, but so far only Libya, Nicaragua and Colombia have filed formal requests to do so.
Turkey sentences pro-Kurdish politicians to lengthy prison terms over deadly 2014 riots
A Turkish court on Thursday sentenced several pro-Kurdish politicians to between nine and 42 years in prison over deadly riots in 2014 by Kurds angered by what they perceived to be government inaction against Islamic State group militants who had besieged the Syrian border town of Kobani.
The three days of clashes that broke out in October 2014 resulted in 37 deaths and left hundreds of others — police and civilians — injured. The protests were called by leaders of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party, or HDP, who were frustrated by what they considered to be Turkish support for IS militants.
SYRIAN KURDISH OFFICIALS HAND OVER 50 WOMEN AND CHILDREN LINKED TO ISLAMIC STATE GROUP TO TAJIKISTAN
A total of 108 people were charged with various crimes, including the killings of the 37 victims and crimes against the integrity of the state. The defendants include HDP’s imprisoned former leaders, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, who were accused of organizing the protests and inciting the violence.
Critics decried the trial as politically motivated and part of a wider government crackdown on the pro-Kurdish party.
Of the defendants, 18 were jailed, 18 others were freed pending the verdict and 72 remain at large.
The court in Ankara convicted Demirtas - who has run for president twice - of a total of 47 charges and sentenced him to 42 years in prison, state broadcaster TRT reported. Yuksekdag was sentenced to 30 years in prison for attempts to challenge the unity of the state, of inciting criminal acts and of engaging in propaganda on behalf of a terror organization.
Twelve defendants were acquitted of all charges. Defendants still at large would be tried at a later date.
The politicians are expected to appeal the verdicts.
The hearing took place in a tense atmosphere with lawyers banging on desks and leaving the courtroom to protest the verdicts, Cumhuriyet newspaper reported.
The pro-Kurdish movement’s current co-leader, Tuncer Bakırhan, described the verdicts as a "black stain" on the Turkish justice system.
"The Selahattins, the Figens and others who were prosecuted in this Kobani conspiracy trial have been acquitted in the hearts and minds of the Kurds, the Turks, the workers, the women and the young," he said.
In anticipation of protests condemning the sentences, authorities imposed a four-day ban on demonstrations in the predominantly Kurdish provinces of Diyarbakir, Siirt, Tunceli and Batman.
The government accused the HDP of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which is considered a terror organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union. The group has led an armed insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 and the conflict has killed tens of thousands of people.
Government officials accused the HDP leaders of taking instructions from the PKK to stage the riots.
The government has frequently cracked down on the pro-Kurdish political movement by stripping legislators of their parliamentary seats and removing elected mayors from office. Several HDP lawmakers have been jailed alongside Demirtas and Yuksekdag, on terror-related charges.
The party has since changed its name to the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party, or DEM, and is the third-largest grouping in Turkey’s parliament.
Pro-Ukraine Russian paramilitaries join fight on front lines
Peeking out from under a hat and with his face covered, the Russian fighting for Kyiv described unrelenting battles in the northeastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv where Moscow's forces opened a new front last week.
"The situation is difficult, the intensity is very high, there is fighting almost every ten minutes," said the mortarman, who identified himself only by his callsign, Winnie.
The soldier is part of the Freedom of Russia Legion, a group of Russians opposed to President Vladimir Putin who are fighting for Ukraine.
RUSSIA SAYS IT KILLED 234 FIGHTERS WHILE THWARTING AN INCURSION FROM UKRAINE
Ukraine has sent reinforcements, including the legion and two other units made up of Russian nationals, to shore up its defense against a Russian ground incursion into the northern reaches of the Kharkiv region that began nearly a week ago.
"It's an unbelievable meat grinder that they're still (sending) their people into," Winnie said, describing Russian losses as Moscow's infantry tries to storm deeper into Ukraine. Both sides say that the other is suffering heavy casualties in the war, claims that cannot be independently verified.
The Freedom of Russia Legion's deputy commander Maksimilian Andronikov, who is also known by his callsign Caesar, said Russia's fighters have become more innovative.
"They've learnt the lessons of the war, they're using rather intelligent tactics," he said.
One particularly grim innovation has been the expansion in the use of aerial bombs, which are dropped from planes and usually pack several hundred kilograms of explosives or more. Russia has vast Soviet-era stocks of the relatively cheap bombs.
Over the past several months, Russia has been able to grind out battlefield gains by hammering frontline towns and infantry positions with aerial bombs.
"Today, four guided aerial bombs came in, about 500 meters away. I was on the ground, and it started vibrating, I was thrown upwards - and I'm not small," Winnie said.
The Russian assault, which is driving towards the towns of Lyptsi and Vovchansk north of Ukraine's second-largest city Kharkiv, began last Friday.
The Russians appear to have been able to advance by at least several kilometers in some places, one of the fastest advances either side has seen since 2022, the first year of Russia's full-scale invasion.
"The enemy has the advantage in manpower, although they do not have as many vehicles as before," Andronikov said about the Kharkiv front.
The Russians, he said, were sending in noticeably fewer armored vehicles, but even so were able to launch several times more artillery shells and FPV drones than Ukraine.
"We feel the deficit. We understand well that if it didn't exist, the enemy wouldn't have these successes here or in the Donbas," he said of the artillery imbalance, a problem felt acutely by Ukraine over the past six months.
He blasted the limits placed by some Ukrainian allies on the use of their weapons to strike Russia, saying the restriction handicapped Kyiv's ability to fight back on the northern front where the lines are a few kilometers from Russian territory.
Ukrainian soldiers have long complained the restriction gives Russia a shield, enabling its forces to launch attacks from across the border without putting their logistics at risk.
"It's a problem. There is a whole list of weapons which we receive, but until recently we didn't have the right to use them on the territory of Russia… with impunity, the enemy is using the fact that Russian territory can't be hit."
Tunisian lawyers strike in protest, alleging torture of arrested colleague
Lawyers in Tunisia took to the streets on Thursday to protest a string of recent arrests that have convulsed the country over the past week and provoked international outcry.
The demonstration in the North African country's capital came days after two lawyers were arrested — one brusquely extracted from the bar association headquarters and the other needing to be hospitalized after sustaining injuries while being apprehended by security forces.
Both were charged with violating a cybercrime statute outlawing fake news that authorities have increasingly used to target critics.
TENT CAMPS RAZED AND ACTIVISTS ARRESTED AS TUNISIA CLAMPS DOWN ON MIGRANTS
The National Bar Association called for nationwide strikes on Monday and staged a "day of anger" on Thursday that included protests and a second day of striking.
Along with activists and civil society groups, they gathered in front of the capital's courthouse chanting for freedom, in support of their colleagues and against what they called "a police state."
"We demand an apology from the authorities for the enormous blunders committed," Bar Association President Hatem Mziou said, referring to the two arrests.
"We are fighting for a democratic climate and respect for freedoms," Mziou added, threatening further action if authorities do not change course.
Protests about civil rights have been routine since President Kais Saied froze Tunisia's parliament, consolidated his own power and fired top ministers in July 2021. But the speed and number of arrests this week — of the lawyers as well as journalists and prominent activists — have marked a new phase in his crackdown against dissidents.
The Bar Association said in a statement that Mehdi Zaghrouba, one of the lawyers arrested, was tortured and lost consciousness after being apprehended, leaving visible injuries throughout his body.
The government denied Zaghrouba had been tortured and said that the arrest had been carried out legally and without issue.
"Claiming torture is a way of evading justice" Interior Ministry spokesperson Faker Bouzghaya told IFM radio, a station where a journalist was also arrested this week.
9 men accused of causing deadly Mediterranean shipwreck were not even crew, Greek defense team says
The legal defense team for nine Egyptian men due to go on trial in southern Greece next week accused of causing one of the Mediterranean's deadliest shipwrecks said Thursday they will argue that Greece has no jurisdiction in the case, and insisted their clients were innocent survivors who have been unjustly prosecuted.
The nine, whose ages range from early 20s to early 40s, are due to go on trial in the southern city of Kalamata on May 21 on a series of charges, including migrant smuggling, participation in a criminal organization and causing a deadly shipwreck. They face multiple life sentences if convicted.
The Adriana, an overcrowded fishing trawler, had been sailing from Libya to Italy with hundreds of asylum-seekers on board when it sank on June 14 in international waters off the southwestern coast of Greece.
52 US-BOUND MIGRANTS APPREHENDED OFF PUERTO RICO PACKED INSIDE RICKETY BOAT
The exact number of people on board has never been established, but estimates range from around 500 to more than 700. Only 104 people survived — all men and boys from Syria, Egypt, Pakistan and two Palestinians — and about 80 bodies were recovered. The vessel sank in one of the Mediterranean's deepest areas, making recovery efforts all but impossible.
The Greek lawyers who make up the defense team spoke during a news conference in Athens on Thursday. They maintained their clients’ innocence, saying all nine defendants had been paying passengers who had been misidentified as crew members by other survivors who gave testimonies under duress just hours after having been rescued.
The nine "are random people, smuggled people who paid the same amounts as all the others to take this trip to Italy aiming for a better life, and they are accused of being part of the smuggling team," lawyer and defense team member Vicky Aggelidou said.
Dimitris Choulis, another lawyer and member of the legal team, said that Greek authorities named the defendants as crew members following testimonies by nine other survivors who identified them for having done things as simple as handing bottles of water or pieces of fruit to other passengers.
"For nearly a year now, nine people have been in prison without knowing what they are in prison for," Choulis said.
"For me, it is very sad to visit and see people in prison who do not understand why they are there," he added.
While the Adriana was sailing in international waters, the area was within Greece's search and rescue zone of responsibility. Greece's coast guard had been shadowing the vessel for a full day without attempting a rescue of those on board. A patrol boat and at least two merchant ships were in the vicinity when the trawler capsized and sank.
In the aftermath of the sinking, some survivors said the coast guard had been attempting to tow the boat when it sank, and rights activists have accused Greek authorities of triggering the shipwreck while attempting to tow the boat out of Greece's zone of responsibility.
Greek authorities have rejected accusations of triggering the shipwreck and have insisted the trawler's crew members had refused to accept help from the nearby merchant ships and from the Greek coast guard.
A separate investigation being carried out by Greece's naval court hasn't yet reached any conclusion, and the defense team hasn't been given any access to any part of it.
The Egyptians' defense team also argues that because the shipwreck occurred in international waters, Greek courts don't have jurisdiction to try the case, and the defense will move to have the case dismissed on those grounds when the trial opens in Kalamata next week.
Greece lies along one of the most popular routes into the European Union for people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. While most of those cross into the country’s eastern Aegean Sea islands from the nearby Turkish coast, others try to skirt Greece altogether and head from north Africa to Italy across the longer and more dangerous Mediterranean route.
On Thursday, Greece's coast guard said that 42 people had been rescued and another three were believed to be missing after a boat carrying migrants sent out a distress call while sailing south of the Greek island of Crete.
Officials said they were alerted by the Italian coast guard overnight about a boat in distress 27 nautical miles south of Crete. Greece's coast guard said that 40 people were rescued by nearby ships, and another two were rescued by a Greek navy helicopter.
A search and rescue operation was underway for three people reported by survivors as still missing. It wasn't immediately clear what kind of vessel the passengers had been on, or why the boat sent out a distress call.
Israel announces additional troop deployment in Rafah amid warning from Biden administration
Israel plans to deploy additional troops to assist with operations against Hamas in Rafah, Israeli Foreign Minister Yoav Gallant announced Thursday.
Gallant said Israeli operations have already successfully destroyed multiple Hamas tunnels in the area. The deployment of troops comes as President Biden has warned that the U.S. will pause military aid if Israel moves forward with a full-scale operation in Gaza.
"This operation will continue as additional forces [arrive]. Several tunnels in the area have been destroyed by our troops and additional tunnels will be destroyed soon. This activity will intensify," Gallant said. "Hamas is not an organization that can reorganize, it does not have reserve troops, it has no supply stocks and no ability to treat the terrorists that we target. The result is that we are wearing Hamas down."
Israel began ramping up its attacks in both Rafah and northern Gaza earlier this week. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops secured a Hamas training ground in eastern Rafah on Wednesday, recovering troves of equipment and vehicles that Hamas had used to simulate combat with Israeli forces.
US MILITARY CONSTRUCTS HULKING METAL PIER AMID BIDEN'S $320 MILLION GAMBLE TO GET AID INTO GAZA
Biden issued the ultimatum regarding Rafah operations last week, but he also approved $18 billion in funding for Israel.
Israel has so far backed off from an all-out assault, resorting to more precise strikes. Still, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that the IDF will root out Hamas from Rafah.
REPORTS OF BIDEN WHITE HOUSE KEEPING ‘SENSITIVE’ HAMAS INTEL FROM ISRAEL DRAWS OUTRAGE
Rafah plays host to roughly 1.5 million displaced Palestinians, most of whom fled northern Gaza. Israel, however, says the city is also the final major stronghold for Hamas in the region.
Biden's administration offered to share intelligence on Hamas leadership with Israel in exchange for restraint in Rafah earlier this week, according to a Washington Post report.
The intelligence the U.S. offered reportedly would allow Israel to better pinpoint Hamas leaders hidden in tunnels around the city, making it possible for the Israeli military to engage in a more precise campaign that could avoid the devastation seen in other areas of Gaza throughout the conflict.
US Navy's USS Ronald Reagan departs Japan home port after nearly a decade
A U.S. Navy strike group's flagship aircraft carrier left its Japanese home port on Thursday, wrapping up nearly nine years of deployment in the Indo-Pacific, where it served a key role in the U.S. effort to bolster defense ties with Japan and other partners in the region.
The departure of USS Ronald Reagan — one of America’s largest warships and a nuclear-powered Nimitz-class aircraft carrier — comes at a time of growing tension in the face of increasingly assertive China in the Indo-Pacific.
It will be replaced later this year by USS George Washington, another Nimitz-class carrier. Japan has been accelerating the buildup of its military capability and significantly increased joint naval operations with the United States.
NAVY LOWERS BAR TO ENLIST AGAIN AMID CONTINUED RECRUITING WOES
Family members and friends of the crew were on hand to wave the carrier off from Yokosuka Naval Base after its final patrolling mission earlier in the day.
Hundreds of sailors stood along the rails while others on the flight deck stood forming the Japanese saying "dewa mata," or "see you." The carrier was accompanied by two guided-missile destroyers, USS Robert Smalls and USS Howard.
Speaking at the ceremony, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel ensured a "seamless transition."
"The USS Ronald Reagan and her crew have ensured that millions of people across the Indo-Pacific have been able to live their lives free of coercion, aggression and suppression," Emanuel later told reporters.
NAVY EXPECTS TO MISS RECRUITING GOAL BY MORE THAN 6,000 AMID WORLDWIDE THREATS FROM CHINA, RUSSIA
USS Ronald Reagan first arrived in Yokosuka in 2015. Earlier, during its deployment near the Korean Peninsula, the carrier contributed in Operation Tomodachi, following the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in northeastern Japan.
USS Ronald Reagan was the only American aircraft carrier deployed as a flagship of the Carrier Strike Group 5 under the U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet, to a home port outside the U.S.
During its tenure, it participated in dozens of multilateral exercises and visited more than a dozen foreign ports, including its historic port call to Da Nang, Vietnam, last year.
While tensions have escalated in the South China Sea between China and the Philippines and a number of other countries over maritime and territorial disputes, Japan is concerned about its dispute with China over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea.
Japanese and Chinese coast guard ships repeatedly face off in the waters there.
Former Defense Minister Tomomi Inada, who recently joined an environmental survey trip near the disputed Senkaku islands, which Beijing calls the Diaoyu, said Thursday that cooperation with the U.S. and other like-minded countries is key to defending the international order.
"We have a sense of urgency that we must not let the East China Sea become another South China Sea," she said.
Landing on the islands is not permitted, so Inada's group flew drones for land and vegetation survey of the area. China protested the trip.
Inada said experts should be able to land on Japan's territory for research, calling for a parliamentary debate.
Russian metals tycoon says US Treasury sanctions against him are 'balderdash'
Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska dismissed the latest U.S. sanctions on a series of companies that the U.S. Treasury said were connected to a scheme to evade sanctions and unlock frozen shares as nonsense.
"This balderdash isn’t worth the time," Deripaska said by message via a spokesperson in response to a Reuters request for comment about the latest U.S. sanctions.
"While the horrific war in Europe claims hundreds of thousands of lives every year, politicians continue to engage in their dirty games. I strongly believe that we need to do everything we can to establish peace, not serve the interests of warmongers," he said.
NEW US SANCTIONS AGAINST RUSSIA TARGET WEAPONS DEVELOPMENT, BAN URANIUM IMPORTS FOR NUCLEAR POWER
The U.S. Treasury on Tuesday announced it had sanctioned a web of Russian companies it said were being used to disguise ownership of a $1.6 billion industrial stake controlled by Deripaska.
Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International was planning to buy the stake and dropped the transaction following mounting U.S. pressure to abort the bid.
In its sanctions announcement, the U.S. Treasury alleged it was an "attempted sanctions evasion scheme" to unfreeze a stake using "an opaque and complex supposed divestment."
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Deripaska has been sanctioned by Britain for his alleged ties to Putin. He has mounted a legal challenge against the sanctions which he says are based on false information and ride roughshod over the basic principles of law and justice.
Deripaska, who made his fortune by buying up stakes in aluminum factories, has also been subjected to sanctions by the United States, which in 2018 took measures against him and other influential Russians.
Those sanctions were "groundless, ridiculous and absurd", Deripaska has previously said.
UN envoy for sexual violence under fire for no-show at meeting on Hamas’ hostages held in Gaza
JERUSALEM — A leading expert of the United Nations blasted the world body for failing to have its lead official on sexual violence in conflict address Security Council members at a meeting to discuss the hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza on Thursday.
Anne Bayefsky, director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust, and president of Human Rights Voices, told Fox News Digital that "It is astonishing that the U.N. cannot come up with a single official prepared to address even an unofficial Security Council meeting and attest to mass sexual atrocities done by Palestinians to Jews."
According to a Tuesday report in the Times of Israel, Special Representative of the Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten withdrew from a slated appearance before the informal Security Council meeting about the sexual crimes committed against hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7.
UN FINALLY RECOGNIZES THAT ISRAELI WOMEN WERE RAPED, SEXUALLY ATTACKED BY HAMAS TERRORISTS
The planned Thursday session is titled "Condemning hostage-taking in Israel on October 7 as a psychological tool of terrorism."
According to the Times of Israel, a diplomat suggested that the "decision was politically motivated, as her office has faced pressure not to be seen as prioritizing the plight of the Israeli hostages over that of the Palestinians caught in the middle of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza."
Fox News Digital has independently confirmed the Times of Israel account. Hamas murdered nearly 1,200 people during its invasion of Israel on Oct. 7 and abducted over 250 people. Hamas committed sustained sexual violence on many people during the massacre.
The meeting organized by the U.S. mission to the U.N. is the first to be held on the topic. A statement from the Israeli mission to the U.N. said the "meeting will focus on, among other things, the actions that the U.N. agencies and the Security Council can take to speed up the release of the hostages and how pressure can be put on Hamas for this purpose."
Israel's Ambassador Gilad Erdan stated that "Following an unceasing diplomatic effort, we brought about the Security Council meeting for the first time to focus exclusively on the situation of our hostages and to discuss ways of exerting pressure to release them."
Geraldine Boezio, a spokeswoman for Patten, told Fox News Digital, "Although regretfully she cannot participate in the Arria formula meeting [informal meeting of members of UNSC], the Special Representative supports any process that leads towards the release of the hostages. Crucially, the public should be aware that the Office of the UN Special Representative and the Government of Israel are continuing to have productive bilateral discussions on how to address sexual violence in conflict given the importance of this issue. These discussions are presently ongoing."
The spokeswoman added "Special Representative Patten has repeatedly called for the release of all hostages in captivity in Gaza in multiple public statements since December 2023. Her Office’s report on its mission to Israel and the occupied West Bank released in March 2024 had clear and unequivocal findings and recommendations with respect to the hostages, and these were a key aspect of her statement to the U.N. Security Council’s special session on the report held on 11 Mach 2024. Once again, Special Representative Patten reiterated these findings and recommendations in her public remarks to the U.N. Security Council at its Open Debate on the Annual Report of the UN Secretary-General on conflict-related sexual violence as recently as 23 April 2024."
Bayefsky said "Starting with the U.N. Secretary-General himself, who in April refused to put Hamas, or any other Palestinian rapist or violent sexual degenerate, on his annual ‘list of parties credibly suspected of committing or being responsible for patterns of rape or other forms of sexual violence in situations of armed conflict on the agenda of the Security Council."
"Other U.N. officials, such as U.N. Special Rapporteurs Francesca Albanese and Reem Alsalem, have been actively pushing the obscene lie that Israelis did the same thing to Palestinians that Palestinians were ‘alleged’ or ‘reported’ to have done to Israelis. Evidently the truth in U.N. circles is unfashionable and not on message."
Fox News Digital reported in December that the Jordanian Alsalem issued a statement Nov. 20 on the U.N. website but did not explicitly condemn Hamas for carrying out rapes and sexual assaults against Israeli women and girls. The bulk of Alsalem’s press release was devoted to blaming Israel for alleged violence against Palestinian women. Alsalem declined to comment at the time.
Israel’s government has repeatedly called for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to resign for his alleged failures to confront Hamas terrorism and the organization’s sexual crimes. Last month, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz accused Guterres of standing "shoulder to shoulder with the rapists and murderers of Hamas" for omitting mention of Hamas’ sexual violence crimes in in a report "Conflict-related sexual violence."
Farhan Aziz Haq, a spokesman for Guterres, flatly rejected the criticism leveled against Guterres. He told Fox News Digital about the allegations, stating, "That’s completely false. The Secretary-General made clear his horror at all the killings, rapes and abductions that took place on October 7 from the first hours of the attack, and he has repeatedly called for all reports of sexual violence to be investigated."
Aziz Haq added "Pramila Patten, as you know, has visited Israel and has briefed the Security Council and the media on her findings. We continue to place a high priority in making sure that rape victims are heard and that they receive support."
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When approached by Fox News Digital, a spokesman for Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, declined to comment on Patten's attendance.
UK tells schools not to teach 'gender identity,' set to enforce new sex-ed guidelines: 'Disturbing content'
The government of the United Kingdom is instructing schools not to teach children about concepts of gender theory as part of an overhaul to sex education.
The Department of Education's guidance for Relationships, Sex and Health Education is being changed to exclude controversial viewpoints and inappropriate content.
"Following multiple reports of disturbing materials being used in Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) lessons, the Department for Education has published updated guidance that will ensure content is factual, appropriate and that children have the capacity to fully understand everything they are being taught," a report from the department published Wednesday reads.
The new guidance will limit all sex education lessons to students aged 9 and above. It will also bolster parental rights to stay informed on all materials being presented to their children to ensure age appropriateness.
Most notably, the government is explicitly instructing teachers not to teach "the contested theory of gender identity" or the idea of a gender "spectrum."
"At secondary school pupils will learn about legally ‘protected’ characteristics, such as sexual orientation and gender reassignment, but the updated guidance is clear that schools should not teach about the concept of gender identity," the report states.
ENGLAND'S NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE BANS PUBERTY BLOCKERS FOR KIDS
"In light of the Cass Review, it is important that schools take a cautious approach to teaching about this sensitive topic, and do not use any materials that present contested views as fact, including the view that gender is a spectrum," the report continues.
The Cass Review is an independent report commissioned by the National Health Service that documented practices and care for children reporting gender identity disorders.
Named for its primary author, Dr. Hilary Cass, the review found medical professionals reported "no guidance, no evidence, no training" regarding gender disorders and were "afraid" to discuss the topic.
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"Parents rightly trust that when they send their children to school, they are kept safe and will not be exposed to disturbing content that is inappropriate for their age," said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. "That’s why I was horrified to hear reports of this happening in our classrooms last year."
The guidance is open to public consultation for nine weeks. Following this period, it will become statutory, and school officials will be required to comply.
Human rights group urges Thai government to halt forced repatriation of political dissidents
A leading international human rights organization on Thursday urged the Thai government to stop forcing political dissidents who fled to Thailand for safety to return to authoritarian home countries, where they may face torture, persecution or death.
In a new report, Human Rights Watch said Thai authorities repeatedly violated international law by expelling the dissidents, many of whom were registered with the United Nations as refugees and were awaiting resettlement in third countries.
The report, titled "We Thought We Were Safe," analyzed 25 cases that took place in Thailand between 2014 and 2023.
THAI PM ORDERS INVESTIGATION AFTER MONARCHY REFORM ACTIVIST DIED IN PRISON
Many of the cases involved the forcible repatriation of Cambodians, with the suspected involvement of Cambodian security personnel. But the group also listed cases where dissidents from Vietnam, Laos and China were "tracked down and abducted," or "forcibly disappeared or killed."
The report said that in return for tracking down and returning the dissidents, the Thai government received cooperation from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam to spy on Thai dissidents who had fled their own homeland to escape political repression.
Human Rights Watch called this a quid-pro-quo form of transnational repression "in which foreign dissidents are effectively traded for critics of the Thai government living abroad."
The group said such arrangements, informally known as "swap mart," became increasingly frequent after the Thai army staged a coup in 2024 ousting an elected government. Military and military-backed rule lasted 10 years, until an elected civilian government led by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin took office last year.
"The Srettha administration should launch an investigation into these allegations of harassment, surveillance and forced returns of asylum seekers and refugees in Thailand. It should investigate the disappearance of Thai anti-junta activists in other Southeast Asian countries," Elaine Pearson, director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division, told The Associated Press.
"I think there is an opportunity to end this practice and for the Srettha administration to show it is different from the previous military-led government," she added.
She noted that the Thai government is currently seeking a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council "and that comes with responsibilities to protect human rights."
The report cited nine cases of Thai activists in Laos and Cambodia who were disappeared or killed in mysterious circumstances.
The mutilated bodies of two missing activists were found in late 2018 floating in the Mekong River. In 2020, a young Thai activist, Wanchalearm Satsaksit, was snatched off the street in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh and never heard from again.
Thai authorities have repeatedly denied any connection with such events.
Dr. Francesca Lessa, an associate professor in International Relations at University College London, said there were some parallels with the way autocratic governments in Latin America made agreements to work together to eliminate their political opponents on each other's soil in the late 1970s to 1980s.
"Whether they follow right or left ideologies, these autocratic governments consider opposition and dissent as constituting a threat to their survival in power and, thus, to be eliminated, whatever the means required," Lessa told the AP.
Thai pro-cannabis advocates rally as government moves to recriminalize
Dozens of pro-cannabis advocates gathered Thursday at the health ministry on the outskirts of the Thai capital, Bangkok, to oppose the government’s plan to relist the plant as a narcotic, two years after it was decriminalized.
The rally came after Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin last week said he would like the plant to be relisted as a narcotic again by the end of this year. Thailand became the first country in Asia to decriminalize it in 2022 for medical purposes, but in practice the market appears virtually unregulated, leading to public backlash and concerns over misuse and crime.
About 30 people came to the health ministry in Nonthaburi, just north of the Thai capital Bangkok, to petition minister Somsak Thepsuthin.
POLICE BUST FINDS OVER 700 POUNDS OF DRUGS INSIDE TRANSFORMERS STATUES
The group's representative, Prasitchai Nunuan, said they all agreed that cannabis should be properly regulated, but that doesn't require the rescheduling of the plant as a narcotic, noting possible economic impacts on a budding industry.
"Whenever it is relisted as a narcotic, cannabis will be put in jail again," Prasitchai said as health minister Somsak stood listening to the group's demands.
Decriminalization of cannabis in 2022 was spearheaded by the Bhumjaithai Party, whose stronghold is in the impoverished northeast where it promised farmers cannabis would be a new cash crop.
Party leader Anutin Charnvirakul became health minister of the previous government, pushing through an amendment to the Narcotics Law, dropping cannabis from the list of controlled substances.
Somsak, who was appointed as health minister in last month's cabinet reshuffle, responded that he would take the demands into consideration. The minister said that his standpoint has always been that cannabis should be used for medical purposes only, not recreational.
Chokwan "Kitty" Chopaka, a cannabis shop owner and activist, said that the government’s U-turn on the policy appears to be more political than scientific.
"I think the word stigma hasn’t actually been erased out of cannabis, even with the legalization," she said.
