ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders, including Netanyahu
JERUSALEM (AP) — The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court says he is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Karim Khan said Monday that he believes Netanyahu, his defense minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel. The prosecutor must request the warrants from a pre-trial panel of three judges, who take on average two months to consider the evidence and determine if the proceedings can move forward.
What is the ICC and why it is considering arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Criminal Court could soon issue arrest warrants for leaders of Israel and Hamas more than seven months into their war. ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan said Monday that he is seeking warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his defense minister and three Hamas leaders. Khan said that they are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel. The ICC was established in 2002 as the permanent court of last resort to tackle impunity for war crimes, genocide and other grave crimes when states don’t prosecute those responsible.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, supreme leader’s protege, dies at 63 in helicopter crash
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has died. He was a hard-line protege of the country’s supreme leader who helped oversee the mass executions of thousands in 1988 and later led the country as it enriched uranium near weapons-grade levels, launched a major attack on Israel and experienced mass protests. He was 63. Raisi died Sunday along with the foreign minister and other officials in a helicopter crash in northwestern Iran. His death comes as Iran struggles with internal dissent and its relations with the wider world.
Raisi lost a presidential election to the relatively moderate incumbent Hassan Rouhani in 2017. He came to power four years later in a vote carefully managed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to clear any major opposition candidate.
Michael Cohen faces more grilling as Trump’s hush money trial enters its final stretch
NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors’ last and star witness in Donald Trump’s hush money trial is back on the stand for more grilling before the former president’s lawyers get their chance to put on a case. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a payment to a porn actor who alleges they had a sexual encounter. The Republican denies the encounter and insisted Monday at the New York courthouse that there was no crime involved. Trump says all he did was pay a legal expense. Cohen’s testimony testimony tied Trump to an alleged hush money scheme. The judge says he expects closing arguments to happen May 28, the Tuesday after Memorial Day.
WikiLeaks founder Assange wins right to appeal against an extradition order to the US
LONDON (AP) — A British court has ruled that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can appeal against an order that he be extradited to the U.S. on espionage charges. Two High Court judges on Monday said Assange has grounds to challenge the U.K. government’s extradition order. The ruling sets the stage for an appeal process likely to further drag out a years-long legal saga. Assange faces 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse over his website’s publication of a trove of classified U.S. documents almost 15 years ago. The Australian computer expert has spent the last five years in a British high-security prison after taking refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for seven years.
Timeline of the Assange legal saga over extradition to the US on espionage charges
LONDON (AP) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been fighting for years to avoid extradition to the United States to face charges related to his organization’s publication of a huge trove of classified documents. He has been in custody in a high-security London prison since 2019 as a back-and-forth with the U.K. courts dragged on over whether he can be sent to the U.S. He previously spent seven years in self-exile in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden to face rape allegations. Two judges at London’s High Court ruled on Monday that Assange can appeal against his extradition order. It’s a key legal victory that is likely to prolong the extradition battle.
Tugboats escort ship that caused deadly Baltimore bridge collapse back to port
BALTIMORE (AP) — The container ship that caused the deadly collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge was slowly escorted back to port. The Dali had remained at the collapse site since it lost power and crashed into one of the bridge’s supporting columns in March. The disaster killed six construction workers and snarled traffic into Baltimore Harbor. Several tugboats are escorting the Dali on its 2.5-mile path to the marine terminal on Monday morning. Pieces of the bridge’s steel trusses still protrude from the ship’s bow, which remains covered in mangled concrete from the collapsed roadway.
Taiwan’s new President Lai in his inauguration speech urges China to stop its military intimidation
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s new president, Lai Ching-te, has said in his inauguration speech that he seeks peace with China and urged it to stop its military threats against the self-governed island that Beijing claims as its own territory. Lai pledged on Monday to “neither yield nor provoke” Beijing. But he emphasized that the island democracy is determined to defend itself. Lai’s party, the Democratic Progressive Party, doesn’t seek independence from China but maintains that Taiwan is already a sovereign nation. Lai takes over from Tsai Ing-wen, who led Taiwan through eight years of economic and social development despite the COVID-19 pandemic and China’s escalating military threats.
Iran’s president and foreign minister die in helicopter crash at moment of high tensions in Mideast
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the country’s foreign minister have been found dead hours after their helicopter crashed in fog. That leaves the Islamic Republic without two key leaders as extraordinary tensions grip the wider Middle East. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei quickly named a little-known vice president as caretaker Monday. The supreme leader has the final say in the Shiite theocracy. He insisted the government was in control, but the deaths mark yet another blow to a country beset by pressures both at home and abroad. Iran has offered no cause for the crash nor suggested sabotage brought down the helicopter. It fell in mountainous terrain in a sudden, intense fog.
US pediatricians group reverses decades-old ban on breastfeeding for those with HIV
A top U.S. pediatricians’ group is making a sharp policy change about breastfeeding by people with HIV. The group says they can breastfeed as long as they are taking medications that effectively suppress the virus that causes AIDS. It’s a reversal in a longstanding policy from the American Academy of Pediatrics. The group made the changes on Monday, effectively overturning guidance that dated back decades. Experts say drugs used to treat HIV can reduce the risk of passing the virus to infants to less than 1%. About 5,000 people who have HIV give birth in the U.S. each year.
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