THE HAGUE: Belgium on Tuesday joined a case brought by South Africa before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which accuses Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip. The UN&#39;s highest court, based in The Hague, said in a statement that Brussels had filed a declaration of intervention. But Belgium&#39;s intervention does not mean it fully supports South Africa&#39;s accusations, nor that it defends Israel, but that it intends to clarify its interpretation of international law in the context of the case. Several countries, including Brazil, Colombia, Ireland, Mexico, Spain, and Turkey, have already joined the case. In December 2023, South Africa brought a case to the United Nations&#39; highest court in The Hague, alleging Israel&#39;s Gaza offensive breached the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Israel denies the accusation. In rulings in January, March and May 2024, the ICJ told Israel to do everything possible to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza, including by providing urgently needed humanitarian aid to prevent famine. These orders are legally binding, but the court has no concrete means to enforce them. Israel has criticized the proceedings and rejected the accusations. Hamas&#39;s October 7, 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. The Israeli military&#39;s retaliatory campaign has since killed 70,369 Palestinians, also mostly civilians, according to Gaza&#39;s health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.&nbsp; The campaign has also displaced the majority of the 2.2 million people in the Palestinian territory. Belgium was among a string of countries to recognize the State of Palestine in September, a status acknowledged by nearly 80% of UN members, though Belgium said it would not formally take the step until Hamas has been excluded from Palestinian leadership.

Middle East

Belgium's intervention does not mean it fully supports South Africa's accusations, nor that it defends Israel, but that it intends to clarify its interpretation of international law in the context of the case.

Belgium files declaration to South Africa's genocide case against Israel

NEW YORK: Russia and China on Tuesday criticized the United States for its military and economic pressure on Venezuela, telling the UN Security Council it was &quot;cowboy behavior&quot; and &quot;intimidation.&quot; Venezuela, which requested the emergency council meeting with the backing of Moscow and Beijing, accused Washington of &quot;the greatest extortion known in our history.&quot; The United States has deployed a major military force in the Caribbean and has recently intercepted oil tankers as part of a naval blockade against Venezuelan vessels it considers to be under sanctions. At Tuesday&#39;s meeting, US Ambassador Mike Waltz responded to the criticism by saying, &quot;the United States will do everything in its power to protect our hemisphere, our borders, and the American people.&quot; US President Donald Trump accuses Venezuela of using oil, the South American country&#39;s main resource, to finance &quot;narcoterrorism, human trafficking, murders, and kidnappings.&quot; Caracas denies any involvement in drug trafficking and maintains that Washington is seeking to overthrow its president, Nicolas Maduro, in order to seize Venezuelan oil reserves, the largest in the world. &#39;The greatest extortion&#39; &quot;The acts by the US side run counter to all key norms of international law,&quot; said Vassily Nebenzia, Russia&#39;s ambassador to the United Nations, calling the US blockade an &quot;act of aggression.&quot; &quot;The responsibility of Washington is also evident for the constant catastrophic consequences of such cowboy-like conduct,&quot; he told the council. &quot;China opposes all acts of unilateralism and bullying and supports all countries in defending their sovereignty and national dignity,&quot; said the Chinese representative, Sun Lei. Venezuelan ambassador Samuel Moncada told the council: &quot;We are in the presence of a power that acts outside of international law, demanding that Venezuelans vacate our country and hand it over.&quot; &quot;This is the greatest extortion known in our history,&quot; he added. Waltz reiterated Trump&#39;s accusations against the Venezuelan leader, saying &quot;Nicolas Maduro is a fugitive wanted by American justice and the head of the foreign terrorist organization the &#39;Cartel de los Soles.&#39;&quot; Experts say there is no evidence of the existence of an organized group with a defined hierarchy that goes by that name. The US government has offered a $50 million reward for any information leading to the arrest of Maduro, a staunch ally of Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Since September, US forces have launched dozens of air strikes on boats that Washington alleges, without showing evidence, were transporting drugs. More than 100 people have been killed.

Americas

US has deployed a major military force in the Caribbean and has recently intercepted oil tankers as part of a naval blockade against Venezuelan vessels it considers to be under sanctions.

At UN, Russia and China criticize US conduct toward Venezuela

ANKARA:&nbsp;The head of Libya&#39;s armed forces and four other passengers died on Tuesday when their business jet crashed shortly after taking off from Ankara, officials in Turkey&#39;s capital and Tripoli said. The wreckage of their Falcon 50 aircraft was located by Turkish security personnel in the Haymana district near Ankara, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said. Libya&#39;s Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah said on his Facebook page: &quot;It is with deep sadness and great sorrow that we learnt of the death of the Libyan army&#39;s chief of general staff, Lieutenant General Mohammed al-Haddad.&quot; Haddad, earlier Tuesday, held talks in Ankara with his Turkish counterpart, Selcuk Bayraktaroglu, and was returning to Tripoli. Yerlikaya said on X that Haddad&#39;s jet took off from Ankara&#39;s Esenboga airport at 1710 GMT, and &quot;contact was lost&quot; 42 minutes later. The aircraft issued an emergency landing notification near Haymana &mdash; 74 kilometres (45 miles) from Ankara &mdash; but contact could not be reestablished, the minister said. Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said the Ankara chief prosecutor&#39;s office has launched an investigation into the incident. Several Turkish media outlets broadcast images showing the sky lit up by an explosion not far from the location where the aircraft sent a signal. &#39;Technical problem&#39;Walid Ellafi, Libyan minister of state for communication and political affairs, told local television channel Libya al-Ahrar that the Turkish government informed his government of the incident. &quot;We received a call from the Turkish authorities immediately after the incident, reporting that contact with the aircraft had been lost,&quot; the minister said. &quot;All contact with the aircraft was lost about half an hour after takeoff from Ankara airport due to a technical problem,&quot; he said. &quot;We are awaiting the conclusions of the Turkish investigation, and it appears that the plane crashed.&quot; The minister said the others on the aircraft were Haddad&#39;s advisor, Mohammed Al-Assawi, as well as Major General Al-Fitouri Ghraibil, Major General Mohammed Jumaa, and their escort, Mohammed Al-Mahjoub. Haddad had been the army&#39;s chief of general staff since August 2020 and was appointed by then-prime minister Fayez al-Sarraj. Libya is split between a UN-recognized government in Tripoli, led by Dbeibah, and Commander Khalifa Haftar&#39;s administration in the east. The North African country has been divided since a NATO-backed revolt toppled and killed longtime leader Moamer Kadhafi in 2011. Turkey has close ties with the UN-backed government in Tripoli, to which it provides economic and military support, and there have been frequent visits between both sides. But Ankara has recently also reached out to the rival administration in the east, with the head of Turkey&#39;s intelligence agency, Ibrahim Kalin, meeting with Haftar in Benghazi in August.

Asia

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya says wreckage of the business jet that departed Ankara's Esenboga airport for Tripoli has been located by Turkish gendarmerie approximately two kilometers south of Kesikkavak village in the Haymana district, 74 kilometers (45 miles) from Ankara.


Libya's top military chief killed in plane crash in Turkey

KYIV: Ukraine pulled out troops from a town in the east after fierce battles, it said on Tuesday, as relentless Russian strikes killed three civilians and cut power to thousands in freezing winter temperatures. Kyiv had to withdraw forces from Siversk, a town in the heavily embattled Donetsk region, on the way to the two last strongholds held by Ukraine. Russia announced the capture of Siversk almost two weeks ago. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the pre-Christmas strikes showed that the Kremlin had no intention of ending the invasion it launched in February 2022. The attacks also came two days after US-mediated settlement talks in Miami, which lasted for a few days as the warring sides were working out the details of the Washington-proposed plan to end the war. There has been no sign of an imminent breakthrough in the diplomatic push. The Ukrainian army said that &quot;to preserve the lives of our soldiers and the combat capability of our units, Ukrainian defenders have withdrawn from the settlement&quot; of Siversk, adding that fighting was still ongoing on the outskirts. Moscow on Monday reported &quot;slow progress&quot; in talks over the US plan to end the war, as Kyiv and its European allies seek to adjust an initial proposal that adhered to many of Russia&#39;s hardline demands. Chernobyl endangered&nbsp;A Russian strike could collapse the internal radiation shelter at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power station in Ukraine, the plant&#39;s director has told AFP. In an interview with AFP, plant director Sergiy Tarakanov said that fully restoring the shelter could take three to four years and warned that another Russian strike could cause the inner shell to collapse. &quot;If a missile or drone hits it directly, or even falls somewhere nearby, for example, an Iskander, God forbid, it will cause a mini-earthquake in the area,&quot; Tarakanov told AFP in an interview conducted last week. The Iskander is Russia&#39;s short-range ballistic missile system that can carry a variety of conventional warheads, including those designed to destroy bunkers. &quot;No one can guarantee that the shelter facility will remain standing after that. That is the main threat,&quot; he added. On the battlefield in the east, Russia&#39;s army claimed to have captured settlements in the Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions, in a grinding advance that has accelerated in recent weeks. Four-year-old killed&nbsp;Zelensky said a four-year-old child was killed in the central Zhytomyr region, where a Russian drone struck a residential building. Workers were scrambling to repair energy infrastructure hit in the attack, he said, which forced emergency power cuts across several regions in frigid winter weather. &quot;An attack ahead of Christmas, when people simply want to be with their families, at home, and safe. An attack carried out essentially in the midst of negotiations aimed at ending this war,&quot; he said. There were also deaths in the Kyiv and Khmelnytskyi regions. In Russia, one person was killed and three wounded, including a teenage boy, after Ukrainian drone barrages on the border region of Belgorod, its governor said. Ukraine&#39;s Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said energy facilities in the west of the country were most affected by the strikes. Russia&#39;s army said it had launched a massive strike using long-range drones and hypersonic missiles at military and energy sites. The southern Black Sea region of Odesa was also targeted again, as Russia steps up its attacks on the important port city. Olena Dolhachova, a 40-year-old maths teacher there, told AFP she had to resort to candles to do her work. &quot;There are attacks every week. Just when power is restored, all our schedules are disrupted again, we are left without electricity, without stability, sitting in the dark for two or three days,&quot; she said. &quot;It is very difficult.&quot;

Europe

Ukrainian President Zelensky says pre-Christmas strikes show Kremlin had no intention of ending the invasion it launched; there has been no sign of an imminent breakthrough in the diplomatic push.

Ukraine retreats in east as Russian strikes kill three, hit energy

RAMALLAH: The Palestinian Authority condemned on Tuesday Israel&#39;s plan to approve 19 settlements in the occupied West Bank, accusing it of tightening its control over Palestinian land.&nbsp;On Sunday, Israel&#39;s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced the authorities had greenlit the settlements, saying the move was aimed at preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state.&nbsp;The Ramallah-based Palestinian foreign ministry decried the approval as a &quot;dangerous step aimed at tightening colonial control over the entirety of Palestinian land&quot;, calling it a continuation of &quot;apartheid, settlement, and annexation policies that undermine the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people&quot;.&nbsp;&quot;The decision provides political cover for accelerating the plunder of Palestinian lands, expanding settlement infrastructure... alongside an escalating pace of settler terrorism against members of our people and their properties,&quot; it said in a statement.&nbsp;The latest move brings the total number of settlements approved over the past three years to 69, Smotrich&#39;s office said.&nbsp;Excluding east Jerusalem, which was occupied and annexed by Israel in 1967, more than 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, along with about three million Palestinian residents.&nbsp;Smotrich&#39;s office said the 19 newly approved settlements were located in what it described as &quot;highly strategic&quot; areas, adding that two of them -- Ganim and Kadim in the northern West Bank -- would be re-established after being dismantled two decades ago.&nbsp;Five of the 19 settlements already existed but had not previously been granted legal status under Israeli law, the statement said.&nbsp;Israel&#39;s decision came days after the United Nations said the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank -- all of which are illegal under international law -- had reached its highest level since at least 2017.&nbsp;US President Donald Trump recently warned that Israel &quot;would lose all of its support from the United States&quot; if it annexed the West Bank.&nbsp;Israel has occupied the territory since 1967, and violence there has surged following the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023 with Hamas&#39;s attack on Israel.&nbsp;Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 1,028 Palestinians in the West Bank -- both militants and civilians -- since the start of the fighting in Gaza, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures.&nbsp;At least 44 Israelis have been killed in the West Bank in Palestinian attacks or Israeli military operations during the same period, according to Israeli data.

The Palestinian Authority condemned Israel’s approval of 19 new West Bank settlements, accusing it of tightening control over Palestinian land, undermining statehood prospects, and accelerating settlement expansion amid rising violence.

Palestinian Authority says Israel tightening control over West Bank with new settlements

GENEVA: China has launched a complaint with the World Trade Organization over Indian measures on trade of solar cells and modules as well as information technology goods, the global trade body said Tuesday.&nbsp;The WTO said that Beijing had requested that it initiate so-called dispute consultations with India, charging it was breaching international trade rules.&nbsp;Beijing is challenging certain subsidies granted to India&#39;s solar sector as well as tariffs imposed by India on products such as phones or equipment for manufacturing flat screen display devices, according to the complaint dated on December 19 and circulated to WTO members on Tuesday.&nbsp;&quot;China said the measures in question include India&#39;s tariff treatment and certain measures that China said are contingent upon the use of domestic inputs and otherwise discriminate against Chinese imports,&quot; the WTO explained.&nbsp;In the request, China charged that the Indian measures were &quot;inconsistent with various provisions of the WTO&#39;s General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994, the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, and the Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures&quot;.&nbsp;WTO consultations give the parties an opportunity to discuss the matter and to find a satisfactory solution without proceeding further with litigation.&nbsp;After 60 days, if consultations have failed to resolve the dispute, the complainant may request adjudication by a panel.

Economy

China filed a complaint at the WTO against India over solar sector subsidies and tariffs on IT goods, alleging violations of global trade rules and seeking dispute consultations to resolve the issue without formal litigation.

China launches WTO complaint over India solar, IT trade measures

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Army Chief and Chief of Defense Forces Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir on Tuesday visited the National Defence University (NDU), where he was briefed by civil and military participants of the ongoing National Security and War Course, according to an official press release.&nbsp;During the visit, participants presented their academic views on challenges to national security and ways to address them, the statement said.&nbsp;Munir outlined the evolving global, regional, and internal security environment. He said Pakistan faces persistent challenges across multiple domains, including conventional, sub-conventional, informational, and economic. He noted that hostile elements increasingly rely on indirect methods and proxies to exploit internal fault lines, rather than confrontation. He stressed the need for future leaders to recognize and counter such complex threats.&nbsp;The field marshal also highlighted the importance of clear decision-making and intellectual resilience in an uncertain security environment.&nbsp;He praised NDU&rsquo;s role in developing strategic thinkers and underscored the importance of professional military education for long-term national resilience, the statement said.&nbsp;He appreciated the participants&rsquo; analyses and urged them to remain vigilant and steadfast in upholding professional values.

Security

Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir visited the National Defence University, Islamabad, received briefings on national security challenges, highlighted multi-domain and proxy threats to the country, stressed the need for clear decision-making, and praised military education for building strategic leadership and national resilience.

CDF Munir outlines evolving global, regional security environment in address at NDU

LONDON: Police on Tuesday arrested Swedish activist Greta Thunberg at a demonstration in support of pro-Palestinian hunger strikers, Palestinian activist groups said.&nbsp;Thunberg&#39;s arrest makes her the highest profile person to be detained by police since the government banned the Palestine Action group under anti-terror laws.&nbsp;&quot;Greta Thunberg was arrested under the Terrorism Act at the Prisoners for Palestine lock-on protest,&quot; Prisoners for Palestine said in a statement.&nbsp;Thunberg was holding a sign reading &quot;I support the Palestine Action prisoners. I oppose genocide&quot;, it added.&nbsp;The 22-year-old was among hundreds of people who boarded a flotilla in October that tried to break through the Israeli blockade of Gaza.&nbsp;City of London Police said officers had arrested three people on suspicion of criminal damage at a building in London&#39;s financial quarter.&nbsp;It said the arrests came after &quot;hammers and red paint were used to damage a building&quot;.&nbsp;&quot;A man and a woman have been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage. They glued themselves nearby and specialist officers are working to release them, and bring them into police custody,&quot; a statement said.&nbsp;&quot;A little while later, a 22-year-old woman also attended the scene. She has been arrested for displaying an item (in this case a placard) in support of a proscribed organisation (in this case Palestine Action) contrary to Section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000,&quot; it added.&nbsp;The government outlawed Palestine Action in July after activists broke into an air force base and caused an estimated &pound;7 million ($9.3 million) of damage.&nbsp;Some of the eight detainees who have been on hunger strike have been charged over that incident.&nbsp;The group, aged between 20 and 31, are facing trials relating to break-ins or criminal damage by Palestine Action.&nbsp;They are on hunger strike to protest at their treatment and call for their release on bail.&nbsp;Asked about it in parliament last week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said &quot;rules and procedures&quot; were being followed.&nbsp;Two of the protesters began their hunger strikes in early November, according to their supporters, with others joining in the following weeks.&nbsp;The government&#39;s Palestine Action ban -- which makes being a member of the group or supporting it a serious criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison -- has resulted in at least 2,300 arrests of demonstrators, according to protest organisers Defend Our Juries.&nbsp;According to London&#39;s Met Police in late November, so far 254 out of the more than 2,000 arrested have been charged with a lesser offence which carries a sentence of up to six months.

United Kingdom

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg was arrested in London at a protest backing pro-Palestinian hunger strikers, becoming the highest-profile detainee since Britain banned Palestine Action, as police cited terrorism laws and criminal damage allegations against protesters.

Greta Thunberg arrested at pro-Palestinian protest in London

ISLAMABAD: Israel&#39;s parliament announced on Tuesday the extension of a law allowing authorities to ban any foreign media deemed harmful to state security from broadcasting in the country. Adopted in April 2024, at the height of the Israel siege of Gaza, the legislation primarily targeted Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera, which Israeli authorities have accused of serving as a &quot;propaganda outlet&quot; for Hamas. The law was originally limited to the state of emergency declared at the start of the war. However, on December 1, 2025, the Knesset voted to end that state of emergency, and an amendment passed overnight meant the law will remain in force for another two years. According to a statement published on the Knesset&#39;s X account, the amendment &quot;allows, under a temporary provision valid until December 31, 2027, the restriction of broadcasts by foreign media that harm state security.&quot; Left-leaning Haaretz newspaper, citing the bill, reported that the legislation allows such measures even in the absence of a state of emergency. Under the law, if the prime minister determines that a foreign media outlet poses a threat to state security, the communications minister may order a halt to its broadcasts. The minister is also authorized to shut down the outlet&#39;s offices, seize broadcasting equipment and block its website, according to the text of the bill published by Haaretz. The legislation requires the prime minister to consult security agencies, including the police, before issuing a ban. However, a single favourable opinion is sufficient to order a shutdown, with no judicial review required. &quot;Terrorist channels are out of bounds, in normal times as well as under a state of emergency,&quot; Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi wrote in a post on his X account. &quot;After voting for this law several times during the war to stop Al Jazeera&#39;s broadcasts in Israel, last night we finalized it independently of the state of emergency,&quot; he added. Media freedom has deteriorated in Israel since the start of the war in Gaza, dropping 11 places in Reporters Without Borders&#39; 2025 global press freedom index, from 101st to 112th out of 180 surveyed countries in 2024.

Under the law, if the prime minister determines that a foreign media outlet poses a threat to state security, the communications minister may order a halt to its broadcasts.

Israel extends power to ban broadcasts deemed harmful to security

BERLIN: Germany deported a man to Syria for the first time since the civil war broke out in that country in 2011, the interior ministry in Berlin said Tuesday.&nbsp;A Syrian immigrant previously convicted of criminal offences in Germany was flown to Damascus and handed over to Syrian authorities on Tuesday morning, the ministry said.&nbsp;&quot;Our society has a legitimate interest in ensuring that criminals leave our country,&quot; Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said in a press release.&nbsp;The deportation just before Christmas capped months of talks with Syria&#39;s government, which mirrored similar efforts by Berlin to strike a deportation deal with the Taliban in Afghanistan.&nbsp;Human rights groups have criticised efforts to send immigrants back to either country, citing continued instability and evidence of rights abuses.&nbsp;But Germany&#39;s conservative-led government has made the resumption of deportations to Syria a diplomatic priority since former president Bashar al-Assad fled the country just over a year ago.&nbsp;In July, Austria became the first European Union country to deport someone to Syria since 2011.&nbsp;The German ministry said that deals have now been struck with both Damascus and Kabul to allow regular deportations of &quot;criminals and dangerous individuals&quot; in the future.&nbsp;Roughly a million Syrians fled to Germany to escape the civil war, many of them arriving in 2015.&nbsp;The Syrian man deported on Tuesday had served a prison sentence in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia for aggravated robbery, bodily harm and extortion.&nbsp;The ministry said an Afghan man was also deported to his home country on Tuesday. That man had also served time in prison for intentional bodily harm and other crimes.

Germany deported a Syrian man convicted of crimes, marking its first return to Syria since 2011, after talks with Damascus. Berlin says deals now allow deportations of criminals, despite criticism from human rights groups internationally.

Belgium files declaration to South Africa's genocide case against Israel

Latest News

At UN, Russia and China criticize US conduct toward Venezuela

Belgium files declaration to South Africa's genocide case against Israel

Libya's top military chief killed in plane crash in Turkey

Ukraine retreats in east as Russian strikes kill three, hit energy

Palestinian Authority says Israel tightening control over West Bank with new settlements