WASHINGTON: The Biden administration is willing to work with Congress to respond to the International Criminal Court prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants for Israeli leaders over the Gaza war, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday, amid Republican calls for US sanctions against court officials.
Speaking at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Blinken called the move “profoundly wrong-headed” and said it would complicate the prospects of reaching a hostage deal and a ceasefire in Israel’s conflict with the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said on Monday he had reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s defense chief and three Hamas leaders “bear criminal responsibility” for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Both President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and his political opponents have sharply criticized Khan’s announcement, arguing the court does not have jurisdiction over the Gaza conflict and raising concerns over process.
The United States is not a member of the court, but has supported past prosecutions, including the ICC’s decision last year to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine.
“We’ll be happy to work with Congress, with this committee, on an appropriate response” to the ICC move, Blinken said on Tuesday.
He did not say what a response to the ICC move might include.
In a later hearing, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told Blinken he hoped to work together with the administration to express the United States’ opposition to the ICC prosecutor.
“What I hope to happen is that we level sanctions against the ICC for this outrage, to not only help our friends in Israel but protect ourself over time,” said Graham.
Republican members of Congress have previously threatened legislation to impose sanctions on the ICC, but a measure cannot become law without support from President Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats, who control the Senate.
In 2020, then-President Donald Trump’s administration accused the ICC of infringing on US national sovereignty when it authorized an investigation into war crimes committed in Afghanistan. The US targeted court staff, including then-prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, with asset freezes and travel bans.
Blinken says he’ll work with US Congress to respond to ICC move on Gaza
https://arab.news/4sk7d
Blinken says he’ll work with US Congress to respond to ICC move on Gaza
- The United States is not a member of the court, but has supported past prosecutions, including the ICC’s decision last year to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine
AlUla is top destination as Saudi tourism gains appeal in India
- India’s outbound tourism is expected to reach 45 million travelers by 2030
- Destinations in Saudi Arabia especially popular among Gen Z tourists
New Delhi: India is seeing an increase in travelers heading to Saudi Arabia, according to a top Indian tourism body, which also said there is growing interest in the Kingdom’s heritage, especially among Gen Z Indians.
Tourism is booming in Saudi Arabia under the Vision 2030 transformation plan. In the past few years there has been significant investment in the development of destinations including its eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites, eco-friendly and luxury resorts on the Red Sea coastline, and entertainment and sports complexes.
The promotion for these developments has also included Bollywood stars, and more and more Indians are looking to visit Riyadh, Jeddah and AlUla, rather than Dubai — traditionally the most popular destination in the GCC for Indian travelers.
“Earlier it was only Dubai ... but now that trend is changing,” Himanshu Kesari Patil, president of the Outbound Tour Operators Association of India, an organization representing over 800 travel companies and agents, told Arab News. “There are lots of inquiries for Saudi Arabia, a lot of people are going. The top-selling destination for Saudi Arabia is AlUla,”
AlUla, in northwestern Saudi Arabia, is often described as an “open-air museum.” One of its most famous areas is Hegra, a UNESCO World Heritage site that features tombs and monuments from the Nabatean civilization dating back to the 1st century BCE.
Another is Elephant Rock, a natural rock formation in the AlUla desert, which has become one of the region’s most photographed natural landmarks.
Many notable Bollywood celebrities, including Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh, and Priyanka Chopra, have visited AlUla, while others, such as up-and-comers Janhvi Kapoor and Ali Fazal, have partnered with the local authorities to promote it, increasing the site’s appeal among Gen Z travelers, which data portal Statista refers to as the “most travel-hungry” generation.
“Gen Z, they are more tech-savvy, they are always on social media and they want to explore unexplored places. (They) are not going to the routine places where everyone else is going, they want to do something different,” Patil said.
India’s outbound tourism market is growing, and the Pacific Asia Travel Association estimates that the number of Indians traveling abroad annually will reach 45 million in the next five years.
By then, the Kingdom expects to welcome 7.5 million Indian travelers a year, according to the Saudi Tourism Authority.
“Saudi Arabia is investing a lot of money in the Indian market and I’m sure, soon, Saudi Arabia will get more numbers out of India,” Patil said.
“They are friendly, have great multicultural cuisine … for the tourists it’s amazing,” he continued. “I think, soon, with the new developments and new cities they are building, the new luxury hotels they are building, there is a bright future for Saudi Arabia on the tourism side.”
ASEAN and China must start tackling thorny issues of South China Sea code, Philippines says
- The South China Sea remains a source of tension between China and its ASEAN neighbors
- ASEAN and China pledged in 2002 to create a code of conduct, but took 15 years to start discussions and progress has been slow
The South China Sea remains a source of tension between China and neighbors the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia, with ties between Beijing and US ally Manila at their worst in years amid frequent confrontations that have sparked concerns they could spiral into conflict.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China pledged in 2002 to create a code of conduct, but took 15 years to start discussions and progress has been slow.
In an interview ahead of Sunday’s meeting with his ASEAN counterparts on the Malaysian island of Langkawi, Philippine Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo said discussions on a code were well underway, but it was time to start thrashing out the meatier, trickier aspects.
“It’s time that we try to look at issues which are, in our view, essential, which have not really been discussed in a thorough way or even much less negotiated. These are the so-called milestone issues,” Manalo told Reuters.
Those would include the code’s scope, whether it is legally binding and its impact on third-party countries, he said, adding the aim was to make it effective and substantive.
“We have to begin addressing these important issues,” Manalo added. “This might be the best way to at least move the negotiation forward.”
Beijing claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, which it asserts through a fleet of coast guard and fishing militia that some neighbors accuse of aggression and of disrupting fishing and energy activities in their exclusive economic zones.
China insists it operates lawfully in its territory and does not recognize a 2016 arbitration ruling that said its claim has no basis under international law.
‘US interests are still there’
Manalo also said that as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office, there was no sign the United States would reassess its engagement in Southeast Asia.
“We haven’t heard any or seen any indication of scaling down or any kind of particular change,” he said.
“We have to wait until the administration actually takes over. But from what we’ve seen so far, US interests are still there.”
Manalo said the civil war in military-ruled Myanmar remains a big challenge for ASEAN, which has barred the generals from meetings for failing to implement the bloc’s peace plan.
The junta plans to hold an election this year in which its opponents either cannot run, or refuse to contest.
Manalo said it was premature to discuss if ASEAN would make preconditions for recognizing the election, which he said must involve as much of the population as possible.
“If elections are held without being seen as inclusive, not transparent, I believe it would be very difficult for those elections to create more legitimacy,” he said.
India police volunteer convicted of shocking rape, murder of junior doctor in Kolkata
KOLKATA: An Indian police volunteer was convicted on Saturday of the rape and murder of a junior doctor at a hospital in the eastern city Kolkata, in the speedy trial of a crime that sparked national outrage over a lack of safety for women.
The woman’s body was found in a classroom at the state-run R G Kar Medical College and Hospital on Aug. 9. Other doctors stayed off work for weeks to demand justice for her and better security at public hospitals.
Defendant Sanjay Roy said in November he was “completely innocent” and was being framed. He reiterated this in court on Saturday, saying, “I have not done this.”
Roy’s lawyers could not immediately be reached for comment on the verdict. They had argued there were glaring discrepancies in the investigation and forensic examination reports.
Judge Anirban Das said circumstantial evidence had proved the charges against Roy and that the sentence, to be announced on Monday, would range from life in prison to the death penalty.
“Your guilt is proved. You are being convicted,” the judge said.
The parents of the victim, who cannot be named under Indian law, expressed dissatisfaction with the probe, saying the crime could not have been committed by just one person.
“Our daughter could not have met such a horrific end by a single man,” her father said. “We will remain in pain and agony until all the culprits are punished.”
India’s federal police, who investigated the case, described the crime as “rarest of rare” during the trial and sought the death penalty for Roy.
Several doctors chanted slogans in solidarity with the victim outside the court. Dr. Aniket Mahato, a spokesperson for the junior doctors, said street protests would continue “until justice is done.”
More than 200 armed police personnel were deployed in anticipation of the verdict as Roy was brought to court in a police car.
The investigation cited 128 witnesses, of whom 51 were examined during the trial, which that began on Nov. 11 and was fast-tracked to conclude swiftly, according to court sources.
Police also charged the officer heading the local police station at the time of the crime and the then-head of the hospital with destruction of the crime scene and tampering with evidence.
The police officer is out on bail while the former head of the hospital remains in detention in connection with a separate case of financial irregularities at the hospital.
India police volunteer convicted of rape, murder of junior doctor in Kolkata
- Doctors stayed off work for weeks to demand justice for victim and better security at public hospitals
- Defendant Sanjay Roy said in November he was ‘completely innocent’ and was being framed
KOLKATA, India: An Indian police volunteer was convicted on Saturday of the rape and murder of a junior doctor at a hospital in the eastern city Kolkata, in the speedy trial of a crime that sparked national outrage over a lack of safety for women.
The woman’s body was found in a classroom at the state-run R G Kar Medical College and Hospital on Aug. 9. Other doctors stayed off work for weeks to demand justice for her and better security at public hospitals.
Defendant Sanjay Roy said in November he was “completely innocent” and was being framed.
Roy’s lawyers could not immediately be reached for comment on the verdict. They had argued there were glaring discrepancies in the investigation and forensic examination reports.
Judge Anirban Das said the sentence, to be announced on Monday, would range from life in prison to the death penalty.
The parents of the victim, who cannot be named under Indian law, expressed dissatisfaction with the probe, saying the crime could not have been committed by just one person.
“Our daughter could not have met such a horrific end by a single man,” her father said. “We will remain in pain and agony until all the culprits are punished.”
India’s federal police, who investigated the case, described the crime as “rarest of rare” during the trial and sought the death penalty for Roy.
Several doctors chanted slogans in solidarity with the victim outside the court. Dr. Aniket Mahato, a spokesperson for the junior doctors, said street protests would continue “until justice is done.”
More than 200 armed police personnel were deployed in anticipation of the verdict as Roy was brought to court in a police car.
The investigation cited 128 witnesses, of whom 51 were examined during the trial, which that began on Nov. 11 and was fast-tracked to conclude swiftly, according to court sources.
Police also charged the officer heading the local police station at the time of the crime and the then-head of the hospital with destruction of the crime scene and tampering with evidence.
The police officer is out on bail while the former head of the hospital remains in detention in connection with a separate case of financial irregularities at the hospital.
Russian attack kills four in Kyiv
- The attack came as Kyiv has upped its aerial attacks on Russian energy and military facilities
KYIV: A Russian attack has killed four people and injured three in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, the city’s military administration said Saturday.
“We already have four dead in Shevchenkivsky district,” said Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, in a Telegram post, adding that three people were injured.
Hours earlier, Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko warned of a “ballistic missile threat” against the capital and said the city’s air defense was activated.
He later said a building in Shevchenkivsky district had its windows broken, with smoke coming from it, while a water pipeline in the area was damaged.
In addition, a metro station near the city’s center also suffered damage and was temporarily closed, with Kyiv’s trains bypassing that stop, Klitschko said.
The attack – a rare strike on the heart of the Ukrainian capital – came as Kyiv has upped its aerial attacks on Russian energy and military facilities in recent months.
Kyiv’s army has hit several Russian oil depots recently, including two major strikes on a facility near a military airfield in Russia’s Saratov region that triggered days-long blazes.
Also on Saturday, Russian forces “attacked the center” of Zaporizhzhia, injuring two people, according to local governor Ivan Fedorov. An administrative building of an industrial facility was partially damaged, he said.
