THE HAGUE: The United Nations’ top court is ruling Wednesday in a case in which Ukraine accuses Russia of bankrolling rebels in 2014 and discriminating against Crimea’s multiethnic community since its annexation of the region.
It is the first of two decisions by the International Court of Justice linked to the decadelong conflict between Russia and Ukraine that exploded into a full-blown war nearly two years ago.
Wednesday’s legally binding final ruling comes in a case filed in 2017, accusing Moscow of breaching conventions against discrimination and the financing of terrorism. Kyiv wants the court to order Moscow to pay reparations for attacks and crimes in eastern Ukraine, including the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which was shot down by Russia-backed rebels on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 passengers and crew.
At hearings last year, a lawyer for Ukraine, David Zionts, said that pro-Russia forces in eastern Ukraine “attacked civilians as part of a campaign of intimidation and terror. Russian money and weapons fueled this campaign.”
Among the attacks was the downing of MH17. A Dutch domestic court convicted two Russians and a pro-Moscow Ukrainian in November 2022 for their roles in attack and sentenced them in their absence to life imprisonment. Also, the Netherlands and Ukraine are suing Moscow at the European Court of Human Rights over MH17. Russia denies involvement.
Another lawyer for Ukraine, Harold Koh, said that in Crimea, Russia “sought to replace the multiethnic community that had characterized Crimea before Russia’s intervention with discriminatory Russian nationalism.”
Lawyers for Russia urged the world court to throw out the case, saying that the actions of pro-Moscow rebels in eastern Ukraine do not amount to terrorism.
On Friday, the court is ruling on Russia’s objections to its jurisdiction in a case filed by Ukraine shortly after the invasion, alleging that Moscow launched its attack based on trumped-up genocide allegations. The court already issued an interim order for Russia to halt its invasion which Moscow has flouted.
The International Court of Justice in recent weeks has heard a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Judges issued provisional measures last week calling on Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in the conflict.
UN’s top court to rule on Ukraine case accusing Russia of backing terrorists
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UN’s top court to rule on Ukraine case accusing Russia of backing terrorists
- First of two decisions by the International Court of Justice linked to the decade-long conflict between Russia and Ukraine
US Supreme Court asked to strip protected status from Venezuelans
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration asked the US Supreme Court on Thursday to back its bid to end the temporary protected status (TPS) shielding more than 350,000 Venezuelans from deportation.
A federal judge in California put a temporary stay in March on plans by Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem to end deportation protections for the Venezuelan nationals.
US District Judge Edward Chen said the plan to end TPS “smacks of racism” and mischaracterizes Venezuelans as criminals.
“Acting on the basis of a negative group stereotype and generalizing such stereotype to the entire group is the classic example of racism,” Chen wrote.
Solicitor General John Sauer filed an emergency application with the conservative-majority Supreme Court on Thursday asking it to stay the judge’s order.
“So long as the order is in effect, the secretary must permit hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan nationals to remain in the country, notwithstanding her reasoned determination that doing so is ‘contrary to the national interest,’” Sauer said.
In addition, “the district court’s decision undermines the executive branch’s inherent powers as to immigration and foreign affairs,” he added.
Former president Joe Biden extended TPS for another 18 months just days before Donald Trump returned to the White House in January.
The United States grants TPS to foreign citizens who cannot safely return home because of war, natural disasters or other “extraordinary” conditions.
Trump campaigned for the White House promising to deport millions of undocumented migrants.
A number of his executive orders around immigration have encountered pushback from judges across the country.
A federal judge in Texas ruled on Thursday that Trump’s use of an obscure wartime law to summarily deport alleged Venezuelan gang members was “unlawful.”
District Judge Fernando Rodriguez, a Trump appointee, blocked any deportations from his southern Texas district of alleged members of the Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang using the 1798 Alien Enemies Act (AEA).
Trump invoked the little-known AEA, which was last used to round up Japanese-American citizens during World War II, on March 15 and flew two planeloads of alleged TdA members to El Salvador’s notorious maximum security CECOT prison.
The Supreme Court and several district courts have temporarily halted removals under the AEA citing a lack of due process, but Rodriguez was the first federal judge to find that its use is unlawful.
US names new top diplomat in Ukraine
- Julie Davis, a Russian speaker who has spent much of her career in the former Soviet Union, will be charge d’affaires in Kyiv
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday named a career diplomat as its top envoy in Ukraine, putting another seasoned hand in charge after turbulence in the wartime relationship.
The State Department said that Julie Davis, a Russian speaker who has spent much of her career in the former Soviet Union, will be charge d’affaires in Kyiv, the top embassy position pending the nomination and Senate confirmation of an ambassador.
Ambassador Bridget Brink, also a career diplomat, stepped down last month. She had spent been stationed in Kyiv for three years, a grueling posting during Russia’s invasion.
She was also caught in an increasingly awkward situation after robustly supporting Ukraine under former president Joe Biden and then representing Trump as he dressed down Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an Oval Office meeting.
The appointment of Davis was announced a day after Ukraine and the United States signed a minerals deal, seen by Kyiv as a new way to ensure a US commitment even after Trump opposes military assistance and presses a war settlement that many Ukrainians see as favorable to Russia.
“Ambassador Davis is the president and secretary’s choice,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters, after calling the minerals deal a “significant milestone.”
“President Trump envisioned this partnership between the American people and the Ukrainian people to show both sides’ commitment to lasting peace and prosperity in Ukraine,” Bruce said.
Davis serves as the US ambassador to Cyprus, a position she will continue concurrently with her new role in Kyiv.
Ex-FBI informant who made up bribery story about the Bidens will stay in prison, judge rules
- Alexander Smirnov's phony story was used by Republican lawmakers in a move to impeach Democratic president Joe Biden
- Smirnov later pleaded pleaded guilty in court to tax evasion and lying to the FBI about the phony bribery scheme
LAS VEGAS: A federal judge has denied the US government’s request to release from prison a former FBI informant who made up a story about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter accepting bribes that later became central to Republicans’ impeachment effort.
The decision, issued Wednesday by US District Judge Otis Wright in Los Angeles, comes weeks after a new prosecutor reassigned to Alexander Smirnov’s case jointly filed a motion with his attorneys asking for his release while he appeals his conviction. In the motion, the US government had said it would review its “theory of the case.”
Wright said in his written order that Smirnov is still flight risk, even if prosecutors say they will review his case.
“The fact remains that Smirnov has been convicted and sentenced to seventy-two months in prison, providing ample incentive to flee,” he said.
Smirnov, 44, was sentenced in January after pleading guilty to tax evasion and lying to the FBI about the phony bribery scheme, which was described by the previous prosecutors assigned to the case as an effort to influence the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
His attorneys, David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld, told The Associated Press in a text that they will appeal the judge’s decision and “continue to advocate for Mr. Smirnov’s release.” The US Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles declined to comment.
Smirnov had been originally prosecuted by former Justice Department special counsel David Weiss, who resigned in January days before President Donald Trump returned to the White House for his second term.
Smirnov has been in custody since February 2024. He was arrested at the Las Vegas airport after returning to the US from overseas.
Smirnov, a dual US and Israeli citizen, falsely claimed to his FBI handler that around 2015, executives from the Ukrainian energy company Burisma had paid then-Vice President Biden and his son $5 million each.
The explosive claim in 2020 came after Smirnov expressed “bias” about Biden as a presidential candidate, according to prosecutors at the time. In reality, investigators found Smirnov had only routine business dealings with Burisma starting in 2017 — after Biden’s term as vice president.
Authorities said Smirnov’s false claim “set off a firestorm in Congress” when it resurfaced years later as part of the House impeachment inquiry into Biden, who won the presidency over Trump in 2020. The Biden administration dismissed the impeachment effort as a “stunt.”
Weiss also brought gun and tax charges against Hunter Biden, who was supposed to be sentenced in December after being convicted at a trial in the gun case and pleading guilty to tax charges. But he was pardoned by his father, who said he believed “raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.”
Jordanian who attacked US businesses over Israel support sentenced
- Hashem Hnaihen, 44, targeted businesses in the Orlando area beginning in June of last year
WASHINGTON: A Jordanian man who vandalized businesses in Florida for their perceived support of Israel was sentenced to six years in prison on Thursday for threatening to blow up an energy facility, the US Justice Department said.
Hashem Younis Hashem Hnaihen, 44, targeted businesses in the Orlando area beginning in June of last year, causing more than $450,000 in damages, according to court documents.
“Wearing a mask, under the cover of night, Hnaihen smashed the glass front doors of businesses and left behind ‘Warning Letters,’” the Justice Department said in a statement.
The letters were addressed to the president of the United States and laid out a series of political demands, it said.
They culminated in a threat to “destroy or explode everything here in whole America. Especially the companies and factories that support the racist state of Israel.”
In one of his attacks, Hnaihen broke into a solar power generation facility in Wedgefield, Florida, and spent hours destroying solar panel arrays, the Justice Department said.
He was arrested on July 11 after another “warning letter” threatening to “destroy or explode everything” was discovered at an industrial propane gas distribution depot in Orlando, it said.
Global health funding ‘faces historic challenges’
- WHO director warns budget cuts will significantly impact the health of people around the world
GENEVA: Global health funding faces historic challenges as donor countries reduce their contributions, the director of the World Health Organization said on Thursday.
The US withdrew from the WHO in January, saying the health agency had mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic and other international health crises.
The US is the UN health agency’s most prominent financial backer, contributing around 18 percent of its overall funding.
“We are living through the greatest disruption to global health financing in memory,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at WHO headquarters in Geneva.
The WHO revised its budget after the American withdrawal exacerbated a funding crisis due to member states reducing their development spending.
Faced with an income gap of nearly $600 million this year, the WHO has proposed slashing its budget for 2026-27 by 21 percent from $5.3 billion to $4.2 billion, and reducing staff numbers, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.
“It is of course, very painful,” the director added, warning that the cuts would significantly impact the health of people around the world.
Separately, the executive director of the WHO’s emergencies programs said the minds and bodies of children in Gaza were being broken following two months of aid blockade and renewed strikes.
“We are breaking the bodies and minds of the children of Gaza. We are starving the children of Gaza. We are complicit,” Deputy Director General Michael Ryan said at the WHO’s headquarters.
“As a physician, I am angry. It is an abomination,” he said.
“The current level of malnutrition is causing a collapse in immunity,” Ryan said, warning that cases of pneumonia and meningitis in women and children could increase.
The UN warned this week that acute malnutrition among Gaza’s children was worsening.
