MADRID: Spain said on Thursday that it will join South Africa’s case at the UN’s top court in which Pretoria has accused Israel of “genocide” in the Gaza Strip.
“Our sole goal is to put an end to the war and to advance on the road of applying the two-state solution,” Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said at a press conference.
His statement came a week after Spain, along with Ireland and Norway, recognized the state of Palestine, sparking fury from Israel.
South Africa brought the case before the International Court of Justice last year, alleging that Israel’s Gaza offensive, launched in retaliation for an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel, breached the 1948 UN Genocide Convention.
Israel has strongly denied the accusation.
Set up after World War II, the Hague-based ICJ rules in disputes between states.
The ICJ on Friday ordered Israel to ensure “unimpeded access” to UN-mandated investigators to look into allegations of genocide.
In a ruling on January 26, the ICJ also ordered Israel to do everything it could to prevent acts of genocide during its military operation in Gaza.
But South Africa has since returned several times to the ICJ arguing that the dire humanitarian situation in the territory compels the court to issue further fresh emergency measures.
On May 24, the court ordered Israel to “immediately” halt its military offensive in the city of Rafah and keep open the key border crossing there for “unhindered” humanitarian aid.
It also called for the “unconditional” release of hostages taken by Palestinian militant group Hamas during its October 7 assault that sparked the war.
ICJ rulings are legally binding but the court has no concrete means to enforce them. For example, it ordered Russia to halt its invasion of Ukraine, to no avail.
Spain joins South Africa’s case at UN top court on Gaza: minister
https://arab.news/2m7jf
Spain joins South Africa’s case at UN top court on Gaza: minister
- Spain, along with Ireland and Norway, earlier recognized the state of Palestine, sparking Israeli fury
Europe eyes Kosovo-Denmark deal for foreign prisoners
The agreement, reached in 2022 and ratified by Kosovar MPs in 2024, provides for the reception of up to 300 foreign prisoners sentenced in Denmark.
They must not have been convicted of terrorism or war crimes nor suffer from mental illness or a terminal disease. Once their sentence is completed in Kosovo, they will be deported to their home country.
In exchange, Denmark will pay 200 million euros ($230 million) — more than six times the annual budget of Kosovo’s Ministry of Justice.
The detainees will be imprisoned in a dedicated facility in the village of Pasjak, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) southeast of the capital, Pristina, where work on renovation of the facility is to start soon.
From the main road, the narrow path leading to the red-bricked prison divides the village in two, leaving about 1,500 residents on one side.
The school, mosque and cemetery are on the other near the prison itself, which is surrounded by high walls with barbed wire and observation posts.
The project has left residents perplexed.
“We don’t know who they will bring or if they will pose a threat to the village,” said Zeke Zeka, a 57-year-old farmer and deputy chief of the village.
“If they were good, Denmark would keep them and not transfer them out of the country,” he added.
Hanging out washing in the courtyard, Zeka’s wife, Hasime, 57, said she regrets having a prison practically on her doorstep but added: “It can’t be helped. We weren’t asked.”
Doubt has spread even inside the prison, where the guards feel discriminated against.
“We will continue to work for the same pay but under a Danish regime, which is therefore more demanding, and whose standards are among the highest in Europe,” one of them explained to AFP during a tour.
The agreement stipulates that Kosovo “must make the necessary adjustments to the prison facilities to ensure they meet the requirements of the sending state,” explained Ismail Dibrani, director of the Kosovo Correctional Service.
“Of course, the layout will be adapted to the Danish prison system,” he added, specifying that there will be “workshops where prisoners can work in printing, sewing, design, etc..”
On the Danish side, the government appointed a senior official, Mads Beyer, in April to co-direct the prison, in cooperation with local authorities.
His job, he confirmed to AFP, will be “to ensure that prisoners serve their sentences in accordance with Danish rules and under conditions similar to those applied in Danish prisons.”
The UN Committee Against Torture, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and several NGOs have expressed concern about the project.
But the initiative is being keenly watched across Europe.
French President Emmanuel Macron recently declared that prisoner relocation was “not taboo” while Sweden on Tuesday said it was looking to rent prison places in Estonia.
“Unlike the majority of European states that are facing prison overcrowding, we have sufficient capacity,” explained Dibrani.
“Our prison capacity is currently 2,500 places, while we instantly have around 1,800 prisoners.”
“After signing the agreement, we received a number of requests from European countries, for huge sums of money. But we haven’t discussed it yet,” he added.
“We already have a lot of work to do for our own country.”
Indian police arrest four people for cricket fans stampede
- Stampede during Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s trophy celebration killed 11 people and injured 47
Police in India’s tech capital of Bengaluru have arrested four people, including an official of a top cricket franchise, in connection with a stampede during a trophy celebration that killed 11 people and injured 47, media reported.
Four people, three from an event management company and one official from the Royal Challengers Bengaluru cricket team, whose victory in the Indian Premier League this week led to fan frenzy, were arrested early on Friday morning, media said.
Spokespersons for the team did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
On Wednesday, Bengaluru were celebrating their win the previous day over Punjab Kings in the final of the IPL’s 18th edition, the world’s richest T20 cricket league. The team had given away free passes for the celebration at a stadium in the city but said that numbers would be limited.
Thousands of people gathered outside the stadium, and fans without passes tried push through the gates, leading to a stampede.
The franchise said later the incident was “unfortunate” and pledged one million Indian rupees to each family of the 11 fans who died on Wednesday.
Stampedes occur frequently in India, mainly at religious events, but it was the first time in 45 years that fans had died in a crush at a sporting event, media said.
India’s head cricket coach Gautam Gambhir said on Thursday he did not support such roadshows and celebrations.
“Celebration is important. But more important than that is the life of any person. So, if we are not prepared or if we can’t handle the crowd in that way, then we might as well not have these roadshows,” Gambhir told reporters.
Thai military prepared for ‘high-level operation’ if Cambodia border row escalates
- Thailand's military released a statement saying: “The army is now ready for a high level military operation in case it is necessary to retaliate against the violation of sovereignty"
BANGKOK: Thailand’s military said it is ready to launch a “high-level operation” to counter any violation of its sovereignty, in the strongest words yet in a simmering border dispute with Cambodia that re-erupted with a deadly clash last week.
The army said in a statement late on Thursday that its intelligence gathering indicated Cambodia had stepped up its military readiness at their border while diplomatic efforts were ongoing, describing that as “worrisome.” The statement was in sharp contrast with one from the government just hours earlier, when it urged Cambodia to positively engage in dialogue via an existing mechanism between them.
“The army is now ready for a high-level military operation in case it is necessary to retaliate against the violation of sovereignty,” it said, ahead of a meeting of its armed forces top brass scheduled for Friday.
“Operations of units at the border have been conducted carefully, calmly and based on an understanding of the situation to prevent losses on all sides, but at the same time, are ready to defend the country’s sovereignty to the fullest extent if the situation is called for.”
Cambodia’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Thai military statement on Friday. The governments of the two countries had for days exchanged carefully worded statements committing to dialogue after a brief skirmish in an undemarcated border area on May 28 in which a Cambodian soldier was killed. Although the two countries have a historic rivalry, their governments enjoy friendly ties, partly due to the close relationship between their influential former leaders, Thailand’s Thaksin Shinawatra and Cambodia’s Hun Sen, whose daughter and son respectively are now the prime ministers in their countries. The issue comes at a tricky time for the Pheu Thai Party-led administration in Thailand as it battles to revive a flagging economy that could be hit by steep US tariffs, while facing a challenge to its popularity having paused a signature cash handout to tens of millions of people.
The party of the billionaire Shinawatra family has a troubled history with the Thai military, which twice toppled its governments in 2006 and 2014 coups. Deadly clashes between Cambodia and Thailand last erupted in 2011 over the Preah Vihear, a 900-year-old temple at the heart of a decades-long row that has stirred nationalist sentiment on both sides. The International Court of Justice in 2013 ruled in favor of Cambodia in clarifying a 1962 decision to award it jurisdiction over the temple, saying part of the land around it was Cambodia’s and Thai troops must withdraw from the area.
Cambodia said this week it is committed to peace and plans to resolve the issue by referring disputes over four parts of their border to the ICJ and has asked Thailand to cooperate. Thailand says it does not recognize the court’s jurisdiction.
Intense Russian air attack on Ukraine’s capital kills four
- The attack followed a warning from Russian President Vladimir Putin, conveyed via US leader Donald Trump
- The city’s metro transport system was disrupted by a Russian strike that hit and damaged tracks between stations
KYIV: Russia mounted an intense missile and drone barrage of the Ukrainian capital overnight, killing four people, Ukrainian officials said, as powerful explosions reverberated across the city.
The attack followed a warning from Russian President Vladimir Putin, conveyed via US leader Donald Trump, that the Kremlin would hit back after Ukrainian drones destroyed several strategic bomber aircraft in attacks deep inside Russia.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said 20 people were injured, 16 of them in hospital, in addition to the four deaths.
The city’s metro transport system was disrupted by a Russian strike that hit and damaged tracks between stations, Kyiv’s military administration said. Ukraine’s state rail company Ukrzaliznytsia said it was also detouring some trains due to railway damage in the region.
In the Solomianskyi district, a Russian drone slammed into the side of apartment building, leaving a gaping hole and burn marks, a Reuters photographer at the scene said.
Falling concrete blocks from the building crushed cars parked below. Two police investigators were examining what appeared to be the drone’s engine.
Earlier in the night, Reuters reporters heard the sound of Russian kamikaze drones buzzing in the sky, accompanied by the sounds of outgoing fire from Ukrainian anti-aircraft fire.
Reuters witnesses reported a series of booming explosions powerful enough to rattle windows far from the impact sites.
Some Kyiv residents sought shelter in metro stations, or in underground car parks.
Ukraine’s air force said the country had been targeted with drones and missiles overnight.
Russian forces struck industrial facilities and infrastructure in the western city of Ternopil, leaving parts of it without power, mayor Serhii Nadal said.
The regional administration said the attack injured five people and recommended residents stay inside due to a high concentration of toxic substances in the air after a fire.
Five people were injured in the northwestern city of Lutsk where the attack also damaged private homes, educational institutions and government buildings, according to mayor Ihor Polishchuk.
In one of the most audacious attacks of the war between Ukraine and Russia, Ukrainian spies last weekend destroyed some of Russia’s strategic bomber aircraft on the ground using quadrocopter drones hidden in wooden sheds.
The Kremlin was planning an unspecified response to the Ukrainian attack on Russian air bases, Trump said after a telephone conversation with Putin on Wednesday.
Harvard files legal challenge over Trump’s ban on foreign students. Overseas, admitted students wait
Harvard files legal challenge over Trump’s ban on foreign students. Overseas, admitted students wait
Winning admission to Harvard University fulfilled a longtime goal for Yonas Nuguse, a student in Ethiopia who endured a war in the country’s Tigray region, Internet and phone shutdowns, and the COVID-19 pandemic — all of which made it impossible to finish high school on time.
Now, it’s unclear if he will make it this fall to the Ivy League campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He and other admitted students around the world are anxiously tracking the school’s feud with the Trump administration, which is seeking to keep it from enrolling international students.
On Thursday, Harvard challenged President Donald Trump’s latest move to bar foreign students from entering the US to attend the college, calling it illegal retaliation for Harvard’s rejection of White House demands. In an amended lawsuit filed Thursday, Harvard said the president was attempting an end-run around a previous court order. Last month, a federal judge blocked the Department of Homeland Security from revoking Harvard’s certification to host foreign students.
Admission to Harvard, then months of uncertainty
Increasingly, the nation’s oldest and best-known university has attracted some of the brightest minds from around the world, with international students accounting for one-quarter of its enrollment. As Harvard’s fight with the administration plays out, foreign students can only wait to find out if they’ll be able to attend the school at all. Some are weighing other options.
For Nuguse, 21, the war in Ethiopia forced schools to close in many parts of the province. After schooling resumed, he then took a gap year to study and save money to pay for his TOEFL English proficiency test in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital.
“The war affected me a great deal and when I found out the news that I was accepted to Harvard, I was ecstatic. I knew it was a proud moment for my family, teachers, mentors and friends, who were instrumental in my achievement,” he said.
The following months have been filled with uncertainty. On Wednesday, Trump signed a directive seeking to block US entry for Harvard’s international students, which would block thousands who are scheduled to come to the campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for summer and fall terms.
Harvard’s court challenge a day later attacked Trump’s legal justification for the action — a federal law allowing him to block a “class of aliens” deemed detrimental to the nation’s interests. Targeting only those who are coming to the US to study at Harvard doesn’t qualify as a “class of aliens,” Harvard said in its filing.
“The President’s actions thus are not undertaken to protect the ‘interests of the United States,’ but instead to pursue a government vendetta against Harvard,” the university wrote.
In the meantime, Harvard is making contingency plans so students and visiting scholars can continue their work at the university, President Alan Garber said in a message to the campus and alumni.
“Each of us is part of a truly global university community,” Garber said Thursday. “We know that the benefits of bringing talented people together from around the world are unique and irreplaceable.”
Crackdown on international students affects interest in the US
The standoff with Harvard comes as the administration has been tightening scrutiny of student visas nationwide. Thousands of students around the country abruptly lost permission to be in the US this spring before the administration reversed itself, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced last week the US would “aggressively revoke” visas for students from China.
While many admitted students say they’re waiting to find out if they can come to the US, prospective students still in high school are starting to look elsewhere, said Mike Henniger, CEO of Illume Student Advisory Services.
“It is one blow after another,” said Henniger, who works with colleges in the US, Canada and Europe to recruit international students. “At this point, international student interest in the US has basically dropped to nil.”
The future of Harvard’s roughly 7,000 international students has been hanging in the balance since the Department of Homeland Security first moved to block its foreign enrollment on May 22.
For many, the twists and turns have been exhausting. Jing, a 23-year-old master’s student, is currently completing an internship in China this summer, and unsure if he can reenter the US for the fall semester.
“It is tiring, we all feel numb now. Trump just makes big news headlines once every few days since he got back to the White House,” said Jing, who agreed to speak under his family name out of concern about retaliation from the Trump administration.
Jing said he is going to watch and see what happens for now, in case the move against international students is a negotiating tactic that does not stick.
The possibility that Trump could block foreign enrollment at other colleges only raises the uncertainty for students planning to pursue their education overseas, said Craig Riggs, who has been working in international education for about 30 years and is the editor of ICEF Monitor. He said he urges families to consult carefully with advisers and not to overreact to the day’s headlines.
“The rules under which students would make this huge decision to devote years of their lives and quite a bit of money to studying at Harvard have been shown to change quite quickly,” Riggs said.
An aspiring economist, Nuguse was the only student accepted to Harvard this year from Kalamino Special High School, which caters to gifted students from underprivileged backgrounds from across Tigray.
After receiving acceptances also to Columbia University and Amherst College, Nuguse chose Harvard, which he had long dreamed of attending. He said he hopes it will work out to attend Harvard.
Nuguse was granted a visa to study at Harvard, and he worries it might be too late to reverse his decision and attend another university anyway. He received an email from Harvard last week, telling him to proceed with his registration and highlighting a judge’s order in Harvard’s favor in the dispute over foreign enrollment.
“I hope the situation is temporary and I can enroll on time to go on and realize my dream far from reality in Ethiopia,” he said.
