THE HAGUE: For a few hours last week, the International Criminal Court looked poised to take a Libyan warlord into custody. Instead, member state Italy sent the head of a notorious network of detention centers back home.
That has left the court without a single trial ahead for the first time since it arrested its first suspect in 2006. And it’s now facing serious external pressure, notably from US President Donald Trump.
Though its docket remains empty, the court still wields an $200 million annual budget and a large number of legal eagles keen to lay their hands on Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The lack of trials damages the court’s reputation,” said Danya Chaikel of the International Federation for Human Rights. “The point of the ICC is to investigate and prosecute those most responsible for international crimes.”
Empty courtrooms show how hard it is to end impunity
The only permanent global court of last resort to prosecute individuals responsible for the world’s most heinous atrocities has not been in this position for almost two decades.
Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga became the first person convicted by court in The Hague. In 2012, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison for conscripting child soldiers.
Since Lubanga’s trial began, the court has had a slow but steady stream of proceedings. To date it has convicted 11 people and three verdicts are pending.
It has issued 32 unsealed arrest warrants. Those suspects range from Netanyahu and Putin to Lord’s Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony and Gamlet Guchmazov, accused of torture in the breakaway region of South Ossetia in Georgia.
But it faces numerous challenges. Trump, on his first day in office, reinstated an executive order from his previous term sanctioning court staff. A more damaging piece of legislation, which would sanction the court as an institution, has passed one chamber of Congress but is stalled in the Senate for now due to opposition from Democrats.
Putin will probably remain beyond court’s reach
The previous chief prosecutor, Gambian Fatou Bensouda, described being the subject of “thug-style tactics” while she was in office. The court was the victim of a cybersecurity attack in 2023 that left systems offline for months and some technical issues have still not been resolved. In 2022, the Dutch intelligence service said it had foiled a sophisticated attempt by a Russian spy using a false Brazilian identity to work as an intern at the court.
The current prosecutor, British lawyer Karim Khan, has requested a record-breaking 24 arrest warrants. But many suspects — like Putin — will probably remain beyond the reach of the court.
Neither Russia nor Israel are members of the court and do not accept its jurisdiction, making it highly unlikely those countries would extradite their citizens, let alone their leaders, to the ICC.
“They haven’t issued arrest warrants for people who they are likely to arrest,” says Mark Kersten, an international criminal justice expert at University of the Fraser Valley in Canada.
Ultimately, countries are responsible for physically apprehending people and bringing them to The Hague, says Chaikel, whose group oversees nearly 200 human rights organizations worldwide.
Many of the court’s 125 member states are unwilling to arrest suspects for political reasons. Mongolia gave Putin a red-carpet welcome for a state visit last year, ignoring the obligation to apprehend him. South Africa and Kenya refused to arrest former Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir when he visited. The 81-year-old was ousted from power in a coup in 2019 but the authorities in Sudan have still refused to hand him over to the ICC.
Unwanted attention to Italy’s migration policies
Italy claims the ICC warrant for Libyan warlord Ossama Anjiem had procedural errors. He was released this month by an order of Rome’s Court of Appeal. “It was not a government choice,” Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni told reporters.
But Italy, which was a founding member of the court, may have had its own reasons for not executing the warrant. Italy needs the Tripoli government to prevent waves of migrants from setting out on smugglers boats. Any trial in The Hague of the warlord could not only upset that relationship, but also bring unwanted attention to Italy’s migration policies and its support of the Libyan coast guard, which it has financed to prevent migrants from leaving.
On Wednesday, three men who say they were mistreated by Anjiem, also known as Ossama Al-Masri, while in Libyan detention centers told a packed conference in Italy’s lower house of parliament that they want justice for themselves and others who died before making it to Italy.
David Yambio, a South Sudanese migrant who said he had cooperated with the ICC investigation, called Al-Masri’s repatriation “a huge betrayal. A huge disappointment.”
There is little consequence for countries who fail to arrest those wanted by the court. Judges found that South Africa, Kenya and Mongolia failed to uphold their responsibilities but by then, the wanted men had already left.
International Criminal Court has Putin, Netanyahu in its sights, yet its courtrooms are empty
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International Criminal Court has Putin, Netanyahu in its sights, yet its courtrooms are empty
- Though its docket remains empty, the court still wields an $200 million annual budget
- The International Criminal Court has found itself without a single trial ahead for the first time in years
China hits back at US imports as Trump’s fresh tariffs take effect
- Beijing also places 25 US firms under export and investment restrictions on national security grounds
- China has accused the US of fentanyl blackmail and it has some of the toughest anti-drug policies in the world
Beijing also placed twenty five US firms under export and investment restrictions on national security grounds, but refrained from punishing any household names, as it did when it retaliated against the Trump administration’s February 4 tariffs.
Ten of these 25 US firms were targeted by China for selling arms to Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory.
China’s latest retaliatory tariffs came as the extra 10 percent duty US President Donald Trump threatened China with last week entered into force at 0501 GMT on March 4, resulting in a cumulative 20 percent tariff in response to what the White House considers Chinese inaction over drug flows.
China has accused the US of fentanyl blackmail and it has some of the toughest anti-drug policies in the world.
Analysts have said Beijing still hoped to negotiate a truce with the Trump administration, but the tit-for-tat retaliatory tariffs threaten to escalate into an all-out trade war between the two economic giants.
The new US tariffs represent an additional hike to preexisting levies on thousands of Chinese goods.
Some of these products bore the brunt of sharply higher US tariffs under former president Joe Biden last year, including a doubling of duties on Chinese semiconductors to 50 percent and a quadrupling of tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles to over 100 percent.
The 20 percent tariff will apply to several major US consumer electronics imports from China that were previously untouched, including smartphones, laptops, videogame consoles, smartwatches and speakers and Bluetooth devices.
China responded immediately after the deadline, announcing it will impose an additional 15 percent tariff on US chicken, wheat, corn and cotton and an extra 10 percent levy on US soybeans, sorghum, pork, beef, aquatic products, fruits and vegetables and dairy imports from March. 10, the finance ministry announced in a statement.
“The US’s unilateral tariffs measures seriously violate World Trade Organization rules and undermine the basis for economic and trade cooperation between China and the US,” China’s commerce ministry said in a separate statement.
“China will firmly safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” the statement added.
Philippine fighter jet goes missing while on a mission against insurgents in southern province
- The FA-50 jet lost communication during the tactical mission around midnight Monday
- The other aircraft were able to return safely to an air base in central Cebu province
MANILA: A Philippine air force fighter jet with two pilots on board has gone missing during a night combat assault in support of ground forces who were battling insurgents in a southern province, and an extensive search is underway, officials said Tuesday.
The FA-50 jet lost communication during the tactical mission with other air force aircraft around midnight Monday before reaching a target area. The other aircraft were able to return safely to an air base in central Cebu province, the air force said without providing other details for security reasons.
A Philippine military official told The Associated Press that the incident happened in a southern Philippine province, where an anti-insurgency mission against communist guerrillas was underway. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of a lack of authority to discuss the sensitive situation publicly.
“We are hopeful of locating them and the aircraft soon and ask you to join us in prayer during this critical time,” air force spokesperson Col. Ma. Consuelo Castillo said.
It was not immediately clear if the rest of the FA-50s would be grounded following the incident.
The Philippines acquired 12 FA-50s multi-purpose fighter jets starting in 2015 from South Korea’s Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd. for 18.9 billion pesos ($331 million) in what was then the biggest deal under a military modernization program that has been repeatedly stalled by a lack of funds.
Aside from anti-insurgency operations, the jets have been used in a range of activities, from major national ceremonies to patrolling the disputed South China Sea.
Japan’s worst wildfire in half a century spreads
- It is estimated to have damaged at least 80 buildings by Sunday
- The number of wildfires in Japan has declined since its 1970s peak
Tokyo: Firefighters were Tuesday battling Japan’s worst wildfire in half a century, which has left one dead and forced the evacuation of nearly 4,000 local residents.
White smoke billowed from a forested area around the northern city of Ofunato, aerial TV footage showed, five days after the blaze began after record low rainfall.
The fire also follows Japan’s hottest summer on record last year, as climate change pushes up temperatures worldwide.
As of Tuesday morning, the wildfire had engulfed around 2,600 hectares (6,400 acres), the fire and disaster management agency said — over seven times the area of New York’s Central Park.
That makes it Japan’s largest wildfire since 1975 when 2,700 hectares burnt in Kushiro on northern Hokkaido island.
It is estimated to have damaged at least 80 buildings by Sunday, although details were still being assessed, the agency said.
Military and fire department helicopters are trying to douse the Ofunato fire, but it is still spreading, a city official told reporters.
“There is little concern that the fire will reach the (more densely populated) city area,” the official said, adding that authorities were “doing our best” to put it out.
Around 2,000 firefighters — most deployed from other parts of the country, including Tokyo — are working from the air and ground in the area in Iwate region, which was hard-hit by a deadly tsunami in 2011.
An evacuation advisory has been issued to around 4,600 people, of whom 3,939 have left their homes to seek shelter, according to the municipality.
The number of wildfires in Japan has declined since its 1970s peak, but the country saw about 1,300 in 2023, concentrated in February to April when the air dries and winds pick up.
Ofunato had just 2.5 millimeters (0.1 inches) of rainfall in February — breaking the previous record low for the month of 4.4 millimeters in 1967 and below the usual average of 41 millimeters.
Since Friday, “there has been no rain — or very little, if any” in Ofunato, a local weather agency official told AFP.
But “on Wednesday it may rain or snow,” he said.
Some types of extreme weather have a well established link with climate change, such as heatwaves or heavy rainfall.
Other phenomena like droughts, snowstorms, tropical storms and forest fires can result from a combination of complex factors.
Some companies have been affected by the wildfire, such as Taiheiyo Cement, which told AFP its Ofunato plant has suspended operations for several days because part of its premises is in the evacuation advisory zone.
Ofunato-based confectionery company Saitoseika warned that “if our headquarters or plants become a no-go zone, we may need to halt production,” describing the situation as “tense.”
Japanese baseball prodigy Roki Sasaki — who recently joined the Los Angeles Dodgers — has offered a 10 million yen ($67,000) donation and 500 sets of bedding, Ofunato city’s official account posted on X.
Sasaki was a high school student there, after losing his father and grandparents in the huge 2011 tsunami.
Kremlin signals Russia-US talks on Ukraine not immediate
- Donald Trump has upended US policy swiftly to open talks with Moscow
- Last week, Russia said it was sending a new ambassador to Washington
The Kremlin said in remarks published on Tuesday that the next round of Russia-US talks on ending the war in Ukraine is unlikely to happen before the embassies of both countries resume normal operations.
“Unlikely,” Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of President Vladimir Putin, told RIA state news agency in response to a question whether the negotiations could start before the two countries’ embassies fully reopen. Operations have been curtailed since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
On Monday, US President Donald Trump has paused military aid to Ukraine after his clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week, deepening the fissure that has opened between the two allies.
Before Trump began his second term as US president in January, ties between the two nuclear superpowers of Russia and the United States had plummeted to their lowest in decades following Russia’s invasion.
Trump, who has promised a quick end to the war, has upended US policy swiftly to open talks with Moscow, including calls and meetings that have alarmed Washington’s European allies and Kyiv.
At the end of February, Russia and US teams held hours of talks in Turkiye, narrowly focusing on restoring normal functioning of their embassies, and Putin said initial contacts with Trump’s new administration had inspired hope.
Last week, Russia said it was sending a new ambassador to Washington, the latest sign of a thaw between the two countries, but it remains unclear when the full work of both embassies will resume.
Peskov also told RIA that it was too early say where the next round of talks between Russia and the United States might take place.
‘Impossible’ for US to give up Indo-Pacific, Taiwan defense minister says
- ‘I think it is impossible for the United States to retreat from the Indo-Pacific because it is its core national interest’
- The US is Taiwan’s most important international backer and arms supplier despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties
TAIPEI: The United States cannot abandon the Indo-Pacific because the region is part of its “core national interests,” Taiwan’s Defense Minister Wellington Koo said amid concerns about US security commitments to Taiwan.
The White House clash between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump, which plunged ties between Kyiv and its top military backer to a new low, has renewed concerns in Taiwan about Washington’s security commitment at a time when China is ramping up its military pressure to assert its sovereignty claims over the democratic island.
“We indeed noticed the fast-changing and tricky international situation and deeply understand that we can’t just talk about values but not national interests,” Koo told reporters at a briefing on Monday when asked whether the US is still a reliable security partner for Taiwan.
“So we must ask: keeping the peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region including the status quo in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, is that a core US national interest?” Koo asked.
“I think it is impossible for the United States to retreat from the Indo-Pacific because it is its core national interest.”
Koo said “using deterrence and strength to achieve peace” has been the long-standing consensus between Taipei and Washington, and that stability in the region is important for the United States, both economically and geopolitically.
The United States is Taiwan’s most important international backer and arms supplier despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties between Washington and Taipei.
Taiwan, which strongly rejects China’s sovereignty claim, enjoyed support from the first Trump administration. But Trump unnerved Taiwan on the campaign trail by calling for it to pay more for US security guarantees.
