Israele

(CNN) ICC seeks arrest warrants against Sinwar and Netanyahu for war crimes over October 7 attack and Gaza war

• The International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants for Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the October 7 attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza, the court’s prosecutor Karim Khan told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview on Monday.
• Khan said the ICC’s prosecution team is also seeking warrants for Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as two other top Hamas leaders — Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, the leader of the Al Qassem Brigades who is better known as Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ political leader.
• The warrants against the Israeli politicians mark the first time the ICC has targeted the top leader of a close ally of the United States. The decision puts Netanyahu in the company of the Russian President Vladimir Putin, for whom the ICC issued an arrest warrant over Moscow’s war on Ukraine, and the Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi, who was facing an arrest warrant from the ICC for alleged crimes against humanity at the time of his capture and killing in October 2011.
• A panel of ICC judges will now consider Khan’s application for the arrest warrants.
• Khan said the charges against Sinwar, Haniyeh and al-Masri include “extermination, murder, taking of hostages, rape and sexual assault in detention.”
• The charges against Netanyahu and Gallant include “causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, deliberately targeting civilians in conflict,” Khan told Amanpour.

(REUTERS) No US pier aid to UN in Gaza for two days after truck incident

• The United Nations has not received any aid from a U.S.-built pier in Gaza for the past two days after an incident on Saturday in which food was taken from 11 out of 16 trucks before they reached a U.N. warehouse, a U.N. official told Reuters on Monday.
• Aid deliveries began arriving at a U.S.-built pier on Friday as Israel comes under growing global pressure to allow more supplies into the besieged coastal enclave, where it is at war with Palestinian militants Hamas and a famine looms.
• After months of discussions, the U.N. agreed to assist in coordinating aid deliveries and distribution at the floating dock, but has remained adamant that aid deliveries by land are the "most viable, effective and efficient" way to combat the humanitarian crisis in the enclave of 2.3 million people.
• The U.N. said that 10 truckloads of food aid - transported from the pier site by U.N. contractors - were received on Friday at a World Food Programme warehouse in Deir El Balah in Gaza, a short distance away.
• But on Saturday, only five truckloads of aid made it to the warehouse after 11 others were cleaned out by Palestinians during the journey through an area that the U.N. official said has been hard to access with humanitarian aid.

Europa

Georgia:

(Associated Press) Georgia’s parliament speaker vows to override presidential veto on divisive foreign influence bill

• Georgia’s parliament speaker on Monday vowed to override the presidential veto on divisive legislation that sparked weeks of mass protests by critics who see it as a threat to democratic freedoms and the country’s aspirations to join the European Union.
• Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, who is increasingly at odds with the governing party, Georgian Dream, vetoed the legislation on Saturday, but the ruling party has a majority sufficient to override a presidential veto.
• Shalva Papuashvili, parliament speaker and Georgian Dream member, told reporters on Monday that “of course, the parliament will override this veto.” He said the parliament will hold a session to do so next week.
• Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze argued on Monday that more than 60% of the population supports the measure and that “the common sense of the majority of the population should prevail,” although he didn’t specify where the number came from, nor did he offer any evidence to back up that claim.
• He also accused Zourabichvili of “blocking all space for discussion.” “Our proposal to international partners was to use the veto procedure to reconcile positions, but Salome Zourabichvili rudely vetoed the law, thereby, unfortunately, blocking all space for healthy discussion,” Kobakhidze said.

Slovacchia:

(Associated Press) Condition of Slovakia’s prime minister improves following an assassination attempt

• Slovak populist Prime Minister Robert Fico’s condition is improving following an assassination attempt last week that shocked the European Union nation deeply polarized over his policies.
• “After today’s consultation, the patient’s condition is stabilized,” the hospital treating the Slovak leader in the central city of Banská Bystrica said on Monday.
• A statement released by the clinic said Fico is “clinically improving, communicating, inflammatory parameters are slowly decreasing.” It said Fico remains hospitalized in the clinic for the time being.
• On Sunday, the clinic said that Fico, 59, was no longer in life threating condition after he was shot in the abdomen as he greeted supporters on Wednesday outside a cultural center in the town of Handlova, nearly 140 kilometers (85 miles) northeast of the capital, Bratislava.

UK:

(Associated Press) WikiLeaks founder Assange wins right to appeal against an extradition order to the US

• WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can appeal an extradition order to the United States on espionage charges, a London court ruled Monday — a decision likely to further drag out an already long legal saga.
• High Court judges Victoria Sharp and Jeremy Johnson ruled for Assange after his lawyers argued that the U.S. government provided “blatantly inadequate” assurances that he would have the same free speech protections as an American citizen if extradited from Britain.
• Assange, 52, has been indicted on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse over his website’s publication of a trove of classified U.S. documents almost 15 years ago.
• Hundreds of supporters cheered and applauded outside court as news of the ruling reached them from inside the Royal Courts of Justice.
• Assange’s wife, Stella, said the U.S. had tried to put “lipstick on a pig — but the judges did not buy it.” She said the U.S. should “read the situation” and drop the case.

Politica internazionale

Medio Oriente

Iran: 

(Associated Press) Iran’s president and foreign minister die in helicopter crash at moment of high tensions in Mideast

• Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the country’s foreign minister were found dead Monday hours after their helicopter crashed in fog, leaving the Islamic Republic without two key leaders as extraordinary tensions grip the wider Middle East.
• Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in the Shiite theocracy, quickly named a little-known vice president as caretaker and insisted the government was in control, but the deaths marked yet another blow to a country beset by pressures at home and abroad.
• Iran has offered no cause for the crash nor suggested sabotage brought down the helicopter, which fell in mountainous terrain in a sudden, intense fog.
• The crash killed all eight people aboard a Bell 212 helicopter that Iran purchased in the early 2000s, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. Among the dead were Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province, a senior cleric from Tabriz, a Revolutionary Guard official and three crew members, IRNA said.
• White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Monday the death of Raisi and Amirabdollahian is not expected to have any substantive impact on difficult U.S.-Iran relations.
• For now, Khamenei has named the first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, as caretaker, in line with the constitution. The election for a successor was to be held on June 28, IRNA said. Raisi’s funeral was to take place in Mashhad, the city where he was born, on Thursday, with other funerals to be held on Tuesday, state TV said.

Asia e Pacifico

Taiwan:

(Associated Press) Taiwan’s new President Lai in his inauguration speech urges China to stop its military intimidation

• Taiwan’s new president, Lai Ching-te, said in his inauguration speech Monday that he wants peace with China and urged it to stop its military threats and intimidation of the self-governed island that Beijing claims as its own territory.
• “I hope that China will face the reality of (Taiwan)’s existence, respect the choices of the people of Taiwan, and in good faith, choose dialogue over confrontation,” Lai said after being sworn into office.
• Lai pledged to “neither yield nor provoke” Beijing and said he sought peace in relations with China. But he emphasized the island democracy is determined to defend itself “in the face of the many threats and attempts at infiltration from China.”
• Lai is seen as inheriting Tsai’s progressive policies, including universal health care, backing for higher education and support for minority groups, including making Taiwan the first place in Asia to recognize same-sex marriages.
• Lai, also known by his English name William, has vowed to continue his predecessor’s push to maintain stability with China while beefing up Taiwan’s security through imports of military equipment from close partner the U.S., the expansion of the defense industry with the manufacture of submarines and aircraft, and the reinforcing of regional partnerships with unofficial allies such as the U.S., Japan, South Korea and the Philippines.

Nuova Caledonia (Francia):

(REUTERS) Protesters block New Caledonia roads as French police pour in

• A thousand police arrived in New Caledonia from France and the streets were relatively calm after a week of unrest, the French High Commission said on Monday, but roads were blocked by protesters and the airport remained shut, stranding tourists.
• Blockades of roads would continue, Field Action Co-ordination Cell, the activist group organising the protests in the French-ruled Pacific island, said in a statement, urging a peaceful approach.
• Protests erupted last week, sparked by anger among indigenous Kanak people over a constitutional amendment approved in France that would change who is allowed to participate in elections, which local leaders fear will dilute the Kanak vote.
• Six people have been killed and the unrest has left a trail of burnt businesses and cars and looted shops, with road barricades restricting access to medicine and food. The business chamber said 150 companies had been looted and burnt.
• Shares of Australian nickel miners were on the rise as underlying prices surged by 7% over the weekend due to unrest in New Caledonia, a key global supplier of the metal.
• Pro-independence political parties say they want the French government to withdraw the electoral reform before they restart talks.

Africa

Sudafrica:

(REUTERS) South Africa's ex-leader Zuma barred from standing in election

• South Africa's former president Jacob Zuma is barred from running for parliament in this month's election, the country's top court ruled on Monday, a judgment that could influence the outcome and trigger unrest from Zuma's supporters.
• The constitutional court ruled that Zuma's 15-month jail sentence for contempt of court in 2021 disqualified him from standing in the May 29 election, as the constitution prohibits anyone given a prison sentence of 12 months or longer from holding a parliamentary seat.
• "It is declared that Mr. Zuma was convicted of an offence and sentenced to more than 12 months' imprisonment, ... and is accordingly not eligible to be a member of, and not qualified to stand for election to, the National Assembly," its ruling said.
• Zuma, who was forced to quit as president in 2018, has fallen out with the governing African National Congress (ANC) and has been campaigning for a new party called uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) named after the ANC's former armed wing.
• Opinion polls suggest the ANC's majority is at risk after 30 years in power, and MK represents a threat to it, especially in Zuma's home province of KwaZulu-Natal where he remains popular.