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https://www.rt.com/news/614336-duterte-son-icc-arrest/
Duterte’s son vows to ‘fight back’ against father’s ICC arrest
Former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has been transported to The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity
The son of former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has vowed to “fight back” against his father’s detention by the International Criminal Court. Sebastian ‘Baste’ Duterte, currently the mayor of Davao City, called on supporters to “stand up” against what he claims is the illegal arrest of his father.
Rodrigo Duterte, 79, was arrested by Philippines authorities at Manila’s international airport last week and flown to The Hague, where he is standing trial on charges of crimes against humanity linked to his ‘war on drugs’ policy.
According to the ICC arrest warrant, the former president allegedly organized “death squads” that carried out extrajudicial killings of suspected drug dealers and users between 2016 and 2022.
Baste Duterte has claimed that his father’s arrest “sets a dangerous precedent,” while other officials in the Philippines have also criticized the extradition of the former leader.
“We will stand up and we will fight back,” he said.
The ICC began investigating Duterte’s anti-drug campaign in 2018, focusing on allegations of extrajudicial killings and police brutality. Activists claimed innocent people, including children, were killed, while police insisted they acted in self-defense. Duterte has denied wrongdoing but admitted the crackdown was violent. Officially, 6,200 people were killed, though experts believe the toll is much higher.
Some human rights advocates have called the arrest of the former president illegal as the Philippines formally withdrew from the ICC in 2019 on Duterte’s orders. The Hague-based court insists that it retains jurisdiction over crimes that may have been committed while the country was a signatory to it.
Rodrigo Duterte’s lawyers have filed a petition accusing the Philippines government of “kidnapping” and arguing that his extradition violated both domestic law and the ICC regulations.
https://www.rt.com/news/614331-netanyahu-seeks-to-oust-security/
Netanyahu seeks to oust security chief
The Israeli prime minister has cited a “persistent lack of confidence” in the Shin Bet chief as he moves to dismiss him
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced plans to remove Shin Bet director Ronen Bar. Earlier, the domestic security agency admitted to failures ahead of the October 7 Hamas attack, which resulted in over 1,200 people being killed and 250 taken hostage.
“Due to ongoing lack of trust, I have decided to bring a proposal to the government to end the tenure of the Shin Bet chief, Ronen Bar,” Netanyahu said in a video statement on Sunday. He argued that “this step is crucial in order to restore the organization, to achieve all of our war objectives, and to prevent the next tragedy.”
The prime minister accused Bar of leading “an ongoing campaign of threats and media leaks” aimed at preventing him from “making the necessary decisions to restore the Shin Bet after its devastating failure on October 7.”
The move follows a recent internal Shin Bet report acknowledging that the agency had misjudged the threat from Hamas. The agency admitted it failed to act on warning signs and said the massacre “could have been prevented” if different steps had been taken before and on the night of the attack.
Israeli Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has challenged Netanyahu’s move, warning that the prime minister may not have the legal authority to dismiss the security chief.
While government officials praised the decision as overdue, opposition leaders condemned it as undemocratic, accusing Netanyahu of prioritizing personal interests over national security.
Bar, who has led Shin Bet since 2021, rejected Netanyahu’s attempt to remove him, saying on Sunday that his duties require him to stay due to ongoing security concerns, hostage negotiations, and sensitive investigations. He blamed the government for the October 7 attack, claiming that its long-standing policy on Gaza ignored the agency’s warnings. He added that his loyalty is to the Israeli public, not to fulfilling a “personal duty of trust” to the prime minister.
Netanyahu also removed Bar and Mossad chief David Barnea from ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, accusing them of leaking details and taking a soft stance.
In February, Shin Bet opened an investigation into alleged lobbying by Netanyahu’s aides on behalf of Qatar. While rejecting any wrongdoing, Netanyahu’s office accused Shin Bet of selective enforcement by not probing the prime minister’s political rivals.
>Why are they not protesting
they are but then smartmatic controls the votes. and so here we are now
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https://www.rt.com/news/614352-houthis-us-carrier-attack/
Houthis claim new attack on US navy carrier group
The strikes come in retaliation for the deadly US bombing campaign launched on Yemen
The Yemen-based Houthi movement said it has targeted a US navy carrier group with two long-range strikes over the past 24-hours, calling the attacks a retaliation for the deadly bombing campaign mounted by Washington over the weekend.
The group said on Sunday that it had launched some 18 ballistic missiles and drones at the “aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman and its accompanying warships.”
The attack was followed closely by another long-range strike, the group said on Monday. The Houthis did not claim to have hit the warships while the Pentagon made no public comments on alleged attack either.
US President Donald Trump ordered a “powerful military action” against the militants on Saturday, over what he described as an “unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism.”
The Houthi group, officially known as the Ansar Allah movement, has been in control of a large and the most-populous part of war-torn Yemen, including the capital city of Sanaa, since the mid-2010s, effectively acting as the country’s de-facto authorities.
The strikes on Saturday killed at least 53 people and left nearly 100 injured, according to the country’s Houthi-run health ministry. Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz claimed the strikes “hit multiple Houthi leaders and took them out.”
Additional strikes were reported by local Houthi-affiliated media on Sunday night. The targets reportedly included a cotton ginning plant located in the western coastal region of Hodeidah and an Israeli ro-ro ship seized by the Houthis over a year ago.
The group has launched numerous strikes on international shipping they believe to be linked to Israel since late 2023, in a campaign staged in solidarity with the Palestinians. The Houthis have also repeatedly conducted long-range ballistic missile and drone strikes on Israel, as well as on Western military vessels deployed into the region.
The US, UK, and Israel have repeatedly bombed alleged Houthi military sites in retaliation, yet the strikes have largely failed to stop the attacks on naval traffic.
The Houthis put their campaign on hold early this year after Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas reached a truce in Gaza. The group announced the resumption of their attacks last week after Israel failed to meet their deadline for unblocking the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza.