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☆ NHL roundup: Alex Tuch, Sabres knock off Bruins in OT
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 37 saves for Buffalo, facing 11 shots in the second period and 19 more in the third. Nic Dowd had a goal and an assist, while Dylan Strome, Anthony Mantha and Garnet Hathaway also scored. Emil Bemstrom and Kirill Marchenko also scored for the Blue Jackets in the comeback victory over the NHL's last-place team. They netted goals three times in the second, including Alex Killorn's go-ahead breakaway goal for a 4-3 lead. Stamkos scored his 498th career goal and had an assist, and Brayden Point notched a goal and a helper.

☆ Palestinians welcome U.N. vote on Israel's occupation as 'a victory'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( Ali Sawafta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Dec 31 (Reuters) - The Palestinians on Saturday welcomed a vote by the United Nations General Assembly requesting that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) provide an opinion on the legal consequences of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories. Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem - areas the Palestinians want for a state - in a 1967 war. Senior Palestinian official Hussein al-Sheikh said on Twitter that the vote "reflects the victory of Palestinian diplomacy." The Palestinians have limited rule in the West Bank and East Jerusalem was annexed by Israel in a move not recognized internationally. The new Israeli government has pledged to strengthen its settlements in the West Bank but Netanyahu has given no indication of any imminent steps toward annexing them.

☆ U.N. asks World Court to give opinion on Israel's occupation
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Ammar AwadUNITED NATIONS, Dec 30 (Reuters) - The 193-member United Nations General Assembly on Friday asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to give an opinion on the legal consequences of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories. Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem - areas the Palestinians want for a state - in a 1967 war. The Hague-based ICJ, also known as the World Court, is the top U.N. court dealing with disputes between states. The request for a court opinion on Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories was made in a resolution adopted by the General Assembly with 87 votes in favor. Any decision from a judicial body which receives its mandate from the morally bankrupt and politicized U.N. is completely illegitimate," Israel's U.N.

"I can confirm a shipment of the BioNTech vaccine is on its way to China," the person told journalists in Berlin. In return, Chinese citizens in Europe can be vaccinated with China's SinoVac (SVA.O), the spokesperson said. Experts predict that the country of 1.4 billion people could face more than a million COVID deaths next year. China is stuck between rising Covid-19 cases and stalled vaccination ratesNO WESTERN SHOTSChina has nine domestically developed COVID vaccines approved for use, more than any other country. While the shots became available in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, the regulatory review for mainland China has not been concluded.

☆ Jan. 6 committee highlights: Panel votes on criminal referrals for Trump and others
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Rebecca Shabad | Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Jonathan-Allen-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +48 min

“By the time President Trump was preparing to give his speech, he and his advisors knew enough to cancel the rally. “Some have suggested that President Trump gave an order to have 10,000 troops ready for January 6th. On far-right groups drawing inspiration from Trump: Trump has not denied that he helped inspire far-right groups, including the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, to violently attempt to obstruct the official certification proceedings on Jan. 6. "There is no question from all the evidence assembled that President Trump did have that intent." Share this -Link copiedInside the final Jan. 6 committee meeting The Jan. 6 committee met for what’s likely its final public meeting, with many of the usual faces present.

☆ Jan. 6 committee live updates: Panel votes on criminal referrals for Trump and others
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Summer Concepcion | Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Summer-Concepcion-Byline-Jm.Jpg | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +42 min

Committee details Trump allies' efforts to obstruct its investigation In its report summary, the committee detailed some of the efforts to obstruct its investigation. On far-right groups drawing inspiration from Trump: Trump has not denied that he helped inspire far-right groups, including the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, to violently attempt to obstruct the official certification proceedings on Jan. 6. "There is no question from all the evidence assembled that President Trump did have that intent." Share this -Link copiedInside the final Jan. 6 committee meeting The Jan. 6 committee met for what’s likely its final public meeting, with many of the usual faces present. The committee will likely reveal Eastman’s referrals during Monday’s meeting, in addition to expected criminal referrals for Trump.

☆ Dutch leader apologizes for Netherlands’ role in the slave trade, establishes fund to grapple with slavery's legacy
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte apologized Monday on behalf of his government for the Netherlands’ role in slavery and the slave trade, in a speech welcomed by activists as historic but lacking in concrete plans for repair and reparations. Ahead of the speech, Waldo Koendjbiharie, a retiree who was born in Suriname but lived for years in the Netherlands, said an apology was not enough. And on how this history still plays a negative role in the lives of many today,” the government says. The Dutch first became involved in the trans-Atlantic slave trade in the late 1500s and became a major trader in the mid-1600s. Eventually, the Dutch West India Company became the largest trans-Atlantic slave trader, said Karwan Fatah-Black, an expert in Dutch colonial history and an assistant professor at Leiden University.

☆ Netherlands PM Rutte apologises for role of Dutch state in slavery
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Tosterling Ank Kuipers | Ank Kuipers | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/8] Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte responds to recommendations from a panel of experts to accept the role of the Netherlands in the history of slavery and its current consequences in The Hague, Netherlands December 19, 2022. "Today I apologise," Rutte said in a nationally televised speech at the Dutch National Archives. "For centuries the Dutch state and its representatives have enabled and stimulated slavery and have profited from it," he added. "It is true that nobody alive today bears any personal guilt for slavery...(however) the Dutch state bears responsibility for the immense suffering that has been done to those that were enslaved and their descendants." The panel said that Dutch participation in slavery had amounted to crimes against humanity and in 2021 recommended an apology and reparations.

REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File PhotoBERLIN, Dec 16 (Reuters) - The German Foreign Office tweeted screenshots on Friday of the accounts of journalists suspended by Twitter, warning the platform that the ministry had a problem with moves that jeapordised press freedom. Twitter suspended the accounts of several prominent journalists who had posted about its new owner Elon Musk, prompting protests from their media organisations. German regulators are already pushing government institutions to stop posting announcements exclusively to privately-held platforms, touting alternatives like the fledgling decentralised social media network Mastodon. Twitter also suspended the Mastodon network's account and attempts to link to Mastodon accounts in tweets frequently triggered error messages on Friday. But with some 8.5 million registered users, Mastodon is still a minnow compared to Twitter with half a billion users.

☆ Explainer: When are attacks on civilian infrastructure war crimes?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Stephanie Van Den Berg | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Gleb GaranichTHE HAGUE, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Russia's attacks on Ukraine's civilian infrastructure, including energy facilities, have been described as possible war crimes by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and Amnesty International. The Geneva conventions and additional protocols shaped by international courts say that parties involved in a military conflict must distinguish between "civilian objects and military objectives" and that attacks on civilian objects are forbidden. IS ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE MILITARY OR CIVILIAN? "Simply put, Russian forces are almost certainly striking many targets that do not qualify as military objectives," Schmitt argues. Russia says it attacks military targets including energy infrastructure.

☆ Royal family braced for new criticism in final Harry and Meghan Netflix episodes
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Patrick-Smith-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Patrick Smith | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON — Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, were expected to level stinging new criticisms at the British royal family in the second installment of their Netflix documentary series, which was released Thursday morning. "I wasn’t just being thrown to the wolves, I was being fed to the wolves," Meghan says. The trailer shows Harry on board a plane, which he describes as a "freedom flight." Prince Harry and Meghan attend day two of the Invictus Games on April 17, 2022 in The Hague, Netherlands. Harry and Meghan are clearly keen to tell the story of their relationship and their rift with the royals from their perspective.

Jerusalem CNN —The family of a Palestinian activist who died while in Palestinian Authority custody has filed a “war crimes and torture” case with the International Criminal Court, they said Thursday. Nizar Banat, a well-known Palestinian critic of the Palestinian Authority (PA) with a large social media following, died in Palestinian police custody in Hebron in June 2021. His death sparked mass protests and angry condemnation of the Palestinian Authority from leading figures in the West Bank and beyond. Banat’s family said the officers were “low ranking” and the trial “farcical,” and that no senior officer was questioned. Sadly, under the leadership of Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority has become another oppressor for the Palestinian people, just as much as Israel,” Camuz said in a statement.

The visit by a team from Global Rights Compliance, an international legal practice headquartered in The Hague, has not previously been reported. More than 50,000 alleged incidents of international crimes have been reported by Ukraine's prosecutor general since Russia's full-scale invasion. Widespread or systematic sexual violence could amount to crimes against humanity, generally seen as more serious, legal specialists said. He added that more than half said they had been subjected to various forms of sexual violence. UNIQUE CHALLENGESElderfield said sexual violence was not always given the prominence it should have in national and international investigations.

☆ Europe's free-travel zone set to welcome Croatia but bar Romania and Bulgaria
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Gabriela Baczynska | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRUSSELS, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Opposition led by Austria is set to prevent Bulgaria and Romania from winning approval on Thursday to join Europe's control-free travel zone, though its 26 member countries are expected to admit Croatia. The so-called Schengen zone - a pact between countries to abolish border checks for those travelling between their territories - is among the top achievements of European integration. The Netherlands sides with Austria in opposing the granting of access to Bulgaria, with the Hague citing concerns over governance and migration. Since all member countries must agree for a candidate country to be able to join Schengen, Romania and Bulgaria were in for a disappointment on Thursday. "Croatia can expect a positive decision but Romania, and especially Buglaria will not be able to join Schengen yet," said an EU diplomat.

WASHINGTON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The special counsel overseeing two federal investigations related to Donald Trump has issued grand jury subpoenas to local election officials in Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin as part of an inquiry into efforts to overturn the Republican former president's loss in the 2020 U.S. election. The subpoenas also sought communications involving a list of Trump's attorneys during the 2020 campaign including Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Sidney Powell, Justin Clark, Jenna Ellis and Cleta Mitchell. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Nov. 18, three days after Trump announced his 2024 presidential run, appointed Smith to take over the two Justice Department investigations. A spokesperson for Arizona's Maricopa County confirmed receiving a subpoena and said officials will comply, but declined to give further details. The subpoenas sent to officials in Wisconsin, Arizona and Michigan resemble the ones previously sent to other witnesses including Republican Party leaders and state elected officials in key states from the 2020 election.

☆ Ukraine, Baltics rebuke Macron for suggesting 'security guarantees' for Russia
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

read moreUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's top aide, Mykhailo Podolyak, said that it is the world that needs security guarantees from Russia, not the other way around. "Civilized world needs 'security guarantees' from barbaric intentions of post-Putin Russia," Podolyak said on Twitter on Sunday. "Someone wants to provide security guarantees to a terrorist and killer state?" "The only security guarantees we should focus on are essentially non-Russian," he said on his Twitter account. "After that, we are ready to sit down at the negotiation table and talk about security guarantees."

☆ EU seeks tribunal to probe possible Russian war crimes in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"We are ready to start working with the international community to get the broadest international support possible for this specialised court," von der Leyen said. Ukraine has been pushing for the creation of a special tribunal to prosecute Russian military and political leaders it holds responsible for starting the war. The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) launched its own investigation into alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes days after Moscow's Feb. 24 invasion, but it does not have jurisdiction to prosecute aggression in Ukraine. The G7 agreed on Tuesday to set up a network to coordinate investigations into war crimes as part of a push to prosecute suspected atrocities in Ukraine. There are several forms the special aggression tribunal could take but legal experts say the most likely is a so-called hybrid tribunal, operating under Ukrainian law with support from the international community.

☆ Former Ivory Coast militia leader Ble Goude returns home after exile
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ABIDJAN, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Charles Ble Goude, a former militia leader who was acquitted of crimes against humanity related to his role in Ivory Coast's civil war, returned from exile on Saturday as politicians sought to reconcile after years of instability and conflict. "I dreamed of this moment from my prison cell," Ble Goude told the crowd that stood in the pouring rain. Gbagbo, who was ousted during the civil war and was also acquitted of war crimes in The Hague, returned home last year after a decade in exile. Ble Goude, who headed the notorious Young Patriots street militia during Gbagbo's presidency, was accused of inciting attacks on civilians and United Nations soldiers. Ble Goude told Radio France International last week that he expects those charges to be dropped once he returns.

☆ 'Where is he now?’ Kherson mother looks for son after Russian retreat
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Tom Balmforth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

They include people like Voskoboinik's son, whose whereabouts are a mystery, and residents who were arrested by Russian forces during the occupation and taken farther away. "There's a really big problem with communication, especially in rural places," said Volodymyr Zhdanov, the regional Kherson administration's point person for missing people. Almost 400 civilians have been killed in unspecified Russian war crimes in the region, she added. Russia's defence ministry did not immediately respond when asked about individual cases and the overall number of missing in Kherson. The dog was shot dead, her son complained and was promptly arrested and taken to a police station, she added.

However, the patterns suggest that sexual violence “maybe even more frequent” in territories that were occupied for longer periods, he added, without providing evidence. Widespread or systematic sexual violence could amount to crimes against humanity, which are generally seen as more serious, legal specialists said. Moscow, which has said it is conducting a “special military operation" in Ukraine, has denied committing war crimes or targeting civilians. Evidence that sexual violence was planned could indicate it was part of a systematic attack or that some level of command was aware, said Kim Thuy Seelinger, an advisor to the ICC on sexual violence in conflict and a research associate professor at Washington University in St. Louis. Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s office said it has opened dozens of criminal cases involving sexual violence by members of the Russian armed forces against women, children and men.

☆ Crypto exchanges enabled online child sex-abuse profiteer
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +22 min

These sites often included links for users to pay via crypto exchanges, the IWF told Reuters, declining to name companies. “For those people looking to make money from child sexual abuse, crypto has lowered the barrier,” said Dan Sexton, the IWF’s chief technology officer. The Dark Scandals website, owned by Michael Mohammad, instructs users to send tokens to a Dark Scandals digital wallet to purchase content. While banks and payment platforms demanded more details from online merchants, many crypto exchanges for years requested little or no information from clients. The IWF received more reports last year of websites selling child abuse imagery for crypto than any year prior.

The U.S. Justice Department, in a report this September, said many crypto exchanges still "make little or no effort to comply" with know-your-customer requirements. These sites often included links for users to pay via crypto exchanges, the IWF told Reuters, declining to name companies. While banks and payment platforms demanded more details from online merchants, many crypto exchanges for years requested little or no information from clients. Asked at his trial for his opinion of crypto, Mohammad noted, "Privacy is something that a lot of users value." The IWF received more reports last year of websites selling child abuse imagery for crypto than any year prior.

☆ An appeals court sounded skeptical of Donald Trump's arguments in the Mar-a-Lago records dispute
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( C. Ryan Barber | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

An appeals court panel grilled a Trump lawyer but had few questions for the Justice Department. One judge scolded Trump's lawyer for referring to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago as a "raid." asked Grant, a Trump appointee who clerked for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his tenure on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. During Tuesday's arguments, Justice Department lawyer Sopan Joshi likened Trump's arguments to "shifting sands," saying that the former president had initially claimed seized records were subject to attorney-client privilege. At the Supreme Court, he said, Trump's lawyers then argued that the dispute centered on the issue of whether classified documents had been declassified.

☆ Kamala Harris’ visit to the Philippines sends China a message of US intent
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Kathleen Magramo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

According to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, the Philippines occupies nine features in the Spratly chain while China occupies seven. In 2016, a tribunal in The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines in a maritime dispute, concluding China has no legal basis to claim historic rights to the bulk of the South China Sea. “Philippine President Marcos appears open to the idea of pursuing pragmatic cooperation in the South China Sea, while not surrendering its long-standing position when it comes to the territorial issues in the South China Sea,” Banlaoi said. During her trip to the Philippines, Harris is expected to make a number of other announcements including tighter US cooperation with Manila on clean energy, cybersecurity, communication and agriculture. The deals show US intent in the Pacific region, but one South China Sea expert said Harris’ trip to the military base risks aggravating Beijing to the potential detriment of the Philippines.

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