Jerusalem court cancels trial hearings for Netanyahu
Bengaluru — The Jerusalem District Court cancelled this week’s hearings in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s long-running corruption trial, accepting a request the Israeli leader made citing classified diplomatic and security grounds.
It was unclear whether a social media post by US President Donald Trump influenced the court’s decision. Trump suggested the trial could interfere with Netanyahu’s ability to join negotiations with the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Iran.
The ruling, seen by Reuters, said that new reasons provided by Netanyahu, the head of Israel’s spy agency Mossad and the military intelligence chief justified cancelling the hearings.
Netanyahu was indicted in 2019 on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust — all of which he denies. He has cast the trial against him as an orchestrated left-wing witch-hunt meant to topple a democratically elected right-wing leader.
On Friday, the court rejected a request by Netanyahu to delay his testimony for the next two weeks because of diplomatic and security matters after the 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran, which ended last Tuesday.
He was due to take the stand on Monday for cross-examination. Reuters
EC proposal: count carbon credits of others for EU
Brussels — The European Commission is set to propose counting carbon credits bought from other countries towards the EU’s 2040 climate target, a commission document seen by Reuters showed.
The commission is due to propose a legally binding EU climate target for 2040 on July 2.
The EU executive had initially planned a 90% net emissions cut, against 1990 levels, but in recent months has sought to make this goal more flexible, in response to pushback from governments including Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic, concerned about the cost. Reuters
Iran mourns commanders, scientists killed by Israel
Dubai — Large crowds of mourners dressed in black lined streets in Iran’s capital Tehran as the country held a funeral on Saturday for top military commanders, nuclear scientists and some of the civilians killed during this month’s aerial war with Israel.
At least 16 scientists and 10 senior commanders were among those mourned at the funeral, according to state media, including armed forces chief Maj-Gen Mohammad Bagheri, Revolutionary Guards commander Gen Hossein Salami, and Guards Aerospace Force chief Gen Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
Their coffins were driven into Tehran’s Azadi Square adorned with their photos and national flags, as crowds waved flags and some reached out to touch the caskets and throw rose petals onto them. Reuters
US and G7 agree on tax laws exemptions proposal
Bengaluru — The US and the Group of Seven nations have agreed to support a proposal that would exempt US companies from some components of an existing global agreement, the G7 said in a statement on Saturday.
The group has created a “side-by-side” system in response to the US administration agreeing to scrap the Section 899 retaliatory tax proposal from President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill, it said in a statement from Canada, the head of the rolling G7 presidency.
The G7 said the plan recognises existing US minimum tax laws and aims to bring more stability to the international tax system. Reuters
Uganda’s Museveni intends extending his presidency
Kampala — Ugandan leader Yoweri Museveni has confirmed he intends to contest next year’s presidential election, potentially extending his rule in the east African country to nearly half a century.
In a post on the X platform late on Saturday Museveni said he had “expressed my interest in running for... the position of presidential flag bearer,” for his ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party.
The 80-year-old has been ruler of Uganda since 1986 when he seized power after leading a five-year guerrilla war. Reuters
Ukraine loses third F16 in intense Russian attack
Kyiv — A Ukrainian F-16 fighter pilot was killed while repelling a Russian attack that involved hundreds of drones, cruise and ballistic missiles, authorities said on Sunday, as Moscow intensifies night time air barrages in the fourth year of war.
President Volodymyr Zelensky called for more support from the West to bolster Ukraine’s air defences after the attack, which damaged homes and infrastructure and injured at least seven people, according to local authorities.
Ukraine lost its third F-16 fighter jet since the start of the war while repelling the attack, the military said. Reuters
Serbia police clash with antigovernment protesters
Belgrade — Serbian police on Saturday evening clashed with antigovernment protesters demanding snap elections and an end to the 12-year rule of President Aleksandar Vucic.
Police deployed scores of officers in riot gear around government buildings, parliament and nearby Pionirski Park, where throngs of Vucic’s backers from across the country gathered in a counter-protest.
After the protest ended some protesters who wanted to confront Vucic’s backers threw bottles, rocks and flares at the police, who used force to disperse them in several locations across Belgrade's city centre.
The protesters shouted: “Keep the shields down,” calling on the police to stop intervening. Reuters
China lifts seafood ban on some Japanese regions
Beijing — China on Sunday announced it is resuming seafood products imported from some Japanese regions, ending a nearly two-year overall ban imposed due to worries over Japan’s release of treated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant, which suffered major damage in the 2011 tsunami.
In a notice on Sunday, China Customs said seafood products from 10 prefectures — Fukushima, Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Miyagi, Niigata, Nagano, Saitama, Tokyo and Chiba — will still be banned from entering the country.
Products from other regions will need health certificates. Chinese customs authorities said Sunday’s decision was made after no abnormality was detected after long-term international and independent sampling.
China banned all imports of Japanese seafood in August 2023, shortly after Tokyo began releasing the treated Fukushima wastewater, prompting a diplomatic and economic backlash. Reuters
Hong Kong’s last pro-democracy group disbands
Hong Kong — Hong Kong’s League of Social Democrats said on Sunday that it would disband amid “immense political pressure” from a five year-long national security crackdown, leaving the China-ruled city with no formal pro-democracy opposition presence.
The LSD becomes the third major opposition party to shutter in Hong Kong in the past two years. Co-founded in 2006 by former legislator Leung Kwok-hung as a radical wing of the pro-democracy camp, the LSD is the last group in Hong Kong to stage small protests this year.
Chair Chan Po-ying said the group had been “left with no choice” and after considering the safety of party members had decided to shut down. Chan declined to specify what pressures they had faced.
Reuters
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.