Israel Rejects International Calls for Palestinian Statehood

Israel on Sunday rejected international calls, including from its chief ally, the United States, for “unilateral recognition” of Palestinian statehood, saying any such agreement could only be reached through negotiations.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brought what he called a “declaratory decision” on Palestinian statehood before his cabinet, which unanimously approved it.

The statement declared that the Jewish state “categorically rejects international edicts on a permanent arrangement with the Palestinians.”

Efforts to achieve a two-state solution — an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza on either side of Israel — have been stalled since 2014.

But with the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza now in its fifth month, the U.S. and other countries have renewed calls for the creation of a Palestinian state to end the fighting. U.S. President Joe Biden has called for an even broader Middle East agreement that would encompass Saudi Arabia and other Arab states normalizing diplomatic relations with Israel.

In rejecting Palestinian statehood, Israel said in a statement that such recognition, coming after the shock of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, “will grant a huge, unprecedented reward to terrorism and prevent any future peace accord.”

Call to Free Senegal Presidential Candidate from Jail

Supporters of opposition presidential election candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye on Sunday demanded his immediate release in the name of “equal treatment” under the constitution.

“All candidates must benefit from the constitutional principles of equal treatment,” said a statement from the Diomaye President coalition.

“That’s why the release without delay of candidate Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye is a popular demand and respectful of the Constitution,” the statement said.

The coalition noted the situation also required the urgent release of jailed opposition Pastef party leader Ousmane Sonko.

The Constitutional Court rejected Sonko’s candidacy but accepted that of Faye, the party’s number two, along with about 20 others.

Sonko has been in prison since July 2023 for calling for an uprising, associating with criminals linked to terrorism and harming state security.

Faye has been under preventive detention since April last year but has yet to face trial.

Last month, the European Union stressed that candidates approved by the Constitutional Council must all be allowed to campaign for election on equal terms.

Hungary’s Government Refuses to Meet US Senators Seeking Approval for Sweden’s NATO Bid

A bipartisan delegation of U.S. senators made an official visit to Hungary’s capital Sunday and called on the nationalist government to immediately approve Sweden’s request to join NATO.

Hungary is the only one of NATO’s 31 existing members not to have ratified Sweden’s bid. After delaying the move for more than 18 months, the Hungarian government faces mounting pressure to act since admitting a new country to the military alliance requires unanimous approval.

The visiting senators announced they would submit a joint resolution to Congress condemning alleged democratic backsliding in Hungary and urging the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to lift its block on Sweden’s trans-Atlantic integration.

“With accession, Hungary and your prime minister will be doing a great service to freedom-loving nations worldwide,” Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, said during a news conference at the U.S. Embassy in Budapest.

The resolution, first reported early Sunday by The Associated Press, was authored by Tillis and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat. Joining them in the delegation to Budapest was Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut.

Pentagon: US Launches Five New Strikes on Houthi Weapons Systems

U.S. forces in the Red Sea have “successfully conducted five self-defence strikes” to foil attacks by land and sea from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, the Pentagon said Sunday.

The strikes occurred at 3:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Sanaa time (1200 and 1700 GMT), the U.S. military said, and are part of a series of actions taken by the United States and its allies against the Houthis, aimed at halting the Iran-backed rebels’ repeated attacks on Red Sea shipping lanes.

The five strikes included targeting “the first observed Houthi employment of a UUV [unmanned underwater vessel] since attacks began” in October, according to a statement from the U.S. Central Command.

Another of the five involved an unmanned surface vessel, or USV, essentially a floating drone. The use of such vessels has been comparatively rare.

The other three involved anti-ship cruise missiles, the statement said.

“CENTCOM identified the anti-ship cruise missiles, unmanned underwater vessel, and the unmanned surface vessel in Hothi-controlled areas of Yemen and determined they presented an imminent threat to U.S. Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region,” it said, adding that it struck the five to “make international waters safer.”

Russia Detains 400 as Country Mourns Navalny, Putin’s Fiercest Foe

More than 400 people were detained in Russia while paying tribute to opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who died at a remote Arctic penal colony, a prominent rights group reported.

The sudden death of Navalny, 47, was a crushing blow to many Russians, who had pinned their hopes for the future on President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe. Navalny remained vocal in his unrelenting criticism of the Kremlin even after surviving a nerve agent poisoning and receiving multiple prison terms.

The news reverberated around the globe, and hundreds of people in dozens of Russian cities streamed to ad hoc memorials and monuments to victims of political repressions with flowers and candles on Friday and Saturday to pay tribute to the politician. In over a dozen cities, police detained 401 people by Saturday night, according to the OVD-Info rights group that tracks political arrests and provides legal aid.

More than 200 arrests were made in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, the group said.

China Increases Patrols Near Taiwan’s Kinmen Archipelago After 2 Fishermen Die

China is stepping up patrols in the waters off the coast of Taiwan’s Kinmen archipelago, days after two of its fishermen drowned while being chased by the Taiwanese coast guard, which accused the boat of trespassing.

The Chinese coast guard’s Fujian division will regularly monitor the waters off the southern coast of the city of Xiamen — a few kilometres from Kinmen — to strengthen maritime law enforcement, said the coast guard’s spokesman, Gan Yu, in a statement Sunday.

Fishermen from Taiwan and China regularly sail that stretch of water, which has seen a rise in tensions as the number of Chinese vessels — including sand dredgers and fishing boats — notably increased.

Kinmen residents have complained of both the noise and sound pollution from the vessels and losses to their livelihood in fishing.

The fishermen’s deaths are unusual despite the level of Chinese activity in the waters near Kinmen, which is closer to China than it is to Taiwan’s main island. China claims all of self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory.

On Wednesday, Taiwan’s Coast Guard said two of four Chinese fishermen died after their boat capsized. It said their boat was fishing about one nautical mile away from the Kinmen archipelago, which Taiwan has claimed to be a restricted area. The other two survivors remain in Taiwan’s custody.

China has issued a furious condemnation and blamed Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party for the fishermen’s deaths. It also said that there was no such thing as “restricted” waters.

Taiwan said an investigation was underway and that its Mainland Affairs Council said they were communicating with Chinese authorities.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office vowed further measures on Sunday without clarifying further details.

UN Court to Weigh Consequences of Israel Occupation

The UN’s top court will from Monday hold hearings on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories since 1967, with an unprecedented 52 countries expected to give evidence.

Nations, including the United States, Russia, and China, will address judges in a weeklong session at the Peace Palace in The Hague, the seat of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

In December 2022, the UN General Assembly asked the ICJ for a nonbinding “advisory opinion” on the “legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.”

While any ICJ opinion would be non-binding, it comes amid mounting international legal pressure on Israel over the war in Gaza sparked by the brutal October 7 Hamas attacks.

The hearings are separate from a high-profile case brought by South Africa alleging that Israel is committing genocidal acts during the current Gaza offensive.

The ICJ ruled in that case in January that Israel must do everything in its power to prevent genocide and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza but stopped short of ordering a cease-fire.

On Friday, it rejected South Africa’s bid to impose additional measures on Israel but reiterated the need to carry out the ruling in full.

German Labor Union Calls on Lufthansa Staff to Strike Tuesday

A labour union in Germany has called on ground staff for Lufthansa to walk off the job at seven airports on Tuesday following a similar strike earlier this month.

The Ver.di union said Sunday that the one-day strike will affect the airports in Frankfurt and Munich, Lufthansa’s two main hubs, and Berlin, Duesseldorf, Hamburg, Cologne-Bonn and Stuttgart. It will run from 4:00 a.m. Tuesday to 7:10 a.m. Wednesday.

A 27-hour strike at five of the same airports that started on February 7 prompted the airline to cancel hundreds of flights.

The union is seeking pay raises of 12.5%, or at least €500 ($539) more per month, in negotiations for about 25,000 employees, including check-in, aircraft handling, maintenance and freight staff. Several-hour or one-day “warning strikes” are a common tactic in German contract negotiations.

A round of talks on February 12 produced no agreement. More negotiations are scheduled for Wednesday.

US Condemns Rwanda’s Support of Armed M23 Rebels in Eastern Congo, Calls for Troop Withdrawal

The U.S. has condemned Saturday Rwanda’s support of the armed M23 group in eastern Congo, whose rebellion has caused the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people, and called on the rebel group to “cease hostilities.”

The U.S. State Department, in a statement, strongly criticized “the worsening violence ... caused by the actions of the Rwandabacked, U.S.- and UN-sanctioned M23 armed group.” It called on Rwanda “to immediately withdraw all Rwanda Defense Force personnel from the [Congo] and remove its surface-to-air missile systems,” which it said threatened civilian lives and peacekeepers. It also urged the rebels to retreat from their current positions near two urban areas in Congo’s North Kivu province.

This will likely pressure Rwanda, whose government has repeatedly denied any links to the M23 group.

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi has accused Rwanda of destabilizing Congo by backing the rebels. UN experts previously said they had “solid evidence” that members of Rwanda’s armed forces were conducting operations there in support of the M23 group.

Nepal Pursues Sacred Items Smuggled Abroad

Nepal’s gods and goddess are returning home.

An unknown number of sacred statues of Hindu deities were stolen and smuggled abroad in the past. Now, dozens are being repatriated to the Himalayan nation, part of a growing global effort to return such items to countries in Asia, Africa and elsewhere. Last month, museums and a private collector returned four idols and masks of Hindu gods to Nepal from the United States.

Among them was a 16th-century statue of Uma-Maheswora, an avatar of the gods Shiva and Parvati, stolen four decades ago. It was unclear who took it or how it ended up at the Brooklyn Museum in New York, which handed it over to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

Devotees celebrated its return in Patan, south of the capital, Kathmandu. The stone-paved alleys were crowded with devotees offering money and flowers. Men in traditional attire played drums and cymbals and chanted prayers.

The statue had simply disappeared from their neighbourhood, she said.