Hungary announces ICC withdrawal as Israel’s Netanyahu visits

Update Hungary announces ICC withdrawal as Israel’s Netanyahu visits
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (R) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu review a military honor guard on April 3, 2025 in Budapest, Hungary. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 03 April 2025
Follow

Hungary announces ICC withdrawal as Israel’s Netanyahu visits

Hungary announces ICC withdrawal as Israel’s Netanyahu visits
  • “It’s important for all democracies. It’s important to stand up to this corrupt organization,” Netanyahu said
  • Orban said the ICC was “no longer an impartial court” but a “political court” as shown “most clearly by the decisions on Israel“

BUDAPEST: Hungary on Thursday said it will quit the International Criminal Court, just as Prime Minister Viktor Orban hosted his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, whom the tribunal has accused of war crimes in Gaza.

The government announcement to start the year-long withdrawal process came as Orban welcomed Netanyahu in the capital Budapest on his first trip to Europe since 2023.

Netanyahu, who faces an ICC arrest warrant that Hungary said it would not carry out, welcomed his hosts’ “bold and principled” decision to leave the tribunal.

Set up in 2002, the ICC, based in The Hague, seeks to prosecute individuals responsible for the world’s gravest crimes when countries are unwilling or unable to do so themselves.

“It’s important for all democracies. It’s important to stand up to this corrupt organization,” Netanyahu told a joint press conference with Orban.

Orban said the ICC was “no longer an impartial court” but a “political court” as shown “most clearly by the decisions on Israel.”

Orban invited Netanyahu last November, a day after the ICC issued the arrest warrant against the Israeli leader for crimes against humanity and war crimes — allegations he fiercely rejects.

Hungary’s government will initiate the ICC withdrawal procedure on Thursday, according to Orban.

A state’s withdrawal takes effect one year after the deposit of the withdrawal’s instrument — usually in the form of a formal letter declaring the pullout — with the UN Secretary General’s office.

The ICC on Thursday insisted Hungary had a “duty” to cooperate with the body.

“The court recalls that Hungary remains under a duty to cooperate with the ICC,” spokesman Fadi El Abdallah said.

Experts say Netanyahu, who is due to stay in Hungary until Sunday, is trying to diminish the impact of the court’s decision, while hoping to drive attention away from tensions at home as he meets like-minded ally Orban.

“His ultimate goal is to regain the ability to travel wherever he wants,” Moshe Klughaft, an international strategic consultant and former adviser to Netanyahu, told AFP.

“At first, he’s flying to places where there’s no risk of arrest, and in doing so, he’s also paving the way to normalize his future travels.”

Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz in February vowed to make sure Netanyahu can visit his country.

The Hungary trip “goes hand in hand with US sanctions against the ICC,” Klughaft said, referring to the punitive measures President Donald Trump imposed in February over what he described as “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel.”

Hungary signed the Rome Statute, the international treaty that created the ICC, in 1999 and ratified it two years later during Orban’s first term in office.

The ICC, set up in 2002, has no police of its own and relies on the cooperation of its 125 member states to carry out any arrest warrants.

However, Budapest has not promulgated the associated convention for constitutional reasons and therefore asserts it is not obliged to comply with the decisions of the ICC.

So far only the Burundi and the Philippines have withdrawn from the court.

The ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant over allegations of crimes against humanity and war crimes — including starvation as a method of warfare — in Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

The war was sparked by the militant Palestinian group’s attack against Israel on October 7, 2023.

Netanyahu’s trip comes as he faces increasing pressure over his government’s attempts to replace both the domestic security chief and attorney general, while expanding the power of politicians over the appointment of judges.

The Israeli prime minister also testified in a probe involving alleged payments from Qatar to some of his senior staff after two of his aides were arrested.

“One of Netanyahu’s methods is controlling the Israeli agenda,” Klughaft said, adding that the Hungary visit gives him a chance to set the conversation for days.


Thousands gather in Dhaka as Bangladesh marks a year after Hasina’s ouster

Thousands gather in Dhaka as Bangladesh marks a year after Hasina’s ouster
Updated 13 sec ago
Follow

Thousands gather in Dhaka as Bangladesh marks a year after Hasina’s ouster

Thousands gather in Dhaka as Bangladesh marks a year after Hasina’s ouster
  • People can ‘speak freely’ since Hasina was removed from power, analysts say
  • Interim government plans to hold elections between February and April 2026

DHAKA: Thousands of Bangladeshis gathered in the capital of Dhaka on Tuesday to mark the first anniversary of the student-led uprising that ousted long-serving former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. 

Hasina was removed from power on Aug. 5, 2024, when demonstrators defied a nationwide curfew and stormed her official residence, forcing her to flee to neighboring India, where she remained in exile. 

Her ouster came following weeks of protests that began in early July 2024. What started as peaceful demonstrations over a controversial quota system for government jobs morphed into a wider anti-government movement which was met with a violent crackdown against protesters by security forces that killed over 1,000 people, mostly students. 

The end of her 15 years in uninterrupted power brought the formation of an interim government led by Nobel Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, who promised to restore stability and hold new elections after necessary reforms. 

“Together, we will build a Bangladesh where tyranny will never rise again,” Yunus said in a message to the nation on Tuesday, as crowds in the capital waved flags and used colored smoke to celebrate. 

A year on, Hasina now faces trial for crimes against humanity in absentia, while the prospect for a better and reformed Bangladesh remains a challenge. 

“There is already a high hope among the citizens of this country that the interim government could do much. But we have to consider the time frame. At the same time, we have to consider the reality on the ground,” Dr. ASM Amanullah, political analyst and Vice-Chancellor of the National University, told Arab News. 

Though progress on institutional reforms promised by the interim government has been slow and fragmented, the country has been recording signs of economic recovery after the burden left by the previous Awami League party-led government, which accumulated over $44 billion in foreign debt and oversaw widespread corruption plaguing the banking, infrastructure, energy and power sectors. 

“People’s hopes are valid … (But) the way the government handled the issue with 180 million people in the country is remarkable,” Amanullah said. 

The interim government “should move to hold a free and fair election early next year, as early as possible,” he added. 

Despite calls for early polls, the Yunus administration has delayed elections, which may now take place between February and April 2026. 

While uncertainty about the future of democracy still looms large in Bangladesh, the country has witnessed in this past year a greater freedom of expression among the public, which was largely absent under Hasina’s rule of extensive dissent suppression, electoral manipulation and restricted press freedom. 

“The people of Bangladesh can speak freely, can run freely, they can move freely without fear. There is no fear of extrajudicial killing. There is no fear of abduction,” Amanullah said. 

In a report published on July 30, New York-based Human Rights Watch said “some of the fear and repression” and “abuses such as widespread enforced disappearances” that marked Hasina’s rule “appear to have ended.” 

For Mahmudur Rahman, editor of Bengali-language daily Amar Desh, this was Bangladesh’s “biggest” achievement. 

“We can speak freely, The people can vent their anger. They can criticize the government without any fear of government persecution. And the media is free; media also can criticize the government,” he told Arab News. 

But priority must be placed on holding elections that “will be accepted by the people of Bangladesh” and the international community. 

“We should return to the democratic system … without any further delay,” Rahman said. “It’s better to let a political government take over and we’ll see where the country goes from there.”

Despite the myriad of unresolved issues, Bangladeshis believe that unity will be central to the future of their country. 

“Most important for the people of the country is to unite against fascism,” Rahman said. “They should uphold the spirit of the July Revolution and they should unite in a way that never again another fascist regime should come to power in any form.” 

Amanullah from Bangladesh’s National University echoed the sentiment. 

“At this moment, the most important thing for Bangladesh is to be united,” he said. “This should be the most priority concern for the country. If they remain united, Bangladesh will see a light at the end of the tunnel.” 


Titan sub disaster tied to ignored warnings and weak oversight, Coast Guard says

Titan sub disaster tied to ignored warnings and weak oversight, Coast Guard says
Updated 56 min 33 sec ago
Follow

Titan sub disaster tied to ignored warnings and weak oversight, Coast Guard says

Titan sub disaster tied to ignored warnings and weak oversight, Coast Guard says
  • The Coast Guard report found the company’s safety procedures were “critically flawed”
  • Jason Neubauer, with the Marine Board of Investigation, said that the findings will help prevent future tragedies

MAINE, USA: The 2023 Titan submersible disaster that killed five people could have been prevented, the US Coast Guard said Tuesday, but OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush ignored safety warnings, design flaws and crucial oversight that could have resulted in criminal charges — had he survived.

The Titan suffered a catastrophic implosion as it descended to the wreck of the Titanic, sparking a dayslong search in the North Atlantic off Canada that grabbed international headlines. The Coast Guard convened its highest level of investigation in the aftermath, and the disaster has led to lawsuits and calls for tighter regulation of the developing private deep sea expedition industry.

The Titan was owned by OceanGate, a private company based in Washington state. The Coast Guard report found the company’s safety procedures were “critically flawed” and cited “glaring disparities” between safety protocols and actual practices.

Preventing the next Titan disaster

Jason Neubauer, with the Marine Board of Investigation, said that the findings will help prevent future tragedies.

“There is a need for stronger oversight and clear options for operators who are exploring new

concepts outside of the existing regulatory framework,” he said in a statement.

OceanGate suspended operations in July 2023. A spokesperson for the company said it has been wound down and was fully cooperating with the investigation.

“We again offer our deepest condolences to the families of those who died on June 18, 2023, and to all those impacted by the tragedy,” said the spokesperson, Christian Hammond.

Coast Guard report describes ‘red flags’ at OceanGate

Throughout the report, which spans more than 300 pages, investigators repeatedly point to OceanGate’s culture of downplaying, ignoring and even falsifying key safety information to improve its reputation and evade scrutiny from regulators. OceanGate ignored “red flags” and had a “toxic workplace culture,” while its mission was hindered by lack of domestic and international framework for submersible operations, the report says.

Numerous OceanGate employees have come forward in the two years since the implosion to support those claims. The report says firings of senior staff members and the looming threat of being fired were used to dissuade employees and contractors from expressing safety concerns.

“By strategically creating and exploiting regulatory confusion and oversight challenges, OceanGate was ultimately able to operate TITAN completely outside of the established deep-sea protocols,” the report found.

The Titan’s inadequacies

Investigators found that the submersible’s design, certification, maintenance and inspection process were all inadequate. Coast Guard officials noted at the start of last year’s hearing that the submersible had not been independently reviewed, as is standard practice.

Mounting financial pressures in 2023 led to a decision by OceanGate to store the Titan submersible outdoors over the Canadian winter, where its hull was exposed to temperature fluctuations that compromised the integrity of the vessel, the report said.

The Marine Board concluded that Rush, OceanGate’s CEO, “exhibited negligence” that contributed to the deaths of four people. If Rush had survived, the case would have been handed off to the US Department of Justice and he may have been subject to criminal charges, the board said.

The Marine Board said one challenge of the investigation was that “significant amounts” of video footage evidence that had been captured by witnesses was not subject to its subpoena authority because the witnesses weren’t US citizens.

The victims of the Titan disaster

In addition to Rush, the implosion killed French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, British adventurer Hamish Harding and two members of a prominent Pakistani family, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood.

The family of Nargeolet, a veteran French undersea explorer known as “Mr. Titanic,” filed a more than $50 million lawsuit last year that said the crew experienced “terror and mental anguish” before the disaster. The lawsuit accused OceanGate of gross negligence.

The Titan’s final dive

Titan had been making voyages to the Titanic site since 2021. The Titan’s final dive came on

June 18, 2023, a Sunday morning when the submersible would lose contact with its support vessel about two hours later. The submersible was reported overdue that afternoon, and ships, planes and equipment were rushed to the scene about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland.

Wreckage of the Titan would subsequently be found on the ocean floor about 330 yards (300 meters) off the bow of the Titanic, Coast Guard officials said.

The Marine Board of Investigation held several days of hearings about the implosion in October 2024. During those hearings, the lead engineer of the submersible said he felt pressured to get the vessel ready to dive and refused to pilot it for a journey several years earlier.

Tony Nissen told the board that he had told Rush: “I’m not getting in it.”


South Africa urges more countries to stand up to Israel’s ‘genocidal activities’

A Palestinian mourns a relative, who was killed while seeking aid at the Zikim crossing, ahead of their funeral.
A Palestinian mourns a relative, who was killed while seeking aid at the Zikim crossing, ahead of their funeral.
Updated 05 August 2025
Follow

South Africa urges more countries to stand up to Israel’s ‘genocidal activities’

A Palestinian mourns a relative, who was killed while seeking aid at the Zikim crossing, ahead of their funeral.

PRETORIA: More countries must stand up to Israel and recognize a Palestinian state to stop “the genocidal activities,” South Africa’s Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola told AFP in an interview.

Pretoria has been leading calls against Israel’s action in Gaza, bringing a case before the International Court of Justice in December 2023, arguing that its war in the territory amounted to genocide.

As some of Israel’s allies “are now also saying, no, this can’t continue, it means that it is bringing us closer and closer to the Israel regime to stop the genocidal activities,” Lamola said.


Bangladesh to hold elections in February 2026: Yunus

People watch Muhammad Yunus, leader of Bangladeshi interim government, as he appears on a screen while reading July Declaration.
People watch Muhammad Yunus, leader of Bangladeshi interim government, as he appears on a screen while reading July Declaration.
Updated 05 August 2025
Follow

Bangladesh to hold elections in February 2026: Yunus

People watch Muhammad Yunus, leader of Bangladeshi interim government, as he appears on a screen while reading July Declaration.
  • Yunus had earlier said elections would be held in April, but key political parties have been demanding he hold them earlier, and before Ramadan

DHAKA: Bangladesh will hold elections in February 2026, interim leader Muhammad Yunus said Tuesday, the first polls since a mass uprising overthrew the government last year.

“On behalf of the interim government, I will write a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner requesting that the election be arranged before Ramadan in February 2026,” Yunus said in a broadcast on the one-year anniversary of the ousting of prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Yunus, 85, is leading the caretaker government as its chief adviser until elections, and has said he will step down after the vote.

“We will step into the final and most important phase after delivering this speech to you, and that is the transfer of power to an elected government,” he said.

Yunus had earlier said elections would be held in April, but key political parties have been demanding he hold them earlier, and before the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people.

“I urge you all to pray for us so that we can hold a fair and smooth election, enabling all citizens to move forward successfully in building a ‘New Bangladesh’,” he added.

“On behalf of the government, we will extend all necessary support to ensure that the election is free, peaceful and celebratory in spirit.”


Frequent disasters expose climate risks to infrastructure in South Asia

Frequent disasters expose climate risks to infrastructure in South Asia
Updated 05 August 2025
Follow

Frequent disasters expose climate risks to infrastructure in South Asia

Frequent disasters expose climate risks to infrastructure in South Asia
  • The flooding of the Bhotekoshi River on July 8 also killed nine people
  • Another smaller flood in the area on July 30 damaged roads and structures

Katmandu: Floods that damaged hydropower dams in Nepal and destroyed the main bridge connecting the country to China show the vulnerability of infrastructure and need for smart rebuilding in a region bearing the brunt of a warming planet, experts say.

The flooding of the Bhotekoshi River on July 8 also killed nine people and damaged an inland container depot that was being built to support increasing trade between the two countries. The 10 damaged hydropower facilities, including three under construction, have a combined capacity that could power 600,000 South Asian homes.

Another smaller flood in the area on July 30 damaged roads and structures, but caused less overall destruction. Elsewhere in the Himalayas, flash floods swept away roads, homes and hotels on Tuesday in northern India, killing at least four people and leaving many others trapped under debris, officials said.

The Himalayan region, which crosses Nepal and several nearby countries including India, is especially vulnerable to heavy rains, floods and landslides because the area is warming up faster than the rest of the world due to human-caused climate change. Climate experts say the increasing frequency of extreme weather has changed the playbook for assessing infrastructure risks while also increasing the need for smart rebuilding plans.

“The statistics of the past no longer apply for the future,” said John Pomeroy, a hydrologist at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada. “The risk that goes into building a bridge or other infrastructure is generally based on historical observations of past risk, but this is no longer useful because future risk is different and often much higher.”

While damage estimates from the July floods in the Rasuwa region are still being calculated, past construction costs give a sense of the financial toll. The Sino-Nepal Friendship Bridge alone, for example, took $68 million to rebuild after it was destroyed by a 2015 earthquake that ravaged Nepal.

The latest disaster has also stoked fears of long-lasting economic damage in a region north of the capital city Katmandu that spent years rebuilding after the 2015 quake. Nepali government officials estimate that $724 million worth of trade with China is conducted over the bridge each year, and that has come to a standstill.

“Thank God there wasn’t much damage to local villages, but the container depot and bridges have been completely destroyed. This has severely affected workers, hotel operators, laborers, and truck drivers who rely on cross-border trade for their livelihoods,” said Kaami Tsering, a local government official, in a phone interview with The Associated Press.

Among those affected is Urken Tamang, a 50-year-old parking attendant at the depot who has been out of work for several weeks. A small tea shop he runs nearby with his family has also suffered.

“We’ve been unlucky,” said Tamang, a former farmer who sold his land and changed jobs when work on the depot began. He added: “The whole area was severely damaged by the 2015 earthquake, and just when life was slowly returning to normal, this devastating flood struck.”

Disasters show need for climate-resilient infrastructure

The Nepal floods are the latest in a series of disasters in South Asia during this year’s monsoon season. Research has shown that extreme weather has become more frequent in the region including heat waves, heavy rains and melting glaciers.

Climate experts said smart planning and rebuilding in climate-vulnerable regions must include accounting for multiple risks, installing early warning systems, preparing local communities for disasters and, when needed, relocating infrastructure.

“What we have to avoid is the insanity of rebuilding after a natural disaster in the same place where it occurred and where we know it will occur again at even higher probability,” said Pomeroy, the Canadian hydrologist. “That’s a very poor decision. Unfortunately, that’s what most countries do.”

Before rebuilding in Rasuwa, Nepal government officials need to assess overall risks, including those due to extreme weather and climate change, said Bipin Dulal, an analyst at Katmandu-based International Center for Integrated Mountain Development.

The bridge connecting the two countries was rebuilt to better withstand earthquakes after it was destroyed in 2015, but it appears that officials didn’t properly account for the risk of flooding as intense as what occurred in early July, Dulal said.

“We have to see what the extreme risk scenarios can be and we should rebuild in a way in which the infrastructure can handle those extremes,” said Dulal.

Dulal said that large building projects in South Asia typically undertake environmental impact assessments that don’t adequately factor in the risks of floods and other disasters. The center is developing a multi-hazard risk assessment framework that it hopes will be adopted by planners and builders in the region to better account for the dangers of extreme weather.

Resilient structures can save billions in the long run

In 2024 alone, there were 167 disasters in Asia — including storms, floods, heat waves and earthquakes — which was the most of any continent, according to the Emergency Events Database maintained by the University of Louvain, Belgium. These led to losses of over $32 billion, the researchers found.

“These disasters are all wake-up calls. These risks are real,” said Ramesh Subramaniam, global director of programs and strategy at the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.

A CDRI analysis found that $124 billion worth of Nepal’s infrastructure is vulnerable to the impacts of climate-driven disasters, creating the potential for hundreds of millions of dollars in annual losses if the country doesn’t invest in resiliency.

“Investing a relatively smaller figure now would prevent the loss of these enormous sums of damages,” said Subramaniam.

Subramaniam said that most climate investments are directed toward mitigation, such as building clean energy projects and trying to reduce the amount of planet-heating gases being released. But given extreme weather damage already occurring, investing in adapting to global warming is also equally important, he said.

“I think countries are learning and adaptation is becoming a standard feature in their annual planning,” he said.

Global efforts to prepare for and deal with such losses include a climate loss and damage fund set up by the United Nations in 2023. The fund currently has $348 million available, which the UN warns is only a fraction of the yearly need for economic damage related to human-caused climate change. The World Bank and Asian Development Bank have also provided loans or grants to build climate-resilient projects.

In Nepal’s recently flood-ravaged region, Tsering, the local government official, said the repeated disasters have taken more than a financial toll on residents.

“Even though the river has now returned to a normal flow, the fear remains,” he said. “People will always worry that something like this could happen again.”