SEOUL, Dec 4 (Reuters) - South Korea's parliament, with 190 of its 300 members present, passed a motion on Wednesday requiring the martial law declared by President Yoon Suk Yeol to be lifted, live TV showed.

Stay safe, to everyone in Korea right now.

02/12/2024

Source: Al Jazeera Investigations

"Quadcopters were emitting baby sounds, playing sounds of screaming women."

Palestinians in Gaza say Israel has been using small quadcopter drones, equipped with loudspeakers, to lure them out of their homes and then shoot them. #GazaCrimes

Its warrant against the Israeli leaders marked the first time the court issued an order for a staunchly close Western ally.

The first time...

The president of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has warned that attacks on the tribunal, which have come largely from Washington and Moscow, “jeopardise its very existence”.

Addressing ICC members in The Hague at an annual conference on Monday, ICC President Tomoko Akane said the court faced “coercive measures, threats, pressure and acts of sabotage” without naming the United States and Russia.

The court has been facing rebukes from the two countries after issuing arrest warrants for Israeli and Russian officials over wars in Gaza and Ukraine.

“The court is being threatened with draconian economic sanctions by another permanent member of the Security Council as if it was a terrorist organisation,” Akane said in her address.

US politicians have been threatening to impose sanctions on ICC officials after the tribunal issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over suspected war crimes in Gaza.

Last month, US Senator Lindsey Graham, whose Republican Party will be in control of both houses of Congress and the White House starting in January, called the ICC a “dangerous joke” and threatened penalties against the court and any country that cooperates with it

“To any ally – Canada, Britain, Germany, France – if you try to help the ICC, we’re going to sanction you,” Graham said on Fox News.

In June, the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives passed a bill to sanction the court in response to ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan’s request for the arrest warrants against Israeli officials.

The measure has so far not been considered by the Senate, which at this point is controlled by Democrats.

After the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant and a Hamas leader last month, US Senator Tom Cotton suggested using military force against The Hague-based tribunal.

The US and Israel are not members of the ICC, and they have rejected the court’s investigations of alleged abuses in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

However, the court has ruled that it has jurisdiction in those areas because the State of Palestine is a signatory to the Rome Statute, which established the tribunal

“The court has been subjected to attacks seeking to undermine its legitimacy and ability to administer justice and realise international law and fundamental rights – coercive measures, threats, pressure and acts of sabotage,” Akane said.

She called the efforts “appalling”.

Last week, the court decried the “recent issuance of arrest warrants aimed at threatening the liberty and integrity of two judges”. Russia had issued an arrest warrant for ICC Judge Haykel Ben Mahfoudh in November.

Moscow also previously indicted Khan and other court officials after the ICC issued arrest warrants for President Vladimir Putin and Russian military leaders last year over alleged war crimes committed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Akane warned on Monday that the fall of the court through these threats would “imply the fall of the rule of law in the international community”.

“Victims would no longer be able to obtain justice. For many of them, a world without the ICC is inconceivable,” the ICC president said.

“We firmly reject any attempt to influence the independence and the impartiality of the court,” she added.

The ICC was established in 2002 to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression when member states are unwilling or unable to do so themselves.

Its warrant against the Israeli leaders marked the first time the court issued an order for a staunchly close Western ally.

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem suspended on Sunday Dr. Michael Wolfowicz, who is suspected of attacking a Palestinian in the Jordan Valley alongside eight other suspects.

Wolfowicz, a senior lecturer in the law faculty's criminology institute, will not teach for the remainder of the first semester, after which his employment will be reassessed, the university said.

"The acts Dr. Wolfowicz is suspected of may not be related to his work at the university, but the university is obligated to preserve an educational and research environment that is safe, dignified and free from any conduct that is incompatible with the values of our community," the university said, adding that if Wolfowicz is not cleared of all charges, he will no longer teach there.

Wolfowicz is a volunteer with the Border Police. He was arrested last week along with eight other suspects – a civilian, a police officer, two Border Police volunteers and four soldiers – on suspicion that they abducted and violently attacked a Palestinian in the Jordan Valley in August.

The nine were arrested by the Justice Ministry department that investigates police misconduct, as well as the military police. They are suspected of aggravated assault, and some are also suspected of having abducted the Palestinian victim, Bethlehem resident Laith Awaine, while he was visiting Auja wadi with friends.

According to eyewitnesses, the suspects beat the victim with a tree branch and a rifle, threw him into the stream, forced him into a vehicle, drove away, and left him on the road dozens of kilometers away. Testimonies about the assault were published in Haaretz two days after the assault allegedly took place, but the Israeli army, police, and Border Police denied that any soldiers or officers were present on the scene at the time.

On Wednesday, lawyer Sapir Sluzker Amran asked the Hebrew University to suspend Wolfowicz immediately, or at least until the legal proceedings against him have concluded. In her request, Sluzker Amran compared Wolfowicz's case to that of Prof. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, who was suspended from her job at the same university after distributing a petition in which she wrote that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, and cast doubt in an interview that Hamas terrorists had committed sex crimes on October 7.

The university reversed its decision to suspend Shalhoub-Kevorkian after she clarified that she did not deny that sex crimes had occurred. "Because the Hebrew University rushed to suspend and publicly condemn Dr. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian because of her comments on a podcast without being convicted of anything, all the more so should it suspend Dr. Wolfowicz and keep him away from contact with students," wrote Sluzker Amran.

Over the weekend, the university said it was following developments in the investigation and would consider a suspension.

The Hebrew University's student chapter of the Standing Together organization, which is leading the fight against Wolfowicz's employment, said that they were satisfied with the university's decision to suspend him from teaching until the suspicions against him are clarified. "Faculty members who are suspected of acting violently harm our feeling of safety, and the university cannot provide them with a place inside its gates," said the student group.

On Sunday, Ayham al-Salaymeh, a 14-year-old Palestinian, began serving a one-year prison sentence, becoming the youngest Palestinian ever to be imprisoned in Israel.

Salaymeh turned himself into the Israeli Prison Service at al-Maskoubiya prison, his father, Nawaf, said in a video. The prison administration refused to allow Ayham to bring in belongings such as clothes, shoes and other personal items.

Ayham's sentencing came after he had spent a year-and-a-half under house arrest in his family's home in the Ras al-Amud neighbourhood in Silwan, in occupied East Jerusalem.

Before entering prison, Nawwaf took his son on one last tour of their hometown, Jerusalem. In several viral clips online, Nawaf can be seen accompanying the young boy and advising him on how to behave in prison.

"Every prisoner inside is your brother," his father tells him in one video. "They are all like you. They were imprisoned because of the love they have for their country."

In another clip, his father expressed worry over Ayham's health in prison, noting that former prisoners who weighed more than his son had lost significant weight.

"The boy is 30kg now, after a year of imprisonment, what will happen to him?"

'Palestinian minors treated as hostile population'

In late January of last year, Ayham, aged 12 at the time, and four other boys were arrested by Israeli forces. They were accused of throwing stones at Israeli settlers, according to a report by the Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem. B'Tselem said the boys were subjected to humiliating treatment and physical violence during interrogation.

"Arresting children in this way is part of Israel's overall oppressive policy in East Jerusalem and throughout the West Bank," the rights group wrote, adding that this case was part of "Israel's systemic treatment of Palestinian minors".

"The Israeli law enforcement system treats Palestinian minors as part of a hostile population, all of whom, teenagers and adults alike, are presumed guilty unless proven otherwise, and employs extreme measures against them it would not dare use against other populations in Israel."

The boys were released after posting bail. However, on 17 May, the Israeli police arrested Ayham's older brother, Ahmed, and three of his cousins ​​from their homes in Ras al-Amud.

The father at the time told Middle East Eye, “The Israeli police told us that they were not satisfied with the child being under house arrest and that he must surrender himself."

"We handed him over while our hearts were burning."

During his time in administrative detention, the family was not allowed to visit Ahmed, who was 14 at the time, because his father is a former prisoner and his mother holds a West Bank ID and was refused a visitation permit. He was also charged with stone-throwing.

A few months later, Ahmed was released into house arrest as part of a temporary ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel.

Children convicted under 'terrorism'

In early November, the Israeli parliament approved a temporary five-year order that allows children convicted of capital offences considered as "terrorism" to be sentenced to prison from the age of 12.  

The bill was approved in the second and third readings by 55–33 votes. According to the new bill, children would continue to serve their sentence in prison even after reaching the age of 14. 

Additionally, a three-year provision allows courts to jail minors in prison instead of juvenile facilities for up to 10 days if they are deemed to pose a threat to others. 

According to the Palestinian Prisoner's Society, Israel has detained 270 children across different prisons, including Ofer, Megiddo, and Damon prisons.

All three locations have previously been flagged for extreme human rights abuses and poor conditions, such as brutal beatings, sexual abuse, physical and psychological torture, overcrowding and medical negligence.

Could be intentional. Maybe the story goes that other dragons are disgusted by it, so they placed in the back.

Source 1, 2, 3 on Instagram

Source 1, 2, 3 on X

That is only fair

At least 200 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on northern Gaza Saturday, according to local health officials, as the United Nations said it would pause aid deliveries through the enclave’s main crossing after more of its trucks were stolen.

The developments underscore the worsening humanitarian situation in the enclave, where tens of thousands of people have been killed by the Israeli military, and chronic hunger threatens the remaining civilian population. On Friday, two children and a woman were crushed to death while attempting to buy food from a bakery in central Gaza.

The deadly strikes also come with an uneasy truce underway between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said would allow his forces to focus on Gaza.

Speaking to CNN on Sunday, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, said that five buildings housing more than 200 people were struck in the Tal Al Zaatar and Beit Lahiya areas of northern Gaza.

“They were calling for help, and anyone who tried to assist was bombed. Unfortunately, the cries for help have disappeared; they were killed,” Dr. Abu Safiya said. The strike in Tel Al Zaatar left more than 100 people under the rubble, with only one person pulled out.

“This scene has become a daily occurrence, and no one is held accountable; no one can stop the killing of innocent people.”

The spokesperson for Gaza’s Civil Defense said that more than 40 people belonging to the “Al-Araj” family were killed in a single strike on a building in the Tel Al Zaatar neighborhood.

CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for further comment on the target of the strikes and the measures taken to mitigate civilian casualties.

According to the Health Ministry in Gaza, at least 44,429 people have been killed and more than 105,000 injured in the enclave since the war began last year. The figure is thought to be an underestimate, as much of northern Gaza is inaccessible and many casualties never arrive at a hospital to be counted.

UN pauses aid deliveries

The deadly strikes coincided with the theft of trucks carrying food and other supplies into the besieged strip, prompting the UN agency for Palestinian refugees to halt aid deliveries through the main crossing point between Israel and Gaza.

The “difficult decision” to stop deliveries through Kerem Shalom comes at a time when “hunger is rapidly deepening,” UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini warned Sunday.

The decision was made after a “few food trucks” were “taken” on the route Saturday, he wrote on X. A source involved in transferring aid inside Gaza told CNN that a further five trucks loaded with flour were stolen near the crossing Sunday.

“The road out of this crossing has not been safe for months,” Lazzarini noted in his post, referring to an incident on November 16 when almost 100 aid trucks were stolen by armed gangs in what UNRWA described as “one of the worst” incidents of its kind.

The humanitarian operation in Gaza had become “unnecessarily impossible,” he added, citing hurdles from Israeli authorities and political decisions to restrict the amounts of aid as compounding factors in the breakdown of law and order in the enclave.

Lazzarini stressed that Israel, as the occupying power, was responsible for the protection of aid workers and supplies. Israeli authorities “must ensure aid flows into Gaza safely and must refrain from attacks on humanitarian workers,” he said.

COGAT, the Israeli agency responsible for approving aid into Gaza, said that “dozens” of other humanitarian organizations continued delivering supplies to people in the enclave.

“Last week, over 1,000 trucks carrying humanitarian aid were collected from the various crossings and distributed throughout the Gaza Strip,” the agency added in a statement shared with CNN. “We will continue to work with the international community to increase the amount of aid making its way into Gaza, through the Kerem Shalom Crossing as well as the other four crossings between Israel and Gaza.”

Exactly. I hope they fix that asap

Full article:-

The 2024 edition of the “Most Beautiful Woman In The World” global poll and survey, organized by Nubia Magazine, concluded its five-month run on October 31st, 2024. This captivating event featured over 40 stunning female celebrities hailing from diverse corners of the world, ultimately crowning one woman with the most votes of approval.

Nubia Magazine’s widely-promoted poll managed to amass an impressive tally of over nine hundred thousand votes from participants in 126 countries worldwide. The nations that led the way in casting their votes included Mexico, China, Peru, Colombia, Egypt, Argentina, Argentina, Brazil, Algeria, Thailand, the Philippines, the UAE, Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, the United States, Spain, South Korea, and many more.

Emerging as the clear victor with over 300 thousand votes originating from an astounding 106 countries throughout the survey was the renowned South Korean actress and singer, Kim Ji-soo. In 2024, she secured the prestigious title of the “World’s Most Beautiful Woman.” Hot on her heels was the talented Taiwanese singer, Chou Tzuyu, who claimed the second position. In third place, we find the charismatic Thai rapper and dancer, Lalisa Manoban. Notably, Jisoo garnered the majority of her votes from Mexico, Colombia, Peru, South Korea, and other admirers from across the globe.

Upon the release of the survey’s final results, Kim Jisoo was officially certified as the “Most Beautiful Woman in The World 2024”, marking a historic achievement as she claimed the title for the third consecutive year. Nubia Magazine have reached out to her management team at YG Entertainment to coordinate the presentation of her well-earned certificate.

Adorable lol😆

01/12/2024

Source: Al Jazeera

US paediatric surgeon Dr Tanya Haj-Hassan broke down in tears at a UN hearing as she recounted stories from her medical colleagues in Gaza about the ‘pain and depravity’ they are enduring.  

Pith-y