An attack on a political rally in Kabul yesterday left at least 18 people wounded, an official said, while on Thursday, appeals judges at the International Criminal Court said that prosecutors could open an investigation targeting the Taliban, Afghan forces and US military and CIA personnel for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Taliban denied responsibility for the assault, which occurred at a commemoration ceremony for Abdul Ali Mazari — a politician from the Hazara ethnic group, most of whom are Shiite.
An Islamic State group-claimed attack on the same ceremony last year killed at least 11 people.
Photo: AFP
Afghan Ministry of Internal Affairs spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said that gunfire had erupted from a construction site near the ceremony.
At least 18 people had been wounded, he said.
“Soon after the attack, police forces and police special forces units rushed to the scene,” Rahimi told a local news station, adding that sporadic gunfire was ongoing.
Photographs on social media showed at least two bodies, but there was no official word on a death toll.
The decision in The Hague marked the first time the court’s prosecutor has been authorized to investigate US forces.
Washington rejects the court’s jurisdiction and refuses to cooperate with it.
In 2018, then-White House national security adviser John Bolton said that the court established in 2002 to prosecute atrocities throughout the world “ unacceptably threatens American sovereignty and US national security interests.”
The global court set itself on a collision course with Washington with Thursday’s decision to uphold an appeal by prosecutors against a pretrial chamber’s rejection in April last year of prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s request to open a probe in Afghanistan.
Pretrial judges last year acknowledged that widespread crimes have been committed in Afghanistan, but rejected the investigation, saying that it would not be in the interests of justice because the expected lack of cooperation meant convictions would ultimately be unlikely.
That decision drew fierce criticism from human rights organizations, which said that it neglected the desire of victims to see justice in Afghanistan and effectively rewarded states that refused to cooperate with the court.
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
CCP ‘PAWN’? Beijing could use the KMT chairwoman’s visit to signal to the world that many people in Taiwan support the ‘one China’ principle, an academic said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday arrived in China for a “peace” mission and potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), while a Taiwanese minister detailed the number of Chinese warships currently deployed around the nation. Cheng is visiting at a time of increased Chinese military pressure on Taiwan, as the opposition-dominated Legislative Yuan stalls a government plan for US$40 billion in extra defense spending. Speaking to reporters before going to the airport, Cheng said she was going on a “historic journey for peace,” but added that some people felt uneasy about her trip. “If you truly love Taiwan,
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
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