Calling it a “historic step” toward justice, the Palestinian foreign minister asked the International Criminal Court on Tuesday to open an “immediate investigation” into alleged Israeli crimes committed against the Palestinian people.
The development was sure to worsen the already troubled relations between the internationally backed Palestinian Authority and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. Peace talks have been frozen for over four years, and contacts between the two sides are minimal.
Speaking to reporters at the ICC in The Hague, Netherlands, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said he submitted the “referral” to the court during a meeting with the ICC’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda.
The referral sought an investigation into Israeli policies in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip since the state of Palestine accepted the ICC’s jurisdiction in 2014, he said.
This includes Israeli settlement policies in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, as well as the recent round of bloodshed in the Gaza Strip, where Israeli fire killed over 100 Palestinians during mass protests along the Gaza border, Malki added.
A New York court says former "Apprentice" contestant Summer Zervos can proceed with her defamation lawsuit against President Donald Trump, at least for now. A state appeals court on Thursday turned down a request by Trump's lawyers to delay the case while they appeal a lower-court decision.
Zervos appeared on Trump's former show, "The Apprentice," in 2006. She says he subjected her to unwanted groping and kisses when she sought a job in 2007.
When Trump called her a liar, she sued. Trump's lawyers want to freeze the case until an appeals court decides whether a president can be sued in state court. That's likely to take at least until fall.
The decision means Zervos' lawyers can proceed with demands that the president give a deposition and turn over documents.
A Ukrainian court has ordered a Russian journalist jailed for two months pending investigation on treason charges.
Kirill Vyshinskiy, the head of the Ukrainian office of Russia's RIA Novosti news agency, has been in custody since his detention Tuesday by Ukraine's security agency SBU. The move followed SBU raids of the Kiev offices of RIA Novosti and RT television.
The agency says the Russian state-funded media outlets are being "used as tools in a hybrid war against Ukraine."
The court in Kherson in southern Ukraine ruled Thursday to keep Vyshinskiy in jail for 60 days.
Russia has strongly protested Vyshinskiy's arrest as an attack on media freedom. The Council of Europe said it is "concerned about the implications that repeated detentions of journalists may have for the situation with media freedom in Ukraine."
A 72-year-old former police officer accused of being one of California's most elusive serial killers appeared in a courtroom cage used for defendants in jail Monday as a judge put off a decision on whether to release search and arrest warrants in the case.
Prosecutors allege Joseph DeAngelo is the Golden State Killer responsible for at least a dozen murders and about 50 rapes in the 1970s and '80s. The Associated Press and other news outlets are seeking to unseal details related to the arrest and search warrants prosecutors obtained in April, arguing they will provide important details about how prosecutors identified DeAngelo and what evidence they have gathered from him.
DeAngelo's public defender, Diane Howard, says the information should remain shielded from public view because it could taint jurors and witnesses. In a motion, Howard said the arrest warrants include evidence and details about rapes that DeAngelo is accused of committing, which wouldn't be permissible at trial.
Prosecutors have searched DeAngelo's home in a suburb outside Sacramento and recently obtained warrants to search his cellphone and computer. They just turned over information about what evidence they already have gathered to Howard.
The Supreme Court's decision striking down a federal law over sports betting could signal trouble for the Trump administration in its legal fight against so-called sanctuary states and cities.
The justices backed a robust reading of the Constitution's limit on the federal government's power to force the states go along with Washington's wishes.
The administration opposed the outcome reached by the high court Monday. The majority opinion by Justice Samuel Alito said the federal anti-gambling law is unconstitutional because "it unequivocally dictates what a state legislature may and may not do."
Several legal commentators say there is a direct link between the court's decision in the sports betting case and the administration's effort to punish local governments that resist Trump's immigration enforcement policies.
The Maryland Court of Special Appeals has ruled the Baltimore Police Department followed procedure when it fired an officer accused of excessive force.
The Daily Record of Baltimore reports Serge Marcien Antonin was fired for repeatedly slapping a detained teenager who allegedly stole a car. The court opinion filed Tuesday says Antonin was charged with assault and two counts of misconduct for the 2013 use of force.
He entered a plea on a misconduct charge in 2015 that said there was enough evidence to convict him but he maintained his innocence. He was put on probation. The other charges were dismissed.
Antonin was fired in 2016 when a police hearing board found him guilty of excessive force. The Baltimore City Circuit Court previously ruled the department didn’t follow policy.
The NBA has fined Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri $25,000 for walking onto the court at halftime of Game 3 against the Cleveland Cavaliers to verbally confront officials for reversing a call.
The league announced the fine Sunday. It stems from an incident that occurred Saturday night during the Raptors' 105-103 loss to the Cavaliers.
Toronto had been called for 14 fouls in the first half, compared with eight for Cleveland. The Raptors were irate that what had appeared to be a Serge Ibaka basket and potential free throw was downgraded to a foul with no basket and no free throw.
All-Star DeMar DeRozan, coach Dwane Casey and his assistants all screamed at the referees.
Game 4 is Monday night in Cleveland. Toronto, which is trailing the series 3-0, needs a win to stay alive in the Eastern Conference semifinal.
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