Pro-Palestinian NGO the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) has filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, seeking a warrant for his arrest, the group said on Sunday.

In a statement, HRF called for an arrest warrant for Sa’ar for “war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during Israel’s ongoing military assault on Gaza since October 7, 2023.”

The complaint comes ahead of the foreign minister’s expected trip to Brussels next week.

While neither Israel nor the United States is party to the ICC, Belgium is.

“As Belgium is a signatory to the Rome Statute, it has a legal obligation to cooperate with the ICC and take action against individuals accused of serious international crimes,” HRF said. “The Hind Rajab Foundation calls on Belgian authorities to ensure that Sa’ar does not evade justice while on European soil.”

“Allowing a suspected war criminal to visit Brussels unchallenged would be a betrayal of international legal commitments and the fundamental principles of justice,” the group added.

The HRF is a pro-Palestinian NGO that says it is dedicated “to breaking the cycle of Israeli impunity and honoring the memory of Hind Rajab and all those who have perished in the Gaza genocide.”

Rajab was a 5-year-old girl who was killed by Israeli tank fire while in her family’s car in Gaza.

The group said Sa’ar played a “central role” in making and implementing policies that have led to “mass displacement, collective punishment, and systematic attacks on Palestinian civilians.”

“His public statements and policy endorsements indicate direct and indirect participation in these crimes, as well as incitement to violence and obstruction of international justice mechanisms,” the group said.

HRF said Sa’ar publicly advocated for “reducing Gaza’s territory” and endorsed Israel’s “total blockade on Gaza, which has restricted food, water, and medical supplies.” HRF’s complaint also pointed toward “co-perpetration” with the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for whom the ICC issued an arrest warrant, alongside former defense minister Yoav Gallant, in November last year.

The group has previously brought a lawsuit against a former Israeli soldier who was on vacation in Brazil, alleging he was responsible for war crimes while serving in Gaza. A Brazilian judge ordered police to investigate the soldier based on HRF’s complaint but he left the country.

That lawsuit was one of a series by the group, which has tracked the activities of hundreds of Israeli soldiers serving in Gaza.

The Israeli foreign ministry has since cautioned Israelis about social media posts related to their military service, saying “anti-Israeli elements may exploit these posts to initiate baseless legal proceedings against them.”

China is not ready for war, according to a contentious report from a US think tank, which claims the main motivation for the ruling Communist Party’s expansive push for military modernization is to retain its grip on power – not fight an overseas foe.

Beijing has pursued a head-turning military buildup under Chinese leader Xi Jinping, during which the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) – previously not even one of the strongest in Asia – has started to rival, or in some categories surpass, the US military in analysts’ estimations.

Simulations by US defense experts have repeatedly shown the US – widely regarded as the world’s strongest military – having a tough time matching the PLA in a fight close to China’s shores, especially over the democratic island of Taiwan, which is claimed by Beijing.

But a report released last month by the Washington-based RAND Corp. said that despite the impressive buildup, political considerations – importantly the Communist Party’s desire for control over both military personnel and Chinese society – could hamper the PLA in battle, especially against a peer adversary such as the US.

“The PLA remains fundamentally focused on upholding Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rule rather than preparing for war,” wrote Timothy Heath, a longtime China expert with RAND, in the report, titled “The Chinese military’s doubtful combat readiness.”

“China’s military modernization gains are designed first and foremost to bolster the appeal and credibility of CCP rule,” making war unlikely, Heath added.

One example Heath cited of political considerations butting up against military objectives is the PLA spending up to 40% of training time on political topics.

“The trade-off in time that could be spent mastering the essential skills for combat operations further raises questions as to how well prepared the PLA might be for modern war,” Heath said.

Heath noted too that PLA units are led not only by commanding officers, but also by political commissars who focus on party loyalty rather than combat effectiveness.

“A divided command system … reduces the ability of commanders to respond flexibly and rapidly to emerging situations,” he wrote.

A conventional war between the US and China is a “remote possibility,” and Pentagon planners should focus on a wider variety of Chinese threats than missiles and bombs, he added.

But other experts scoffed at his conclusions, saying that Xi had made his top military goal clear: bringing Taiwan under Beijing’s control, by force if necessary.

The PLA’s buildup points to China being ready to do that, domestic control concerns notwithstanding, the experts added.

“There are much easier, cheaper, lower-risk ways to maximize party security than the bespoke warfighting capabilities Xi concertedly pursues,” said Andrew Erickson, professor of strategy at the US Naval War College.

John Culver, a former US intelligence officer for East Asia, also cast doubt on the report.

“War isn’t Plan A, but it is Plan B if events require and the material capacity of the PLA and China for such an event is strong and getter stronger,” he wrote on X.

Weapons and will

China has achieved rapid and indisputable military progress since Xi introduced sweeping reforms a decade ago.

Beijing’s intense shipbuilding program of recent years has yielded the world’s largest navy/maritime fighting force, which can operate farther than ever from China’s shores – including from the country’s first overseas military base in Djibouti.

Meanwhile, China has made advances in stealth aircraft and hypersonic weapons – and turned vast areas of its inland deserts into fields of missile silos.

But Heath questioned whether Beijing’s new arsenal would be effective in war.

“History has shown repeatedly that militaries sometimes fail to effectively use their advanced armaments in battle,” his report read, citing the war in Ukraine as the latest conflict where a better-armed military has failed to prevail.

Critics of Heath’s report said it’s folly to see the same weaknesses in the PLA.

“Xi repeatedly engages in difficult military restructuring efforts that prioritize improvements in realistic warfighting capabilities and impose some of the most demanding requirements conceivable on China’s armed forces,” said Erickson of the US Naval War College.

He noted that China is building both numbers – the Pentagon estimates Beijing is growing its nuclear warhead arsenal by about 100 a year – and technology, “pushing global frontiers with ambitious hypersonic weapons megaprojects.”

The human factor

Few doubt that the PLA has made great strides in both the number and quality of weapons it can field. Take for example its warships, led by the Type 055 destroyer, classified by many analysts as the most powerful surface combatant in the world.

The PLA Navy launched its 10th Type 055 last year, with as many as six more expected in the coming years. Each requires a crew of about 300 sailors.

Collin Koh, research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said building the high-tech warships may be easier than crewing them – because modern warships need young sailors to take on complex tasks, and that requires extensive training.

“The army could likely assimilate someone from the countryside … who might not get a lot of education … and train him up to be an infantryman. But if you want to train somebody who is able to (repair) the controls in the combat information center in the warship, fire a missile and to maintain a missile, that requires a bit more,” Koh said.

Meanwhile, the PLA continues to struggle another personnel problem – corruption. A Pentagon report from December said a widespread anticorruption campaign within the senior levels of the Chinese military and government is impeding Xi’s defense buildup.

“I think they’ve identified it as something that really has posed great risks to the political reliability and ultimately the operational capability of the PLA,” a senior US defense official said in December.

Defining Chinese military readiness

When analysts talk about Chinese military readiness, focus quickly zooms in on Taiwan. US intelligence estimates say Xi has ordered the PLA to be ready to invade the island by 2027, if necessary.

But Heath argues that while the Chinese leader set that goal, he and other top party officials have not engaged in any concerted push to prepare the Chinese public for combat.

“Chinese leaders have made no speeches that glorify war, advocate for war, or otherwise characterize war as inevitable or desirable,” Heath wrote, noting that “China’s military has not even published a study on how it might occupy and control Taiwan.”

Others caution against judging Beijing’s intentions based on Western thinking. It’s unknown what Xi would consider a win in Taiwan, they say.

The amount of pain the PLA – and Chinese society as a whole – could sustain to take the island is known only in Beijing, they say.

“We have to consider the use of force by Beijing at a level that could be potentially calibrated to suit its political needs,” Koh said.

That force could be a blockade to strangle the island without shots being fired. It could be enough airstrikes to show Taipei and its supporters that China holds the upper hand in any cross-strait conflict. It could be a full-scale invasion and occupation.

Or it could be a continuation of Beijing’s relentless political pressure accompanied by the almost constant PLA presence around Taiwan, including dozens of warplanes and ships. It’s a policy that, to date, has served the Communist Party well, some analysts say.

So, why spend all that money on new weapons?

“China’s military modernization gains are not designed to conquer Taiwan through military attack. Instead, (they are) designed to help the PLA more effectively carry out its longstanding mission of upholding CCP rule,” Heath wrote.

Essentially, new warships and stealth fighter jets impress the public, and that makes controlling society easier, he said.

Drew Thompson, a senior research fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore agreed with that point. “Politics being primary means propaganda is more important than the military outcome,” he said.

But Koh said the PLA’s gains under Xi cannot be brushed aside as merely sending a domestic message.

“Despite those known issues within China and the PLA, I don’t think any military planner in the region is going to just dismiss the PLA as a paper tiger,” he said.

And Thompson said the PLA is indeed a capable foe for Taiwan and for the US.

“China could start a war and fight it. Could they win? How do you define victory?” Thompson asked.

“Is it a zero sum or just a series of tradeoffs?”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz are all traveling to Saudi Arabia for the talks.

A Ukrainian official said they would not be present at the talks though Keith Kellogg, the Trump administration’s Russia-Ukraine envoy, discussed a “dual track” set of negotiations and will be in Kyiv this week. On Sunday, US President Donald Trump said the Ukrainians would be part of the negotiations.

News of the US-Russia talks came as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Sunday he was “ready and willing” to put British troops on the ground in Ukraine to enforce a peace deal if necessary.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Starmer said he does not take the possibility lightly but reasoned that helping to guarantee Ukraine’s security would also strengthen the security of the United Kingdom and Europe.

He called on European nations to increase their defense spending and “take on a greater role in NATO,” but said US support would remain critical for guaranteeing peace. The prime minister also said he would meet with Trump and other G7 allies in the coming days to secure a strong deal.

Starmer is among the European leaders who will take part in an emergency summit on Ukraine on Monday amid growing concern that the Trump administration’s push to work with Russia to end the war has left them isolated.

The Elysée Palace said French President Emmanuel Macron would hold an “informal” meeting Monday with “the heads of government of Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark, as well as the President of the European Council, the President of the European Commission and the Secretary General of NATO.”

Starmer on Saturday called the European meeting a “once in a generation” moment for national security and said the UK would “work to ensure we keep the US and Europe together,” according to a Downing Street statement. “We cannot allow any divisions in the alliance to distract from the external enemies we face,” he said.

Trump has talked openly about the Saudis playing a key role in the negotiations and the country has been an important part of US foreign policy under his presidency.

It was just a week ago that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman helped facilitate the release of Marc Fogel in Russia.

Trump’s first foreign trip in 2017 was to Saudi Arabia.

New photos show the damage to a US Navy aircraft carrier sustained in a collision with a merchant ship last week.

The warship USS Harry S. Truman docked at a US naval facility in Souda Bay, Greece, for repairs over the weekend following the incident near the entrance to the Suez Canal.

Photos released by the Navy on Saturday show damage to the exterior starboard quarter of the 1,100-foot-long, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

Damaged areas included “the exterior wall of two storage rooms and a maintenance space … a line handling space, the fantail, and the platform above one of the storage spaces,” the Navy said in a statement.

None of the damage affects the ship’s combat capability, the statement said, adding that it has conducted flight operations since the accident last Wednesday night.

A team including structural engineers and naval architects is conducting a detailed assessment of the damage and would implement a repair plan, the Navy said, without offering a timetable for the repairs.

The Truman collied with the Besiktas-M, a Panamanian-flagged, 617-foot (188-meter) long bulk carrier, in the crowded waters near the Suez Canal off Egypt’s Port Said in the Mediterranean Sea.

The merchant ship was also damaged, but no injuries were reported on either vessel, the Navy said following the collision near a crowded anchorage for ships transiting the canal.

Former US Navy captain Carl Schuster, an instructor at Hawaii Pacific University, said such conditions leave little room for error.

“There is not a lot of room for maneuvering in a restricted seaway, and both ships require about one nautical mile to stop,” Schuster said.

Small navigation mistakes, misreading of the other ship’s intentions or delayed decision-making from the crew of either ship could have put them in danger quickly “with very few viable options,” Schuster said.

Before the accident, the Truman was in Souda Bay for a “working port visit” after two months of combat operations in the Central Command region, a Navy statement said.

During that time, it conducted multiple strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen and launched airstrikes against ISIS in Somalia, the Navy said.

Rear Adm. Sean Bailey, commander of the Truman’s carrier strike group, which includes a guided-missile cruiser and three destroyers, said it remains operational across the region.

“Our mission has not changed and we remain committed to responding to any challenge in this dynamic and global security environment,” Bailey said in a statement.

South Korean actor Kim Sae-ron was found dead at her home in Seoul on Sunday, nearly two years after she retreated from the public eye following a drunk driving conviction. She was 24.

Kim began her career as a child actor and gained widespread recognition, including an appearance at the Cannes Film Festival, for her role as a girl abandoned at an orphanage in 2009 movie “A Brand New Life.”

She later starred in 2010 action hit “The Man from Nowhere,” 2012 mystery thriller “The Neighbors,” and 2014 drama “A Girl at My Door,” among numerous roles in film and television.

But Kim’s career had stalled since April 2023 after a Seoul court found her guilty of driving under the influence when she crashed her car in the South Korean capital a year earlier. Kim avoided jail but was fined about $14,000.

Her last known role was in Netflix’s 2023 K-drama “Bloodhounds.”

The final post on Kim’s Instagram account, a photo of the actor shared in January, has accumulated more than 205,000 likes. Comments are disabled on the account.

Korean celebrities paid tribute to Kim following the news of her death.

“May you rest in peace,” actor Kim Ok-bin wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of a white chrysanthemum, a symbol of grief in many Asian cultures.

Kim’s co-star Kim Min-che shared a photo of a scene from “The Neighbors” on Instagram and said: “I was so happy to meet you as my daughter in the movie. May you rest in peace.”

Recent deaths of young K-pop idols and K-drama stars have highlighted ongoing concerns about mental health and pressures in South Korea’s entertainment industry.

Song Jae-lim, a former model who rose to prominence in K-dramas, was found dead in his apartment last November at age 39. ASTRO boy band member Moon bin died last year at age 25. K-pop singer and actress Sulli was also 25 when she died in 2019. And two years earlier, boyband SHINee’s Kim Jong-hyun was found dead at his home at age 27.

Entertainment agencies have implemented various mental health support systems, including counseling services and more flexible schedules, but observers say the highly competitive nature of K-entertainment, combined with intense public scrutiny, and expectations of perfection in appearance and behavior, are affecting stars.

European leaders are gathering in France for an emergency summit on Ukraine after the Trump administration announced it was opening talks with Russia on ending the war without a European presence.

UK leader Kier Starmer said the meeting in Paris was a “once in a generation” moment for national security following Washington’s bombshell announcement that has sparked concern in Kyiv and across Europe that Ukrainian and European leaders will be frozen out of peace negotiations.

In recent days, US President Donald Trump and his top officials have upended what had largely been a united front between Washington and its European NATO allies on supporting Ukraine against Russia’s invasion, which is nearing its third anniversary.

Trump’s posture toward Russian President Vladimir Putin, and comments from US officials on Ukraine and NATO, has raised anxieties in Europe that Washington’s vision for a swift end to the war would allow for key concessions to Russia.

The Ukrainians said they would not be present at the talks, though Keith Kellogg, the Trump administration’s Russia-Ukraine envoy, discussed a “dual track” set of negotiations and will be in Kyiv this week. On Sunday, Trump said the Ukrainians would be part of the negotiations.

On Sunday Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would “never accept any decisions between the United States and Russia about Ukraine,” during an interview with NBC News’ Meet the Press.

As well as Starmer, the leaders of Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark, as well as the President of the European Council, the President of the European Commission and the Secretary General of NATO, will attend what host French President Emmanuel Macron said would be an “informal meeting,” according to the Elysée Palace.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Starmer said he was “ready and willing” to put British troops on the ground in Ukraine to enforce a peace deal if necessary.

The European diplomatic efforts follow Trump’s “lengthy” phone call with Putin last week after which he announced negotiations to end the Ukraine war would start “immediately.” Ukraine envoy Kellogg then said Europe would not have a seat at the table.

Meanwhile, Rubio framed the talks with Russia as the first steps of a process to determine whether Russia is serious about ending its war in Ukraine, and indicated that both Ukraine and Europe would be involved in negotiations if talks progress in the right direction. Rubio’s comments follow a call with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, which, he said, was meant to establish an open channel of communications.

Macron on Sunday said he discussed Russia’s war in Ukraine during a phone call with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and emphasized that Europe should be at the center of fostering peace in Ukraine.

China has accused the Trump administration of “serious regression” in its position on Taiwan, after the State Department removed a line from its website stating that the US does not support Taiwan independence.

In what it called a “routine” update to its online fact sheet on US relations with Taiwan last week, the State Department dropped the phrase “we do not support Taiwan independence” – a position long held by Washington.

The change was welcomed by Taipei but triggered one of the strongest rebukes from Beijing since Donald Trump returned to the White House. China’s ruling Communist Party claims the self-governing democracy as its own territory, and has vowed to take control of the island one day, by force if necessary.

China’s Foreign Ministry urged the US on Monday to “immediately correct its mistakes” over the removal of the line, or risk “further serious damage” to China-US relations which are being tested once again by the return of Trump’s “America First” policy.

“The US State Department’s revision of the list of facts regarding US-Taiwan relations represents a serious regression in its stance on Taiwan…(and) sends a seriously erroneous message to the separatist forces advocating for Taiwan independence,” ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a regular news conference.

“This is further evidence of the US stubbornly adhering to the erroneous policy of using Taiwan to contain China. We urge the US to immediately correct its mistakes,” Guo added, warning Washington to handle the Taiwan issue with “utmost caution.”

Analysts have said that Chinese leaders are particularly concerned about Trump’s new foreign policy team’s stance on Taiwan, the reddest of red lines for Beijing.

Trump’s second term cabinet is stacked with prominent China hawks, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Rubio has been a steadfast supporter of Taiwan. The former senator has previously pushed for a raft of legislation to strengthen ties between Washington and Taipei, including fast-tracking US arms sales to the island.

In a statement to Reuters, the State Department described the wording change as part of a standard update.

“As is routine, the fact sheet was updated to inform the general public about our unofficial relationship with Taiwan,” a State Department spokesperson said. The spokesperson added that the US remains committed to its “one China policy” – a line that is still stated in the updated fact sheet.

Under what is known as the “one China policy,” the US recognizes the People’s Republic as the sole legitimate government of China; it also acknowledges Beijing’s position that Taiwan is part of China, but has never accepted the Chinese Communist Party’s claim of sovereignty over the island.

“The United States is committed to preserving peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” the spokesperson told Reuters.

The wording on Taiwan independence was also removed in 2022 from the State Department website, only to be restored a month later, according to Reuters.

The latest fact sheet also said that Washington will continue to support Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations, including membership “where applicable.” It previously stated that Washington will continue to support Taiwan’s membership in international organizations “where statehood is not a requirement,” according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency, which first reported on the change in wording.

Under Xi Jinping, China’s most assertive leader in a generation, Beijing has sought to isolate Taiwan economically, military and diplomatically, including preventing Taiwanese membership of major global bodies.

Last week, two US Navy ships sailed through the Taiwan Strait in the first such mission since Trump took office, drawing an angry response from China’s military, which accused the US action of “sending the wrong signals and increasing security risks.”