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..."its result will be to show that Iran cannot be isolated" The words of Iranian Rear Admiral Gholamreza Tahani describing the four day naval exercise in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Oman involving Iranian Chinese and Russian warships that began today...... A US civilian contractor killed in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base near Kirkuk Friday...... Russia says it will use its own pipe laying vessel to finish the Nord Stream 2 project...... Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced today that a regiment with the Avanguard hypersonic missile system became operational at 3 am Eastern US time........

US personnel in Afghanistan are being investigated by the ICC. The US has revoked the entry visa for the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda. The decision is thought to be the US response to Ms Bensouda's investigation into possible war crimes by American forces and their allies in Afghanistan. The US secretary of state had warned the US might refuse or revoke visas to any ICC staff involved in such probes. Ms Bensouda's office said the ICC prosecutor would continue to her duties "without fear or favour". Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said: "If you're responsible...

International officials trying to prosecute American military personnel will not be allowed to enter the United States, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Friday. “We are determined to protect the American, allied, and civilian personnel from living in fear of unjust prosecutions for actions taken to defend our great nation,” Pompeo told reporters at the State Department. Pompeo’s decision puts personal pressure on the International Criminal Court, a European-based tribunal that is trying to investigate whether “war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed” since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. The top diplomat said that the court, which was...

The International Criminal Court at The Hague may prosecute Israel over the deaths of Arab rioters who clashed with IDF forces on the Gaza-Israel frontier over the past week and a half, a top ICC official warned Sunday. Chief Prosecutor for the ICC Fatou Bensouda issued a statement Sunday demanding an end to the use of violence on the border between Israel and Gaza, and suggested that both Israel and the Hamas terror organization could be held responsible for the deaths of some 30 Arab rioters and terrorists killed since activists launched six weeks of violent protests on the frontier...

The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor says it is a “regression” for African nations — including her own country of Gambia — to quit the court and says the continent should work with her office to end impunity for atrocities. Speaking to The Associated Press on Tuesday at the court’s headquarters overlooking the North Sea on the edge of The Hague, Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said regional and local courts in Africa should work with her office to bring perpetrators of atrocities to justice. …

The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor has suggested the US may have committed war crimes in Afghanistan. An investigation would expose US forces to ICC scrutiny for the first time. Delivering her annual report to members of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague on Monday, chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said she would decide “imminently” whether to ask judges for permission to launch a full-blown investigation as to whether US military forces and CIA operatives may have committed war crimes in Afghanistan through the “cruel or violent” interrogation of detainees. Bensouda said the Taliban, Afghan government forces and US...