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Israel's Netanyahu Heads to Hungary, Defying ICC Arrest Warrant

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 16, 2025. Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 16, 2025. Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
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Israel's Netanyahu Heads to Hungary, Defying ICC Arrest Warrant

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 16, 2025. Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 16, 2025. Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu begins a four-day visit to Hungary on Thursday, defying an International Criminal Court arrest warrant over allegations of war crimes in Gaza as Israel has expanded its military operation in the enclave.

As a founding member of the ICC, Hungary is theoretically obliged to arrest and hand over anyone subject to a warrant from the court but Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban made clear when he issued the invitation that Hungary would not respect the ruling.

Netanyahu is due to meet Orban ahead of a press conference at around 1000 GMT.

In Budapest, workers were constructing a stage in the Buda Castle on Wednesday, where Orban was scheduled to welcome Netanyahu in a ceremony with military honors on Thursday morning and security forces could be seen near the central Budapest hotel where Netanyahu will be staying, The AP news reported.

The visit will be only the second he has made abroad since the International Criminal Court issued warrants to arrest both him and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant last November, but details of his program have been limited apart from a planned visit to a Holocaust memorial.

He visited Washington in February to meet close ally US President Donald Trump. Neither Israel nor the United States are members of the ICC, with Washington arguing the ICC could be used for politically motivated prosecutions.

Orban invited Netanyahu to visit a day after the ICC issued its arrest warrant over allegations of war crimes in Gaza, where Israel launched an offensive following a devastating attack by thousands of Hamas fighters on the October 7 attack.

Since then, the Israeli campaign has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians and devastated the Gaza Strip, triggering protests worldwide and prompting South Africa to launch separate legal action in the International Court of Justice, a different body to the ICC, accusing Israel of genocide.

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World

3 Charged after Attempted Arson at Iran International Office in London

A Police van is parked outside of a warehouse park housing offices of a the Persian-language TV station, Iran International, in Wembley, northwest London on April 16, 2026. (Photo by Henry NICHOLLS / AFP)
A Police van is parked outside of a warehouse park housing offices of a the Persian-language TV station, Iran International, in Wembley, northwest London on April 16, 2026. (Photo by Henry NICHOLLS / AFP)
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3 Charged after Attempted Arson at Iran International Office in London

A Police van is parked outside of a warehouse park housing offices of a the Persian-language TV station, Iran International, in Wembley, northwest London on April 16, 2026. (Photo by Henry NICHOLLS / AFP)
A Police van is parked outside of a warehouse park housing offices of a the Persian-language TV station, Iran International, in Wembley, northwest London on April 16, 2026. (Photo by Henry NICHOLLS / AFP)

British police said on Friday they had charged three people over an attempted arson attack on offices linked to television station Iran International in northwest London earlier this week.

The three, two men and a teenager and all British, are accused of arson with intent to endanger life after an ignited container was thrown towards the premises of the parent company of Iran International, Volant Media, on Wednesday evening, landing in a car park.

The fire immediately put itself out, causing ⁠no damage nor injuries, Reuters reported.

Iran ⁠International, a London-based television station critical of Tehran's government, said a suspicious vehicle was denied entry to its London site shortly before the incendiary devices were thrown.

Oisin McGuinness, 21, Nathan Dunn, 19, and a 16-year-old boy who cannot be named for legal ⁠reasons, are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court later on Friday. McGuinness was also charged with dangerous driving.

Police said a vehicle fled the scene and crashed after being pursued by an armed response unit which was in the area.

The incident came a day after police arrested two suspects following an attempted arson attack on a synagogue, also in north London.

Last month, several ambulances belonging to the Jewish volunteer emergency ⁠service ⁠Hatzola were set alight while parked near a synagogue in the Golders Green area of north London.

None of the incidents have been linked but Matt Jukes, a deputy commissioner for London's Metropolitan Police, said he understood why conflict overseas and heightened tensions in Britain would be "deeply worrying".

"London’s Jewish communities and the Iranian diaspora in London have, in recent years, been increasingly targeted by individuals, groups and hostile states intent on spreading fear, hate and harm," Jukes said.

World

Pakistani-flagged Tanker Exits Gulf Via Hormuz with UAE Crude, Data Shows

FILE PHOTO: A map showing the Strait of Hormuz, also known as Madiq Hurmuz, and 3D printed oil barrels are seen in this illustration taken March 26, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A map showing the Strait of Hormuz, also known as Madiq Hurmuz, and 3D printed oil barrels are seen in this illustration taken March 26, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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Pakistani-flagged Tanker Exits Gulf Via Hormuz with UAE Crude, Data Shows

FILE PHOTO: A map showing the Strait of Hormuz, also known as Madiq Hurmuz, and 3D printed oil barrels are seen in this illustration taken March 26, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A map showing the Strait of Hormuz, also known as Madiq Hurmuz, and 3D printed oil barrels are seen in this illustration taken March 26, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Pakistani-flagged ‌tanker Shalamar has exited the Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz carrying crude loaded from the United Arab Emirates, shipping data from Kpler and LSEG showed.

The Aframax tanker exited the waterway on Thursday laden with about 440,000 barrels of Abu Dhabi's Das Blend crude loaded earlier this week, Kpler data ‌showed. The vessel ‌is heading to the port ‌of ⁠Karachi to discharge ⁠its cargo on April 19, according to the data.

The Shalamar was one of two Pakistani tankers that entered the strait on Sunday to load crude and oil products. Pakistan's petroleum minister ⁠said on Wednesday that the ‌Shalamar loaded crude ‌from the UAE at an ADNOC terminal.

Pakistan ‌National Shipping, which manages the Shalamar, ‌did not immediately respond to a request for comment, said Reuters.

Traffic in the strait slowed this week due to the US blockade.

The US ‌Navy said in an advisory on Thursday that the blockade has ⁠been ⁠widened to include cargoes deemed contraband and any vessels suspected of trying to reach Iranian territory will be "subject to belligerent right to visit and search."

US Central Command said on X that 14 vessels have turned around to comply with the blockade at the direction of American forces after 72 hours of enforcement.

World

Romanian Defense Ministry Says Radars Caught Russian Drone Breaching Air Space

Ukrainian law enforcement officers inspect fragments of a drone at the site of an air attack in Kharkiv on April 16, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by SERGEY BOBOK / AFP)
Ukrainian law enforcement officers inspect fragments of a drone at the site of an air attack in Kharkiv on April 16, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by SERGEY BOBOK / AFP)
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Romanian Defense Ministry Says Radars Caught Russian Drone Breaching Air Space

Ukrainian law enforcement officers inspect fragments of a drone at the site of an air attack in Kharkiv on April 16, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by SERGEY BOBOK / AFP)
Ukrainian law enforcement officers inspect fragments of a drone at the site of an air attack in Kharkiv on April 16, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by SERGEY BOBOK / AFP)

Romanian radar systems caught a drone breaching its national airspace during a Russian overnight attack on ‌neighboring Ukraine ‌before losing ‌contact southeast ⁠of the border ⁠village of Chilia Veche, the defense ministry said on Friday.

Romania, ⁠an EU ‌and ‌NATO state, ‌shares a ‌650-km (400-mile) land border with Ukraine and has had drones ‌breach its airspace and fragments fall ⁠onto ⁠its territory repeatedly since Russia began attacking Ukrainian ports across the Danube river from the country.