Israel's Netanyahu Ends Hungary Visit, Heads to US

 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks after he took over the certificate of Honorary Citizen of the University (Civis Universitatis Honoris Causa) from Rector of the Ludovika University of Public Service at the university in Budapest, Hungary, Friday, April 4, 2025. (Tibor Illyes/MTI via AP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks after he took over the certificate of Honorary Citizen of the University (Civis Universitatis Honoris Causa) from Rector of the Ludovika University of Public Service at the university in Budapest, Hungary, Friday, April 4, 2025. (Tibor Illyes/MTI via AP)
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Israel's Netanyahu Ends Hungary Visit, Heads to US

 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks after he took over the certificate of Honorary Citizen of the University (Civis Universitatis Honoris Causa) from Rector of the Ludovika University of Public Service at the university in Budapest, Hungary, Friday, April 4, 2025. (Tibor Illyes/MTI via AP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks after he took over the certificate of Honorary Citizen of the University (Civis Universitatis Honoris Causa) from Rector of the Ludovika University of Public Service at the university in Budapest, Hungary, Friday, April 4, 2025. (Tibor Illyes/MTI via AP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left Budapest on Sunday to head to the US to talk tariffs and Iran with President Donald Trump after wrapping up a multi-day-visit to Hungary.

Nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban hosted his long-standing Israeli ally in Hungary this week, despite an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant.

Netanyahu's visit came as Hungary announced its withdrawal from the tribunal.

"I have just concluded a very important visit to Hungary," Netanyahu said in a statement adding that cooperation in the production of munitions among other issues was discussed.

Netanyahu is headed straight to the United States, where he is set to discuss tariffs, Iran and the ICC, among other thorny issues with US President Donald Trump on Monday.

The Israeli leader arrived in the Hungarian capital early on Thursday.

Both Orban and Netanyahu slammed the ICC at a joint press conference, with the Israeli premier expressing hope that Hungary "would not be the last state" to exit the "corrupt organization".

The ICC last year issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu over allegations of crimes against humanity and war crimes -- including starvation as a method of warfare -- in Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.

The war was sparked by the Palestinian group's attack against Israel on October 7, 2023.

Orban defended the government's decision not to execute the ICC warrant against Netanyahu in his weekly radio interview, saying that it is "not customary to arrest guests" in Hungary and there was no will to do so since Israel is regarded as a "friend".

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock criticized the decision, calling it a "bad day" for international criminal law.

But Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said he didn't think his country or any other European state would have arrested the Israeli leader. The visit to Hungary marked Netanyahu's first trip to Europe since 2023.

During his four-day visit, Netanyahu met Jewish community leaders, visited a Holocaust memorial on the bank of the Danube river and was awarded an honorary degree from a university.

Hungarian police said Saturday it had detained two Frenchmen on suspicion of hooliganism and vandalism after they allegedly tore down and damaged Israeli flags at the Szechenyi chain bridge.

Netanyahu and Orban also had a call with Trump about Hungary's decision to exit the ICC.

Israel had attempted to duck the US tariffs imposed on nearly every country by moving preemptively Tuesday -- a day before Trump's big global tariff announcement -- to drop all remaining duties on the one percent of American goods still affected by them.

But Trump moved ahead with the tariffs, saying the United States had a significant trade deficit with its ally and top beneficiary of military aid.



Israeli Air Force Deploys First Laser Interception System

FILED - 26 March 2024, Israel, Jerusalem: Israel Katz attends a meeting at a hotel in Jerusalem. Photo: Christoph Soeder/dpa
FILED - 26 March 2024, Israel, Jerusalem: Israel Katz attends a meeting at a hotel in Jerusalem. Photo: Christoph Soeder/dpa
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Israeli Air Force Deploys First Laser Interception System

FILED - 26 March 2024, Israel, Jerusalem: Israel Katz attends a meeting at a hotel in Jerusalem. Photo: Christoph Soeder/dpa
FILED - 26 March 2024, Israel, Jerusalem: Israel Katz attends a meeting at a hotel in Jerusalem. Photo: Christoph Soeder/dpa

Israel's defense ministry said on Sunday it had deployed a new "Iron Beam" laser system for the air force to intercept aerial threats.

The laser system's main developers, the ministry's research and development department and defense contractor Rafael, delivered it to the air force at a ceremony in northern Israel.

"For the first time globally, a high-power laser interception system has achieved full operational maturity, successfully executing multiple interceptions," Defense Minister Israel Katz said at the ceremony, according to a statement.

"This monumental achievement... delivers a critical message to our enemies, near and far alike: do not challenge us, or face severe consequences," AFP quoted him as saying.

The handover marks a major milestone in a project more than a decade old.
"Israel has become the first country in the world to field an operational laser system for the interception of aerial threats, including rockets and missiles," said Yuval Steinitz, chairman of Rafael.

The laser system seeks to enhance and slash the cost of Israel's interception of projectiles, and will supplement other aerial defense capacities such as the more well-known Iron Dome.

Iron Dome offers short-range protection against missiles and rockets. The David's Sling system and successive generations of Arrow missiles are Israeli-American technology built to bring down ballistic missiles.

The defense ministry announced in early December that the laser system was complete, and would be deployed by the end of the month.

During the 12-day war launched by Israel against Iran in June, the country's missile defense system failed to intercept all the projectiles fired by Tehran toward Israeli territory.

Israel has since acknowledged being hit by more than 50 missiles during the war with Iran, resulting in 28 deaths.


Trump Says Had 'Productive' Call with Putin Ahead of Zelensky Meeting

US President Donald Trump takes part in a Christmas Eve dinner in the ballroom of his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, US, December 24, 2025. REUTERS/Jessica Koscielniak
US President Donald Trump takes part in a Christmas Eve dinner in the ballroom of his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, US, December 24, 2025. REUTERS/Jessica Koscielniak
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Trump Says Had 'Productive' Call with Putin Ahead of Zelensky Meeting

US President Donald Trump takes part in a Christmas Eve dinner in the ballroom of his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, US, December 24, 2025. REUTERS/Jessica Koscielniak
US President Donald Trump takes part in a Christmas Eve dinner in the ballroom of his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, US, December 24, 2025. REUTERS/Jessica Koscielniak

US President Donald Trump said he had a productive telephone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Sunday ahead of a planned meeting in Florida with Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky.

"I just had a very good and productive telephone call with President Putin of Russia" before the planned talks with Zelensky at Trump's Florida estate at 1:00 pm local time (1800 GMT), the US leader said on Truth Social.

Putin said Ukraine was in no hurry for peace and if it did not want to resolve their conflict peacefully, Moscow would accomplish all its goals by force.

Putin's remarks on Saturday, carried by state news agency TASS, followed a vast Russian drone and missile attack that prompted Zelensky to say Russia was demonstrating its wish to continue the war while Kyiv wanted peace.


Russia Sends 3 Iranian Satellites into Orbit, Report Says

In this photo released by Roscosmos space corporation on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, the Soyuz-2.1b rocket blasts off at the Vostochny cosmodrome outside the city of Tsiolkovsky, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far eastern Amur region, Russia. A Russian Soyuz rocket successfully put an Iranian satellite into orbit along with 18 Russian satellites on Thursday. (Roscosmos space corporation via AP)
In this photo released by Roscosmos space corporation on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, the Soyuz-2.1b rocket blasts off at the Vostochny cosmodrome outside the city of Tsiolkovsky, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far eastern Amur region, Russia. A Russian Soyuz rocket successfully put an Iranian satellite into orbit along with 18 Russian satellites on Thursday. (Roscosmos space corporation via AP)
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Russia Sends 3 Iranian Satellites into Orbit, Report Says

In this photo released by Roscosmos space corporation on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, the Soyuz-2.1b rocket blasts off at the Vostochny cosmodrome outside the city of Tsiolkovsky, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far eastern Amur region, Russia. A Russian Soyuz rocket successfully put an Iranian satellite into orbit along with 18 Russian satellites on Thursday. (Roscosmos space corporation via AP)
In this photo released by Roscosmos space corporation on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, the Soyuz-2.1b rocket blasts off at the Vostochny cosmodrome outside the city of Tsiolkovsky, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far eastern Amur region, Russia. A Russian Soyuz rocket successfully put an Iranian satellite into orbit along with 18 Russian satellites on Thursday. (Roscosmos space corporation via AP)

Russia on Sunday sent three Iranian communications satellites into orbit, the second such launch since July, Iranian state television reported.

The report said that a Russian rocket sent the satellites to circle the Earth on a 500-kilometer (310-mile) orbit from the Vostochny launchpad in eastern Russia. The three satellites are dubbed Paya, Kowsar and Zafar-2.

The report said that Paya, weighing 150 kilograms (330 pounds), is the heaviest satellite that Iran has ever deployed into orbit. Kowsar weighs 35 kilograms (77 pounds), but the report didn't specify how heavy Zafar-2 is.

The satellites feature up to 3-meter resolution images, applicable in the management of water resources, agriculture and the environment. Their life span is up to five years.

Russia occasionally sends Iran's satellites into orbit, highlighting the strong ties between the two countries. In July, a Russian rocket sent Iranian communications satellite Nahid-2 into orbit.

Russia, which signed a “strategic partnership” treaty with Iran in January, strongly condemned the Israeli and US strikes on Iran that came during a 12-day air war in June and killed nearly 1,100 Iranians, including military commanders and nuclear scientists. Retaliatory missile barrages by Iran killed 28 people in Israel.

As a long-standing project, Iran from time-to-time launches satellite carriers to send its satellites into space.

The United States has said that Iran’s satellite launches defy a UN Security Council resolution and called on Tehran to undertake no activity involving ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. UN sanctions related to Iran’s ballistic missile program expired in 2023.