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Israel Finance Minister Says ICC Seeks Arrest Warrant Against Him

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich speaks at a press conference regarding settlements expansion for the long-frozen E1 settlement, that would split East Jerusalem from the occupied West Bank, near the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, August 14, 2025. (Reuters)
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich speaks at a press conference regarding settlements expansion for the long-frozen E1 settlement, that would split East Jerusalem from the occupied West Bank, near the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, August 14, 2025. (Reuters)
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Israel Finance Minister Says ICC Seeks Arrest Warrant Against Him

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich speaks at a press conference regarding settlements expansion for the long-frozen E1 settlement, that would split East Jerusalem from the occupied West Bank, near the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, August 14, 2025. (Reuters)
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich speaks at a press conference regarding settlements expansion for the long-frozen E1 settlement, that would split East Jerusalem from the occupied West Bank, near the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, August 14, 2025. (Reuters)

Israel's far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said Tuesday that the International Criminal Court prosecutor has requested an arrest warrant against him, accusing the Palestinian Authority of pushing for the move.

Smotrich said he would retaliate by ordering the evacuation of the Palestinian Bedouin community of Khan al-Ahmar in the occupied West Bank.

"Last night I was informed that the criminal prosecutor of the antisemitic court in The Hague has filed a request for an international arrest warrant against me," Smotrich told a news conference broadcast on his X account Monday.

"As a sovereign and independent state, we do not accept hypocritical dictates from biased bodies that time and again take a stand against the State of Israel," he added, without disclosing the charges for which the warrant has been requested.

The ICC prosecutor's office said it was "unable to comment on media speculation or questions related to any alleged application for a warrant of arrest".

In November 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, to face accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity over Israel's actions during its war against Hamas in Gaza.

- 'Declaration of war' -

"Immediately upon the conclusion of my remarks here, we will sign an order to evacuate Khan al-Ahmar," Smotrich said, calling the warrant request "a declaration of war".

More than 750 people live in the community of Khan al-Ahmar, around 10 kilometers east of Jerusalem's Old City in the central West Bank and surrounded by Israeli settlements.

The Palestinian Authority's Settlement and Wall Resistance Commission urged the international community to stop the move.

"Targeting Khan al-Ahmar is part of a long-term strategic settlement project... through which Israel seeks to create complete settlement contiguity that would separate the northern West Bank from its south," the commission's minister, Muayad Shaaban, was quoted as saying.

Peace Now, an Israeli settlement watchdog, also denounced the move.

"The Minister of Expulsion and Annexation seeks to take revenge on The Hague and the international community at the expense of one of the most vulnerable communities," it said.

Khan al-Ahmar sits near land Israel plans to use for its controversial E1 development project that would facilitate settlement expansion in the area near Jerusalem.

Smotrich, who lives in a settlement himself, is a staunch proponent of Israel annexing the West Bank.

"Under this government, we see that for the first time they've approved the very sensitive and significant plan of E1, and they're going ahead with plans to annex that entire region," Lior Amihai, Peace Now's executive director, told AFP.

"In order for them to annex the entire region, they need to also expel the Palestinian communities from there and Khan al-Ahmar is one of them," he added.

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World

Prosecutor: Iranians Spied on London-based Journalists 'on Behalf of' Tehran

Police officers patrol outside Woolwich Crown Court as the trial of three Iranian nationals, charged with spying offenses on behalf of Iran's foreign intelligence service, takes place in London, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Police officers patrol outside Woolwich Crown Court as the trial of three Iranian nationals, charged with spying offenses on behalf of Iran's foreign intelligence service, takes place in London, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
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Prosecutor: Iranians Spied on London-based Journalists 'on Behalf of' Tehran

Police officers patrol outside Woolwich Crown Court as the trial of three Iranian nationals, charged with spying offenses on behalf of Iran's foreign intelligence service, takes place in London, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Police officers patrol outside Woolwich Crown Court as the trial of three Iranian nationals, charged with spying offenses on behalf of Iran's foreign intelligence service, takes place in London, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Three Iranian men went on trial Tuesday charged with spying for Iran, allegedly laying the ground for a violent attack against at least one London-based journalist.

The Iranian nationals visited addresses linked to people including two journalists working for the Farsi-language Iran International television news network, which Tehran has labelled a terror organization.

Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, Farhad Manesh, 46, and Shapoor Noori, 57, who have all pleaded not guilty, appeared at Woolwich Crown Court in London accompanied by translators.

Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones told the jury the three were accused of conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service, "in other words ... they spied on people of interest to the Iranian regime".

The trio undertook surveillance and reconnaissance between August 2024 and February 2025 with Sepahvand allegedly earmarked to carry out any attack, he said.

The trial would focus on steps taken "on behalf of the Iranian regime to target journalists and others considered to be hostile to or even just critical".

Iran International, which is based in London, had been critical of the Iranian government and supportive of opposition groups, he said.

The three accused did not deny visiting the addresses and taking photos and videos, but Sepahvand said he had been coerced and acted out of fear.

According to AFP, Manesh and Noori told the court they were not aware that what they were doing was to assist the Iranian intelligence services.

Emlyn Jones told the jury their intention was to "locate and target at least two journalists associated with ... Iran International and others".

"Their ultimate objective was that one or more of their targets would be subjected to serious violence, no doubt as retribution for their criticism of the Iranian regime and to try to silence and deter others who might dare to voice their criticism," he added.

The three defendants, all from London, are all charged under the National Security Act.

Sepahvand is also charged with engaging in surveillance, reconnaissance and open-source research with the intention to commit serious violence.

Manesh and Noori are also charged with engaging in surveillance and reconnaissance, with the intention that serious violence would be committed by others.

The trial is expected to last up to six weeks.

World

Pupil Wounds 8 Girls in Istanbul School Knife Attack

30 September 2026, Türkiye, Istanbul: Ships are sailing on the Bosphorus. Photo: Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa
30 September 2026, Türkiye, Istanbul: Ships are sailing on the Bosphorus. Photo: Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa
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Pupil Wounds 8 Girls in Istanbul School Knife Attack

30 September 2026, Türkiye, Istanbul: Ships are sailing on the Bosphorus. Photo: Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa
30 September 2026, Türkiye, Istanbul: Ships are sailing on the Bosphorus. Photo: Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa

A teenage girl wounded eight girls at a middle school in Istanbul on Tuesday, as she reportedly stabbed pupils indiscriminately with a knife, officials said.

The incident occurred around 8:40 am (0540 GMT) at a school in Basaksehir in the northwestern part of the city.

The alleged attacker, said to be a 15-year-old 10th grade student from another school, has been detained by police.

Writing on X, Health Minister Kemal Memisoglu said there were "eight people injured in the incident -- one in critical condition, and two in moderate-to-serious condition," who were being treated in hospital.

Speaking to reporters, Istanbul Governor Davut Gul said the attacker, who was wearing a school uniform, had stabbed the youngsters "indiscriminately".

"Five of pupils sustained minor injuries, they are likely to be discharged later today. Two are in a serious condition. One is currently undergoing surgery," he said.

"The pupil who carried out the attack lives in the same neighborhood and attends a different school. She entered the premises wearing school uniform and stabbed the children indiscriminately."

Basaksehir district governor Cemil Ozgur Onegi, who gave an injured toll of seven, said the attack was carried out by a high school student, AFP reported.

"Seven female students were injured as a result of a knife attack carried out by F.M., a 10th-grade student" from a high school in another district.

Last month, a teenager opened fire outside a school in western Türkiye, wounding 11 pupils, three of whom were seriously hurt, before being arrested.

In April, there were two back-to-back shooting attacks by teenagers on consecutive days in southern Türkiye that shocked the nation and sparked public concerns about security in Turkish schools.

World

Ukrainian Drones Kill Two, Hit Fuel Hub in One of Biggest Attacks on Moscow Region, Russian War Bloggers Say

Rescuers work at a site of a building of a sewing factory damaged by a Russian air strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine in Kharkiv, Ukraine October 5, 2026. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova
Rescuers work at a site of a building of a sewing factory damaged by a Russian air strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine in Kharkiv, Ukraine October 5, 2026. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova
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Ukrainian Drones Kill Two, Hit Fuel Hub in One of Biggest Attacks on Moscow Region, Russian War Bloggers Say

Rescuers work at a site of a building of a sewing factory damaged by a Russian air strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine in Kharkiv, Ukraine October 5, 2026. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova
Rescuers work at a site of a building of a sewing factory damaged by a Russian air strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine in Kharkiv, Ukraine October 5, 2026. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova

Ukrainian drones killed two people and hit a major fuel depot overnight in one of the biggest attacks of the war on Moscow and the surrounding region, Russian military bloggers said.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Ukraine had launched more than 650 drones towards the capital, most of which were shot down.

Andrei Vorobyov, the governor of the Moscow region which surrounds the capital, said that 185 Ukrainian drones had been destroyed or brought down over his region. He said seven people had been injured and that 47 houses, 4 apartments and 3 cars had been damaged, according to Reuters.

Prominent ‌war blogger Yuri ‌Podolyaka said an oil storage tank was hit ‌at ⁠the Volodarskaya oil storage ⁠and distribution facility, the biggest in the Moscow region. The facility stores diesel, gasoline and jet fuel. There was no official confirmation that it had been hit.

Volodarskaya is one of the major hubs in the distribution system of state pipeline monopoly Transneft and is linked to Moscow's main oil refinery. It supplies fuel to all three of the capital's large airports.

A ⁠Ukrainian war blog, Supernova+, published video purporting to show ‌a huge blaze at the site. ‌Reuters could not immediately verify it.

Ukraine has increasingly targeted oil refineries, depots and export ‌terminals in an effort to deprive Moscow of the revenues it ‌needs to finance the war that Russia began in February 2022.

Podolyaka and other Russian bloggers said, without citing evidence, that Ukraine's overnight attack was also intended to hit the Moscow oil refinery in the southeast of the capital, but that ‌Russian air defenses had prevented this.

The refinery, just inside the city ring road, has been hit several times, ⁠most recently ⁠on September 20, the main day of voting in Russia's parliamentary election.

Russia has recently intensified attacks on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, sending waves of missiles and drones by night and day. Its latest targets have included bridges across the Dnipro river.

Vorobyov, the head of the Moscow region, said the body of a 71-year-old man had been pulled from under the rubble of a house and that a 20-year-old man had been killed in a nearby village.

The head of the town of Domodedovo, south of Moscow and home to the country's third-largest airport, said work was under way to restore electricity to villages that had been hit by drones.