03-31 00:00 · 中东,局势,AlJazeera,中东
White House’s Karoline Leavitt says passing the conflict’s costs off to regional states is ‘an idea’ Donald Trump has.
The White House has suggested that US President Donald Trump will ask Arab countries to cover the cost of the United States’ war against Iran, estimated to be in the tens of billions of dollars.
Trump’s spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, was asked on Monday whether Arab states should pay for the war, as when US allies helped fund Washington’s intervention during the Gulf War in 1990.
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“I think it’s something the president would be quite interested in calling them to do,” Leavitt told reporters.
“I won’t get ahead of him on that, but certainly it’s an idea that I know that he has, and something that I think you’ll hear more from him on.”
The US led a global coalition of dozens of countries during the Gulf War to fend off Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait at the request of the country and several of its Arab neighbours.
In turn, states in the region and coalition members, including Germany and Japan, raised $54bn (the equivalent of $134bn today) to help pay for the US involvement.
This time, however, the US and Israel went to war with Iran unilaterally without involving their allies and regional countries.
Earlier this month, Sean Hannity, a right-wing commentator close to Trump, said any ceasefire deal should include making Iran pay for the cost of the war, which has killed nearly 2,000 Iranians.
“They must agree to repay America in oil for the entire cost of this entire military operation,” Hannity said.
However, Iran has set US compensation for war damage as one of its conditions.
Iran has retaliated against US and Israeli strikes with missile and drone attacks across the entire Middle East.
Iranian officials have said they are targeting US assets in the region, but Tehran has launched attacks against civilian sites, including hotels, airports and energy infrastructure, in several Gulf countries.
US media outlets reported earlier this month that officials told members of the US Congress in a classified hearing that the first six days of the war cost $11.3bn.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated that the number rose to $16.5bn by day 12 of the conflict. The bill is likely far higher now as the war enters its 31st day.
The White House is seeking at least $200bn in additional military spending from Congress to help fund the military campaign in Iran and replenish the Pentagon’s munition stockpiles.
Beyond the immediate price tag for the US military, the war – which saw Iran close down the Strait of Hormuz – has sent global energy prices soaring.
The average price of one gallon (3.8 litres) of petrol in the US is now $3.99, according to an American Automobile Association (AAA) tracker, more than $1 higher than before the war started.
On Monday, Leavitt reiterated the Trump administration’s assertion that the surge in energy prices will be outweighed by the gains of weakening Iran.
“The overall message, as we repeatedly stated again: These are short-term actions and short-term price fluctuations for the long-term benefit of ending the threat that Iran poses to the United States of America, our troops and our allies in the region,” she told reporters.
Iran argues that it was attacked first in the middle of diplomatic talks, and it did not pose a threat to the US or the region.
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03-31 00:00 · 中东,局势,AlJazeera,中东
Legal expert says targeting civilian sites would be ‘collective punishment’, which is prohibited under laws of war.
Donald Trump has renewed his threat to “blow up” a range of civilian infrastructure in Iran, including all of the country’s desalination plants, in a move that would threaten the water source for millions of people and that experts say would be illegal.
The United States president has been regularly warning Iran about possible US strikes against energy and electricity facilities, but on Monday, he added water stations to the list of targets.
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“The United States of America is in serious discussions with A NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME to end our Military Operations in Iran,” Trump wrote in a social media post.
He added that “great progress” has been made in the talks.
“But, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately ‘Open for Business,’ we will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet ‘touched’,” the US president said.
International law explicitly bans making civilian sites the “object of attack or of reprisals”.
Yusra Suedi, assistant professor in international law at the University of Manchester, said Trump’s threat “reinforces the climate of impunity around collective punishment in warfare”.
“This is clearly an act of collective punishment, which is prohibited under international humanitarian law. You can’t deliberately harm an entire civilian population to pressure its government,” Suedi told Al Jazeera.
Fears of collective punishment and war crimes
The Fourth Geneva Convention says: “Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.”
Raed Jarrar, advocacy director at the rights group DAWN, said Trump’s threats represent “clear, public evidence of criminal intent”.
“Threatening to obliterate a nation’s power grid, oil infrastructure and water supply to coerce its government is not a negotiating tactic; it is textbook collective punishment and a war crime,” Jarrar told Al Jazeera.
The White House said later on Monday that Trump has made it clear to Iranians that the US has “capabilities beyond their wildest imagination”.
Asked about the illegality of targeting civilian sites, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters: “This administration and the United States Armed Forces will always act within the confines of the law.”
Annie Shiel, US Director at Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC), described Trump’s threats as “appalling”.
“President Trump is threatening to destroy infrastructure — like electrical and water facilities — that is essential for civilian survival,” Shiel told Al Jazeera.
“The impacts of such attacks would be devastating and widespread: think hospitals without power for life-saving care, illnesses from a lack of clean water, and people completely cut off from communications, unable to reach loved ones or access emergency information.”
Trump first issued a threat to target Iran’s electrical grid and energy infrastructure on March 21 while also giving Tehran a 48-hour deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
The US president later pushed the deadline back by five days before extending it again until April 6.
Over the past week, Trump has insisted that Iran is “begging” to make a deal and talks between Washington and Tehran are under way.
While Tehran has acknowledged receiving a 15-point ceasefire proposal from Washington through intermediaries, several Iranian officials have denied direct negotiations with the US.
US timeline ‘does remain’
Both Iran and the US have suggested that they are winning the war. Leavitt said on Monday that the initial timeline of four to six week that the Pentagon had set out for concluding the war “does remain”. The conflict is in its fifth week.
Despite the killing of several top Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, by the US and Israel, there is no public evidence to back Trump’s claim that there is a new government in the country.
Khamenei was replaced by his son Mojtaba, an appointment that Trump denounced.
Despite Trump’s frequent threats, Iran has continued to fire missiles and drones across the region and to close down the Strait of Hormuz, sending energy prices soaring across the world.
The Iranian ruling system has not faced any major antigovernment protests or defections during the conflict as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spearheads the country’s war effort.
So far, Trump’s threats to “obliterate” Iran’s civilian infrastructure have not deterred Tehran’s strikes or affected the defiance Iranian officials are expr
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03-31 00:00 · 中东,局势,AlJazeera,中东
Rights groups denounce Israeli legislation as a violation of international law that puts Palestinian prisoners at risk.
Israeli Knesset approves death penalty for Palestinians
Human rights groups and Palestinian leaders have condemned Israel’s passage of a law approving the use of the death penalty against Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks, calling the measure a violation of international law and inherently discriminatory.
The legislation, passed on Monday by Israel’s Parliament, the Knesset, makes the death penalty by hanging the default punishment for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank who have been found guilty of killing Israelis.
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It was championed by far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who was seen celebrating with champagne in the parliamentary chamber after the law was passed with 62 votes to 48.
“We made history,” Ben-Gvir wrote in a social media post rejecting international calls to withdraw the legislation. “And I say to the people of the European Union who have applied pressure and threatened the State of Israel: We are not afraid, we will not submit,” he said.
The legislation comes amid a surge in Israeli military and settler attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank, as well as thousands of arrests, in the shadow of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel said it had filed an appeal against the law with Israel’s Supreme Court.
Here’s a quick look at how rights advocates and leaders have reacted to the death penalty law:
Palestinian Authority
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the legislation as a “dangerous escalation”.
In a social media post, the ministry stressed that “Israel has no sovereignty over Palestinian land” in the occupied territory.
“This law once again reveals the nature of the Israeli colonial system, which seeks to legitimise extrajudicial killing under legislative cover,” it said.
Hamas
The Palestinian group slammed the passage of the death penalty law as a “dangerous precedent that threatens the lives” of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
“This decision reaffirms the [Israeli] occupation and its leaders’ contempt for international law and their disregard for all humanitarian norms and conventions,” Hamas said in a statement.
The group called on the international community, including the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, to take immediate action to protect Palestinian prisoners from Israel’s “brutality”.
Mustafa Barghouti, Palestinian National Initiative secretary-general
Barghouti warned of the “seriousness” of the legislation, which he said would target Palestinian political prisoners and activists.
In a post on X, he also said that “proposing such an unjust and inhuman law reflects the depth of the fascist shift within the Israeli system, amid the international community’s failure to impose punitive measures against it”.
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
The Gaza-based rights organisation said it condemned the law “in the strongest terms”.
“This law targets Palestinians and entrenches Israel’s long-standing policy of extrajudicial execution under the guise of law, in clear violation of international human rights and humanitarian law,” the PCHR said in a social media post.
The group called on the international community “to urgently intervene” in defence of Palestinian prisoners, while warning that “silence and inaction will only further deepen impunity and erode the rules-based international order”.
UN Human Rights Office
The UN Human Rights Office in Palestine called on Israel to “immediately repeal the discriminatory death penalty law”, noting that the measure violates the country’s obligations under international law.
“The United Nations opposes the death penalty under all circumstances. The implementation of this new law would violate international law’s prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment,” the office said on X.
“Additionally, this law further entrenches Israel’s violation of the prohibition of racial segregation and apartheid as it will exclusively apply to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Israel, who are often convicted after unfair trials.”
Amnesty International
The global human rights group called on the Israeli authorities to repeal the law, which it described as “a public display of cruelty, discrimination and utter contempt for human rights”.
Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s senior director of research, advocacy, policy and campaigns, noted that the law’s passage comes just weeks after Israel dropped all charges against soldiers accused of sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee.
“For years, we have seen an alarming pattern of apparent extrajudicial executions and other unlawful killings of Palestinians – with the perpetrators also enjoying near-total impunity,”
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03-31 00:00 · 中东,局势,AlJazeera,中东
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio tells Al Jazeera that Iran will never possess a nuclear weapon.
Iran war updates: Marco Rubio tells Al Jazeera that Trump prefers diplomacy
These were the updates on the US-Israeli war on Iran on Monday, March 30, 2026,
Published On 30 Mar 2026
|Updated: 31 Mar 2026 (00:12 GMT)
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03-31 00:00 · 中东,局势,BBC,中东
The Israeli PM says Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa had been asked not to enter the church over concerns about Iranian strikes.
Latin Patriarch will have access to Jerusalem holy site after police stopped entry
Israel's prime minister has said the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem will now have "full and immediate access" to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, after police earlier prevented him from celebrating Palm Sunday Mass there.
Benjamin Netanyahu said Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, had been asked not to enter out of concern for his safety as Iran had repeatedly targeted Jerusalem's holy sites with missiles.
The decision to block the cardinal from entering Christianity's most sacred site had been criticised by several Western nations.
Israel's police later said it had agreed a "mutual framework" with the Latin Patriarch for Easter celebrations.
On Sunday, Cardinal Pizzaballa and the Reverend Francesco Ielpo were stopped outside the church, believed to be the site of Jesus Christ's crucifixion, as they were planning to hold a Mass to mark the start of Holy Week, Church authorities said.
Cardinal Pizzaballa's office said it was "the first time in centuries" a Latin Patriarch had been turned away from the holy site on Palm Sunday, which marks Christ's return to Jerusalem.
He and Rev Ielpo had been "compelled" to turn back from the church, where Christ was also believed to have been buried and subsequently resurrected, it said.
A statement from the patriarchate on Sunday said: "This incident is a grave precedent and disregards the sensibilities of billions of people around the world, who during this week, look to Jerusalem."
But in a later statement, released on Monday, Cardinal Pizzaballa's office said the matter had been "addressed and resolved" and expressed "sincere gratitude" to Israel's President Isaac Herzog for intervening in the matter.
The cardinal's office said it hoped "appropriate arrangements will continue to be found, enabling prayer to take place in places of worship, particularly in the holy places of all religions".
This was a matter of "profound importance to hundreds of millions of believers", it added.
Before the decision was made to allow Cardinal Pizzaballa full access to the church, Netanyahu had said worshippers of "all faiths" had been asked not to visit sites in Jerusalem's Old City while it was being targeted, and that police had acted out of "special" safety concerns in this instance.
Israeli police said all holy sites in the Old City had been closed to worshippers since the US-Israel war against Iran began on 28 February for security reasons, and that it had rejected the patriarchate's request for an exemption on Palm Sunday.
The traditional Palm Sunday procession into the city had already been cancelled due to restrictions on public gatherings.
Netanyahu said holy sites belonging to Christian, Jewish and Muslim worshippers alike had been "repeatedly targeted" by Iranian missiles in recent days.
"In one strike, missile fragments crashed meters from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre," he said in a statement on X, adding that Sunday's decision involved "no malicious intent whatsoever".
Then, late on Sunday night, Netanyahu announced he had instructed relevant authorities to grant the Latin Patriarch "full and immediate access" to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre so he can "hold services as he wishes".
Israel's police said on Monday that officers had met Cardinal Pizzaballa to work out how to accomodate Easter ceremonies, and that the Holy Fire - the lighting of a flame at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on the Saturday before Easter - would be held in a "symbolic, limited format".
The force added: "This co-ordination ensures that freedom of worship is maintained alongside our shared, primary duty: the protection of human life."
The initial decision to bar the Latin Patriarch from the holy site attracted criticism from several countries, including some of Israel's allies.
The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, said on Sunday that the move to stop the cardinal from accessing the church was "difficult to understand or justify", before crediting the Israeli government for resolving the matter.
A US state department spokesperson later told the BBC that it encouraged the Israeli government to "facilitate the safe observance of Holy Week", while noting "the difficult security conditions in Jerusalem that have arisen from Iran's ongoing, indiscriminate missile attacks".
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni criticised the lack of access as "an offence not only against believers but against every community that recognises religious freedom".
French President Emmanuel Macron had likewise condemned the move and said it came in the context of "the worrying increase in violations of the status of the holy places in Jerusalem".
"Freedom to hold religious rites in Jerusalem must be ensured for all religions," he said in a statement on X.
And Pope Leo XIV, speaking in Rome on Sunday, paid tribute to "the Christians of the Middle East, who suffer the consequences of a t
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03-31 00:00 · 中东,局势,BBC,中东
It is the second fatal incident in the last 24 hours, Unifil says, after Israel expanded its operation against Hezbollah.
Two Indonesian UN peacekeepers killed in explosion in Lebanon
Two Indonesian peacekeepers were killed in southern Lebanon on Monday when an "explosion of unknown origin destroyed their vehicle", the UN agency tasked with policing the region has said.
A third peacekeeper was "severely" injured in the explosion, and a fourth was hurt, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) said on Monday.
Initial findings suggest a roadside explosion struck their convoy, UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said the following day.
It was the second fatal incident in 24 hours, Unifil noted. A peacekeeper - who was also Indonesian - was killed on Sunday when a projectile, also of unknown origin, exploded in Adchit Al Qusayr, southern Lebanon.
Unifil said it had launched investigations to determine what happened in both incidents.
Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militia as well as a political party, has fired rockets into Israel in retaliation for the ongoing US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
In a statement on Telegram, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said the incidents were being "thoroughly reviewed in order to clarify the circumstances and determine whether they resulted from Hezbollah activity or from IDF activity."
"It should be noted these incidents occurred in an active combat area. Therefore, it should not be assumed that incidents in which UNIFIL soldiers were harmed were caused by the IDF."
Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, said the peacekeepers were "soldiers sent there on behalf of the international community... and everyone needs to ensure that they are protected and never targeted".
He urged Lebanon and Israel to use the Unifil mechanism for dialogue, saying "the bottom line is that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon needs to be respected".
Separately, the IDF said early on Tuesday that four of its soldiers had been killed in combat in southern Lebanon.
Another soldier was severely wounded and a reservist moderately wounded, the IDF said.
Unifil said of the two deaths on Monday: "We extend our sincerest condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of those brave peacekeepers who gave their lives in service of peace."
It said under international law, "all actors" had an obligation to ensure the "safety and security" on UN personnel.
"Deliberate attacks" on peacekeepers were "grave violations" of international humanitarian law, Unifil said.
"The human cost of this conflict is far too high. The violence, as we have said before, must end."
After the soldier was killed on Sunday, the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) reaffirmed its commitment to the peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, according to the government-owned news agency Antara.
"We remain committed to carrying out our duties as part of the world peacekeeping mission under the mandate of the United Nations (UN) professionally and responsibly, while prioritising the safety of our soldiers," Major General Aulia Dwi Nasrullah told Antara.
Antara named the soldier killed on Sunday as Chief Private Farizal Rhomadhon.
Unifil was created by the UN Security Council in 1978, and has since served as a buffer between Israel and Lebanon.
The peacekeeping force patrols the "Blue Line" - the de facto border between Lebanon and Israel, in collaboration with the Lebanese army.
Around 339 peacekeepers have been killed since the mission was established.
Despite a November 2024 ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, brokered after violence flared between the two over the war in Gaza, Israel has conducted near-daily strikes on Hezbollah targets.
It says the armed group has not abided by the terms of the ceasefire - under which Hezbollah was meant to disarm and leave its positions in the south - and has accused Unifil and the Lebanese army of not doing enough to remove its militants from the region.
Since the ceasefire began, 1,238 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese health ministry, including 124 children.
Ghanaian Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa did not say who was responsible when speaking at a Commonwealth meeting on Sunday but said the bombing was "an attack on every principle that the UN Charter exists to defend".
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03-31 00:00 · 国际,新闻,BBC,国际
Fans, who paid up to $450 (£340), complained of a grey convention centre backdrop and a "swag bag" that included only a plastic pouch with a Barbie hand sanitiser.
Barbie Dream Fest in Florida to issue refunds after fan complaints
The organisers of the Barbie Dream Fest weekend in Florida are issuing refunds to attendees after customers complained of a lacklustre event.
The creators of the event promised "unforgettable experiences", and advertised a roller rink and disco with a caption that read: "Join us for three days of glam, nostalgia, and dream-big energy made for Barbie fans of every generation."
But ticketholders, who paid up to $450 (£340), say it was far from that. Photos of the event show a grey convention centre space with pink cardboard cut-out Barbie signs.
Mattel, which owns the Barbie brand, said that full refunds would be given to everyone who purchased tickets.
One attendee, Michael Gorey, who flew to the event from Ohio for a spring break trip with his daughters and wife, told the Times that upon entering the concrete event space, he thought: "Is this it? Like, did I miss something?"
Others took to social media to air their complaints.
"This event sucks," one user wrote on Reddit. "The 'life size Barbie dream house' is a cheap backdrop with a picnic table on some fake turf/grass."
Hell Hotel, a burlesque group who attended the event, told the BBC that they were "expecting much more based on what was advertised to us through their social media channels".
They say that young women in their 20s and 30s were advertising the event on social media, but in reality many of the experiences at the convention were height restricted and "for children up to eight years old".
"There were empty halls, maybe 14 vendors, lack of things to do for all ages and especially a lack of events for our demographic," the group said.
"Barbie Dream Fest was created by Mischief Management, which licensed the Barbie brand from Mattel," the company said.
"We are working with Mischief Management, who are managing attendee feedback and issuing full refunds to everyone who purchased tickets. We want every fan experience to be an excellent one."
Mischief Management, meanwhile, said in a statement to the BBC that it appreciated "the passion and engagement from the Barbie community".
"Barbie Dream Fest was created as an intimate fan convention designed to foster meaningful connection, inspiration, and closer access to Barbie and her world. We will be providing full refunds to everyone who purchased tickets."
A day pass to the event cost $72 for adults and $33 for children - and as much as $250 for a three-day pass with a "swag bag" comprised of a plastic pouch with Barbie hand sanitiser.
Instead, eager fans who turned up at the event, located in an industrial area of the Scottish city, described it as "little more than an abandoned, empty warehouse".
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03-31 00:00 · 国际,新闻,BBC,国际
Regulator eSafety says it has concerns about how Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube are complying with the ban.
Social media firms must better enforce Australia under-16 ban, watchdog says
The world's biggest social media companies are not doing enough to keep children in Australia off their platforms, the country's internet regulator says, despite a law that came into effect late last year.
The legislation banned users under 16 from 10 platforms, but eSafety says it has "significant concerns" about the compliance of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube.
Australia's ban - which is being closely watched by countries like the UK - was justified by campaigners and the government as necessary to protect children from harmful content and addictive algorithms.
Firms like Meta and Snap believe the approach is flawed, but say they're doing the best they can to comply.
These include:
- Giving children who had declared they were aged under 16 before the ban the chance to show that they were, in fact, over 16
- Enabling under-16s to repeatedly "attempt the same age assurance method"
- Insufficient measures to prevent new under-16s creating accounts
- Not providing effective ways for parents and others to report under-16s who still had access to social media
Limited data has been released since the ban came into force. In January, the regulator said 4.7 million accounts had been restricted or removed in the first month since the law took effect on December 10.
"While social media platforms have taken some initial action, I am concerned through our compliance monitoring that some may not be doing enough to comply with Australian law," Australia's eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said.
The regulator – which had until now been monitoring the situation – says it will begin enforcing the restrictions and gathering evidence.
"The evidence must establish the platform has not taken reasonable steps to prevent children aged under 16 from having an account," Inman Grant said.
"That means more than simply demonstrating some children do still have accounts. Rather, the evidence must show the platform has not implemented appropriate systems and processes."
The BBC has contacted all of the social media companies for comment.
A spokesperson for Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Threads, said that the company is "committed to complying with Australia's social media ban". It also noted that accurate age determination is a "challenge for the whole industry" and argue that "robust age verification and parental approval" at the app store level is the most effective approach to protect young people.
Snap, which developed Snapchat, said it had locked 450,000 accounts and "continue to lock more every day".
While Australia's ban was brought in with huge fanfare, it is widely acknowledged that many under-16s continue to use the 10 platforms covered by the law: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, Reddit, and streaming platforms Kick and Twitch.
When the BBC visited a school in Sydney last month, the majority of students who used social media before the ban still had access. Some claimed they had not been asked to prove their age, while others said they had got around the age assurance methods.
One pupil claimed that, of 180 girls in her year group, she was aware of only three who had been booted off platforms.
Parents across Australia have widely supported the policy. For many, having the government on their side helps when they are at loggerheads with pre-teens desperate to get onto social media.
But there are plenty of critics, with technology experts and child wellbeing advocates saying children need to be educated on the potential harms on the platforms rather than banned from them.
And many question the ban's enforceability and say it unfairly excludes minority groups such as rural kids, disabled teenagers and those who identify as LGBTQ+ - all of whom are more likely to find their communities online.
On Tuesday, the eSafety commissioner said the reform was "unwinding 20 years of entrenched social media practices".
"Durable, generational change takes time - but these platforms have the capability to comply today," Inman Grant said.
"While the onus is on age-restricted platforms to take reasonable steps to keep children under 16 from having accounts, parents are proving pivotal partners in this cultural reset.
"We have heard from parents who have said the law is empowering them to say no to requests by their kids to have social media accounts.
"Any cultural change that pushes against the powerful interests and revenue potential of entrenched industry players - whether car manufacturers, Big Tobacco or Big Tech. Those players will push back but we continue to push ahead."
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03-31 00:00 · 国际,新闻,BBC,国际
The new law, passed on Monday, was pushed hard by the far-right and Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Palestinians convicted of lethal attacks face death penalty under new Israeli law
Israel's parliament has approved a law that would make the death penalty the default sentence for Palestinians convicted of deadly terror attacks.
Critics, including UN human rights chief Volker Türk, have described the new law as discriminatory. Türk also said its application would "constitute a war crime".
The new law passed its third and final reading in the Knesset by 62 votes to 48 on Monday, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voting in favour.
The bill stipulates that Palestinians convicted in Israeli military courts of carrying out deadly attacks deemed to be "acts of terrorism" would be executed by hanging within 90 days, with a possible postponement of up to 180 days.
In theory, Jewish Israelis could also be executed under the law - but in practice this almost certainly would not happen, as the death penalty could only be carried out where the intention of the attack was to "negate the existence of the state of Israel".
The legislation was pushed hard by the far-right, with the National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir its driving force. After the vote, he posted on X: "We made history!!! We promised. We delivered."
A member of Ben-Gvir's party, Limor Son-Har-Melech, who survived an attack by Palestinian gunmen in which her husband was killed, argued that the law was necessary, citing the example of how one of her husband's killers was later released and went on to take part in the 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel.
During the debate in the Knesset, she said: "For years, we endured a cruel cycle of terror, imprisonment, release in reckless deals, and the return of these human monsters to murder Jews again."
But Yair Golan, the leader of opposition Democrats party, criticised the legislation and said it would lead to international sanctions.
"The death penalty law for terrorists is an unnecessary piece of legislation designed to get Ben-Gvir more likes," he said. "It does not contribute one ounce to Israel's security."
Speaking the day after the vote, Turk, the UN's high commissioner for human rights, said the bill was "patently inconsistent with Israel's international law obligations".
"The death penalty is profoundly difficult to reconcile with human dignity, and it raises the unacceptable risk of executing innocent people," he said in a statement.
"Its application in a discriminatory manner would constitute an additional, particularly egregious violation of international law. Its application to residents of the occupied Palestinian territory would constitute a war crime."
Ahead of the vote, the UK, France, Germany and Italy expressed their "deep concern", saying the bill risked "undermining Israel's commitments with regard to democratic principles".
The Palestinian Authority, which administers the West Bank, condemned the law, saying it "seeks to legitimise extrajudicial killing under legislative cover".
And Hamas, which controls Gaza, said in a statement on Monday evening that the approval of the bill "threatens the lives" of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, and called on the international community to "ensure the protection of our prisoners".
Amnesty International urged Israeli authorities to repeal the new law. "Israel is brazenly granting itself carte blanche to execute Palestinians while stripping away the most basic fair-trial safeguards", said Erika Guevara-Rosas, the rights group's senior director of research, advocacy, policy and campaigns.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel has already petitioned the country's Supreme Court against the law.
"The law is unconstitutional, discriminatory by design and - for West Bank Palestinians - enacted without legal authority," it said in a statement.
The Supreme Court will now have to consider whether to hear the challenge to the bill.
Israel has only executed two people in its history - one of them the infamous Nazi official Adolf Eichmann, who played an important role in perpetrating the Holocaust.
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03-31 00:00 · 国际,新闻,BBC,国际
Ukraine's president says partners asked if the attacks could be "reduced" as prices soar due to the Iran war.
Zelensky says allies asked him to scale back attacks on Russian energy
Volodymyr Zelensky has said Ukraine's allies have urged him to scale back attacks on Russia's energy infrastructure amid the ongoing global fuel crisis - but that they would only end if Russia stopped targeting Ukraine's first.
The Ukrainian president told journalists in a WhatsApp voice message that, by launching attacks on Russia's energy system, Ukraine was only responding in kind.
It is unclear which countries he may have been referring to. China and India remain heavily dependent on Russian oil, and the EU on Russian gas.
Zelensky's comments come amid a string of long-range Ukrainian strikes on Russia's energy sector, including the key oil export terminal at the port of Ust-Luga outside St Petersburg.
"We have received messages from some of our partners asking about how our responses against Russia's oil sector - the energy sector - can be reduced," Zelensky said in the voice message.
"If Russia is ready not to strike Ukraine's energy, then we'll respond by not attacking theirs."
In response to surging energy prices triggered by the war in Iran and Tehran's effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz - a key shipping route - the US recently eased some sanctions it had imposed on Russian oil.
China and India remain the largest buyers of Russian crude oil, though, accounting for 85% of its exports in February, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
Meanwhile, the EU is the largest buyer of Russian gas (34%) and LNG (49%).
After relentless Russian attacks on Ukraine's oil refineries, the latter now heavily relies on fuel imports - largely via Poland, Greece, Lithuania and Turkey.
Almost half of Ukraine's gas imports used to come from Hungary, but they were seemingly suspended Budapest accused Kyiv of stalling the repair of a pipeline carrying oil from Russia over it holding up an EU loan
The key targets of Ukraine's deep strikes on Russian energy infrastructure and the impact they have are a closely guarded secret, meaning there's little clarity there as well.
While strikes on Ukraine's energy have been in the news recently, defence factories have been hit as well.
Further attacks on the terminal took place overnight into Tuesday, according to Russian and Ukrainian officials. Local governor Alexander Drozdenko said there had been some damage and three people were hurt, including two children.
Last week, Zelensky visited Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Jordan - all of which have been marauded by Iranian aerial attacks.
During the tour, he offered Ukraine's drone technology and expertise, and sought assistance in protecting Ukraine against Russian missile attacks.
While surging global oil prices mean an injection of cash into Russia's war economy, they also threaten Ukraine's ability to fight.
Responding to a BBC question on Saturday, Zelensky said the Ukrainian army had enough fuel for now, but that he had sought to secure more during his tour of the Gulf.
He also said that Ukraine, which successfully beat back Russia's attempts to stop grain exports via the Black Sea, had useful experience of unblocking trade routes when it came to the Strait of Hormuz.
Russian attacks have caused severe damage to Ukraine's energy system, in particular leaving more than a million people without electricity and heating in winter.
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