Israel's air-defense system intercepts two rockets fired from Gaza strip

Israeli army on Friday intercepted two rockets fired from the Gaza strip, while the third rocket fell near the Gaza border.
The Anadolu Agency quoted an Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth as saying that air-raid sirens were sounded in the border communities of Sdot Negev and Shaar Hanegev.

"The Iron Dome air-defense system intercepted two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip," the newspaper reported.

"A third rocket landed on a structure in the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council in southern Israel," it added.

No casualties or material damage was reported.

United States President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital has prompted international criticism and sparked protests across the world.

Jerusalem is considered a sacred place, which is home to Jewish, Christian and Muslim holy sites.

However, it is also a disputed territory, contested by both Israel and Palestine, which sees it as a capital of its future state.
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Justice in Syria: 5 ways to prosecute international crime

The conflict in Syria has seen atrocities committed by all sides for six long years. Barbarities are an everyday occurrence.

There are rules governing the conduct of warring parties. The 1949 Geneva Conventions form the core of international humanitarian law. Violating these rules is a war crime. Some atrocities go even beyond this level of criminality. Genocide, for instance, is an international crime in itself, while the systematic killing of political opposition would constitute a crime against humanity.

The existence of these offences counts for little, of course, unless the law is enforced. This raises the question: is there any way of prosecuting any side of the Syrian conflict? These are some options that could help inform the way forward.

1. International Criminal Court investigation

The International Criminal Court (ICC), based in the Hague, is designed to prosecute “the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole”. So perhaps it could act in Syria.

The court operates on a consensual basis, so that (perhaps counterintuitively) states must sign up to it to allow the exercise of ICC jurisdiction. Syria is not a party to the court.

There is a workaround though. The ICC can investigate international crimes in any country if the UN Security Council requests it to do so. This happened to Sudan in 2005 and Libya in 2011. Despite best efforts by lobbying states, the same has not happened in the case of Syria. Both Russia and China blocked a proposed referral in 2014 and there is little sign of them changing their minds.
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Donald Trump to visit China this year to boost Sino-US ties

US President Donald Trump is likely to visit China this year with an agenda to further improve the economic ties and "reduce conflicts" between the two countries.

The move comes after the US-China relationship showed significant growth after Trump's first ever meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the former's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida last month.

Jinping had then told the US president that there were "a thousand reasons" to make the Sino-US ties work and "no reason" to break them.

He had also invited Trump to visit China during the meeting.

"President Trump is looking forward to and hopefully would be able to reach agreement in areas where we have not been able to reach an agreement today for the strengthening of the (US-China) relationship which will again allow us to try and reduce as much conflict and create more economic opportunities for the people," a senior Trump administration official said.

While no date has been fixed for the visit so far, it has been in the discussion stage for quite sometime now.

"It's something that we have been discussing. We have been making progress in our discussion. I think the US-China relationship is right now showing signs of really been stronger than it has been in the long time," the official said on the condition of anonymity.

"I think that stems from the fact that President Trump and President Xi (Jinping) were able to spend a lot of time together (at mar-a-Lago) and find areas where there is a lot of common objectives. I think they have been working together towards those objectives.

"Both are leaders who do not think in short term, but in long term and are trying to create the right framework for the US-China relationship to last for the duration. I would imagine that he would make a trip to China," the official said.

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