Israel ratified a law on Thursday limiting the circumstances in which a prime minister can be removed, despite worries voiced by a government jurist that it may be meant to shield the incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu from any fallout from his corruption trials.
The amended definition for the "incapacity" of national leaders is among legislative measures by the religious-nationalist coalition that have tipped Israel into crisis, with the opposition arguing that judicial independence is in peril.
The coalition says the overhaul is aimed at pushing back against Supreme Court overreach and restoring balance among branches of government.
By a 61-to-47 final vote, the Knesset approved the bill under which prime ministers can be deemed unfit - and compelled to step aside - either if they or three-quarters of cabinet ministers declare them so on physical or psychological grounds.
The stipulations fleshed out a quasi-constitutional "basic law" that provides the government with guidance in the event of a non-functioning prime minister, but which previously lacked details on circumstances that may give rise to such situations.
According to the non-partisan Israel Democracy Institute, the rule had earlier left Netanyahu vulnerable to a possible assertion of his incapacity by Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara, should she perceive an attempt by him to halt his three court cases.
The new law precludes this, IDI senior researcher Amir Fuchs said - while adding that he had considered such a finding by Bararav-Miara to be an unlikely "extreme case".
Netanyahu denies all charges against him, and has cast the trials as a politicised bid to force him from office.
Baharav-Miara, who was appointed by the former, centrist Israeli government - said last month that Netanyahu must stay out of his coalition's push for a judicial overhaul because of what she deemed a conflict of interest arising from his trials.
Baharav-Miara's deputy, Gil Limon, voiced misgivings over the incapacity bill during a Knesset review session on Tuesday.
"What we see before our eyes is a cluster of legislation elements that are most troubling and are being advanced at great speed," Limon said, according to an official transcript.
"They have the potential to serve the personal interests of a man regarding the outcomes of legal proceedings he is facing."
Protests Continue In France As Emmanuel Macron Pushes For Pension Reform
Hundreds of thousands of people were set to strike and demonstrate in France on Thursday after President Emmanuel Macron vowed to push on with a deeply unpopular pension reform despite escalating anger across the country.
Protests against the legislation, which lifts the retirement age by two years to 64, have drawn huge crowds in rallies organised by unions since January.
Labour unions said Thursday's ninth nationwide day of action would draw huge crowds against what they described as Macron's "scorn" and "lies."
Macron drew an angry response from unions and opposition parties on Wednesday when he rejected their calls for him to heed growing popular anger.
"The best response we can give the president is that there are millions of people on strike and in the streets," said Philippe Martinez, who leads the hardline CGT union.
Thursday's strike will see train traffic seriously disrupted, with airports also affected, and teachers among many professions walking off the job, while rolling strikes continue at oil depots and amid garbage collectors.
Most protests have been peaceful, but anger has mounted since the government pushed the bill through parliament without a vote last week.
The past seven nights have seen spontaneous demonstrations in Paris and other cities with rubbish bins set ablaze and scuffles with police.
Speaking on Wednesday, Macron stuck to his guns saying the new law was necessary and would come into force later this year.
He dismissed calls to fire his prime minister, Elisabeth Borne, who has been at the forefront of the pension reform, and sought to turn the page, tasking her with broadening her parliamentary majority and re-engaging with unions.
"He has put more explosives on an already well lit inferno," Socialist Party head Olivier Faure said.
The latest wave of protests represents the most serious challenge to the president's authority since the "Yellow Vest" revolt four years ago. Polls show a wide majority of French opposed to the pension legislation and the government's decision to push it through parliament without a vote.
US Warship "Warned" To Leave South China Sea
Chinese military said it had tracked a US warship in the South China Sea on Thursday and "warned it to leave" waters claimed by Beijing.
China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, a strategic waterway through which trillions of dollars in trade passes annually, despite an international court ruling that the assertion has no legal basis.
The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei all have overlapping claims in the sea, while the United States sends naval vessels through it to assert freedom of navigation in international waters.
The Southern Theater Command of China's People's Liberation Army, PLA, said the USS Milius, a guided missile destroyer, on Thursday entered waters around the Paracel Islands, which are also claimed by Vietnam.
The PLA "organised sea and air forces to track and monitor the ship, in accordance with the law" and "warned it to leave", spokesperson Tian Junli said.
The vessel "made an illegal incursion into Chinese territorial waters... without permission from the Chinese government, harming peace and stability" in the region, he said.
There was no immediate response from the United States.
While asserting their claims in the South China Sea, Chinese authorities in recent years have built artificial islands including some with military facilities and runways.
Regional nations have also accused Chinese vessels of harassing their fishing boats.
N. Korea Fires 4 Missiles During US-South Korea Military Drill - Report
North Korea fired four cruise missiles off its east coast on Wednesday as its rivals South Korea and the United States held joint military exercises, the South Korean military said.
The military initially reported "multiple missiles" without elaborating; South Korean Defence Minister Lee Jong-sup told parliament on Thursday that there were four.
Lee added that North Korea appears to have made "substantial progress" in miniaturising nuclear warheads to fit tactical guided weapons systems.
"I don't see that they are ready yet to mount on what North Korea has recently called tactical guided weapons, but we're looking into the possibilities with the U.S.," he said.
When asked whether North Korea's nuclear weapons have come close to deployment, Lee said they have reached "substantial levels."
The missiles were fired about 10:15 a.m., 0115 GMT, from South Hamgyong province, the South's military said, just three days after the launch of a short-range ballistic missile.
Pyongyang has long bristled at exercises conducted by South Korean and U.S. forces, saying they are preparation for an invasion of the North, and it fired the missiles into the sea as the drills were underway.
South Korea and the United States say the exercises are purely defensive.
The JCS statement said that the military was on high alert and that South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities were analysing the launches.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency said Wednesday's launches could have involved strategic cruise missiles with a potential nuclear capability, which the North tested on March 12 from a submarine.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson called on North Korea "to refrain from any further destabilising acts" and reiterated that the U.S. commitment to the defence of South Korea and Japan remained "ironclad".
The allies are set to conclude 11 days of exercises, called Freedom Shield 23, on Thursday.
"We will successfully wrap up our Freedom Shield exercise as planned under firm combined defence posture," the South Korean military said.
On Wednesday, the USS Makin, an amphibious assault ship, docked in South Korea for the allies' first large-scale amphibious landing exercise in five years, the U.S. military said.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, meanwhile, visited the military cyber command and called for proactive operations to defend against cyber threats, his office said.
North Korea has been ramping up its military tests in recent weeks, firing an intercontinental ballistic missile last week and conducting what it called a nuclear counterattack simulation against the United States and South Korea over the weekend.
It has also directed strong rhetoric against Washington and Seoul. Its state news agency quoted a foreign official as saying that pressure on Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons was tantamount to declaration of war.
The remark was directed at the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who on Monday called North Korea's weapons programmes "unlawful" and said it should abandon them "in a complete, verifiable, and irreversible manner".
UN Conference On Water Makes Urgent Call For Better Water Management
First major UN conference on water in 45 years got under way on Wednesday in New York with an urgent call to manage the precious resource.
In his speech, UN's secretary-general, António Guterres, stressed the importance of water as key to development.
Water is a human right, and a common development denominator to shape a better future. But water is in deep trouble. (...) We’ve broken the water cycle, destroyed ecosystems and contaminated groundwater. Nearly three out of four natural disasters are linked to water. One in four people lives without safely managed water services or clean drinking water. And over 1.7 billion people lack basic sanitation”, denounced António Guterres.
Ahead of the conference, the US ambassador at the UN announced that the United States had pledged $49 billion towards water security at home and around the world.
“A 2022 study by the University of California, Los Angeles, estimated that almost half of the world's population will suffer severe water stress by 2030. This is a crisis, one that affects people around the globe and one that demands concrete action. That's why I am proud to announce that the United States is committing $49 billion toward equitable, climate resilient water and sanitation investments at home and around the globe. That significant number should demonstrate just how seriously we take water security”, announced Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
On Tuesday the UN released the World Water Development Report 2023. Among its findings it says 26% of the world’s population doesn’t have access to safe drinking water and 46% lacks access to basic sanitation.
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