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A Malaysian hotel tycoon who helped bring Formula One to Singapore pleaded guilty there Monday to abetting the obstruction of justice, in a case linked to one that saw a former minister jailed for accepting gifts as a public servant last year.Singapore-based billionaire Ong Beng Seng, 79, was charged in October last year with helping …

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As it grinds on well into its twenty-second month, Israel’s war in Gaza has set friends and families against one another and sharpened existing political and cultural divides.Hostage families and peace activists want Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to secure a ceasefire with Hamas and free the remaining captives abducted during the October 2023 Hamas attacks.Right-wing members of Netanyahu’s cabinet, meanwhile, want to seize the moment to occupy and annex more Palestinian land, at the risk of sparking further international criticism.The debate has divided the country and strained private relationships, undermining national unity at Israel’s moment of greatest need in the midst of its longest war.”As the war continues we become more and more divided,” said Emanuel Yitzchak Levi, a 29-year-old poet, schoolteacher and peace activist from Israel’s religious left who attended a peace meeting at Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Square. “It’s really hard to keep being a friend, or family, a good son, a good brother to someone that’s — from your point of view — supporting crimes against humanity,” he told AFP. “And I think it’s also hard for them to support me if they think I betrayed my own country.”As if to underline this point, a tall, dark-haired cyclist angered by the gathering pulled up his bike to shout “traitors” at the attendees and to accuse activists of playing into Hamas’s hands.- No flowers -Dvir Berko, a 36-year-old worker at one of the city’s many IT startups, paused his scooter journey across downtown Tel Aviv to share a more reasoned critique of the peace activists’ call for a ceasefire.Berko and others accused international bodies of exaggerating the threat of starvation in Gaza, and he told AFP that Israel should withhold aid until the remaining 49 hostages are freed.”The Palestinian people, they’re controlled by Hamas. Hamas takes their food. Hamas starts this war and, in every war that happens, bad things are going to happen. You’re not going to send the other side flowers,” he argued.”So, if they open a war, they should realise and understand what’s going to happen after they open the war.”The raised voices in Tel Aviv reflect a deepening polarisation in Israeli society since Hamas’s October 2023 attacks left 1,219 people dead, independent journalist Meron Rapoport told AFP.Rapoport, a former senior editor at liberal daily Haaretz, noted that Israel had been divided before the latest conflict, and had even seen huge anti-corruption protests against Netanyahu and perceived threats to judicial independence.Hamas’s attack initially triggered a wave of national unity, but as the conflict has dragged on and Israel’s conduct has come under international criticism, attitudes on the right and left have diverged and hardened. – Political motives -“The moment Hamas acted there was a coming together,” Rapoport said. “Nearly everyone saw it as a just war. “As the war went on it has made people come to the conclusion that the central motivations are not military reasons but political ones.”According to a survey conducted between July 24 and 28 by the Institute for National Security Studies, with 803 Jewish and 151 Arab respondents, Israelis narrowly see Hamas as primarily to blame for the delay in reaching a deal on freeing the hostages.Only 24 percent of Israeli Jews are distressed or “very distressed” by the humanitarian situation in Gaza — where, according to UN-mandated reports, “a famine is unfolding” and Palestinian civilians are often killed while seeking food.But there is support for the families of the Israeli hostages, many of whom have accused Netanyahu of prolonging the war artificially to strengthen his own political position. “In Israel there’s a mandatory army service,” said Mika Almog, 50, an author and peace activist with the It’s Time Coalition. “So these soldiers are our children and they are being sent to die in a false criminal war that is still going on for nothing other than political reasons.”In an open letter published Monday, 550 former top diplomats, military officers and spy chiefs urged US President Donald Trump to tell Netanyahu that the military stage of the war was already won and he must now focus on a hostage deal.”At first this war was a just war, a defensive war, but when we achieved all military objectives, this war ceased to be a just war,” said Ami Ayalon, former director of the Shin Bet security service.The conflict “is leading the State of Israel to lose its security and identity”, he warned in a video released to accompany the letter.This declaration by the security officers — those who until recently prosecuted Israel’s overt and clandestine wars — echoed the views of the veteran peace activists that have long protested against them.- ‘Awful period’ -Biblical archaeologist and kibbutz resident Avi Ofer is 70 years old and has long campaigned for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. He and fellow activists wore yellow ribbons with the length in days of the war written on it: “667”.The rangy historian was close to tears as he told AFP: “This is the most awful period in my life.””Yes, Hamas are war criminals. We know what they do. The war was justified at first. At the beginning it was not a genocide,” he said.Not many Israelis use the term “genocide”, but they are aware that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is considering whether to rule on a complaint that the country has breached the Genocide Convention.While only a few are anguished about the threat of starvation and violence hanging over their neighbours, many are worried that Israel may become an international pariah — and that their conscript sons and daughters be treated like war crimes suspects when abroad.Israel and Netanyahu — with support from the United States — have denounced the case in The Hague.

The loved ones of those killed in a catastrophic explosion at Beirut’s port five years ago gathered to demand justice on the anniversary of the blast Monday, as Lebanon’s president vowed to hold those responsible to account.The August 4, 2020 disaster was one of the world’s largest non-nuclear explosions, and devastated swathes of the Lebanese capital, killing more than 220 people and injuring over 6,500.Authorities have said the blast was triggered by a fire in a warehouse where tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertiliser had been stored haphazardly for years after arriving by ship, despite repeated warnings to senior officials.Hundreds gathered in Beirut on Monday afternoon to mark the anniversary, some brandishing signs reading “No compromises on justice” and “The crime of August 4 was not an accident”.Georgette Khoury, 68, was there to honour the memory of three of her loved ones who perished in the blast.”Five years have passed, but it still feels like the explosion just happened. It’s a gaping wound in the heart of every Lebanese person,” she said, attending the commemoration for the first time.”We demand justice, and if it is not delivered here, it will be served above.”A few steps away, Youssef Romanos, 44, raised a photo of his neighbour, a nun killed in the explosion.”We are waiting for justice to take its course,” he said. “It will not bring back our martyrs but it will be a relief.”- ‘Transparency’ -Judge Tarek Bitar resumed his investigation into the blast this year as Lebanon’s balance of power shifted following a war between Israel and Hezbollah that weakened the Iran-backed militant group, which had spearheaded a campaign for Bitar’s resignation.Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Monday that the state was “committed to uncovering the whole truth, no matter the obstacles or how high the positions” involved.”The law applies to all, without exception,” he added.”The blood of your loved ones will not be in vain,” the president told victims’ families, adding: “Justice is coming, accountability is coming.”After resuming work following a more than two-year impasse, Bitar has finished questioning defendants and suspects, a judicial official told AFP on condition of anonymity.Those questioned include former prime minister Hassan Diab, as well as military and security officials, while several former ministers did not appear for questioning, the official said.Bitar is waiting for some procedures to be completed, including receiving responses from several Arab and European countries following a request for “information on specific incidents”, the official added, without elaborating.The judge will then finalise the investigation and refer the file to the public prosecution for its opinion before he issues an indictment, the official said.President Aoun said “we are working with all available means to ensure the investigations are completed with transparency and integrity”.Officials named in the investigation had filed a flurry of lawsuits seeking to prevent it from going forward.Nobody is currently in custody in relation to the case.- ‘Chain of responsibility’ -Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said in a joint statement on Monday that “despite the resumption of the investigation, the road to justice remains littered with political and legal challenges”.They urged authorities to ensure a comprehensive, unobstructed investigation that establishes “the facts and circumstances surrounding the explosion, encompassing the full chain of responsibility”, whether domestic or international.Mariana Fodoulian from the association of victims’ families said that “for five years, officials have been trying to evade accountability, always thinking they are above the law”.”We’re not asking for anything more than the truth,” she told AFP.”We won’t stop until we get comprehensive justice.”On Sunday, Culture Minister Ghassan Salame said the port’s gutted and partially collapsed wheat silos would be included on a list of historic buildings.Victims’ families have long demanded their preservation as a memorial of the catastrophe.”The silos are the only witness to what happened on August 4,” said Fodoulian.

Most stock markets bounced on Monday on hopes of US interest rate cuts after weak jobs figures raised concerns about the world’s top economy.The broad gains followed a Wall Street sell-off on Friday in reaction to the jobs data and news that dozens of countries would be hit with US tariffs ranging from 10 to …

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised Monday to update Israel’s Gaza war plan, a day before a UN Security Council meeting on the fate of hostages still held in the Palestinian territory.Addressing a cabinet meeting with the war well into its 22nd month, the Israeli leader told ministers that later in the week he would instruct the military on how “to achieve the three war objectives we have set”. Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 and the Jerusalem Post newspaper quoted officials in Netanyahu’s office saying that the “updated strategy” would be to re-occupy all of Gaza, including areas in Gaza City where the military believes hostages are being held.The cabinet would meet on Tuesday to endorse the plan, the reports said.There was no immediate official confirmation, but the Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry denounced what it called a “leaked” plan and urged the international community to intervene to quash any new military occupation.    Netanyahu is facing mounting domestic and international pressure to bring the remaining hostages in Gaza home and allow much more aid into the starving territory.Israel — backed by the United States and Panama — is preparing to convene a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday to highlight the fate of the hostages.Netanyahu on Monday reiterated that Israel’s three war goals remained “the defeat of the enemy, the release of our hostages and the promise that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel”.His statement came after hundreds of retired Israeli security chiefs wrote to US President Donald Trump to urge him to convince Netanyahu to end the war.- ‘Immediate mortal danger’ -Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said ahead of the UN meeting that “the world must put an end to the phenomenon of kidnapping civilians. It must be front and centre on the world stage”.Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.The UN session was called after Palestinian militant groups last week published three videos showing hostages Rom Braslavski and Evyatar David appearing weak and emaciated, causing shock and distress in Israel.Netanyahu said he had asked the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to provide food and medical treatment to the Israeli captives.Hamas’s armed wing said it was willing to allow access to the hostages in exchange for opening aid corridors into all of Gaza, where UN-mandated experts have warned famine is unfolding.Netanyahu’s government has faced repeated accusations by relatives of hostages and other critics that it has not done enough to rescue the captives.”Netanyahu is leading Israel and the hostages to ruin,” said the Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group.”For 22 months, the public has been sold the illusion that military pressure and intense fighting will bring the hostages back.”The truth must be said: expanding the war endangers the lives of the hostages, who are already in immediate mortal danger.”- ‘Only through a deal’ -Mediation efforts led by Qatar, Egypt and the United States have failed to secure a truce.Hundreds of retired Israeli security officials including former heads of intelligence agencies have urged US President Donald Trump to pressure their own government to end the war.”It is our professional judgement that Hamas no longer poses a strategic threat to Israel,” the former officials wrote in an open letter shared with the media on Monday.The war “is leading the State of Israel to lose its security and identity”, said Ami Ayalon, former director of the Shin Bet security service, in a video released to accompany the letter.The letter argued that the Israeli military “has long accomplished the two objectives that could be achieved by force: dismantling Hamas’s military formations and governance”.”The third, and most important, can only be achieved through a deal: bringing all the hostages home,” it added.- ‘We are starving’ -The October 2023 Hamas attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally of official figures.Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed at least 60,933 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which are deemed reliable by the UN.Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli fire on Monday killed at least 19 Palestinians, including nine who were waiting to collect food aid from a site in central Gaza.In Gaza City, Umm Osama Imad was mourning a relative she said was killed while trying to reach an aid distribution point.”We are starving… He went to bring flour for his family,” she said. “The flour is stained with blood. We don’t want the flour anymore. Enough!”UN rights chief Volker Turk on Monday said “the images of people starving in Gaza are heart-rending and intolerable. That we have reached this stage is an affront to our collective humanity.”He called on Israel to urgently allow aid into the territory, adding that denying it “may amount to a war crime”.He also described the videos of hostages as “shocking”, calling for the ICRC to be allowed immediate access to them.