Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at U.S. pressure against the International Criminal Court, Australia imposing a social media ban, and increasing antagonism between China and Japan.
Threatening the ICC
The White House is pressuring the International Criminal Court (ICC) to alter its founding document to prevent it from investigating U.S. President Donald Trump and his senior officials, a U.S. official told Reuters on Wednesday. These threats mark a significant escalation in Trump’s long-time campaign against the world’s war crimes tribunal at a time when legal experts are suggesting that the administration may have violated international law with U.S. military operations against alleged drug boats near Latin America.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at U.S. pressure against the International Criminal Court, Australia imposing a social media ban, and increasing antagonism between China and Japan.
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Threatening the ICC
The White House is pressuring the International Criminal Court (ICC) to alter its founding document to prevent it from investigating U.S. President Donald Trump and his senior officials, a U.S. official told Reuters on Wednesday. These threats mark a significant escalation in Trump’s long-time campaign against the world’s war crimes tribunal at a time when legal experts are suggesting that the administration may have violated international law with U.S. military operations against alleged drug boats near Latin America.
The U.S. official did not specify which issues the Trump administration fears could become subject to an ICC investigation. However, the official said there was growing concern that “in 2029, the ICC will turn its attention to the president, to the vice president, to the secretary of war and others, and pursue prosecutions against them,” referring to Vice President J.D. Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The timing of the renewed pressure campaign comes as the White House faces growing congressional pressure to release the full, unedited video of a Sept. 2 double-tap strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean, in which a second strike killed two survivors of an initial U.S. attack. On Tuesday, Hegseth (who faces congressional inquiries for ordering the strike) said he is still weighing whether to release the video.
According to the U.S. official, the Trump administration wants the ICC to also formally end its probe into U.S. military actions in Afghanistan as well as to drop its investigations of senior Israeli officials related to the war in Gaza.
ICC prosecutors first opened an inquiry into the United States’ Afghanistan operation during Trump’s first term, saying U.S. troops may have committed war crimes there; in 2021, the court deprioritized its investigation, but it stopped short of formally ending the inquiry. In November 2024, the ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated during the Israel-Hamas war.
The United States has long accused the court of infringing on U.S. sovereignty and the sovereignty of its closest allies, such as Israel. The ICC “continues to disregard national sovereignty and facilitate lawfare through efforts to investigate, arrest, detain, and prosecute American and Israeli nationals,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X in August.
Although the United States and Israel are not signatories of the ICC’s Rome Statute, both Afghanistan and Palestine are, giving the ICC authority to investigate alleged crimes there.
The Trump administration has threatened to penalize more ICC officials and potentially sanction the court itself if its three demands are not met. Earlier this year, the United States imposed sanctions on nine ICC officials, including the court’s chief prosecutor and several judges. However, sanctioning the ICC as an entity would severely disrupt the tribunal’s day-to-day operations, such as paying staff and accessing bank accounts.
For the ICC to alter the Rome Statute, two-thirds of its 125 members would need to ratify the change. Alongside the United States and Israel, other major powers who are not members of the ICC include China, Russia, and Iran.
Today’s Most Read
What We’re Following
Social media ban. The world’s first social media ban on children under age 16 went into effect in Australia on Wednesday. “This is the day when Australian families are taking back power from these Big Tech companies and they’re asserting the right of kids to be kids and for parents to have greater peace of mind,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
Ten major social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, and Twitch) will face fines of up to around $33 million if they fail to take reasonable steps to remove minors’ accounts. Australian eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant will enforce the ban, with preliminary data on how effective the restrictions are to be announced before Dec. 25.
The legislation aims to shelter children from potential online hazards, such as sextortion and lack of privacy. However, some rights groups have warned against a “blanket ban,” and already, two Australian teenagers have sued the government for infringing on their right to political communication. “Many young people will no doubt find ways to avoid the restrictions,” Amnesty Tech program director Damini Satija wrote on Wednesday. “A ban simply means they will continue to be exposed to the same harms but in secret, leaving them at even greater risk.”
Military threat. The United States criticized China on Tuesday for aiming radar beams at Japanese military aircraft while China’s military was conducting a training exercise last week. “China’s actions are not conducive to regional peace and stability,” a U.S. State Department spokesperson said.
Japanese officials said Chinese J-15 fighter jets locked their fire-control radar on Japanese aircraft over international waters near Japan’s Okinawa prefecture on Saturday. Such a radar lock usually signals a potential attack, often forcing targeted planes to take evasive measures, and is thus considered among the most threatening actions a military aircraft can do.
Beijing, however, said the Japanese aircraft had repeatedly approached and disrupted the Chinese navy while it was conducting a previously announced training exercise. Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi acknowledged that his country’s navy had been notified in advance of the Chinese exercises but said that the information it was given lacked critical details, such as the drills’ specific timing and location.
The incident adds stress to Japan’s already unstable relationship with China, which has faced mounting challenges since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi threatened military involvement last month if China attacks Taiwan. Also on Tuesday, Tokyo scrambled military jets to monitor Chinese and Russian forces who were conducting joint patrols near Japan.
Emission reduction pledge. The European Union agreed on Wednesday to set a new climate target following months of intense pushback from some Eastern European members. Under the legally binding deal, EU states must reduce greenhouse gas emissions 90 percent from 1990 levels by 2040. After 2036, the states may buy foreign carbon credits to cover 5 percent of the emissions cuts, with another 5 percent credit to be considered in the future.
Although the agreement aims to keep Europe on track to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, the deal falls short of the EU’s original proposal, as the credit system means that only an 85 percent reduction will be required in practice. This, however, still goes beyond most major powers’ pledges, including those of China and the United States—the world’s two largest emitters.
The deal comes just one month after delegates at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Brazil failed to reach a consensus on how best to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with several countries opposing any limits on fossil fuels. And it comes one day after the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service warned that 2025 is set to be the second- or third-warmest year on record.
Odds and Ends
The daughter of Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her mother’s behalf during a ceremony in Oslo, Norway, on Wednesday. The elder Machado was initially prevented from leaving Venezuela after Caracas warned that it would declare her a state fugitive if she left the country; Machado has been in hiding for nearly a year for defying Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s regime. However, later on Wednesday, the Nobel recipient surprised activists by announcing that she would in fact travel to Oslo to reunite with her family after roughly two years apart.
