Morning Brief - 14 August 2026
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 14th of August, covering the latest developments....
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday (November 21) a decision by the International Criminal Court to issue a warrant to arrest him for alleged war crimes was an "antisemitic".
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday (November 21) a decision by the International Criminal Court to issue a warrant to arrest him for alleged war crimes was an "antisemitic".
In their decision, the ICC judges said there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant were criminally responsible for acts including murder, persecution and starvation as a weapon of war as part of a "widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza".
"The truth is simple. No war is more just than the war that Israel has been waging in Gaza after Hamas attacked us unprovoked, launching the worst massacre against the Jewish people since the Holocaust."
Israel has rejected the jurisdiction of the Hague-based court and denies war crimes in Gaza.
""The decision to issue an arrest warrant against me, the democratically elected prime minister of the State of Israel, and our former defense minister was made by a rogue prosecutor who is trying to extricate himself from sexual harassment charges, and by biased judges who are motivated by antisemitic sentiments against the one and only Jewish state"
"The antisemitic decision of the international court in The Hague is a modern Dreyfus trial, and it will end the same way," Netanyahu said in a video statement."
The court does not have its own police force to carry out arrests and relies on its 124 member states for that, with only limited diplomatic means to force them if they do not want to.
"Israel does not, Israel will not recognise the validity of this decision. We will continue to do everything we must do to defend our citizens and to defend our state against Iran’s axis of terror. Iran and its terrorist proxies, which include Hamas, Hezbollah the Houthis and others. Our enemies are your enemies, and our victory will be your victory, the victory of civilization over barbarism and tyranny", Netayahu said.
Disruption in the Strait of Hormuz has increased the strategic importance of Bab al-Mandab, raising fears that instability in both waterways could trigger a wider global energy and trade crisis.
Flights at Catania airport in Sicily will remain suspended until early Friday as ash from Mount Etna continues to disrupt air travel, following hundreds of cancellations and diversions over the past week.
Iran says the Strait of Hormuz remains under its control, rejecting U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim of “total control” over the strategic waterway and insisting it will not reopen until Washington fulfils its commitments under an interim deal.
Iran and the United States remain at loggerheads over efforts to agree a permanent end to the war in the Gulf, according to a senior Iranian source who said there had been no progress in talks to revive the interim deal agreed in June and define a timeframe to implement it.
Russia has accused Ukraine of threatening global grain supplies after recent strikes on Black Sea agricultural infrastructure, while Moscow carried out a new overnight attack on Ukraine’s major Danube port of Izmail.
The suspension of two major grain terminals in Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk could increase pressure on Kazakhstan’s agricultural market if Russian exporters divert supplies to Central Asia at discounted prices.
Georgia’s Prime Minister says the EU’s inclusion of a major Black Sea cable project on a key infrastructure list is fresh evidence of the country’s importance to regional energy and digital connectivity.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has dismissed Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan and appointed former parliament speaker Alen Simonyan as his replacement.
Central Asia’s economy has surpassed $543 billion, driven by Kazakhstan’s economic weight, strong exports and foreign investment, while growing trade across Asia points to an increasingly connected region.
The United Nations refugee agency is planning a settlement and carpet-weaving workshop for Afghan returnees in Kabul as the country grapples with large-scale returns and growing pressure on housing, jobs and basic services.
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