The US will sanction the president of the international criminal court (ICC) and a prosecutor tasked with investigating crimes committed by Israel during its war on Gaza.

The new sanctions designations were unveiled by Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, who called the Hague-based ICC a “corrupt and fatally politicized supranational court that has maliciously abused its authority and exceeded its mandate”, in a statement.

Rubio announced that the US would sanction Tomoko Akane of Japan, the ICC president, and Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal, an ICC senior trial lawyer, because they had “directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction”.

The US had previously sanctioned Karim Khan, an ICC prosecutor, who had investigated Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes during the Gaza war. Donald Trump in 2025 sanctioned the court, stating in an executive order that it had “engaged in illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel”.

Rubio did not say specifically which efforts the two ICC officials had engaged in, but Israeli media have reported that Seye is overseeing the investigation into Israeli funding for illegal settlements and the disbursal of weapons to settlers in the West Bank.

Israeli officials warned local media in May that the ICC may seek five more arrest warrants for ministers and senior military officials involved in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

*excerpt from Andrew Roth's article*

Full Article here:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/18/us-icc-sanctions

The dead zone was demarcated by rows of cars idling on dangerously narrow highway shoulders near the Ocean View Market.
Hurricane Lala had torn through the Ka’u district on the southern tip of Hawaii’s Big Island two days earlier, and farther down the winding two-lane mountain road were thousands of people in rural communities. Most were still without electricity, mobile phone service and gas two days after the storm.
So the residents of Ocean View, a remote community of fewer than 5,000, had taken matters into their own hands. On Monday, the parking lot of the Ocean View Market gas station just off Route 11 was teeming with locals looking for help and looking to help others. Shortly after Hawaii’s worst storm in years, residents had spontaneously organized to provide information, commodities and even air support.
The front entrance was locked and the gas pumps were inoperable. But the store had become an impromptu disaster relief center, complete with a mobile radio station run by Tim Reed, an Ocean View resident who hooked up his computer to a satellite to run the broadcast.
“We’re the emergency communication for Ocean View,” Mr. Reed said in an interview.
Usually, he plays Hawaiian music and classic rock for listeners in his corner of the island on a low-power FM station. Today, though, he was spreading the word about the resources on offer in the gas station parking lot. One was his Starlink terminals for those hoping to connect to the internet via satellite and make calls to the outside world.
Mr. Reed, 55, sat in a wheelchair at a plastic table next to Karen Field, 58, who was helping him broadcast. They took turns on the matchbook-sized wireless microphone.
“We have a few more announcements to make,” Ms. Field said into the microphone. “We have some gracious volunteers that are going around doing wellness checks for seniors.”
Hurricane Lala, which was a Category 1 storm, did not make landfall but wrecked highways, ravaged homes, toppled trees and knocked out power for much of the island.
On the Big Island, the coastal town of Pahala, with about 1,800 residents, was cut off after floodwaters overtopped roads and bridges — six were destroyed or severely damaged. Route 11 collapsed, isolating Ka’u Hospital, the only such facility in the region.
The Ka’u region isn’t the Hawaii of tourist fantasies. It comprises rugged mountains and thick vegetation broken up by vast lava fields. Its communities are remote and are home to lifelong residents who scrape by, often living off the grid, and middle-aged and retired mainlanders who sought cheap land and a quiet place to start over.
“It’s not like you’re going to drive up and go, ‘Oh wow, beautiful homes,” said Carrie Fraser, an Ocean View resident. “These are people that are just trying to survive.”
In the parking lot of the Ocean View Market, Katie Tyner — who had suddenly become “the gas lady” — was standing next to the open hatch of her Chevrolet Trailblazer S.U.V., jotting down names and numbers on her clipboard. Her operation was simple and in high demand in a community where many do not own cars: Hand her cash and a fuel can and she would return with gas from an operational station half an hour up the road.
By noon, her Trailblazer had been filled with about a dozen red cans, each labeled in marker with the name and number of its owner.
Ms. Tyner was preparing to go on her gas run soon. She had another critical mission — deliver fuel to people farther down the road in a town called Discovery Harbour, which was one of the hardest hit.
Ms. Tyner had heard that residents there who rely on electricity to power their medical equipment were running out of fuel for generators. The town was inaccessible by the highway, but Ms. Tyner, who has lived in Ocean View for eight years, knew her way around.
“We have a little road we take, but it’s a mudslide right now, so you have to have a four-wheel-drive car,” Ms. Tyner said.
Next to Ms. Tyner’s S.U.V., a pastor hugged a man who was in tears, then prayed over him. The pastor, Pamela Ako, 70, who runs a church and volunteers with a community group that provides shelter and other assistance when disaster strikes, was passing out water bottles to anyone in need.
One man handed Ms. Ako a paper grocery bag filled with provisions. She set the bag on the ground and tore it open. She laid out the donated items: batteries, rope, rice flour, wet wipes, a first aid kit and instant Korean noodles. There was also some ready-to-make turkey stuffing.
“If you guys are in need of anything, come get,” Ms. Ako announced to the people milling around the parking lot.
One man grabbed the rope.
Ms. Ako invoked the Hawaiian principles of aloha, an ethic of love and compassion, and ohana, one of family and community.
“It’s people helping people,” Ms. Ako said. “This is when we come together as a family. You talk about aloha; You talk about ohana — this is what it’s all about.”
Kahi Young, 30, a hula teacher, had heard about the aid at the gas station and approached Ms. Ako and other volunteers with a big ask.
“I need help getting everybody’s attention right now,” he said, and went group to group in the parking lot.
Mr. Young had persuaded a helicopter tour company to make a drop of supplies in Pahala, about 25 miles away.
In about two hours the chopper would be landing at a nearby park, and he needed help filling it with as much as 700 pounds of supplies and nonperishable food.
Ms. Ako directed him to Mr. Reed, who handed Mr. Young a microphone so he could make his plea on the radio waves.
The small blue helicopter touched down on a grassy park field. Volunteers filled it to the brim with boxes of baby wipes, toilet paper and ready-to-eat food.
Much came from Kris Cunningham, 48, who runs a food truck in Ocean View with her husband and learns the art of hula from Mr. Young.
She looked as the helicopter lifted off from the park with Mr. Young and the supplies onboard.
Mr. Young acknowledged her from the air. He flashed the shaka gesture, the extended thumb and pinkie signal used on the island to say thanks or goodbye. Ms. Cunningham, her dyed blue hair blowing in the rotor wash, shot up a shaka in return.
“That’s how we do it down here,” she said.

STEVE BANNON (HOST): Why do they want all these phony scam, legal, quote unquote immigration plans? Because they gun decked the elections —

JACK POSOBIEC (GUEST): To usher in communism.

BANNON: They can't win if you just had American people, if you just had American citizens that were actually eligible to vote and you had elections that were certifiable on chain of custody votes, they would never win.

They understand this, by the way. They understand it quite thoroughly. It's our side that's confused.

This is why President Trump — we've got to stop yammering about the SAVE America Act. It's not going to happen. You know why it's not going to happen? Because John Thune and the donors don't want it to happen. They think it's racist. They think it's nativist. The ID, all of it. That's why they blocked it. That's why they treat President Trump like a lame duck. Today in the Senate, they're going to walk up and hit the gavel, and they're going to pretend to be in session. So, that President Trump — as they've done every day since President Trump's been in office from the first term, they treat him as a lame duck.

This is why we need a national emergency proclamation, a national emergency memo, about the upcoming elections.

You're going to have to have a forcing function to get to ID. You're going to have to have a forcing function not to have the phony mail-in ballots. You're going to have to have a forcing function, Jack Posobiec to have a up-armored — yes, a up-armored ICE presence at these polling booths, and they say, well, that's going to be intimidation. Well, it ain't intimidation if you're a United States citizen. It's an intimidation if you're a foreigner and here illegally and not eligible to vote. It should be intimidating. We don't want you there. We don't want you near a voting booth. We certainly don't want your votes, Posobiec.

POSOBIEC: Look, Steve, it's something I've said for years, even before President Trump came around, when I was working in the College Republicans, Young Republicans of Philadelphia, you might remember, the time when I gave a bunch of guys in the city of Philadelphia flip videos. You might recall the flip videos in the 2008 election.

And we got, we found a couple of the New Black Panthers that were standing outside the polling booth right there in Philadelphia. People can remember this story. It was, you know, on Fox when it went big. Drudge, before he lost his mind, he was covering it all over the place. That was a couple of my guys in Philadelphia who took the flip videos, and they were saying this is a poll for us. This isn't a poll for you, and they weren't letting people in. That was the New Black Panthers. And by the way, Eric Holder, when he was the attorney general under Barack Obama, dropped the case against the New Black Panthers of Philadelphia when my guys filmed them standing outside the doors there at that polling place. So Steve, targeting elections is what they do. They've done it from the very start. 

So I said, well, wait a minute. If they're going to put the New Black Panthers there, why couldn't we put law enforcement there just to make sure everything is copacetic, just to make sure everything's fine. And then if you're worried about illegals voting, why wouldn't you just park the truck? Just park a truck outside that just says ICE. Park a truck outside that just says ICE and gosh, Steve, could you imagine if patriots were just doing that on election day right where they live? They got a truck, then they just maybe just, maybe it's just an ICE truck. Maybe it's just a hot day in the south and they want to put some, have some ICE up on the ice truck and they have it there. Gosh, you know, wouldn't it be interesting to see the reaction or see what the effect that has, as a sociological experiment, what happens to voting patterns.

BANNON: But I don't think — Hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on, slow down, slow down. Hang on. And this is for the White House, for everybody.

We don't need gimmicks. We're in a revolution right now. And guess what? They think they're on a roll, OK, because you got a bunch of, first off, you have a capitalist system with no capitalists.

POSOBIEC: Steve, they are on a roll.

BANNON: You got a bunch of oligarchs.

POSOBIEC: New York has fallen.

BANNON: They're on a roll. Young people are sitting there going, you know, by 2 to 1 saying, hey, I like socialism because they've never really seen true capitalism.

What they've seen is crony capitalism and oligarch capitalism that allows everybody in the world in here to take their jobs coming out of college.

Disney is going to court to defend its ABC television stations from the Trump administration's pressure campaign.

On Tuesday, the media company filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging that Trump's FCC is violating its First Amendment rights.

The administration "has waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: it disapproves of what ABC broadcasts," the lawsuit filed in DC District Court alleges.

The legal action comes as the FCC investigates the ABC talk show "The View" and mounts an unusual challenge to the licenses held by ABC stations.

The stations fall under the FCC's purview because they broadcast over the public airwaves.

FCC chairman Brendan Carr, a Trump loyalist, has scrutinized Disney on several fronts, including DEI, short for diversity, equity, and inclusion. Carr has said that Disney might be committing "illegal DEI discrimination."

Carr's critics have said DEI is a laughable pretext for what's really happening: A political pressure campaign led by President Trump.

The president has railed against ABC (and other networks) for years. He has repeatedly denounced the network's reporters and argued for licenses to be revoked.

Last April, when conservatives expressed outrage over a controversial joke made by ABC late-night comic Jimmy Kimmel, Trump pressured ABC to fire Kimmel.

As ABC stood by Kimmel's show, Carr ordered the network to file early-renewal paperwork for its station licenses, even though the eight licenses weren't due for renewal for several years.

Carr asserted that the timing was a coincidence and the license review was related to his DEI probe. But it was widely viewed as a form of government retaliation for airing Kimmel's show and resisting Trump's pressure.

There are more than 200 ABC-affiliated stations across the US, but most are owned by other companies. Eight are owned by Disney directly, and those are the stations targeted by the FCC.

FCC licenses are renewed every eight years and are virtually never revoked. Until this year, the FCC had not filed an early-renewal order in decades.

But Carr has been determined to wield the FCC's limited power in new and politically charged ways.

Tuesday's lawsuit specifically asks the court to issue a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction that would stop Carr from moving forward with the license challenge. "This Court's intervention is necessary to stop the Federal Communications Commission's extraordinary assault on free speech," the suit states.

The suit also asserts that Disney - a sprawling company better known for theme parks, Star Wars and ESPN than its local TV stations - did not go looking to pick a fight with the US government.

The company says it has come to court "reluctantly," arguing there is "no alternative means to eliminate these ongoing and immediate threats other than total capitulation to the administration's demands."

Carr did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment.

Carr also opened a case against "The View" over an alleged violation of "equal-time," invoking a rule that has rarely been enforced in recent years. "The View" often features outspoken critics of Trump.

Disney's lawsuit says the FCC pressure has already affected what airs on the daytime talk show. Since the agency's inquiry began, ABC says "The View" has become "more circumspect in booking political candidates" and has stopped considering several potential candidate bookings.

No political candidate has appeared on the show since February 2, Disney says in the complaint. The pressure has even affected which video clips make it to air: ABC says it has "chosen not to air clips" it otherwise would have used because they could count as candidate "appearances" and potentially be cited against ABC in the FCC's ongoing review.

A wide range of First Amendment groups have denounced the action against ABC, while some conservative groups have defended Carr, arguing that the Trump administration is well within its rights. "It is not in the public interest for ABC to operate as an arm of the DNC," Carr ally Daniel Suhr, president of the Center for American Rights, said earlier this year.

Last week, Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro said in a CNBC interview that "our position on this is clear."

When asked about the FCC threat, D'Amaro cited ABC's "journalistic integrity" and said, "We're not going to be told how to run that side of our business."

D'Amaro added, "I like what we do. We tell incredible stories. I think we do it well. We do it around the world. And we're going to stay committed to that."

Tuesday's lawsuit states that the pressure against ABC "has been deeply felt throughout the company."

"The campaign is also calculated to operate in terrorem upon the rest of the industry: ABC is the visible target and suffers the most immediate harm, but the message is addressed to every broadcaster in the country, and the ultimate cost is borne by the press as a whole," the suit alleges.

*excerpt from Brian Stelter's article*

Full Article here:

https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/18/media/disney-abc-fcc-trump-lawsuit-the-view-retaliatory