Poland, a predominantly Catholic country, introduced a near-total abortion ban in 2021 under the previous nationalist government after pregnancy termination due to foetal abnormalities was ruled unconstitutional

International News via Reuters:

The number of legal abortions in Poland doubled in 2024, while complaints to Polish authorities over conscience clause refusals in the country have ceased, the Council of Europe said on Thursday.

Poland, a predominantly Catholic country, introduced a near-total abortion ban in 2021 under the previous nationalist government after pregnancy termination due to foetal abnormalities was ruled unconstitutional.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s pro-European coalition won the 2023 election partly on the promise it would ease the restrictions, but it has so far failed to agree on a bill. Nationalist President Karol Nawrocki has signalled he will block any attempt at liberalisation.

However, Tusk’s government has taken steps to enforce the existing law. Ministers issued recommendations to hospitals and prosecutors clarifying that abortion on the grounds of a woman’s mental health is legal, and that all hospitals are obliged to provide the procedure.

The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers said on Thursday the government’s actions “appear to bring results in practice.”

“The number of lawful abortions has doubled year to year and no complaints have recently been received about the refusal of abortion based on the conscience clause”, the committee said in its decision on Poland’s compliance with judgments concerning access to legal abortion.

It also noted “that since the introduction of the unconditional obligation of hospitals to provide abortion as a contracted medical service, no complaint has been reported about a refusal of lawful abortion based on the conscience clause.”

The committee, however, expressed regret over the lack of progress in adopting legislation on the safe termination of pregnancy.

Health ministry data shows that nearly 900 legal abortions were performed in Polish hospitals in 2024, compared with 425 a year earlier. There were 411 legal terminations in the first half of 2025, with full-year data not yet available.

Before the 2021 ruling that tightened the law, more than 1,000 abortions were performed annually in Poland, nearly all attributed to foetal abnormalities.

Reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk; Editing by Pooja Desai

Belarus is not a member of the ICC, but the case was brought by Lithuania, which is a member

International News via Reuters:

Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court said on Thursday they had opened an investigation into whether the government of Belarus committed crimes that led to deportations of its opponents. 

Belarus is not a member of the ICC, but the case was brought by Lithuania, which is a member.

Prosecutors determined that at least part of the alleged crimes by Belarusian authorities were committed on Lithuania’s territory, giving them jurisdiction.

The Belarusian embassy in the Netherlands did not reply to a request for comment.

The prosecutors said there was reason to believe the actions of Belarus were targeted against “actual or perceived opponents” of the Belarusian government.

“There is also a reasonable basis to believe that these crimes were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population, considering their large scale, the number of victims, and the organised nature of the acts”, they added.

Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said she welcomed the announcement.

“Hundreds of thousands of Belarusians have suffered, and continue to suffer, because of the regime’s actions. Lukashenka’s policies also create threats for Belarus’ neighbors,” she said in a statement.  “This decision restores hope. That justice will prevail, that those responsible will be held accountable, and that the victims will finally receive truth and justice.”

Reporting by Bart Meijer and Makini Brice; Editing by Mark Porter

The 30X30 initiative by the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and its 12 members is part of a broader global drive towards targets

International News via Reuters:

A group of Caribbean countries plan to raise $200 million for a joint bid to boost biodiversity, in a push for more influence on internationally financed environment projects to maximise their impact, Grenada’s climate ambassador has told Reuters.

The 30X30 initiative by the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and its 12 members is part of a broader global drive towards targets, agreed in 2022, that include protecting 30% of the world’s land and sea by 2030.

The hope is that such cross-border initiatives, with government oversight from the start, will be more effective as they harness the power of multilateral, bilateral, philanthropic and private sector funding along with financial tools such as debt-for-nature swaps, Safiya Sawney said.

CARIBBEAN ISLANDS SEEK TO MAKE ENVIRONMENT FINANCE PAY

While around $650 million was raised to fund conservation in member states over the 20 years to 2024, governments often had to consider the priorities of multilateral donors before their own. For lack of coordination, some donors duplicated efforts.

“From the outside looking in, you say, ‘Well, that’s a lot of money. Why do you need more?’. The issue … is that we’re not seeing that in the impact,” she added, in an interview last week.

A report from the Back to Blue initiative, which focuses on ocean sustainability policy, suggested regional approaches such as “OECS 30X30” could be transformative in closing a huge funding gap.

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) worldwide – which will bear the brunt of rising sea levels – need around $12 billion a year to adapt to the effects of climate change, and get just $2 billion, according to the Global Center on Adaptation.

“There’s a huge disconnect between what the governments have invested time and effort into planning for themselves, based on their own indigenous circumstances, and what the donor is funding,” Sawney said.

“We’re challenging them to say ‘No, you have to do a better job if you really want to ensure that your money stretches. You have to trust us, trust that we know what would we need to do for ourselves’.”

Sawney said that, as development aid budgets are cut in richer countries, it was important to scale projects regionally and attract more private sector investors.

“For us, the programme is really, really important because it’s really on us to be able to show investors, particularly non-traditional investors, that we’re a good bet.”

Reporting by Simon Jessop; Editing by Kevin Liffey

In a defiant address, Khamenei said Iran’s neighbours should close all U.S. bases on their territory, which Iran would continue to attack

International News via Reuters:

Iran will fight on and keep the Strait of Hormuz shut, new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said on Thursday in a statement read out on state television, the first remarks attributed to him since he succeeded his slain father.

In a defiant address, Khamenei said Iran’s neighbours should close all U.S. bases on their territory, which Iran would continue to attack.

“I assure everyone that we will not neglect avenging the blood of your martyrs,” he told the Iranian people.

“The popular demand is to continue our effective defence and make the enemy regret! The lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz must continue to be used,” he said of the shipping route, where a fifth of global oil normally runs past Iran’s coast.

State television offered no explanation for why Khamenei’s first remarks were read out by a presenter rather than delivered in a video address. No images have yet been released of him since the strike that killed his father, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iranian officials have said the younger Khamenei was lightly wounded. He said in his address that his wife, sister and other family members were also killed.

TANKERS ABLAZE IN IRAQI PORT

Shortly after his address, the Revolutionary Guards announced that, in keeping with his orders, they would keep the strait shut.

Two tankers were ablaze in an Iraqi port on Thursday after a hit by suspected Iranian explosive-laden boats, a step-up in attacks that have cut off oil from the Middle East. The attacks were a clear sign of defiance of U.S. President Donald Trump, who said on Wednesday the United States had already won the war.

Images verified by Reuters as having been filmed from the shore of the port of Basra showed ships engulfed in massive orange fireballs that lit up the night sky. At least one crew member was killed in the attacks.

Hours earlier, three other ships had been struck in the Gulf. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed responsibility for at least one of those attacks, on a Thai bulk carrier that was set ablaze, which the Guards said had disobeyed their orders. Another container vessel reported being struck by an unknown projectile near the United Arab Emirates on Thursday.

GLOBAL ENERGY SUPPLIES DISRUPTED

The war that began with a U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign at the end of February has so far killed around 2,000 people and caused what the International Energy Agency describes as the biggest disruption to global energy supplies in history.

Undermining U.S. and Israeli claims to have knocked out much of Iran’s stock of long-range weapons, more drones were reported on Thursday flying into Kuwait, Iraq, the UAE, Bahrain and Oman.

Lebanon’s Iran-backed militia Hezbollah fired its biggest volley of rockets into Israel of the war, prompting fresh Israeli strikes on Beirut.

Oil prices soared back above $100 a barrel, having come down earlier in the week when Trump said the war would be over soon. Iran has said it will not let oil through the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important energy trade route, until U.S. and Israeli attacks cease. [O/R]

TRUMP SAYS ‘WE WON’

Trump has repeatedly tried to calm energy markets this week by saying the surge in oil prices will be short-lived.

But he has not explained how the war will end, or presented a plan to reopen the blockaded strait. U.S. and Israeli officials say the aim is to destroy Iran’s missile and nuclear programmes, but Trump has also demanded Iran’s “unconditional surrender” and the power to determine its leaders.

“You never like to say too ⁠early you won. We won,” ​Trump told a campaign-style rally in Hebron, Kentucky, on Wednesday. “In ​the first hour it was over.”

But he added: “We don’t want to leave early, do we? We got to finish the job.”

On Thursday, Trump said the United States profited from higher oil prices, but that his priority was stopping Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. The U.S. is a net oil exporter but is also the world’s biggest oil consumer, burning around twice as much as its peer, the European Union. Economists say sustained high prices would cause broad inflation.

‘SECURITY FORCES ARE EVERYWHERE’

Inside Iran, residents said security forces were increasing their presence on the streets, demonstrating their continued control.

“Security forces are everywhere, more than before. People are afraid to come out, but supermarkets are open,” teacher Majan, 35, said by phone from Tehran.

Three sources told Reuters that U.S. intelligence indicated that Iran’s leadership was still largely intact and not at risk of collapse any time soon.

Israel and the United States have called on Iranians to rise up and topple their clerical rulers. Many Iranians want change and some openly celebrated the death on the war’s first day of the elder supreme leader, whose security forces had killed thousands of anti-government protesters in January. But there has been no sign of organised anti-government activity while the country is under attack.

TEHRAN SEEKS PROLONGED ECONOMIC SHOCK

Khamenei’s remarks reinforce the message from Iran that its strategy now is to impose a prolonged economic shock to force Trump to back off. A spokesperson for Iran’s military command said on Wednesday that the world should prepare for oil prices of $200 a barrel.

Thursday’s surge in oil prices came despite the announcement the previous day that developed countries would release 400 million barrels of oil from their strategic reserves, nearly half from the United States.

That is by far the biggest-ever coordinated intervention into the oil markets. But releasing the reserves will take months, and account for just three weeks of supply from the blockaded strait.

“The only way to see oil prices trade lower on a sustained basis is by getting oil flowing through the Strait of Hormuz,” ING analysts said. “Failing to do so means that the market highs are still ahead of us.”

Reporting by Parisa Hafezi in Dubai, Alexander Cornwell in Tel Aviv and Jana Choukeir in Dubai and Bo Erickson in HEBRON, Kentucky, and Reuters bureauxWriting by Peter GraffEditing by Michael Perry, Alex Richardson and Gareth Jones