(YANGON, Myanmar) — Myanmar said Wednesday its leader Aung San Suu Kyi will head the legal team contesting a genocide case filed against it in the International Court of Justice over the crackdown on Rohingya Muslims two years ago that set off their exodus to Bangladesh.

Myanmar’s military has been accused of carrying out mass rapes, killings and arsons against Rohingya during a counterinsurgency campaign initiated in western Myanmar in August 2017 after rebel attacks. Myanmar’s population is overwhelmingly Buddhist, and the country has long denied citizenship and other rights to the Rohingya.

Gambia filed the genocide case on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the court based in the Netherlands said Monday it would hold public hearings on Dec. 10-12.

When filing the case, Gambia’s justice minister and attorney general, Abubacarr Marie Tambadou, told The Associated Press he wanted to “send a clear message to Myanmar and to the rest of the international community ..

The president of the Oxford Union, Brendan McGrath, resigned on Nov. 19 following controversy over the violent removal of a blind student from a debate event last month. At least eight other society members have resigned this week, including the Union’s Chief of Staff and the Director of Operations.

The Union, a prestigious British debating society, had come under fire after the treatment of Ebenezer Azamati, a postgraduate student from Ghana, who was forcefully removed by a security guard at a debate on the motion, “This House has no confidence in Her Majesty’s Government”.

The University’s Africa society (AfriSoc), which has been campaigning the university for justice for Azamati, said Azamati arrived to the union early to reserve his seat in the chamber before the debate and then went back to his college. It is not unusual for debate-goers to reserve seats, AfriSoc’s President Nwamaka Ogbonna tells TIME, and when no seats are available in the debate chamber, standing is permitted…

(JERUSALEM) — Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief rival announced Wednesday that he had failed to form a new government, dashing his hopes of toppling the long-time Israeli prime minister and pushing the country closer toward an unprecedented third election in less than a year.

The announcement by Benny Gantz, leader of the centrist Blue and White party, prolongs the political paralysis that has gripped the nation for the past year. It also provides a new lifeline for the embattled Netanyahu, who is desperate to remain in office as he prepares for an expected indictment on corruption charges, possibly as early as Thursday.

Gantz, a former military chief, was tapped to form a government last month after Netanyahu failed to cobble together a coalition in the wake of inconclusive September elections. But during four weeks of intense negotiations, Gantz was unable to muster the support of a required 61-member majority in the 120-seat parliament by Wednesday’s midnight deadline.

Addressing report..

(UNITED NATIONS) — In a sharp rebuke to the Trump administration, the 14 other U.N. Security Council members on Wednesday strongly opposed the U.S. announcement that it no longer considers Israeli settlements to be a violation of international law.

They warned that the new American policy undermines a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The council’s monthly Mideast meeting, just two days after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s announcement, was dominated by negative reaction to the new American policy from countries representing all regions of the world who said all Israeli settlements are illegal under international law.

Only Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Danny Danon, who is not a council member, spoke in support of the U.S. action, saying it “rights a historical wrong.” He also called the criticism an “obstacle to peace” that is “preventing direct negotiations” between Israelis and Palestinians.

“When the international community tries to force its solutions, ..