The Palestinians on Saturday welcomed a vote by the United Nations General Assembly requesting that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) provide an opinion on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.

The Hague-based ICJ, also known as the World Court, is the top U.N. court dealing with disputes between states. Its rulings are binding, though the ICJ has no power to enforce them.

The vote on Friday nonetheless presents a challenge for Israel’s incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who took office on Thursday at the head of a hard-right government that includes parties who advocate for occupied West Bank lands to be annexed.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem – areas the Palestinians want for a state – in a 1967 war. Peace talks broke down in 2014.

“The time has come for Israel to be a state subject to law, and to be held accountable for its ongoing crimes against our people,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said.

Israeli officials have not yet issued a comment on the vote. It was condemned by Israel’s U.N. envoy Gilad Erdan before it was held as the Jewish Sabbath began.

Senior Palestinian official Hussein al-Sheikh said on Twitter that the vote “reflects the victory of Palestinian diplomacy.” There were 87 members who voted in favour of adopting the request; Israel, the United States and 24 other members voted against; and 53 abstained.

The Palestinians have limited rule in the West Bank and East Jerusalem was annexed by Israel in a move not recognized internationally. Its settlements in those territories are deemed illegal by most countries, a view Israel disputes citing Biblical and historical ties to the land, as well as security.

The U.N. General Assembly asked the ICJ to give an advisory opinion on the legal consequences of Israel’s “occupation, settlement and annexation … including measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and from its adoption of related discriminatory legislation and measures.”

The new Israeli government has pledged to strengthen its settlements in the West Bank but Netanyahu has given no indication of any imminent steps toward annexing them.

China reported one new COVID-19 death in the mainland for Dec. 30, compared with one death a day earlier, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on Saturday.

The death toll has risen to 5,248.

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The Palestinians on Saturday welcomed a vote by the United Nations General Assembly to ask the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for an opinion on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.

“The time has come for Israel to be a state subject to law, and to be held accountable for its ongoing crimes against our people,” said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Senior Palestinian official Hussein al-Sheikh said on Twitter that Friday’s vote “reflects the victory of Palestinian diplomacy.”

Former President Donald Trump talks to supporters at Mar-a-lago on November 8, 2022, in Palm Beach, Florida.

Andrew Harnik/AP

• Trump’s tax returns were released by the House Ways and Means Committee after years of legal battles.
• Among the documents were the former president’s personal and business returns from 2015 to 2020.
• They reveal details about years he paid more in foreign taxes than US income tax.

Donald Trump’s tax returns, released by the House Ways and Means Committee today, revealed several years the former president paid more in foreign taxes than US income tax.

After years of ongoing legal battles in which Trump broke from decades of precedent and fought to keep his financial disclosures private, the hundreds of pages of newly released documents shed light on his international business dealings and financial ties.

Trump’s filings showed he kept financial accounts in China, Ireland, and the United Kingdom from 2015 to 2017, even after he took office, AP reported. By 2018, he only reported the UK account.

The former president also reported income in more than a dozen countries including Azerbaijan, China, India, Panama, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. In several years, according to AP, he paid more in foreign taxes related to his international business dealings than he did in income tax to the United States. 

AP reported Trump paid $641,931 in federal income taxes in 2015, as he began his campaign for president, but paid just $750 in 2016 and 2017. In 2018, he paid nearly $1 million, he paid $133,445 in 2019, and nothing in 2020, the last year of returns that were released.

While the recently released tax documents reveal previously unknown information about the former president’s finances, they are not proof of legal wrongdoing. Still, one expert told AP some of the details, such as claims of foreign tax credits and large write-offs, are worth a closer look by auditors.

“The return doesn’t say, ‘Guess what? I’m committing fraud,'” Daniel Shaviro, a taxation professor at New York University, told AP, “but there are red flags.”

A summary report of the returns, released by the House Ways and Means Committee last week, revealed that the IRS failed to audit former President Trump during his first two years in office, despite an internal policy that mandates the review of presidential finances.

Audits only began after Committee Chairman, Democratic Rep. Richard Neal, requested a copy of the former president’s taxes.

“This is a major failure of the IRS under the prior administration, and certainly not what we had hoped to find,” Neal said in a statement releasing Trump’s returns. “But the evidence is clear. Congress must step in. I’ve proposed legislation to put the program above reproach. Ensuring IRS conducts yearly, timely examinations while publicly disclosing certain information.”

He added: “Our work has always been to ensure our tax laws are administered fairly and without preference, because at times, even the power of a president can loom too large.”

Representatives for Trump and the House Ways and Means Committee did not immediately respond to Insider’s requests for comment.

Australia is gearing up to celebrate its first restriction-free New Year’s Eve after two years of COVID disruptions, with more than a million revellers expected to flock to Sydney’s harbourfront and watch an elaborate fireworks display.

Sydney is one of the world’s first major cities to welcome in the New Year and draws huge TV audiences around the world, with a public countdown and fireworks display over its iconic Opera House.

Lockdowns at the end of 2020 and a surge in Omicron cases at the end of 2021 led to crowd restrictions and reduced festivities. However, curbs on celebrations have been lifted this year after Australia, like many countries around the world, re-opened its borders and removed social distancing restrictions.

“This New Year’s Eve we are saying Sydney is back as we kick off festivities around the world and bring in the New Year with a bang,” Clover Moore, Lord Mayor of Sydney, said.

“2022 has been another year of significant challenges as we continued working to recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, but tonight we put the year behind us and look with hope to 2023.”

A rainbow of colour will light up Sydney Harbour, with 2,000 fireworks to be launched from the four sails of the Sydney Opera House and 7,000 fireworks from more positions on the Sydney Harbour Bridge than ever before.

For the first time in 12 years, fireworks will be launched from four building rooftops to frame the spectacular show, the organisers said.

Prior to the pandemic, over a million people would join the festivities on the ground in Sydney as a billion spectators tuned in from other parts of the world.

The following are key facts about the life and career of pioneering broadcast journalist Barbara Walters, the first woman to anchor an American network evening newscast, who died on Friday:

* Walters was born in Boston on Sept. 25, but she did not like to reveal the year, which reportedly was 1929, 1930 or 1931. ABC News, her longtime home network, said she died at age 93, putting her birth year at 1929. Her father Louis was a theatrical producer who also started the Latin Quarter nightclub chain.

* Walters started at NBC’s “Today” show as a writer in 1961 and in 1976 became the first woman to co-anchor a network evening news broadcast on U.S. television. She was teamed with on “ABC Evening News” with Harry Reasoner until 1978 and was paid an unprecedented $1 million a year for her work on the news show and special programs.

* Walters singled out her “Today” co-host Frank McGee and Reasoner on ABC News for making her life miserable. She said McGee tried to restrict her contributions on “Today” and that Reasoner was openly resentful of her presence at the anchor desk.

* After leaving ABC’s evening newscast, Walters became a television superstar as co-anchor of the ABC network’s prime-time news magazine show “20/20” and host of special interview programs.

* The list of world leaders interviewed by Walters includes India’s Indira Gandhi, Egypt’s Anwar Al Sadat, Israel’s Menachem Begin, the Shah of Iran, Cuba’s Fidel Castro, Britain’s Margaret Thatcher, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, Russia’s Boris Yeltsin and every U.S. president since Richard Nixon.

* Walters was offended by Gilda Radner’s “Bawa Wawa” impersonation of her on the NBC comedy show “Saturday Night Live.” “Audiences found her mimicry of my pronunciation of L and R as W hysterically funny. I found it extremely upsetting,” she wrote. When Walters met Radner, she asked the comic to do the impersonation and Radner complied. Walters said they parted as friends.

* Walters felt she was unfairly mocked for her asking actress Katharine Hepburn what kind of tree she would like to be. Walters said it was an appropriate question in follow up to Hepburn comparing herself to a tree. Hepburn’s answer to the question was an oak.

* Walters created “The View” on ABC in 1997 as a roundtable discussion for women. She appeared on the show regularly and often had to mediate controversies stirred by co-hosts Star Jones and Rosie O’Donnell.

* Walters’ marriages to businessman Robert Katz, theatrical producer Lee Guber and television executive Merv Adelson all ended in divorce. She also dated Alan Greenspan, former head of the Federal Reserve, and John Warner, who would later become a senator from Virginia. In her 2008 autobiography she revealed an affair with the married Edward Brooke of Massachusetts, the first black senator since post-Civil War Reconstruction.

(Reuters) – LeBron James showed no signs of slowing down in his 20th year in the NBA as the Los Angeles Lakers star celebrated his 38th birthday on Friday with an inspiring 47-point performance in a 130-121 win over the Atlanta Hawks.

With the Lakers down 15 points at one stage, the visiting side rallied to mount a comeback at the State Farm Arena as James nearly notched up a triple-double, finishing with 10 rebounds and nine assists to go with his season-high 47 points.

His previous best this season was 39 points against the San Antonio Spurs last month.

He ended the game with some of the Atlanta crowd chanting, “MVP!”

“Just awesome man, he’s put the team on his back and been doing what he’s done for the last 20 years. A hell of a performance,” coach Darvin Ham told reporters when asked about James, who was playing his third game in four nights.

“Dropping 47 (points) is inspiring because he plays the game the right way… He motivates and inspires the team to go out there and do their jobs.”

Only two other players have scored more points in a game after turning 38, with Michael Jordan and Jamal Crawford netting 51 points each.