Axios

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over his alleged involvement in the abduction of Ukrainian children and teenagers.

Why it matters: The arrest warrants for Putin and another Russian official represent some of the first international charges issued since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Turkey announced on Friday plans to ratify Finland's decision to join NATO, a major step toward the alliance adding its 31st member.

Driving the news: “We decided to start the ratification process in our Parliament for Finland’s membership,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told a news conference Friday, according to a translation from The New York Times.

Polish President Andrzej Duda said this week that Poland will transfer four of its MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine in the coming days and plans to send others, as well.

The latest: Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger said on Friday that his country would send 13 of its MiG-29s.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew insisted Thursday that forcing the app's Chinese parent company, Bytedance, to sell it would not address the the national security concerns of the U.S. and other governments.

The big picture: Chew's comments to the Wall Street Journal coincided with the U.K. and New Zealand becoming the latest to announce new TikTok restrictions on government devices due to security concerns.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday forced through highly unpopular pension reforms, which will raise the retirement age from 62 to 64, without risking a vote in the National Assembly that he was set to lose.

Driving the news: The pensions plan has sparked weeks of strikes and demonstrations. Tens of thousands of protesters poured into the streets of Paris, Marseille and other cities after the announcement, and some clashed with police.

Two decades after the U.S. launched Operation Iraqi Freedom, Iraq is "not free," at least according to the latest Freedom House analysis.

The big picture: The U.S.-led invasion that began 20 years ago this week and swiftly toppled one of the world's most repressive regimes did not, as its architects in the George W. Bush administration hoped, herald a new dawn for democracy in the region.

Payment-processing company Square announced on Thursday that it's launching an accelerator program to help Latino and Black retail business owners get funding and coaching.

Why it matters: Latinos are opening small businesses in the U.S. faster than other groups, but they struggle to access capital, according to prior research.

Exposure to air pollution and psychological stresses among low-income Hispanic pregnant women can have an outsized effect on fetal growth, according to a study linking it to hampered growth.

The big picture: Latino populations in the U.S. are among the groups most consistently exposed to smog, lead poisoning, unsafe water, and toxic waste.

Few statues honoring Latina civil rights and other influential Hispanic women have been erected in the U.S. or Latin America.

The big picture: Women of history are rarely memorialized in public spaces, and even fewer Latinas and other women of color are honored by public monuments, data shows. For Women's History Month, Axios Latino went searching.

BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that in his meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday he expressed concern over the Israeli government's judicial overhaul plan and called on the Israeli prime minister to consider a compromise proposal put together by the Israeli president.

Why it matters: Germany is Israel's second most important ally after the U.S.. Any damage to the Israeli-German relationship could have wider implications for Israel’s standing in Europe.

Russian forces in Ukraine have committed an array of violations that amount to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, a United Nations commission said in a report released Thursday.

The big picture: Russia's violations of international human rights and international humanitarian law — many of which constitute war crimes — include willful killings, torture, rape, forced transfers and the deportation of children, per the report.

The European Central Bank on Thursday raised interest rates by a half percentage point as officials continue an aggressive battle against inflation despite some signs of stress in the banking system.

Why it matters: The supersized rate increase means the troubles at Credit Suisse and financial market jitters were not enough for the central bank to back off its inflation fight.

The Pentagon released declassified footage Thursday that it says shows a Russian jet conducting "an unsafe and unprofessional intercept" with a U.S. drone over the Black Sea earlier this week.

Driving the news: The 42-second video shows a Russian Su-27 jet approaching the MQ-9 Reaper drone and releasing fuel as it neared the U.S. aircraft on Tuesday.

Four in five Republicans want the U.S. to remain the world's leading power — but fewer than half support giving Ukraine weapons and financial support to try to save itself from Russia, according to the latest wave of the Axios-Ipsos Two Americas Index.

Why it matters: These conflicting findings come amid a diplomatic crisis after Russia forced down a U.S. drone above the Black Sea — and a GOP identity crisis shaping the 2024 presidential race.

Views of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have shifted sharply among Democrats, who said they sympathized more with Palestinians than Israelis for the first time in an annual Gallup survey.

The big picture: Overall, most U.S. adults sympathize more with Israelis (54%) than Palestinians (31%), and two-thirds of Americans continue to view Israel favorably. However, views on the Middle East conflict are becoming increasingly polarized in the U.S. by party and by generation.

NASA and Axiom Space unveiled Wednesday the first prototype of a "next generation" spacesuit for humanity's return to the moon in 2025 during an event in Houston, Texas.

Why it matters: The suits will be key to NASA's plans to send people to the Moon and the space agency has pledged to send the first woman and first person of color to the Moon on the Artemis missions.

North Korea's military test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) hours before the leaders of South Korea and Japan were due to meet for a key summit on Thursday, South Korean and Japanese officials said.

The big picture: The missile that the officials said landed in the sea between the Korean peninsula and Japan on Thursday morning local time came as U.S. and South Korean militaries conduct an 11-day joint drill that began Friday, which they said involves the integration of elements of "live exercises" and simulations to symbolize "the defensive nature of the exercise."

The Biden Administration has warned TikTok that it faces a ban in the U.S. if its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, does not sell its stake in the U.S. version of the app, a source confirmed to Axios.

Why it matters: TikTok has become one of the most popular mobile apps in the country, amassing over 100 million U.S. users. Banning it would have an immediate impact on millions of everyday Americans, and would mark a significant escalation of tensions between China and the U.S.

Credit Suisse will borrow up to 50 billion Swiss francs ($53.68 billion) from the Swiss National Bank under a covered loan facility as well as a short-term liquidity facility, the company announced Wednesday.

Why it matters: Credit Suisse is one of only 30 global financial institutions that the international Financial Stability Board has designated as being systemically important — it's too big to fail, per Axios' Felix Salmon.