Ireland is to ask the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to broaden its definition of genocide – claiming Israel has engaged in the “collective punishment” of people in Gaza.

An intervention will be made later this month, deputy prime minister Micheal Martin said, and will be linked to a case South Africa has brought under the United Nations’ Genocide Convention.

Mr Martin said the Irish government is “concerned” that a “narrow interpretation of what constitutes genocide” leads to a “culture of impunity in which the protection of civilians is minimised”.

The Dublin administration’s “view of the convention is broader” and “prioritises the protection of civilian life”, he added.

Mr Martin, who also serves as Ireland’s minister for foreign affairs, claimed there had been “collective punishment of the Palestinian people through the intent and impact of military actions of Israel in Gaza”.

Some 44,000 people have died, he added (figures from Hamas) and “millions of civilians” have been displaced.

Mr Martin continued: “By legally intervening in South Africa’s case, Ireland will be asking the ICJ to broaden its interpretation of what constitutes the commission of genocide by a state.”

The Dublin government has also approved an intervention in The Gambia’s case against Myanmar under the same convention.

“Intervening in both cases demonstrates the consistency of Ireland’s approach to the interpretation and application of the Genocide Convention,” Mr Martin said.

Under the convention, genocide refers to acts committed with the “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.

It can include killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and inflicting conditions that bring about its physical destruction.

In May, Israel’s deputy attorney general told a panel of 15 international judges that South Africa’s allegations of genocide are “completely divorced from the facts and circumstances”.

“Armed conflict is not a synonym of genocide,” Gilad Noam said.

The accusation “makes a mockery of the heinous charge of genocide”, he added.

Israel has often stated that it warns civilians when it is about to target Hamas fighters.

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Amnesty International has also accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians during its war against Hamas in Gaza.

The human rights group claimed Israel sought deliberately to destroy Palestinians by launching deadly attacks, demolishing vital infrastructure and preventing the delivery of food, medicine and other aid.

Israel’s foreign ministry described Amnesty as a “deplorable and fanatical organisation” which had produced a “fabricated report” that was “entirely false and based on lies”.

Stephen Bowen, executive director of Amnesty Ireland, said the Irish government’s intervention offered a “glimmer of hope”.

He added: “Those like Ireland who have called for a ceasefire must join with other like-minded states to create this common platform to end the genocide.

“They must be resolute; they must be relentless; they must be loud, clear, visible. This is genocide. This must stop.”

David Mencer, an Israeli government spokesman, has told Sky News that Amnesty’s claim of genocide against Israel is “a classic example of antisemitism” and “Holocaust inversion”.

Bird flu can infect horses without causing any symptoms, according to new research, raising fears that the virus could be spreading undetected.

It’s another twist in the emerging threat of the H5N1 virus, widely seen as the most likely cause of the next pandemic.

Scientists at the University of Glasgow found antibodies to the virus in blood samples taken from horses living in Mongolia. Their results have been published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Professor Pablo Murcia, who led the research, told Sky News that the finding suggests horses worldwide could be vulnerable in areas where bird flu is present – and they could pass on the virus to humans.

“It’s very important, now we know these infections can occur in nature, that we monitor them to detect them very rapidly,” he said.

“Horses, like many other domesticated animals, live in close proximity to humans and if this virus was to establish in horses the probability of human infection increases.”

The team at the Medical Research Council-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research also believe horses could be a mixing bowl for new strains of flu.

It’s already known that they can be infected with equine flu, caused by the H3N8 virus. But if a horse is simultaneously infected with H5N1, the viruses could swap genetic material and evolve rapidly.

The H5N1 virus has been around for several decades, largely causing outbreaks in poultry. But in recent years a new variant has spread worldwide with migrating birds and has repeatedly jumped species to infect mammals.

The virus is spreading in cows in the US, with more than 700 dairy herds in 15 states infected, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Almost 60 farm workers have been infected, though so far all have had mild symptoms.

Scientists are concerned that the virus is developing mutations that would help it survive in mammalian cells and have criticised the slow response of US authorities.

Dr Tulio de Oliveira, the director of the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation in South Africa, who first detected the Omicron variant in the COVID pandemic, said he is watching events in the US with dread.

“The last thing that they would need at the moment is another pathogen that evolved and mutated,” he told Sky News.

“If you keep H5N1 circulating for a long time and across different animals and in humans, you give the chance that that can happen.

“They do not need another potential pandemic.”

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US authorities are bringing in new rules on testing of raw milk, which can contain live virus.

According to the UK Health Security Agency the virus is highly unlikely to affect cattle in Britain and the risk to the public is low.

But an order has been placed for five million doses of a vaccine against the H5 family of viruses if bird flu begins to spread in humans.

It is not even Christmas yet: trees are still being decorated, turkeys are yet to be defrosted and Christmas puddings remain intact.

But though 2024 is not even out, scientists already have a handle on how hot 2025 will be.

Next year’s global average temperature is likely to be the third-highest on record – going back to 1850 – after 2024 in the top spot and 2023 in second place, the Met Office said today.

This year is on course to be at least 1.5C hotter than pre-industrial times, before humans started burning fossil fuels at scale, and 2023 was 1.45C warmer.

Next year is forecast to be at least 1.29°C hotter, but probably closer to 1.4C, bumping 2020 into fourth place.

And 2025 is expected to be hot even though the El Nino weather pattern, which had a warming effect on 2023 and 2024, has waned.

The Met Office said that’s because an underlying trend is making all years hotter – climate change.

Greenhouse gases – which primarily come from fossil fuels – are continuing to build up in the atmosphere, warming the planet.

That’s why scientists are already pretty confident next year will be hot.

Professor Adam Scaife from the Met Office said: “The 2023/24 El Niño event has temporarily provided a boost to global temperature, adding a peak to the rising temperatures driven by years of increasing greenhouse gas emissions.”

But climate researchers are also “actively looking at other factors” that might be responsible for a recent extra surge in temperatures, he added.

They are racing to understand whether other factors could have played a role, such as the Hunga-Tonga volcano eruption, a reduction in aerosols from shipping emissions or worrying, anomalous heat in the world’s oceans.

The figures published by the Met Office today are global average temperatures, which smooth out extremes from different parts of the world.

That is the reason it can still feel cold in some countries, even if the global average temperature is high.

Countries are trying to limit global warming to no more than 2C, and ideally 1.5C, above pre-industrial levels.

This is the goal they signed up to under the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement and is one of the things they try to achieve via their annual COP climate summits.

On Tuesday, the UK’s climate envoy Rachel Kyte warned the Paris Agreement is “more fragile” than it has ever been.

She said the seminal treaty was losing “friends” on both end of the spectrum, with some countries angry that it moves too slowly, and others stopping it from moving too quickly.