The first direct commercial flight from Bahrain to Israel took off on Thursday. The Arab state signed the US-brokered Abraham Accord last year, agreeing to normalize relations with Israel.
Gulf Air will now be operating two flights per week on the route, the airline said in a statement earlier this month.
According to Gulf Air, the move is part of the “political, commercial and civil aviation agreements signed last year between the two countries.” This refers to the Abraham Accord signed by Bahrain and Israel in 2020, an agreement to normalize diplomatic and trade relations between the two states. Bahrain became the fourth Arab country to officially recognize Israel after the United Arab Emirates, Sudan and Morocco.
Israel named its first ambassador to Bahrain earlier this month, while the Gulf country named its ambassador to Israel in March. Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid flew to Bahrain earlier on Thursday on an official visit to inaugurate Israel’s embassy in Manama and hold talks with his Bahraini counterpart.
According to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Lapid also plans to sign five memorandums of understanding (MOUs), including cooperation agreements between hospitals, water and power companies.
“The main areas in which Bahrain is looking for cooperation have to do with the economy and technology, and a few of the MOUs that will be signed [on Thursday] will be about that,” the ministry spokesperson said, as cited by Alarabiya. He noted that 12 MOUs have already been signed so far, covering transportation, agriculture, communication and finance spheres.
“We see Bahrain as an important partner, on the bilateral level but also as a bridge to cooperate with other countries in the region,” the spokesperson said.
A 96-year-old woman who was due to go on trial for complicity in the murders of more than 11,000 people, and attempted murder of many others, has gone on the run, prompting German authorities to issue an arrest warrant.
On Thursday, a district court in Germany issued an arrest warrant for a 96-year-old woman who had worked as a secretary in a Nazi death camp between 1943 and 1945. The woman, Irmgard Furchner, was due to go on trial on Thursday on charges of complicity in murder at the Stutthof death camp, which sat on the Baltic coast in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II.
With the trial approaching, the elderly lady left her care home in a taxi and went to an underground station on Thursday morning, a spokeswoman for the district court said. Her whereabouts are now unknown.
Deutsche Welle reported that the announcement of her fleeing came as the court was preparing to start proceedings. If she is found, she will be brought to the court today and assessed to see if she is fit to stand trial, a Deutsche Welle reporter said, citing the arrest warrant.
She is charged with complicity in the deaths of 11,412 people and attempted murder of 18 others. The trial, if it goes ahead, will take place in the juvenile chamber of Itzehoe district court, close to Quickborn, north of Hamburg, as she was only 18 and 19 at the time of the alleged crimes.
Prosecutors stated in their charge sheet that, between June 1943 and April 1945, Furchner “assisted those responsible at the camp in the systematic killing of Jewish prisoners, Polish partisans and Soviet Russian prisoners of war, in her role as a stenographer and secretary to the camp commander.”
She would be the first woman to stand trial in connection to atrocities committed by the Third Reich in decades. Her trial is partially the result of a 2011 verdict against camp guard John Demjanjuk, who was sentenced for aiding and abetting the murders of 28,000 people at the Sobibor death camp in Poland. The trial set the precedent that people could be held responsible for crimes committed at such camps, regardless of how small their role was.
It is understood that Furchner's defense will argue that she was restricted to desk work.
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September 30, 2021 at 01:24AM
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Several countries in the European Union want to begin discussions on the future of visa-free travel within the bloc for citizens of Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia, after complaints that a number of people have abused the system.
According to EUobserver, which has seen an internal document, some EU countries are becoming frustrated with the number of unlawful residency and unfounded asylum claims coming from these three countries, as well as citizens of some western Balkan states.
Germany appears to be the main complainant, with France and Italy also registering their frustration.
Nationals of Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia are allowed to travel to the EU’s Schengen Area, made up of 26 nations, without a visa for up to 90 days at a time.
After it was revealed that the EU may make changes to the visa-free agreement with these nations, Georgia’s foreign minister refuted the suggestion as a “lie.”
“I want to reassure everyone and also disappoint the people who took this story so seriously. I know that our opponents are very excited, and it’s incredible when opponents rejoice at the failure of the country, and I want to disappoint them,” David Zalkaliani told Formulanews.
Germany itself has also denied the story, despite EUobserver seeing complaints from Berlin.
“Reading this news was just as unexpected for me as it was for everyone,” said German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. “I asked about this in Berlin and at the Federal Interior Ministry and found out that this was not real news. This is fake news.”
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September 30, 2021 at 01:04AM
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has said he is willing to restore a hotline between the two Koreas, but he says Seoul must drop its “delusion” that its northern neighbor wants to cause it any harm or provoke.
North Korean state media KCNA reported on Thursday that Kim had expressed interest in reviving the severed telephone channels from October “as part of the efforts for realizing the expectations and desire of the entire Korean nation to see the earlier recovery of the north-south relations … and durable peace settling in the Korean peninsula.”
Speaking at the Supreme People’s Assembly, Kim remarked that inter-Korean relations “stand at a crossroads”. According to him, ties must either take the course of advancing towards reconciliation and cooperation, or suffer national division “amid a vicious cycle of confrontation.”
Pyongyang refused to answer a routine call in August in protest over joint South Korea-US military drills being held, with Kim Yo-jong, the sister of the North Korean leader, accusing Seoul of engaging in “perfidious behavior.”
The refusal followed the reopening of the channel in June, after the connection had been severed a year earlier due to bad relations between the two countries. Following the decision to cut ties, North Korea blew up an inter-Korean border office in Kaesong that facilitated communication.
The North Korean leader now says that restoration depends on the attitude of Seoul’s authorities. He added that Pyongyang has “neither aim nor reason” to provoke its southerly neighbor.
“It is necessary for South Korea to promptly get rid of the delusion, crisis awareness and awareness of getting harmed that it should deter the North’s provocation.”
Kim also accused Seoul and the US of destroying the stability and balance of the peninsula and causing more complicated dangers through excessive military presence and activities.
Taking special aim at Washington, Kim accused the White House of proposing talks with Pyongyang without changing its “hostile policy” and even using “more cunning ways and methods.” However, the US rebuffed Kim’s claims and urged for the nation to return to dialogue, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap.
North Korea has launched several projectiles in recent weeks, with Pyongyang firing a new “hypersonic missile” off its east coast on Tuesday. Earlier this month, one test reportedly involved deploying a long-range cruise missile, as well as a newly developed rail-borne warhead.
Seoul also recently fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile; Pyongyang blasted its southerly neighbor’s attempt as “sloppy” and “self-comforting,” warning that this could derail the peninsula’s peace.
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September 30, 2021 at 12:43AM
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WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury has admitted to being 'p*ssed' that Anthony Joshua blew their best of British box office clash by losing to Oleksandr Usyk, but has offered advice to his rival on how to turn the tides.
Fury has his own dangerous assignment to deal with on October 9 when facing Deontay Wilder, in a trilogy bout which was rescheduled after the Brit contracted Covid.
Dethroning the Alabama native in February last year with a stunning TKO stoppage following a controversial draw in December 2019, The Gypsy King vowed to "smash Deontay to bits again just like I did in our second fight".
"But I’m the only man who has done this and the only one who can do it," he stressed, while taking time out from his training camp to conduct a barechested press conference via video link.
"He would do the same to Usyk, Joshua and all the others in the heavyweight division," Fury said of his next foe, who might not be the most technically gifted of pugilists yet boasts devastating knockout power.
"Wilder is the most dangerous heavyweight in the world. One punch from him in any round can end your career."
"I never take any opponent for granted, big or small, and certainly not this one," he stressed.
That being said, it is pretty much common knowledge in the boxing world that had Joshua gotten past Usyk before Fury potentially sees off Wilder, the Brits' promoters would have headed back to the negotiation table to try and finally arrange a pair of blockbuster clashes between them in Saudi Arabia and the UK which have now decreased in both interest and value.
Despite admitting his frustration, though, Fury refused to pile on Joshua.
"Did I watch the fight? Yes, I did. Was I absolutely wounded that [Usyk] won? Yes, I was. I was hoping Joshua could win the fight, but he couldn’t - and that’s none of my business.
"Usyk did his job well and good luck to him. I’m not saying much about Joshua because I don’t like beating up on people when they’re down."
"It ain’t my style. I like to pick on someone who is doing well, successful, on top of the game – I don’t like picking on people who are down and probably at their lowest point and probably mentally unstable and unwell with a big loss after such a long reign.
"Was I p*ssed that he lost before our big fight? Yes, I was. But if he’s going to get revenge he’s going to have do something very different in the rematch," Fury pointed out.
"The only chance he has of getting his vengeance is to come out swinging, leave nothing in the ring, give it everything he’s got and hope that’s enough."
"Who knows? But what I do know is that whatever happens between them I am the only heavyweight who will get all the belts. Always have been. Always will be. At 6ft 9in and 270-plus pounds I am a behemoth among men. A steamroller coming straight at you," he boasted.
"Wilder has an extra problem with me because he could not accept losing for the first time, [and] made all those daft excuses about how I beat him, so [he] is unable to move on," Fury continued, referencing the American complaining that his heavy ring walk costume exhausted him before their second meeting, and that the Mancunian had loaded his gloves.
"It would have been better for him mentally to congratulate me on being the better man and start thinking about what he might do different. To shake hands. But he couldn’t bring himself to do that. No class.
"He will be at his most dangerous he’s ever been in this fight. I hope he can put up a better fight because I like big challenges. But he knows what’s coming in that ring. I told him last time what I was going to do to him. Smash him."
"He was too stupid to believe me. So I’m telling him to expect the same again. Only it will be over for him quicker than the seven rounds of our second fight," Fury predicted.
After that, Fury has no particular preference on his next opponent whether it is Joshua or Usyk, who now holds the most belts in the division.
"I don’t care about anybody else – they are not on my radar, only the ‘Bronze Bomber’, aka the Big Dosser [is].
"After him, we will talk, the promoters will do their job, and I will always do mine. Never worry about the Gypsy King fulfilling his end of a bargain – I will always f*cking fight until there’s not a fight left in me. You just worry about the other people doing their end of the bargain," he advised.
Claiming to feel a "million percent", Fury also said he is in "fantastic shape" and "fit as a fiddle".
"I’m absolutely ready, today, tomorrow and forever. I’ll always be ready and I’ll never make excuses."
"When I beat Wilder, I’ll be on to the next one, so on and so forth. It’s never about the opponent," he said.
"It’s the Tyson Fury show until I hang those gloves up. Until that day, it’s all about me, and the roadshow continues. All these years, 2008 to 2021 and I’m still undefeated.
"There ain’t a man out there born from his mother that can stop me or beat me. I haven’t seen one yet anyway. Maybe he’s not born, or maybe he is but he hasn’t got the guts to come and fight me," Fury signed off.
Israeli police have shot a Palestinian woman who attempted to stab officers in Jerusalem’s Old City. Medical teams arrived at the scene shortly after but declared the woman dead.
On Thursday, a woman exited the Temple Mount complex (known as Al-Aqsa compound to Palestinians), which holds Al-Aqsa mosque, in Jerusalem’s Old City and approached the officers next to the Chain Gate, pulling out a knife and attempting to stab them, local media reported citing police.
Israeli police then opened fire on the young woman and “medical forces who arrived at the scene determined her death,” police said. No casualties were reported on the Israeli side. AFP journalists said they saw the body of the woman who was later covered in a survival blanket.
📷 الاحتـلال يغلق جميع أبواب المسجد الأقصى بعد ارتقاء الشابة إسراء خزيمية (30 عامًا) من بلدة قباطية، بحجة محاولتها تنفيذ عملية طعن pic.twitter.com/ZveTz16SgG
Palestinian media identified the attacker as Esra Khuzaymah, a 30-year-old resident of the town of Qabatiya near Jenin in the West Bank. The Palestinian Safa Press Agency said the Israeli authorities had closed the doors to the complex following the attack.
Temple Mount is considered the holiest site in Judaism, with the Al-Aqsa Mosque,which sits on the southern side of the complex, the third holiest site in Islam.
Earlier in September, two Israelis were injured as an attacker stabbed locals at a store next to the Jerusalem Central Bus Station. The assailant was shot by two female Border Police patrol officers. In May, clashes at the site were the prelude to a short-lived conflict between militant forces in Gaza and Israel.
France's former president Nicolas Sarkozy has been found guilty of illegal campaign financing and sentenced to one year in prison. The court will let him serve the sentence at home.
The ex-president will be able to complete his sentence without going to jail, but he will have to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet, the court ruled.
Sarkozy, who was president between 2007 and 2012 and still maintains a strong influence in the country's conservative circles, wasn't present at the hearing. The 66-year-old politician has the legal right to appeal against the ruling.
Sarkozy earlier denied any wrongdoing, telling the court in June that he hadn’t been involved in the logistics or allocation of funds in his campaign for a second term as president in 2012.
The ex-president will have the opportunity to appeal his sentence after it’s announced.
The prosecutors sought a one-year prison sentence, half of it suspended, for Sarkozy. They blamed him for spending nearly double the €22.5 million allowed under French electoral law on the campaign.
The candidate knew about the irregularities, he was warned by the accountants about them on at least two occasions, but chose to proceed, the prosecutors insisted, describing Sarkozy as “the only person responsible for his campaign financing.”
Incidentally, the overspending and huge rallies held by Sarkozy’s team weren’t enough to win reelection for him as Socialist Francois Hollande became president in 2012.
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September 30, 2021 at 12:03AM
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