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Israeli airstrikes on Gaza kill Palestinian as violence ebbs
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip killed a 58-year-old man and wounded five others on Wednesday, Palestinian health officials said, even as the latest spasm of violence between Israel and Palestinian militants in the enclave appeared to ebb. Israeli fighter jets struck targets in Gaza in response to salvos of rockets launched by Palestinian militants at Israeli territory on Tuesday. But after sunrise, the violence seemed to subside as both sides signaled they wanted to avoid a wider conflict.
Dissident pulled off plane by Belarus gets 8 years in prison
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) -- A court in Belarus convicted a dissident journalist who was arrested after being pulled off a commercial flight that was diverted to the country and sentenced him Wednesday to eight years in prison. Raman Pratasevich's dramatic arrest in May 2021 elicited outrage in the West, with some leaders saying the plane's diversion was tantamount to state-sponsored hijacking. Belarusian flight controllers ordered the Ryanair jetliner traveling from Greece to Lithuania to land in Minsk, telling the crew there was a bomb threat against the flight. No explosives were found on board once the airliner was on the ground, but Pratasevich, a Belarusian citizen who lived in exile at the time, was detained.
Germany, Italy clamp down on Italian mob with raids, arrests
BERLIN (AP) -- Police across Europe arrested dozens of people, raided homes and seized millions of euros in assets on Wednesday, in a coordinated crackdown on Italy's 'ndrangheta organized crime syndicate, one of the world's most powerful, extensive and wealthy drug-trafficking groups. The operation, coordinated by European Union judicial cooperation agency Eurojust, aimed to dismantle a network that includes the n'drangheta, Colombian drug producers and paramilitary groups, and moves tons of cocaine to Europe and Australia each year.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard seizes tanker in Strait of Hormuz
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard seized a Panamanian-flagged oil tanker in the strategic Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, the second such capture by Tehran in under a week amid heightened tensions over its nuclear program. The taking of the oil tanker Niovi renewed concerns about Iran threatening maritime traffic in the strait, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all crude passes. It also comes amid the disappearance of a crude oil tanker in southeast Asia believed to be carrying Iranian crude oil amid reports it may have been seized by the United States.