UAE attorney-general says Flydubai co-pilot attempts terrorist act
Investigations into an incident aboard Flydubai flight FZ1073 have found that the co-pilot attempted to commit a terrorist act, Attorney-General of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Hamad Saif Al Shamsi said Saturday.
The co-pilot began carrying out the alleged plan during the flight, attacking the captain with a crash axe inside the cockpit and attempting to take control of the aircraft's flight controls, Al Shamsi was quoted by the Emirates News Agency as saying.
Investigations are continuing to determine the full circumstances and motives behind the incident, as well as any possible links. Technical examinations and analyses of physical and digital evidence are also underway, he said.
1st rescue flights bring stranded Israelis home from Dubai
The first five rescue flights carrying Israelis stranded in Dubai landed at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv on Saturday morning as part of an operation to bring them home, according to the Israel Airports Authority.
Thousands of Israelis were stranded in Dubai after Flydubai, the only airline operating the route to Tel Aviv, suspended its flights following the incident aboard its plane on Wednesday, in which the co-pilot allegedly stabbed and wounded the captain.
The rescue operation had been thrown into doubt after Emirati authorities banned passenger aircraft from carrying checked baggage, prompting the cancellation of rescue flights scheduled for Friday.
Saudi airstrikes reported on Yemen's Houthi-held capital Sanaa
Loud explosions rocked Yemen's Houthi-held capital Sanaa late Saturday, as the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported renewed Saudi airstrikes on the city.
A Sanaa resident, speaking to Xinhua on condition of anonymity, said warplanes could be heard overhead as powerful blasts echoed across the capital, rattling windows and shaking buildings.
"The blasts were so powerful that the ground shook beneath us," the resident said. "It felt like an earthquake. Our windows were rattling and the children woke up terrified."
Iran's IRGC hit 7 "violating" oilers in Hormuz Strait in 5 days
The navy of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) has targeted at least seven "violating" oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz in the past five days, the semi-official Fars news agency reported Saturday.
The IRGC Navy has targeted more than one oil tanker each day, despite U.S. President Donald Trump's repeated claims that "the Strait of Hormuz is open and under his country's control," it reported.
Citing MenchOsint, an independent military observer, Fars added that two oil tankers were exploded in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday -- one at the waterway's entrance and the other while exiting it.
Israeli military confirms targeting senior Hamas official in Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Saturday confirmed media reports that it attacked senior Hamas official Ali Ahmed Al-Amoudi overnight in Gaza City.
The IDF did not indicate whether Al-Amoudi was harmed, noting that the results of the airstrike are still under investigation.
The strike was launched while Al-Amoudi was in an apartment allegedly used by Hamas for "terror activities," the IDF said.
Russia attacks another bridge in Kiev
A Russian strike hit a second bridge in the Ukrainian capital on Saturday, Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
The attack damaged the road surface and the trolleybus overhead wiring at the Northern Bridge, Klitschko wrote on Telegram.
Traffic across the bridge from the city's eastern bank to the western bank has been suspended.
DR Congo says Ebola outbreak eases in areas despite death toll topping 4,000
Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) said Friday that the Ebola outbreak has eased in some areas with no new cases reported in more health zones for weeks despite that the total death toll has surpassed 4,000.
"We are no longer talking about outbreaks at the provincial level, but outbreaks concentrated in individual health zones," Health Minister Roger Kamba told a press briefing in Kinshasa.
Data released Friday showed that the outbreak has claimed 4,018 lives among 8,300 confirmed cases across seven provinces, with an overall case fatality rate of 48.4 percent. A total of 2,162 patients have recovered.■
