Israel’s parliament has passed into law a controversial bill that defines the country as an exclusively Jewish state.
The “Jewish nation state” bill downgrades Arabic as an official language and says advancing Jewish settlement is a national interest.
It also states that the “whole and united” Jerusalem is its capital.
Israeli Arab MPs condemned the legislation, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised it as a “defining moment.”
The bill, backed by the country’s right-wing government, says that “Israel is the historic homeland of the Jewish people and they have an exclusive right to national self-determination in it.”
It was passed after a stormy session in the Knesset that lasted more than eight hours.
Sixty-two MPs voted for the bill, with 55 against.
However some clauses were dropped following objections by Israel’s president and attorney-general, including a clause that would have enshrined in law the creation of Jewish-only communities.
Israeli Arabs make up about 20% of the Israel’s population of about nine million people.
They have equal rights under the law, but have long complained of being treated as second class citizens and say they face discrimination and worse provision of services such as education, health and housing.
Arab MP Ahmed Tibi said the bill’s passing represented the “death of democracy.”
Adalah, an Arab rights NGO, said the law was an attempt to advance “ethnic superiority by promoting racist policies.”
Last week Mr. Netanyahu defended the law, saying: “We will keep ensuring civil rights in Israel’s democracy but the majority also has rights and the majority decides.”
Turkey ends state of emergency after two years
The Turkish government has ended the nationwide state of emergency that was imposed two years ago after a failed coup attempt, state media say.
Under the state of emergency, tens of thousands of people were arrested or dismissed from their jobs.
However the government has decided against extending it again after seven three-month renewals.
The decision comes weeks after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won re-election.
During the campaign, opposition candidates said that the first thing they would do if they won would be to end the state of emergency.
More than 107,000 people have been removed from public sector jobs by emergency decree since the state of emergency began and more than 50,000 people have been imprisoned pending trial, according to official statistics and NGOs.
Many of those dismissed are alleged to be supporters of the exiled Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, who lives in the United States and is a former ally of Mr. Erdogan.
Turkey accuses Mr. Gulen and his followers of organising the coup, but he denies it.
The 2016 coup attempt saw parliament bombed by military aircraft and more than 250 people killed.
Ethiopian Airlines makes historic flight to Eritrea
Roses and champagne were given to passengers on the first commercial flight between Ethiopia and Eritrea in 20 years.
Ethiopian Airlines said its “bird of peace” flew to Eritrea, after the end of the “state of war.”
Passengers sang and danced in the aisles during the 60-minute flight.
But they wept once they landed in Eritrea’s capital Asmara, as they met relatives and friends for the first time since the 1998-2000 border war.
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This led to the closure of air and road travel between the two nations.
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has spearheaded a peace process with Eritrea since he took office in April.
He signed a “peace and friendship” agreement with Eritrea’s President Isaias Afwerki on July 9, declaring that the “state of war” was over.
The deal was signed in Asmara, during the first visit by an Ethiopian head of state to the country in 20 years.
Mr. Isaias made a reciprocal visit to Ethiopia about a week later.
The two leaders agreed to restore diplomatic ties, and resume air and road travel.
Former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn was among the passengers on the historic flight.
He told the BBC that he was emotional about making the trip.
“It’s a golden moment for the two countries and the two people,” he said.
Family members separated by the war hugged and sobbed when they met in Asmara.
Flight attendants had handed out roses and had served champagne to passengers in all classes during the flight.
The passengers included 33-year-old Izana Abraham, who was deported from Eritrea during the war because he was born in Ethiopia.
“I’m super excited. You have no idea,” Mr. Izana was quoted by AFP news agency as saying.
“This is history in the making,” he added.
More than 450 passengers were on board, Ethiopia’s privately owned Addis Standard news site reported.
Demand was so high that a second flight left within 15 minutes, reports said.
Eritrea seceded from Ethiopia in 1993.
Five years later, their armies fought over disputed territory along their border.
Some 80,000 people were killed in the conflict.
A UN-backed boundary commission ruled in 2002 that Ethiopia should cede the town of Badme to Eritrea.
It refused, and the two countries remained in a state of “no war, no peace.”
Mr Abiy has promised to hand over territory, but it is unclear when this will happen.
Maria Butina: Alleged Russia agent ‘offered sex for job’
Source: bbc.com
An alleged Kremlin agent offered sex for a job with an American special interest organisation she targeted, say US officials.
Maria Butina’s ties with Russian intelligence make her a flight risk, a federal judge ruled, and she will be held until her trial.
A lawyer for the 29-year-old said she has been co-operating with the US government for several months.
The case is not part of the US inquiry into alleged Russian election meddling.
Ms Butina, who was arrested on Sunday, appeared on Wednesday afternoon at a US court in Washington DC.
US Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson ruled that the government had proved there are no conditions of her release that would guarantee her return to court for trial.
She is facing charges of failing to register as a foreign agent and conspiring against the US government.
She is not charged with espionage.
On Wednesday, Moscow’s foreign ministry said Ms Butina’s arrest was designed to undermine the “positive results” of a summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on Monday.
Court filings on Wednesday say Ms Butina was living with an unnamed 56-year-old American – identified in documents as US Person 1 – with whom she had a “personal relationship.”
“But this relationship does not represent a strong tie to the United States because Butina appears to treat it as simply a necessary aspect of her activities,” said the court papers.
In some of her photos on social media, Ms Butina is seen with Paul Erickson, a South Dakota-based conservative political activist who is listed in public records as being 56 years old.
She had “expressed disdain for continuing to cohabitate with” the American man, according to documents seized by the FBI.
Prosecutors said she did not appear to take the attachment seriously because “on at least one occasion, Butina offered an individual other than US Person 1 sex in exchange for a position within a special interest organisation.”
The documents do not name the organisation in question, but her social media accounts show she frequented National Rifle Association (NRA) events.
Ms Butina’s lawyer has denied all the allegations.
