A nine-year-old Israeli boy was stung by a poisonous box jellyfish on a beach on the Thai island of Ko Phangan over the weekend and died as a result shortly after, Hebrew media reported on Sunday.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

The Foreign Ministry was notified of the tragic incident while the Israeli consulate in Thailand was handling the case and in constant contact with the boy's father.

According to reports, the child was stung on Saturday, as the family was spending time at the beach, by a jellyfish strain that is considered among the most venomous in the world.

Local officials believe the boy was stung by either a box jellyfish or a sea wasp.

After he was stung and began suffering from a series of side effects, the boy was taken to a hospital in Ko Phangan where doctors tried to save his life.

According to various reports, the boy and his family have lived for several years on Ko Pha Ngan, which is located in southeast Thailand.

Thai authorities have launched an investigation into the incident.

The venom of both invertebrates – often described as the world's most venomous creatures – is highly potent and very lethal to humans, striking directly at the heart and the circulatory system. Their toxins could kill an adult human within two to five minutes.

Local authorities install nets near the shoreline to prevent the deadly jellyfish from getting too close to the coast, the ynet news site reported.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Israeli boy dies in Thailand after being stung by venomous jellyfish appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Residents of the Kafr Qassim Arab town in central Israel woke up Thursday morning to find their vehicles had been vandalized overnight with racist graffiti.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

The words "expel or kill" and "we'll take our destiny into our own hands" were spray painted on the cars in Hebrew as well as stars of David.

The local police were alerted, and an investigation into the hate crime was launched immediately. Law enforcement is trying to identify the suspects via security cameras from the street and houses nearby, only the perpetrators had their faces covered.

The police are also looking into whether the crime took place as a result of the Ra'am Arab party under the leadership of Mansur Abbas crossing the four-seat electoral threshold and the possibility of it joining the coalition.

 Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Police investigate hate crime in Arab Israeli village appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Israeli scientists said in a study published on Monday that they intercepted radio emissions that may challenge the assumptions of how black holes behave.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

As part of their research, which was published by the peer-reviewed journal "Nature Astronomy," physicist Assaf Horesh of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Iair Arcavi of Tel Aviv University's Department of Astrophysics, and Brad Cenko of NASA's Astrophysics Science Division, said that they observed optical radiation from the destruction of a star in a galaxy 700 million light-years away in 2015 and then began searching for radio emissions, expecting to detect them shortly after.

After a star collapses into a black hole, the process can cause shockwaves that create radio transmissions. It was previously believed that those emissions can be intercepted not long afterward.

However, the Israeli scientists detected radio transitions six months later, followed by a second flare years later. The discovery of radio emissions so long after a star is consumed could change the way scientists consider the behavior of black holes, particularly how they destroy stars and absorb the material.

"We saw optical radiation after the star was destroyed, and then no radio emissions for months," said Horesh. "We decided to give it what we thought would be one last shot. Suddenly, six months later there was radio emission, which faded away for a year. Then, four years after the initial observation, we found that once again there was a very strong signal."

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The discovery of radio emissions after so much time shows that the process of a black hole consuming a star is more drawn out "and somewhat more chaotic" than previously believed, explained Horesh. "There seems to be a physical process we don't understand yet that causes a long delay between the star being destroyed and the black hole accreting its material."

The scientific team hopes to expand their research to detect radio interceptions from other galaxies.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org

The post Radio emissions from galaxy challenge black hole theories, say Israeli scientists appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Dahan, 38, was arrested in June for alleged fraud in the sale of medical equipment and coronavirus tests under a false identity, in a plot that allegedly also included former Ecuadorian president Abdalá Bucaram.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

His cellmate, an Israeli citizen named Oren Sheinman, was lightly wounded and taken to hospital for medical treatment.

Ecuadorian media reported that Dahan was killed after being hit by a blunt object. It is not clear how the attackers entered the cell and an investigation into the matter has reportedly been launched.

Riots had previously broken out in the prison last week, in which 11 prisoners were killed and 13 prisoners and five guards were injured.

The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said: "One Israeli citizen was killed early in the morning in Ecuador and another Israeli citizen was lightly injured during riots in a local prison. The tragic incident is under investigation by local authorities. The family of the deceased in Israel has been notified. The Israeli Embassy in Quito and the Department for Israelis Abroad in the Consular Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are accompanying the family in its difficult time."

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories

The post Israeli man killed during prison riot in Ecuador appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

In a statement, the International School of Peace for Refugee Children, located on the Greek island of Lesbos, said the blaze was a suspected case of arson.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

The school has helped between 4,000 and 5,000 refugees from Syria, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Congo, Somalia and Kurdistan.

"Even though we are heartbroken and shocked, we're already looking ahead," the school wrote Tuesday on Facebook, as cited by The Jewish Telegraphic Agency. "We are moving forward, not going anywhere."

In the past week, over 1,700 migrants have landed on Lesbos after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced earlier this month that Turkey would not prevent refugees and migrants from leaving its borders and crossing to European Union countries if that was their wish.

Erdogan called on Greece to "open the gates" to the migrants after Greek police used tear gas and water cannon in skirmishes with crowds at the border.

This article was originally published by i24NEWS.

The post Israeli-Palestinian 'School of Peace' for refugees in Greece burns down appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The cardboard box, which contained no explosives, was found Wednesday morning outside the HaCarmel restaurant in southern Amsterdam. It had masking tape fastening wires and a black electric trigger switch to its top.

 Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

Sami Bar-On, the owner of HaCarmel, told Israel Hayom: "This wasn't the first time, I know it was Muslims. This was the fourth time in the past four years [his restaurant was targeted], but we won't give in to this behavior and we will raise our heads. I'm not scared, we aren't scared, and we will continue operating with tremendous pride."

HaCarmel first made headlines in 2017 when a man waving a Palestinian flag smashed its main window, stealing an Israeli flag hanging there.

The suspect, a Syrian asylum seeker, was arrested when he came out of the restaurant. He was convicted of vandalism after 52 days in jail while awaiting his trial but was released with no additional penalty.

In another incident, the restaurant was pelted with eggs.

The post Fake bomb placed at entrance to Israeli restaurant in Amsterdam appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Geneva prosecutors' indictment of the diamond trader and two others this week revives a headache that appeared to have eased this year when Beny Steinmetz Group Resources (BSGR) walked away from a giant iron ore project in the West African nation.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

BSGR abandoned the Simandou project as part of a settlement announced in February ending a long-running dispute, the company and Guinea's government said at the time.

Claudio Mascotto, a Geneva prosecutor, said on Monday that he was seeking prison terms of two to 10 years for Steinmetz and two associates over the alleged payment of $10 million in bribes for mining licenses between 2005 and 2010.

"His defense is simple, he absolutely contests all the charges against him," Marc Bonnant, a prominent Geneva lawyer representing Steinmetz, told Reuters.

"They have no basis in the facts or in law," he said.

Frederic Cilins, a French former adviser to BSGR who was sentenced to two years in prison by a New York federal court in 2014 for obstructing a criminal probe linked to a bribery investigation in Guinea, is one of the two co-defendants.

"My client completely and categorically rejects all the charges. I will plead for an acquittal," his Geneva lawyer, Jean-Marc Carnice, told Reuters, declining to comment further.

Calls to the lawyer of a Belgian woman who has been indicted were not immediately returned.

A trial is not expected for months.

The prosecutor accused the three of "having promised in 2005 and then paid or had bribes paid to one of the wives of former Guinean President Lansana Conte," so as to have mining rights in Simandou allocated to BSGR.

"Just as the Guinea government has backtracked on its claims, here too it will be proven that there was no wrongdoing in Steinmetz's activities," the billionaire's spokesman said on Tuesday.

"It should be emphasized that the investigation was launched in Switzerland at the request of the Guinea government, and under international arbitration, Guinea has retracted its claims, which is why these are baseless charges."

Guinea's mines minister, Abdoulaye Magassouba, told Reuters on Monday that the government was not involved in trying to prosecute Steinmetz, given February's agreement.

"We have signed specific agreements with Steinmetz and we will fully respect the terms of the agreement. It is not possible for a hostile action against BSGR to come from the government," he said.

Administrators for BSGR, a private firm registered in Guernsey, said in March 2018 they would work to return the mining firm to solvency and pay creditors in full after it voluntarily entered the administration to protect it from legal disputes related to the project in Guinea.

The Guinean government is no longer party to the Geneva criminal case, but Mascotto pressed ahead after six years of investigation and multiple requests abroad for legal assistance.

The Geneva daily Le Temps reported he had sought assistance from Guinea, Israel and Ukraine to trace alleged financial flows and identify account owners.

Steinmetz, a former resident of Geneva who moved back to Israel in 2016, attended questioning sessions by the prosecutor, Bonnant said.

"He has given all the indications he could and all the documents to which he had access [to]," Bonnant said. "And of course he will attend the trial."

The post Israeli billionaire to fight corruption charges in Geneva court appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Jury selection for Lee Elbaz's trial was scheduled to start Tuesday in Maryland. She is one of 15 defendants charged in the case and the first to be tried. Five of them have pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

Elbaz, 37, was CEO of an Israel-based company called Yukom Communications. She is accused of engaging in a scheme to dupe investors through the sale and marketing of financial instruments known as "binary options."

She was indicted in March 2018 on three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She was arrested in 2017 after traveling to New York.

A separate indictment against nine other defendants says the scheme cost investors more than $145 million worldwide.

Yukom Communications employees allegedly pretended to be from other countries, lied about their professional qualifications and adopted "stage names," authorities have said. They falsely guaranteed returns of up to 40%. And they didn't tell investors that the company handling their "binary options" only made money if its customers lost money, according to the FBI.

Federal prosecutors in Maryland have filed related charges against three other women who worked for Yukom. Shira Uzan and Liora Welles were charged in 2018 with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The same charge was filed in November against another defendant, Lissa Mel.

Welles and Uzan, both of whom worked under Elbaz as sales representatives, pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charges during separate hearings. Welles and Uzan acknowledged that they were "directly responsible" for approximately $2.4 million and $1.8 million in investor losses, respectively, according to court filings.

The binary options market largely operates outside the US through unregulated websites. Its victims span the globe. In court papers, prosecutors said the payout on a binary option is usually linked to "whether the price of a particular asset such as a stock or a commodity would rise above or fall below a specified amount."

"Investors are effectively predicting whether its price will be above or below a certain amount at a certain time of the day, and when this option 'expires,' the option holder receives either a pre-determined amount of cash or nothing," they wrote.

In 2011, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center received only four complaints from victims of binary options fraud, reporting losses of just over $20,000. In 2016, however, the center received hundreds of these complaints with millions of dollars in reported losses.

"This has been a worldwide problem," Justice Department prosecutor Ankush Khardori said during a September 2017 detention hearing for Elbaz, according to a transcript.

Defense attorney Jonathan Lopez, who represented Elbaz at that hearing, said his client worked for a legitimate business.

"They do a lot of things in this [FBI] complaint to make it [seem] like this is some Nigerian boiler room or some sort of lottery scam. That is none of these things," he said.

Elbaz and other co-workers made commissions based on the amounts of clients' deposits, not their profits, prosecutors say. Her indictment cites a September 2015 email from one employee to co-workers about a sales "marathon," a competition to obtain deposits from investors.

The post US trial opens for Israeli woman charged in $145M fraud scheme appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Ranwa Rasmi Mahmoud Shanawi, 22, a resident of the town of Jadeidi-Makr, was arrested upon her return to Israel in early May and taken for interrogation. Shanawi informed investigators that she had been in contact with a Syrian citizen who suggested she come to Syria and join the Nusra Front. Shawai agreed, seeking a "martyr's death."

Shanawi stole money from her family to pay for her plane ticket. She flew from Israel to Turkey on March 18, and once in Turkey used fake documents to cross the border into Syria. She spent approximately a year in Syria, during which time she reached out to the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front terrorist group and stayed with them until she was arrested and imprisoned in Idlib by fellow members of the group.

After she was released, Shanawi asked to remain active with the Nusra Front, but they sent her back to Turkey, from where she was returned to Israel.

On Friday, the Northern District of the State Attorney's Office filed an indictment against Shanawi on a number of serious terror-related charges.

The post Israeli woman who sought 'martyr's death' in Syria indicted appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Gurfinkel lives in a neighborhood that is also home to a large population of Arab immigrants. On the night of the attack, he walked by a local BDS protest, where demonstrators were calling for a boycott of Eurovision.

When he heard the anti-Israel cries, Gurfinkel tried to respond in defense of his native country, but the protesters attacked him.

"As soon as I tried to say a word defending Israel, they started attacking me," Gurfinkel said.

A video showing the incident shows Gurfinkel being beaten by the protesters, although two of them did try to defend him from the assault.

"I received blows to the head, and police who were passing by were indifferent," he added.

Gurfinkel said that it took several minutes for the police officers to intervene.

"I've been living in Berlin for four years, and I never thought something like this would happen to me. I'll keep defending my country," he said.

The post Israeli clarinetist targeted by BDS thugs in Berlin appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.