Britain – joined by Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries – will enact asset freezes and travel restrictions on Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir and Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich on Tuesday.

The sanctions ban Smotrich and Ben-Gvir from entering the country or dealing with British financial institutions, similar to what senior Russians have faced due to the war in Ukraine.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said that "we were informed about UK decision to include two of our ministers on the British sanctions list. It is outrageous that elected representatives and members of the government are subjected to this kind of measures." He added that after his discussion with Prime Minister Netanyahu, it was decided that "we will hold a special government meeting early next week to decide on our response to this unacceptable decision."

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Kim Dotcom, the German-born founder of the now-defunct file-sharing website Megaupload, lost a 12-year legal battle to halt his extradition from New Zealand to the United States, where he and three partners are accused of criminal copyright infringement, money laundering, racketeering, wire fraud, and fraud related to Megaupload.

Dotcom, a resident of New Zealand since 2010, has been fighting extradition since 2012 when he was arrested in a dramatic raid by New Zealand officials at his Auckland mansion at the request of the FBI. He plans to fight the extradition and bring the case to New Zealand's Supreme Court with the help of his lawyers, although the extradition process is expected to take several more years to complete.

Dotcom rose to fame as a teenage hacker and became a self-proclaimed tech millionaire. He claims to be an "internet freedom fighter" and denies any wrongdoing, arguing that users, not the founders, chose to pirate material on Megaupload. Dotcom and his co-accused deny the charges, claiming Megaupload was just a file-sharing platform, while U.S. prosecutors argue it was a vast criminal enterprise.

Two of Dotcom's former business partners pleaded guilty in a New Zealand court in June 2023 and were sentenced to two and a half years in jail, avoiding extradition efforts. Andrus Nomm, a Megaupload computer programmer, pleaded guilty to felony copyright infringement and was sentenced to a U.S. federal prison.

Dotcom's extradition to the US could result in a lengthy prison sentence of up to 55 years if convicted on all charges.

The judicial review would focus on whether the extradition process was carried out properly and not re-examine the evidence or charges against him. Dotcom could argue that his age or health conditions make it unjust to extradite him.

Sources: Business Insider, Fast Company, Sky News, Independent, Washington Times, Gizmodo, HuffPost, The Next Web, Tagesspiegel, Sat1, Welt, Vanguardia, Il Sole 24 Ore, Corriere, La Voz, Benzinga, Newsmax, Zeit, Times of India, The Bit Journal.

This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq.

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Air New Zealand has scrapped its 2030 emissions reduction target of cutting 2019-level emissions by 28.9% and withdrawn from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

The airline cited delays in fleet renewal, global manufacturing issues, affordability challenges with alternative jet fuel, and lack of supportive global and domestic regulations as reasons.

Despite abandoning the 2030 target, Air New Zealand remains committed to its 2050 net-zero carbon emission target and continues to advocate for regulatory settings to mitigate climate change risks.

According to The Spinoff, the decision raises serious credibility questions about Air New Zealand's bold climate ambitions,

Sources: Skift, The Epoch Times, Terra, Yahoo, Breitbart, Asian Aviation, Interest.co.nz, KarryOn, Newstalk ZB, VRT, San Luis Obispo, Quantum Commodities Intelligence, UPI, The Spinoff, Newsroom, Travel Weekly, Haberler, Edie, RTL, Puls Biznesu, Sky News, Daily Mail, U.S. News & World Report, Business Travel News Europe, The Washington Times, Reuters, CNBC, Quartz, Boing Boing

This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq.

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Israel's coronavirus infection rate stands at 1.63%, according to Health Ministry data. Of the 46,714 people who tested for the virus Saturday, 734 were found to have COVID-19.

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For the first time in months, Israel has fewer than 20,000 active cases of the virus. There are currently 19,587 active cases. There are 388 Israelis in serious condition, 157 of whom are on ventilators. Among those in serious condition, 72%, 280 people, are unvaccinated.

Although 1,288,075 Israelis have recovered from the virus since the outbreak of the pandemic, 7,983 have died.

On the inoculation front, 3,831,747 Israelis have received all three available doses of the coronavirus vaccine. Over 6 million Israelis – 6,201,766 – have received at least one dose of, while 65,698,137 have received two doses of the vaccine.

Meanwhile, officials in Melbourne, which has spent more time under COVID-19 lockdowns than any other city in the world, said Sunday the municipality was set to lift its stay-at-home orders this week.

By Friday, when some curbs will be lifted, the Australian city of 5 million people will have been under six lockdowns totaling 262 days, or nearly nine months, since March 2020.

Australian and other media say this is the longest in the world, exceeding a 234-day lockdown in Buenos Aires.

Australia, once a champion of a COVID-zero strategy of managing the pandemic, has been moving toward living with the virus through extensive vaccinations, as the Delta variant has proven too transmissible to suppress.

The new strategy makes lockdowns highly unlikely once 80% of the population is fully vaccinated. As of the weekend, around 68% of eligible Australians have been fully inoculated.

Australia's health officials said on Sunday that quarantine-free travel from New Zealand's South Island, where there is no outbreak, will resume on Wednesday.

New Zealand vaccinated at least 2.5% of its people on Saturday as the government tries to accelerate inoculations and live with COVID-19, preliminary health ministry data showed.

Through an array of strategies, gimmicks, and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's encouragement throughout the day, 124,669 shots were administered by late in the day in a country of 4.9 million.

New Zealand had stayed largely virus-free for most of the pandemic until an outbreak of the Delta variant in mid-August. The government now aims to have the country live with COVID-19 through higher inoculations.

It has been in lockdown since mid-August to stamp out the Delta outbreak. Officials plan to end the strict restrictions when full vaccination rates reach 90%.

As of Friday, 62% of New Zealand's eligible population had been fully vaccinated and 83% had received one shot.

In the US, meanwhile, police departments requiring officers to get vaccinated against COVID-19 are running up against pockets of resistance that some fear could leave law enforcement shorthanded and undermine public safety.

Police unions and officers are pushing back by filing lawsuits to block the mandates. In Chicago, the head of the police union called on members to defy the city's Friday deadline for reporting their COVID-19 vaccination status.

Seattle's police department sent detectives and non-patrol officers to emergency calls this week because of a shortage of patrol officers that union leaders fear will become worse because of vaccine mandates.

The standoffs are playing out at a time when many police departments already are dealing with surging homicide rates and staff shortages unrelated to the vaccine. Cities and police leaders are now weighing the risk of losing more officers to resignations, firings, or suspensions over their refusal to get vaccinated.

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It was the first time a court in New Zealand had sentenced a person to prison for the rest of their life.

"Your crimes...are so wicked that even if you are detained until you die it will not exhaust the requirements of punishment and denunciation," said the judge in handing down the sentence.

"As far as I am able to gauge, you are empty of any empathy for your victims," he said.

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Published by the country's Cabinet Office, it recognizes Britons for excellence in fields ranging from art, athletics, science, politics, and more.

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John Barnett of Auckland was awarded the Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in recognition for his services in the film and television industry. He previously was awarded the Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

Barnett told JTA the honor is "an affirmation of the growth and importance of a New Zealand screen industry, telling stories about us, for us, and opening up these stories to the rest of the world." He noted that his Jewish heritage is "a strong factor in the selection and presentation of a number of the stories I've been involved in."

Bob Narev, a German Jewish Holocaust survivor, was honored as an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his contribution to the community and education.

The former lawyer and his wife, Freda, who is also a Holocaust survivor, have been educators for the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand for 17 years, teaching thousands of New Zealand students and adult groups about racism, prejudice, and bigotry. In 1999, Bob Narev was named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

Dozens of British Holocaust survivors were also being honored "for services to Holocaust Education."

The list of honors is published biannually – once on New Year's Day and then again for the Queen's birthday.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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According to the local site Newshub, the New Zealand intelligence services got the tip after interrogating a Syrian refugee who lives near Auckland. The refugee, Khalid al-Hafidh, told the authorities that he was the son
then Syrian President Amin al-Hafiz, who was in charge of executing Cohen and arranging his secret burial.

Israel has long sought the return of Cohen's remains, but the Syrian regime has never agreed to do so, even when there were peace talks between Jerusalem and Damascus.

The legendary "our man in Damascus," Cohen managed to infiltrate the Syrian military establishment for four years, using the alias Kamel Amin Thaabet. He was captured after reportedly communicating information to Israel while not knowing that radio silence had been declared in the Syrian military, as part of an effort to out potential spies. He was then tortured and executed on May 18, 1965.

"I am the son of the only person on this planet who knows where the remains are buried," al-Hafidh told Newshub.

"I was cooperating with the New Zealand Secret Intelligence Service in a mission with the Mossad of Israel to help find – to try to find – the remains of the Israeli spy Eli Cohen," he insisted.

He said the talks with the local intelligence services were supposed to result in the Mossad's involvement, but they never materialized, despite having text messages showing the Israeli spy agency supposedly being interested. He was also reportedly promised 1 million dollars.

"Khalid says the spies wanted him to try and talk to his father's close friends or provide insight," Newshub reported, adding that Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and the Israeli ambassador declined to comment.

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"We expect UNRWA to cooperate fully with the investigation underway and to report back on the investigation's findings and recommendations," said the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in a statement.

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"The Ministry will review the findings of the UN OIOS report once the investigation is complete and, after that point, will provide advice to the Minister of Foreign Affairs on future funding."

New Zealand provided nearly $1.6 million to UNRWA between January and June.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl said that the organization needed $150 million in donations to keep it operating until the end of this year.

Krähenbühl said that Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Belgium had suspended their contributions to the organization while the UN investigation – on whose findings he promised to act – was underway.

"Our [2019] budget for all UNRWA operations in Gaza, the West Bank, east Jerusalem, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon is $1.2 billion. At this moment we have a remaining shortfall of $150 million," Krähenbühl said.

Last year the United States, UNRWA's biggest donor, said it was halting its aid of $360 million per year to what it called an "irredeemably flawed operation."

In May, US Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt told the UN Security Council that UNRWA should be effectively dismantled. UNRWA's mandate, which has been repeatedly renewed by the UN General Assembly, runs until June 30, 2020.

"The vast majority of countries today are very clear about their support to UNRWA's mandate and their recognition that Palestinian refugees need to continue to be assisted, respected, and see their rights defended," said Krähenbühl.

Parts of this article were reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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"Palestine," which appeared where Israel should have been, did not include Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip.

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"Following a barrage of complaints on social media, the web page was removed, though screenshots remain," the JTA reported.

The page said it was an information portal for Palestinians interested in immigrating. It also mentioned the "massive repression of Palestinians" and noted the "economic sanctions and a blockade on Hamas-controlled Gaza."

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The minister, Ruwan Wijewardene, told Parliament the government possessed information that the series of bombings in and outside of Colombo that killed more than 300 people were carried out "by an Islamic fundamentalist group" in response to the Christchurch attacks. He did not provide evidence or explain the source of the information.

Wijewardene blamed "weakness" within Sri Lanka's security apparatus for failing to prevent the nine bombings at churches, luxury hotels and other sites.

"By now it has been established that the intelligence units were aware of this attack and a group of responsible people were informed about the impending attack," he said. "However, this information has been circulated among only a few officials."

As Sri Lanka's leaders wrangled in the aftermath of an apparent homegrown terrorist attack and massive intelligence failure, security was heightened Tuesday for a national day of mourning and the military was employing powers to make arrests it last used when the devastating civil war ended in 2009.

The six near-simultaneous attacks on three churches and three luxury hotels and three related blasts later Sunday were the South Asian island nation's deadliest violence in a decade. Wijewardene said the death toll from the attack now stood at 321 people, with 500 wounded.

Word from international intelligence agencies that a local group was planning attacks apparently didn't reach the prime minister's office until after the massacre, exposing the continuing political turmoil in the highest levels of the Sri Lankan government.

On April 11, Priyalal Disanayaka, Sri Lanka's deputy inspector general of police, signed a letter addressed to the directors of four Sri Lankan security agencies, warning them that a local group was planning a suicide attack in the country.

The intelligence report attached to his letter, which has circulated widely on social media, named the group allegedly plotting the attack, National Towheed Jamaar, said it was led by Zahran Hashmi, and was targeting "some important churches" in a suicide terrorist attack that was planned to take place "shortly." The report named six individuals likely to be involved in the plot.

On Monday, Sri Lanka's health minister held up a copy of the intelligence report while describing its contents, spurring questions about what Sri Lanka police had done to protect the public from an attack.

It was not immediately clear what steps were taken by any of these security directors. Disanayaka did not answer calls or messages seeking comment.

Among the 40 people arrested on suspicion of links to the bombings were the driver of a van allegedly used by the suicide bombers and the owner of a house where some of them lived.

Heightened security was evident an international airport outside the capital where security personnel walked explosive-sniffing dogs and checked car trunks and questioned drivers on roads nearby. Police also ordered that anyone leaving a parked car unattended on the street must put a note with their phone number on the windscreen, and post officers were not accepting pre-wrapped parcels.

A block on most social media since the attacks has left a vacuum of information, fueling confusion and giving little reassurance the danger had passed. Even after an overnight curfew was lifted, the streets of central Colombo were mostly deserted Tuesday and shops closed as armed soldiers stood guard.

Sri Lankan authorities also Tuesday planned to brief foreign diplomats and receive assistance from the FBI and other foreign intelligence-gathering agencies.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he feared the massacre could unleash instability and he vowed to "vest all necessary powers with the defense forces" to act against those responsible.

Authorities said they knew where the group trained and had safe houses, but did not identify any of the seven suicide bombers, whose bodies were recovered, or the other suspects taken into custody. All seven bombers were Sri Lankans, but authorities said they strongly suspected foreign links.

Also unclear was a motive. The history of Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka, a country of 21 million including large Hindu, Muslim and Christian minorities, is rife with ethnic and sectarian conflict.

In the 26-year civil war, the Tamil Tigers, a powerful rebel army known for using suicide bombers, was finally crushed by the government in 2009 but had little history of targeting Christians. Anti-Muslim bigotry fed by Buddhist nationalists has swept the country recently, but there is no history of Islamic militancy. Its small Christian community has seen only scattered incidents of harassment.

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