Low-cost airline Ryanair cancels flights to Israel until August
The airline said in a statement that it had been "forced to cancel flights" for reasons "beyond our control."
Low-cost airline Ryanair said it was "forced to cancel flights" to Israel until at least the beginning of August, citing reasons "beyond our control" on Wednesday.
Opposition head MK Yair Lapid stated that the cancellations "could have been prevented if the government had worked in an orderly manner and offered airlines insurance reimbursement," adding that it had been done in the past.
Earlier this week, British Airways delayed flights to Israel as well, citing concerns regarding the security situation in Israel.
The Lufthansa Group, consisting of an alliance of airlines, including Lufthansa Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Discover Airlines, Eurowings, ITA Airways, and Swiss International Air Lines, has delayed flights to Israel until at least June 15.
Multiple airlines canceled flights to Israel following a Houthi missile striking the area of Ben-Gurion Airport in April due to a technical error.
American carriers United and Delta—both of which had only recently resumed flights to Israel—have also canceled their flights, along with France's Transavia and its Air France, Air Canada, Japan's Nippon Airways, and Spain's Air Europa.
This incident was considered one of the most serious failures in Israel's missile defense system.
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Hamilton Spectator
32 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Okinawa marks 80 years since end of one of harshest WWII battles with pledge to share tragic history
TOKYO (AP) — Okinawa marked the 80th anniversary of the end of one of the harshest battles of World War II fought on the southern island. With global tensions escalating, its governor said on Monday it is the Okinawan 'mission' to keep telling the tragic history and its impact today. The Battle of Okinawa killed a quarter of the island's population, leading to a 27-year U.S. occupation and a heavy American troop presence to date. Monday's memorial comes one day after U.S. attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities , adding to a sense of uncertainty on the island about the heavy American military presence and in its remote islands , already worried about getting embroiled in a potential conflict in Taiwan. Gov. Denny Tamaki, noting the escalating global conflicts and nuclear threats, made a resolve to contribute to global peace studies, disarmament and the preservation of war remains. 'It is our mission, as those living in the present, to preserve and pass on the reality and lessons to future generations.' Fierce battle and civilian deaths U.S. troops landed on the main Okinawa island on April 1, 1945, beginning a battle in their push toward mainland Japan. The Battle of Okinawa lasted nearly three months, killing some 200,000 people — about 12,000 Americans and more than 188,000 Japanese, half of them Okinawan civilians including students and victims forced into mass suicides by Japan's military. Okinawa was sacrificed by Japan's Imperial Army to defend the mainland, historians say. The island group remained under U.S. occupation until its reversion in 1972 , two decades longer than most of Japan. Monday's memorial was held at the Mabuni Hill in Itoman City, where the remains of most of the war dead reside. Remembering the tragedy Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba was in a hot seat when he attended Monday's ceremony. Weeks earlier, one of his ruling party lawmakers Shoji Nishida, known for whitewashing Japan's wartime atrocities, denounced an inscription on a famous cenotaph dedicated to students as 'rewriting history' by portraying the Japanese army as having caused their deaths, while Americans liberated Okinawa. Nishida also called Okinawa's history education 'a mess.' His remark triggered an uproar in Okinawa, forcing Ishiba days later to apologize to the island's governor, who had criticized the remark as outrageous and distorting history. The Himeyuri Cenotaph commemorates student nurses who were abandoned near the end of the battle and killed, some in group suicides with teachers. Japan's wartime military told the people never to surrender to the enemy, or die. Nishida's remarks add to concerns about the whitewashing of Japan's embarrassing wartime past as memories of the tragedy fade and ignorance about the suffering grows. Ishiba, at Monday's memorial, said Japan's peace and prosperity is built on the sacrifices of Okinawa's history of hardship and that it is the government's responsibility to 'devote ourselves to achieve a peaceful and prosperous Okinawa.' Postwar years and growing fear Okinawa remained under U.S. occupation from 1945 until the 1972 reversion to Japan. The U.S. military maintains a heavy presence there due to Okinawa's strategic importance for security in the Pacific. Their presence serves not only to help defend Japan but also for missions elsewhere, including in the South China Sea and the Middle East. Private properties were confiscated to build U.S. bases, and the base-dependent economy has hampered the growth of local industry. Fear of a Taiwan conflict rekindles bitter memories of the Battle of Okinawa. Historians and many residents say Okinawa was used as a pawn to save mainland Japan. There are also ancient tensions between Okinawa and the Japanese mainland, which annexed the islands, formerly the independent kingdom of the Ryukus, in 1879. Burden of history Okinawa remains home to the majority of about 50,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan under a bilateral security pact. The island, which accounts for only 0.6% of Japanese land, hosts 70% of U.S. military facilities. Even 53 years after its reversion to Japan, Okinawa is burdened with the heavy U.S. presence and faces noise, pollution, aircraft accidents and crime related to American troops, the governor said. Nearly 2,000 tons of unexploded U.S. bombs remain in Okinawa, with some regularly dug up. A recent explosion at a storage site at a U.S. military base caused minor injuries to four Japanese soldiers. Remains of hundreds of war dead are still unrecovered on Okinawa, as the government's search and identification effort is slow to make progress. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Business Insider
40 minutes ago
- Business Insider
Russia's former president says countries are lining up to give Iran their nukes. Analysts are calling his bluff.
Analysts are casting doubt on Russia's former president's claim that "a number of countries" were considering supplying nuclear warheads to Iran after the Pentagon's salvo of bunker-buster strikes there. Dmitry Medvedev, who was president from 2008 to 2012 and is a top aide to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, didn't specify which countries he was referring to in his Telegram post on Sunday. In his post, he downplayed the damage dealt to Iran's vital nuclear sites. As news of the strikes broke on Saturday, the Pentagon was careful to say that it was still assessing the destruction caused by the 14 GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs and multiple Tomahawk missiles it fired at Iran's nuclear sites. Medvedev wrote that the strikes had "entangled" the US in a new conflict. "A number of countries are ready to directly supply Iran with their own nuclear warheads," he added. Nuclear weapons analysts speaking to Business Insider said they doubted that Medvedev's statement on such transfers is credible. "It's impossible in practice because nuclear weapons are not like a bomb or just something you can carry in a suitcase," said Pavel Podvig, a senior researcher in the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research's weapons of mass destruction program. Nuclear warheads come as an entire system, with people who need to be trained to keep and service them safely, as well as maintenance facilities and equipment. Even tactical nukes, which are more portable and produce a smaller blast, need high-level storage, Podvig added. "Unless you create a nuclear program or almost a nuclear program in the country, there is no way to just give your nuclear weapons to them," he said. Simply giving such a warhead to another country would break the first article of the UN's Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which Russia and China have signed. Podvig said that in Europe, where the US stations nuclear weapons, the warheads are in American custody. The same can be said of Russia's nuclear weapons in Belarus. "I don't see this being done technically," Podvig said. Politically, Medvedev could likely only be referring to three countries, said Adam Lowther, a cofounder and the vice president of research at the Ohio-registered think tank National Institute for Deterrence Studies. North Korea, China, and Russia are the only nuclear-armed states considered adversaries or rivals to the US. And Lowther said all three know that supplying Iran with nuclear weapons, even just as a deterrent, would risk intense escalation from the US and Israel. "When you give somebody a nuclear weapon, and they can use it, you can't guarantee how they're going to use it," Lowther said. He added that with Tel Aviv and Washington so focused on preventing Iran from fielding nuclear weapons, Tehran would likely only have two choices if it does receive a warhead: Use the bomb or lose it. And if Iran detonates a gifted nuke, Lowther added, American forensics would easily be able to trace the fissile material and bomb design to identify where the weapon originated. "Then that country would be on the US' hit list," Lowther said. Medvedev is known to make bold, hawkish statements toward Ukraine and the US since the outset of the full-scale Russian invasion. He serves as the deputy chairman — second in rank to Putin — of the Kremlin's security council. His rhetoric has often run parallel to the Kremlin's nuclear threats, repeatedly issued as warnings to the West over military aid to Ukraine. Moscow, however, has consistently not followed through with those threats, even when the US escalated its level of assistance to Kyiv. Lowther said he believes Medvedev's statement was a play against Ukraine, a bid to reduce the West's willingness to help Kyiv. "The Russians say: 'You know what? You give the Ukrainians these weapons? Well, we can give the Iranians weapons as well,'" he said. The Israel Defense Forces declined to comment on Medvedev's remarks.
Newsweek
44 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Marjorie Taylor Greene Criticizes Trump Over Iran: 'Not Disloyalty'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has criticized President Donald Trump's decision to bomb Iran. On Sunday, in a lengthy post on X, formerly Twitter, about her "thoughts on bombing Iran," Greene wrote that she can "support President Trump and his great administration on many of the great things they are doing while disagreeing on bombing Iran and getting involved in a hot war that Israel started." Disagreeing with his policy is "not disloyalty," the Georgia Republican added. "Critical thinking and having my own opinions is the most American thing ever," Greene continued. "Because contrary to what brainwashed Democrat boomers say, Trump is not a king, MAGA is not a cult, and President Trump has surrounded himself with people who once disagreed with him and even ran against him for President." Newsweek has contacted a spokesperson for Greene and the White House for comment via emails sent outside regular business hours. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene presiding over a hearing of the House Oversight Subcommittee in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on February 26. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene presiding over a hearing of the House Oversight Subcommittee in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on February It Matters Trump announced on Saturday night that the U.S. struck three sites in Iran to hinder its ability to develop a nuclear weapon, inserting itself in the Israel-Iran conflict. For days prior to the U.S.'s strike, Greene—who is among the president's most devout supporters in the Make America Great Again movement—had urged against deeper American involvement, saying it would be counter to Trump's promises to keep the U.S. out of costly foreign wars. Greene has consistently defended Trump and his MAGA agenda since joining Congress in 2021, and her post on Sunday appears to be the first time she has called the president out by name. The congresswoman, who is up for reelection next year, risks Trump's wrath and may hinder her chances in the 2026 midterms. The president has already lashed out at Representative Thomas Massie after the Kentucky Republican criticized Trump's decision to bomb Iran, with Axios reporting that the president's political operation has launched an effort to unseat Massie. What To Know Greene and other high-profile Trump backers had publicly spoken out against U.S. involvement in the conflict in the days leading up to the president's announcement. After Trump announced the strikes on nuclear sites in Iran, Greene wrote on X, "Let us join together and pray for the safety of our U.S. troops and Americans in the Middle East." In a follow-up post, she fiercely criticized the decision to get involved in "another senseless foreign war." "I'm 51 years old. I'm GenX," Greene wrote. "I've watched our country go to war in foreign lands for foreign causes on behalf of foreign interests for as long as I can remember. I was in 10th grade when Desert Storm started and my father before me was sent to Vietnam, another senseless foreign war." She added: "Foreign wars have cost Americans TRILLIONS AND TRILLIONS of dollars that never benefited any American. "American troops have been killed and forever torn apart physically and mentally for regime change, foreign wars, and for military industrial base profits. I'm sick of it." Greene continued: "I can easily say I support nuclear armed Israel's right to defend themselves and also say at the same time I don't want to fight or fund nuclear armed Israel's wars. Nor any other country for that matter." In the same post, she criticized "Democrats in Congress that are all of sudden clutching their pearls about Trump bombing Iran," saying they "FULLY SUPPORTED AND VOTED TO FUND Dementia ridden Biden's proxy war against Russia in Ukraine and stood by Biden's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan." What People Are Saying Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene previously spoke with Newsweek about a poll showing that most GOP voters opposed U.S. military involvement in the conflict: "It's no surprise that a majority of Republicans oppose U.S. intervention in Israel's war with Iran. In November, voters cast their ballots to end the forever wars. I'm not surprised one bit. Americans want our government focused on solving our problems here at home, and we have many to solve." William F. Hall, an adjunct professor of political science and business at Webster University in St. Louis, recently told Newsweek: "[Greene] currently finds herself in a predicament of having to choose between, continuing to honor her past positions of being staunchly against further U.S. involvement in foreign wars … and continuing her staunch unwavering support for President Trump's policy positions, including his evolving policy with respect to potential engagements in foreign wars in the Middle East Region, including his increasing potential to involve the U.S. in the Israeli-Iran war." What Happens Next It is not clear whether the U.S. will continue attacking Iran alongside Israel. Trump has warned of additional strikes if Tehran retaliates against American forces.
