From Israeli arson trial to cyclone threat: the non-coronavirus news you may have missed

Jewish settler convicted of murder over West Bank firebombing, a pirate attack off Yemen and Cyclone Amphan heads towards India and Bangladesh

Israeli settler Amiram Ben-Uliel arrives at Lod district court on May 18, 2020. via AP

Jewish settler convicted of Dawabsheh murders

An Israeli court on Monday convicted a Jewish settler of racially motivated murder over an arson attack that killed a Palestinian couple and their baby in the occupied West Bank.

Amiram Ben-Uliel, 25, faces a possible life sentence after Lod District Court found him guilty of throwing firebombs into the home of the Dawabsheh family in the village of Duma one night in July 2015. His lawyer said Ben-Uliel would appeal in the supreme court.

Eighteen-month-old Ali Dawabsheh, his mother, Riham, 27, and father, Saad, 32, later died of their injuries. Ali’s brother Ahmad, 4, was the sole survivor.

A second, underage defendant in the case entered a plea deal last year in which he was convicted as an accessory.

Afghan soldiers guard the site of a Taliban suicide bombing of the National Directorate of Security unit in Ghazni on May 18, 2020. AFP

Taliban kill nine Afghan intelligence personnel

A suicide bomber in a stolen military Humvee attacked a base in eastern Afghanistan belonging to the country’s intelligence service early on Monday, killing at least nine members of the force, Afghan officials said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

At least 40 members of the force were wounded in the bombing, near the city of Ghazni, the provincial capital of Ghazni province, said Arif Noori, the spokesman for the provincial governor. Eight of the wounded were in critical condition and were transferred to the capital, Kabul, for further treatment.

Pirates attack ship off Yemen’s coast

Armed guards aboard a British-flagged chemical tanker repulsed a pirate attack in the Gulf of Aden on Sunday with the help of a naval escort ship.

The pirates approached the Stolt Apal in two speedboats about 75 nautical miles off Yemen, a representative for Stolt Tankers said.

"After multiple warning shots were fired by the armed guard team aboard Stolt Apal, the skiffs opened fire on the ship. The armed guard team returned fire, disabling one skiff and ending the pursuit."

The representative said the ship’s bridge was damage by gunfire but no one was injured.

Fire officials stand in front of the tail wreckage from a Royal Canadian Air Force Snowbirds jet in Kamloops, British Columbia on May 17, 2020. Reuters

Canadian aerial display ends in tragedy

A Canadian aerobatic jet crashed into a British Columbia neighbourhood during a flyover intended to boost morale during the pandemic, killing one crew member, seriously injuring another and setting a house on fire.

The jet from the Canadian Air Force’s Snowbirds squadron crashed soon after take-off from the city of Kamloops, 418 kilometres north-east of Vancouver, on Sunday. The Snowbirds are Canada’s equivalent of the UAE’s Al Fursan or the British Red Arrows.

‘Extremely severe’ cyclone in Bay of Bengal

A cyclone in the Bay of Bengal is expected to hit Bangladesh and India with wind speeds of up to 185 kilometres per hour on Tuesday and Wednesday, prompting the evacuation of areas at risk in which thousands of people live.

“The extremely severe cyclonic storm Amphan ... is likely to gain more strength and intensify further into a super-cyclonic storm in the next 12 hours,” Indian weather officials said, forecasting heavy rain in eastern and southern areas.

Weather officials in Bangladesh said the cyclone could make landfall there between the major cities of Khulna and Chittagong as early as Tuesday night.

India’s eastern states of Odisha and West Bengal sent disaster management teams to move families to shelters before the storm’s expected arrival on Wednesday.