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SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Romania and Bulgaria partially joined Europe’s ID-check-free travel zone on Sunday, marking a new step in the two countries’ integration with the European Union. After years of negotiations to join the Schengen area, there is now free access for travelers arriving by air or sea from both countries. The Schengen Area was established in 1985. Before Bulgaria and Romania’s admission, it was comprised of 23 of the 27 EU member countries, along with Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. Truck drivers are frequently stuck in kilometers-long queues at the borders of both Romania and Bulgaria.

Persons: Ursula von der Leyen, Siegfried Muresan, ”, Marcel Ciolacu, ” Kalin, “, ___ McGrath Organizations: —, European Union, EU, Schengen, Associated Press, European Commission, The Union of International Carriers Locations: SOFIA, Bulgaria, — Romania, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Romania, Croatia, Romanian, Europe, Sofia, The, Sighisoara

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A Northern California judge is under investigation by a state agency for allegedly making antisemitic remarks when addressing a deputy public defender, failing to recuse himself from cases involving attorneys and other people he socialized with, sexually harassing women, and other ethical violations. Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Gregory Kreis was notified last week he is charged with 19 ethical violations going back to 2015. It is among the allegations outlined by the Commission on Judicial Performance that are now under investigation. The commission noted Kreis allegedly lied to the court's presiding judge who was investigating rumors Kreis was having an affair with a court employee. “I can tell you that we had witnesses who will contradict the allegations the Commission on Judicial Performance set forth in the notice of formal proceedings,” he added.

Persons: Gregory Kreis, Jerry Brown, Kreis, James A, Murphy, Rory Kalin, ” Murphy, Kalin, “, ” Organizations: FRANCISCO, California’s Locations: Northern California, Humboldt County, ”

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Persons: Dow Jones, b6cb4c46

☆ Watch: Satellite Images Show Aftermath of U.S.-Led Yemen Strikes
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-13 | by ( Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Watch: Satellite Images Show Aftermath of U.S.-Led Yemen StrikesHouthi rebels said they remained undeterred after a U.S.-led coalition launched strikes intended to reduce the Iran-backed group’s attacks on ships in the Red Sea. WSJ’s Stephen Kalin explains how the strikes could threaten a broader conflict. Satellite Images: Maxar Technologies

Persons: Stephen Kalin Locations: Yemen, U.S, Iran, Red

☆ U.S. Strikes Give Yemen’s Houthis the Enemy They Long Sought
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-13 | by ( Stephen Kalin | Saleh Al-Batati | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

In disrupting international shipping and drawing U.S. military strikes, Yemen’s Houthi forces are trying to complete a two-decade-long transformation from a ragtag tribal insurgency into their country’s legitimate rulers. Washington and its allies say they have attacked dozens of Houthi targets in the past two days, including on Saturday morning against a radar site. The Houthis’ deputy information minister, Nasr al-Din Amir, reported no material losses or casualties from that strike and called the site defunct.

Persons: Yemen’s, Houthis, Nasr al, Din Amir Locations: Washington

Israeli officials say they believe several women and children still held hostage in Gaza aren’t held by Hamas, potentially complicating efforts to revive a truce in the Palestinian enclave where the Israeli military is expanding its attacks. Israeli bombardment of the southern Gaza Strip ramped up over the weekend after a seven-day pause in fighting collapsed, with strikes on a packed residential district in the north on Saturday killing a large number of people, according to health authorities in the Hamas-controlled territory. Residents in the south said Israeli tanks there advanced westward.

Organizations: Residents Locations: Gaza

Talks between Israel and Hamas to hand over hostages held in Gaza in return for a pause in fighting there have stalled, a senior U.S. official said Sunday, while Israeli forces step up attacks and direct Palestinians in the enclave to move into a narrower strip of land. “The negotiations have stopped. That said, what hasn’t stopped is our own involvement, trying to get those back on track. …We would like that to happen today,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told NBC. He blamed Hamas for failing to provide a fresh list of civilian women and children to be released.

Persons: hasn’t, John Kirby Organizations: National Security, NBC Locations: Israel, Gaza, U.S

Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israeli leaders to extend a pause in their combat operations against Hamas militants in Gaza, which is teetering after a one-day extension was clinched after all-night negotiations. As the temporary truce was set to expire Thursday morning, Qatari mediators announced that the parties had agreed to extend it by one more day, following the release of 16 hostages held by militants in Gaza. Negotiations are continuing for a further extension, but Egyptian officials also involved in the talks said they faced an uphill battle.

Persons: Antony Blinken Organizations: Hamas Locations: Gaza

DOHA, Qatar—The chief brokers of the Israel-Hamas hostage-prisoner exchange are pushing the two sides for a long-term cease-fire that would prolong the truce in Gaza beyond the current two-day extension and start talks that would end the war altogether, said Egyptian and Qatari officials. A long-term cease-fire would likely require Israel and Hamas to make hard-to-swallow concessions, such as trading Israeli soldiers for potentially thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, the officials said. And it would require Israel to hold back on an offensive in southern Gaza intended to capture the strip and kill Hamas’s top leadership, the officials said. Hamas could also have to accept demilitarization, they added.

Locations: DOHA, Qatar, Israel, Gaza

DOHA, Qatar—The chief brokers of the Israel-Hamas hostage-prisoner exchange are pushing the two sides to prolong the cease-fire in Gaza through the end of the week and start talks on a permanent truce that would end the war altogether, said Egyptian and Qatari officials. A long-term cease-fire would likely require Israel and Hamas to make hard-to-swallow concessions, such as trading Israeli soldiers for potentially thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, the officials said. And it would require Israel to hold back on an offensive in southern Gaza intended to capture the strip and kill Hamas’s top leadership, the officials said.

Locations: DOHA, Qatar, Israel, Gaza

DOHA, Qatar—The chief brokers of the Israel-Hamas hostage-prisoner exchange are pushing the two sides to prolong the truce in Gaza beyond the current two-day extension and start talks that would end the war, Egyptian and Qatari officials said. On Tuesday, Hamas released 12 hostages, including 10 Israelis, as part of the current extension of the truce with Israel. The hostages have arrived in Israel, according to Israeli and Egyptian officials.

Locations: DOHA, Qatar, Israel, Gaza

Hamas released 17 Israeli and foreign hostages on Sunday, including a 4-year-old-girl with dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship, as negotiators remained locked in talks over a possible extension to the four-day deal that halted fighting. Israeli authorities said that 14 Israelis were freed Sunday afternoon and left the Gaza Strip. Egyptian and Qatari officials involved in the negotiations to free the hostages said that three Thai citizens were also released. Among them is a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, four-year-old Abigail Mor Idan, whose parents were killed on Oct. 7.

Persons: Abigail Mor Idan Locations: Gaza, U.S

☆ Gaza Diplomacy Cements Qatar’s Global Mediator Role
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-25 | by ( Stephen Kalin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

DOHA, Qatar—Qatar’s diplomacy in the Gaza war, including help in arranging a temporary cease-fire and hostage-release deal that took effect Friday, cements the ultrarich Muslim nation as Washington’s preferred interlocutor with extremist groups and pariah states—in the Middle East and increasingly around the world. It is an improbable role that began to take shape some 30 years ago as the small Persian Gulf monarchy sought to secure itself in the midst of bigger neighbors by resolving regional disputes while winning the trust and gratitude of the U.S. and other Western governments. It has also hosted a major U.S. military base for two decades and purchased billions of dollars in arms from the U.S. and Europe.

Locations: DOHA, Qatar, Gaza, U.S, Europe

Weeks of secret hostage negotiations with Hamas were hanging by a thread when President Biden phoned the emir of Qatar, a key emissary to the militant group, to deliver an urgent message. Yahya Sinwar , the Hamas leader in Gaza, had gone dark after the Israeli military seized control of Al-Shifa hospital, a facility Israel said Hamas used as a command-and-control center. Now that the fighting at the hospital was over, Sinwar had re-emerged from the shadows, and he was ready to negotiate.

Persons: Biden, Yahya Sinwar, Sinwar Locations: Qatar, Gaza, Israel

☆ Israel-Hamas War Puts Palestinians Back on Arab World’s Agenda
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-18 | by ( Stephen Kalin | Omar Abdel-Baqui | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

AMMAN, Jordan—Israel’s fierce response to last month’s cross-border assault by Hamas militants from Gaza has reinvigorated support for Palestinians in the Arab world and stirred popular anger—not just at Israel and its biggest ally, the U.S., but also at Arab governments. Some in the Arab and wider Muslim world joined global condemnations of Hamas, which carried out attacks on a music festival and agricultural communities in southern Israel. Authorities there say 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 were kidnapped and taken to Gaza.

Persons: Jordan —, — Organizations: Authorities Locations: AMMAN, Gaza, Israel, U.S

☆ Iran’s President Joins Saudi Summit to Push for Gaza Cease-Fire
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-11 | by ( Stephen Kalin | Summer Said | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, in black robes, prepares to depart from Tehran to attend a summit in Saudi Arabia. Photo: handout/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesDUBAI—Iran’s president joined dozens of Arab and Muslim leaders at a summit in Saudi Arabia on Saturday—the first such visit to the kingdom in more than 15 years—as the Islamic world sought to project unified opposition to Israel’s military operations in Gaza. The meeting in Riyadh of the League of Arab States and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation came amid intensifying fighting between Iran-backed Hamas militants and Israeli forces around Gaza’s largest hospital.

Persons: Ebrahim Raisi Organizations: Agence France, Getty, DUBAI —, League of, Organization of Islamic Cooperation Locations: Tehran, Saudi Arabia, Gaza, Riyadh, Iran, Gaza’s

The tiny Palestinian enclave of Gaza has been the focus of Israeli fire for the past month, after Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,400 people and taking hundreds hostage. More than 10,500 people have been killed, most of them women and children, according to health authorities in Hamas-run Gaza. The figures don’t distinguish between civilians and militants. The voices of people living there provide a picture of how life has changed for them under siege and bombardment. Write to Juanje Gómez at juanje.gomez@wsj.com, Chao Deng at chao.deng@wsj.com, Stephen Kalin at stephen.kalin@wsj.com and Luke Vargas at Luke.Vargas@wsj.com

Persons: Chao Deng, Stephen Kalin, Luke Vargas Locations: Gaza, Israel, juanje.gomez@wsj.com, chao.deng@wsj.com, stephen.kalin@wsj.com

CAIRO—On the wall of the border crossing between bombed-out Gaza and Egypt’s Sinai desert there is a list. The names on it have been a source of hope, despair and confusion for the hundreds of foreign families wanting to escape the Palestinian enclave under Israeli fire. When American sisters Jana and Mena Timraz appeared on the list on Thursday, they rejoiced. But their parents, their brothers and Jana’s husband, who aren’t U.S. citizens, were missing from the roster.

Persons: Jana, Mena Timraz Locations: CAIRO, Gaza

Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed efforts to expand aid to Gaza with his Turkish counterpart. Blinken has been on a regional tour of the Middle East as the U.S. faces pressure to secure a pause in fighting amid the Israel-Hamas conflict. Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Pool/AFP/GettyThe U.S. is dialing up pressure on Israel to ease its intense bombardment of the Gaza Strip, deploying a wave of top diplomats to the Middle East in recent days, even without the release of hostages taken by Hamas, which Israel has set as the condition for any pause in its military operations. President Biden, in a phone call Monday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , urged the Israeli leader to declare a humanitarian pause, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.

Persons: Antony Blinken, Blinken, Jonathan Ernst, Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu, John Kirby Organizations: Turkish, Getty, White, National Security Locations: Gaza, U.S, Israel

☆ Turkey's Erdogan Says Post-War Gaza Must Be Part of Sovereign Palestinian State
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-04 | by ( Nov. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Gaza must be part of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state once the Israel-Hamas war is over, and Ankara will not support any plans "gradually erasing Palestinians" from history. Turkey has called for an immediate ceasefire and offered to set up a system to guarantee it. Speaking to reporters on a return flight from Kazakhstan on Friday, Erdogan repeated his criticism of Western countries for their support of Israel, saying Ankara's trust in the European Union was "deeply shaken". "But otherwise, there can be no such thing as completely severing ties, especially not in international diplomacy," he was cited as saying by Haberturk. Prior to the Israel-Hamas war, Turkey was working to repair relations with Israel after years of acrimony.

Persons: Tayyip Erdogan, Israel, Erdogan, Haberturk, Ibrahim Kalin, Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu, Haberturk ., Ebrahim Raisi, Alexandra Hudson, Giles Elgood Organizations: European, Israeli, Islamic Cooperation Locations: ANKARA, Gaza, Palestinian, Israel, Ankara, Turkey, U.S, Britain, Kazakhstan, European Union, East Jerusalem, Riyadh

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is headed to the Middle East for a series of visits aimed at easing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and is expected to raise the issue of a pause in fighting among other measures, U.S. officials said. The U.S.’s chief diplomat will be visiting Israel on Friday for meetings with members of the Israeli government, followed by a stop in Jordan. Before he departed, he said he would discuss with Israeli officials “concrete steps that can and should be taken” to protect civilians in Gaza, as international concern grows over the intense fighting in the enclave and Israeli forces move to encircle Gaza City.

Persons: Antony Blinken Locations: Gaza, U.S, Israel, Jordan, Gaza City

☆ Israeli Ground Operation Pushes Deeper Into Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-29 | by ( Saeed Shah | Stephen Kalin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Israeli soldiers pushing into the Gaza Strip suffered their first casualties Sunday, while thousands of people trapped in the territory broke into United Nations warehouses for food amid a worsening humanitarian crisis. The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday that soldiers had clashed with fighters on the ground as the army expanded a foray into the densely populated northern part of the strip near Gaza City.

Organizations: United Nations, Israel Defense Forces Locations: Gaza, Gaza City

☆ Americans Stuck in Gaza. ‘Are We U.S. Citizens or Not?’
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-28 | by ( Stephen Kalin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Last summer, Hazem and Sanaa Shafai traveled to Gaza from their longtime home in Massachusetts so that their three U.S.-born children could live near the rest of the family for a year, practicing Arabic and learning about their Palestinian heritage. Now the family is sheltering in a United Nations school near the Egyptian border as Israel wages an intense campaign of airstrikes it says is aimed at dismantling Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that carried out a series of attacks that Israel says killed 1,400 people in southern Israel on Oct. 7. More than 7,300 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry there.

Persons: Sanaa Shafai, Israel Organizations: United Nations Locations: Gaza, Massachusetts, Israel, Palestinian

☆ Despite Israel-Hamas War, It’s (Nearly) Business as Usual at Saudi Investment Forum
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Stephen Kalin | Eliot Brown | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Deals worth billion dollars are expected to be signed over the next three days at the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Photo: fayez nureldine/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesRIYADH, Saudi Arabia—The titans of Wall Street chatted under crystal chandeliers. With the Israel-Hamas war intensifying 900 miles away, the gathering made for an awkward split screen. The world’s business elite had come together for the Future Investment Initiative—nicknamed “Davos in the Desert”—where topics of discussion included artificial intelligence, futuristic planned cities and the growing perils of higher interest rates and rising debt loads.

Persons: fayez Organizations: Future Investment Initiative, Agence France, Getty Images, Saudi Arabia —, titans, Future Investment, “ Locations: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Getty Images RIYADH, Israel, “ Davos

The U.S. has collected “high confidence” signals intelligence showing that the explosion at a Gaza hospital compound on Tuesday was caused by the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad, U.S. officials said, buttressing Israel’s contention that it wasn’t responsible for the blast. The U.S. assessment drew, in part, on communications intercepts and other intelligence gathered by the U.S., defense officials said.

Persons: buttressing Organizations: U.S, Palestinian Locations: Gaza, Jihad, U.S

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