International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach has lamented Ukraine and Russia’s “diametrically opposed” views on neutral athletes’ participation in a speech at the 140th IOC Session.

In March, the IOC announced a widely criticized recommended pathway to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in international competitions despite the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

So far, no decision has been taken on Russian and Belarusian athletes’ participation at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

“Despite offering a workable pathway forward with our values-based recommendations, we are still confronted with two irreconcilable positions,” Bach said during the remote session on Thursday.

“The Russian side wants us to ignore the war. The Ukrainian side wants us to totally isolate anyone with a Russian and Belarusian passport. Either position is diametrically opposed to our mission and the Olympic Charter.

“We have the Russian side that considers the strict conditions to be unacceptable, humiliating and discriminatory. The Russian government accuses us of acting against our political neutrality, while at the same time this very same government is shamelessly trying to put together fully politicized sport competitions.

“We have the Ukrainian side that denounces us for siding with Russia. Their government insists on ‘total isolation’ of all Russians and Belarusians, because they consider everyone with a Russian or Belarusian passport to be a supporter of the war. This even goes as far as banning athletes with intellectual disabilities at the ongoing Special Olympics.”

Bach also reiterated the IOC’s “condemnation of the war from the first day” and stressed its “guiding principle is contributing to peace through the unifying mission of sport.”

He criticized the Ukraine government for “sanctioning its own athletes” after the country decided in March to boycott Olympic qualifying events in which Russians are competing.

“It is hard to understand why the Ukrainian government is depriving their own athletes from their chance to qualify for the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and to make the Ukrainian people proud,” Bach said, expressing the desire to make it possible for every Ukrainian to be able to qualify and participate in the 2024 Games.

The Miami-Dade Police Department says it’s investigating an allegation of assault involving NFL Miami Dolphins’ player Tyreek Hill at a Miami marina on Sunday.

According to the incident report from police, a verbal altercation took place Sunday when employees of a deep-sea fishing charter company were attempting to remove Hill, and the group he was with, from a fishing charter boat, which they had allegedly boarded without permission.

While being pushed away from the altercation, Hill allegedly “reached out and slapped” one of the charter company’s employees “on the back of the neck with an open hand,” the report says.

Hill then allegedly “charged towards the victim but was restrained by several people within his group,” before leaving the area.

The manager of Kelley Fleet, the deep-sea fishing charter company, told police that she had interacted with the group earlier in the day, when they inquired about renting a boat. She said the group “did not rent the boat due to the high cost,” the report states.

In the report, police say that the incident was captured on video surveillance cameras.

Desert Hero and jockey Tom Marquand produced a thrilling performance at Royal Ascot on Thursday to land King Charles III his first win at the prestigious horse racing festival.

Both King Charles and his wife, Queen Camilla, watched as Desert Hero stormed up the finishing straight to squeeze out an historic win in the King George V Stakes, pipping Valiant King at the line.

The win was cheered by the thousands of fans at Royal Ascot as cameras showed both the King and Queen celebrating in the royal box.

The pair then walked into the winner’s enclosure to congratulate Desert Hero and Marquand, before picking up their trophy as the winning owners.

The horse racing festival had become synonymous with the late Queen Elizabeth II who had 24 Royal Ascot winners.

The late Queen had a passion for horse racing and loved attending the royal event held once every year.

While her influence on the sport will always be remembered, organisers were keen to usher in a new era under the new monarch and Desert Hero upset the odds to provide just that.

The horse was not among the favorites at odds of 18-1 but finished with incredible speed up the finishing straight.

“Genuinely, probably one of the proudest moments of being in the saddle so far,” an emotional Marquand told ITV Racing after the race.

“Royal Ascot is the pinnacle and riding a royal winner at the royal meeting is so special.”

King Charles will have more chances to add to his winning haul with five royal horses still to run at the festival, which ends on Saturday.

“The King and Queen are absolutely thrilled,” winning trainer William Haggas told ITV Racing.

“They have been looking forward to Ascot for a long time and wanting to have as many runners as possible, and I think they are absolutely delighted.

“It is obviously very important for racing, but it is important that the King and Queen enjoy it, which they clearly appear to do, and long may that continue.”

Zara Tindall, one of Queen Elizabeth II’s granddaughters who is at the festival, told ITV Racing: “I just think how excited my grandmother would have been.

“To have a winner for Charles and Camilla and to keep that dream alive was incredible, and what a race – aside all of that, what a race.

“I think it is a new excitement [for The King], like all those owners who come here and have a horse here, having that dream, that hope, and actually fulfilling it is incredible.

“Horses are the main game here and that’s why we get involved. We love them, the competition, and that adrenaline when you win is indescribable.”

All residents have been accounted for after a tornado ravaged a small town in northwest Texas, killing four people and injuring 10 Wednesday night, officials said.

The search, however, continues as crews look for possible visitors or drivers who were in the area when the tornado hit, Texas Department of Public Safety Sergeant Johnny Bures said Thursday.

The deadly tornado struck Matador, a town of a few hundred people roughly a 280-mile drive northwest of Dallas, Wednesday evening, the National Weather Service office in Lubbock said.

The twister came as powerful storms pummeled parts of the western and central US and at least 11 tornado reports were made across the western and central US, including six in Colorado, three in Texas, one in Wyoming and one in Nebraska, according to the Storm Prediction Center.

“The Town of Matador has experienced an unprecedented tornado bringing damaging winds to the town,” the Lubbock Fire Rescue post stated. “There are four confirmed fatalities & ten total injuries. Seven of which were transported by EMS and three by personal vehicle.”

The tornado destroyed Grundy’s home – leaving her without clothes or medicine – and scattered or killed much of the livestock she kept on her property, she said.

“It’s completely gone,” Grundy said, adding all of her chickens were gone and most of her cattle and horses were dead.

Rough weather continues Thursday, with more than 42 million people under at least a marginal risk of severe weather from Wyoming to Texas and in parts of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, the Storm Prediction Center said.

Crews and law enforcement from as far as Wichita Falls have responded to Matador to help with search efforts, Bures said. Lubbock Fire Rescue is assisting Matador and posted photos of the devastation on social media, including one of an American flag wrapped around debris.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Thursday updated the state’s disaster declaration following the Matador tornado.

“The disaster declaration will continue to support Texas’ response and recovery efforts to extensive damages in 21 Texas counties, including the following counties added today: Motley, Nolan, Fisher, Jones, Kent, and Stonewall counties,” an announcement from the governor’s office said.

People in Texas and Oklahoma are also battling extreme temperatures this week – above 100 degrees in some areas – even as hundreds of thousands are without power following devastating storms

Wednesday’s deadly tornado marked the second such disaster in Texas in less than a week. A tornado killed at least three people and injured dozens of others in the Texas Panhandle city of Perryton, about 180 miles north of Matador, on June 15, authorities said.

Nearly 100 people attending a concert Wednesday evening at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre near Denver were injured after being pelted with hail during severe storms that moved across the area, the West Metro Fire Department said.

At least seven people were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, the fire department said in a tweet. Up to 90 people were treated on scene, the department said. Injuries included cuts and broken bones, the tweet said.

Storms bring massive hail, power outages

Wednesday’s storms battered parts of the western and central US with large hail and lashing winds, the prediction service said.

Tennis ball-sized hail – around 2.75 inches – was reported in several cities in Colorado and Texas on Wednesday, including in Matador. In Jayton, Texas, a 4-inch hailstone was reported.

Nearly 500,000 homes and businesses were without power overnight in Texas and Oklahoma, according to utility tracker PowerOutage.us. Power is not expected to be back until Friday or Saturday if “everything goes smoothly,” Bures said in a Thursday morning news conference.

“The substation was damaged, and that was a big part of why the power was out, too,” Bures said.

A donation center has been set up near the town’s school, Bures said.

Multiple agencies are working to ensure everyone is accounted for and assess the damage left behind by the tornado, and drones will be used to map the tornado’s path, he said.

Severe thunderstorm watches were in effect early Thursday for more than 15 million people in the region, including those in Houston, Texas, and Denver, Colorado.

Texans battle dueling heat and severe storms

Many Texans are grappling with a double whammy of destructive storms and record-breaking temperatures this week.

More than 20 million people are under heat alerts across Texas and New Mexico and record-breaking temperatures are expected to continue.

High temperatures in the low-90s are expected Thursday and Friday in Matador, with Saturday’s high set to surpass 100 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

Without power, some residents will have to endure the heat without air conditioning, so a senior citizen center in Matador has been designated as a cooling place, Bures said.

Texas is among a handful of southern states that have seen triple-digit temperatures in recent days. On Wednesday, the southern Texas cities of Laredo and McAllen saw record highs of 114 and 107 degrees, respectively.

“Temperatures this afternoon will climb into the mid 90s to near 100 degrees across the eastern half of the area and top out between 100 and 108 across the western Concho Valley and northern Edwards Plateau,” the National Weather Service office in San Angelo said.

When you consider the actual temperature combined with the humidity levels, the heat index, or “feels like” temperature, will hover around 110 degrees.

Some heat alerts are set to expire as conditions slowly improve Thursday evening, providing a small reprieve.

The relief will be short-lived, however. Sweltering temperatures are expected to return Sunday and last into next week.

Nearly 100 people attending a concert Wednesday evening at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre near Denver were injured after being pelted with large hail during severe storms that moved across the area, a fire department said.

At least seven people were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, the West Metro Fire Department said in a tweet. Up to 90 people were treated on scene, the department said. Injuries included cuts and broken bones, it said.

Bella Oliveira said she was almost trampled as she and others ran from the falling hail.

“I managed to hide where they were selling drinks and I used my backpack to protect myself and another girl,” she said, adding that she hurt her head and shoulder during the incident.

The National Weather Service office in Boulder first issued a severe thunderstorm warning around 9:04 p.m. Wednesday that included the amphitheater. The weather service warned the storm was capable of producing winds up to 50 mph and golf-ball-sized hail.

As the storm approached, the weather service office tweeted this alert, even tagging the amphitheater that dangerous weather was imminent.

Earlier in the day, the Boulder weather service office warned that “We are still in the ‘loaded gun’ scenario of having tremendous instability,” which could lead to severe weather throughout the evening.

The Storm Prediction Center warned of a level 2 out of 5 “slight risk” of severe weather for Red Rocks and a level 3 of 5 “enhanced risk” for the nearby Denver area.

The forecast said the area could experience damaging winds, large hail and tornadoes throughout the afternoon extending into the overnight hours. Six tornadoes were also reported across Colorado on Wednesday evening.

Former One Direction star scheduled to play

Musician Louis Tomlinson was scheduled to play at the Red Rocks concert.

“Devastated about the show tonight, hope everyone’s ok, I’ll be back!” the former One Direction star tweeted. “Even though we didn’t play the show I felt all of your passion! Sending you all love!”

The performance was postponed twice due to weather conditions, with the venue telling fans to take shelter in their cars before giving an “all clear” that brought fans back to the venue, only to finally postpone the show and tell fans to go home.

One of the concertgoers, Ashlie Scott, described a chaotic scene.

“It was almost like a crazy movie scene,” Scott said. “The sky was lighting up with lightning, so I was expecting a quicker extreme weather warning besides a delay.”

Video taken by Scott shows hail coming down a staircase as lightning flashes in the sky and alarmed concertgoers pass by. Four large hailstones are seen in Scott’s hands.

Another video from the scene shows a group hiding in a crowded bathroom during the hailstorm.

“We are unharmed, but some of my other friends got caught in it and now have broken bones and bruises,” Mueller said. “I saw just piles and piles of hail, and it looks like it had snowed in the seats of the amphitheater when we finally got out of the bathroom.”

At least 11 tornado reports were made Wednesday across the western and central US, including the six in Colorado, three in Texas, one in Wyoming and one in Nebraska, according to the prediction center.

Four people were killed in a northwestern Texas town when a tornado struck it Wednesday, officials said, as storms pummeled parts of the western and central US.

The tornado struck Matador, a town of a few hundred people roughly a 280-mile drive northwest of Dallas, Wednesday evening, the National Weather Service office in Lubbock said.

The pandemic almost killed it and its production ended sooner than anticipated in 2021, but the A380 simply refuses to die.

With more and more superjumbos soaring back into the skies amid a post-pandemic resurgence in commercial aviation, the aircraft is back in the spotlight as one new airline is built around it.

Global Airlines, a British startup that aims to offer transatlantic flights starting next year, has acquired a 16-year-old A380 as the inaugural aircraft of an all-A380 fleet — at least initially — and is in the process of refurbishing the plane to its own specifications.

It’s a rare used-market move for an aircraft that passengers adore but that airlines have struggled to turn profitable due to its operating and maintenance cost, as well as its huge size.

“It’s a fantastic aircraft when you use it in the right way and on the right routes,” says Global Airlines CEO James Asquith. “We will be looking to invest significant amounts on refurbishing the A380 we already have and the future ones that we’re looking to bring into the fleet.”

Asquith previously founded Holiday Swap, a home-swapping travel platform which is also Global’s parent company, and he holds the Guinness world record for the youngest person to visit every country in the world.

“I’ve flown on about 280 different airlines and sat there seeing what’s good, what doesn’t work and what can be improved,” he says. “We’ve structured this in a way that financially allows us to do a lot of the exciting things that no new airline that isn’t government-funded has been able to do in the last 40 years.”

How much did it cost?

The purchased A380 was among the earliest ever made and was originally delivered to Singapore Airlines in 2008. After 10 years of service, Singapore ended its lease agreement with the aircraft owner, German aircraft trading company Doric, which then leased it to Portuguese charter operation Hi Fly. It was then marketed as the only A380 in the world available for charter.

The plane then flew with a handful of airlines, including Norwegian, Madagascan Airlines and Air Senegal. In mid-2020 Hi Fly partially converted it to cargo, hoping to benefit from the peak in demand for air freight brought on by the pandemic. However, in late 2020, the Portuguese company ended the lease and returned the A380 to Doric.

Since then, the aircraft had been waiting for a buyer at two French airports, in Toulouse and Lourdes, which have specially designed areas for long-term storage.

Airbus built 251 A380s – far fewer than the 750 it originally hoped to make – and retirement has certainly started early for this model compared to what’s typical for a widebody aircraft – around 20 to 25 years. The first one was scrapped in 2019, just 12 years after the first commercial flight.

Its second-hand market is almost non-existent and used A380s have always struggled to find buyers. Global Airlines is the first new airline to operate the A380 since All Nippon Airways in 2019, and the first ever to do so with a used aircraft.

“Not all A380s are the same,” says Asquith when asked why he picked this particular A380 among those that were up for sale. “And we’re not just looking at the cabin or the interiors for that, but also the maintenance side of things, how new is the landing gear, and most importantly, the engines.”

Global and Doric are not disclosing the sale price beyond the fact that it’s “eight figures.”

According to Rob Morris, head of consultancy at aviation analytics firm Cirium, the value of the plane is linked to its maintenance condition, and can be as little as $10 million, if every component is fully run-out, and as much as $40 million, if the aircraft is in perfect shape.

Either way, Global will have to spend more money to refurbish the plane, which has already been painted in its new livery, and make it fit for passenger service, meaning the final price tag could easily run in the $50 million range, Morris argues.

That’s still quite a bargain compared to the A380’s list price of $450 million, for a brand new aircraft, in 2018.

Flying in style

Starting an airline is a challenging business proposition and doing it with an A380 fleet even more so, as the aircraft’s economics have proved to be less than ideal for many of its operators.

Air France was the first airline to retire its entire fleet, in May 2020, and 17 A380s have already been scrapped (formerly with Singapore, Qantas, Emirates and Air France itself). UAE flag carrier Emirates is the only airline that has managed to make the plane flourish, and is by far the largest operator, having ordered nearly half of all the A380s ever built.

“A lot of people have written about whether the A380 has got another life, but the reality is that the only life it had in the first place was with Emirates,” says Asquith. “They’ve known how to use the aircraft phenomenally. Big plane does not equal lots of seats. It’s more what you can offer on the product.”

But Global isn’t taking too many cues from Emirates; for example, it won’t offer a premium economy class, which the Middle Eastern carrier has recently added to over 60 of its existing A380s.

“I’ve never personally been an advocate of the premium economies of the world for many reasons — the economics of it work fantastically well for airlines, but not very well for passengers,” Asquith says.

“As someone who is primarily a passenger before being a manager of an airline, I want a better product across the Atlantic and that’s why we’re doing what we’re doing.”

Instead, Global will focus on a three-class cabin with regular economy, business and first class. Gone are the plans for a “gamer class” — seats equipped with Xbox and PlayStation consoles — which the airline was mulling about last year, but economy is going to get special consideration, as it “really hasn’t had enough evolution in the past 30 or so years,” Asquith says.

The airline will be based at London’s Gatwick airport — suggesting a non-business target demographic — and primarily run transatlantic routes with North America, starting with New York and Los Angeles. There’s a plan to expand to other UK cities too, which Asquith says are drastically underserved, and he hopes to launch in spring 2024, with at least two A380s in operation.

The CEO is also quick to dismiss any similarities with previous, and unsuccessful, transatlantic startups such as Norwegian and Wow, and current ones like Norse, which operates a fleet of 10 Boeing 787s offering flights from European cities including Oslo and London to half a dozen US destinations, as well as Jamaica, Thailand and Barbados.

But while Norse — and competitors such as Play from Iceland and Fly Atlantic from Northern Ireland — position themselves as low-cost airlines, Global seems more inclined to offer a curated product to discerning travelers, with maybe even a touch of nostalgia for times past.

“Having a race to the bottom in terms of price isn’t necessarily beneficial for the longer-term growth of the industry,” Asquith says. “Price competition should also be matched with an increase in quality. We think that there’s a big opportunity to create a product on board that is not as dense as some of the carriers. It is magical that you can go and fly between continents in six to eight hours, and I think we shouldn’t forget how special that is.”

Chances of success

According to analyst Rob Morris, it’s not going to be easy for Global Airlines to fill the 484 seats it plans to configure its A380s with.

“The A380 is an aircraft for flag carriers with a few very dense routes and a certain cost and revenue profile,” he says, “But for secondary markets, we never thought it would have much success, in the same way the 747-400 never had much success as a passenger aircraft. I’m struggling to see what Global can see that others have not seen in the past. It’s a very brave move. It’s going to be very costly. I wish good luck, of course, but I just find it hard to see a success scenario for the airline.”

“Starting up a new, very small international airline has certainly been done before, with no examples of success,” says Richard Aboulafia, an aviation analyst at AeroDynamic Advisory.

“They go after a few routes, and even if they somehow get any traction, they’re easily crushed by the big players. It’s far easier for a successful, low-cost domestic carrier to expand into international routes, as JetBlue is doing.”

Asquith is aware of these challenges, but he seems convinced that the exact combination of factors that make up Global Airlines, from the choice of aircraft to his personnel — he recently appointed former US Air Force and UK Civilian Aviation Authority officials to key roles — are positioning him for success.

“If you look back at four years ago, let’s say, most new airlines would lease a very old aircraft and have a product that genuinely isn’t a head turner at the start,” he says. “But we live in a bit of a different environment now, where aviation commentary is quite viral and people have a lot of opinions.

“The very key thing that we obviously want to be doing is putting out a very strong product to start with and one that we think is the best across the Atlantic. A smaller aircraft would just not be what we are as a brand.”

He adds that Global can “fill that aircraft probably 65% and still be fine,” and that people really go out of their way to fly on an A380. The plane is continuing to enjoy a steady post-pandemic comeback, with 141 A380s – about 60% of the remaining global fleet – currently in service with nine airlines.

The latest to reinstate it in its schedule is Lufthansa, whose inaugural Munich to Boston A380 service was among the most tracked flights of the day on Flightradar24.

Overall, Asquith appears to be invigorated, rather than spooked, by criticism: “When I went and visited every country in the world, every single person including my parents told me it was impossible to do,” he says.

“I think everybody needs to understand that we’re doing this to create jobs, to create competition and a better product. Why would people not want that?”

Around 42 people, including 37 students were killed on Friday when members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel group attacked the Lhubirira Secondary School in Mpondwe, hacking some of their victims to death with machetes and setting off fire at the dormitories.

Six other people were abducted, authorities said.

The arrests follow authorities’ earlier disclosure that the ADF may have spent days planning the attack with the help of local residents in town.

The Lhubirira school is located in the town of Kasese, which sits along the country’s border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, with students aged between 13 and 18.

The youngest victim in the Friday attack was just 12 years old, police said.

Grieving families have begun retrieving the bodies of their loved ones from a local morgue for burial, state broadcaster, UBC Television reported Monday.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni described the attack as “criminal, desperate, terrorist and futile” in a statement Sunday. He also said he was deploying more troops to the western part of the country and across Uganda’s border with the Congo to pursue the assailants.

“Especially now that the Congo Government allowed us to operate on the Congo side also, we have no excuse in not hunting down the ADF terrorists into extinction,” Museveni said.

Uganda’s security forces have battled to rein in the ADF, which continues to mastermind deadly attacks both in the country and in the Congo, from the mountainous border between both nations.

At least 12 worshipers were killed and around 50 injured when a bomb was detonated by the ADF at a church service in the Congo’s North Kivu province in January.

The ISIS-linked ADF was designated as a terrorist organization by the United States in 2021 and was sanctioned by the United Nations in 2014.

Textbooks in Saudi Arabia have been changing. For years, researchers have been observing a gradual moderation on subjects ranging from gender roles to the promotion of peace and tolerance.

Among the changes raising attention recently, in light of reports that the United States is trying to pave the way toward normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel, are edits related to Jews, Christians and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

A report released last month from the Israel- and London-based Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), which mainly monitors how Israel and Jews are portrayed in education texts, found “almost all examples portraying Christians and Jews in a negative manner” were removed from the latest Saudi textbooks, building on trends seen in previous years.

Prominent examples removed include implications “that Jews and Christians are the enemies of Islam,” or that “Jews and Christians are criticized for having ‘destroyed and distorted’ the Torah and Gospel,” according to the study.

On Israel and the Palestinians, IMPACT-se found moderation, but not yet full acceptance of Israel. Certain references to “the Israeli enemy” or “the Zionist enemy” have been replaced with “the Israeli occupation” or “the Israeli occupation army.” But other negative references to Israel, as well omitting it on maps is also noted in the study. There continues to be no mention of the Holocaust.

In the 2022-23 curriculum, a lesson on patriotic poetry removed an example of “opposing the Jewish settlement of Palestine.” A high school social studies textbook no longer contains a section describing the positive results of the First Intifada, the late 1980s Palestinian uprising against Israel. And one textbook “removed an entire chapter addressing the Palestinian cause.”

The modifications, IMPACT-se said, “are an encouraging sign that progress may include attitudes toward Israel and Zionism.”

The organization, which has been monitoring Saudi textbooks since the early 2000s, examined changes made to more than 80 textbooks from the 2022-23 Saudi curriculum and more than 180 textbooks from previous curricula.

IMPACT-se is also advising the United Arab Emirates’ ministry of education as it updates its school curricula to include Holocaust education.

‘Short term memory’

“This also is intended to signal that the new Gulf states’ leaders are modern, forward-thinking and secular-leaning – all of which is meant to appeal to a specific, largely external audience,” said Mira Al Hussein, a research fellow focusing on Gulf states at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

She said however that it is “quite ambitious” for governments to “suddenly do a 180 (degree turn) and start preaching tolerance. The reliance on people’s short-memory is misguided in this instance.”

IMPACT-se observed that new content in Saudi textbooks also criticizes certain Islamist groups such as Hezbollah, ISIS, al Qaeda, Houthi militias and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Experts on the region say while the textbook changes are notable, they should be seen in context.

Saudi Arabia’s school curriculum came under intense scrutiny in the West after the 9/11 attacks in which 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi. Since then, the kingdom has been gradually removing radical content from its textbooks.

Kristin Diwan, senior resident scholar at the Gulf States Institute in Washington, said the recent changes are in line with the kingdom’s new political orientation “with the ruling family central to its legitimacy.”

For decades, the government sought legitimacy at home and abroad though its status as the birthplace of Islam and home to its two holiest sites, but the kingdom has in recent years moved towards a more secular form of nationalism.

But Diwan cautioned that the while the new language may show more religious tolerance towards Judaism, it leaves the “political acceptance of Israel in limbo.”

“This is consistent with efforts to ease religious intolerance of Jews, incrementally preparing the way should a political decision be made on Israel normalization,” she said.

Relationship with Islam

Aziz Alghashian, a researcher on Saudi foreign policy and its ties with Israel, said the kingdom is “undergoing a change in its relationship with Islam.”

“It is not sidelining it, but making it more moderate and more tolerant of others. Before, the religious discourse was not overly tolerant because Saudi Arabia was not exposed to globalization as it is today… It is clear that this is changing, and it is also clear that it will take time.”

Alghashian said the amendments in the Saudi textbooks are subtle and don’t suggest a major transition towards acceptance of Israel.

“Some in Israel want to see normalization with Saudi so badly that any interaction about Israel will be framed as something positive towards normalization,” he said.

The Joe Biden administration has been pushing Saudi Arabia to normalize ties with Israel, to build on the Abraham Accords that had four Arab nations recognize the Jewish state in a major foreign policy feat for President Donald Trump in 2020.

Saudi Arabia opened its airspace to Israeli airlines for the first time last year but has insisted that no normalization will occur before a Palestinian state is established.

Normalization continues to be a taboo among Arab publics. An opinion poll conducted last year by the Arab Center Washington DC found that 84% of Arabs surveyed disapprove of their countries’ recognition of Israel. In Saudi Arabia, support for normalization stood at 5%.

Elie Podeh, a professor at the Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at Hebrew University, who has extensively studied educational systems in the region, said the changes are part of a “very long process” of moderation.

“It’s not a coincidence. It is a kind of a policy from above and I think that if you combine the two trends, fighting extremism and the other one is, Israel gradually being more accepted as a player in the Middle East. Then you can understand why we are seeing those changes in the education system,” Podeh said.

But even the deletion of an entire chapter on the Palestinian cause does not mean the Saudi government will suddenly stop caring.

“Obviously they are not negating, they are supporting the Palestinian issue. It’s not that they suddenly they will go in one direction and will neglect the other one. No, no way,” Podeh said.

But Podeh and the other experts all agreed: public perceptions of Israel will be shaped by much more than textbooks.

“If you were to ask me something like 20 years ago, I will say (textbooks have) a lot of impact… But today, social media, and so many socialization instruments to some extent minimize the role of the textbook,” Podeh said.

Diwan noted that textbooks are important, but “people’s views are impacted by media messaging, by global events, and by personal experiences. Not all of these are in the control of the state.”

An Israeli raid into one of the tensest cities in the occupied West Bank erupted Monday into a massive firefight, leaving at least five Palestinians dead and dozens wounded as the Israeli military struggled to rescue troops under heavy fire.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said of the five dead, two were in their teens and three in their 20s. At least 91 were wounded in the clashes, 23 of them in critical to severe condition, the ministry said. Eight Israeli troops were injured and successfully evacuated, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Israeli Air Force attack helicopters opened fire from the skies over Jenin to help Israeli troops leave the city, the IDF said.

Hecht earlier said the soldiers were “not trapped” and had “moved to other protected vehicles involved in the extraction.”

He had noted at least five vehicles were stuck, adding: “It’s not looking good. It’s going to take a few hours. It’s going to be pretty harsh.”

It was the first time since the Second Intifada that Israeli helicopters had opened fire while evacuating wounded troops, Israel Army Radio reported. The Second Intifada – a major Palestinian uprising – ended in 2005.

The Jenin Brigade, a locally based militant group, said its fighters had fired at an Israeli helicopter, forcing it to retreat, and said they had managed to immobilize Israeli military vehicles with gunfire and ambushes.

The Palestinians killed included three people in their 20s, and two teens: Khalid Azam Asa’asa, 21, Qasam Faisal Abu Seriya, 29, Qais Majdi Adel Jabareen, 21, Ahmad Khaled Faysal Draghma, 19 and Ahmed Youssef Saqer, 15, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

The Jenin Brigade, a Palestinian militant group associated with Islamic Jihad, claimed Jabereen and Seriya as fighters who died in the clashes.

Islamic Jihad also claimed Draghma as a member of its Toubas Brigade. Calling him a “heroic fighter,” Islamic Jihad said he died confronting occupation forces, a reference to Israeli troops. Social media video suggested that Draghma was shot while throwing stones at IDF forces.

Of those wounded, 23 are in critical to severe condition, the Palestinian health ministry said. A Palestinian girl also sustained a critical head injury, the ministry added.

Of the eight Israeli troops wounded, three are IDF soldiers and five are Israel Border Police officers. Three were moderately injured and five were lightly injured.

In a statement Sheba Medical Center said one of the injured in moderate condition is “being treated in a shock room by the medical teams at the emergency medicine center.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited some of the wounded troops later in the day, photos from the Government Press Office showed.

An Israeli military dog, Dago, suffered internal injuries in the raid and is being treated at the Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa, the hospital said.

The Israeli incursion also involved an undercover Israel Border Police unit called Yamas, Israel Police said Monday.

The IDF and Border Police said “a massive exchange of fire took place,” during the arrest operation.

They were attacked with gunfire and hurled explosive devices and responded with live fire, hitting people, the IDF said.

Hecht, the IDF spokesperson, said a Panther Command and Liaison Vehicle was hit by a “pretty advanced” improvised explosive device.

“The scale of the IED is an issue. We are still looking into it,” he said. “It’s pretty unusual and dramatic. It will affect how we do business.”

He said troops came under a “massive amount of gunfire” in addition to the explosives, but was unable to clarify exactly how the seven injured forces were hit, whether by the IED or other fire.

An Apache helicopter was used to fire on open areas to provide cover while some of the rescue operations were underway, Hecht said, adding that such tactic has not been used “in a long time.”

Videos from Jenin circulating on social media showed Israeli military vehicles coming under fire both on the ground and in the air.

One showed a military truck driving down the road with near-continuous cracking of gunfire before a burst of smoke erupts around it. Another showed several trucks sitting crosswise along a road with bullet damage to their front windows.

And a third showed a heavy armored Israeli truck attempting to tow a second one with a rope or cable. The lead vehicle revs its engine, apparently trying to drag the other vehicle around a parked car on a street, then reverses, pushing the following vehicle backwards, before rolling forward again with the second truck in tow. The sound of gunfire erupts as the two vehicles move up the road.

A video posted on Twitter by Army Radio showed a helicopter launching four projectiles, with white smoke trailing behind them as they clear the chopper. Another video circulating on social media showed what appeared to be the same helicopter with the sound of gunfire in the background.

Correction: A picture caption in an earlier version of this story misstated the devices fired by an Israeli military helicopter. The aircraft deployed flares.

Former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker and Super Bowl XL champion Clark Haggans has died at the age of 46, his former college said Wednesday.

Colorado State University, where Haggans played in the 1990s and is in the Hall of Fame, said its former player “passed away on Monday.”

Colorado State called Haggans “one of the greatest defensive players in program history and the program’s career record holder for sacks.”

The Larimer County Coroner’s Office said it responded to a private residsence in Colorado to investigate the death of a 46-year-old male, who it later identified as Haggans.

The cause of death if still being investigated, but “no foul play is evident,” the coroner’s office said in a statement.

The Steelers drafted Haggans in the fifth round in the 2000 NFL draft and he went on to become a star in Pittsburgh.

Haggans was a key part of the Steelers team that won the Super Bowl in 2005, recording a career-high nine sacks during the season.

After seven years in Pittsburgh, Haggans spent three seasons with the Arizona Cardinals before putting an end to his career in 2012 after a year with the San Francisco 49ers.

Haggans led Colorado State to two championships in 1997 and 1999, the school said, and his 33 sacks is still a program record.

The school said it plans to make arrangements to “remember and celebrate the life of” Haggans.