A deportation flight bound for Afghanistan carrying 28 Afghan nationals left Germany on Friday morning, a day after the German government pledged to strengthen its asylum regulations in the wake of a deadly knife attack.

Flight trackers show that a Boeing 787 from Qatar Airlines left Leipzig at 6.55 a.m., traveling to Kabul.

The flight marks Germany’s first deportation of Afghans back to their home country since the Taliban retook power there three years ago, in August 2021. According to German news magazine Der Spiegel, the deportations are the result of months of negotiations and planning.

Der Spiegel reported that each deportee, all of whom were male, received a payment of €1,000 ($1,100). The spokesperson for Saxony’s Interior Ministry was unable to confirm this.

In a news conference following the flight’s departure, government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit emphasized to journalists that Berlin was not in direct talks with the Taliban. Rather, it secured the deportation through the mediation of key regional powers, he said.

Hebestreit added that the German government has made “intensive efforts” to deport migrants who have committed serious crimes back to Afghanistan and Syria in the wake of a knife attack in the southwestern city of Mannheim at the end of May.

A police officer was fatally wounded during that attack and several others were injured, with German authorities pointing to an Islamist extremism motive. The main suspect was identified as a 25-year-old Afghan refugee.

The deportations also come a day after the German government unveiled a new security package following the fatal attack in the western city of Solingen last week. Three people were stabbed to death in the incident on August 23, which took place during a street festival. The suspect was identified as a 26-year-old Syrian man with alleged links to ISIS, who had previously been due for deportation. He turned himself in and confessed to the attack, police said.

The attack in Solingen has sparked fresh debate in Germany over migration, with the country’s governing coalition, led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, receiving criticism for its handling of the issue. It has also served to embolden Germany’s far-right ahead of key state elections this weekend.

The incident spurred Scholz’s government into action, with the chancellor declaring during a visit to Solingen at the start of the week that “we will have to do everything we can to ensure that those who cannot and are not allowed to stay in Germany are repatriated and deported,” Reuters reported.

The new security measures unveiled by the government in a news conference Thursday aim to speed up the deportation of rejected asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants, and also tighten laws on weapons.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser pledged during the news conference to “step up the pace of repatriations” and “take further measures to reduce irregular migration,” while also strengthening the power of authorities to fight Islamic extremism.

Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is targeting wins in elections in the eastern states of Saxony and Thuringia scheduled for Sunday. The AfD is currently leading in the polls in both states.

The anti-immigration party has seized on the attack in Solingen in its political campaigning, with Björn Höcke, the party’s regional leader in Thuringia, telling voters they have the choice of either “Höcke or Solingen.”

Migration has long been a topic of fierce debate in Germany. Scholz’s center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) has typically advocated for a more open migration policy in Germany.

During the 2015 European migrant crisis, then-Chancellor Angela Merkel, leader of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), adopted an “open-door” policy which saw hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing war in Syria and beyond arrive in Germany – a decision which attracted both praise and criticism.

Israel’s military said it killed three Hamas members, including a commander, as its offensive in the occupied West Bank entered its third day.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Friday it killed Wissam Khazem, whom it described as the Hamas leader in the city of Jenin, in an exchange of gunfire after he was identified “in a vehicle in the area.” The military said it had found weapons and money in the vehicle.

Two others were also killed as they tried to flee the vehicle, according to the Israeli military, naming them as Maysara Masharqa and Arafat Amer. The IDF said both men belonged to Hamas and “operated under the command of Khazem and took part in shooting attacks against Israeli communities.”

In a statement, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, acknowledged the three men’s deaths and confirmed Khazem was one of its leaders in Jenin. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a network of Palestinian armed groups, said Masharqa was its “most prominent field commanders” in Jenin.

As of Friday, 19 Palestinians have been killed during an expansive Israeli military operation in the West Bank that includes the cities of Jenin, Tubas and Tulkarem, according to the Palestinian ministry of health and Palestinian groups.

Friday’s firefight came after Israel launched one of the largest assaults on the occupied territory in years. Stressing the need to root out what he called “Islamic-Iranian terrorist infrastructure,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz called for a Gaza-style operation in the West Bank.

Katz warned that Iran was working in the West Bank to establish an “eastern front” against Israel, working alongside its proxies Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

Israel’s renewed offensive in the West Bank has sparked criticism from senior United Nations and Western officials. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said Thursday that Israel’s operation is “deeply concerning.”

Clashes in the West Bank have become more frequent since Israel began its war in Gaza in response to Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on October 7.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported Tuesday that 652 Palestinians, including 150 children, have been killed in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem since October 7, with over 5,400 others injured.

Since Israel began its occupation of the West Bank in 1967, the number of Jewish settlements has swelled in the territory, despite being considered illegal under international law.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Two airline passengers who locked a stranger’s crying grandchild in a plane restroom have caused outrage in China and sparked a heated online debate on how to handle upset children in public spaces.

The incident went viral this week after one of the two women involved posted a video on Chinese social media, which showed them inside a locked lavatory with the wailing girl, who appeared to be about a year old.

“We won’t let you out unless you stop crying,” a woman sitting on the toilet told the toddler as she struggled out of the adult’s lap and reached for the door, according to the video posted on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok.

As the girl stopped crying, the woman filming the video picked her up and told her: “If you make any noise again, we’ll come back (to the bathroom).”

The incident took place August 24 aboard a Juneyao Airlines flight from the southwestern city of Guiyang to Shanghai.

The toddler was flying with her grandparents and cried non-stop during the nearly three-hour flight, the airline said in a statement Monday. The two passengers took the child to the restroom to “educate her” with her grandmother’s consent, the statement added.

But a day later, as criticism mounted, the airline’s customer service department apologized for the incident and “oversight of the crew,” adding it condemned the two passengers’ behavior, according to the state-run Southern Metropolis Daily.

One of the women, who posted the video online, said her intention was to ensure a “restful flight” for other passengers. But her post quickly met a backlash, with many social media users accusing her of being heartless and bullying the child. The video was later deleted.

“Adults in their 30s can have emotional breakdowns, but people don’t allow toddlers to have theirs,” said one comment on China’s X-like Weibo platform, garnering thousands of likes.

“We were all once children … Don’t be a cold-blooded adult,” read another popular comment.

Many others expressed concern that the incident may negatively impact the child’s mental health.

Multiple Chinese state media outlets have also weighed in, accusing the two women of “inappropriate” behavior and calling for “greater understanding” from the public toward young children who cannot control their emotions.

In recent years, complaints about young children crying or acting out on flights and trains have regularly trended on Chinese social media, with many accusing parents of not doing enough to manage their kids’ behavior.

These incidents have fueled an ongoing debate about parenting in public places in China, where the government is desperately trying to persuade couples to have more children.

The king of New Zealand’s indigenous Māori people, Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII, died peacefully on Friday, according to his representatives. He was 69.

“The death of Kiingi Tuheitia is a moment of great sadness for followers of Te Kiingitanga, Maaoridom and the entire nation,” spokesperson Rahui Papa said in a statement.

The position of Māori monarch originated in 1858 during a movement known as Kiingitanga that aimed to strengthen indigenous resistance to colonialism. Considered the chief of several tribes, the monarch does not have judicial or legal authority but plays an important ceremonial role.

The Māori community, which accounts for nearly a fifth of New Zealand’s more than 5 million population, often faces discrimination that results in poorer health and education outcomes and higher rates of incarceration.

In January, Tuheitia hosted more than 10,000 Māori for talks on how to respond to government plans to cancel reforms that were seen by many indigenous people as undermining their rights, Reuters reported at the time.

New Zealand’s right-wing government has proposed dissolving the country’s Māori Health Authority, rolling back the use of the Māori language and ending limits on tobacco sales – a move Māori leaders had sought to cut high rates of smoking in their community.

‘A mighty tree has fallen’

Born Tuheitia Paki in 1955 in the North Island town of Huntly, the king was educated in Waikato and Auckland.

He was crowned on August 21, 2006, following the death of his mother, Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu.

Tuheitia will lie in state at Turangawaewae Marae, headquarters of the Kiingitanga, for five days before being taken to his final resting place on the sacred burial site of Mount Taupiri.

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon led tributes to Tuheitia and said the country would mourn the king’s death.

“His unwavering commitment to his people and his tireless efforts to uphold the values and traditions of Kiingitanga have left an indelible mark on our nation,” he said in a statement.

Former Prime Minster Jacinda Ardern described Tuheitia as an advocate for Māori people, as well as for fairness, justice and prosperity.

Britain’s King Charles said in a statement he and Queen Camilla were “profoundly saddened” to learn of Tuheitia’s death and referenced a Maori proverb, saying “a mighty Totora tree has fallen.”

“I had the greatest pleasure of knowing Kiingi Tuheitia for decades,” Charles said. “He was deeply committed to forging a strong future for Māori and Aotearoa New Zealand founded upon culture, traditions and healing, which he carried out with wisdom and compassion.”

Tuheitia is survived by his wife, Te Atawhai, their two sons, Whatumoana and Korotangi, and daughter, Ngā Wai hono i te po Paki, according to RNZ.

The position of Māori monarch is not hereditary by right, RNZ reported. Leaders of the tribes associated with the Kiingitanga appoint a new monarch on the day of the previous monarch’s funeral and before burial.

Irina Bolgar, the former partner of the Russian-born billionaire and the child’s mother, made the claims against Durov. She filed a legal complaint in a court in Geneva, Switzerland, in March 2023.

The ongoing case alleges that Durov harmed his youngest son five times between 2021 and 2022. In one instance, he allegedly threatened “that he would kill him,” the complaint says.

Durov, 39, was arrested at Paris’s Bourget Airport on Saturday on a warrant related to Telegram’s lack of moderation as the platform comes under scrutiny for its use by terrorist groups and far-right extremists.

The entrepreneur has found himself at the center of a media storm as he was placed under formal investigation for several offenses related to criminal activity on the messaging platform he founded. He was released from custody on Wednesday and must remain in France under judicial supervision, with a bail set at $5.56 million (5 million euros).

‘Shed some light’

According to the Swiss complaint against Durov, after the alleged incidents, the child had been in an “anxious state,” had “regular sleep troubles,” “enuresis” (the medical term for bedwetting), and nightmares.

Bolgar claims in the complaint that at the end of 2018 the couple had separated and Durov committed in writing that he was willing to contribute 150,000 Euros a month towards the maintenance of her and her children.

“He gave the named two bank cards, allowing her to withdraw the said sum from his personal accounts,” the complaint says.

The complaint adds that Durov had not seen his children since September 2022 and that he was not taking care of them and had “blocked” the bank cards he had given her.

In an Instagram post from July 30, Bolgar said she met Durov in 2012 and had been living together as a “fully-fledged family” since 2013 in St. Petersburg where their three children were born. Bolgar also said that since 2020 she and her children had been living in Switzerland.

“While living in different countries, my relationship with Pavel remained family-like,” she wrote in the Instagram post.

Bolgar also said that they “remained a couple” and Durov used to visit her and the children in Switzerland with his mother and brother.

She added that she did not publicize the information about her family to avoid deliberately bringing attention to herself or her children. But changed her mind because her children had been asking why there was no information about them on the internet, “unlike their father’s two older children,” she said.

“I decided to shed some light on this information,” Bolgar said.

Durov’s arrest started a row over freedom of speech, and caused particular concerns in both Ukraine and Russia, where it is extremely popular and has become a key communication tool among military personnel and citizens during Moscow’s war on its neighbor.

‘Independent action’

French President Emmanuel Macron has told reporters that he “knew absolutely nothing” about Durov’s travels to France and his arrest was an “independent action” taken by the country’s justice system.

The French leader told a scheduled press conference in Belgrade, Serbia, that he was not scheduled to meet Durov “at the end of last week or the days after” and stressed that Durov’s arrest was an “independent action taken by the French justice system.”

Macron also defended his decision to grant French nationality to Durov in 2021, commending that the entrepreneur “had made the effort to learn the French language.”

Durov’s naturalization came about as part of a French government initiative that allows individuals who “shine in the world” and “make the effort to learn the French language” to apply for French nationality. Macron ultimately defended the scheme, calling it a “great thing for our country.”

Durov was born in the Soviet Union in 1984, and in his 20s became colloquially known as the “Mark Zuckerberg of Russia.” He left the country in 2014 and now lives in Dubai, where Telegram is headquartered, while also holding French citizenship.

He is worth an estimated $9.15 billion, according to Bloomberg, and has maintained a lavish, globe-trotting lifestyle over the past decade.

But while his app has won plaudits from free speech groups and enabled private communication in countries with restrictive regimes, critics say it has become a safe haven for people coordinating illicit activities – including the terrorists who planned the Paris terror attacks in November 2015.

Israel has agreed to a series of pauses in fighting in Gaza in September to allow young children in the enclave to be vaccinated for polio, according to United Nations and Israeli officials.

Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization’s representative for the West Bank and Gaza, told a press briefing from a video link Thursday that the pause would start September 1 and will be split into three 3-day phases.

“We have a preliminary commitment for area-specific humanitarian pauses during the campaign,” he said, adding that the pauses will roll out first in “central Gaza for three days, followed by south Gaza and then followed by north Gaza.”

Basem Naim, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, said the militant group welcomed the push for a pause in Gaza to implement the vaccination drive. “We are ready to cooperate with international organizations to secure this campaign,” he added.

Since the war, Gaza’s near-universal polio vaccine coverage has dropped to just over 80%. Peeperkorn told the UN press briefing that more than 90% coverage was needed to stop the outbreak in the besieged Palestinian territory.

He warned that the three-day periods “might not be enough to achieve adequate vaccination,” adding that it “has been agreed, when needed, the campaign will be extended by one day per zone, or even more when necessary.”

The resurgence of the virus – eliminated in most of the developed world – highlights the struggles facing Gaza’s two million residents, who have lived under Israeli bombardment since October last year. Many people in the enclave are deprived of food, medical supplies and clean water, with up to 90% of the population internally displaced.

The aim of the immunization campaign is to vaccinate about 640,000 children under the age of 10 with two doses each. According to Peeperkorn, 1.26 million doses of vaccines and 500 vaccine carriers have already been delivered to Gaza.

Netanyahu agreed to work with the US on the details, the official said. US Special Envoy Lise Grande for Middle East Humanitarian Issues has been leading that effort, working to finalize the details between the Israeli government and the UN, including what the pauses would like and how the vaccines would be delivered.

Polio mostly affects children under five years old, and can cause irreversible paralysis and even death. It’s highly infectious and there is no cure; it can only be prevented by immunization, according to the WHO.

WHO is joined in the vaccination effort by the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees and other partners. Each organization has been assigned a role in the technical and strategic “microplan” to execute the vaccine campaign.

For weeks, the organizations have emphasized that some kind of ceasefire — what they are calling a “polio pause”— would be crucial to the effort’s success, and even to contain the disease from spreading to the broader region.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

The body of an American woman has been recovered from the sea in Norway after the replica Viking boat she was sailing in capsized during an expedition from the Faroe Islands, police have confirmed.

The US State Department confirmed the death of a US citizen off the coast of Norway.

The six were participating in the “Legendary Viking Voyage” project, which involved sailing from the Faroe Islands to Trondheim in Norway aboard the Naddoddur, a replica Viking ship, according to Sail2North expeditions, which organized the trip.

In social media posts ahead of departure, Sail2North, described Dana, 29, as the youngest member of the crew who “embodies both the curiosity of a field researcher and the boldness of an adventurer.”

“Karla epitomizes the spirit of exploration and commitment to future generations,” the online post added.

At around 8 p.m., another distress call was issued from the vessel. Local civilian boats arrived at the scene and reported that the boat had capsized and five people were found on a life raft, according to the JRCC. The survivors were airlifted to safety at around 8:50 p.m. local time, they added.

Emergency workers searched through the night and found a body on Wednesday morning after weather conditions improved, according to the JRCC. Norwegian police said the surviving crew members included one Faroese and four Swiss nationals.

“We extend our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased,” a US State Department spokesperson said Thursday.

“Out of respect for the privacy of the family, we have no further comment at this time,” they said.

The chairman of The Explorers Club, of which Dana was also a member, was quoted by the BBC saying her death was a reminder “that we make these dangerous Expeditions and Explorations look easy but they are not.”

“This brave Explorer left this planet doing something she loved entirely too early,” the club’s Florida chapter chairman Joseph Dituri told BBC News.

“Her exploration spirit was evident in everything she did as well as her zest for life! It is a better world having had her in it,” he added.

Israel’s assault on Gaza since the Hamas-led October 7 attack has killed more than 40,000 people, according to Palestinian authorities, drawing international condemnation. But just 60 miles away, another major escalation of violence has also been playing out in the West Bank, where more than 600 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops since the war began.

On Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it launched its most expansive offensive in the occupied West Bank in the last year, launching raids and airstrikes in densely populated civilian areas in Jenin and Tulkarem that have killed at least 15 people so far.

The attacks are occurring amid a surge in Israeli settler violence across the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, where some settlers continue a campaign targeting Palestinian civilians and infrastructure.

Israel says its military operation in the West Bank is necessary to stem further terror attacks on its territory. Palestinian leaders say the violence will only lead to “dire and dangerous results.” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Israel to immediately cease its operation, saying it was a “deeply concerning” development.

As Israel signals its operation is only just getting started, here’s what you need to know about the occupied territory and why bloodshed is escalating there.

What is the West Bank and who controls it?

The West Bank, a territory that lies between Israel and Jordan, is home to 3.3 million Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation as well as hundreds of thousands of Jewish Israelis who began settling there some 57 years ago.

Israel began its occupation after the 1967 Six-Day War, where it captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, and the Golan Heights from Syria. Israel argues that Jews have a biblical and ancestral right to the land.

Soon after, it began establishing Israeli communities in those territories. The West Bank remains where the bulk of those settlements, illegal under international law, are.

In the 1990s, Israel and Palestinian factions began a peace process with the aim of establishing a Palestinian state. That process, known as the Oslo Accords, led to the creation of an interim Palestinian government known as the Palestinian Authority (PA), based in the West Bank city of Ramallah, with nominal control over the West Bank and Gaza. Peace talks have been frozen for years and the current Israeli government has ruled out granting independence to the Palestinians.

Today, the PA has administrative and security control of 18% of the West Bank, while 22% is under joint Israeli and PA control. Israel has sole control over the remaining 60%, where most of Jewish settlements are.

Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005. In 2007, Hamas seized control of that territory after winning elections.

In July, the International Court of Justice, the United Nations’ top court, issued an unprecedented advisory opinion  that found Israel’s presence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem to be illegal, and called on Israel to end its decades-long occupation.

Who are the settlers in the West Bank?

There are more than 700,000 settlers living in the West Bank, the presence of every one of them considered illegal under international law.

They are spread across 146 settlements throughout the West Bank, excluding East Jerusalem. The vast majority of settlements are built by government order, but some unauthorized settlements, known as settlement outposts, have been established by ideologically driven Israeli civilians with the hope that they will one day be authorized by the government.

Many of the settlements encroach on Palestinian villages and, in some cases, privately owned Palestinian land. Some are built in close proximity to Palestinian population centers and one, in Hebron, sits in the heart of a Palestinian town. In East Jerusalem, there are 14 Israeli neighborhoods, which the international community considers illegal.

The expansion of settlements has been a top priority for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government, which has supercharged the approval of land seizures in the West Bank during its tenure, despite human rights groups calling it a war crime. 

In July, Israel approved the largest seizure of land in the West Bank since the Oslo peace process, according to the Israeli anti-settlement watchdog PeaceNow.

The settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are seen as a major obstacle to peace as they sit on land that Palestinians, along with the international community, view as territory for a future Palestinian state.

What has been happening in the West Bank since the war began?

Tensions have been rising in the West Bank for many years, but October 7 has ushered in a volatile new chapter in the occupied territory.

On that day, Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people in Israel and took more than 250 hostages, according to the Israeli authorities. Israel subsequently launched a war in Gaza that has killed 40,476 people, according to Palestinian authorities.

Since the start of the war, 652 Palestinians have also been killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including 150 children, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Over 5,400 people have been injured.

The violence has been especially stark for children, according to the American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA),  who said in an August report that the number of Palestinian children in the West Bank who have been killed by Israeli forces’ bullets nearly tripled in a year.

Meanwhile, settler attacks have been unfolding for months without significant consequence or accountability.

In February, hundreds of settlers carried out one of the largest attacks on Palestinians in years in the town of Huwara and surrounding areas after a Palestinian gunman killed two Israeli settlers who lived nearby. In the aftermath of the violence, Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, himself a settler who opposes Palestinian sovereignty, said that “Huwara needs to be erased.”

Earlier this month, more than 70 armed settlers invaded the town of Jit, firing bullets and tear gas at Palestinian residents and setting several homes, cars and other property on fire. One person was killed. The attacks drew condemnation from top Israeli officials, but far-right members of Netanyahu’s government and settlement leaders deflected blame away from the settlers.

In total, at least 1,270 settler attacks against Palestinians have been recorded since October 7, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Of those, over 120 attacks “led to Palestinian fatalities and injuries,” OCHA reported.

Meanwhile, the United States, Israel’s strongest military and diplomatic backer, imposed a series of sanctions this year on Israeli settlers accused of violence in the West Bank, blocking their financial assets and barring them from entering the US.

“The United States remains deeply concerned about extremist violence and instability in the West Bank, which undermines Israel’s own security,” the US State Department said in a statement last month.

Who is the current Israeli military campaign targeting in the West Bank?

Israel launched a large counter-terror operation in the areas of Jenin and Tulkarem on Wednesday, where authorities said that over “150 shooting and explosive attacks” have originated in the last year.

Israel claims that the northern West Bank, including Jenin and Tulkarem, has seen a rise in Palestinian militant groups, bolstered by what it says is an Iranian campaign to distribute weapons there.

Local militias are also gaining traction in the northern West Bank, groups largely comprised of disillusioned young men that have grown up under the Israeli occupation and who deeply resent the unpopular PA, which is seen as aiding the Israeli occupation and unable to protect them from it.

The PA condemned “violation and crimes” by Israel on Wednesday, “especially the ongoing war of genocide in the Gaza Strip and the targeting of the northern West Bank.”

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) militant group condemned the Israeli military’s “comprehensive aggression,” referring to it as an “open and undeclared war.”

On Thursday, the IDF said that it killed five militants, including Muhhamad Jabber, a commander affiliated with the PIJ’s military wing, the Al-Quds brigade.

The Ukrainian Defense Forces do not believe pilot error was behind the incident, the source added.

Pilot Oleksiy Mes, known as “Moonfish,” was killed in the crash while “repelling the biggest ever aerial attack” by Russia against Ukraine, said the source, adding that the pilot was buried on Thursday.

The crash is being investigated and international experts will be invited to participate in the probe, the source added.

The death of the pilot is a major blow for Ukraine. The first F-16s only arrived in the country earlier this month and Moonfish was one of the few pilots trained to fly them.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that the Ukrainian Air Force used the F-16 to destroy missiles and drones launched by Russia on Monday, the first time any Ukrainian official confirmed the jets were being used in combat.

Kyiv waited a long time to get hold of the F-16s, and Zelensky has been asking its Western allies for the fighter jets since the start of the full-scale invasion.

But as with other equipment, Western countries hesitated before finally agreeing to provide F-16s. The Netherlands and Denmark pledged to provide them early summer in 2023, but it took another few weeks for the United States to green-light the transfer.

When they arrived earlier this summer, Zelensky said he and his government held “hundreds of meetings and negotiations” to secure the jets.

A group of Ukrainian pilots started their F-16 training in the US in the fall. While it can take years to get fully trained up to fly the planes, Moonfish and others had to do it in six months.

Ukraine is hoping the F-16 will give it a much-needed boost. The jets are multi-role: they can provide air cover for troops, attack ground targets, take on enemy planes and intercept missiles. With the right armament, F-16s could deter Russian fighter-bombers from approaching the battlefield.

Still, the jets are no silver bullet. Ukraine can use them to deny Russia control over the skies, but experts say their capabilities are inferior to the most modern Russian combat aircraft that would likely prevail in an air battle with the F-16.

Moonfish: Top pilot who lobbied hard for F-16

Moonfish and another pilot Andriy Pilshchikov, known by the call sign “Juice,” became the faces of Ukraine’s campaign to get the F-16s.

It was an uphill battle, but Juice and Moonfish pulled through it together. They were young and enthusiastic, spoke good English and were willing to fight to get the US jets into Ukrainian skies.

Flying the F-16 was their dream and when Juice died in a plane crash during a combat mission last August, Moonfish made it his goal to fulfill it.

A man of few words, passionate about his job, he had his emotions under control. A straight talker who knew everything about F-16s.

“Andriy was the ‘ideas man’ and the main driving force behind it all,” Moonfish said. “And I feel responsible to him for ensuring these planes arrive.”

In a statement issued later on Thursday, the Ukrainian Air Force said Moonfish destroyed three cruise missiles and one attack drone on Monday, before he was killed the crash. The air force said he was posthumously awarded the rank of colonel.

Daniel Sancho, a chef who made YouTube videos, was sentenced by a Thai court on Thursday to life in prison for killing Edwin Arrieta Arteaga last year in a hotel room on Koh Phangan, an island off the coast of southern Thailand.

The trial heard that the 30-year-old killed Arrieta after the pair had a fight and put parts of his body in plastic bags before discarding them around the island.

Sancho had faced the death penalty. But the court on the island of Koh Samui commuted the sentence to life imprisonment due to his cooperation during the trial.

“The court saw his confession to the murder was useful during the trial. So the court commuted the sentence to life imprisonment,” Paisan said.

The court found Sancho guilty on all three charges: premeditated murder, concealment of a body and hiding another person’s documents.

Sancho claimed he killed Arietta in self-defense and admitted to hiding his body, according to the Agence France-Presse news agency. Sancho denied destroying Arrieta’s passport, which has never been found.

Paisan said evidence showed Sancho had made preparations for the killing, suggesting it was premeditated.

“Before committing the murder, the defendant had bought a knife, gloves, plastic bags, garbage bags, (a cleaning sponge), cleaver knife and a saw,” he said.

Before the murder, Sancho had booked a room in a different hotel to where the killing happened, Paisan added.

Sancho’s parents, Silvia Bronchalo and Rodolfo Sancho – who are both actors – appeared in court, Paisan said. Parents of the deceased were not present in the courtroom.

Rodolfo Sancho is one of the most recognizable faces on the small screen in Spain, having starred in hit series “The Ministry of Time” and “Isabel.”

Daniel Sancho was arrested in August last year, soon after the killing of Arrieta, a plastic surgeon from Montería in northern Colombia.

Sancho, who wore a face mask to court, “appeared to accept his fate, with no objection” following his sentencing, Paisan said.

Sancho’s lawyer, Marcos Garcia-Montes, told reporters he would appeal the sentence. Under Thai law, he has the right to appeal to a higher court.