Bahrain hosts 1st Israeli flight after deal
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- The first known direct commercial flight between Israel and Bahrain landed Wednesday in the island kingdom, just a week after it signed a deal alongside the United Arab Emirates to normalize relations.
Flight data showed an Israir Airlines Airbus A320 landed at Bahrain International Airport after a nearly three-hour flight from Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion International Airport. Hours later, Bahrain acknowledged the flight carried a delegation of Israeli officials.
"A working team from the state of Israel visited Manama today to discuss areas of cooperation between the two countries," Bahrain said in a brief statement. "These talks come after the signing of the Declaration of Peace."
Bahrain did not identify the officials taking part, nor say whom they spoke to while in Manama.
There was no acknowledgment of the flight from the Israeli government, though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday spoke by telephone to Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. Israel's Foreign Ministry declined to comment.
The U.S. Embassy in Manama did not respond to a request for comment. The Israir Airbus took off back for Tel Aviv later on Wednesday.
U.K. gives U.S. data on 2 terror suspects
LONDON -- Britain says it has turned over to U.S. authorities evidence against two members of a suspected terror cell known as "the Beatles," ending a legal battle to block the hand-over of the information.
The evidence against Shafee El Sheikh and Alexanda Kotey was given to U.S. prosecutors after the High Court of Justice in London refused to allow El Sheikh's mother to appeal earlier rulings that paved the way for the move.
Home Secretary Priti Patel tweeted late Tuesday that "the further evidence to support the prosecution of Kotey & El Sheikh has now finally been transferred to the U.S. I sincerely hope that justice for the victims and their families will now be served."
El Sheikh's mother had sought to block the evidence transfer for more than two years, arguing that turning over the information would violate data protection laws because it could lead to the execution of her son.
U.S. Attorney General William Barr last month promised that the two suspects wouldn't face the death penalty if they were tried in American courts.
Kotey and El Sheikh are alleged to have beheaded 27 people, including three U.S. and two British hostages, while fighting for the so-called Islamic State group in Syria. They are believed to have been part of a four-man cell that became known as "the Beatles" because all four spoke with British accents.
S. Korea official believed to be in North
SEOUL, South Korea -- A South Korean official who disappeared off a government ship near the disputed sea boundary with North Korea this week may be in North Korea, South Korea's Defense Ministry said Wednesday.
The ministry said the 47-year-old official was aboard a government vessel that was checking on potential unauthorized fishing near a South Korean border island. Colleagues noticed the man was missing at lunchtime and found only his shoes still on the vessel, prompting a so-far fruitless search involving aircraft and ships.
The Defense Ministry said in a statement that it had information that the missing official was on North Korean shores on Tuesday afternoon. The ministry did not say how it obtained that information.
The ministry said officials will contact North Korea to ask about the missing official and take other steps to find more details.
More than 30,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea in the past 20 years for political and economic reasons, but it's highly unusual for a South Korean to defect to North Korea.
Australia reports more whale strandings
HOBART, Australia -- More pilot whales were found stranded in Australia on Wednesday, raising the estimated total to nearly 500, including 380 that have died, in the largest mass stranding ever recorded in the country.
Authorities had already been working to rescue survivors among an estimated 270 whales found Monday on a beach and two sandbars near the remote coastal town of Strahan on the southern island state of Tasmania.
Another 200 stranded whales were spotted from a helicopter on Wednesday less than 6 miles to the south, Tasmania wildlife service manager Nic Deka said.
All 200 had been confirmed dead by late afternoon.
They were among 380 whales that had died overall, 30 that were alive but stranded and 50 that had been rescued since Tuesday, Deka said.
About 30 whales in the original stranding were moved from the sandbars to open ocean on Tuesday, but several got stranded again. About a third of the first group had died by Monday evening.
Marine scientist Vanessa Pirotta said there were a number of potential reasons why whales might become beached, including navigational errors.
"They do have a very strong social system, these animals are closely bonded and that's why we have seen so many in this case unfortunately in this situation," Pirotta said.
