Israel admits security forces may have killed Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh
CBSN
Ramallah, Palestinian Territories — Palestinians planned a memorial service Thursday for journalist Shireen Abu Akleh who was killed while covering an Israeli raid in the West Bank, but have rejected U.S.-led calls for a joint investigation into her death. Palestinian-American Abu Akleh, 51, a veteran of Qatar-based Al Jazeera's Arabic TV service, was shot in the head during clashes in the Jenin refugee camp, a major flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israel's Defence Minister Benny Gantz conceded late Wednesday that it could have been "the Palestinians who shot her" or fire from "our side" — appearing to walk back Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's remarks that she was "likely" killed by stray Palestinian gunfire.
"We are not certain how she was killed but we want to get to the bottom of this incident and to uncover the truth as much as we can," Gantz told reporters.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates — Heavy rains lashed the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, flooding portions of major highways, leaving vehicles abandoned on roadways across Dubai and grinding traffic at the city-state's huge international airport briefly to a complete halt. Meanwhile, the death toll from separate heavy flooding in neighboring Oman rose to 18, with others still missing as the sultanate prepared for the storm.
Paris — Five years have passed since Notre Dame cathedral in Paris was engulfed in flames. The iconic spire and timber roof were destroyed in the blaze. People around the world were shocked at the scale of the fire and the damage it caused, but work to restore the iconic landmark to its former glory continues.
Lawmakers in Poland have voted in favor of measures to ease the country's near-total ban on abortion, setting the stage for a potential clash over women's rights with the country's conservative president. With their vote on Friday, parliamentarians endorsed several proposals to relax the abortion restrictions, including one from newly elected Prime Minister Donald Tusk's party to decriminalize abortions up to 12 weeks into a pregnancy.
The last opportunity for U.S. nationals to flee violence-wracked Haiti on a government-chartered evacuation flight arrived Friday, with no sign of the chaos easing in the tiny Caribbean nation. The U.S. State Department said last week in an email to Americans in Haiti that charter flights were not scheduled to continue after April 12.