
Vandals set fire to a mouse statue that's a tv star and mascot for a german broadcaster
The statue – featuring the character's famous orange body with brown ears, arms, and legs – greets families and children outside a media building in Cologne, Germany. A receptionist for WDR saw several young people standing around the statue in Cologne on a camera feed overnight Friday into Saturday. She then noticed flames and called the fire department, WDR said. The fire blackened parts of the mouse's face and arm, images show. The station said a police complaint had been filed against an unidentified person.
Matthias Körnich, head of children's programming for WDR, said it's not just a figurine that was damaged. 'A piece of childhood, a symbol of joy and togetherness, has been attacked,' he said. 'The mouse belongs to Cologne.'
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Arab News
2 hours ago
- Arab News
A settler accused of killing a Palestinian activist is to be freed, as Israel still holds the body
TEL AVIV: An Israeli settler accused of killing a prominent Palestinian activist during a confrontation captured on video in the occupied West Bank will be released from house arrest, an Israeli court ruled Friday. The video shot by a Palestinian witness shows Yinon Levi brandishing a pistol and tussling with a group of unarmed Palestinians. He can be seen firing two shots, but the video does not show where the bullets hit. Witnesses said one of the shots killed Awdah Hathaleen, an English teacher and father of three, who was uninvolved and was standing nearby. The Israeli military is still holding Hathaleen's body and says it will only be returned if the family agrees to bury him in a nearby city. It said the measure was being taken to 'prevent public disorder.' The confrontation occurred on Monday in the village of Umm Al-Khair, in an area of the West Bank featured in 'No Other Land,' an Oscar-winning documentary about settler violence and life under Israeli military rule. In a court decision obtained by The Associated Press, Judge Havi Toker wrote that there was 'no dispute' that Levi shot his gun in the village that day, but she said he may have been acting in self-defense and that the court could not establish that the shots killed Hathaleen. Israel's military and police did not respond to a request for comment on whether anyone else may have fired shots that day. Multiple calls placed to Levi and his lawyer have not been answered. The judge said Levi did not pose such a danger as to justify his continued house arrest but barred him from contact with the villagers for a month. Levi has been sanctioned by the United States and other Western countries over allegations of past violence toward Palestinians. President Donald Trump lifted the US sanctions on Levi and other radical settlers shortly after returning to office. A total of 18 Palestinians from the village were arrested after the incident. Six remain in detention. Eitay Mack, an Israeli lawyer who has lobbied for sanctions against radical settlers, including Levi, said the court ruling did not come as a surprise. 'Automatically, Palestinian victims are considered suspects, while Jewish suspects are considered victims,' he said. Levi helped establish an settler outpost near Umm Al-Khair that anti-settlement activists say is a bastion for violent settlers who have displaced hundreds since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Palestinians and rights groups have long accused Israeli authorities of turning a blind eye to settler violence, which has surged since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, along with attacks by Palestinians. In a 2024 interview, Levi said he was protecting his own land and denied using violence. Some 70 women in Umm Al-Khair said they were beginning a hunger strike on Friday to call for Hathaleen's body to be returned and for the right of his family to bury him in the village. Israel's military said in a statement to the AP that it would return the body if the family agrees to bury him in the 'nearest authorized cemetery.' Hathaleen, 31, had written and spoke out against settler violence, and had helped produce the Oscar-winning film. Supporters have erected murals in his honor in Rome, held vigils in New York and have held signs bearing his name at anti-war protests in Tel Aviv.


Al Arabiya
a day ago
- Al Arabiya
Rail traffic disrupted in Germany after fire broke out in cable tunnel
Rail traffic in and around the western German city of Duisburg faced significant disruptions on Thursday after a fire broke out in a cable tunnel, in what authorities suspect was an act of sabotage, police said. Investigators ruled out accidental causes and said the state security division was investigating the incident 'in all directions.' No injuries were reported. According to the daily newspaper Bild, citing news agency DPA, an ignition device was allegedly placed in the tunnel, causing damage to about 60 meters of cable that will need replacement.


Al Arabiya
2 days ago
- Al Arabiya
Palestinians in West Bank village face new crisis as Israeli settlers cut off water
Palestinians in the village of Susiya in the Israeli-occupied West Bank thought life could not get worse as Israeli settlers were attacking them repeatedly and ripping apart their precious olive groves. Then settlers armed with knives set upon their water sources, villagers said. 'They want us to live without water, and here they also cut the electrical wires,' said Mousa Mughnem, 67, who lives with his 60-year-old wife Najah in the village near the town of Hebron. Palestinians in the West Bank have reported growing Israeli settler violence since war erupted between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza on October 7, 2023. Palestinian authorities who exercise limited self-rule in parts of the West Bank say the settlers are trying to force Palestinians off their lands in order to seize them. Emboldened by some far-right Israeli government ministers who seek to annex the West Bank, settlers have assaulted Palestinian farmers, cut down trees and set fire to precious olive groves. Jihad Al-Nawajaa, the head of the Susiya village council, said the water shortages have become unbearable. 'If we do not have water here, we will not survive. They make us thirsty in order to expel us, and their aim is to expel people,' he said. Residents of Susiya accuse Israeli settlers of severing water pipes and electricity wires, chopping down their olive trees and preventing them from herding their sheep. In response to a Reuters request for a comment on settler attacks in Susiya, the Israeli military said soldiers have been dispatched to deal with any troubles and have removed Israeli citizens involved. 'As for the most recent incident that occurred on Monday (July 28), same protocol was used, and no injuries were reported,' the army said. Olive trees part of Palestinian identity Palestinians have cultivated olive trees for generations and regard them as an enduring symbol of their national identity. Some villagers, like Najah Mughnem, are defiant and say they will remain attached to their land and their olives no matter what the settlers do. 'Even if they burn down or cut down the trees or inflict damage, we will not leave,' she said. B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization, has reported around 54 settler attacks on the village since October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel from Gaza, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Israel's military response has killed more than 60,000 people in Gaza, according to the enclave's health authorities. 'We are afraid... We spend the days and nights nervous, we hardly sleep,' said Fawziyeh Al-Nawajaa, 58, a Susiya villager. Susiya residents have faced threats of demolition for decades. Palestinians there were so attached to their lands that they once lived in caves until they were expelled in 1986 after an archaeological site was discovered. The caves were later destroyed and they now live in tents and prefabricated buildings. The village is spread across several rocky hillsides between a Jewish settlement to the south and a Jewish archaeological site to the north - land Israel has occupied since the 1967 Middle East war.