AUSTRALIA – A bishop and a priest were stabbed in an alleged “terrorist act” at a Sydney church that sparked a riot last Monday, police said, just two days after the Australian city was rocked by a mass stabbing in a busy shopping mall.

Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was presiding over a service that was being livestreamed at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in the western suburb of Wakeley, when an alleged attacker was seen charging toward him. Several parishioners immediately attempted to intervene while screams could be heard in the church.

Members of the public restrained the alleged attacker at the scene, according to New South Wales (NSW) police. Police then arrived and arrested the suspect, later identified as a 16-year-old boy, who was taken to the hospital under custody and received surgery for injuries sustained during the attack. Police initially said he was 15.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb told reporters yesterday that police believe the attack was premeditated.
“We will allege [the suspect] attended that church armed with a knife and stabbed the bishop and priest … We believe there are elements that are satisfied in terms of religious motivated extremism,” she said.
A 53-year-old man received cuts to his head and a 39-year-old man, who was injured after attempting to intervene, suffered cuts and a shoulder wound, police said. Both were treated by paramedics and taken to the hospital. “They are lucky to be alive,” Webb said.

In a statement, Christ The Good Shepherd Church said Bishop Emmanuel suffered several blows to the head and body. Parish priest Father Isaac Royel was also injured but no one else inside the church was harmed, it said.

Charbel Saliba, Deputy Mayor of Fairfield City, a suburb of western Sydney, told CNN that Emmanuel was well known in the local community. While the bishop was bleeding, “he put his hand on the man that stabbed him and said something like, ‘May the Lord Jesus Christ Save you,’” Saliba said, citing a witness. Video of the attack spread quickly on social media, prompting angry members of the community to converge on the church, police said. Footage showed chaotic scenes as people threw objects at police cars.

Webb, the police commissioner, condemned the “uncontrolled” crowd that gathered soon after officers and first responders arrived on the scene, calling their conduct “totally unacceptable.” “People converged on that area and began to turn on police. People used what was available to them in the area, including bricks, concrete, palings, to assault police and throw missiles at police, and police equipment, and police vehicles,” Webb said.

NSW Ambulance Commissioner Dominic Morgan said paramedics and police were forced to retreat inside the church, where they were holed up for three and a half hours as crowds rioted outside. “This was a rapidly evolving situation where the crowds went from 50 to hundreds of people in a very rapid period of time. Our paramedics became directly under threat,” he said. “Six of our paramedics could not leave that facility for fear of their own safety. I echo the words of the police commissioner. This is outrageous.” NSW Ambulance treated 30 patients, Morgan said, including seven who were taken to hospital. Around 20 were treated for the effects of pepper spray.
Some 20 police vehicles were damaged with 10 deemed unusable, police said.

In its statement, the Church backed the police response, saying officers took “necessary steps” when onlookers and visitors who had came to express their support for the bishop refused “numerous” requests by police and clergy to leave.
The Church “categorizes this attack as isolated” and “denounces retaliation of any kind,” it added.

NSW Premier Chris Minns said the scenes were “disturbing,” and he convened a meeting late last Monday of faith leaders representing different religious communities across western Sydney.

The suspect, who has not been named, had not been on any terror watch list, Police Commissioner Webb said. Police believe he was acting alone but emphasized the investigation is in its preliminary stages.
Webb said police had spoken with the boy’s parents, but she could not provide specific details of that conversation.

The incident comes shortly after six people were killed and several others were injured, including a 9-month-old baby, in a stabbing attack at Westfield Bondi Junction in Sydney last Saturday.
Australian police said last Monday that the attacker in Bondi, 40-year-old Joel Cauchi, may have targeted women.
Five women were among those killed in that attack. Twelve others were injured, eight of whom remained in the hospital Monday in conditions ranging from stable to critical.
(CNN)…[+]

The Zout Der Aarde Children’s Home which was located in the Lolastraat went up in flames on Monday. The fire also consumed the kindergarten (Richel Jozefa School) that was located in the same building.

Olton Pinas, spokesman of the Fire Department Suriname (KBS), told Times of Suriname that the fire started when a boy started playing with a lighter on a bed. The boy who had been on vacation had just returned to the children’s home. Pinas explained that reports indicate that the 10-year-old boy brought the lighter to the children’s home and that he was playing with it when a mattress caught fire. The fire quickly spread throughout the children’s home. When the fire broke out there were 20 children and several coaches in the building. When the coaches realized that the building was on fire, they escorted the children outside. Nobody was injured but a dog perished in the fire. Reports indicate that 40 children resided in the children’s home. The remaining children were expected to return to the children’s home this week…[+]

UNITED KINGDOM – Prince Harry plans to continue his legal fight over changes to his police protection when in the UK, despite losing an initial attempt to appeal. The Duke of Sussex had brought a legal challenge against the downgrading of his security when he stopped being a working royal. He lost that legal claim in the High Court in February – and he has now had a further bid to appeal rejected.

But Prince Harry still intends to pursue this legal battle. “The Duke of Sussex will be seeking permission from the Court of Appeal to challenge the decision of Mr Justice Lane,” said his legal team.

In a decision, the High Court turned down Prince Harry’s latest attempt to challenge the Home Office over the level of his security when visiting the UK from his home in the United States. The ruling reiterated that the committee deciding on security for royalty, VIPs and senior public figures – known as Ravec – was entitled to have made its decision over changing Prince Harry’s protection when his status changed, when he stopped being a working member of the Royal Family.

“The reality of the matter is that the claimant considers he should receive a different approach to his protection whilst in the UK than Ravec decided he should, based in part on his comparison of his own position with that of others. “Ravec, as an expert body, concluded otherwise. It was entitled to do so,” said the ruling from Sir Peter Lane. And the judge said the appeal bid did not add to the claim but was a “recapitulation of the case” that had previously been brought.

Prince Harry’s legal team had argued that he had been treated unfairly in the changes to his police protection, when he still faced significant security threats.

But the High Court ruled in February that there had been no unlawfulness in the decision-making. The Ravec committee had decided that Prince Harry should have a “bespoke” arrangement for his publicly-funded security when in the UK, as he was no longer eligible for the level of protection for working royals.
This bespoke arrangement was “legally sound”, the High Court had ruled, after a hearing in which much of the evidence had been heard in private for security reasons.
Even if there had been any “procedural unfairness” it would not have changed the outcome of Ravec’s decision, the court had found.
Prince Harry’s legal team had previously said it would challenge that judgement, saying he “hopes he will obtain justice from the Court of Appeal”.
“The duke is not asking for preferential treatment,” his lawyers had said after the High Court ruling, but they claimed there had been an unfairness in how decisions were made.
The ruling last Monday rejected the initial appeal attempt, but his legal team will now seek permission to appeal directly to the Court of Appeal.
There was also a ruling on costs, with Prince Harry having to pay 90% of the Home Office’s legal costs of defending this challenge.
(BBC)…[+]

OMAN – Heavy rains and flash floods have swept parts of the Gulf region, killing at least 18 people in Oman and causing travel disruption in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
In Oman, the death toll announced yesterday included at least nine schoolchildren and their driver whose vehicle was washed away by the floodwaters in Samad A’Shan last Sunday.
The National Committee for Emergency Management said rescue teams were still searching for two missing people.
The government gave administrative staff in public and private sectors the day off due to the bad weather conditions in several provinces, while remote work was recommended in other parts of the sultanate. Residents were also urged to evacuate to shelters if they felt they were in danger or asked by authorities to do so.

Police and soldiers were deployed to the hardest-hit province of Ash Sharqiyah North to transport citizens out of flooded areas, according to state media.
Meanwhile, heavy rainfall also lashed the neighbouring UAE yesterday, flooding portions of major highways and leaving vehicles abandoned on roadways across Dubai.

The rains began overnight, leaving massive ponds on streets as whipping winds disrupted flights at Dubai international airport.
Schools across the country largely shut before the storm and government employees were working remotely if able. Many workers stayed home as well, though some ventured out, with the unfortunate ones stalling out their vehicles in deeper-than-expected water covering some roads. Authorities sent tanker trucks into the streets and highways to pump away the water.
Initial estimates suggested more than 30mm (1.2 inches) of rain fell yesterday morning in Dubai, with as much as 128mm (5 inches) of rain throughout the day.

Rain also fell in Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
(Al Jazeera)…[+]

ISRAEL – Israel has launched a “diplomatic offensive” against Iran, calling for sanctions against the Islamic republic. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said yesterday that he has contacted 32 countries calling on them to impose sanctions against Tehran. The move comes as Israel mulls a military response to Iran’s attack on Israel.

Iran says its attacks on Saturday, using more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, were in retaliation for Israel’s strike on the Iranian consulate in Syria. That attack killed 13 people, including two commanders of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

The Israeli military said it intercepted 99 percent of the aerial threats with the help of the United States and other allies, and that the attack caused only minor damage, including to a military base in the country’s south.

“Alongside the military response to the firing of the missiles and the UAVs, I am leading a diplomatic offensive against Iran,” Katz said on X.
“This morning, I sent letters to 32 countries and spoke with dozens of foreign ministers and leading figures around the world, calling for sanctions to be imposed on the Iranian missile project and that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps be declared a terrorist organisation”. Katz did not specify which governments he had asked to impose the sanctions. The IRGC is already blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by the United States and is subject to EU sanctions.

Tension is high as Israel mulls its reaction to last Saturday’s attack. International pressure calling for restraint is rife from Tel Aviv’s partners amid fears that the war in Gaza threatens further escalation of conflict in the Middle East.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and military commanders have pledged retaliation, albeit in undefined form for the meantime. Chief of staff Herzi Halevi said that “this launch of so many missiles, cruise missiles and drones into Israeli territory will be met with a response” but gave no details.
Against this backdrop, Iran warned yesterday that it will respond swiftly to any action against its interests.
Qatar has sought to play the role of mediator amid the Israel-Hamas war over the past six months.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani told state TV that Tehran’s response to any Israeli retaliation would be “a matter of seconds”.
Iran will not wait for another 12 days to respond, he said, a reference to the delay between the April 1 strike on the Syrian diplomatic facility and Iran’s attacks on Israel.

The attack by Iran had already prompted renewed discussion of sanctions in the West, updating a debate that has been provoked by Tehran’s supply of drones to Russia for its use in Ukraine.

Germany called on the European Union yesterday to impose new sanctions on Iranian drone technology.
“I campaigned in late autumn together with France and other partners within the European Union for this drone sanctions regime to be extended further … I hope that we can now finally take this step together,” Annalena Baerbock told a press conference in Berlin, ahead of a visit to Israel.

(Al Jazeera)…[+]