Authorities in Italy have opened a manslaughter investigation into the sinking of a superyacht, which killed seven people off the coast of Sicily earlier this week.

Announcing the probe, prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio said investigators found it was not the weather that caused the ship to sink, but was a result of the behavior of the crew and the way the boat was handled.

He said the investigation was not aimed at any individual.

“There are many possibilities for culpability.  It could be just the captain. It could be the whole crew. It could be the guard. We are evaluating all of the factors to see whose behavior fault can be assigned to,” Cartosio said.

He added that the prosecutor’s office had “filed a dossier, at present against unknown persons, alleging the crime of negligent shipwreck and manslaughter.”

While the reasons for the sinking of the Bayesian superyacht remain unconfirmed, many believe the yacht was struck by a waterspout — one of several types of tornadoes. The coast guard reported the yacht was struck by a tornado, and a waterspout was reported to the European Severe Weather Database around the same time.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

French authorities are investigating a purported arson attack on a synagogue Saturday morning.

The incident took place in La Grande-Motte, a southern seaside town not far from Montpellier. Observant Jews typically go to synagogue on Saturday morning to celebrate the Sabbath.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on X that the incident was “clearly criminal” and that “all means are being mobilized to find the perpetrator.”

Darmanin is traveling to the synagogue later in the day, the ministry said. At the request of French President Emmanuel Macron, Darmanin has requested that prefects across France reinforce the already heightened security presence around Jewish institutions across the country, the ministry said.

Francois-Xavier Lauch, the prefect of the Herault department where La Grande-Motte is located, said in a statement on Saturday morning that he denounced the incident in “the strongest possible terms” and was en route to the scene.

Like much of Europe, France has seen a rise in anti-Jewish attacks since the October 7 terror attacks against Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza. Such incidents increased by 284% in France from 2022 to 2023, according to data from the French interior ministry.

Synagogues across France have become common targets. In May, French police shot dead an armed attacker who tried to start a fire at a synagogue in the northern French city of Rouen.

Away from the frontlines, Ukraine is waging a different battle against Russia as it seeks to remove Moscow’s influence from religious institutions.

President Volodymr Zelensky signed into law a bill banning religious groups with ties to Russia Saturday, Ukraine’s Independence Day. The bill’s main target is the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) which has historically been linked to the Russian Orthodox Church, also known as the Moscow Patriarchate.

Zelensky referenced the bill in his nightly address, saying “Ukrainian orthodoxy today is taking a step toward liberation from the devils of Moscow.”

The new law gives the UOC and other religious groups nine months to cut ties with Russia or risk being shut down by court order. The law passed Ukraine’s parliament on August 20, with 265 lawmakers voting for and 29 voting against.

While the UOC claims to have cut ties with the Russian Orthodox Church in 2022, Ukraine’s State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience says the links are still intact and the church remains in Moscow’s orbit.

Ukraine’s Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has accused the UOC of spreading pro-Moscow propaganda. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the SBU has opened criminal proceedings against more than 100 clergymen of the UOC. Nearly 50 have already been charged and 26 have received sentences, according to the SBU.

One of the clerics convicted used his sermons to defend the full-scale invasion of Russia and the seizure of parts of Ukraine. In conversations with parishioners, the cleric tried to persuade them to go to Russia or occupied regions to help Russians. He was sentenced to five years.

The purpose of this law is to ban the activities of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine “which is an instrument of Russian influence and propaganda” according to Mykyta Poturaiev, a Ukrainian member of Parliament who sponsored the bill.

“The Moscow Patriarchate is not an inspiration but a participant in the war,” Poturaiev said.

The majority of Ukrainians are Orthodox. For centuries, Ukrainian churches were subordinate to and administered by the Moscow Patriarchate. But with Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, Ukraine’s Orthodox churches split. In 2019, the spiritual leader of the Orthodox world Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople officially recognized an independent Kyiv-based Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

For the leader of Ukraine’s Kyiv-based church Metropolitan Epiphanius, the law provides an opportunity “to protect the Ukrainian spiritual space from the yoke of the Russian world.”

“Everyone can see that in Russia, religious centers, not only the Moscow Patriarchate, but also the centers of Muslims, Protestants, and Buddhists, are under the full control of the Kremlin. They spread the ideology of the Russian world, justify the war against Ukraine, and say that it is a so-called holy war. That the destruction of Ukraine is a morally justified goal and even a duty of Russian troops,” he said.

According to a survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) in April 2024, 83% of Ukrainians believed that the state should intervene in the activities of the UOC to one degree or another. In particular, 63% believe that Ukrainian Orthodox Church should be completely banned in Ukraine.

Metropolitan Clement, spokesperson of the UOC criticized the bill in a statement on Facebook, calling the law as an attempt “to divide people into right and wrong citizens.”

Ihor, a Ukrainian officer, used to worship in the UOC but said he has stopped going to church altogether.

While he doesn’t think politics should get involved with religion, he acknowledges “there are many priests in Ukrainian Orthodox Church who support Russia and war in Ukraine. For this they must answer for before God.”

Kosta Gak contributed reporting.

Israel said Saturday its military was prepared for any possible retaliatory attacks by Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah or Iran for the killings of their senior leaders.

The news comes amid claims in the Israeli media that there are situational assessments that Hezbollah could attack soon.

Both Hezbollah and Iran have been threatening to retaliate against Israel since a string of figures in Iran-backed militant groups were killed over a span of weeks. Those killings included the death of Hezbollah’s most senior military commander Fu’ad Shukr in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut at the end of July and the assassination of Hamas’ political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

Asked about the threats of retaliation, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Daniel Hagari told reporters Saturday that the military was prepared for any possible attack by either Hezbollah or Iran.

“We take our enemies’ threats seriously and we’ve been ready for a long period. We’re highly prepared both in the offense and defense, but above all, any threat toward the citizens of Israel we identify, we eliminate, and that’s how we’ll continue. Any development that will be, we’ll update the public immediately,” Hagari said.

Hagari was then pressed by a reporter from Israel’s state-run Kan 11 television channel, who said there were situational assessments that Hezbollah could attack soon. The IDF spokesperson did not say whether he was familiar with those assessments, nor did he give any indication of when an attack might be expected.

“We’ve been, like I said, we’ve been ready, first of all, both in offense and defense, for a long time. We operate to eliminate threats and will continue to do so. With any change or development, we will immediately update the public. Our mission is to defend the citizens of Israel,” Hagari said.

A major attack against Israel could risk disrupting the ceasefire talks that US officials have said were at an advanced stage prior to the assassination of Haniyeh in Tehran, which Iran has blamed on Israel. Israel hasn’t confirmed or denied responsibility.

There are currently 109 Israeli hostages being held in Gaza, including 36 believed to be dead, according to data from the Israeli government press office. This week, the bodies of six Israeli hostages were retrieved from tunnels in Gaza in an Israeli military operation in the city of Khan Younis.

Israel’s war in Gaza was launched after Hamas-led militants attacked the country on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli authorities. More than 40,200 people have died in Gaza during the war, according to Palestinian authorities.

German police have detained a suspect accused of stabbing to death three people at a music festival in the western city of Solingen on Friday in an attack which sent shockwaves through the country.

The suspect was detained at a refugee shelter following a major manhunt which saw authorities establish “extensive search measures” throughout the German state of North Rhine Westphalia and deploy special forces. Police had earlier arrested a 15-year-old boy in connection with the incident, but said he was not the alleged attacker.

“We have just recently arrested the real suspect. And now he’s being questioned and everything else is being clarified and then we can also say: Are we right? Do we have enough evidence? I can only tell you that it’s now more than just an assumption,“ Northrhine-Westfalia’s interior minister Herbert Reul told German public broadcaster ARD on Sunday.

“Not only did we have a lead on this person, we also found evidence,“ he added.

Prior to the suspect’s arrest, people in the city of Solingen had been warned to exercise caution and be on alert while the perpetrator remained on the run. For hours after the attack, authorities were unable to present a clear picture of what the suspect might look like.

Those killed have been revealed as two men aged 67 and 56, and a woman aged 56. Eight others were injured, including four with life-threatening injuries.

A motivation for the attack has not yet been determined but terrorism has not been ruled out.

While Islamic State claimed responsibility through its Amaq news service, it offered no evidence to back up its claim.

A police spokesman, Thorsten Fleiß, said the attacker specifically targeted the necks of his victims. “After evaluating the initial images, we assume that it was a very targeted attack on the neck,” he said during a press conference.

Several people were stabbed, apparently at random, in the attack at a central square in the city of Solingen on Friday evening, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) east of Düsseldorf, police said.

Crowds had gathered at the square in Solingen Friday to celebrate the “Festival of Diversity,” a three-day event marking the 650th anniversary of the city’s founding. Police say the attack happened close to the stage where a musical act was performing.

Eyewitness Lars Breitzke said the attack happened just meters away from him. Speaking to local newspaper the Solinger Tageblatt, Breitzke said he realized something was wrong by the expression on the face of the singer on stage. Then, he said, “a person just meters away from me fell down.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned the attack as an “upsetting” and “terrible” event.

Friday’s attack came amid rising rates of knife crime in Germany, recently prompting the Interior Ministry to propose tightened laws to tackle the issue.

Police data shows that there were 8,951 incidents of knife crime that caused serious bodily harm in Germany in 2023 – 791 cases more than the previous year.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Officers from France’s anti-fraud office, attached to French customs, took him into custody Saturday evening after he arrived at Bourget Airport on a flight from Azerbaijan, BFMTV reported.

Durov, 39, was wanted under a French arrest warrant due to the lack of moderation on Telegram which led to it being used for money laundering, drug trafficking and sharing pedophilic content, according to BFMTV.

According to BFMTV, the Telegram founder had not regularly travelled to France and Europe since the arrest warrant was issued.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

The Israeli military is striking what it says are “terror targets in Lebanon” after identifying that Hezbollah was “preparing to fire missiles and rockets toward Israeli territory.”

“A short while ago, the IDF identified the Hezbollah terrorist organization preparing to fire missiles and rockets toward Israeli territory,” Israel Defense Force spokesperson Daniel Hagari said early Sunday local time.

‎‏”In a self-defense act to remove these threats, the IDF is striking terror targets in Lebanon, from which Hezbollah was planning to launch their attacks on Israeli civilians,” Hagari added.

Flights from Tel Aviv airport in Israel will be temporarily suspended Sunday morning, the airport authority said, after the Israeli military said it is conducting pre-emptive strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The Golan Regional Council has instructed all residents in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to remain near shelters until further notice, canceling agricultural, educational, and other public activity.

The Israeli military and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire for months, and the cross-border hostilities have raised the specter of a regional conflagration which have prompted intense diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions.

Israel’s latest strike aimed at Hezbollah targets in Lebanon come after its military said on Saturday that it was prepared for any possible retaliatory attacks by Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah or Iran for the killings of their senior leaders. The news comes amid claims in the Israeli media that there are situational assessments that Hezbollah could attack soon.

This is a developing story and will be updated.