Germany returns 9/11 aide to Morocco
BERLIN -- A Moroccan man convicted of helping Mohamed Atta and the other Hamburg-based Sept. 11, 2001, suicide pilots as they plotted attacks on New York and Washington was deported Monday from Germany to his homeland.
German authorities confirmed that Mounir el Motassadeq was aboard a plane that had taken off from Frankfurt airport in the evening.
El Motassadeq was convicted of membership in a terrorist organization and accessory to the murder of the 246 passengers and crew on the four jetliners used in the 9/11 attacks.
"It's a good feeling to know that Mr. Motassadeq is out of the country," said Hamburg's Interior Minister Andy Grote.
El Motassadeq was released from a Hamburg prison shortly before completing his 15-year-sentence on the condition that he agreed to be deported to Morocco. That would allow Germany to re-arrest him if he ever returned.
It wasn't immediately clear what awaited him in Morocco.
El Motassadeq was convicted of being part of the so-called Hamburg cell, including Atta and fellow Sept. 11 pilots Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah.
German courts ruled that el Motassadeq was aware the three planned to hijack and crash planes, even though he might not have known specifics of the plot. They said el Motassadeq helped "watch the attackers' backs and conceal them" by helping them keep up the appearance of being university students paying tuition and rent and transferring money.
Russian church splits with Orthodox head
MOSCOW -- The Russian Orthodox Church decided Monday to sever ties with the leader of the worldwide Orthodox community after his decision to grant Ukrainian clerics independence from the Moscow Patriarchate.
Metropolitan Hilarion said the Russian church's Holy Synod resolved to "break the Eucharistic communion" with the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
Under the leadership of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the patriarchate last week removed its condemnation of leaders of schismatic Orthodox churches in Ukraine. The decision marked a step toward establishing an ecclesiastically independent church in Ukraine.
The Orthodox Church in Ukraine has been under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church since the late 1600s. Calls for the Ukrainian church's independence have increased since Moscow's 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and its support of separatist rebels fighting in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine currently has three Orthodox communities -- one answering to the Russian Orthodox Church and two schismatic churches.
32 Palestinians hurt in Gaza protest
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Gaza's Health Ministry says 32 Palestinians were wounded by Israeli fire during a mass protest along the beach near the Israeli frontier.
Protesters threw flaming tires over the fence Monday, while fishing boats hoisted Palestinian flags. Israeli forces responded with tear gas and live fire.
The ruling Hamas militant group has been staging border protests for the past six months in hopes of easing a crippling Israeli-Egyptian blockade.
It has intensified the protests in recent weeks as Egyptian-mediated cease-fire efforts have faltered. Over the weekend, Israel halted Qatari-donated fuel shipments to Gaza's power plant in response to the escalated protests.
Since March, 155 Palestinians participating or attending the protests have been killed.
Israel says it is defending its border. An Israeli soldier was fatally shot in July.
Flash floods in France kill 12 people
PARIS -- Flash floods that tore through several towns in southern France after an overnight storm killed at least 12 people, authorities said Monday.
Some residents had to be helicoptered from rooftops as the equivalent of several months of rain poured down in a few hours and turned waterways into raging torrents.
Initially, the French Interior Ministry reported 13 deaths from the floods in the Aude region. French officials lowered the number to 10 later, saying some victims had been counted twice. The Interior Ministry and Aude officials put it at 12 after two more bodies were recovered in the towns of Trebes and Carcassonne.
At least six of the deaths happened in Trebes, Mayor Eric Menassi said. Eight people were injured throughout the affected region and one person was missing as of late Monday.
The River Aude that flows through towns such as Carcassonne and Trebes was among the waterways that overflowed from the exceptional rainfall, and the flooding was the region's worst in more than a century, the French agency that monitors flood risks said.
In the town of Villegailhenc, resident Ines Siguet said floodwaters rose so quickly after the rains swept in from the Mediterranean that residents fled to rooftops. Siguet, 17, posted video of a ripped-up road where a bridge used to stand.
"There's nothing left. There's just a hole," said the teenager, whose school was closed amid the destruction. "It was very violent."
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports
A Section on 10/16/2018