A Norwegian passenger successfully flew from Munich to Sweden without a plane ticket, and perhaps even more alarmingly, while carrying a knife, according to a report by the German site Bild.

The 39-year-old passenger managed to stick close to other passengers and pass through the boarding gate at Munich Airport, according to confirmation by local police to the German news site. The incident occurred about a week and a half ago, on Aug. 4, at Germany's second-largest airport.

In the first instance, when the man attempted to board a plane without a ticket, he was caught because the plane was fully booked and there was no seat available for him. However, on his second attempt, he succeeded and flew to Sweden without a ticket.

Swedish police became suspicious of the passenger when, after landing, he attempted to fly back to Munich. Upon inspection, they discovered a knife with a blade approximately 10 centimeters (about 4 inches) long. However, according to the report, the passenger was not a security threat.

The German police commented on the incident in response to media inquiries, "We are investigating how the passenger managed to bypass the automatic boarding pass check before the security screening. The airline is also reviewing the boarding pass check at the boarding gates, where it is responsible for the verification."

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AirHelp, a company that analyzes air travel data, released its 2024 score report ranking 239 airports worldwide. The ranking is based on on-time flight percentages (60% weightage), customer feedback on service quality (20%), and quality of amenities (20%)

The analysis was based on data from May 1, 2023, to April 30, 2024, and included 17,550 ratings from passenger surveys across 64 countries.

Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar, topped the overall ranking with a score of 8.5 out of 10.

Cape Town Airport in South Africa and Chubu Centrair Airport in Japan secured the second and third positions, with scores of 8.50 and 8.49, respectively.

Several Brazilian airports, including Brasília International, Belém International, Recife Guararapes International, and Belo Horizonte Tancredo Neves International, received high ratings for punctuality, service, and food quality.

Top ratings were also given to airports in Oman, and the U.S.

Flight delays and cancellations have economic and environmental impacts, making airport punctuality an important consideration.

Sources: Time, Bloomberg, O Globo, Tagesspiegel, Times of India.

This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq.

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The aircraft will be delivered to the company's management in Toulouse by the French-Italian manufacturer ATR, which is jointly owned by the Airbus Group and Leonardo Group. Over the next few months, the company will receive two additional aircraft of this model.

Air Haifa was founded by a group of Israeli entrepreneurs led by Nir Zuk, founder of Palo Alto Networks, and Gonen Usishkin, Lior Yavor, and Miki Strasburger, all former senior executives at El Al. The new airline will operate flights throughout the year from Haifa Airport to Eilat and various destinations around the Mediterranean Basin, offering what it describes as "affordable and competitive prices, with comfort and safety."

The company is in the final stages of obtaining its operational license from the Civil Aviation Authority, having received a commercial operating license from Minister of Transport Miri Regev last September.

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An airport in California issued a lockdown Friday after a man with a Nazi neck tattoo allegedly broke into the complex, according to Israel National News. 

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Local police searched the John Wayne Airport for three hours and found the suspect, 51-year-old John Howard Hecker, hiding in a terminal ceiling. A crisis negotiator was brought in to persuade Hecker to leave his hiding place, after which he was taken into custody.

According to law enforcement, Hecker was seen wearing an airport worker jumpsuit he likely changed into after breaking into the complex. Witnesses saw him driving an airport vehicle down runways and then disappearing.

According to court documents, Hecker – who has a tattoo of two Nazi SS bolts on his neck – has a record of serious crimes going back 15 years. Officials would not say why he may have broken into the airport. A security review of the airport by the federal government is ongoing.

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The new government's Corona cabinet convened for the first time on Sunday to discuss a spike in new confirmed cases, due mostly to the highly contagious Delta variant.

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National Coronavirus Coordinator Professor Nachman Ash, who has just been appointed director-general of the Health Ministry, presented a number of relatively conservative steps to be taken to contain the latest uptick.

The cabinet decided that its first goal would be to provide maximum protection against the Delta variant with minimum interference in normal functioning. The cabinet also decided that the government must put systems in place to identify, track, and handle future viruses.

Strategic Affairs Minister Orit Farkash-Hacohen, discussing whether the government should take steps to eradicate the spread of the Delta variant, said, "People who didn't get vaccinated – that's their problem. They took the danger on themselves," indicating that the government did not at this stage intend to instate severe restrictions.

However, officials who took part in the meeting told Israel Hayom that if the Bennett government did not take steps to reduce the spread of the virus, the new outbreak would result in seriously cases and even deaths.

The cabinet did decide to encourage children age 12 and over to be vaccinated. Cabinet ministers who have children who are eligible to receive the COVID vaccinated are expected to serve as personal examples.

On Monday morning, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett put out a video in which he issues a personal call to Israeli youth over the age of 12 to be vaccinated.

"Right now, there are enough vaccines for everyone. But there's a catch: they will expire soon, and then there won't be enough vaccines for everyone. There is a narrow window of 11 days, and we're racing against the clock," Bennett said.

"The last date to get the first dose of the vaccine is July 9. Three weeks later, you'll get the second vaccine, and then the vaccines we have in stock will expire. So I'm calling on parent and all the young men and women to get vaccinated," Bennett said.

Another important policy point of the new government is Ben-Gurion International Airport. Ash and Maj. Gen. (res.) Roni Numa, who has been appointed point man to oversee enforcement, testing, and quarantine measures at the airport, have been tasked with coming up with a model to enforce quarantines. Anyone crossing international borders into Israel will also be subject to genetic sequencing.

In Sunday's weekly cabinet meeting, the government decided that Israelis who violate travel bans and visit blacklisted countries (Argentine, Brazil, South Africa, India, Mexico, and Russia) will be subject to 5,000-shekel ($1,534) fines.

Meanwhile, the Education Ministry, Health Ministry, and National Security Council have been instructed to plan for the launch of the 2021/22 school year in September, given various COVID scenarios that could be in play.

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Ash also recommended that the government expand testing of sewage, given the appearance of COVID in sewage in Ashkelon at the end of last week. Other suggestions floated included renewed contact tracing, sampling at the airport, and technologies to enforce quarantine. Testing for residents of retirement homes will resume.

As of Monday morning, there were 145 new confirmed COVID cases in Israel, 24 of which were identified after midnight Sunday. The number of active or symptomatic cases stood at 1,186, of whom 44 were hospitalized.

Of the hospitalized COVID patients, 22 were listed in serious condition, with 17 in critical condition and 16 on ventilators.

The total number of COVID fatalities since the pandemic reached Israel in early 2020 is 6,429.

Over 5.5 million Israelis have received at least the first dose of the COVID vaccine, and 5.16 million have received both doses.

The 40,123 COVID tests processed since Sunday resulted in a 0.4% positive rate.

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The most powerful explosion to hit Beirut in years shook the ground, leaving some residents thinking an earthquake had struck. Dazed and weeping, some of them wounded, people walked through streets checking to see if relatives were hurt.

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The blast occurred in the city's port area. Lebanon's interior minister said initial information indicated highly explosive material, seized years ago, that had been stored there had blown up. Lebanon-based broadcaster Mayadeen cited the country's customs director saying tonnes of nitrate exploded.

Footage of the explosion shared by residents on social media initially showed a column of smoke rising from the port district followed by an enormous blast that sent a ball of white smoke and fireball into the sky. Those filming the incident from high buildings in other areas of the city were thrown backward by the shock.

At least 10 bodies were taken to hospitals, a security source and a medical source told Reuters. The Lebanese Red Cross said hundreds of people were taken to hospitals for treatment.

Video: Reuters

Lebanese President Michel Aoun called for an emergency meeting of the country's Supreme Defense Council, according to the presidency's Twitter account. Prime Minister Hassan Diab called for a day of mourning on Wednesday.

The explosion occurred three days before a UN-backed court is due to deliver a verdict in the trial of four suspects from the Shi'ite group Hezbollah over a 2005 bombing which killed former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri and 21 other people.

It was not immediately clear what caused the blaze that set off the blast.

Internal Security Chief Abbas Ibrahim, touring the port area, said he would not pre-empt investigations. An Israeli official said Israel, which has fought several wars with Lebanon, had nothing to do with the blast.

The explosion comes amid renewed tension between Lebanon and Israel following a recent attempt by Hezbollah to stage a cross-border raid from Lebanon. Israel foiled that attack, but later another squad attempted to perpetrate an attack on the Golan Heights, this time from Syria.

The terrorists were killed after being detected by the Israel Defense Forces before they could perpetrate an attack. On Tuesday, Netanyahu warned Hezbollah and Lebanon that Israel will not hesitate to defend itself.

The governor of Beirut port told Sky News that a team of firefighters at the scene had "disappeared" after the explosion.

"I saw a fireball and smoke billowing over Beirut. People were screaming and running, bleeding. Balconies were blown off buildings. Glass in high-rise buildings shattered and fell to the street," said a witness who spoke to Reuters.

Residents said glass was broken in houses from Raouche, on the Mediterranean city's western tip, to Rabieh 10 km (6 miles) east). For a long time after the blast, ambulance sirens sounded across the city and helicopters hovered above.

The health minister said there was a "very high number" of injured. Al Mayadeen TV said hundreds were wounded.

Another witness said she saw heavy gray smoke near the port area and then heard an explosion and saw flames and black smoke: "All the downtown area windows are smashed and there are wounded people walking around. It is total chaos."

UN spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters it was not immediately clear what the cause was, and that there was no indication of any injuries to any UN personnel.

"We do not have information about what has happened precisely, what has caused this, whether it's accidental or manmade act," he said.

Video: Reuters

In Cyprus, a Mediterranean island lying 110 miles (180 km) northwest of Beirut, residents reported hearing two large bangs in quick succession. One resident of the capital Nicosia said his house shook, rattling shutters.

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The Capital International Airport is located some 60 km (37 miles) to the east of Cairo and is intended to relieve pressure on Cairo International Airport. A third airport, 17 miles from the Giza Pyramids west of Cairo, the Sphinx International Airport, also opened in January.

"The importance of the Capital Airport is that it partially eases the pressure on Cairo International Airport and Sphinx Airport," Aviation Minister Younis Al-Masry told reporters at a ceremony on Tuesday, after a flight left Cairo and landed at the new airport.

"It will be a new outlet for Cairo specifically," he said, adding that the airport would serve areas east of the capital including cities along the Suez Canal.

Workers are rushing to build core areas of the new capital city that will be the seat of Egypt's government, away from bustling Cairo on the Nile that has become a traffic-clogged, urban sprawl of more than 20 million people.

The Capital International Airport will operate with an hourly capacity of 300 passengers during the trial phase that is expected to last a month, the head of the Civil Aviation Authority, Sameh al-Hefni, said.

The two new airports, built at opposite ends of Cairo, are aimed at helping to boost tourism, a key sector in Egypt and a major source of foreign revenue.

The sector has been gradually recovering from the political turmoil and security problems that followed the "Arab Spring" civil unrest of 2011.

While the Capital International Airport will service areas east of Cairo, the Sphinx International Airport provides access to the west, where the new Grand Egyptian Museum is due to open next year.

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