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Japan’s annual “Golden Week” holiday period gets into full swing Saturday, but inflation and hotel prices sent soaring by record inbound tourism have left domestic travellers less eager to pack their bags.Traditionally, Golden Week — which includes three consecutive public holidays — gives Japanese workers one of their longest breaks in the year, with many …

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Israel launched more than 20 air strikes inside Syria late Friday, a war monitor said, following up an attack near the presidential palace in Damascus which was condemned as a “dangerous escalation” by the country’s Islamist rulers. The strikes came amid Israeli warnings to the Damascus government not to harm the Druze minority, following recent sectarian clashes.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 20 new strikes hit military targets across Syria in the “heaviest” assault carried out by Israel on its neighbour this year. Syria’s state news agency SANA reported Israeli airstrikes near Damascus and in the west, at Latakia and Hama, as well as in Daraa in the south. It said one civilian was killed at Harasta near Damascus and four people were wounded near Hama.An Israeli military statement said its forces had “struck a military site, anti-aircraft cannons and surface-to-air missile infrastructure in Syria” but gave no further details.The Israeli strikes came after Druze clerics and armed factions reaffirmed their loyalty to Damascus, following clashes between Druze fighters and Syrian forces, including government-affiliated groups, in Jaramana and Sahnaya near Damascus and in Sweida province.The Observatory monitor said more than 100 people were killed in the fighting.Sweida is the heartland of the Druze religious group and an apparent drone strike killed four Druze fighters at a farm there Friday, the Observatory said. SANA said it was an Israeli attack.- Israel sends ‘message’ -An early morning blast in the presidential palace area of Damascus was heard across the city and sparked international concern.Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee said “warplanes attacked… the area near Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa’s palace in Damascus”, referring to the interim president.In a joint statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz called it a “clear message” to Syria’s rulers who ousted president Bashar al-Assad in December.”We will not allow forces to be sent south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community,” they said.Syria’s presidency called the strike “a dangerous escalation against state institutions”, and accused Israel of destabilising the country.UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the Israeli strike as a violation of Syria’s sovereignty, his spokesman said.The UN-mandated Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria expressed concern at the “deadly clashes with sectarian dimensions”, and said Israeli airstrikes increased the risk to civilians.After this week’s clashes a de-escalation deal was agreed between Druze representatives and the government, prompting troop deployments in Sahnaya and tighter security around Jaramana.Syrian officials said the agreement also included the immediate surrender of heavy weapons.An AFP photographer saw troops taking over checkpoints from Druze gunmen in Jaramana, although no handover of weapons was witnessed.- ‘Outlaw groups’ -Qatar, a backer of Syria’s new rulers, and Saudi Arabia condemned Israel’s “aggression”. A German foreign ministry statement said: “Syria must not become the venue for regional tensions to be played out.”Israel has attacked hundreds of military sites since Islamist-led forces deposed Assad.It has also sent troops into the demilitarised buffer zone that used to separate Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights.Israel launched strikes near Damascus on Wednesday and threatened more if violence against the Druze continued.The unrest was sparked by the circulation of an audio recording attributed to a Druze citizen and deemed blasphemous. AFP was unable to confirm its authenticity.Syria’s government said “outlaw groups” were behind the violence, but the Observatory and Druze residents said forces affiliated with the new authorities attacked Jaramana and Sahnaya and clashed with Druze gunmen.- ‘Genocidal campaign’ -In Sweida, religious authorities and military factions said after a meeting that they are “an inseparable part of the united Syrian homeland”, and rejected “division, separation or secession”.SANA said security forces were being sent to Sweida to “maintain security”.That move came after Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, a Druze spiritual leader, on Thursday condemned what he called a “genocidal campaign” against his people.Syria’s new authorities have roots in the Al-Qaeda jihadist network. They have vowed inclusive rule in the multi-confessional, multi-ethnic country, but must also contend with internal pressures from radical Islamists.On Friday, Sharaa met Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, who has urged the minority community in Syria to reject “Israeli interference”.The latest violence follows massacres of Alawites in March, when the Observatory said the security forces and their allies killed more than 1,700 civilians.That was the worst bloodshed since the overthrow of Assad, who is from that minority community. The government accused Assad loyalists of sparking the violence.

An Illinois man was sentenced to 53 years in prison on Friday for the murder of a six-year-old Palestinian-American boy in an attack deemed an anti-Muslim hate crime linked to the Israel-Hamas war.Joseph Czuba, 73, was convicted in February of fatally stabbing WadeaAl-Fayoumi and attacking the boy’s mother, Hanan Shaheen.Czuba was the family’s landlord and the attack took place a week after the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023.Wadea was stabbed 26 times and a serrated military knife with a 15-cm (six-inch) blade was removed from the child’s abdomen during the autopsy. Shaheen and Czuba’s now ex-wife, Mary, testified that he targeted the Muslim family after becoming agitated about the conflict in Gaza, media reported. Prosecutors said Shaheen called police in 2023 after Czuba forced his way into her bedroom and stabbed her repeatedly. She was able to lock herself in a bathroom to call for help, during which time Czuba attacked her child.”The cruelty of this morally reprehensible killer and the impact of his violent conduct on this innocent child and mother is truly unfathomable,” prosecutor James Glasgow said in a statement.Jurors deliberated for just over an hour before finding Czuba guilty of first-degree murder, attempted murder and two counts of a hate crime.Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak sentenced Czuba to 30 years in prison for Wadea’s murder, 20 years for the attack on his mother and three years for the hate crimes, to be served consecutively, the Chicago Sun Times reported.During sentencing, the boy’s great-uncle Mahmoud Yousef asked Czuba why he did it but received no response, the newspaper said.”We want to know what made him do this,” Yousef told the judge.According to the Will County Sheriff’s Office, the victims were targeted “due to them being Muslim and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis.”Joe Biden, then the US president, condemned the attack as a “horrific act of hate” that “has no place in America.”