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ISRAEL
U.S. Reverses Stance On Gazans' Scholarships
The United States has reinstated the Fulbright scholarships of seven Gaza Strip students blocked by Israel from leaving the Hamas-ruled territory, the State Department said Monday.
The students were informed Thursday that their scholarships for the upcoming academic year would be deferred because they could not get out of Gaza, which Israel blockaded after the Islamist militant group seized power a year ago.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the U.S. reversal came on orders from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who first heard about the scholarship problem on Friday. "She wasn't pleased," McCormack said.
Israeli officials say U.S. diplomats did not ask for special exemptions for the students, while U.S. officials say Israel should have recognized immediately that they were a special case. McCormack appeared to blame lower-level U.S. diplomats or staff for yanking the scholarships.
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said Israel "sincerely hopes that it will be possible to get the students out by the beginning of the coming academic year."
Also Monday, the Israeli Supreme Court criticized the government for preventing Gaza students from studying abroad and gave it two weeks to review its policy. Israel argues that its travel restrictions are designed to prevent attacks.
Honduras
International Air Travel Is Stopped in Capital
The Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa will be without an international airport for two months after authorities banned all but domestic flights there following a deadly air crash, officials said Monday.
The country planned to adapt a military airstrip for civilian use after a Salvadoran passenger plane skidded off a runway last week at Tegucigalpa's airport and smashed into cars and a building. Five people died in the crash.
In the meantime, international flights into the country must arrive at San Pedro Sula, 100 miles from Tegucigalpa.
"We have set up an emergency plan in which we see an international airport operating within two months," civil aviation head Guillermo Seaman said at a news conference.
