CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland (AP) — The organizing president of the Alpine skiing world championships in Crans-Montana in February was suspended Wednesday as he awaits trial for fraud in his business.
The Swiss ski federation said Claude-Alain Schmidhalter also is provisionally suspended as a vice president from the governing body ahead of his court hearing on Oct. 27.
“This decision follows the indictment of Claude-Alain Schmidhalter by the public prosecutor’s office of Valais canton,” Swiss Ski said in a statement, adding the criminal case is not related to the sport and he retains the presumption of innocence.
Swiss daily Blick reported the ski official denies the allegation he defrauded a former partner in their engineering firm of about 300,000 Swiss francs ($360,000).
Crans-Montana hosts the Alpine worlds from Feb. 1-14 just 13 months after a devastating fire at a bar in the resort popular with young people. It killed 41 people and injured 115. The bar owners and multiple public officials face charges arising from the incident.
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Claude-Alain Schmidhalter, President of the Crans-Montana 2027 Steering Committee, poses for a portrait during a media event for the upcoming 2027 Alpine World Ski Championships, in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, Aug. 26, 2026, (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)
Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed that they attacked military facilities and airports in Saudi Arabia as the war between the kingdom and the Iran-backed rebels escalated.
Israelis are marking the third anniversary of the Palestinian militant Hamas group’s deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack, which sparked a devastating war in Gaza, while for Palestinians the anniversary ushers in yet another day of misery.
Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Wednesday. Full coverage is available here.
The Houthis used ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as drones, to attack military facilities and airports in Saudi Arabia, the rebels’ military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said Wednesday on social media. He didn’t provide evidence for the claim.
The attacks targeted King Khalid International Airport in the capital, Riyadh, with missiles, he said.
Flights to and from the airport were disrupted, with planes holding away from the airfield, according to Flightradar24, a tracking platform.
Also attacked were Abha airport, military facilities in Khamis Mushait and other “critical sites” in the cities of Najran and Asir, Saree said.
Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis, said they intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile fired by the rebels north of Riyadh.
The attacks came as Saudi Arabia and its allied Yemeni forces launched a major ground and air offensive on the Houthis on Yemen’s western coast and elsewhere in the country.
The Houthis also said they launched a missile strike early Wednesday against Yemen’s port city of Aden, the seat of the internationally recognized government.
An Associated Press journalist heard explosions that rocked the city around 2 a.m. local time.
Israelis gathered at intersections, bomb shelters and the site of a music festival that Hamas-led militants overran on Oct. 7, 2023, to mark the anniversary of the attack that killed 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. The attack also sparked the war in Gaza and led to a series of conflicts across the Middle East.
“Every morning, you wake up and there is just endless missing,” said Anya Davitashili, who lost her 25-year-old son, Sean, in the attack.
For Palestinians, the anniversary brings another day of misery and difficulties after an Israeli retaliatory campaign in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of people.
Most of the population, about 2 million people, lives in vast, squalid tent camps, with large parts of the strip’s cities reduced to rubble. More than half the territory remains in the hands of the Israeli military, and despite a ceasefire deal reached nearly a year ago, Israeli strikes continue almost daily.
“Since October 7th, we have lived a life we never imagined,” said Gaza City resident Walid Akram. “We witnessed death, destruction, and bombardment that we had never known before."
Hamas has portrayed the Oct. 7 attack as a response to decades of Israeli military occupation, land seizures and settlement construction. No events were expected Wednesday in Gaza
Three years after Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the city of Rafah, which used to be home to a quarter million people, lies in ruins.
The Israeli military has razed the southern city and other towns and districts to the ground, satellite imagery shows.
Demolition, using bulldozers and explosives, has continued since the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal was reached a year ago.
Gaza’s devastated landscape is just one of many wounds that the enclave’s 2 million Palestinians have endured since the Israeli campaign that has killed over 74,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities. More than one out of every 10 people from Gaza’s prewar population has been killed or wounded by Israeli fire.
With almost the entire population homeless, the coastal territory is now effectively one of the world’s most populated tent cities.
An Israeli drone strike killed one older man and wounded seven other people in southern Gaza on Wednesday, according to health officials.
Dr. Mohamed Saqr, a manager at Nasser Hospital, told The Associated Press that one of the injured was in critical condition.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.
Houthi supporters chant slogans during an armed tribal rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
People visit a roadside bomb shelter where people were killed during the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack along the Israel-Gaza border, as the country marks the third anniversary of the attack, near Kibbutz Reim, southern Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Houthi supporters carry their rifles while attending an armed tribal rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
People mark the third anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel at the site of the Nova music festival, where hundreds of revelers were killed and abducted, near Kibbutz Reim, southern Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
