Israel welcomes favourable EU vote amid annexation tensions

JERUSALEM: Israel on Thursday welcomed the European parliament's ratification of an aviation treaty, despite criticism from leading EU members of its plans to annex swathes of the occupied West Bank. Overnight, the parliament voted by 437 to 102 to ratify an "open skies" agreement which was signed in 2013 to give Israeli airlines and those of the 27 member states of the European Union,...