Two Palestinian intelligence officers have been killed by Israeli special forces during a raid in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials say. The Israeli forces, some undercover, entered Jenin overnight to arrest two Palestinians suspected of recent attacks, according to Israeli media. The Palestinian officers were shot dead after they witnessed the raid and reportedly opened fire at the Israelis. A Palestinian man identified as one of the suspects was also killed. The West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA) co-ordinates security with Israel and clashes between their forces during such operations are rare.(BBC)…[+]

Pope Francis has rejected a German cardinal’s offer to resign, over the mishandling of the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse crisis. Cardinal Reinhard Marx said earlier this month that he should share responsibility for the “catastrophe” of abuse by Catholic priests. Cardinal Marx is Archbishop of Munich, and one of the Church’s most influential liberal figures. He is not under investigation himself, either for abuse or for covering it up. Pope Francis said he understood the priest’s motivation, but rejected the resignation offer. “That is my answer, dear Brother. Continue as you suggest (in your pastoral work), but as Archbishop of Munich,” the Pope wrote in a letter released by the Vatican. Cardinal Marx was previously head of the Catholic Church in Germany, which is facing scrutiny over hundreds of historic abuse allegations.(BBC)…[+]

Israel’s outgoing government has said a flag march by Israeli nationalists through Jerusalem’s Old City can happen next week pending police approval. The event had been due to take place this Thursday. But organisers cancelled it after Israeli police rejected the proposed route through the Muslim Quarter, citing security concerns. Palestinians see it as a provocation. The militant group Hamas has warned the march could trigger a new round of conflict in Gaza should it proceed. At least 256 people were killed in Gaza and 13 people were killed in Israel during 11 days of fierce fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants last month.(BBC)…[+]

At least 10 mine clearers working for Halo Trust in Afghanistan’s northern province of Baghlan have been shot dead, and more than a dozen wounded. Afghan officials blamed the Taliban, saying militants “started shooting everyone” in the compound. But Halo Trust CEO James Cowan told the BBC that “the local Taliban… came to our aid and scared the assailants off”. The Taliban also denied the attack. Violence has surged since the US began to withdraw its last troops on 1 May. The departure of international troops comes amid deadlock in peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.(BBC)…[+]

A major outage has affected a number of high profile websites including Amazon, Reddit and Twitch. The UK government website – gov.uk – was also down as were the Financial Times, the Guardian and the New York Times. Cloud computing provider Fastly, which underpins a lot of websites, said it was behind the problems. The firm said there were issues with its global content delivery network (CDN) and was implementing a fix. In a statement, it said: “We identified a service configuration that triggered disruption across our POPs (points of presence) globally and have disabled that configuration. A POP allows content to be sent from globally distributed servers that are close to the end use. Our global network is coming back online.” The issues began at around 11am BST and lasted for an hour. Other affected websites included CNN and streaming sites Twitch and Hulu. The outage also broke some parts of other services, including Twitter’s emojis. Websites were also beginning to be restored, after around an hour of downtime. Fastly runs what is known as an “edge cloud”, which is designed to speed up loading times for websites, as well as protect them from denial-of-service attacks and help them when traffic is peaking.(BBC)…[+]

Warnings from US intelligence about the risk of an armed assault on the Capitol in Washington in January failed to reach police in time, a report by two Senate committees has found. Five people died when supporters of then US President Donald Trump stormed Congress on 6 January. The Senate report pointed to failures in communications and intelligence. The Capitol police force was criticised as being slow and ineffective in its response to the violence.  The report does not discuss the role of the Republican president, Mr Trump, in the riots, although it does note he encouraged supporters to go the Capitol building. Sources told US media the wording was chosen carefully to preserve bipartisan agreement between Republican and Democrat senators on the committees. Mr Trump was impeached on a charge of inciting a mob to storm the Capitol but was acquitted in February. The Senate report is the joint work of the Rules and Homeland Security committees. In addition to covering the failures on the day it also sets out recommendations. Intelligence agencies are said to have failed to properly assess the social media chatter ahead of the violence.(BBC)…[+]

French President Emmanuel Macron has been slapped in the face on an official visit to the southeast of France. In a video circulating on social media, Mr Macron is seen walking up to a barrier on a trip to Tain-l’Hermitage outside the city of Valence. A man slaps Mr Macron in the face before officers quickly move in. The president, meanwhile, is pulled away. Two men have been arrested in the wake of the incident, according to French media. As the president is slapped, the words “Down with Macron-ism” are shouted. Politicians have swiftly denounced the incident. Prime Minister Jean Castex told the National Assembly shortly afterwards that while democracy meant debate and legitimate disagreement “it must never in any case mean violence, verbal aggression and even less physical attack”. Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon tweeted his “solidarity with the President” immediately after the slap. And far-right leader Marine Le Pen posted her own condemnation, saying that “while democratic debate can be bitter, it can never tolerate physical violence”. President Macron is currently on a tour of France and had just visited a hotel school in Tain-l’Hermitage. His visit to the area was set to continue on Tuesday, officials said, with a trip to a vocational institute for 25-30 year-olds.(BBC)…[+]

Police in Norway have said a body found on the country’s coast earlier this year is that of a missing 15 month old who died in the English Channel. The child, named Artin, died along with four family members when the boat they were travelling in sank in October. The Kurdish-Iranian family had been attempting to reach the UK from France. Relatives of the family have spoken of their grief and confusion as they waited to hear what had happened to Artin. Now the child’s remains will be flown back to Iran to be buried. On Monday, police in Norway said the body had been found on the country’s south-western shore near Karmoy by two officers on New Year’s Day.

A tedious but consequential task kept Daniel Ellsberg busy for weeks from the end of 1969. One by one, he photocopied thousands of top-secret documents that he hoped would end a long and costly conflict. Known as the Pentagon Papers, the documents were part of a classified study that showed the extent of American involvement in the Vietnam War. Mr Ellsberg famously leaked the study to newspapers in 1971 before facing espionage charges that were ultimately dismissed. While the Pentagon Papers left a lasting legacy, they weren’t the only documents Mr Ellsberg got his hands on. At the same time, Mr Ellsberg copied another classified study that showed how seriously American military chiefs took the threat of nuclear war during the Taiwan crisis of 1958.(BBC)…[+]

The US and EU are calling for an immediate investigation into the “shocking” claims of sexual harassment and rape of Afghan policewomen. It follows a BBC investigation which revealed female officers faced widespread abuse by their colleagues. A number of women told the BBC they were too scared to report the attacks, which were often by their superiors. The Afghan government says it is committed to change, but rights groups say perpetrators are rarely punished. “Afghan women who choose to serve their country as police officers are courageous patriots,” Ambassador Ross Wilson, the US Charge d’Affaires to Afghanistan, said in a statement. “They face formidable cultural, social, political and security barriers, and we and all Afghans should honour and support their service. These reports are shocking, and we urge their prompt investigation by Afghan authorities.“(BBC)…[+]