The Vatican’s representative in Jerusalem has accused Israel of “brutally violating” a decades-old agreement to uphold religious freedom. It follows Friday’s attack by Israeli police on the funeral of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Aqla. Officers kicked and beat pallbearers and fired stun grenades into the crowd of mourners at St Joseph Hospital. Monsignor Tomasz Grysa, who represents the Holy See in Jerusalem, said the action was unjustified and unprovoked. The Israeli police declined to respond to the church leaders’ statement, but has already said there will be a review into its handling of the funeral. Abu Aqla, a veteran Al Jazeera correspondent who was a Christian, was shot dead during an Israeli army arrest raid in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday.(BBC)…[+]

The rainy, grey weather in Buffalo certainly suited the mood on the ground on Monday. The black community is grieving and they are scared after 10 people – now named by officials – were gunned down in a racially-motivated attack in a New York supermarket. The victims, aged between 32 and 86, were shot dead by the suspected gunman on Saturday afternoon. Three others were injured. Among those killed were a former police officer, a woman who helped feed the poor and a man who drove shoppers to and from the market. Eleven out of the 13 people killed or injured at Tops Friendly Market were black, and Buffalo’s police chief has described the attack as a “racist hate crime”. The neighbourhood where the attack was carried out is predominantly black. Lakisha Chambers lives a few blocks away from the Tops grocery store – one of the few markets available to residents in the area – and walked over to the scene for the first time since the shooting on Monday. There is still a police presence, the area is taped off and memorials with balloons and candles dot the area. Seeing it in person makes it more real, she tells BBC. “We all could’ve been in here”.(BBC)…[+]

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has appointed a new prime minister as he tries to defuse protests over his handling of a severe economic crisis. Senior opposition MP Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in to lead a proposed cross-party government. The move came after the president ignored calls to resign, and vowed to restore order in a national address. Nine people have been killed and 200 injured in unrest since his brother resigned as prime minister on Monday. During his nationwide address, Mr Rajapaksa said he would appoint a new prime minister who commanded the majority of support in parliament, as well as a new cabinet. Mr Wickremesinghe has been on Sri Lanka’s political scene for decades – this will be his sixth stint as prime minister, although he’s never seen out a full term.(BBC)…[+]

North Korea has ordered a strict national lockdown after confirming its first official Covid infections. State media have reported an Omicron outbreak in the capital, Pyongyang, but did not state the number of cases. North Korea has rejected any kind of vaccine programme, even when offered a supply by other countries. Instead, it controlled Covid by sealing its borders – and had never recorded a case, despite experts believing the virus has long been present. Outsiders say the nation’s 25 million population is vulnerable due to the lack of a Covid-19 vaccine programme, even rejecting offers from the international community to supply millions of AstraZeneca and Chinese-made Sinovac jabs last year. There have also been concerns about North Korea’s impoverished healthcare system.(BBC)…[+]

Russia has said it will be forced to take “retaliatory steps” over its neighbour Finland’s move to join Nato. A foreign ministry statement said the move would seriously damage bilateral relations, as well as security and stability in northern Europe. Earlier, Finland’s president and PM called for the country to apply for Nato membership “without delay”. It comes amid a surge in public support for Nato membership following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Finland shares a 1,300-km (810-mile) border with Russia. Until now, it has stayed out of Nato to avoid antagonising its eastern neighbour. Finland will formally announce its decision on Sunday after it has been considered by parliament and other senior political figures. Sweden has said it will announce a similar decision on the same day.(BBC)…[+]

Face masks will no longer have to be worn on flights and in airports in EU countries from next Monday, according to new official guidance. The move is in line with changing anti-Covid policies on public transport across Europe, said the EU Aviation Safety Agency (Easa). Rules have been relaxed in countries including France, Italy and Bulgaria. Some US airlines did the same in April after a federal judge threw out the government’s mask mandate. “From next week, face masks will no longer need to be mandatory in air travel in all cases, broadly aligning with the changing requirements of national authorities across Europe for public transport,” EASA executive director Patrick Ky said. “It is a relief to all of us that we are finally reaching a stage in the pandemic where we can start to relax the health safety measures,” he added. But the new guidance came with some cautionary advice from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).(BBC)…[+]

A veteran Palestinian-American correspondent for Al Jazeera has been killed while covering a raid by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank. The Qatar-based network said Shireen Abu Aqla was shot “deliberately” and “in cold blood” by Israeli troops in Jenin. Her producer was also wounded. Israel’s prime minister said it was “likely” they were shot by Palestinian gunmen during an exchange of fire. It comes amid a surge in violence between Israel and the Palestinians. The Palestinian president said he held the Israeli government fully responsible for what he described as a “crime of execution”.Shireen Abu Aqla, 51, was widely known and widely admired – by viewers and colleagues alike. Early on Wednesday morning she went to the Jenin refugee camp to report on a raid by Israeli soldiers and security forces, which the Israeli military said was conducted to apprehend “terrorist suspects”. “During the activity, tens of Palestinian gunmen fired at and hurled explosive devices toward the soldiers. The soldiers responded with fire toward the gunmen and hits were identified,” a military statement said. The Palestinian health ministry said Abu Aqla was hit in the head by a live bullet during the raid. She was taken to hospital in a critical condition and later pronounced dead.(BBC)…[+]

Right from the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Snake Island was given a vital and almost mythical status in the war. This unremarkable, rocky outcrop in the Black Sea was seized by Russia and has become a battleground of strategic value. Russia claims Ukraine has sustained disastrous losses in a failed bid to recapture the island, including special forces, warplanes, helicopters, drones. Ukraine insists it has limited its campaign to attacking facilities on the island and boats. The battle is not over and Russia is repeatedly trying to reinforce its exposed garrison, says UK defence ministry intelligence. Snake or Zmiinyi Island is a fraction of a square kilometre in size and there are no more snakes to speak of. But there can be no doubt of its importance for control of the western Black Sea.(BBC)…[+]

Eighty-two skeletons found in a mass grave in the Dutch city of Vianen were mainly British soldiers who died of illness in an 18th Century field hospital, archaeologists say. The remains were found outside the city’s old wall in November 2020 and then researched by forensic anthropologist April Pijpelink. All but four were men and many originated in southern England. “It’s most likely these young men came to fight against the French,” she said. But they lost their lives because of poor hygiene in a field hospital, she told the BBC. “At first we thought these men died of injuries in battle, but during my research it became clear that around 85% of them suffered from one or more infections, while basically all their trauma wounds had healed.”

An iconic painting of Marilyn Monroe by Andy Warhol has been auctioned for $195m (£158.17m) – making it the most expensive piece of 20th Century art ever sold. The painting, Shot Sage Blue Marilyn, was painted by Warhol in 1964 using a famous photograph as inspiration. The amount is also the highest ever paid for an American work of art. The Christie’s auction in New York was widely seen as a symbol of the luxury art market’s health. Ahead of the auction, Christie’s wrote that the painting is “one of the rarest and most transcendent images in existence”, with a selling price “in the region” of $200m. The auction ended with a sale price of $170m, which rose to $195m with taxes and fees taken into account. The previous record price for a piece of American artwork was $110.5m for a skull painting created in 1982 by Warhol’s sometimes friend and sometimes competitor, Jean-Michael Basquiat.((NU)…[+]