Two Israeli police officers have been shot dead and three gunmen killed during an early-morning shootout in one of Jerusalem’s most holy and sensitive sites.

The attack – involving three Israeli citizens of Palestinian origin – took place just after 7am in the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif complex in Jerusalem. It began near the Lions’ Gate entrance to the compound, which is revered as a holy site by both Muslims and Jews. A few hours after the incident, the chief of the Israeli police, Roni Alsheich, confirmed the death of the two male officers from wounds sustained in the attack. The incident was among the most serious in Jerusalem in recent years and threatened to raise Israeli-Palestinian tensions. The two dead police officers were named as Hael Sathawi, 30, and Kamil Shnan, 22.

According to police, the three men – residents of the Israeli Arab town of Umm al-Fahm who were armed with home-made Carlo machine guns and a pistol – opened fire on police near the gate before fleeing back into the heart of the compound which houses the al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Israel’s Shin Bet security service later named the three attackers as Mohammed Ahmed Mohammed Jabareen, 29, Mohammed Hamed Abd Al-Latif Jabareen, 19, and Mohammed Ahmed Mafdal Jabareen, also 19, noting that none had previous security convictions.(Theguardian)…[+]

When France’s top military band, in their gold-buttoned uniforms, shattered the formality of the Bastille Day military parade by breaking into a medley by Daft Punk, it wasn’t a surprise. For days, the French military’s top musicians had been bemusing passersby on the Champs Élysées as they rehearsed their bewilderingly fast dance steps, with many of them darting to and fro heaving tubas and trombones.

Some band members had even questioned why they should be doing “pop”, but orders had come down from on high: this year’s parade had to “reach out to the youth”. Whether the US president, Donald Trump, who was guest of honour at the celebrations, got the joke was another matter.

From the VIP viewing platform, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, could barely suppress a smug grin. But Trump looked on, pursing his lips earnestly, as he had done watching the hundreds of troops parading moments before. At one point, he mouthed “so good” to his wife, Melania Trump, but he did not appear to recognise the hits. While French dignitaries clapped and swayed in their seats, Trump sat resolutely still, his blonde comb-over lifting and falling slightly in the breeze.(theguardian)…[+]

A lioness has been spotted nursing a tiny leopard cub in Tanzania, the first time a wild cat is known to have adopted a cub from another species. The five-year old lioness, called Nosikitok is closely monitored by conservationists in the Ngorongoro conservation area and is known to have had a litter of her own in mid to late June.

How she came to adopt the leopard cub, thought to be three weeks old, is not known. But Luke Hunter, president of big cat conservation group Panthera, said her recent births are a critical factor: “She is physiologically primed to take care of baby cats, and the little leopard fits the bill – it is almost exactly the age of her own cubs and physically very similar to them.

“She would not be nursing the cub if she wasn’t already awash with a ferocious maternal drive. Even so, there has never been another case like it, and why it has occurred now is mystifying. This is a truly unique case. It is quite possible she has lost her own cubs, and found the leopard cub in her bereaved state when she would be particularly vulnerable.”(theguardian)…[+]