As so often in the past, the latest scenes of violence at Jerusalem’s most important holy site for Muslims and Jews are igniting widespread anger. In one social media video, heavily armed Israeli police apparently use a rifle butt and sticks to beat Palestinian worshippers who had barricaded themselves inside the al-Aqsa mosque. Israeli police have released their own footage which seems to show fireworks thrown by Palestinians, lighting up the prayer hall. Pictures of the aftermath show overturned furniture and prayer mats scattered across the carpet. With tensions already running high in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, for months, officials and diplomats have been warning about the risk of a new round of violence in this sacred spot at a highly sensitive time.(BBC)…[+]

Finland has become the 31st member of the Nato security alliance, doubling the length of member states’ borders with Russia. The Finnish foreign minister handed the accession document to the US secretary of state who declared Finland a member. Then in bright sunshine in front of Nato’s gleaming new headquarters, Finland’s white-and-blue flag joined a circle of 30 other flags. Finland’s accession is a setback for Russia’s Vladimir Putin. He had repeatedly complained of Nato’s expansion before his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said by attacking his neighbour, the Russian leader had triggered exactly what he had sought to prevent. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that Russia would be “watching closely” what happens in Finland, describing Nato’s enlargement as a “violation of our security and our national interests”.(BBC)…[+]

The US military says a senior leader of the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) who was responsible for planning attacks in Europe has been killed in a strike in Syria. Khalid Aydd Ahmad al-Jabouri died in an undisclosed location on Monday, according to US Central Command. No civilians were said to have been killed or injured in the attack. First responders said a man was killed in a drone strike on Monday in opposition-held north-western Syria. The White Helmets organisation tweeted that an unidentified drone fired a missile at the man on the outskirts of the town of Kili, in Idlib province. “Our teams responded and took the injured person to Bab Al-Hawa Hospital, where he died,” it added. Pro-opposition Step News cited local sources as identifying the man as Khalid Abdullah al-Khulaif and saying that he was likely to have been a senior jihadist from the eastern province of Deir al-Zour.(BBC)…[+]

One person was killed and 19 passengers taken to hospital when an inter-city train collided with a crane and derailed outside The Hague. Emergency services said the train was carrying about 50 people when the train derailed near the village of Voorschoten. The accident was the worst on Dutch railways for years and King Willem-Alexander later visited the scene. Residents looked after some of the passengers with minor injuries. The crash happened at about 03:25 local time (01:25 GMT) on Tuesday, tearing apart the NS passenger train and bringing down one of the overhead power lines. A goods train also collided with the crane, which was being used for repairs to two of four railway tracks near Voorschoten. The person who died had been working for construction company BAM, a spokesperson confirmed. Some of the 19 passengers were in a serious condition. The passenger train driver was also hurt, but the goods train driver was safe.(BBC)…[+]