Israel to Reopen Contested Holy Site in Jerusalem
JERUSALEM — Israel barred all access to a contested sacred site in the Old City for the first time in many years on Thursday, a step that a Palestinianspokesman denounced as “a declaration of war” and one that strained Israel’s crucial alliance with neighboring Jordan.
By nightfall, Israel moved to ease the simmering hostility by announcing the site, which Jews call the Temple Mount and Muslims the Noble Sanctuary, would reopen Friday morning. But the authorities said that Muslim men under 50 would be barred from prayers, as they have been frequently in recent weeks, and that Israeli police officers would be out in force.Palestinian leaders called for a mass protest.
The rare closing came after an Israeli counterterrorism unit killed a Palestinian man suspected of trying the night before to assassinate a leading agitator for increased Jewish access to the site, a cause that has fueled clashes at the site. It also followed months of rising tension and violence across the deeply divided city of Jerusalem, where Israel recently added 1,000 police officers in an effort to ward off what some experts warn could become a third Palestinian intifada, or uprising.Burkina Faso: violent clashes in over plans to extend president’s rule
At least three people reported dead in fighting, while Blaise Compaoré backtracks and says he will stand down
The iron grip of one of Africa’s longest serving rulers is weakening as tens of thousands of protesters clashed with security forces outside the presidential palace in Burkina Faso, demanding that Blaise Compaoré step down.
Compaoré, who has led the west African nation for 27 years, declared a state of emergency after protesters stormed parliament and torched other state buildings. At least three protesters were shot dead and scores were wounded by security forces, emergency services said, as the crowds forced Compaoré to dissolve the government and pledge talks with the opposition.
“A state of emergency is declared across the national territory,” said the president’s statement, read by a presenter on national radio. “The chief of the armed forces is in charge of implementing this decision which enters into effect today.”
Myth busted: Sharks have personality quirks
Sharks are loners, ruled by raw instinct, embodying the maxim of "survival of the fittest." Right? Wrong - and three times over. Scientists, however, are only barely scraping the surface of the mysterious hunters.
The brownish cat shark is covered with small, dark dots, its long body flat on the stony ground. Its inconspicuous dorsal fin is round, its cat-like eyes aimed toward the emptiness of the basin.
Two more cat sharks float above the ground on either side. A group of scientists from the Marine Biological Association of the UK and the University of Exeter have been examining the personalities and social behavior of the three sharks in large tanks for some time. Their hope? To reveal that sharks' behavior is driven by individual character traits.
Lab observations
As they watched the cat sharks, scientists found that there existed both gregarious and antisocial animals. According to the scientists, individual traits are responsible for the social behavior sharks tend to show.
The Grapes of Wrath: France's Great Wines Are Feeling the Heat
In France, climate change is no longer just an abstract problem. The culinary country's grand wine culture is threatened by rising global temperatures. Vintners are fighting to save a part of our world culture heritage that spans the last two millennia.
In the soft light of the chandeliers at Château Ausone, Alain Vauthier veers away from the issue at hand, taking flight into distant centuries, reaching for safe anecdotes, digressing into tales of the Wars of the Roses and racehorses, broken tractors and the bold adventures of his ancestors in Algeria. Against a backdrop of gold-colored silk tapestries, he mentions the '47 Cheval Blanc he once drank, finds excuses to talk about lobsters and the early days of television, and to complain about French highway tolls that make it cheaper to fly with budget airlines -- anything to avoid talking about the real issue, the issue one no one wants to talk about.
The Islamic State prisoner and the intelligence chief
November 1, 2014 - 12:15 AM
Paul McGeough
Chief foreign correspondent
It came late. But in a brutal, chaotic country, the interrogation of Abu Hajjar was an intelligence success – of sorts.
After weeks of torture, the prisoner spat out two crucial pieces of information. First, he revealed that within days, the northern city of Mosul, the country's second largest, was to "become an inferno"; and second, he disclosed the location of a safe house, from which the Mosul assault was being masterminded, by one Abdul Rahman al-Bilawi, the head of the so-called Islamic State's military council.
It was the first week of June and Abu Hajjar told his interrogators: "You don't realise what you've done."
Facing its own Islamic State-inspired militants, Iran wields a smaller stick
With the help of local Sunnis on its southeastern border with Pakistan, Iran is using a blend of force, dialogue, and money to counter Jaish al-Adl, a radical group that claims to fight for Sunni rights.
ZAHEDAN, IRAN — Here in Iran’s lawless southeast, the authorities inTehran who have sent military advisers and hardware to help fight the so-called Islamic State in far-off Syria and Iraq are engaged in their own battle with Sunni militants.
The fight here, near the borders of Pakistan and Afghanistan, is with Jaish al-Adl, or Army of Justice, a radical group that claims to fight for greater rights for Shiite Iran’s ethnic Baluchs and Sunni minority.
While there is no known direct connection between the regional agenda of the Islamic State (IS) and Jaish al-Adl, a recent surge of cross-border attacks along this remote frontier indicates that the Pakistan-based militants are taking inspiration from IS successes in Syria and Iraq.
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