Smoke rises in southern Lebanon following an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Lebanon border, in northern Israel today.
Footage has emerged that appears to contradict the Israeli military’s account of the shooting that killed seven-month-old Sam Abu Haikal in his mother’s arms, showing the family’s car slowing near a military post before soldiers opened fire. On Friday, the killing of the infant by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank caused outrage, after soldiers opened fire on the family’s vehicle despite it having complied with an order to stop. Sam was killed and his mother, Daniyah Abu Haikal, and father, Fahed Abu Haikal, were both injured. The Israel Defense Forces said its troops had “perceived a vehicle accelerating toward them” and that one of the soldiers had “responded with single shots toward the vehicle”. However, footage obtained by the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights, B’Tselem, contradicts IDF claims that the car in which the Abu Haikal family was travelling was accelerating towards them when they shot. “The footage clearly shows that the Israeli soldier fired at the car as it was slowing to a stop,” B’Tselem said in a statement. “The car was far from the soldiers and posed no danger to them whatsoever.” In another video obtained by B’Tselem, seven-month-old Sam’s father is seen just after his son was shot. Fahd Abu Haikal is holding the baby in his arms, trying to stop the bleeding from his head with his hands, while Daniyah, who was also injured by the gunfire while holding her son, is seen sitting on the ground next to the car. Fahd said a bullet had passed through his hand and struck his son, who was being held by his mother in the back seat. The family, which also included the couple’s 11-year-old son and Fahd’s mother, had been driving through Hebron when they were stopped by the soldiers, he said. Although the video has no sound, and it is unclear when exactly the soldier opened fire at the vehicle, the clip appears to corroborate Fahd’s account.He told Hareetz: “The soldier signalled me to stop. I brought the car to a complete halt and raised my hands on the steering wheel. Immediately afterwards, they opened fire on the vehicle. “I stopped as I was instructed to, and then they simply shot at the car,” he added. “There was no clear checkpoint, just soldiers standing in the street. I stopped when I was asked to, and then the shooting started. “The car was completely stationary when he shot at us, it wasn’t moving at all. A seven-month-old infant killed in cold blood. He didn’t deserve this.” The footage released by B’Tselem also showed Israeli soldiers failing to assist the family, instead standing by as civilians rushed to help the wounded child and his parents. The UN said in March that more than 1,000 Palestinians had been killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the most recent war between Hamas and Israel in Gaza began in October 2023, at least 240 of them children, and 49 people have been killed this year. Israeli soldiers accused of harming Palestinians are rarely penalised and were indicted in less than 1% of cases based on 2,427 complaints alleging wrongdoing between 2016 and 2024, according to the Israeli rights group Yesh Din. “In the past two and a half years, Israel has killed tens of thousands of children in Gaza and the West Bank,” said B’Tselem’s executive director, Yuli Novak. ‘‘The immunity it gets from the international community has led to a reality where, under Israeli rule, Palestinian lives are entirely disposable – even a seven‑month‑old baby.” The IDF expressed “deep sorrow for any harm caused to uninvolved individuals”. On Sunday, the Israeli military police opened an investigation into the soldier who fired at the family’s vehicle.
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Umbrellas have been banned on a beach in Sardinia for anyone between the ages of 10 and 65 in the latest flashpoint in Italy’s long-running beach disputes. The measure was among several imposed by local authorities at Punta Molentis beach in Villasimìus, on Sardinia’s south-east coast, as part of an initiative to protect its pristine environment. On top of having to pay €10 to set foot on the public beach, only families with children under 10 are permitted to pitch an umbrella – just one, at that – and those over 65. The measure has not gone down well with beachgoers, generating a mix of incredulity and bemusement online, as well as raising concerns about the risks of skin cancer or heatstroke. “To put up an umbrella I have to rent a child??” asked a commenter beneath a post announcing the guidelines on the Facebook page of Villasimìus’s council. Another joked: “So to come to the beach with an umbrella I either bring my grandad or need to have a child between now and tomorrow?” Some called for a boycott of Punta Molentis, while others said they would simply go to a beach where they could shield themselves safely from the sun. Punta Molentis is reopening after being closed since last July after a devastating wildfire started by arsonists. Villasimìus council said the fire and “exceptional marine weather events” had moved it to impose stricter rules in order to preserve the natural beauty of Punta Molentis, which is located within a designated conservation area. “For this reason it’s necessary to limit the [human] impact and ensure the protection of this heritage for future generations,” the council said in a notice on its website. People are also banned from putting up gazebos, tents or other forms of shade providers. The rules will remain in place until the end of October. Meanwhile, on Jesolo beach near Venice, authorities have reduced the number of lounger and umbrella spots by 20,000 in an attempt to create more space between visitors. Italy’s public beaches often get crowded, especially owing to the rising cost of renting loungers at private beach clubs. According to recent figures from Italy’s largest consumer watchdog, Altroconsumo, the average cost of renting two loungers and an umbrella at a private concession has increased by 24% within the past five years, and 6% in the past year alone. As a result, many Italians are snubbing beach clubs while protests calling for more free beaches have intensified in recent years.
The line stretched for more than 7km (four miles). Mourners sang rock songs, waved banners, and carried speakers blasting music while smoke rose from makeshift barbecues and vendors sold T-shirts bearing the image of a bald man with sunglasses. As evening fell, a drizzle set in, but the queue remained. At the end of the line in Avellaneda, outer Buenos Aires, stood a chapel containing the body of a rock star. Hundreds of thousands of people attended the wake on Sunday for the singer Carlos “Indio” Solari. Solari, who died on Friday from a stroke at the age of 77, was widely regarded as Argentina’s most popular musician: his last concert in 2017 was attended by as many as 400,000 people. But his popularity challenges assumptions about a shared Latin American cultural sphere: Solari was virtually unknown outside Argentina and neighbouring Uruguay, which shares much of its cultural and linguistic heritage. His lyrics – usually dense, cryptic, and laden with literary, political and historical references – inspired a devoted following that cut across generations, though it is particularly strong among working-class young people. Ji ji ji, a frenetic anthem, or La gran bestia pop, a critique of the music industry, are ubiquitous at weddings, football matches and parties across Argentina. Phrases such as “every prisoner is a political prisoner” or “violence is to lie” became mottoes for political resistance. Solari co-founded the influential rock band Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota in 1976. After the group split in 2002, he continued performing with a new band until Parkinson’s disease forced him to stop appearing live. He openly identified as a Peronist, and the far-right government of Javier Milei rejected permission for a wake in the congress building. The ceremony was instead held in Avellaneda, a district governed by Peronists. “The best things in Argentina were El Indio and Maradona,” said Lorena Núñez, one of the mourners waiting in line. Núñez, an Uruguayan pharmaceutical worker, crossed the Río de la Plata to attend the wake. “He taught us the value of the word – by forcing us to think to interpret his lyrics,” she said. Quoting verses from Solari’s songs, her friend Matías Rodríguez, who travelled with her, said: “El Indio isn’t just a singer: to us, he’s like family; to me, he’s my old man.” Pablo Alabarces, a sociologist who studies popular culture, said the reason Solari’s music did not travel was “the poetic and musical language”. “It is a very distinctive style of rock that you don’t hear elsewhere in Latin America. That cryptic yet working-class poetic style is very Argentine. There is no such thing as ‘neutral’ Spanish in El Indio’s poetry, which makes it comprehensible only to a local audience,” he said. Alabarces said Solari’s career exposed the limits of cultural globalisation. While contemporary genres such as trap and reggaeton circulated easily across Latin America, rock music remained shaped by distinct national histories and political experiences. “Making rock music under the PRI’s ‘perfect dictatorship’ in Mexico is not the same as doing so under Videla’s terror regime in Buenos Aires,” he said. According to Pablo Perantuono, a journalist who co-authored a book about Solari’s band, his music was rooted in a cultural synthesis that was cosmopolitan yet “distinctly Argentine”, drawing on disparate influences including tango, the beatniks, and Anglo-American rock music. “It is an exceptional movement because it is very hard to track its bloodline,” he said. Solari self-produced his music, refused major labels, rarely gave interviews, and cultivated an austere, working-class image even in his concerts – things that, Perantuono said, his fans at home appreciated as “a very strong statement of principles” but hampered his music’s chances to be marketed overseas. “Argentine audiences have a kind of visceral passion in their tastes that you probably won’t find anywhere else,” said Perantuono, arguing that foreign bands such as the Ramones or the German punk band Die Toten Hosen have had a bigger following in Argentina than in their home countries. At Sunday’s wake, mourners threw flowers, shirts and banners on to Solari’s coffin. Daniel “Roli” González, a 37-year-old maintenance worker, struggled to hold back tears. “It’s beautiful; it’s a privilege to experience this,” he said, gesturing towards the crowd, which kept singing. “You can’t experience this anywhere else. This is unique.”
Ten hours before he was due to pass by, the faithful were already picking their spots along the route Pope Leo XIV will take on his brief journey to bless Antoni Gaudí’s iconic church, the Sagrada Família. It has been a long wait but this evening, 144 years after work began, the pope will bless the basilica’s recently completed central tower in the presence of members of the Spanish royal family, the prime minister and hundreds of bishops. With the completion of the Jesus Christ tower, the tallest of 18 in the temple, the basilica has reached its full height of 172.5 metres. It is now not only the world’s tallest church but Barcelona’s tallest building. It was consecrated in 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI. Ramón and Marisa from L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, both draped in Vatican flags, were among those who arrived early to drink in the atmosphere. “We’re of the generation of John Paul II and Leo reminds us a lot of him,” Marisa said. “We’re very happy that he’s come here to Barcelona.” Ramón said the Sagrada Família gives him goosebumps. “Gaudí deserves to be a saint just for building it,” Marisa said. “It’s a divine construction.” A few blocks away, Rosmira Pasadis from Venezuela said she’d brought some fruit and water to get her through the long wait. “This pope is very charismatic and he’s got a gift for communicating, especially with the young,” she said. “His visit is important for me not just because I’m a Catholic but because we hope he will call for the release of political prisoners in Venezuela and for our freedom.” Security measures, which include the closure of several metro stations and streets, have brought the city close to a standstill, while only invited guests can get anywhere near the Sagrada Família itself. However, souvenir shops nearby were doing steady business selling pope memorabilia alongside their usual collection of Gaudiana tat. Police estimate 70,000 people will line the route along the pope’s short journey, fewer than in Madrid and fewer still than the 650,000 who turned out for FC Barcelona’s players victory parade after they won the Spanish league last month. Today marks the centenary of the death of Gaudí, described by his biographer Gijs Van Hensbergen as “a man with a medieval soul and an avant-garde mind”. Often known as God’s architect, Gaudí dedicated the last 12 years of his life to work on the Sagrada Família. At a time when many in Barcelona were turning away from religion, Gaudí said he wanted to create a church for everyone, “a bible in stone”, hence the depiction of local people and scenes from everyday life among more conventional religious images. According to the industrial historian James Douet, “the Sagrada Família was conceived to bring Barcelona’s disaffected industrial working classes back to Catholic beliefs, to turn them away from the anarchist violence and anti-clerical hostility that had become characteristic of the city, and in some way to expiate or atone for the sinfulness of its inhabitants”. Blessing the towers is the last stop in Leo’s busy Barcelona schedule that has included an audience with the Catalan president Salvador Illa, a visit to a high-security prison, saying the rosary at the monastery at Montserrat and a plea for Catalan unity delivered in Spanish and Catalan. Although the Sagrada Família has reached its full height, completion of the Glory facade of the main entrance is still a decade away, and then there’s the construction of the contentious grand stairway – which would entail rehousing between 1,000 and 10,000 people, depending on which plan is implemented. The dispute over whether what we see today has anything to do with what Gaudí intended is bound to rumble on. As long ago as 1965 a group of artists and architects, among them Le Corbusier, Ricardo Bofill and Joan Miró, said work on the basilica should stop, citing “the mediocrity of the promoters who are using Gaudí to make their mark to the detriment of the original work”. However, Jordi Faulí, the architect charged with completing the work, says Gaudí understood that only a small part of the temple would be built in his lifetime and left detailed drawings and instructions that – although several were subsequently lost or destroyed – are enough to ensure that his successors can realise his vision. The question of Gaudí’s beatification remains. Last year Pope Francis authorised a decree declaring the architect “venerable”, an early step on the road to being canonised by the Catholic church. The Sagrada Família is visited by about 5 million people a year, each paying upwards of €26 (£22), making it good business for the Catholic church. If Gaudí is beatified it could become a place of pilgrimage as well as a tourist destination. However, Mateu Hernández, the head of Visit Barcelona, emphasised the city’s secular status when he said it now had “a global icon equal to the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal or the Pyramids”. In the century and a half since work began on the temple, Barcelona has continued to be a city more inclined to rebellion than prayer. Time will tell whether Pope Leo’s visit will lead its rebellious citizens back towards the path of righteousness.
The future of peace talks in the Middle East have been thrown into question after Iran’s foreign ministry said it needed to “reassess” its participation, while Donald Trump said Iran would have to “pay the price” after the two countries traded fire overnight, drawing neighbouring states back into an on-and-off war that has consumed the region since late February. The US launched strikes against Iran in the early hours of Wednesday, in retaliation for what it said was Iran’s downing of a US army helicopter near the strait of Hormuz. Iran then launched a wave of retaliatory airstrikes claiming hits on US bases in Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan. The tit-for-tat attacks were the most severe escalation since a ceasefire was established in early April. Talks to turn the ceasefire into a durable peace have been stalling for weeks, with periodic flare-ups as both sides launched limited strikes and traded blame for violating the truce. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baqaei, said US strikes jeopardised ongoing ceasefire negotiations. He accused the US of undermining diplomacy with its attacks and contradictory messages, and said Israel was also harming the diplomatic process by continuing to violate the ceasefire in Lebanon. “Following overnight events, we need to reassess … Any diplomatic process requires a minimum stable environment,” Baqaei said. Trump, for his part, said Iran had taken “too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them” and would now pay a price. In a post on Truth Social, the US president said: “Iran’s military is a complete and total mess. Much of it, like their Navy and Air Force, doesn’t even exist any more – They have been completely defeated. Iran is all talk and no action. The Bully of the Middle East is DEAD!!!” Trump has frequently threatened to resume military action since a ceasefire was established in April, but has not yet fully followed through. Strikes since the ceasefire have been limited and styled as calculated, one-off attacks, as both sides jockey for position at the negotiating table. The US military described its overnight attacks as a “proportional response” to the downing of the helicopter, whose two crew members were rescued. The US said it had hit Iranian air defences, ground control stations and radar sites. Iran said Qeshm island and the port city of Sirik were attacked, while Iranian media reported explosions in the seaside city of Bandar Abbas. “I believe the response should be very strong, very powerful, and that’s what this one is,” Trump told ABC news. The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) responded by attacking US bases in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan with missiles, and said it was ready to give a “crushing and decisive” response if the US attacked again. The US military said nearly all Iranian missiles and drones had been intercepted, with no immediate reports of US casualties or damage to its facilities. Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain all said the Iranian projectiles had been intercepted. Hours before the US strikes, Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said in a post on X: “We prefer the language of diplomacy, but we speak other languages far more fluently. Break your commitments, and we’ll switch to what we speak best.” Despite the attacks and escalating rhetoric, a US official suggested that a deal with Iran could still be close. “Nothing changes where the deal stands right now,” an anonymous senior white house official told Politico. “There’s a military bucket and then there’s a negotiation bucket … So, two things can happen at the same time.” Trump is keen for a peace deal as US midterm elections approach amid rising inflation and plummeting presidential approval ratings. But despite the US president frequently claiming that a deal with Iran is close, and several rounds of mediated talks, significant gaps remain between the two sides. Iran is seeking the lifting of international sanctions, the unfreezing of billions of dollars in assets, and control over the strait of Hormuz. Trump has said that any future peace deal must prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, while Iran denies that it wants one. Access to the strait of Hormuz – a choke point for about a fifth of the global oil supply – remains restricted by Iran, while the US maintains a blockade on Iranian ports. The interruption to global shipping and energy supplies have had knock-on effects around the world, increasing the prices of food, energy and other goods. A significant obstacle to a lasting peace deal between Iran and the US has been the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon. Iran has insisted that any ceasefire must include the Lebanese front, while Israel and the US have been eager to separate the two. On Sunday, Iran and Israel traded strikes for the first time since the April ceasefire, after Israel struck the southern suburbs of Beirut. Iran has threatened to strike Israel again if it hits Lebanon’s capital. Israel carries out dozens of strikes on south Lebanon each day, while Hezbollah fires on Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon. Israeli strikes have killed more than 3,666 people in Lebanon since the latest conflict began, while attacks by Hezbollah have killed at least 30 Israeli soldiers and three Israeli civilians.
A senior Russian military official has been killed in a car bombing near Moscow, according to media reports. An explosive device planted underneath a BMW detonated at about 5.30am on Tuesday as Col Damir Davydov was driving near his home in the city of Balashikha, the independent outlet Astra reported. It was the latest in a string of assassinations targeting Russian military officials and prominent pro-war figures since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Davydov, 57, headed the Russian military’s artillery and missile ammunition supply directorate, a key logistics role responsible for overseeing the distribution of weapons to the armed forces. The Kremlin on Wednesday confirmed that an explosion had taken place and that Vladimir Putin had been informed. Asked about the investigation, the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to provide details, saying: “As you understand, information related to the ongoing investigation cannot be disclosed. This is, of course, a matter for our special services.” Security camera footage shared by pro-Kremlin media appeared to show Davydov’s vehicle erupting in flames and rolling into a parked car. The Telegram channel Mash reported that bystanders rushed to pull the driver from the wreckage, but he died from his injuries shortly afterwards. A bystander who tried to help Davydov told Astra the colonel was still alive after being pulled from the vehicle. “All of his clothes were on fire. I put out the flames on his T-shirt and tore it off so it wouldn’t burn his skin … Looking at him, it was clear he was unlikely to survive,” the person said. Ukraine has not yet commented on the incident. Without directly blaming Ukraine, Vladimir Shamanov, a Russian lawmaker and retired general, condemned the attack as an “outrage”, adding: “Such insolence should be met with the same.” Since the start of the war, Ukrainian intelligence agencies have targeted dozens of senior Russian military officers and Moscow-installed officials in occupied territories, accusing many being involved in war crimes. The latest assassination will intensify scrutiny of Russia’s internal security apparatus and its ability to protect senior officials. It came despite heightened security measures introduced for top military and political figures, including Vladimir Putin, after a number of high-profile attacks. In an added embarrassment for the security services, the attack took place less than a mile from the spot where, just over a year ago, Lt Gen Yaroslav Moskalik, the deputy head of the Russian armed forces’ main operations directorate, was killed in a similar car bombing. Little is known about the clandestine Ukrainian networks believed to be operating inside Russia and Russia-controlled territories, carrying out assassinations and attacks on military infrastructure far behind the frontline. Successful Ukrainian intelligence operations targeting Russian officials are believed to be one of the reasons behind Russia’s growing use of internet shutdowns, a measure that has caused public frustration across the country. Russian state media also reported a separate incident in Moscow on Tuesday, saying there had been an attempt to kill an employee of a scientific-industrial enterprise. Citing Russia’s investigative committee, RIA Novosti reported that a teenage girl had allegedly retrieved an explosive device from a dead drop on the instructions of Ukrainian handlers and passed it to a teenage boy. Authorities said both teenagers had been detained before the device could be used.