Stargazers have been treated overnight to a stunning and unusual sight – a super blood Moon. Shortly after 03:30 GMT on Monday, Earth’s orbit meant that for several minutes our planet was positioned directly between the Sun and the Moon. In that time the Moon fell completely into Earth’s shadow – temporarily turning it a dusky shade of dark red. Its hue was created by sunlight being projected through Earth’s atmosphere onto the Moon’s shadowed surface. The lunar eclipse coincided with a separate event – a super Moon. This is when the Moon is at its closest point to Earth in its orbit and so appears larger than usual.(BBC)…[+]

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)…[+]