Tonight, Lebanon has been knocked into darkness. Again.
The two state power stations are without fuel, and so the entire country is without electricity. Small mercy it’s no longer the height of summer, when air conditioning units and fans are literally life-saving for many.
Lebanese are used to power shortages: for some time now, the state electricity firm has been limiting power to two to three hours a day, so those who can afford it supplement their electricity from personal generators.
The poorest don’t have that luxury.
Most evenings, Beirut is lit only by the headlamps of cars or street-fires of protest – it is an eerie visualisation of the country’s dire problems.
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During the day, queues, miles long, snake around Beirut petrol stations as people wait for hours to fill up their cars and jerry cans; medicine is so scarce in the country’s pharmacies that one family I spent time with recently couldn’t even find paracetamol on the shelves; and inflation is so rampant that the World Bank has compared the Lebanese financial crisis to Weimar Germany and Zimbabwe.
The middle classes, once wealthy and comfortable, are leaving Lebanon for lives in Europe and the US.
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After months of stalemate, a new government has finally brought some faint hope of political stability and international assistance, but that is yet to materialise.
Talks with the IMF are progressing slowly, and there is a possibility of fuel deals with neighbouring Syria.
It’s a wonder the security situation remains as stable as it does. It is deteriorating – murder, violent crime and robbery are increasing – but, for now, civil conflict hasn’t broken out and the Lebanese Armed Forces are the one organisation in public life with some credibility intact.
The Lebanese government says it hopes to get power back up and running in a matter of days – if it doesn’t, patience will rapidly run out.
There have been many potential turning points in this war, and every time Israel has remained determinedly on the path it’s set: to destroy Hamas.
The deadly strike in Rafah on Sunday night feels like another of those moments, and, possibly, could be the point that Benjamin Netanyahu is forced to turn.
The White House is yet to comment fully, but Joe Biden had been openly opposed to a major Israeli offensive inside Rafah – this will surely have confirmed their fears.
It’s assumed the UN Security Council will sit this week to discuss the ICJ ruling – what the US will choose to do is still unclear.
Israel will hope, and expect, they have their backs as usual, but doing so would undermine international law and risk Mr Biden being called a hypocrite after he so fulsomely supported a similar ruling against Russia in 2022.
European countries have mostly come out very strongly against Israel – President Emmanuel Macron said he was “outraged”, the Italian government said the fighting cannot go on, and the European Union is starting to discuss the previously unthinkable: sanctions.
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ICJ orders Israel to halt Rafah offensive
That course, if it’s taken, would harm Israel far more than Europe.
Under what is known as the EU-Israel Association Agreement, the two sides trade goods worth €47bn (£39bn) annually.
However, while the EU is Israel’s largest trade partner, Israel only represents less than 1% of the EU’s total trade.
Sir Keir Starmer said he would tell Mr Netanyahu to stop fighting, if he was prime minister now. The actual Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is yet to comment.
But there is a sense now that the walls are closing in on Mr Netanyahu and this government, that allies are stepping back from Israel, that international institutions are gathering momentum.
The Israeli prime minister remains defiant, but he is losing friends, and fast.
Four girls aged between nine and 17 were stabbed in an “unprovoked” attack at a cinema in Massachusetts, US police have said.
A 21-year-old woman and a 29-year-old man were also found stabbed in a McDonald’s restaurant in an incident that may be connected, according to officers.
A man, whose identity has not been released, was taken into custody following a vehicle chase that ended in a crash in Sandwich, Cape Cod.
Police said a man came into the AMC Braintree 10 complex, south of Boston, at about 6pm local time on Saturday and entered one of the movie theatres without paying.
“Without saying anything and without any warning, he suddenly attacked the four young females,” the Braintree police department said in a statement.
“The attack appeared to be unprovoked. After the attack, the man ran out and left in a vehicle.”
The girls sustained non-life-threatening injuries and were taken to hospitals in Boston for treatment.
The suspect’s vehicle – what appeared to be a black SUV – and number plate was seen on camera, police said.
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A vehicle matching the description of the suspect’s vehicle was later seen in Plymouth, about 27 miles south of Braintree.
Police said it had left a McDonald’s restaurant, where a 21-year-old woman and a 29-year-old man were found stabbed and both were taken to hospitals with injuries.
Police found the vehicle another 20 miles south, in Sandwich, and attempted to pull it over, but it didn’t stop and later crashed.
The driver was taken into custody shortly afterward and was being treated at a hospital.
Eight people have been taken to hospital due to turbulence on a flight to Dublin.
Dublin Airport said six passengers and six crew members on a Qatar Airways flight from Doha to Dublin were hurt after experiencing turbulence over Turkey.
In a later statement, the airport said all passengers were assessed for injury before getting off the plane and eight were taken to hospital.
Graeme McQueen, a spokesman for DAA, the operator of Dublin Airport, told Sky News the aircraft was met by emergency services upon landing shortly before 1pm on Sunday.
Qatar Airways described the injuries sustained by passengers and crew as “minor”.
It said: “[They] are now receiving medical attention… The safety and security of our passengers and crew are our top priority.”
An internal investigation into what happened has now been launched.
Turbulence is defined as a sudden change in airflow and wind speed.
It can often be associated with storm clouds, which are usually well forecast and monitored, allowing planes to fly around them, Sky News weather producer Jo Robinson said.
Clear-air turbulence (CAT) is much more dangerous as there are no visual signs, such as clouds.
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