Midday Roundup: Palestinian rage rocks Israel with violent attacks

Insecure. At least seven Israelis and two dozen Palestinians have died in two weeks of uninterrupted violence in Israel. On Tuesday, a series of attacks by knife and gun-wielding Palestinians rocked Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in what Palestinian groups are calling a “Day of Rage.” Muslims in Jerusalem are reportedly upset over increased Jewish visits to the Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount, an area sacred to both Muslims and Jews. Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said two Palestinians boarded a bus in Jerusalem on Tuesday and began shooting and stabbing passengers, killing one Israeli man. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a special meeting of Israel’s security council to discuss ways of containing the violence. That could involve sealing off Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem.

Relapse. A British nurse who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone last year is back in the hospital in critical condition. Like many Ebola survivors, Pauline Cafferkey is suffering long-term effects from the disease that killed more than 11,000 people in an outbreak in western Africa last year. Post-Ebola syndrome can cause body aches, weakness, joint pain, fatigue, hearing loss, rash, and an inflammation of the eye.

Suspicious activity. Neighbors said they already suspected cult-like activity at a New York state church where two young men were badly beaten, one to death, on Monday. The teens’ parents are in custody on manslaughter charges in the death of their 19-year-old son, Lucas Leonard. His 17-year-old brother is hospitalized in serious condition. Four other church members are under arrest for assault. The boys received injuries to their backs, thighs, genitalia, and abdomens, according to police. Neighbors have reported strange activity at the church, Word of Life Christian Church in Chadwicks, N.Y., including dog breeding, chanting, and people coming and going in the middle of the night. One year, the church posted guards outside on Halloween.

Mixed messages. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has apologized for errors in the government’s handling of a deadly bombing last weekend at a protest in Ankara. The president indicated authorities had intelligence from Syria that an attack was being planned before it happened. The two bombings killed almost 100 people at a Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) protest against the government. So far, the government has blamed Islamic State (ISIS) for the attack. But Turkey has also claimed the PKK is cooperating with ISIS and that an unidentified second group could have been involved in the bombing. Meanwhile, the PKK is known to be fighting against ISIS in Syria and Iraq.

Shrinking spot. A new set of high-definition pictures of Jupiter show the planet’s famous red spot, a swirling storm the size of three Earths, is shrinking. The storm is growing rounder and the center is becoming less distinct. Does that mean the red spot, which astronomers have noted for about 400 years, is fading? Scientists don’t really know, but they can keep an eye on it annually thanks to a new Hubble Space Telescope program that takes yearly portraits of the Solar System’s outer planets.

WORLD Radio’s Jim Henry contributed to this report.