entrance

The entrance of the Armenian Church in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem witnessed a new assault on Sunday, carried out by Israeli settlers. Surveillance camera footage and eyewitness testimonies showed several of them deliberately spitting in front of the church entrance, in a provocative attack that violates freedom of worship and targets Christian holy sites.

Local sources said Israeli occupation forces also raided the town of al-Issawiya, northeast of occupied Jerusalem, and the al-Bustan neighbourhood in Silwan, south of Al-Aqsa Mosque. The occupation forces were deployed in streets and residential areas, causing tension among residents.  

The sources added that the occupation municipality in Jerusalem imposed a fine of 5,000 shekels on the manager of the post office in Silwan, claiming that a “no smoking” sign was not displayed, despite the sign being inside the office. The move was seen as part of ongoing administrative pressure targeting Palestinian institutions.

In the same context, Israeli forces raided shops in the Ain al-Lawza neighbourhood in Silwan and checked the identities of workers. This disrupted commercial activity and caused losses to local businesses.

These incidents come amid a series of continued violations targeting the holy city and its residents, as part of an ongoing escalation by Israeli forces and settlers against Palestinian neighbourhoods and holy sites.

READ: Israeli forces detain journalists, foreign activists in southern West Bank following settler attacks 

IF you’re sick of waiting on busy railway station platforms, then you might want to head to one of the world’s quietest.

Seiryu Miharashi Station in Japan is often called the world’s loneliest train stations, being completely secluded from nearby towns and villages.

Built in 2019, it cost around 112 million yen (£533,000) at the time.

The station has no entrances or exits, so the only way to get to the station is by train.

But don’t expect any scheduled services, or even any commuter trains.

Trains only stop there on request, as there is nothing else nearby such as houses or roads.

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In fact, the station was only built to be a viewing platform stop, as it overlooks the Nishiki River.

Despite predictions of up nearly 5,000 passengers a year, as few as 1,000 make the visit there – work out to fewer than three a day.

If you want to see it for yourself, there is a special sightseeing train that runs once a month.

This has to be reserved in advance, with a minimum of 15 passengers for the service to run.

Tickets cost 5,000 yen (£24) for adults and 4,000 yen (£20) for kids, and includes round trip train tickets and a bento lunch box.

Pay an extra 1,000 yen (£4.80) for an upgraded snack box which includes sake or specially made sweets.

Otherwise other regular trains on the Nishikigawa Seiryū Line run through the station, but do not stop.

When it comes to lonely stations in the UK, there is one that has jut 68 passengers a day.

Elton and Orston station, Lincolnshire, on the East Midlands Railway, network was named one of the least used stations in the UK in 2024.

Otherwise there is also Denton in Greater Manchester, which has just one train service a week on Saturday morning called the Denton Flyer.

Here are the world’s most beautiful train stations.

And a new train station is set to be the world’s biggest – costing £5.82billion with 16,000 passengers every hour.