Gaza Mortar Fire Kills Israeli Child

Mortar fire from Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip has killed an Israeli child. Israeli officials say the four-year-old boy, Daniel Tregerman, died from a shell that hit near a kindergarten in southern Israel. He is the first Israeli child to die from the violence that started July 8, officials say. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed Hamas will "pay a heavy price" for the attack. The U.S. ...

Jihadist captors of murdered journalist demanded $132 mn for release

LONDON - A massive effort has been launched to identify the jihadist, believed to be British, who appeared in video footage showing the beheading of American journalist James Foley even as it has been learnt that his Islamic captors demanded $132 million ransom for his release.

The extremist group Islamic State (IS) published a video of the moments before and after James Foley was beheaded on 19 August.

Reports ...

HSBC boss warns of capital flight from independent Scotland

EDINBURGH, Scotland - Douglas Flint, the chairman of HSBC, the second-largest bank in the world, has warned that uncertainty over an independent Scotland's currency could lead to "capital flight" from the country.

Douglas Flint, in an opinion piece for The Telegraph, said supporters of independence were "advocating a giant step into economic uncertainty". Flint wrote that Scotland would struggle to derive the same ...

Pentagon admits failure of operation to free Americans held by jihadists

WASHINGTON - In a candid admission,the Pentagon has said that US Special Operations forces failed in a secret operation this summer to rescue journalist James Foley and other Americans who were held in Syria by dreaded Islamic State militants.

Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby said in a statement that the operation was launched to save many Americans held hostage by the militant group that rules over ...

Jihadists sent chilling email to Foley family before execution

BOSTON, Massachusetts - In a chilling email sent to the family of American journalist James Foley days before his execution, the Islamic State militant group warns citizens of the United States that they will have "to pay the price of your bombings".

The email blames the United States for the killing of the photo journalist who was decapitated by Islamic State militants, two years after he went missing in ...

Dozens dead as gunmen attack Sunni mosque in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Gunmen opened indiscriminate fire inside a packed Sunni mosque in an Iraq province Friday, killing dozens of worshippers, officials and eyewitnesses said, as blame fell on Shia militants for the attack.

A suicide bomber first stormed the Musab bin Omair Mosque in Imam Wais village in Diyala province, some 120 km northeast of Baghdad. The attack was timed to cause maximum casualties as the mosque was ...

UN criticizes international paralysis on Syrian civil war

GENEVA - The Syrian civil war, which began with peaceful protests, has in the last three years claimed over 191,000 lives with war crimes being committed with impunity on both sides, the UN said.

The UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said the figure was "probably an underestimate" and criticised what she called "international paralysis" on the issue.

The figure, covering the period from March 2011 to April 2014, ...

Pressure mounts on Sharif government as Imran Khan and party resign

ISLAMABAD - Capping a week of anti-government protests outside parliament, lawmakers of popular Pakistani opposition leader Imran Khan's party resigned en masse from the National Assembly Friday, mounting more pressure on the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The resignations came as the protesters continued their siege of parliament demanding Sharif's ouster. Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders ...

Egyptians want a permanent ceasefire in Gaza

CAIRO, EGYPT - Egypt has called for Israelis and Palestinians to accept a permanent cease-fire and return to indirect talks in Cairo. The move from Egypt's foreign ministry came after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met Saturday in Cairo with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi. Palestinian officials have said they will consider the appeal. There was no immediate response from Israel. A short time later ...

Turkey chooses Ahmet Davutoglu as prime minister

ANKARA - Turkey's ruling AK Party has chosen Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu as the successor to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who is set to take over as president of the country.

Davutoglu has held the job of foreign minister since 2009.

The central committee of the AK Party named Davutoglu as the new prime minister. He will officially take office after his election as the AKP's new leader is confirmed ...

Seeking debt restructuring Argentina accuses US judge of being imperialist

BUENOS AIRES - Argentina on Friday accused the US judge who called its new debt restructuring plan illegal, of making "imperialist" comments against the country.

Argentina hit back at US District Judge Thomas Griesa after he termed the country's new debt restructuring plan was illegal.

Griesa said measures announced by Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez violate rulings by his court, but he stopped short of ...

Thai military chief appointed prime minister

BANGKOK, Thailand - Army Chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha, who overthrew an elected Thai government three months ago, has decided to shed his uniform and was Thursday appointed as the new prime minister, giving the military absolute powers in the country.

The general was chosen by a legislature whose members he hand-picked to form the National Legislative Assembly last month. Nobody expressed dissent and Prayuth was ...

Hamas gunmen kill several suspected Israeli spies

GAZA CITY, Palestine - Hamas gunmen killed large number of alleged Israeli spies Friday, a day after three top military commanders of the group were killed in an airstrike on a house in Gaza, local media said.

The slain alleged informers included seven who were reportedly lined up behind a mosque and shot after Friday afternoon prayers.

The Hamas-affiliated wire news service Safa said 11 of the spies were executed ...

Carillion calls off merger proposal with Balfour Beatty after third rejection

LONDON - British construction giant Carillion Wednesday called off its efforts to seek a merger with rival Balfour Beatty after its third and latest hiked-2.1 billion pounds offer was rejected once again.

Carillion's latest sweetened merger proposal on Tuesday values its rival at 2.1 billion pounds ($3.5 billion). In its attempt to create a British construction giant with 80,000 staff around the world Carillion ...

Decline in unemployment overstated says Fed chief

WASHINGTON - Fed Reserve chairperson Janet Yellen Friday said that the American job market still faced some slackness despite recent rapid decline in the unemployment rate.

Yellen was speaking at an annual Fed conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. She said "the decline in the unemployment rate somewhat overstates the improvement in overall labor market conditions".

Yellen stated that the still "remaining slack in ...

Weakened currencies and political turmoil hit foreign tourist spending in UK

LONDON - Tourists visiting the UK are no longer spending as much as before with political unrest in Ukraine, sanctions against Russia and political upheaval in Thailand eroding traveler sentiments, according to tax-free shopping specialist Global Blue.

Data released Friday by Global Blue shows that for the first time in five years tourist spending has fallen by four percent in the first six months compared with the ...

Concern grows for second US journalist held by ISIS

MIAMI, Flordia - There are fears in the United States that Steven Sotloff, a 31-year-old a freelance journalist, may be the second American at risk of being killed by ISIS militants after the recorded beheading of American reporter James Foley.

Sotloff, of Miami, Florida, covered the Arab Spring and the war in Syria for a number of publications, including Time magazine, the Christian Science Monitor and Foreign ...

Santos reports significant gas discovery offshore Western Australia

PERTH, Western Australia - Australian Oil and gas major Santos Friday announced a significant gas-condensate discovery at the Lasseter-1 exploration well in WA-274-P, located in the Browse Basin offshore Western Australia.

The Lasseter-1 well is located approximately 35 kilometres east-southeast of Santos' Crown discovery and 480 kilometres north-northeast of Broome. The water depth at location is 404 metres.

The ...

$17 bn penalty deal settles mortgage probe of Bank of America

WASHINGTON - Bank of America is paying nearly $17 billion in penalty to settle a federal probe over its sale of faulty mortgage-backed securities that largely caused the financial crisis in 2008, the United States Justice Department said Thursday.

The settlement deal by the nation's second largest bank tops a $13 billion agreement between the Justice Department and J.P. Morgan Chase last year over similar issues. The ...

Israeli PM jubilant at assassination of Hamas commanders

TEL AVIV, Israel - Assassinations by Israeli military and intelligence services require the prime minister to approve them.

So it was Benjamin Netanyahu authorised the death of three Hamas commanders in an air strike at 2:30am Thursday. The mission was successful and all 3 militants are dead.

Afterwards the champagne corks were popping in Tel Aviv as Israeli leaders heaped praised on the country's defense forces ...