Israeli air strikes on four high-rise buildings in the final days of this summer's conflict in Gaza amounted to war crimes, Amnesty International says. Evidence suggested the destruction was "carried out deliberately and with no military justification", a new report by the human rights group found.

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations children’s agency UNICEF declared 2014 a devastating year for children on Monday with as many as 15 million caught in conflicts in Central African Republic, Iraq, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and the Palestinian territories. UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake

Typhoon Hagupit is sweeping across the eastern Philippines, toppling trees and power lines and threatening coastal areas with a powerful sea-surge. More than half a million people have fled coastal villages in the area, which was still recovering from Typhoon Haiyan last year. In Tacloban, where

Belgium's government have agreed to recognise the Palestinian state, despite diplomatic pressure from Israel and its allies, RT and other international mass media reported yesterday. The government said it would recognise the Palestinians state "at a moment deemed appropriate". Belgian newspap

PARIS: France said Friday its fighter jets were conducting a “major” raid in Iraq as part of the US-led coalition offensive against the IS group, days after members said the strikes were having effect. “At the moment, a major raid is taking place,” Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told BFMTV,

LIMA: This year is on track to be the hottest on record, or at least among the very warmest, the United Nations said on Wednesday in new evidence of long-term warming that adds urgency to 190-nation talks under way in Lima on slowing climate change. Including this year, 14 of the 15 most swelteri

The United Nations is concerned about the lack of respect for the neutrality of its facilities. Israeli attacks on U.N. facilities and how Palestinian fighters misused some U.N. founded schools for weapons storage prompted the international organization to launch an investigation, officials sai

BRUSSELS: Belgian legislators are working on a resolution to recognize a Palestinian state but the government says any timing to proceed will depend on European Union action. Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said he first would push for a new EU initiative to bring Israel and the Palestin

PARIS: France’s lower house of Parliament has voted to urge the government to recognize a Palestinian state, in the hope that speeds up peace efforts after decades of conflict. Tuesday’s French vote, approved with 339 votes to 151, is non-binding. But it is a symbolic boost for the Palestinians,

SHANGHAI: Fifteen people were killed when a group threw explosives into a crowded street where vendors were selling food in China’s restive region of Xinjiang, the official Xinhua news agency said on Saturday. Eleven were attackers who were killed by the police, the agency said, and 14 people wer

Arab League foreign ministers agreed on Saturday to formally present a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council that will set a timeframe for the creation of a Palestinian state. The ministers set up a committee comprised of Kuwait, Mauritania, Jordan and Arab League chief Nabil al

A court in Egypt has dropped charges against former President Hosni Mubarak over the killing of 239 protesters during the 2011 uprising against him. The Cairo court erupted in cheers when the judge said Mubarak should not have been a defendant in the case as the charges against him were added late.

CAIRO: Three people including an army general were killed and at least 20 were wounded in a drive-by shooting and clashes that erupted during protests around Egypt, officials said. Police were out in force in anticipation of the protests. In Matariya, focal point for early afternoon protests in C

CAIRO: An Egyptian court Wednesday sentenced 78 minors to between two and five years in prison for taking part in demonstrations calling for the return of Muhammad Mursi, judicial sources said. On Wednesday, a court in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria sentenced 78 teenage boys aged from 13 to

MOSCOW: Siberian air passengers had to get out and push their plane in temperatures of minus 52 degrees Celsius after its chassis froze, Russian prosecutors said Wednesday. The extraordinary story emerged after a passenger posted a video on YouTube showing a group of cheery travelers pushing the

BEIRUT: A wave of Syrian regime air strikes on the Islamic State group's self-proclaimed capital of Raqa, in the country's east, killed at least 63 civilians on Tuesday, a monitor said. "The death toll has risen to at least 36 in air raids on Raqa," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, u

JERUSALEM: Human rights groups have accused Israel of encouraging a shoot-to-kill policy after a wave of incidents in which police shot dead Palestinians involved in, or accused of, attacking Israelis. The alleged practice of killing suspects without trying to arrest them has caused concern after

An Israeli artillery fires a 155mm shell towards targets in the Gaza Strip from their position near Israel's border with the Strip, in this July 12, 2014 photo. (AFP) JERUSALEM: Human Rights Watch called on Israel Saturday to stop razing the homes of Palestinians accused of attacking Israelis, sa