Six In The Morning Monday July 14

14 July 2014 Last updated at 09:15

Israel's Gaza campaign in seventh day, amid rocket fire

Israeli air strikes on Gaza and rocket fire on Israel have continued as Israel's operation against Palestinian militants entered its seventh day.

Palestinian officials say 172 people in Gaza have been killed since the offensive began last Tuesday.

Israel says nearly 1,000 rockets have been fired from Gaza in that time. It said it shot down a Palestinian drone near Ashdod on Monday morning.

Earlier, thousands of people fled from northern Gaza after an Israeli warning.

The Israeli military dropped leaflets over the town of Beit Lahiya, warning of impending attacks.

Israel has massed thousands of troops on the border with Gaza amid warnings it is prepared to launch a ground invasion.

Saharan remains may be evidence of first race war, 13,000 years ago

The skeletons – from the east bank of the Nile in northern Sudan – are from victims of the world’s oldest known relatively large-scale human armed conflict

DAVID KEYS

 

ARCHAEOLOGY CORRESPONDENT

 

Monday 14 July 2014

Scientists are investigating what may be the oldest identified race war 13,000 years after it raged on the fringes of the Sahara.

French scientists working in collaboration with the British Museum have been examining dozens of skeletons, a majority of whom appear to have been killed by archers using flint-tipped arrows.

The bones – from Jebel Sahaba on the east bank of the Nile in northern Sudan – are from victims of the world’s oldest known relatively large-scale human armed conflict.

Over the past two years anthropologists from Bordeaux University have discovered literally dozens of previously undetected arrow impact marks and flint arrow head fragments on and around the bones of the victims.

Ukraine forces end rebel airport blockade

BY RICHARD BALMFORTH AND ANTON ZVEREV

KIEV/DONETSK Ukraine Mon Jul 14, 2014 5:12am EDT

Ukraine said on Monday its forces had ended a rebel blockade of a strategic airport in the east as it traded charges and threats with Russia over violations of their joint border during a weekend of fierce military combat.

Ukraine's military said its warplanes had inflicted heavy losses on the pro-Russian separatists during air strikes on their positions, including an armored convoy which Kiev said had crossed the border from Russia.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's office said Kiev would present documentary proof of incursions from Russia to the international community via diplomats on Monday.

'Bring back our army': Boko Haram mocks plea to free girls

July 14, 2014 - 9:51AM

Colin Freeman

Boko Haram issued a new video on Sunday mocking the social media campaign that highlighted the plight of the 223 schoolgirls kidnapped by the Islamists in north-east Nigeria.

In a broadcast apparently marking the girls' third month in captivity, Abubakar Shekau, the Boko Haram leader, said they would not be freed until the government released the "army" of the group's fighters held in Nigerian jails.

Mr Shekau also claimed responsibility for three bombings last month and voiced support for Islamic State, the extremists who have seized much of northern Iraq.

Fate for Most Kids Who Cross the Border? Staying in the U.S.

BY RON ALLEN

N EW YORK, NY -- They're here, finally, but will they get to stay? That's the life-changing question hanging over the heads of tens of thousands of young migrants who have crossed the border into the U.S.

Based on a day spent observing an immigration court in New York City, most of them can breathe a little easier: No one appears to be ordered out of the country any time soon.

Fifteen year-old Diego (not his real name) had his first hearing before a judge last week. He was with dozens of young people from mostly Central America crowded into an immigration court to fight their potential deportations. Twice a month in New York the so-called juvenile docket sees as many as 50 children or more who have fled to the U.S. hoping to stay here.

Heirless Japan Businesses Lure China Reviving Graying Nation

 

By Tesun Oh6 hours ago

Takeshi Kaneko searched for nine years to find someone to take over the dried-food store his parents opened after they fled the rubble of Japan-occupied China at the end of World War II.

"I started thinking about it when I turned 60, since my three children are all girls and they left home when they got married," Kaneko, 71, said at his one-story shop in Shizuoka city near Tokyo. "We used to make so much money that we had to stuff 100-yen bills in hemp sacks to take home. But now our sales are only about an eighth of the old days."

After talking to local banks and getting no good leads, Kaneko tried a program run by the prefecture's chamber of commerce that helps business owners find successors and assists with the paperwork. He received 26 applications.