30 July 2014 Last updated at 08:07
Gaza conflict: Israel 'hits Jabaliya school refuge'
Tank fire has killed at least 15 Palestinians sheltering at a school in a Gaza refugee camp, the UN says.
Witnesses at the UN-run Abu Hussein school, where thousands were taking refuge, said walls had been destroyed.
Israel, which has accused the militant group Hamas of using schools as bases to launch rockets, said it was investigating the reports.
At least 1,200 Palestinians and 55 Israelis have been killed since Israel launched its offensive on 8 July.
Most of the Palestinian deaths have been civilians.
Some 53 Israeli soldiers have been killed along with two civilians. A Thai worker in Israel has also died.
EU, US extend sanctions on Russia over ‘Ukraine violence’
Co-ordinated approach targets trade, energy, banks, technology, arms and finance sector
The European Union imposed sanctions on key sectors of the Russian economy yesterday, in what was by far the hardest-hitting response by EU countries since the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine late last year.
Under an agreement reached by ambassadors of the EU’s 28 member states yesterday in Brussels, Russian banks are to be denied access to European capital markets, with EU entities prohibited to trade equity or debt with Russian banks that has a maturity of more than 90 days.
The trade of “dual-use” technology which can be used for both civilians and defence purposes will be restricted. The new measures also prohibit the sale of arms to Russia, though the arms embargo implicitly gives the green light to France to proceed with the sale of two Mistral warships to Russia, by specifying that only future arms sales will be included. Similarly, the new round of sanctions targets Russian oil, rather than gas, outlawing exports of oil exploration equipment to Russia. About 30 per cent of the European Union’s gas supply comes from Russia.
Xi Jinping's purge claims the biggest scalp yet: Zhou Yongkang
July 30, 2014 - 3:29PMPhilip Wen
China correspondent for Fairfax Media
Beijing: In his first public address as the freshly unveiled President of China, Xi Jinping laconically apologised to the waiting media for being late, introduced the other six members of his standing committee and then proceeded to elucidate the “severe challenges” facing his government – chief among them the graft and corruption engulfing the Communist Party and its credibility.
“To forge iron, you must have a strong hammer,” he said.
Some 20 months later, amid an audaciously wide-ranging anti-corruption campaign, waged simultaneously as he grappled with factional politics to centralise control of the country’s military and national security policies, Mr Xi has his biggest scalp yet.
On Tuesday evening, China announced an investigation into the 72-year-old former domestic security chief Zhou Yongkang, one of the nation’s most feared political identities, and a man who once controlled the country’s police force, state security and lucrative state oil monopoly.
At least 24 dead in Guinea rap concert stampede
At least 24 people died and dozens more were hurt Tuesday night in a stampede at a rap concert on a beach in the Guinean capital Conakry, prompting a week of national mourning.
The government said the west African country suffered a "tragedy" a day after Guineans celebrated the Eid al-Fitr holiday ending the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
The authorities gave no details on how the stampede occurred on Rogbane beach in the city's northern Ratoma suburb where popular Guinean rap group "Instinct Killers" was playing among other artists.
Medics took at least 24 bodies including 13 girls to a hospital morgue at Donka, a hospital official told AFP.
Inside North Korea's Summer Camp for Kids
By RHEANA MURRAY15 hours ago
North Korea might not be the destination that comes to mind when kids think summer camp.
Maybe it should be.
More than 300 kids from around the world flocked to the Songdowon International Children's Camp in Wonsan, which reopened today, for eight days of summer fun. The camp boasts giant water slides, a private beach, volleyball courts and -- of course -- statues of dictators.
"At the end there is a talent show," said 19-year-old Linus Jamal Faustin, who came with a group of 16 from Tanzania's Laureate International School in Dar es Salaam. "We are ready to show them all how to dance."
Campers from Russia, China, Vietnam, Ireland and Tanzania sleep in air-conditioned rooms with video games and TVs. Officials say kids are welcome from everywhere -- including the United States.
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