Six In The Morning Wednesday July 9

9 July 2014 Last updated at 08:03

Hamas fires rockets amid Israeli air strikes on Gaza

Palestinian militants have fired more rockets at Israeli cities and Israel carried out dozens of air raids on Gaza overnight, as hostilities intensified.

Israel said four rockets hit southern Israel overnight and that rocket fire continued on Wednesday, with more shot down over Tel Aviv and Ashkelon.

Israel said there were 160 air strikes on Gaza overnight in response.

The health ministry in Gaza says 25 Palestinians have been killed and 70 hurt in the recent hostilities.

The ministry said that four women and three children were among the dead.

The military wing of Hamas has warned that all Israelis are now targets.

Netanyahu vow

Israel's military said that overnight it had targeted 118 concealed rocket launchers, 10 Hamas command and control centres and 10 tunnels.

It brought to 440 the number of targets in Gaza attacked as part of "Operation Protective Edge".

Sri Lankan asylum seeker mistreatment claims are 'urban myth', says former Australian foreign minister

Many of the 41 returned refugees have been bailed in Sri Lanka

LIZZIE DEARDEN

 

 

Wednesday 09 July 2014

The former Australian Foreign Minister has dismissed claims of mistreatment of asylum seekers on their return to Sri Lanka, claiming the country was “not doing badly”.

Bob Carr was speaking before news came through that some of the 41 people who had tried to cross to Australia by boat and were turned back by authorities had been released by a Sri Lankan court.

Five alleged traffickers, including a Sri Lankan policeman, who were on the boat are among those still being held.

The 27 others were accused of illegally leaving the country and released on bail. Nine children were also freed.

China and US commit to 'new model' of relations

A diplomatic delegation from the United States is in China in an effort to smooth out several disputes in relations between the two countries. President Obama spoke of a 'new model' in US-China interactions.

The American delegation to the Strategic and Economic dialogue, and annual event that kicked off on Wednesday in Beijing, is being led by Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.

The talks, due to last two days, are designed to be a platform where both countries can address a few points that have repeatedly caused friction in recent months.

The US has accused China on more than one occasion of Internet spying, while China has been angered at the US stance on disputed territories in the South China Sea and the East China Sea. China's valuation of its own currency has irked the US as well.

Africa as we know her might soon be history thanks to rebels, minerals, and drugs

M&G AFRICA SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

The discovery of new riches in the soil might lead to secession, or encourage regions to cooperate. It’s not yet clear which trend will prevail.

The increase in “small wars” in Africa has lately been dominating the news out of the continent, but at this point they are happening mostly in ill-governed peripheries and contested borderlands.

The bigger story about them, though, is that they are challenging the concept of the unitary nation-state in Africa with its defined colonial borders.

Since 1990, there has been sustained reduction in the number of large-scale armed conflicts. Many of the old-school major guerilla movements like the Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA), UNITA in Angola and RENAMO in Mozambique, SWAPO in Namibia, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front - iconic of the classic era of big civil wars - died out through military conquest or peace treaties. 

Report: S. Korean ferry operators prioritized profits over safety

By K.J. Kwon and Holly Yan, CNN

July 9, 2014 -- Updated 0607 GMT (1407 HKT)

The operators of the sunken Sewol ferry prioritized profit over safety, and the vessel was licensed based on falsified documents, South Korean investigators said in an interim report.

At least 292 people, including more than 200 high school students, died after the ferry sank in April. Eleven people remain missing.

The government's Audit and Inspection Board said the disaster was a man-made accident. It added that the Korean Register of Shipping licensed the modified vessel based on falsified documents. It didn't elaborate.

Kremlin silent as pro-Russian rebels retreat in Ukraine

 

By Maria Antonova , Olga Rotenberg14 hours ago

 As a Ukrainian government offensive sends separatists retreating from their strongholds in the country's restive east, there are signs that Moscow is seeking to distance itself from the pro-Russian rebels.

Facing the threat of biting Western sanctions that could further shake Russia's teetering economy, President Vladimir Putin has watched a string of rebel defeats without taking any action -- drawing accusations from separatist sympathisers at home that he is betraying their cause.

Having initially vilified the government in Kiev as a "facist" junta pursuing ethnic cleansing in eastern Ukraine, Russian state television has dampened its rhetoric in recent weeks.