Six in The Morning Saturday August 2

Hamas defends Gaza ambush blamed for ending ceasefire
 

By By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Dan Williams1 hour ago

Hamas claimed responsibility on Saturday for a deadly Gaza Strip ambush in which an Israeli army officer may have been captured, but said the incident likely preceded and therefore had not violated a U.S.- and U.N.-sponsored truce.

The statement by Hamas's armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, appeared aimed at preempting any intensification of Israel's 25-day-old Gaza offensive as well as deflecting international blame for the collapse of Friday's ceasefire.

Israel says Palestinian gunmen stormed out of a tunnel to ambush its infantrymen in southern Rafah a 9.30 a.m., one and a half hours after the halt to hostilities came into effect, killing two and hauling away an army lieutenant, Hadar Goldin.

2 August 2014 Last updated at 02:59

Australian couple abandon surrogate Down's Syndrome baby

A campaign for a baby with Down's Syndrome left with his surrogate Thai mother by an Australian couple has raised over $120,000 (£70,000).

The six-month-old boy, named Gammy, also has a congenital heart condition and needs urgent medical treatment.

Pattaramon Chanbua was left to care for him after his Australian parents only wanted his healthy twin sister.

She was paid $15,000 (£9,000) to be a surrogate for the couple, whose identities remain unknown.

Mrs Pattaramon was told of the child's condition four months after becoming pregnant and the couple asked her to have an abortion but she refused, saying it was against her Buddhist beliefs.

New ‘bloggers law’ in Russia tightens control of internet

Bloggers with more than 3,000 daily readers must register with authorities

Isabel Gorst

A new law that came into force in Russia yesterday will tighten government control of the internet, one of the few remaining media outlets where people can express anti-Kremlin views.

Russian regulators say the new rules are needed to make the internet a safer place and prevent the online broadcast of extremist slogans, child pornography, illegal advertisements, obscenities and slang.

However, rights activists have slammed the law as an attack on free of speech that will be used to silence critical voices.

Ebola outpacing control efforts, warns WHO

August 2, 2014 - 12:35PM

Adam Nossiter and Alan Cowell

Abuja, Nigeria: In an ominous warning as fatalities mount in West Africa from the worst known outbreak of the Ebola virus, the head of the World Health Organisation says the disease is moving faster than efforts to curb it, with potentially catastrophic consequences, including a "high risk" that it will spread.

The assessment was among the most dire since the outbreak was identified in March. The outbreak has been blamed for the deaths of 729 people, according to WHO figures, and left more than 1300 people with confirmed or suspected infections.

WHO director general Dr Margaret Chan was speaking as she met leaders of the three most affected countries - Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone - in Conakry, the Guinean capital, for the introduction of a $100 million plan to deploy hundreds more medical professionals in support of overstretched regional and international health workers.

Why South Korea is throwing 10,000 Choco Pies at the DPRK

North Korean defectors and South Korean activists sent balloons full of the chocolate treats over North Korea Weds.

By Max Schindler, Staff Writer

Despite years of international sanctions, North Korea hasn’t budged in unlocking the doors to its closed economy. But one possible tool for wedging open the recluse nation may be a popular chocolate treat.

On Wednesday, hundreds of South Korean activists – along with North Korean defectors – blew up balloons containing thousands of Choco Pies and flew them over the border.

They were acting in response to a North Korean ban on the perennially popular chocolate confections, a sign of the difficulty in staving off its capitalist neighbor’s influence.

Argentina debt talks must continue after default: U.S. Judge

BY JOSEPH AX, NICHOLAS BROWN AND SARAH MARSH

NEW YORK/BUENOS AIRES 

Argentina cannot turn its back on negotiations with holdout creditors after defaulting on its sovereign debt, a U.S. judge instructed on Friday, just as the country's failure to service a June interest payment was declared a "credit event."

In a stern tone, U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa in New York slammed the decision by Latin America's third-biggest economy to defy his order to pay holdout investors in full and instead default on $29 billion in debt.

As Griesa was speaking, a 15-member committee facilitated by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) voted unanimously to call the missed coupon payment a "credit event." The move triggers a payout process for holders of insurance on Argentine debt, which analysts estimate could amount to roughly $1 billion.