TOULOUSE, France — A gunman burst into a Jewish school in France yesterday, shooting dead three children and a teacher in the third deadly gun attack in a week by a man who made his escape on a motorbike. The children, aged three, six and 10, and a 30-year-old religious education teacher were

RIYADH — The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia has said all churches in the Arabian Peninsula must be destroyed. The statement prompted anger and dismay from Christians throughout the Middle East.

CAIRO — Thousands of grieving Coptic Christians packed St Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo yesterday to bid farewell to Pope Shenuda III, his body on a wooden throne, as the church considered a new head.
Shenuda died on Saturday aged 88 after a long illness, setting in motion the process to elect a new

ACCRA — President John Evans Atta Mills, seeking re-election in December, has urged loyalists and supporters of the ruling National Democratic Congress to put any differences behind them and work hard to retain the party in power. He said the party is in no way in disarray and urged party faithful and fans

NOUAKCHOTT — France and the International Criminal Court has filed formal requests with Mauritania to extradite Libya’s ex-spy chief Abdullah Senussi, a security source said yesterday as Tripoli insisted that it should put him on trial. “For the time being two requests have been received by Mauritania. One from

KABUL — More than a dozen US soldiers were reportedly involved in the Kandahar killing of 16 civilians, a local newspaper reported yesterday, citing members of the Afghan parliament who were part of an investigation to probe the incident. “The delegation sent to Kandahar by the Afghan House of

The world’s tallest man may have finally stopped growing at a towering 8ft 3ins (247.62cm or 2.5m) thanks to a pioneering new treatment. Turkish farm labourer Sultan Kosen (29) suffers from the rare disorder acromegaly which causes his body to continually produce the growth hormone. Mr Kosen’s

When a van driver’s Sat Nav and digital radio were stolen, he and his wife were left cursing the thief who took them. The navigation device was vital to Kevin Ingram’s work, while the radio had been a present from his son. But his wife Sue had her “faith in humanity” restored when the goods reappeared with a

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama yesterday hailed the “indispensable” and “essential” US alliance with Britain, as he welcomed Prime Minister David Cameron for an official visit. Obama and Cameron were to hold one-on-one Oval Office talks, likely to be dominated by the showdown with Iran

LONDON — British police investigating phone hacking re-arrested former Rupert Murdoch aide Rebekah Brooks on Tuesday and detained her husband, a close friend of Prime Minister David Cameron, reports said. Brooks and her husband Charlie were reportedly among six people arrested at dawn on suspicion

THE HAGUE — The International Criminal Court yesterday found Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga guilty of war crimes in its landmark first ruling since it was set up a decade ago. Lubanga was accused of recruiting and deploying child soldiers during a five-year conflict until 2003. An estimated 60 000 people