Israel-Gaza Conflict: Hamas Turns to North Korea for Missile Supplies

An Israeli Apache helicopter fires a missile towards the Gaza StripReuters

As the ongoing Israel-Gaza fighting is depleting the arsenal of Hamas, the group is reportedly turning to North Korea for missile supplies.

"Hamas is looking for ways to replenish its stocks of missiles because of the large numbers it has fired at Israel in recent weeks," a Western security official, who has knowledge of the matter, told the Telegraph.

"North Korea is an obvious place to seek supplies because Pyongyang already has close ties with a number of militant Islamist groups in the Middle East."

North Korea has close ties with the Israeli rival Iran which has openly declared its support for Palestine. The countries are also speculated to be cooperating in each other's nuclear programme.

The proposed arms deal between Hamas and North Korea is thought to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Lebanon-based groups are said to be brokering the deal.

In 2009, about 35 tonnes of weapons including surface-to-surface rockets were seized from a cargo plane and it was believed that the shipment was from North Korea for Hamas.

Hamas rejects truce extension

Meanwhile, Hamas has rejected the ceasefire extension, which was agreed by Israel at the UN's request. The Palestinian insurgent group said the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) needs to pull out its troops from Gaza immediately.

Israel said it would launch attacks if necessary.

A senior IDF official told the Israeli daily Haaretz: "We are running this like any other military operation and everything is being considered. When we need to attack we will attack. That's not a problem. Right now we are continuing our main activity - uncovering the tunnels within the timeframe of the humanitarian cease-fire."

Hamas Militants Fire Rockets into Israel Rejecting Humanitarian Ceasefire

An Israeli soldier prays in front of a tank at a military staging area near the border with the Gaza Strip.Reuters

Hamas militants have fired several rockets into Israel, rejecting an offer to extend a 12-hour humanitarian ceasefire.

Three mortars were fired from Gaza, hitting Israel in the Eshkol regional council shortly after 20:00 local time.

The Israeli government was ready to extend the 12-hour truce until midnight (10pm UK time) however, Hamas claims this was with the intention of preparing more military strikes.

Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri sent a text message to reporters saying: "No agreement to extending the calm for an additional four hours."

During the original truce, Gazans had been recovering bodies and gathering supplies. Doctors in Gaza said 132 bodies were pulled from rubble during the ceasefire, taking the number of Palestinians killed in 19 days of violence to more than 1,000.

“The world is watching tragic moment after tragic moment unfold and is wondering when everybody is going to come to their senses.”

- John Kerry, US Secretary of State

A senior Israeli official confirmed that the UN had requested a 24-hour extension to the ceasefire.

"At the first stage, the cabinet approved, in a phone vote, four more hours until midnight, in order to allow the cabinet to convene and discuss the UN's request," the official said.

"The IDF [Israel Defence Forces] maintains the humanitarian pause, during which, the IDF's activity to neutralise the [Hamas] tunnels will continue."

After the Hamas rockets were fired into Israel, the people of Gaza are now bracing themselves for Israeli strikes.

Meanwhile, as fighting recommences, world leaders are continuing their efforts to negotiate a wider ceasefire in Paris.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is in Paris for talks with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and other counterparts from Europe, Turkey and Qatar, said he remains "confident progress can be made" on a seven-day truce that would "bring people together to create a more durable plan".

Mr Kerry told a news conference in Cairo a "fundamental framework" for peace was in place and that it would "ultimately succeed".

"The world is watching tragic moment after tragic moment unfold and is wondering when everybody is going to come to their senses," said Mr Kerry.

In London, anti-war protesters marched from the Israeli embassy to the Houses of Parliament.

Protests also took place in France and Germany.

Spanish Paedophile Stoned by Crowd in Marrakesh

An anti-paedophile demonstration in Marrakesh in 2013.Getty

A Spanish paedophile was stoned by a furious mob after being caught abusing a child in Marrakesh.

Moroccan police patrolling the Chetoui district in the city reportedly found people hurling stones at the man, before stepping in to save him from the crowd.

Under questioning, the tourist initially denied raping the child, but subsequently confessed to sexual assault.

Recently, there has been a surge in child abuse cases in Morocco.

Critics say that sentences handed down to paedophiles are too light, and fail to act as a deterrence.

On July 17, a 57-year-old man was sentenced to two years in jail after he was caught sexually abusing a 10 year-old boy.

Najia Adib, President of the Moroccan anti-paedophile group Don't Touch My Child condemned the senetence as too lenient.

Under Moroccan law, paedophiles can be sentenced to up to 30 years in jail.

Last year, riots were sparked when the King of Morocco pardoned a paedophile who had been sentenced to 10 years in jail for sexually abusing 11 children.

The pardon was subsequently revoked, and Galvan was re-arrested in Spain, where he is serving a 30 year sentence.

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Palestinian Death Toll in Gaza Crisis Tops 1,000

A Palestinian woman sees her destroyed house in Beit Hanoun town, in the northern Gaza Strip.Reuters/Suhaib Salem

The number of people killed in the Israeli-Hamas conflict has passed 1,000, according to Palestinian medical officials.

On the day the two sides declared a 12-hour humanitarian ceasefire, at least 85 bodies have been pulled from the rubble during the lull in fighting.

This brings the Palestinian death toll to an estimated 985, along with 39 Israelis, who have died since the conflict began on 8 July.

About 5,870 Palestinians have also been wounded in the 19 days of fighting, health officials in Palestine say.

During the truce Gaza residents returned to their destroyed homes to try and gather essential supplies and retrieve bodies buried under rubble and in previously inaccessible areas.

The humanitarian truce was also used to open banks and carry out maintenance work to repair damage done to the electricity and water supplies during the Israeli bombardment.

The truce is due to end at 18:00 GMT. On Saturday international talks were underway in Paris to try and extend the truce.

The US Secretary of State Kerry flew to Paris where French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius hosted him and counterparts from Britain, Germany, Italy, Qatar, Turkey and the European Union.

"We all call on parties to extend the humanitarian ceasefire currently in force, by 24 hours that could be renewed," France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters after the meeting, which lasted more than two hours.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said before the talks began: "We all want to obtain a lasting ceasefire as quickly as possible that addresses both Israeli requirements in terms of security and Palestinian requirements in terms of socio-economic development. It's now about reaching a common position that we must put an end to the deaths."

Crude Oil Prices Rise as Traders Watch Geopolitical Tensions

A member of the Kurdish security forces guards a section of an oil refinery, being brought on a truck to Kalak refinery in the outskirts of Arbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan region.Reuters

Global crude oil prices rose on 25 July as traders braced themselves for more market-churning news from the Middle East and Ukraine over the weekend.

Brent September contract finished $1.32, or 1.2%, higher at $108.39 a barrel on Friday, logging its highest closing price since 10 July.

US September contract finished nearly flat, up 2 cents at $102.09 a barrel on Friday.

Ritterbusch & Associates said in a note to clients: "Given the situations in Ukraine and Gaza, traders who had placed bets that prices would fall were reluctant to carry their positions into the weekend."

Commerzbank Corporates & Markets said in a note to clients: "Unimpressed by recent numerous crises, the [Brent] oil price is moving in the middle of its established trading range between $105 and $110 per barrel. This is unlikely to change much in the week ahead.

"The new surveys of Opec production by the news agencies Reuters and Bloomberg are unlikely to surprise: Going by the regular day-to-day reports of the Libyan oil company NOC, it is emerging that Libyan oil production in July amounted to roughly 500,000 barrels per day.

"On a monthly average, this is 200,000 barrels per day more than in the previous month. It is also pretty certain that Iraq's oil production has not been adversely affected by the political unrest in the northern part of the country.

"Instead, exports from southern Iraq even increased in July. As a result, it is likely that Opec production has slightly exceeded the previous month's level, though the effect on prices is neutralised by an increase in demand that is partly due to seasonal factors and partially to cyclical reasons."

Isis Oil Sales

The Islamic State, which reportedly generates $50m (£29m, €37m) a month in oil operations in neighbouring Syria, has expanded its oil business in Iraq to fund its recently declared "caliphate".

Having seized vast swathes of territory across Iraq, the jihadist group has begun selling crude oil and gasoline on the black market to fund its cross-border caliphate.

India Imports

India, a net importer of crude oil, wants to diversify its sources of crude imports further to reduce its dependence on any one region, according to Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Earlier in the week, Pradhan told parliament that 61% of India's imported crude oil came from the Middle East and that New Delhi was trying to increase oil imports from South America and Africa.

In particular, the Indian government was tapping nations such as Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela for supplies.

F16 Fighter Jets Scrambled After Passenger 'Threatens to Blow Up' Plane

The Sunwing passenger plane flew back to Canada after a passenger threatened to detonate a bomb.Wikimedia Commons/Flikr Paul Nelhams CFYLC

A Canadian passenger plane has been escorted back into Canadian airspace by F16 fighter jets, after a passenger threatened to blow up the plane.

The dramatic events took place during Sunwing Airlines flight 772 from Toronto to Panama City this week.

Security is heightened after recent aviation disasters involving Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was shot down Eastern Ukraine, and Air Algerie flight AH5017, which crashed in Mali.

During the flight the passenger, named as Ali Shahi, 25, is said to have threatened to blow up the plane during a disturbance, prompting fears for the 183 passengers and six crew on board.

Two F16 fighters escorted the Sunwing plane out of US airspace.Reuters (Gonzalo Fuentes)

Two US F16 fighter jets were scrambled Ohio to force the plane to turn around over West Virginia, 45 minutes into the flight. The jets escorted the passenger plane back to Toronto Pearson International Airport, where armed police stormed the plane and removed Shahi.

Witnesses said the events were "extremely scary".

Sharon Ramsay told Sky News: "The pilot came on and said there was a threat and they had to take it seriously and turn around and we're heading back to Toronto. We came back and waited on the tarmac for about an hour and then the task force came in, they stormed in.

"They came in the front and back of the plane and they yelled 'hands up, heads down, hands up, heads down'. It was just awful."

Fellow passenger Manjo Chopra said he thought the altercation began over a purchase. "I think it was about buying something, he didn't have the right card and that's what triggered it."

North American Aerospace Defence Command said the two fighter jets from Ohio flew with the plane out of US airspace as a "precaution".

Sunwing Airlines said it acted after an "agitated passenger directly threatened the aircraft".

Gold Prices to Drop Further on Prospects of Upbeat US Data

Gold prices to drop further next week.Reuters

Gold prices are set to drop further next week as the prospects of upbeat data from the US, where economic activity has noticeably picked up, are expected to dent the precious metal's safe-haven status.

Prices will also take their cues from the US Federal Reserve's FOMC meeting, which could provide hints about the timing of likely interest-rate hikes, and from geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

As many as 14 of 22 analysts polled in a Kitco Gold Survey said they expected gold prices to trade lower next week, while four predicted that prices will rise and five forecast prices to trade sideways.

Robin Bhar, metals analyst with Societe Generale told Kitco: "Next week is quite significant because there is a lot of US-centric data and news flow, and we have the FOMC meeting [on 29-30 July]..."

"The macro side of things will be upper most (in the minds of traders), but we shouldn't forget that geopolitics has emerged in a big way in the last few months. That so far isn't having a significant impact on gold. Yes, it's supportive, but is not really driving the price significantly higher yet.

"Obviously, things could change very quickly. So the market will be keeping an eye on the geopolitical side of things."

Daniel Pavilonis, senior commodity broker with RJO Futures said: "Even if there is a lot of geopolitical risk right now...it seems like stocks are still making new all-time highs (as of 24 July). I think that is going to continue to put pressure on gold and silver."

China-Demand Slumps

Commerzbank Corporates & Markets said in a note: "The figures for Chinese gold imports from Hong Kong released by the Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong government [on 24 July] were weak, as we had anticipated, and revealed that only 40.5 tons of gold were imported on a net basis from the former British crown colony to the People's Republic in June - 23% down on the previous month and 61% down on the year-on-year figure. Net imports have now declined for the fourth consecutive month and find themselves at their lowest level for 17 months.

China picture.HK Statistics Department, Reuters, Commerzbank C&M

"Unless the import dynamism picks up again in the second half of the year, China will probably import less than 800 tons of gold from Hong Kong in the year as a whole. Following last year's massive slide in the price of gold, net imports in 2013 had climbed to a record high of 1,158 tonnes.

That said, there is still no information about how much gold China has imported via the free trade zone that was established a few months ago in Shanghai, meaning that the data from Hong Kong may not paint a full picture of gold demand."

"Nonetheless, the World Gold Council's forecasts of Chinese gold demand, which were issued at the beginning of the year and envisaged demand being on a similar scale in 2014 as it was in 2013, meanwhile appear ambitious. In our opinion, the weak gold demand figures to come out of Asia - not only China - of late preclude any rise in gold prices. Gold fell to below $1,290 per troy ounce [on 24 July], a five-week low," Commerzbank added.

Gold Ends Lower

US gold futures for delivery in August finished $12.50 higher at $1,303.30 an ounce on 25 July.

But prices are down $6.10 an ounce for the week.

Spot gold rose 0.7% to 1,302 an ounce on 25 July.

Ebola Patient Flies from Liberia to Nigeria and Dies, Fellow Passengers Being Monitored

A health worker with disinfectant spray walks down a street outside the government hospital in KenemaReuters

A Liberian man carrying the Ebola virus flew into the Nigerian city of Lagos and immediately collapsed on his arrival at the airport and died five days later.

Patrick Sawyer, 40, reached Lagos, Africa's most populous metropolis, on Sunday, 20 July. Following complaints of fever, vomiting and diarrhoea, he was immediately taken to hospital where his condition kept deteriorating.

"The patient was subjected to thorough medical evaluation where laboratory investigations were carried out. His blood sample was taken to the advanced laboratory at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, which confirmed the diagnosis of Ebola Virus Disease.

"The result was corroborated by other laboratories outside Nigeria. Despite the urgent specialised barrier nursing care provided for the patient in Lagos, the patient unfortunately passed away in the early hours of July 25, 2014," Nigerian health minister Onyebuchi Chukwu told reporters.

Shortly after Sawyer was diagnosed with the Ebola virus, the passenger manifest of Asky Airline, which flew the stricken man, was pulled out by the health officials to check whether any of the other travellers were at risk.

The virus is not airborne and experts say there is little chance that Sawyer could have infected anyone. The disease spreads from one person to another through blood or other bodily fluids.

Sawyer, who was an employee of a West African organisation in Monrovia, was kept in isolation as soon as the medical tests confirmed the presence of the pathogen and he did not enter the city.

Nonetheless, the Nigerian health ministry asked the public to be on alert over the situation in the backdrop of the sudden Ebola outbreak in western African countries in recent weeks.

"All government tertiary health institutions in Nigeria have been equipped to handle any emergency that may arise from the disease," said the Nigerian health minister.

Ebola is an extremely deadly virus with a killing ratio of about 90%. Causing diarrhoea and internal bleeding, the virus weakens the functions of the kidney and the liver.

Israel-Gaza Conflict: 12-Hour Humanitarian Truce Comes into Effect

An undercover Israeli police officer holds a gun in the air as another detains a Palestinian suspected of throwing stones in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Wadi al-Joz during a protest against the Israeli offensive on GazaReuters

The 12-hour truce agreed by both Hamas and Israel to facilitate humanitarian efforts has come into force alongside the continuing tensions.

The temporary ceasefire began at 08:00am local time (05:00 GMT) but both sides remain cautious against any attack from either camp.

"The Palestinians who evacuated their homes won't be able to return during the ceasefire. The IDF will continue to search for and destroy smuggling tunnels," said Major General Yoav Mordechai, who is coordinating Israeli efforts in the West Bank.

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said: "We will respond if terrorists choose to exploit this time to attack IDF personnel or fire at Israeli civilians."

Just hours prior to the ceasefire agreement, Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon warned of intensifying the ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.

"You [Israeli soldiers] need to be ready for the possibility that very soon we will instruct the military to significantly broaden the ground operation in Gaza."

Negotiations are also on to implement a longer ceasefire, but the task is said to be daunting given the volatile situation.

US Secretary of State John Kerry is set to travel to Paris to hold talks with his Qatari and Turkish counterparts urging them to use their influence over Hamas in a bid to ease the situation.

Hoping to work out a week-long truce, Kerry told reporters in Egypt: "We still have terminology and context to work through, but we are confident we have a framework that will work, and we will continue to work for that ... none of us here are stopping."

According to Israel's health ministry, so far at least 870 Palestinians have been killed and more 5,700 injured in the nine-day-long conflict. On the Israeli side, 35 soldiers have been killed.

US Imposes Anti-Dumping Duties up to 165% on Solar Imports from China and Taiwan

Solar panels

The US has imposed anti-dumping duties on solar imports from China and Taiwan after the country's commerce department found the cheaper rates for the imported solar panels and cells are hurting America's domestic industry.

The US set anti-dumping duties from 26% to 165.04% on imports of crystalline silicon solar PV cells and modules from China and Taiwan, in addition to anti-subsidy levies imposed in June.

Trina Solar got the lowest preliminary anti-dumping rate at 26.33%. Other companies including market leaders Yingli, Canadian Solar and Hanwha SolarOne were assessed at a 42.33% anti-dumping duty rate.

The highest rates are reserved for companies that did not cooperate with the department's investigation.

Taiwanese producers face anti-dumping duties of up to 44.18%, with Motech Industries set to pay the highest rate.

The commerce department is scheduled to announce its final determinations on or about 16 December.

In 2013, US imported solar products worth $1.5bn (£883m, €1.1bn) from China, declining to half the level of 2011.

Imports from Taiwan more than doubled to $657m over the period, according to commerce department data.

American solar companies have been saying that their Chinese counterparts could substantially reduce prices and flood the US market with solar products due to the subsidies. The higher duties would increase the prices of solar products from China.

China is the world's largest maker of solar panels, and has always denied the allegations of government subsidies.

China and the US have been engaged in a war of words after the latter indicted five Chinese military officials on charges of spying and hacking network systems of US companies.

The US also warned China over its territorial disputes with Japan and Taiwan.

The higher duties on solar imports are expected to weaken the trade relations between the countries further.

In counter measures, China is expected to increase tariffs on US imports of polysilicon, the material used to make solar cells.

China faced the same situation in its trade relations with the European Union, which also tried to increase import duties on Chinese solar products. In order to counter the move, China increased duties on European chemicals, wine and luxury cars.

Subsequently, the parties settled the dispute in 2013 after the EU set quotas and minimum prices on solar imports.