JERUSALEM (AP) ― Israel scrambled fighter jets to intercept a drone Saturday that crossed deep into Israeli airspace from the Mediterranean Sea, shooting the aircraft down over the country’s southern desert, the military said. The incident marked the first time in at least six years that a hostile aircraft has penetrated Israel’s airspace, and Israeli officials said they were taking the incident seriously, raising the possibility of retaliatory action. It was not immediately clear who launched t

NEW YORK (AP) ― A partially blind extremist Egyptian-born preacher charged in multiple terrorism plots entered a U.S. court for the first time Saturday without the use of his arms, complaining that prosthetic hooks he uses were taken away as he and four other terrorism defendants were flown to New York overnight from London. Abu Hamza al-Masri, 54, indicted under the name Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, entered a Manhattan courtroom under heavy security to face charges he conspired with Seattle men to se

ALGIERS (AFP) ― Algeria’s former long-time President Chadli Bendjedid, acclaimed for having introduced democracy to government institutions, died of cancer on Saturday aged 83, the APS news agency reported.Eight days of national morning have been declared. Bendjedid had been admitted to the Ain Naajda military hospital in Algiers more than a week ago. He was hospitalised in Paris last January for cancer treatment and returned to hospital for brief spells in May and October.The former head of sta

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, who helped design Beijing’s Olympic Stadium and has since drawn tough scrutiny for his political activism, is opening the first North American retrospective exhibition of his work in Washington. Ai, 55, is barred from leaving China, though, after being detained without explanation for three months last year. In recent weeks, he has been fighting charges of tax evasion, and the government has moved to close his design firm. So he will not be at the open

A British doctor who led a double life with two women had killed himself after his secret was uncovered, British media reported Sunday.An inquest into the death of Festus Ojagbemi found that for the past seven years, he lived with his long-term partner Jackie Hammond during the week and spent weekends with Bamidele Ayeni, who is a popular Nigerian singer. The 49-year-old practitioner from Kent had promised both women that he would marry them.Ojagbemi hanged himself earlier this year when his sec

UNITED NATIONS (AP) ― The U.N. Security Council overcame deep divisions to unanimously approve a statement condemning Syria’s shelling of a Turkish town that killed five women and children “in the strongest terms.’’Council members managed to bridge differences between the strong statement demanded by the United States and its Western supporters and backed by their NATO ally Turkey, and a weaker text pushed by Russia, Syria’s most important ally, after negotiations that began late Wednesday and c

ALEPPO, Syria (AFP) ― Three car bombs tore Wednesday into the heart of Aleppo, killing 48 people and wounding 100, mostly soldiers, a watchdog said, as television showed scenes of devastation in Syria’s commercial capital.Also Wednesday, the army launched a major offensive against rebel bastions near the capital Damascus, shelling neighborhoods and making mass arrests, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and AFP journalists said.Two car bombs exploded in quick succession around Aleppo’s Saad