NICOSIA, Dec 16 (Reuters) - The key U.N. envoy seeking to break a deadlock in Cyprus's long-running division said she was cautiously optimistic about a breakthrough but that it would be premature to convene a multi-nation summit on the conflict.
SYDNEY, Dec 16 (Reuters) - While a Sydney shopowner is being hailed as a hero after disarming one of the gunmen shooting at a Jewish holiday event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, a couple and another man who died after physically confronting the attackers are also being remembered for their heroic efforts to save those around them.
Reuven Morrison, 62, was shot dead after trying to halt the bloodshed, his daughter Sheina Gutnick told American broadcaster CBS News in a report published on Monday.
NAJAF, Iraq, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Iraqi wheat farmer Ma'an al-Fatlawi has long depended on the nearby Euphrates River to feed his fields near the city of Najaf. But this year, those waters, which made the Fertile Crescent a cradle of ancient civilisation 10,000 years ago, are drying up, and he sees few options.
"Drilling wells is not successful in our land, because the water is saline," al-Fatlawi said, as he stood by an irrigation canal near his parched fields awaiting the release of his allotted water supply.
SYDNEY, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Flowers were laid on Tuesday in front of the shuttered shop of Ahmed al Ahmed, the 43-year-old tobacco shop owner who locals hailed as the “Bondi hero” after he wrestled a gun from one of the attackers during a mass shooting on Sydney's Bondi Beach.
Ahmed was identified on social media as the bystander who hid behind parked cars before charging at the gunman from behind, seizing his rifle and knocking him to the ground. The act saved several lives, authorities have said.
MANILA, Dec 16 (Reuters) - The Philippines Bureau of Immigration said on Tuesday that the two alleged gunmen behind the mass shooting at Sydney's Bondi Beach travelled to the Philippines on November 1 aboard Philippine Airlines Flight PR212 from Sydney to Manila and onward to Davao.
A spokesperson for the bureau said that Sajid Akram, 50, an Indian national and Australian resident, travelled on an Indian passport, while his son Naveed Akram, 24, an Australian national, used an Australian passport. Both arrived together on that flight.
WASHINGTON, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Sudan has once again topped a watchlist of global humanitarian crises released by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) aid organization, as warring sides press on with a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people.
It is the third time in a row Sudan has headed the list, which was published on Tuesday. It highlights the 20 countries most at risk of new or worsened humanitarian emergencies.
By Christine Chen and Tom Bateman
SYDNEY, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Government authorities have not done enough to stamp out hatred of Jews in Australia, which has allowed it to fester in the aftermath of October 7, said the daughter of a Holocaust survivor who was wounded at the Bondi shootings on Sunday.
Victoria Teplitsky, 53, a retired childcare centre owner, said that the father and son who allegedly went on a 10-minute shooting spree that killed 15 people had been "taught to hate," which was a bigger factor in the attack than access to guns.
SYDNEY, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Australian police said on Tuesday that the two alleged gunmen behind the mass shooting at Sydney's Bondi Beach travelled to the Philippines last month, and that the reasons for their trip were under investigation.
Police said initial investigations suggested the gunmen could have been inspired by the ideologies of the Islamic State, adding they found two homemade Islamic State flags in a vehicle used by one of the men.
(Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Jamie Freed)
Despite the catastrophic state of the Palestinian economy, Faraj al-Atrash, operator of a quarry in the occupied West Bank, proudly points to an armada of machines busy eating away at sheer walls of dusty white rock that stretch into the distance.
"This here is considered the main source of revenue for the entire region", Atrash said at the site near the town of Beit Fajjar, close to the city of Hebron.
By Christine Chen and Renju Jose
SYDNEY, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Israel's ambassador to Australia has called for greater protection of Jewish people in Australia as dozens of people lined up on Tuesday at Sydney's Bondi Beach to pay tribute to the 15 victims and those wounded in the weekend's Hanukkah festival shootings.
The attack by two gunmen on Sunday was Australia's worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years, and is being investigated as an act of terrorism targeting the Jewish community.
