Gaza/Jerusalem, August 2
Israel signalled it was winding up the 25-day-old Gaza war unilaterally, saying on Saturday that it would not attend Egyptian-hosted negotiations for a new truce and giving Palestinians who had fled fighting in one northern town the all-clear to return. But shelling exchanges continued, with Palestinian officials saying Gaza's mostly civilian death toll rose to 1,665 and Israel saying its Iron Dome interceptor shot down rockets launched at the cities of Tel Aviv and Beersheba.

Several ceasefires between Israel and the Gaza Strip's dominant Islamist Hamas faction had failed to take hold or quickly collapsed, most recently on Friday after two Israeli soldiers were killed and a third went missing in an ambush. Israel accused Hamas of seizing lieutenant Hadar Goldin and the United States blamed the group for a "barbaric" breach of the truce.

The United Nations was more guarded in its censure of Hamas, but urged Goldin's immediate release. Seeking to shift responsibility, Hamas said it believed its gunmen had struck before Friday's ceasefire began and that if they captured Goldin, he probably died with his captors in heavy Israeli barrages that followed.

A Palestinian delegation was to fly to Cairo for new truce negotiations, which would include Hamas's demand that Egypt ease movement across its border with blockaded Gaza. But Israel said it would not send its own envoys as scheduled on Saturday.

"Hamas is hoodwinking the international community again and again," an Israeli official said. "It is not interested in an accommodation (with Israel)." Israel launched a Gaza air and naval offensive on July 8 following a surge of cross-border rocket salvoes by Hamas and other Palestinian guerrillas, later escalating into ground incursions centred along the infiltration tunnel-riddled eastern frontier of the enclave but often pushing into urban areas. — Reuters

Cairo: President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi on Saturday said that the Egyptian truce initiative is a “real chance” to end the crisis in the Gaza Strip. “The Egyptian proposal is the real chance to find a solution to the crisis in Gaza and to end the bloodshed," Sisi said. 

New York, August 2
A 29-year-old Sikh man is critical after he was hit by a pickup truck here and dragged nearly 30 feet following an argument between him and the driver who allegedly hurled racist slur at him and his friend.

Sandeep Singh, father of two, was with his friend Baldey Singh when he was hit by a pickup truck late Tuesday night. Sandeep is in critical condition at the hospital. Rights group Sikh Coalition has called for a hate crime investigation into the incident.

Baldey told ABC News that the two men had just finished dinner at a restaurant and were standing on the street when the driver of the truck pulled up near them.

Baldey said the driver yelled a racial slur at him and his friends. Sandeep, annoyed at the driver, hit the truck with his hand. The driver pulled forward, stopped, and got out of the vehicle, holding something in his hand. Baldey recalls that they became “concerned, afraid, and felt threatened” by the driver's behaviour. The two men and the driver got into an argument following which the driver got back in his truck. However, Sandeep wanted the man to stop and call the police. Sandeep then stepped in front of the truck when the driver started his truck and ran over him.

The report said Sandeep was dragged roughly 30 feet down the street and his body finally came loose from the truck, which kept on going. — PTI

Washington, August 2
US President Barack Obama has acknowledged that the CIA had tortured suspects detained in the immediate aftermath of September, 11 terror attacks.

The US administration is soon expected to release a Senate report detailing the torture techniques employed by CIA agents targeting suspected militants after 9/11.

“In the immediate aftermath of 9/11 we did some things that were wrong. We did a whole lot of things that were right, but we tortured some folks. We did some things that were contrary to our values,” said the US President.

Obama said he understands why it happened.

“I think it's important when we look back to recall how afraid people were after the Twin Towers fell and the Pentagon had been hit and the plane in Pennsylvania had fallen, and people did not know whether more attacks were imminent, and there was enormous pressure on our law enforcement and our national security teams to try to deal with this," he said.

“It is important for us not to feel too sanctimonious in retrospect about the tough job that those folks had. A lot of those folks were working hard under enormous pressure and are real patriots,” he said. “But having said all that, we did some things that were wrong. That’s what that the report reflects. That’s the reason why, after I took office, one of the first things I did was to ban some of the extraordinary interrogation techniques that are the subject of that report,” he said.

“My hope is that this report reminds us once again that the character of our country has to be measured in part not by what we do when things are easy, but what we do when things are hard. And when we engaged in some of these enhanced interrogation techniques, techniques that I believe and I think any fair-minded person would believe were torture, we crossed a line. That needs to be understood and accepted. We have to, as a country, take responsibility for that so that, hopefully, we don't do it again in the future," Obama said. — PTI

Kunshan, China, August 2
China suffered its worst industrial accident in a year on Saturday when an explosion killed at least 69 persons and injured more than 120 at a factory that makes wheels for US carmakers, including General Motors.

The blast in the wealthy eastern province of Jiangsu occurred at 7.30 am in Kunshan city, about an hour's drive from Shanghai, after an explosion ripped through a workshop that polishes wheel hubs.

A preliminary investigation suggested that the blast at Kunshan Zhongrong Metal Products Co Ltd was triggered when a flame was lit in a dust-filled room, the local government said at a press conference, describing the incident as a serious safety breach.

Several officials from the firm have since been detained, the government said. State news agency Xinhua said five company representatives were held by authorities.

Urged by President Xi Jinping to spare no efforts in the rescue works, the Kunshan government said it was bringing in doctors from Shanghai and other regions. — Reuters

London
Indian-origin man’s death: UK woman gets six-year jail