Jerusalem, November 18
Two Palestinians armed with a meat cleaver and a gun killed four worshippers in a Jerusalem synagogue on Tuesday before being shot dead by the police, the deadliest such incident in six years in the holy city amid a surge in religious conflict.

Three of the victims held dual US-Israeli citizenship and the fourth man was a British-Israeli national, the police said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to respond with a "heavy hand", and again accused Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of inciting violence in Jerusalem.

Abbas condemned the attack, which comes after weeks of unrest fuelled in part by a dispute over Jerusalem's holiest shrine.

A worshipper at the service in the Kehillat Bnei Torah synagogue in an ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood of West Jerusalem said about 25 persons were praying when shooting broke out.

"I looked up and saw someone shooting people at point-blank range. Then someone came in with what looked like a butcher's knife and he went wild," the witness, Yosef Posternak, told Israel Radio.

Photos distributed by Israeli authorities showed a man in a prayer shawl lying dead, a bloodied butcher's cleaver on the floor and prayer books covered in blood.

"We are viewing this as a terrorist attack," said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld, who confirmed the four dead and that the two assailants, both from predominantly Arab East Jerusalem, had been shot dead by police.

Israel's ambulance service said at least eight people were seriously wounded.

Police identified one of the dead as Rabbi Moshe Twersky, who taught at a Jerusalem seminary. Twersky was from a Hassidic rabbinical dynasty and a grandson of Joseph Soloveitchik, a renowned Boston rabbi who died in 1993.

Twersky and two other victims, Aryeh Kopinsky and Calman Levine, were US and Israeli citizens. The British-Israeli killed in the attack was named as Avraham Shmuel Goldberg.

In a statement, Abbas said: "The presidency condemns the attack on Jewish worshippers in one of their places of prayer in West Jerusalem and condemns the killing of civilians no matter who is doing it."

US Secretary of State John Kerry described the attack as an act of "pure terror".

Israeli Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said he was seeking a partial easing of gun controls so that military officers and security guards could carry weapons while off-duty.

Palestinian radio described the attackers as "martyrs" and the Islamist group Hamas praised the attack. Loudspeakers at mosques in Gaza called out congratulations and youngsters handed out candy in the streets.

Palestinian media named the attackers as Ghassan and Udai Abu Jamal, cousins from the Jerusalem district of Jabal Mukaber, where clashes broke out as Israeli security forces moved in to make arrests.

The synagogue attack was the worst in the city since 2008, when a Palestinian gunman killed eight people in a religious school. — Reuters

One of the charities is Birmingham-based Islamic Relief, which last year received millions of pounds of British aid money. A spokesman, who described the charity as a humanitarian organisation that abhors terrorism, commented: "We assume that our inclusion on the UAE list can only be attributable to a mistake. We will be engaging with the UAE authorities to seek the removal of this wrongful designation."

A spokesman for The Muslim Association of Britain, which has also been proscribed by the UAE, accused the UAE of being a totalitarian regime, adding it "has nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism or any other form of extreme ideology."

A spokesman for the Cordoba Foundation think tank (TCF) rejecting its terrorist designation commented: "The TCF is a prominent UK-based think tank, with an established and significant track record in conflict resolution, hostage negotiation, and the promotion of dialogue over the last decade. The TCF rejects wholeheartedly any such libellous accusations, and expresses its profound shock that there are those that would seek to designate it as such."

The UAE designation follows a separate revelation in London that more than 50 British Muslim charities are being secretly observed over concerns that they may be linked to radical and extremist thinking.

A UK-based think tank called Claystone, which works to promote social cohesion among British Muslims, says in a report that the British Charity Commission has labeled 55 charities with an "extremism and radicalisation" code without their knowledge.

The author of the report, Adam Belaon, said: "This report highlights how Muslim charities are disproportionately investigated and monitored. The report also highlights deficiencies in transparency by the Commission. There has been no empirical evidence offered to substantiate concerns that British Muslim charities are surreptitiously operating with the purpose of supporting terrorist activities."

Washington, November 18
Emergency has been declared in the American State of Missouri ahead of grand jury's decision in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager who was killed by a white police officer.

The killing of Michael Brown, 18, in August had resulted in large scale violence in certain parts of the State. A grand jury decision is expected anytime now.

The decision by the Missouri Governor Jay Nixon to declare emergency is seen as a preventive measure to prevent any violence in this sensitive state now.

In the days after the fatal shooting of Brown by police officer Darren Wilson, resulted in a large scale violence, looting and street protests in the streets of St Louis and its suburbs.

Yesterday Nixon signed an executive order activating the Missouri National Guard to support law enforcement during any period of unrest that might occur following the grand jury's decision concerning the investigation into the death of Brown.

The Governor said the Guard will provide support for law enforcement's objectives of maintaining safety and protecting constitutional rights.

"As part of our ongoing efforts to plan and be prepared for any contingency, it is necessary to have these resources in place in advance of any announcement of the grand jury's decision," Nixon said.

"These additional resources will support law enforcement's efforts to maintain peace and protect those exercising their right to free speech," he said.

The National Guard is well-suited to provide security at command posts, fire stations and other locations as well as perform other functions that will free up law enforcement officers to remain focused on community policing and protecting constitutional rights," Nixon said.

The St Louis County prosecutor has said publicly that an announcement of the grand jury's decision will be made later this month.

The US Department of Justice, which is conducting both civil and criminal investigations of the death of Brown, has not announced when its investigations will be concluded.

"Our department, like other police departments in the region, has a full time job keeping our neighbourhoods safe. We are used to working with other agencies in times of necessity," said St Louis Metropolitan Police Chief Sam Dotson. — PTI