At least 220 people are thought to have been killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo after a lorry loaded with oil exploded, setting fire to a village in the east of the country, UN and local officials say.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (Agencies) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he is prepared to release 1000 Palestinian security prisoners to free Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held captive in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip for over four years.

Israeli aircraft have fired five rockets at the Gaza Strip, striking three targets, witnesses and Palestinian security officials say.

A UK church has unanimously voted to boycott Israeli products in a show of protest against Tel Aviv’s illegal settlements on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.

WASHINGTON: The Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America (AMJA) issued a fatwa prohibiting offering aid to foreign troops in Muslim countries whether on the personal or the business levels.

Turkey’s prime minister says his country has closed its airspace to some Israeli military flights. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was quoted by the state-run Anatolia agency, did not elaborate on the decision. He was speaking in Toronto, Canada, where he was attending the G20 summit.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AFP) Israeli-U.S. relations have undergone a huge shift amounting to what Israel’s ambassador to Washington has termed “a genuine tectonic rift,” media reports said on Sunday.

The parents of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held in the Gaza Strip since 2006, have begun a 12-day march from their home to the Israeli prime minister’s residence to press for a prisoner swap.

TORONTO (Agencies) Toronto police used tear gas and arrested 75 when a violent mob tried to hijack a peaceful protest by tens of thousands of people against the G20 summit here Saturday, the city’s police chief said.

Military commanders and senior political officials have said US strategy in Afghanistan will not change following the departure of General Stanley McChrystal as commander of foreign forces in the country.