Up to 40 people inside a busy Indian restaurant in Sydney’s west were “extremely lucky” not to be injured when a gunman fired a single shot through the front window, police say. The gunman, dressed in a blue tracksuit, was seen running from Billu’s Indian Eatery on Wigram Street in Harris Park in the moments after the shooting, which occurred just before 9pm on ...

An ancient temple of Baalshamin in the Syrian city of Palmyra was blown up by Islamic State (IS) militants according to Syrian officials and activists. The blast caused devastating damage to the temple and killed a prominent Syrian archaeologist, Khaled al-Asaad while he was working at the site. The temple is Unesco-listed and believe to be nearly 2,000 years old and one of the city’s best-known buildings. It was “an immense ...

It helps to have a conservative leader on your side. That’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s message on constitutional reform as he takes ministers and senior officials to the Torres Strait for the week. Mr Abbott said recognising indigenous people in the constitution had been a “long-term national project” kicked off by his conservative mentor John Howard in 1999. And in ...

U.S. airstrikes aimed at Iran’s nuclear facilities would likely set back the regime’s quest for a weapon by one or two years and require waves of attacks spearheaded by the ultra-heavy conventional bomb known as the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, according to military officials and experts. A comprehensive attack aimed first at taking down Iran’s air defenses and destroying its deeply ...

A former Iowa National Guardsman who returned to Iraq in May to help fight the Islamic State says he’s now facing a different foe: the Iranian army. Ryan O’Leary originally went to north-central Iraq, where he volunteered to help train Kurdish soldiers fighting the extremist group also known as ISIS. But he told The Des Moines Register by phone this ...

It might be the only country that can rocket humans into space, but Russia’s once-great space program is being dragged back to Earth by decades of brain drain and financial hardship. “The Russian space industry is in an obvious state of crisis,” said Asif Siddiqi, a professor at Fordham University in New York and an expert on Russia’s space program. ...

Protests against the Lebanese government turned violent for a second day on Sunday, and Prime Minister Tammam Salam threatened to resign as public discontent brought thousands into the streets. Anger at the Salam-led unity cabinet grouping Lebanon’s fractious politicians has come to a head over its failure to resolve a crisis over garbage disposal that reflects the wider failings of ...

Stephen O’Brien, the humanitarian chief of the United Nations said that he is “horrified” by the attacks on civilians in Syria at a press conference in Damascus on Monday. “Attacks on civilians are unlawful, unacceptable and must stop,” O’Brien said. He was “particularly appalled” by air strikes which killed at least 96 people on Sunday in the rebel-held town of Douma. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights who monitors the conflict ...

Egypt has approved new anti-terrorism laws in order to fight a spreading jihadist insurgency. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi vowed to bring in new law against terrorism after the car bomb of Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat in late June. The new law establish special courts and offer additional protection from legal consequences for military and police officers who have used force. They also impose the death penalty for ...

First demonstration in support of Avraham Mengistu aimed to coincide with visits by Palestinian families to detainees being held by Israel Dozens of protesters gathered outside a prison in central Israel on Monday morning to rally for the release of Avraham Mengistu, 28, an Israeli captive reportedly held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The protest, spearheaded by the Mengistu ...