GAZA-One Palestinian killed and three injured Wednesday morning in Israeli airstrikes on military facilities in the Gaza Strip in response to a rocket attack from Gaza into Israel, security sources and medics said. Health Ministry Spokesman in Gaza, Ashraf al-Qedra, told reporters that Naji Za’aneen, 26 years old from northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, was killed and three wounded in the Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.

Eyewitnesses and security sources in Gaza said that Israeli war jets targeted six different military facilities all over the Gaza Strip with missiles, adding that six huge bombs were heard all over the coastal enclave. An Israeli army spokesman said in a press statement that war jets of Israeli Air Forces carried out a series of airstrikes on the Gaza Strip in response to firing a rocket and arson balloons into Israel.

A rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel overnight and landed at a yard of a house in the town of Beer Sheba in southern Israel, which had lightly injured three Israelis. Israeli Radio reported that Israel announced that the two crossing points between the Gaza Strip and Israel for goods and individuals movement are closed and the allowed area for fishing has been reduced.(Xinhua)…[+]

A standoff is under way in the south Indian state of Kerala, where mainly female protesters are attempting to stop other women from entering the Sabarimala temple.

On Wednesday, the Hindu shrine will open its gates for the first time since 28 September, after the supreme court struck down an entry ban on women of menstruating age. The judges ruled the ban against girls and women aged between 10 and 50 as discriminatory and, therefore, unconstitutional. The decision triggered a public outcry in Kerala, with some female devotees saying it was more important to uphold religious tradition than be swayed by notions of gender equality.Thousands of protesters gathered on the roads leading to the hilltop temple and heckled any woman they suspected was going there. On Tuesday, the protesters intercepted all oncoming vehicles to prevent female passengers from visiting the shrine, one of Hinduism’s holiest. Female journalists have also been attacked.(theguardian)…[+]

As the in­ves­ti­ga­tions deep­en in­to the mur­der of Arch­bish­op Al­isa Ali, po­lice of­fi­cers have re­ceived crit­i­cal in­for­ma­tion that sug­gests there is a sec­ond sus­pect in the case—a woman. It is be­lieved the woman, who was said to be in the house at the time Ali was bru­tal­ly stabbed to death, fled the scene af­ter the at­tack. Po­lice al­so be­lieve the woman may have since fled to To­ba­go where she is be­lieved to be in hid­ing. Po­lice al­so have in­for­ma­tion on an­oth­er woman from the Bras­so area who was said to be “close­ly con­nect­ed to the sus­pect in cus­tody.”

Ac­cord­ing to po­lice sources, the sus­pect, who is a bish­op and a fa­ther of 13, has ex­pressed re­morse since his ar­rest on Sun­day night. He has re­port­ed­ly asked Ali’s fam­i­ly and mem­bers of her Spir­i­tu­al Bap­tist Church—St Michael’s Di­vine Heal­ing Taber­na­cle—for for­give­ness. How­ev­er, speak­ing with the T&T Guardian yes­ter­day, Ali’s daugh­ter, Kerdeisha, 25, called on the po­lice to speed up their in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­to the mat­ter.

“I want jus­tice for my moth­er be­cause she de­serves jus­tice and please for­give me but I can­not for­give him. That man was a wicked man, not on­ly to my moth­er but to me and my sis­ter,” Kerdeisha said.(Trinidad Guardian) …[+]