INTERNATIONAL

Canada’s prime minister has insisted his country will not be intimidated, after a gunman rampaged through parliament before being shot dead. Stephen Harper described the attacker as a terrorist and promised to “redouble” anti-terror efforts. The gunman, named as Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, shot and killed a soldier at an Ottawa war memorial before entering parliament. On Monday, a Muslim convert killed ...

The US defence department has said it is examining an Islamic State video appearing to show militants in control of US weapons intended for Syrian Kurdish fighters. Some 27 bundles containing small arms, ammunition and other weaponry were dropped on Monday for militias defending the town of Kobane from IS. A Pentagon spokesman said the vast majority ended up in ...

South African athlete Oscar Pistorius has been given five years in jail for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Judge Thokozile Masipa also gave Pistorius a three-year suspended sentence for a firearms charge. The parents of Reeva Steenkamp told the BBC they were happy with the sentence and relieved the case was over. The defence said it expected Pistorius to serve ...

Christophe de Margerie, the chief executive of French oil company Total, has died in an air crash in Moscow. His corporate jet collided with a snow plough and then was engulfed in flames. All four people on board were killed. The driver of the snow plough was drunk, according to Russian investigators. Mr de Margerie, 63, had been chief executive ...

Turkey will allow Iraqi Kurdish fighters to cross the Syrian border to fight Islamic State (IS) militants in Kobane, its foreign minister says. Mevlut Cavusoglu added that talks on the subject were continuing, but gave no further details. Tens of thousands of people have fled months of fighting in Kobane between IS forces and Syrian Kurd defenders. Until now Turkey ...

Pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong have retaken streets in the Mong Kok district, just hours after they were cleared by the authorities. Activists clashed with police, as about 9,000 protesters re-occupied the area. At least 26 people have been arrested. Demonstrators have been occupying parts of the city for weeks, angered at China’s curbs on who can stand in the ...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has made his first public appearance since 3 September, the country’s official news agency says. The KCNA agency said on Tuesday that Mr Kim “gave field guidance” at a newly-built scientists’ residential district. Rodong Sinmun daily newspaper carried several photographs of Mr Kim using a walking stick as he inspected the site. The absence of ...

China’s state media have strongly backed Hong Kong Chief Executive CY Leung, praising his performance while condemning protests as “chaos”. The support in Communist Party paper People’s Daily comes as student activists threaten to occupy government buildings if Mr Leung does not resign. Police and government have again called on protesters to disperse. The protesters are angry at China’s plan ...

Some 45,000 mainly Syrian Kurds have crossed into Turkey in the past 24 hours, officials say, as Islamic State militants advance in northern Syria. Turkey opened its border on Friday to Syrians who had fled the Kurdish town of Kobane in fear of an IS attack. Activists say some 300 Kurdish fighters have crossed into Syria from Turkey to help ...

Both sides in the Scottish referendum debate are making their final pitch to voters on the last day of campaigning. It comes as the latest polls suggested the result remained too close to call, with a slender lead for a “No” vote. Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond has written to voters appealing to them to vote “Yes”, saying “let’s do ...