House Republicans vote to sue President Obama

Congressman Pete Sessions of Texas sponsored the resolution

The US House of Representatives has passed a resolution to sue President Barack Obama for allegedly exceeding his constitutional powers.

The 225-201 vote along party lines means House lawyers will now draft legal documents to launch a lawsuit.

Its supporters say Mr Obama exceeded his powers when he delayed an insurance deadline in his healthcare law.

The president himself has dismissed it as a waste of time. "Everyone sees this as a political stunt," he said.

"If they're not going to do anything, we'll do what we can on our own," the president added.

"And we've taken more than 40 actions aimed at helping hardworking families like yours. That's when we act - when your Congress won't."

The action is reportedly the first time either the House or Senate has brought legal action against a president over the legality of his powers.

Republicans in Congress have complained that Mr Obama has exceeded his constitutional authority on numerous occasions, in order to bypass Congress by issuing executive orders.

They object, for instance, to his order unilaterally easing deportations of some young illegal immigrants, and the prison exchange that won the release of a US soldier held captive for five years by the Taliban.

Bowe Bergdahl's parents met the president when the US soldier was controversially released

Specifically at issue in the resolution, which was sponsored by Congressman Pete Sessions of Texas with the full backing of House Speaker John Boehner, was Mr Obama's decision to twice delay requirements in his 2010 healthcare overhaul that businesses over a certain size provide their workers with health insurance.

Mr Obama has been forthright about his intentions to circumvent the gridlocked Congress when possible, noting frequently that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has declined even to hold votes on Senate-passed bills on topics from immigration reform to gay rights.

What are executive orders?

The president regularly issues orders to manage the executive branch of the federal government, weighing in on everything from White House office decorations to foreign policy.

Sometimes "the president decides to put those directions on paper, and that becomes an official document," explains Ilya Shapiro, a senior fellow at the libertarian think-tank Cato Institute.

As far back as January, White House aides began referring to the president's "pen and phone" strategy - using his telephone to convene meetings at the White House and his pen to sign executive orders and changes to federal regulations.

Every US president since George Washington has issued executive orders, and Mr Obama has not stood out in the modern era for the number he has signed.

In his six years in office Mr Obama has issued 183 executive orders, compared to 291 across George W Bush's eight years and 381 for Ronald Reagan, according to a study by the American Presidency Project at the University of California-Santa Barbara.

But Republicans insist Mr Obama has selectively enforced laws duly passed by Congress, upsetting the balance of powers written into the constitution.

"Such a shift in power should alarm members of both political parties because it threatens the very institution of the Congress," the Republicans wrote in report accompanying the House legislation.

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Gaza conflict: US and UN condemn school shelling

Families of the victims of the attack on a UN-run school have been grieving at a hospital that received the injured, as Ian Pannell reports

The US and UN have condemned the shelling of a school housing displaced civilians in Gaza.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the attack, which killed 16, was "outrageous". Israel said that its military was responding to mortar rounds launched from near the school.

More than 100 people died in Gaza on Wednesday, Palestinian officials said.

The shelling of a market near Gaza City killed 17, while booby traps claimed the lives of three Israeli soldiers.

Palestinian doctors said an Israeli air strike had also killed seven people in Khan Younis.

The Gaza health ministry said 106 people had been killed on Wednesday, bringing the overall death toll to 1,336. Most have been civilians.

Some 58 Israelis have been killed, 56 soldiers and two civilians. A Thai worker in Israel has also died.

'Unjustifiable'

The UN expressed outrage at the attack on the school in the Jabaliya refugee camp.

Peter Lerner of the Israel Defense Forces: ''We do not target UN facilities''

Martin Patience reports on the market attack in Shejaiya

Spokesman Chris Gunness told the BBC that Israel had been told 17 times that the school was housing displaced people, saying the attack caused "universal shame".

Mr Ban later said: "I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms. It is outrageous. It is unjustifiable, and it demands accountability and justice.

"Nothing is more shameful than attacking sleeping children."

More than 3,000 civilians had sought shelter at the school.

Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said: "This is a moment where you really have to say: 'Enough is enough.'"

Israeli gunfire into Gaza continued into Wednesday evening

An injured Israeli soldier is airlifted to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba

Bernadette Meehan, the spokeswoman of the US National Security Council, also condemned the shelling of the school.

She said: "We are extremely concerned that thousands of internally displaced Palestinians who have been called on by the Israeli military to evacuate their homes are not safe in UN designated shelters in Gaza."

Ms Meehan also condemned "those responsible for hiding weapons in United Nations facilities in Gaza".

Israel has regularly accused Hamas, which controls Gaza, of hiding weapons in such facilities.

The Israeli military said in a statement that its "initial inquiry suggests militants fired mortars... from the vicinity of the school in Jabaliya".

It said soldiers had "responded by firing towards the origin of fire".

Both Mr Ban and Ms Meehan called for a speedy ceasefire, as did UK Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond, who said the situation in Gaza was "a humanitarian catastrophe".

A mosque in the southern Gaza Strip collapses after an explosion

An Israeli plane drops leaflets to warn residents in Gaza City

Palestinians react after the deaths at the market near Gaza City

The attack on the market in Shejaiya killed 17 people and wounded 160 as hundreds tried to buy fruit and vegetables, the Palestinian health ministry said.

A journalist who worked for a local news agency was reported to have been killed.

One witness, Salim Qadoum, told Associated Press: "The area is like a bloodbath, everyone is wounded or killed. People lost their limbs and were screaming for help. It's a massacre."

Mr Ban called the attack "unconscionable".

The attack there and in Khan Younis came during a four-hour humanitarian ceasefire called by the Israelis after the school attack.

However, Israel said the truce was only partial and applied to areas where Israeli soldiers were not currently operating. It told residents not to return to areas they had previously been asked to evacuate.

Hamas had rejected the truce as meaningless and "media exploitation".

Israel said rockets continued to be fired from Gaza, with more than 50 launched on Wednesday.

Longest conflict

Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after a surge in rocket fire from the territory.

The BBC's Orla Guerin was given access by the Israeli military to a tunnel they say was used by Palestinian militants

It says one of its main objectives is to destroy tunnels used by militants to infiltrate Israel.

Army spokesman Sami Turgeman said on Wednesday that this mission "will be completed within a number of days".

Recent opinion polls in Israel show strong support for the military operation.

Hamas says it will not stop fighting until a blockade, maintained by both Israel and Egypt, is lifted.

The current conflict, now in its 23rd day, is the longest between Israel and militants from Gaza.

A 2012 offensive lasted for eight days, and the 2008 conflict went on for 22 days.

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'Dozens trapped' by Indian landslide

Reports say heavy rains triggered the landslide

At least 40 houses have been buried and up to 150 people are feared trapped after a landslide hit a village in western India, officials say.

Teams of rescue workers are on their way to the village of Malin of Pune district in Maharashtra state where the incident happened.

An official said residents had already begun clearing the debris to look for survivors.

Reports said that heavy rains had triggered the landslide.

Landslides are common in some parts of India during the monsoon rains, which run from June to September.

An official of India's National Disaster Response Force told the BBC that 100 rescue workers were on the way to the area.

The debris from a hill near the village collapsed on homes

Senior local official Prabhakar Deshmukh told the Associated Press news agency that rescue workers were being hampered by rains and poor roads leading to the Ambegaon area where Malin is located, some 60km (37 miles) from the city of Pune, south-east of Mumbai, India's commercial capital.

Reports said debris from a hill near the village collapsed on homes early on Wednesday when people were sleeping.

Television pictures showed the side of a hill shaved off, with mud and water flowing below.

Local official Saurav Rao told the Press Trust of India that heavy machinery and 30 ambulances were being sent to the village.

"The exact number of casualties is not known as we are moving slowly to ensure that those trapped are removed safely," Mr Rao said.

More than 500 people died and several thousand people remain missing after floods and landslides hit the northern state of Uttarakhand in June last year.

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Ukrainian 'seizes Avdiivka' in rebel Donetsk stronghold

Donetsk has been hit by heavy government shelling in recent days

Ukraine says it has seized a key town near the rebel stronghold of Donetsk, as fighting intensifies in the east.

Pro-Russia separatists were driven out of Avdiivka on Wednesday, the army says. The strategic town is near the airport and train station in Donetsk.

Heavy fighting around Donetsk has prevented international experts from reaching the crash site of flight MH17.

Details of fresh EU sanctions against Russia for its support to the Ukrainian rebels will be revealed on Wednesday.

Shelling

Almost two weeks after the Malaysia Airlines jet came down, international monitors from the Organization for the Security and Co-operation of Europe were prevented from reaching the crash site again on Wednesday.

They were turned back to Donetsk after being stopped a separatist checkpoint, with evidence of fighting ahead smoke rising in the distance from fighting, says the BBC's Jonathan Beale.

An international team of observers has struggled to access the MH17 crash site due to heavy fighting

Regional officials in Donetsk said on Wednesday that 19 people had been killed in fighting in the past 24 hours. Several apartment buildings have been hit by shelling in the government forces' bid to retake the city, they added.

Ukraine says its troops have also entered the towns of Shakhtarsk and Torez in Donetsk region, and Lutuhyne in Luhansk region.

Amid the fighting, a group of hackers sympathetic to the rebels says it has disabled the website of the Ukrainian president.

Meanwhile, the US has announced new economic sanctions against Russia which has widened to include key sectors of the economy - energy, arms and finance.

US nationals and people living in America will no longer be able to bank with three Russian banks - the VTB, the Bank of Moscow, and the Russian Agriculture Bank (Rosselkhozbank).

The EU earlier expanded its sanctions, targeting the oil sector, defence equipment and sensitive technologies, details of which will be revealed later on Wednesday.

The list of 87 targets of EU sanctions now includes the heads of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and foreign intelligence, the president of Chechnya, as well as two Crimean energy firms.

However, UK company BP, which owns nearly 20% of Russian state oil giant Rosneft, has warned that further sanctions against Russia could "adversely impact" its performance.

Sanctions are having significant costs on Russia, with its central bank spending tens of billions of dollars in order to defend the rouble, a senior state department official has told the BBC.

'Unacceptable behaviour'

Russia has come under increased pressure to end its support for the rebels, who Western governments believe were behind the downing of the Malaysia Airlines jet that killed 298 people in eastern Ukraine.

Moscow has also been accused by the EU and US of supplying heavy weapons to the rebels - a charge it denies.

"If Russia continues on this current path, the costs on Russia will continue to grow," said US President Barack Obama, announcing the new round of sanctions.

Flowers pile up at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, the starting point of the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines flight

But Australia's Tony Abbott said on Wednesday his government was focusing on retrieving Australian victims from the MH17 wreckage: "At the moment our focus is not on sanctions, our focus is on bringing home our dead as quickly as we humanly can."

His comments follow that of US Secretary of State John Kerry, who urged Russia and the rebels to allow Western investigators full access to the crash site.

"They still can't even ensure that all of the victims' remains have been removed, and that is an unsupportable burden for any family to have to bear, and it is an unacceptable standard for behaviour, period," he said.

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Gaza conflict: Hamas vows no Israel ceasefire

Israel's bombardment of Gaza has seen entire areas of Gaza destroyed, as Ian Pannell reports

A reclusive Hamas commander has rejected suggestions the Palestinian militants are ready for a ceasefire with Israel to end violence in Gaza.

In an audio recording, Mohammad Deif, commander of Hamas' military wing, said his soldiers were "eager for death".

His message emerged at the end of a destructive day in Gaza that left the territory's power plant in flames.

Israeli strikes killed more than 100 Palestinians, raising the total killed to more than 1,200, Gaza officials say.

Most of those deaths have been civilians, and 6,700 Palestinians have been injured, according to the Gaza health ministry.

Israel has seen 53 of its soldiers die since conflict with Hamas began on 8 July. Two civilians and a Thai worker have also died.

'End the siege'

As international pressure for a ceasefire grows, Israel and Hamas have each reiterated their positions and aims.

Israel has mourned the deaths of five soldiers killed by Hamas militants that emerged from an underground tunnel, as Orla Guerin reports

"We don't accept any condition of ceasefire," the Associated Press quoted Hamas commander Mohammad Deif as saying. "There is no ceasefire without the stop of the aggression and the end of the siege."

Israel and Egypt have imposed a blockade on Gaza restricted the entry of goods since 2007.

The recording of Mohammad Deif's statement emerged at the same time as a Hamas video of militants using a tunnel to attack an Israeli soldier.

Israel insists the existence of such tunnels - which it says are designed to be used to attack Israelis inside Israel - are the key reason for pressing ahead with Operation Protective Edge.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) want to continue operations to destroy the tunnels once any ceasefire is agreed.

Earlier in the day a senior figure in the West Bank, Yasser Abed Rabbo, said a ceasefire was imminent and claimed to speak for Hamas.

But a spokesman for the group quickly denied that.

Infrastructure hit

There were reports of ongoing shelling in Gaza after dark, hours after a series of targets linked to Hamas were hit by presumed Israeli bombardments.

Earlier, a huge plume of smoke rose over the Strip's only power plant after one of its fuel tanks was reportedly set alight by Israeli tank shells, and the facility was forced to shut down.

The main power station could be out of action for up to a year, the facility's manager told the BBC, after it burst into flames.

Hamas-run TV and radio stations, three mosques, four factories and government buildings were also hit, according to reports.

Palestinian security sources told the BBC that Gaza's port had been destroyed, with two schools and a kindergarten also hit.

Some 110 targets were hit on Tuesday, Israel said. Palestinians said seven families were among the more than 100 killed.

The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said it was now caring for more than 200,000 people in shelters, and revealed that a number of its staff had been reported killed.

The BBC's Chris Morris reports from the ruins of a Gaza mosque, where he says the mood is one of "defiance"

Fifty-five houses were destroyed in bombing on Monday night, with people buried under rubble in at least three of them, Palestinian security sources told the BBC.

The unoccupied house of former Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh was destroyed.

A neighbour, Um Hani Abu Ryalah, told AP news agency the experience had terrified her family: "Our children... can't hear because of the loud explosions and they are shaking."

Targeting tunnels

Rockets have continued to target Israeli towns and cities from within Gaza

Rockets fired from Gaza continued to hit Israel on Tuesday.

The Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted four over the southern city of Beersheva, Israeli media reported. Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and several other towns.

Lt-Col Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, told AP pressure was being increased on Hamas.

"Israel is determined to strike this organisation and relieve us of this threat," he said.

An Israeli soldier prays on top of a tank near the Gaza border

Israel's Operation Protective Edge began on 8 July after a surge in militant rocket attacks.

A rally in support of the operation is planned for Tuesday evening in Tel Aviv.

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Ebola outbreak: Liberia suspends football

Sierra Leone is one of the countries battling the outbreak

Liberia has suspended all football activities in an effort to control the spread of the deadly Ebola virus.

There was a risk of infection because football is a contact sport, the football association said.

The number of people killed by the virus in West Africa has now reached 672, the WHO says.

Ebola kills up to 90% of those infected, but patients have a better chance of survival if they receive early treatment.

It spreads through contact with an infected person's bodily fluids.

This is the deadliest outbreak ever, with the first case reported in Guinea in February. It then spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Lift restrictions

Last week, Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, reported its first case - that of Liberian government employee Patrick Sawyer who was visiting the main city, Lagos.

Liberia tied Independence Day celebrations on 26 July to efforts to create more awareness around Ebola

Greater emphasis is being placed on hygiene in an effort to contain the virus

All officials who had direct or indirect contact with Mr Sawyer, 40, had been placed under "observatory surveillance" by health authorities, Liberia's finance ministry said.

It had also limited to four the number of people who can be in a lift at the same time, the ministry added.

Mr Sawyer was a senior official in the ministry, and died in Lagos five days after arriving in the city.

Nigerian authorities have so far identified 59 people who came into contact with Mr Sawyer and have tested 20, Lagos State Health Commissioner Jide Idris is quoted by the Associated Press (AP) news agency as saying.

Ebola since 1976

The city's First Consultants Hospital, where Mr Sawyer was treated, has been temporary shut down, Reuters news agency reports.

"The private hospital was demobilised and the primary source of infection eliminated. The decontamination process in all the affected areas has commenced," it quotes Mr Idris as saying.

In a statement, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that 1,201 Ebola cases had been reported in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Of the 672 deaths, the highest number was in Guinea with 319, followed by Liberia with 249 and Sierra Leone with 224, it said.

"Between 21 and 23 July, 96 new cases and seven deaths were reported from Liberia and Sierra Leone. In Guinea, 12 new cases and five deaths were reported during the same period," the WHO added.

The BBC's Jonathan Paye Layleh in Liberia's capital, Monrovia, says that public awareness campaigns around Ebola have been stepped following the death at the weekend of renowned Liberian doctor Samuel Brisbane.

Liberia's ex-football star George Weah has joined the campaign to create greater awareness.

"If one person gets affected, 100 persons will get affected, if 100 persons get affected, one million people will get affected," Mr Weah said.

Many people are worried about the outbreak, and fewer people are going to restaurants and entertainment centres, our reporter says.

Most border crossings in Liberia have been closed to contain the outbreak and affected communities are being quarantined.

Ebola virus disease (EVD)

• Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage
• Fatality rate can reach 90%
• Incubation period is two to 21 days
• There is no vaccine or cure
• Supportive care such as rehydrating patients who have diarrhoea and vomiting can help recovery
• Fruit bats are considered to be virus' natural host

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Microsoft faces anti-monopoly probe in China

Earlier this year China banned government purchases of Microsoft Windows 8

An anti-monopoly investigation into US technology giant Microsoft has been launched by Chinese authorities.

China's State Administration for Industry and Commerce - the body responsible for enforcing business laws - said it was looking into "alleged monopoly actions" by the company.

The announcement came after officials from the regulator visited some of Microsoft's local offices.

The company said it "will address any concerns the government may have".

It has not yet been accused of any specific wrongdoing.

Any potential investigation in China would be a fresh setback for Microsoft in the country, a key growth market for global technology firms.

Earlier this year, China said it would ban government use of Windows 8, Microsoft's latest operating system.

Increased scrutiny?

The visits to Microsoft offices come just days after the China's anti-trust regulator said that Qualcomm, one of the world's biggest mobile chipmakers, had used monopoly power in setting its licensing fees.

The anti-trust case has already seen some local handset makers hold back on signing licences for Qualcomm products, hitting its revenues.

Another technology firm, Interdigital - which specialises in wireless technology - has also faced a similar investigation.

Chinese regulators suspended that investigation earlier this year after Interdigital agreed to change its pricing structure.

However, some have alleged that China is using anti-trust probes to protect domestic firms.

"It has become increasingly clear that the Chinese government has seized on using the [anti-monopoly] law to promote Chinese producer welfare, and to advance industrial policies that nurture domestic enterprises," the US Chamber of Commerce said earlier this year.

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Japanese schoolgirl 'confesses' to killing classmate

The funeral of the 15-year old victim, Aiwa Matsuo, took place on Tuesday

The Japanese high school girl who was arrested on Sunday has reportedly confessed to killing and dismembering her classmate, say local media.

National news agency Kyodo quoted police sources as saying the girl had admitted she "wanted to kill someone" and dismember a body.

The murder has made headlines in Japan which has seen a number of killings of children by children.

A similar incident happened in the same city, Sasebo, 10 years ago.

In the most recent case, the body of Aiwa Matsuo, 15, was found in the suspect's home early on Sunday morning, after she failed to return home and her parents called the police, said the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

Police sources told local media the 16-year-old suspect had returned to her home, where she had been living alone since April, with the victim on Saturday night.

The suspect, who cannot be named as she is a minor, had then struck the back of Matsuo's head with a tool and strangled her with a rope in her home.

Matsuo's body was found with her head and left hand severed. Her belly was cut open.

Police sources said they found a hammer and saw at the suspect's home.

'History of problems'

She also appeared to have posted a number of messages, which include photographs of a bloody hand, on an internet bulletin board.

Police are now investigating these messages which began to emerge around two hours after Matsuo was thought to have died.

The suspect's mother had died of cancer last year and her father had recently remarried, local media said. According to acquaintances, she was preparing to study abroad.

Kyodo quoted people who knew her as saying that she had a history of problems.

The suspect is now due to undergo psychiatric evaluation.

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MPs bicker over IPCC report on causes of climate change

Campaigners demonstrated outside the meeting of the IPCC in Stockholm in 2013

MPs have endorsed the findings of a UN climate panel that says humans are the dominant cause of global warming.

Members of the Energy and Climate Change Committee said there was "no reason to doubt the credibility of the science" of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

But two MPs, known for their sceptical views, voted against this conclusion.

They said the committee report was more like cheer leading than objective analysis.

The IPCC issued its latest assessment of the causes, impacts and solutions to climate science, in three parts, starting in September last year.

No reason for doubt

The panel's key conclusion was that the scientists were 95% certain that humans were the "dominant cause" of warming since the 1950s.

But the IPCC has faced criticism about its relevance and methodsafter a number of small errors were highlighted in its 2007 report.

The cross-party commons body heard from a range of experts and concluded that the panel had tightened its processes and the recent report was the most exhaustive and heavily scrutinised to date.

The panel was sound, the MPs held, and so were its conclusions.

"What is starkly clear from the evidence we heard however is that there is no reason to doubt the credibility of the science or the integrity of the scientists involved," said Tim Yeo, MP chair of Energy and Climate Change Committee.

"Policymakers in the UK and around the world must now act on the IPCC's warning and work to agree a binding global climate deal in 2015 to ensure temperature rises do not exceed a point that could dangerously destabilise the climate."

Scientists involved with the IPCC were delighted with the endorsement.

The third part of the IPCC report was published in Berlin in April

"I welcome the publication of this report which confirms unambiguously the robustness of the IPCC process and the science of climate change," said Prof Rowan Sutton from the University of Reading, and a lead author on Working Group 1.

"The atmosphere and oceans are getting warmer; Arctic ice is melting and sea levels are rising. CO2 levels are at their highest for almost a million years, and it's clear that man is to blame for these record levels."

Uncertainties ignored

But two members of the committee, Peter Lilley (Conservative) and Graham Stringer (Labour), disagreed with the other nine.

They accused their fellow MPs of not holding the IPCC critically to account.

"As scientists by training, we do not dispute the science of the greenhouse effect - nor did any of our witnesses," they said in a statement.

"However, there remain great uncertainties about how much warming a given increase in greenhouse gases will cause, how much damage any temperature increase will cause and the best balance between adaptation to versus prevention of global warming."

The two MPs say that the underlying technical report of the IPCC acknowledges many uncertainties, but these have been omitted from the critical Summary for Policymakers, presented to politicians.

Among a number of issues they highlight the so-called "pause" in global warming since 1997.

"About one third of all the CO2 omitted by mankind since the industrial revolution has been put into the atmosphere since 1997; yet there has been no statistically significant increase in the mean global temperature since then.

"By definition, a period with record emissions but no warming cannot provide evidence that emissions are the dominant cause of warming!"

The Energy and Climate Change Committee, in their report, took a different view. They said that periods of hiatus are consistent with earlier assessments and forced climate change takes place against a background of natural variability.

"The current period of hiatus does not undermine the core conclusions of the WGI (working group 1) contribution to the fifth assessment report when put in the context of the overall, long-term global energy budget.

"Despite the hiatus, the first decade of the 2000s was the warmest in the instrumental record and overall warming is expected to continue in the coming decades."

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"What is starkly clear from the evidence we heard however is that there is no reason to doubt the credibility of the science”

Tim Yeo MPChair, Energy and Climate Change Committee

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