An Israeli air strike killed a militant leader in the Gaza Strip today, just hours ahead of a seven-hour truce announced by Israel which was meant to open a “humanitarian window” for aid.

Israel withdrew most of its ground troops from the Gaza Strip yesterday in an apparent winding-down of the nearly month-long operation against Hamas that has left more than 1,800 Palestinians and 60 Israelis dead.

A boy has died in a suspected farming accident in the North.

FIVE-YEAR-OLD Robert Turner’s mother had collapsed on the floor, and he was scared, but he knew what to do. He called 911 for help.

Illinois governor George Ryan cleared the state’s death row, commuting 167 condemned inmates’ sentences in the broadest attack on capital punishment in decades.