Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told US secretary of state John Kerry that Israel will begin a 12-hour pause in Gaza hostilities starting at 7am Israeli time today (5am Irish time), a US official said last night.

MAZEN DANA, the Reuters cameraman killed by US troops in Iraq, was buried yesterday in the West Bank city where he braved bullets to chronicle the tragedy of Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed.

More than 30,000 people have demanded independence for Kashmir at the funeral of a separatist leader shot dead yesterday.