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BBC news 2012-11-15

BBC News with Gaenor Howells

An Israeli air strike in the Gaza strip has killed Ahmed Jabari, the military leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Mr Jabari was the most senior Hamas official to be targeted since Israel's military offensive on Gaza four years ago. Another Hamas official died alongside him when their car was blown up. Beyond, wing of Hamas said the air strike had opened the gates of hell. A Hamas spokesman Taher al-Nunu told the BBC Arabic the Palestinians would defend themselves. We'll not surrender, and we will not wave the white flag. Israelis will not see a white flag raised on any inch of the Palestinian territories. We'll keep confronting them and trying to stop such aggression. We see it is the right of the Palestinian people to defend its rights through the means it sees proper against such a blatant Israeli offensive.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the military's prepared to broaden its operation against Hamas targets in Gaza, he added that Israel couldn't tolerate continued rocket attacks against its citizens. From Jerusalem here's Wyre Davies.

Israel says the killing of such a senior Hamas figure is the start of a limited operation in Gaza. This has, to some extent, been expected after militant fired hundreds of rockets from Gaza at the weekend. Over the years Israel has killed several senior Hamas figures in similar operations, including the movement founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in 2004. Calling the targeted killing of Jabari a clear message to Hamas, Israel says its intention is for the violence in and around the Gaza Strip to end. But it must be anticipating in the short term at least, a violent and angry response from the militant organizations.

Meanwhile Egypt has recalled its ambassador to Israel and the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has called for an emergency meeting of the Arab League.

The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has said a report on the UN's failure to protect civilians during the last month of the civil war in Sri Lanka will have profound implications for the global body. Barbara Plett reports.

Ban Ki-Moon said he was determined that United Nations draw the appropriate lessons from the report. He said events in Syria are the latest reminder that the UN's core mission to protect civilians is crucial. The report concludes that the UN failed at every level to do so in Sri Lanka, pointing out its reluctance to publish casualty figures, its decision to withdraw staff from the war zone and its failure to report evidence of widespread government shelling. The Secretary General has made the document public and said he would organize a senior level team to advise him on the way forward.

Protests have been taking place across the Europe against rising unemployment, spending cuts and tax increases. Strikes were called in Spain, Portugal, Greece and Italy. Union officials say rallies were held in 23 European countries including France and Germany.

World News from the BBC

President Obama has spoken for the first time about the scandal that led to the resignation of the CIA director David Petraeus. In his first press conference since he was re-elected last week, Mr Obama said he had no reason to believe that national security hadn't been compromised. Paul Adams reports from Washington.

President Obama said he has seen no evidence that classified information had been disclosed that might have a negative impact on national security. He went out of his way to praise General Petraeus, who what he called an extraordinary career. In a wide -ranging news conference, the president did not face a relentless grilling on the affair that still fascinates Washington. He found time to set out his views on how to avoid a fiscal crisis at the end of the year and said he would redouble his efforts to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

Police in the Kenyan capital Nairobi say there has been an explosion outside a supermarket in the city. They say a man was trying to take a bomb into the shop in a predominantly Somali neighbourhood when it exploded at the entrance. Local people then attacked him and started beating him up. Police are questioning the injured suspect.

Officials in South Africa say at least one person has been killed in a clash between the police and farm workers demanding better pay. Agricultural laborers on vineyards and fruit farms in the fertile region around Cape Town blocked roads, set field alight, overturned the vehicles and destroyed the equipment. The Protests come after  months of unrest among South African miners.

Argentina has asked the United Nations court to order the release of one of its Navy ships impounded in Ghana because of a debt dispute. Argentina argues that the seizure violates maritime law. The ship was prevented from leaving Ghana after a local court ruled in favour of a financial fund backed by an American billionaire. The fund says it's owed $317m by the Argentine government.

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