Saudi minister sacked over price hikes
RIYADH • The King of Saudi Arabia has sacked the country's water and electricity minister, Mr Abdullah al-Hussayen, amid public anger over price hikes, state media reported. King Salman issued a decree on Saturday ordering his dismissal and interim replacement by Agriculture Minister Abdel Rahman al-Fadhli, said the official SPA news agency.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
8 family members massacred in Ohio
WASHINGTON • Ohio police were hunting one or more gunmen who massacred eight members of a family in execution-style killings but appeared to spare two babies and a toddler. Seven bodies were found in the village of Peebles - a rural community 130km east of Cincinnati - and an eighth at a separate site, police said. At least one suspected gunman was on the loose a day after the shootings.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
French initiative a waste of time: Hamas
GAZA • The Islamic Hamas movement said yesterday that the French initiative to hold an international peace conference to end the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis is "a waste of time". Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zohri said it is "like other initiatives that are being proposed in light of the continued Israeli occupation and its denial of Palestinian rights, which makes any initiative meaningless".
XINHUA
