The petition was launched earlier this month by British citizen Damian Moran and is posted on the government's website.

"Under international law he (Netanyahu) should be arrested for war crimes upon arrival in the UK for the massacre of over 2,000 civilians in 2014," Moran said, referring to the 51-day offensive by Israeli forces in Gaza last year.

If the number of signatories reaches 100,000, the petition can be considered for debate in Britain's parliament.

But Moran told media he doubted it would reach the chamber given the close relationship between Israel and Britain.

The British government was obliged to respond after the document received 10,000 signatories, saying that "visiting heads of foreign governments, such as prime minister Netanyahu, have immunity from legal process, and cannot be arrested or detained".

"We recognise that the conflict in Gaza last year took a terrible toll," it added.

"As the prime minister (David Cameron) said, we were all deeply saddened by the violence and the UK has been at the forefront of international reconstruction efforts.

"However the prime minister was clear on the UK's recognition of Israel's right to take proportionate action to defend itself, within the boundaries of international humanitarian law."

Britain is pushing for a two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and "will reinforce this message to Mr Netanyahu during his visit" in September, according to the response.

Any British citizen can launch a petition on the government's website, asking for a specific action from the government or parliament's lower House of Commons.

Only British citizens are meant to sign the petitions, but need only enter a name, email address and valid postcode.

Israel launched military action in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on July 8 last year, leading to the deaths of more than 2,000 Palestinians and 66 Israeli soldiers.

Pro-Palestinian British lawyers unsuccessfully tried to arrest former Israeli justice minister Tzipi Livni following the 2008-2009 Gaza war.

Israel's embassy in London called the latest petition a "meaningless publicity stunt".

South Korean marines patrol along a bank of a shore on Yeonpyeong island just south of Northern Limit Line (NLL), South Korea, August 23, 2015. REUTERS/Min Gyeong-seok/ News1

By James Pearson and Ju-min Park

SEOUL (Reuters) - North and South Korea reached agreement early on Tuesday to end a standoff involving an exchange of artillery fire that had pushed the divided peninsula into a state of heightened military tension.

Under the accord reached after midnight on Tuesday morning after more than two days of talks, North Korea expressed regret over the recent wounding of South Korean soldiers in a landmine incident and Seoul agreed to halt anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts, both sides said.

North Korea also agreed to end the "semi" state of war it had declared. The two sides will hold follow-up talks to discuss a range of issues on improving ties, the joint statement said.

"It is very meaningful that from this meeting North Korea apologized for the landmine provocation and promised to work to prevent the recurrence of such events and ease tensions," Kim Kwan-jin, national security adviser to South Korean President Park Geun-hye, told a televised news briefing.

Pyongyang has previously denied laying the landmines, and in the statement did not explicitly take responsibility for them.

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South Korean marines patrol along a bank of a shore on Yeonpyeong island just south of Northern Limi …

The marathon talks at the Panmunjom truce village inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas began on Saturday, shortly after Pyongyang's deadline for the South to halt its propaganda broadcasts or face military action.

"They both made compromises. South Korea did not get an apology, they got a statement of regret about the injury, which they can spin as an apology," said John Delury of Yonsei University in Seoul.

"The more important point is maintaining this channel and reopening the relationship. This is hardly going to be easy to implement, but it’s a landmark agreement which lays out a path."

Seoul and Pyongyang have remained technically in a state of war since the 1950-53 Korean war ended in a truce, rather than a peace treaty, and hopes for improved relations have repeatedly been dashed over the years.

Inter-Korean relations have been all but frozen since the 2010 sinking of a South Korean warship, which killed 46 sailors, that Seoul blames on the North. Pyongyang denies responsibility.

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North Koreans who signed up to join the army train in the midst of political tension with South Kore …

Under Tuesday's deal, the two sides also agreed to arrange reunions of families separated by the Korean War during upcoming autumn holidays and in future.

The recent escalation in tensions began early this month, when landmine explosions in the DMZ wounded two South Korean soldiers.

Days later, the South began blasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda from loudspeakers along the border, reviving a tactic that both sides had halted in 2004.

The standoff reached a crisis point on Thursday when the North fired four shells into the South, according to Seoul, which responded with a barrage of artillery fire.

Pyongyang then made its ultimatum that Seoul halt the broadcasts by Saturday afternoon or face military action, but on that day the two sides agreed to hold talks between top level aides to the leaders of the two countries.

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South Korean National Security Adviser Kim Kwan-jin (R), South Korean Unification Minister Hong Yong …

Even as talks were ongoing, reclusive North Korea had deployed twice the usual artillery strength at the border and had around 50 submarines away from base, the South's defense ministry said. South Korea had also increased its military readiness.

Washington and the United Nations welcomed the agreement.

"We're going to judge the North by its actions. We welcome this agreement, and are hopeful it leads to decreasing tensions on the peninsula," U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby told a regular briefing. "It was a very tense several days."

North Korea has been hit with U.N. and U.S. sanctions because of repeated nuclear and missile tests, moves that Pyongyang sees as an attack on its sovereign right to defend itself.

(Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols in New York and David Brunnstrom and Lesley Wroughton in Washington,; writing by Tony Munroe,; editing by Jack Kim, Larry King)

By Nick Tattersall

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey and the United States will soon launch "comprehensive" air operations to flush Islamic State fighters from a zone in northern Syria bordering Turkey, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Reuters on Monday.

Detailed talks between Washington and Ankara on the plans were completed on Sunday and regional allies including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan as well as Britain and France may also take part, Cavusoglu said in an interview.

"The technical talks have been concluded, yesterday, and soon we will start this operation, comprehensive operations, against Daesh (Islamic State)," he said.

The United States and Turkey plan to provide air cover for what Washington judges to be moderate Syrian rebels as part of the operations, which aim to flush Islamic State from a rectangle of border territory roughly 80 km (50 miles) long, officials familiar with the plans have said.

Diplomats say cutting Islamic State's access to the Turkish border, across which it has been able to bring foreign fighters and supplies, could be a game-changer. U.S. jets have already begun air strikes from Turkish bases in advance of the campaign.

Cavusoglu said the operations would also send a message to President Bashar al-Assad and help put pressure on his administration to come to the negotiating table and seek a political solution for Syria's wider war.

Ankara has long argued that lasting peace in Syria can only be achieved with Assad's departure. U.S. officials, meanwhile, have made clear that the focus of the coalition operations will be squarely on pushing back Islamic State.

"Our aim should be eradicating Daesh from both Syria and Iraq, otherwise you cannot bring stability and security," said Cavusoglu, using another name for Islamic State. "But eliminating the root causes of the situation (in Syria) is also essential, which is the regime of course."

A Pentagon spokesman said U.S. and Turkish military officials had held talks on Sunday to work out the tactical details of integrating Turkish combat aircraft into the air campaign against Islamic State.

"We're looking forward in the near future to welcoming Turkey into our combined air operations center," Navy Captain Jeff Davis said in Washington.

Cavusoglu said Syrian Kurdish PYD militia forces, which have proved a useful ally on the ground for Washington as it launched air strikes on Islamic State elsewhere in Syria, would not have a role in the "safe zone" that the joint operations aim to create, unless they changed their policies.

Ankara is concerned that the PYD and its allies aim to unite Kurdish cantons in northern Syria and fear those ambitions will stoke separatist sentiment among its own Kurds.

"Yes, the PYD has been fighting Daesh ... But the PYD is not fighting for the territorial integrity or political unity of Syria. This is unacceptable," Cavusoglu said.

"We prefer that the moderate opposition forces actually control the safe zone, or Daesh-free areas, in the northern part of Syria, not the PYD, unless they change their policies radically in that sense."

Both Ankara and Washington had given this message directly to the PYD, he said.

PKK STRIKES TO CONTINUE

Turkey's relations with the PYD, whose forces control territory on the eastern fringe of the proposed safe zone, are complicated by what officials in Ankara say are the group's deep ties with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has fought an insurgency against Turkey for three decades.

Cavusoglu said Turkey's military operations against PKK targets in northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey, where Ankara has been carrying out air strikes over the past month, would continue until the group laid down its weapons.

The government says it launched the action against the PKK in response to an escalation in attacks on members of Turkish security forces. Cavusoglu said 61 soldiers and police officers had been killed by the group in recent months.

Critics say Turkey is using what it calls its "synchronized war on terror", including its greater role in the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, as a cover to attack the PKK and try to stem Kurdish political and territorial ambitions.

Ankara denies those accusations.

Diplomatic sources told Reuters last Friday that a second group of rebel fighters trained in Turkey by the U.S.-led coalition could be deployed to Syria within weeks as part of the strategy to push back the Islamic State.

The al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front said late last month it had detained some of a first group of less than 60 rebels, weeks after they were deployed, and warned others to abandon the program, highlighting their vulnerability.

"In the second group we have around 100 (fighters)," Cavusoglu said, but made clear that the ground forces were only part of the strategy.

"The train and equip program (alone) will not be enough to fight Daesh, that is why we agreed with the United States to start joint operations soon," he said.

Asked whether Iran's improving relations with West in the wake of its nuclear deal could help the prospects of a diplomatic solution in Syria, Cavusoglu was cautious.

"We are very happy to see that Iran has been normalizing its diplomatic ties with many Western countries ... Iran has better dialogue with many Western countries and that is what Turkey fully supports," he said, noting Britain's reopening on Sunday of its embassy in Tehran.

"But the situation in Syria, or in the region including Yemen and Iraq, is totally different to the nuclear deal. What we expect from Iran is a more constructive role in Syria and Iraq, and in Yemen," Cavusoglu said.

(Additional reporting by Tulay Karadeniz in Ankara and David Alexander in Washington; Editing by Giles Elgood and Gareth Jones)

Associated Press Videos
Louisiana State Trooper Shot in Head

LAKE CHARLES, La. (AP) — The good Samaritan who helped capture a man accused of shooting a state trooper said Monday that he was first warned off by bystanders but charged up anyway to try to help the trooper in distress.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Robert LeDoux said he said he could see "pure evil" in the suspect's eyes.

LeDoux described how he tackled and restrained the man, called 911 and worked with others who arrived on the scene to keep the suspect subdued and help the trooper.

Kevin Daigle, 54, is accused of shooting Senior Trooper Steven Vincent on Sunday evening when Vincent found Daigle's truck in a ditch. Vincent died Monday. Authorities plan to charge Daigle with first-degree murder of an officer.

LeDoux said he was out for a drive Sunday when he saw flashing police lights about a quarter mile away and then was stopped by three men calling 911. They urged him to turn around after they had seen a man brandishing a gun by the trooper.

"One of the guys said, 'Don't go down there. That guy's got a gun,'" LeDoux said.

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This photo released by the Louisiana State Police shows Kevin Daigle, 54, of Lake Charles, La. A Lou …

He took off anyway, heading straight to the scene, where the truck was in the ditch. When he arrived on the scene Daigle was standing over the trooper, looking through his pockets and trying to yank the trooper's gun from a holster.

"He told me, 'Everything's all right. Mind your own business. You need to go,'" LeDoux recalled. "All I could see was pure evil in his eyes."

Instead of leaving, LeDoux said: "I took off running. I tackled him. We hit the ground. I was on top of him and I called 911."

The other men, seeing LeDoux tackle the gunman, came to help. They handcuffed the shooter and two of them held him down while LeDoux went to help Vincent, using the trooper's radio to call for assistance.

Police have called him a hero.

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This undated image released by the Louisiana State Police via the New Orleans Times Picayune shows L …

Meanwhile, authorities on Monday also said they found the body of a man whom Daigle had stayed with, and they said Daigle is a suspect in his death.

Calcasieu Parish Tony Mancuso said authorities found the body Monday morning at his home in Moss Bluff after the man did not go to work.

The sheriff said the truck that Daigle ran into a ditch belonged to the Moss Bluff victim.

He said that killing could clarify why an apparently distressed motorist would shoot and kill a trooper who was trying to help him.

The man's identity was not immediately released.

By Samuel Shen and Nathaniel Taplin

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese stocks tumbled again on Tuesday, despite a rebound in markets elsewhere in Asia, as investors despaired at the lack of policy action from Beijing in response to recent data suggesting the downturn in the world's second-largest economy is deepening.

Major Chinese stock indexes nosedived more than 7 percent, hitting their lowest levels since December, following their more than 8 percent plunge on Monday that sent shockwaves through global financial markets. [MKTS/GLOB]

China, one of the main engines of the world economy, has overtaken Greece at the top of the worry list of global investors, who fret its economy is growing at a much slower pace than the official 7 percent target for 2015.

But unlike in July, when Beijing directed hundreds of billions of dollars into the market in an unprecedented rescue operation, policymakers have largely sat on their hands during the latest bout of turbulence, which began last week.

"Global investors are cannibalizing each other. Calling it a market disaster is not an overstatement," said Zhou Lin, an analyst at Huatai Securities.

"The mood of panic is dominating the market ... And I don't see any signs of meaningful government intervention."

The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen dropped 7.1 percent, while the Shanghai Composite Index (.SSEC) collapsed 7.6 percent to close below the psychologically significant 3,000-point level. [.SS]

Underscoring the panic gripping the retail investors who dominate China's stock markets, all index futures contracts fell by the maximum 10 percent daily limit, pointing to expectations of even deeper losses.

KEEP CALM

After the turmoil in China rocked world equity and commodity markets on Monday, policymakers elsewhere in Asia sought to soothe fears about the broader impact on the global economy.

"I think it's important that people don't hyperventilate about these type of things," said Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, whose country is heavily exposed to China, the biggest consumer of its commodity exports.

"It is not unusual to see stock market corrections. It is not unusual to see bubbles burst in particular markets and for there to be some flow-on effect in other stock markets, but the fundamentals are sound."

Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso also said Chinese stocks, which had more than doubled in the six months to May, had been a bubble that was now bursting.

"There's also suspicion on whether China's official GDP figures reflect the real state of the economy," he told a news conference after a cabinet meeting in Tokyo.

After a year of heady gains, Chinese markets have been buffeted by increasing signs that economic growth is faltering.

This week's vertiginous declines have taken stocks into negative territory for the year-to-date, although Leland Miller, president of China Beige Book International, pointed out that Chinese equity markets have shown little correlation with the real economy - either on the way up or the way down.

"Previous boom-bust cycles in Chinese stocks have also showed little or no connection to (apparent) economic performance," said Miller, whose firm provides anecdotal survey information about China based on the Fed's "Beige Book" model.

"Investors can be excused for overreacting to China fears, since without better visibility into the actual condition of China's economy, most prefer to remain cautious."

NO RESCUE?

While there is little evidence that the stock market mayhem has dampened consumer spending so far, concerns about the economy have intensified after factory activity shrank at its fastest pace in almost 6-1/2 years and the central bank unexpectedly devalued its yuan currency earlier this month.

Investors were disappointed by a lack of further central bank action over the weekend, which some said would have been justified both by the weak preliminary manufacturing readout for August and by last week's stock market slide.

"How can investors stand slumps like this?" said a 76-year-old retired worker in Shanghai, who only gave his surname Gao. "The government has messed up the market. It's wrong for the government not to rescue it."

A majority of analysts, however, predict a continued deceleration - rather than a crash - for China's economy, and dismiss comparisons with the 2008 Global Financial Crisis or the 1997/98 crisis in Asia.

"The current panic is essentially 'made in China'. The recent data from other major economies have generally been good and there is little to justify fears of a major global downturn," wrote economists at Capital Economics.

"China's recent economic data suggest that growth remains sluggish, but are not weak enough to justify fears of a hard landing."

Some companies, too, have sought to reassure investors that China's economy is not about to go over the cliff.

Apple Inc (AAPL.O) Chief Executive Tim Cook took the rare step on Monday of commenting on the health of the tech giant's business midway through a financial quarter.

Before the opening bell on Wall Street, he wrote in an emailed response to questions that iPhone activations in China had accelerated over the past few weeks.

"Obviously I can't predict the future, but our performance so far this quarter is reassuring. Additionally, I continue to believe China represents an unprecedented opportunity over the long term," Cook wrote. (http://cnb.cx/1hCtRMl)

Boeing Co (BA.N) on Tuesday raised its forecast for China's aircraft demand despite the slowing economy and tumbling stock market.

The U.S. plane maker expects China will buy 6,330 aircraft over the next 20 years, a 5 percent rise from its last estimate. The planes would currently be worth nearly $1 trillion.

(Reporting by Samuel Shen, Nathaniel Taplin and Kazanori Takada in Shanghai, Pete Sweeney in Hong Kong, Devika Krishna Kumar in Bengaluru, Leika Kihara in Tokyo and Lincoln Feast in Sydney; Writing by Alex Richardson; Editing by Kim Coghill)