Briton Killed In Afghanistan Suicide Attack

A British national has been killed in a bomb blast and gun attack in the Afghan capital Kabul.

The Briton was among 16 people who died when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a restaurant and two gunmen sneaked in through a back door and opened fire.

The gunmen are believed to have been shot dead by security forces when they arrived at the scene.

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: "We can confirm the death of a British national and we stand ready to provide consular assistance to the family."

The Taliban said it carried out the attack on La Taverna du Liban, a restaurant popular with foreigners and wealthy Afghans alike.

The blast happened at a heavily secured restaurant in the Afghan capital

It described the building as a "foreign hotel" and said the blast targeted "high-ranking German officials" it described as "foreign invaders".

The German foreign ministry said it was looking into the claims, while Ari Gaitanis, a spokesman for the UN, said at least four of its employees remained unaccounted for.

Kebab cook Abdul Majid, who suffered leg fractures in the blast, said: "I was sitting with my friends in the kitchen when an explosion happened and smoke filled the kitchen.

"A man came inside shouting and he started shooting. One of my colleagues was shot and fell down. I ran to the roof and threw myself to the neighbouring property."

Like many places that are popular with diplomats, aid workers and businessmen in Afghanistan, the restaurant has no signs indicating its location and is heavily secured.

It has no windows, bags of dirt are piled up outside to act as blast walls and guests are searched before entering the premises.

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Spying: Obama Announces NSA Reforms

Obama Contrite Over US Secrecy And Spying

Updated: 11:38pm UK, Friday 17 January 2014

By Dominic Waghorn, US Correspondent

This was a very different president to the one we saw in the immediate aftermath of Edward Snowden's first revelations.

Then, Barack Obama was dismissive and defensive. The balance between information and privacy he said was about right. "Trust us", was his message, "we're your government".

Seven months of bruising relentless revelations and he has changed his tone.

"Given the unique power of the state, it is not enough for leaders to say: 'trust us, we won't abuse the data we collect.' For history has too many examples when that trust has been breached."

This is Mr Obama the constitutional law professor, more than Mr Obama the president.

He dealt with broad principles but did not dwell on the policy detail. Far from it.

The most concrete proposals concern America's secret foreign intelligence surveillance courts.

The president wants new checks and balances. A panel of public defenders, lawyers who will champion ordinary Americans' rights. Until now intelligence agencies have been able to make their surveillance applications to judges, uncontested.

The president has issued a new directive outlining the parameters within which agencies can snoop on foreigners abroad, after the furore over spying on German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Pope and commercial businesses. It is not clear how that directive will be enforced.

And there is little detail on resolving the biggest controversy to have been ignited by Edward Snowden, the collection of all American phone records.

"I am therefore ordering a transition that will end the Section 215 bulk meta-data programme as it currently exists, and establish a mechanism that preserves the capabilities we need without the government holding this bulk meta-data."

The president does not have any suggestions for what that mechanism should be. He is going to leave it to Congress and his intelligence agencies to work that out.

There were also some omissions.

The president said little about the NSA and internet snooping programmes, like Prism. The NSA's breach of cloud computing networks operated by Google and Yahoo were not mentioned, although that revelation has infuriated internet giants.

As has the NSA's manipulation of encryption technology which some have warned could cost the US tech industry billions.

The president did not mention content. He and his spies have repeatedly denied they've been reading emails, listening to phone calls. And yet it is known NSA agents have been accessing the correspondence of lovers and love rivals in well publicised abuses.

The president seems content to leave much of the detail to Congress and his intelligence agencies. But he knows ultimately he has the most to lose from the outcome of this process. The Snowden revelations have plagued his administration for seven months and there may well be plenty more to come.

The president was keen to deal with this issue before he gives his State of the Union address, but he knows one speech will not make it go away. It is the beginning of a long process of reform.

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Hollande 'Affair': Actress Sues Over Pictures

Actress Julie Gayet is suing a magazine which claimed she was having an affair with French president Francois Hollande.

The 41-year-old is seeking €50,000 (£41,650) in damages and €4,000 (£3,330) in legal costs from the French edition of Closer, which she claims breached the country's privacy rules.

The magazine published photos taken outside a Paris apartment block, which allegedly showed Mr Hollande arriving on the back of a scooter with his face covered by a helmet before leaving in the morning.

Closer pulled the story from its website following a request from Ms Gayet's lawyer but did not order copies of its magazine to be pulled from newsstands.

The issue featuring the photos was on track to sell 600,000 copies, twice the magazine's usual circulation.

Closer has said there will be another series of pictures and fresh revelations about the affair in its next edition, which is to be published on Friday.

Mr Hollande and his long-term partner Valerie Trierweiler

Earlier this week, Mr Hollande admitted he was going through a "painful time" in his life but said "private matters should be dealt with privately".

He said he was "totally indignant" about the story, which he claimed threatened France's principle of "respect for private life and people's dignity".

Mr Hollande, who has himself threatened legal action over the pictures, is not married but has a long-term partner, Valerie Trierweiler, who acts as France's first lady.

She has been in hospital since Closer published its allegations and is said to be in a state of shock.

Ms Gayet, a mother-of-two, is an established actress in France who also appeared in a 2012 election film for Mr Hollande, in which she described him as "marvellous", "humble" and a "really good listener".

She took legal action in March over internet rumours about her alleged relationship with the president.

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12 Years A Slave Wins Oscar Nod For Best Film

American Hustle and Gravity lead Oscar nominations with 10 nods each, while 12 Years A Slave got nine.

All three movies were nominated for best picture. 

Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, Her, Nebraska, The Wolf of Wall Street and Philomena also got a nod for best movie.

The nominations were announced by actor Chris Hemsworth and Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs at a ceremony in Beverly Hills.

Directed by Briton Steve McQueen, 12 Years A Slave is based on the true story of a man from New York who is captured and sold into slavery in America's Deep South. 

It stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Fassbender, both nominated for best actor and best supporting actor respectively.

Steve McQueen directed 12 Years A Slave

McQueen was also named for best director.

The movie has already picked up 10 Bafta nominations and recently took the best movie drama title at the Golden Globes.

American Hustle won nods for Amy Adams and Christian Bale in lead roles and for Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence in the supporting actor category.

The Wolf Of Wall Street also won nominations for Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese.

Also nominated for best actor were Bruce Dern in Nebraska and Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club, which also earned Jared Leto a supporting actor nod for playing a transgender woman.

Along with Adams, Cate Blanchett was nominated for best actress for Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine, Sandra Bullock in Gravity, Judi Dench in Philomena, Meryl Streep in August: Osage County. 

Notable omissions included Tom Hanks for his lead performance in Captain Phillips, and Robert Redford for the shipwreck drama All Is Lost.

The nominations for best foreign-language movie are: The Broken Circle Breakdown from Belgium, The Great Beauty from Italy, Danish thriller The Hunt, The Missing Picture from Cambodia, and Palestinian movie Omar.

The Oscars are handed out on March 2 in a ceremony hosted by comedian Ellen DeGeneres in Los Angeles.

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Egypt Constitution Vote Clashes Leave 11 Dead

Eleven people have been killed in clashes between security forces and protesters loyal to toppled Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, Egypt's health ministry has confirmed.

The violence came on the first of two days of voting on a new constitution that could replace a charter approved before the Muslim Brotherhood's Morsi was ousted in a coup in July 2013.

The ministry said the deaths happened in Cairo, the nearby province Giza and two areas south of the capital - Bani Suef and Sohag.

Local officials said four Brotherhood supporters were killed in the bloodiest fighting in Sohag, with 20 wounded and three policemen also hurt.

The Interior Ministry blamed the Brotherhood, claiming its supporters had opened fire on people headed for polling stations, killing four and wounding nine more, including a police officer, the state news agency reported.

A further 28 people were wounded in fighting as the country went to the polls for the first time since the end of Morsi's rule, the ministry said. 

Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood supporters march in al Ayaat village at Giza

Two small bombs exploded in Cairo and the Nile Delta city of Mahalla, but there were no injuries.

Most of the dead an injured are thought to be supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, who are still backing Morsi and have called for a boycott of the vote, which could set the stage for a presidential bid by army chief General Abdel Fattah al Sisi.

General Sisi inspected a polling station after voting began, dressed in desert fatigues and wearing his trademark dark sunglasses.

The draft constitution deletes Islamic language written into Egyptian law and strengthens state bodies, including the army, police and judiciary, that defied Morsi.

Soldiers stand guard at a polling station in Cairo

It is expected to pass easily, backed by a large number of the millions of Egyptians who staged mass protests against Morsi and the Brotherhood in June 2012.

There has been little or no sign of a campaign against the draft, with one moderate Islamist party saying its activists were arrested while campaigning for a no vote.

Gamal Zeinhom, a 54-year-old waiting to cast his vote in Cairo, said: "We are here for two reasons - to eradicate the Brotherhood and take our rights in the constitution."

The poll is seen as a milestone in a transition plan billed by the army as a path back to democracy in Egypt, where a succession of state crackdowns have wiped out many of the freedoms won after the 2011 uprising against dictator Hosni Mubarak.

Egyptians hold a poster of late president Nasser and General Sisi

A presidential election could follow as soon as April.

The prospect of a more stable government sent the Egyptian stock market to its highest level since Morsi was toppled.

General Sisi ousted Morsi, Egypt's first freely-elected head of state, last July. His Islamist opponents say he is the mastermind of a coup that kindled the worst internal strife in Egypt's modern history and revived an oppressive police state.

The general's backers see the 59-year-old as someone who can stabilise Egypt against plots to divide the nation.

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), a Geneva-based group that works to uphold the rule of law, described the draft constitution as highly flawed.

It said in a statement: "The referendum campaign has taken place within a context of fear, intimidation and repression, calling into question the fairness of the entire process."

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CAR Violence: Harrowing Stories From Conflict

By Alex Crawford, Special Correspondent

The most senior Muslim leader in the Central African Republic is to travel to Britain in a few days' time to appeal for help from Prime Minister David Cameron as religious attacks raged on in the poverty-stricken country.

The attacks have continued unabated despite last Friday's sudden resignation of the country's first Muslim president, Michel Djotodia.

Sky News accompanied Imam Oumar Kobine Layama as he visited Muslim neighbourhoods in the capital Bangui surrounded by armed guards, and saw hundreds of families cowering in fear in deserted schools and mosques.

"We are forgotten by the French troops," one young man shouted at us.

Another told us: "This is genocide, a big genocide.

"We have Christians living with us and we protect the Christians, but if a Muslim walks downtown then he will be killed."

Tears fell down the cheeks of a 50-year-old Muslim woman as she told us how she witnessed her husband and her son being slaughtered by the Christian anti-balaka militia.

These Christian men were filmed cutting pages of what looked like the Koran

Since the attack a month ago, she has been sheltering  with her two younger sons in the courtyard of a school along with about 40 other families.

They are desperate conditions and the fear is palpable.

Adam Ahamat shook violently as he told us how he witnessed Christian gangs burning his wife and two babies alive.

He said: "They locked the door of our home and then torched it.

"I've lost my life, I don't know what to do."

Mr Ahamat is still recovering from a machete attack on him as he tried to save his family.

He has slash wounds, but it is the emotional scars which will take a lot longer to heal.

But the Christians are suffering too.

More than a million Central Africans - both Muslims and Christians - are now living crowded in multiple camps and separated largely on religious lines, surviving in deplorable conditions where disease is now thriving.

Adam Ahamat said his wife and two babies were burned alive

A Christian woman said: "These are terrible conditions. We're abandoned here and we're still being threatened by the Muslim Seleka bandits."

We see several mosques which have been destroyed in the orgy of violence and vandalism which led up to the resignation of Mr Djotodia.

A group of Christian youths carrying machetes tell us proudly they took part in the destruction of the Muslim holy place we are looking at.

There are loose pages of what looks like the Koran still laying on the ground, and the youths pick them up and slice them with their machetes.

"It's the end of Muslims in this country," a young man said.

"Can you live in peace again?" I ask one of the machete-wielding men.

"Yes," he says. "We have lived side-by-side for decades but we need some help from  outside, I don't see anyone in the Central African Republic can sort it on their own."

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Egypt: Voting Begins On New Constitution

Voting on Egypt's new constitution is under way, the first ballot since the military ousted President Mohamed Morsi last year.

A yes vote is expected and the result could encourage a bid for the presidency by the head of the army, General Abdel Fattah al Sisi.

Tensions in the country are high as people go to the polls. Thousands of soldiers have been deployed to guard polling stations.

Hospital officials quoted by the AFP news agency said a man was killed in clashes between Islamists and civilian opponents in the central province of Beni Sweif.

A bomb exploded outside a court in Cairo less than two hours before polling stations opened. A police general cited by AFP said it caused little damage and no injuries.

Gen Sisi forced Mr Morsi, Egypt's first freely-elected leader, from office in July following mass protests involving millions of people.

Pope Tawadros II, Pope of the Coptic Church, after casting his vote

Islamist opponents view Gen Sisi as the man who caused violence and bloodshed unprecedented in the nation's modern history. At least 1,000 people, mostly Islamists, have been killed in clashes, with thousands imprisoned.

Supporters of Mr Morsi have called for a boycott of the poll, which is set to last for two days. They have been on the end of a brutal crackdown since the coup. 

Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood movement was declared a terrorist organisation in December. He is currently on trial over the deaths of protesters when he was in power and his escape from prison during the 2011 uprising that got rid of former president Hosni Mubarak.

Backers of the interim government argue the referendum is the first of several votes which will restore elected rule by the end of the year.

In a speech on Sunday, Interim President Adly Mansour urged Egyptians to cast their ballots. He said: "I call on you to live up to the responsibility you owe to your nation and to ensure a better future for this country to go to your polling station and vote."

The capital Cairo has been filled with banners urging Egyptians to vote yes, with many featuring military motifs such as a general's hat, a reference to Gen Sisi.

The aftermath of a bomb which exploded in Cairo on polling day

Rights lawyer Ragia Omran told AFP at least seven activists have been detained in the last week for distributing posters or leaflets critical of the new constitution. Most were released after a few days.

The new draft of the constitution has removed a lot of the Islamist-inspired wording of Mr Morsi's constitution. This was suspended when he was removed from power.

Supporters claim it expands women's rights and freedom of speech.

The powers of the military have been boosted. If passed, the army would have the right to appoint the defence minister for the next eight years and prosecute civilians for attacks on the armed forces.

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CAR Violence: Harrowing Stories From Conflict

By Alex Crawford, Special Correspondent

The most senior Muslim leader in the Central African Republic is to travel to Britain in a few days' time to appeal for help from Prime Minister David Cameron as religious attacks raged on in the poverty-stricken country.

The attacks have continued unabated despite last Friday's sudden resignation of the country's first Muslim president, Michel Djotodia.

Sky News accompanied Imam Oumar Kobine Layama as he visited Muslim neighbourhoods in the capital Bangui surrounded by armed guards, and saw hundreds of families cowering in fear in deserted schools and mosques.

"We are forgotten by the French troops," one young man shouted at us.

Another told us: "This is genocide, a big genocide.

"We have Christians living with us and we protect the Christians, but if a Muslim walks downtown then he will be killed."

Tears fell down the cheeks of a 50-year-old Muslim woman as she told us how she witnessed her husband and her son being slaughtered by the Christian anti-balaka militia.

These Christian men were filmed cutting pages of what looked like the Koran

Since the attack a month ago, she has been sheltering  with her two younger sons in the courtyard of a school along with about 40 other families.

They are desperate conditions and the fear is palpable.

Adam Ahamat shook violently as he told us how he witnessed Christian gangs burning his wife and two babies alive.

He said: "They locked the door of our home and then torched it.

"I've lost my life, I don't know what to do."

Mr Ahamat is still recovering from a machete attack on him as he tried to save his family.

He has slash wounds, but it is the emotional scars which will take a lot longer to heal.

But the Christians are suffering too.

More than a million Central Africans - both Muslims and Christians - are now living crowded in multiple camps and separated largely on religious lines, surviving in deplorable conditions where disease is now thriving.

Adam Ahamat said his wife and two babies were burned alive

A Christian woman said: "These are terrible conditions. We're abandoned here and we're still being threatened by the Muslim Seleka bandits."

We see several mosques which have been destroyed in the orgy of violence and vandalism which led up to the resignation of Mr Djotodia.

A group of Christian youths carrying machetes tell us proudly they took part in the destruction of the Muslim holy place we are looking at.

There are loose pages of what looks like the Koran still laying on the ground, and the youths pick them up and slice them with their machetes.

"It's the end of Muslims in this country," a young man said.

"Can you live in peace again?" I ask one of the machete-wielding men.

"Yes," he says. "We have lived side-by-side for decades but we need some help from  outside, I don't see anyone in the Central African Republic can sort it on their own."

:: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202

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Ariel Sharon Remembered As 'Military Legend'

'Bulldozer' Sharon Ruthless But Courageous

Updated: 1:54pm UK, Saturday 11 January 2014

By Sam Kiley, Middle East Correspondent

In October 1953, Israeli paratroops and commandos from the Jewish State's first special forces unit, attacked the Arab village of Qibya, on the West Bank.

Some 69 villagers, many of them women and children, were killed. International condemnation followed.

But the raid did nothing to slow down the rise of the then leader of the SF - Unit 101 - Ariel Sharon.

He went on to personify all that Israel stood for - not among moderates but among those who most hated Israel, and among many who most loved it.

Many in Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Jordan and beyond will celebrate the final passing of Mr Sharon.

His cunning, tactical finesse, brutality and uncompromising belief in the secular Zionist cause, meant he usually won battles and sometimes wars, against those who would annihilate Israel.

He will be mourned as one of the leading lights of Israeli statesmanship who began fighting for the nation before it existed, who shattered the Egyptians in the Sinai in 1967, and saved Israel from defeat in 1973.

But for one man Mr Sharon's death is a particular blow.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the current Israeli Prime Minister, will now inevitably face comparisons with Mr Sharon, and be found significantly wanting.

Mr Sharon was brave. He was ruthless. He may even have been murderous. But he also had political courage.

As prime minister of Israel from 2004-2005, he ordered the withdrawal of illegal Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip.

He had been the champion of the settlements as both a Zionist enterprise and a tactical necessity.

But to advance peace with the Palestinians he turned on his own.

Some of his confidantes even believe that when he split with the Likud party to form Kadima, shortly before his stroke eight years ago, he had been planning to pull Israeli troops out of the West Bank too. 

Such dramatic moves could only be contemplated by a man who had impeccable hardcore credentials among Israel's right.

He had the medals, and he had earned international opprobrium in defence of Israel.

As defence minister he brought disgrace on the Jewish State after the massacre of Palestinians by Lebanese Christians allied with Israel at the Sabra and Shatila camps in 1982.

An Israeli government investigation found him personally responsible for the atrocity.

In September 2000, he ignited the al Aqsa Intifada by provocatively exercising his 'right' to enter the al Aqsa Mosque complex in a move which sparked immediate bloodletting.

Yet after all this hard-headed belligerence, Mr Sharon recognised that Israel could not survive indefinitely in a regional sea of hatred.

His plans to end the most poisonous aspect of Israel's relationship with her Arab neighbours, the occupation of Palestinian lands, were cut short when he suffered a stroke.

His political heir, Mr Netanyahu, was an officer for a while in Sarayet Metkal, Israel's special force founded by Mr Sharon.

He has led the Likud party and been prime minister for longer than the man they called "the bulldozer".

But his critics fear he does not have Mr Sharon's military credibility, popularity, nor the political backbone or the personal dash that Israel so badly now needs.

This will be the year in which Bibi gets the chance to prove that he is Mr Sharon's political son, not his shadow.

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Brutal Birth Reveals Horrors Of CAR Conflict

Aid workers have condemned conditions in disease-ridden refugee camps in the Central African Republic as "deplorable", as the birth of a baby highlights how difficult life has become for many in the war-torn country.

Nearly one million people have been displaced by fighting that has intensified since rebel Seleka fighters seized power in March 2013.

Many of them have been forced into refugee camps on the borders with the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the south and Cameroon in the west.

An estimated 2.2 million people - around half the population - desperately need humanitarian aid, with food and medical supplies increasingly hard to find.

Fighting has forced nearly one million people to flee their homes

Sky News was filming in the Central African Republic when a teenage rape victim went into labour.

The 16-year-old, whose brother and sister were both slaughtered by the Seleka, writhed on a bed in excruciating pain as midwives battling a shortage of drugs and struggling to keep infection at bay forced her baby into the world.

Sky's Special Correspondent Alex Crawford said: "She was alone, chased from her home and pregnant after rape, trying to give birth to another.

"When the little boy was finally dragged into the Central African Republic, he wasn't breathing.

Thousands of soldiers have been deployed in the Central African Republic

"It was a brutal birth to a baby boy she never wanted, into a dangerously chaotic and unstable country."

Doctor Freddie Rehote, of the charity Save The Children, said: "It's deplorable here. It's extremely urgent that these people go back to their homes because life is very difficult.

"They've been here more than a month now. Everyone wants their security back."

The largely Muslim Seleka coalition has unleashed a wave of killings targeting the majority Christian population, which has in turn sparked revenge attacks by "anti-balaka" Christian militia.

Alexandre-Ferdinand Nguendet is the country's interim leader

Alexandre-Ferdinand Nguendet, who took control of the national council after rebel leader Michel Djotodia stood down on Friday, has declared "the pillaging and the chaos are over".

Some 1,600 French troops and 4,000 African Union peacekeepers are on patrol in the country, while the United Nations has asked for an extra $40m (£24.4m) of humanitarian aid.

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Thai Protests: Tourists Flee On Night Buses

By Sarah Yuen, in Thailand for Sky News

Tens of thousands of anti-government protestors are flooding into the Thai capital, Bangkok, blocking major highways and intersections with their vehicles.

As determined demonstrators gather for the final push to drive caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra from office, the tourists are fleeing – hundreds queuing for the night buses which will take them out of the capital to other locations.

In the Khaosan backpacker area of Bangkok, foreign visitors have been isolated in a tiny oasis of normality for weeks.

Demonstrator numbers have grown from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands around the city's Democracy Monument, just one street away.

Now the protestors are on the move – to occupy seven key traffic intersections in Bangkok indefinitely, in a bid to "shut down" the city.

Tourists have been confined to Khaosan Road, the backpacker haven

As well as blocking highways with cars the protestors are laying their roll mats or pitching their tents across once busy and now deserted roads.

The leader of the anti-government protestors, Suthep Thaugsuban, insists they will stage peaceful sit-ins to bring the city, and Thai politics, to a "dead end".

He says the caretaker prime minister will then have no option but to resign.

Mr Thaugsuban's People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) is intent on preventing the snap election Yingluck Shinawatra has called for on February 2.

It wants to establish a Reform Council to "shake-up" Thai politics.

Protestors are moving to block off major routes in the city

Thailand's Electoral Commission has already warned the caretaker government that a successful election is unlikely, and recommended a postponement.

With just three weeks to go until polling day, not a single candidate has been registered in 28 constituencies in eight southern provinces.

All of the opposition Democrat Party MPs have announced they will not run.

For a new Thai parliament to be legitimate, 95% of 500 MPs must attend the first session, but it is unlikely there will be 500 MPs.

The caretaker government has accused the Election Committee of not organising the election properly.

Yingluck Shinawatra has promised the authorities will not use force against the protestors.

Sandbags have been stacked across highways

But the Centre for Administration for Peace and Order (CAPO) has drawn a line in the sand at the eleventh hour.

It states that nobody is to enter any government offices, or any of the seven planned demonstration sites.

This advisory was distributed after thousands of protestors had already taken up position around the caretaker prime minister's home, in the government complex.

They were also across roads and at public transport entrances at three of the seven published sites.

So far Thailand's Army Chief General Prayuth Chan-Ocha has given only enigmatic replies to questions asking if the military will stage a coup to restore order in the event of violence.

The tension is palpable in both the anti-government and pro-government camps.

Groups of men with homemade sharpened bamboo sticks, and stone-tipped axes and machetes, merge with anti-government protestors armed only with colourful plastic clappy hands.

PDRC security men, all in black with their faces obscured by balaclavas, search everyone trying to enter the demonstration areas.

This weekend there was another attack on anti-government protestors in which seven people were injured by gunfire.

The protestors promised they wouldn't prevent access to the monorail elevated public transport system.

But as the new phase of the demonstrations has got underway, they have sealed off the access walkways; they claim out of fear that they will be used by pro-government gunmen as vantage points to fire down into the crowd.

Protestors also promised they would not target the city's two international airports.

But photographs are circulating on Twitter of anti-government protestors blocking access to the airport trains into the city, inside Suvarnabhumi airport.

Thailand has long been called the "Teflon" Economy because it has come through so many upheavals in the past few years, apparently without lasting damage to its prospects.

But now with international airlines drastically cutting their flights into the country due to falling demand, and not a single private jet on the runway at Don Muang Airport, a situation never seen before, concerns are growing over the impact of these latest demonstrations, and the ramifications of a protest which could stretch on for days, or even weeks, in the Thai capital.

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Iran: Date Set For Nuclear Programme Freeze

A date has been set for the start of an interim deal to freeze Iran's nuclear programme.

Iran and six world powers have agreed on how to implement the nuclear deal struck in November and it will enter into force on January 20.

The move was welcomed by Foreign Secretary William Hague as an important first step.

The announcement starts a six-month clock for a final deal to be struck over the Islamic Republic's contested nuclear programme.

The West accuses Iran of seeking nuclear weapons, but Tehran has consistently denied that.

Under the deal, Iran has agreed to halt enrichment of uranium above 5% purity and "neutralise" its stockpile of near-20%-enriched uranium.

It will also provide daily access to inspectors.

In return, the E3+3 nations - the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany - will ease some trade sanctions such as in petrochemicals and gold.

European Union negotiator Catherine Ashton praised the deal in a statement.

She said: "The foundations for a coherent, robust and smooth implementation ... have been laid."

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called the deal "a decisive step forward which we can build on."

But President Barack Obama warned of a tough road ahead to realise a comprehensive solution.

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Ariel Sharon: Israel's Former-PM Dies

Former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon has died following a long illness.

The 85-year-old's son was quoted as saying he had died, eight years since a stroke at the height of his powers left him in a coma.

Gilad Sharon said: "He has gone. He went when he decided to go."

Gilad Sharon announces his father's death

Sheba Medical Centre, where he was being treated, said he died at around 2pm (midday UK time).

His body will lie in state in the Knesset, before his funeral takes place at a ranch in the Negev desert.

Sharon's 2000 visit to a disputed Jerusalem site caused the second Intifada

Mr Sharon's condition suddenly deteriorated on January 1 when he suffered serious kidney problems after surgery.

Nicknamed 'The Bulldozer', the veteran soldier fought in all of Israel's major wars before beginning a turbulent political career in 1973.

Long considered a pariah for his personal but "indirect" responsibility for the 1982 massacre of hundreds of Palestinians by Israel's Lebanese Phalangist allies in Beirut's Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, he was elected premier in 2001.

Ministers in Israel's right-wing government and the political opposition mourned a leader who left big footprints on the region through military invasion, Jewish settlement building on captured land and a unilateral decision to pull Israeli troops and settlers out of the Gaza Strip in 2005.

President Shimon Peres said: "My dear friend, Arik Sharon, lost his final battle today.

"Arik was a brave soldier and a daring leader who loved his nation and his nation loved him. He was one of Israel's great protectors and most important architects, who knew no fear and certainly never feared vision."

Mr Sharon was accused over the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre

Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said in a statement: "The nation of Israel has today lost a dear man, a great leader and a bold warrior."

There was no immediate comment on the death from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, with whom Mr Sharon's Likud party successor, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has been holding US-sponsored peace talks.

But in Gaza, Hamas welcomed Mr Sharon's death and celebrated in the streets.

"We have become more confident in victory with the departure of this tyrant," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zurhi said.

"Our people today feel extreme happiness at the death and departure of this criminal whose hands were smeared with the blood of our people and the blood of our leaders here and in exile."

Prime Minister David Cameron said: "Ariel Sharon is one of the most significant figures in Israeli history and as prime minister he took brave and controversial decisions in pursuit of peace, before he was so tragically incapacitated.

"Israel has today lost an important leader."

Labour leader Ed Miliband said: "Ariel Sharon was a figure who dominated Israeli politics for a generation. Nobody can doubt the impact he had on Middle East politics."

US President Barack Obama offered his condolences to Mr Sharon's family, saying: "We join with the Israeli people in honouring his commitment to his country."

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CAR: More Violence As Foreigners Set To Leave

More violence has broken out in the Central African Republic (CAR) capital of Bangui following the resignation of the country's president and prime minister.

At least three people were killed in the clashes, including a Christian vigilante, an ex-Seleka rebel and a civilian, according to the Central African Red Cross.

The fighting came as the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) prepared to evacuate thousands of stranded foreigners caught up in the fighting. 

Sporadic gunfire was heard in Bangui and there were widespread reports of looting in the city.

The head of the Central African Red Cross, Pastor Antoine Mbaobogo, said many looters were targeting Muslim-owned shops.

Crowds gather in the streets of Bangui after the president's resignation

"Those who were looted when the (mainly Muslim) Seleka arrived (in March last year) are now looting in turn," he said.

President Michel Djotodia, the first Muslim leader in the majority Christian nation, resigned on Friday alongside his prime minister, Nicolas Tiengaye.

During his tenure, Mr Djotodia set up a transitional council and promised open elections but unrest and sectarian fighting began within months of his appointment. 

It was hoped his resignation would help ease tensions in the country.

The CAR has seen spiralling violence between the mainly Muslim Seleka rebels who brought Mr Djotodia to power last year, and Christian militias.

Michel Djotodia was the nation's first Muslim leader

More than 1,000 people have been killed in the past month alone and signs of sectarian conflict remain in Bangui where a mosque was targeted by a gang of young looters.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has called on the African Union to provide promised troops to help end the "terrible crisis" in the nation. 

So far, France has deployed 1,600 troops to help support the African Union MISCA force, which is meant to have up to 6,000 troops but has not yet reached 3,500.

European nations on Friday agreed in principle on a plan to launch a joint military operation in the country, with a final decision expected later in the month.

An interim parliament will hold a special session on Monday to discuss Mr Djotodia's replacement.

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