Egypt: Protesters Breach Palace Barricade

Protesters have broken through a barbed wire barricade outside the presidential palace in the Egyptian capital Cairo.

Thousands of demonstrators had gathered outside the palace following a night of clashes between supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Morsi on Thursday.

After forcing their way through, some protesters climbed onto army tanks and began waving flags, while others reportedly sprayed graffiti on palace walls.

Protesters climb a barbed wire fence near the presidential palace in Cairo

Troops of the Republic Guard moved to the front gate to secure the main entrance to the palace.

Earlier, the main opposition group in Egypt said it would not take part in talks with the country's president aimed at ending unrest.

Ahmed Said, one of the leading members of the National Salvation Front, said the coalition had rejected Mr Morsi's offer of a meeting to discuss how Egypt should move forward after a referendum on a new constitution set for December 15.

Protesters gather outside the presidential palace

Prominent reformist Mohamed ElBaradei also urged politicians to shun the talks, while the state news agency reported that the liberal Wafd party said it would not take part. Both are members of the Front.

The call for talks came amid the worst violence seen in the country since last year's revolution.

Opponents of Mr Morsi have taken to the streets to protest against a decree by Mr Morsi on November 22, giving himself extra powers and protecting himself from judicial review.

Hundreds of Egyptians have been injured in clashes

At least six people were killed and almost 700 injured in clashes around the palace on Wednesday.

US President Barack Obama called Mr Morsi on Thursday to express his "deep concern" about the deaths and injuries.

He welcomed the offer of talks but warned they should be entered into "without preconditions", a White House spokesman said.

Meanwhile, Egypt's election committee has postponed the start of expatriate voting in the constitutional referendum, the state news agency reported.

Voting was due to begin on Saturday but will now start on Wednesday.

The committee did not say whether the delay would affect the date of the referendum.

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Syria: Rebel Prisoners On Their Religious War

Interviewing people who, under different circumstances, might kill you, is a strange experience.

To the soundtrack of multiple rocket launchers and small arms fire, I met six men who the Syrian authorities told us were jihadist rebel fighters captured by the army.

We were in a Ministry of Interior prison near Damascus in an area now close to the front lines.

The men, four Syrian, an Iraqi, and a Turk, said they had indeed been in the jihadist movement fighting President Assad's forces, but now renounced the armed struggle even though they continued to espouse Salafist ideology. All are awaiting court appearances.

Jamil Us Turk, Ahmed al Rabido, Hamid Hassan al Attar, Bahar al Bashah, Ali Hussein and Mahmoud al Ahab said they were happy to be interviewed and had not been badly treated.

At one point I asked the guards to leave, spoke with the men alone and checked them for obvious signs of mistreatment, which were not apparent. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International both accuse the Syrian regime of routinely torturing prisoners.

As far as I could ascertain, the men were who they said they were. The Turkish man spoke Turkish, the Iraqi had an Iraqi accent, they displayed religious knowledge of the sort taught to those with a Salafist mindset.

The captured fighters are from Turkey, Iraq and Syria

Most of the rebel militias are not radical jihadists, but in the last few months there appears to have been a sharp increase in the number of foreign fighters coming to Syria.

The Syrian authorities are keen to promote the view that they are fighting an al Qaeda type force which partially explains why, after much pushing, we were allowed into a jail no reporters had been in before.

Mahmoud al Ahab, who described himself as a Palestinian Syrian, told me he was in the al Nusra Front which he said was an al Qaeda group. He had sworn an oath of allegiance to al Nursa but now felt this was a mistake.

Ahmed al Rabido, a 48-year-old Syrian, said he was a religious leader, a Mufti, in the Free Syrian Army.

"I joined because I wanted to demolish the secular state... I don't believe in this anymore because the country is being ruined," he said.

Bahar al Basah, 35, another Palestinian Syrian, told me he was influenced by the writings of Abu Qatada, the radical cleric currently under house arrest in the UK.

The men only became animated when I showed a little knowledge of Salafist ideology and brought up the works of Islamists such as the Egyptian Sayyid Qubt.

Sky's Tim Marshall interviewed the men awaiting trial

This led to a question about the future of Syria's minorities such as the Christians. Ahmed, Basah, and Hamid Hassan all agreed - Christians could only live there if they either converted, or paid the 'Jizyah' - a special tax levied on non-Muslims in previous centuries in the Middle East.  If not said Bahar, they could be killed.

When asked why, the answer was, to them, quite simple - because the Prophet Mohammed said so. I was then invited to become a Muslim.

The conversation verged on the surreal. There we were talking in a quite friendly manner, with the occasional joke, about killing people because they wouldn't pay the Jizyah, which critics regard as effectively obtaining money through menaces.

The interview ended with Ahmed volunteering that eventually Muslims must reclaim Andalucia in Spain for the Islamic Caliphate.

His logic, that it was justified because Spain used to be under Islam, was somewhat undermined when he went on to say that Islam should move on to bring the UK under its control and indeed, eventually, the whole world.

Rebel fighters want an end to President Assad's regime

This was a rare first-hand glimpse into the jihadi mindset.

The men are not representative of the FSA, indeed many militia units are deeply suspicious of the jihadists' aims.

However, it appears that a lot of the best weapons are reaching the jihadist groups, and they are using these to gain influence and territory. 

Even if the rebels overthrow the government, they won't just have a problem dealing with militia from the minority groups, they will have problems with each other.

As the men left to go back to their cells, we shook hands.

Two of them were still trying to convert me, asking me, with a smile, to say the Shahada 'La ilaha il Allah - there is no God but Allah.

Men like this scare Syria's Christians, Allawites, Shia, Druze, and Kurds, indeed they frighten many of the countries Sunnis, but the war here is now so steeped in blood that compromise seems almost impossible to achieve, and there are now people on both sides who reject compromise out of hand.

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Egypt: Protesters Breach Palace Barricade

Protesters have broken through a barbed wire barricade outside the presidential palace in the Egyptian capital Cairo.

Thousands of demonstrators had gathered outside the palace following a night of clashes between supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Morsi on Thursday.

After forcing their way through, some protesters climbed onto army tanks and began waving flags, while others reportedly sprayed graffiti on palace walls.

Protesters climb a barbed wire fence near the presidential palace in Cairo

Troops of the Republic Guard moved to the front gate to secure the main entrance to the palace.

Earlier, the main opposition group in Egypt said it would not take part in talks with the country's president aimed at ending unrest.

Ahmed Said, one of the leading members of the National Salvation Front, said the coalition had rejected Mr Morsi's offer of a meeting to discuss how Egypt should move forward after a referendum on a new constitution set for December 15.

Protesters gather outside the presidential palace

Prominent reformist Mohamed ElBaradei also urged politicians to shun the talks, while the state news agency reported that the liberal Wafd party said it would not take part. Both are members of the Front.

The call for talks came amid the worst violence seen in the country since last year's revolution.

Opponents of Mr Morsi have taken to the streets to protest against a decree by Mr Morsi on November 22, giving himself extra powers and protecting himself from judicial review.

Hundreds of Egyptians have been injured in clashes

At least six people were killed and almost 700 injured in clashes around the palace on Wednesday.

US President Barack Obama called Mr Morsi on Thursday to express his "deep concern" about the deaths and injuries.

He welcomed the offer of talks but warned they should be entered into "without preconditions", a White House spokesman said.

Meanwhile, Egypt's election committee has postponed the start of expatriate voting in the constitutional referendum, the state news agency reported.

Voting was due to begin on Saturday but will now start on Wednesday.

The committee did not say whether the delay would affect the date of the referendum.

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Syria: Rebel Prisoners On Their Religious War

Interviewing people who, under different circumstances, might kill you, is a strange experience.

To the soundtrack of multiple rocket launchers and small arms fire, I met six men who the Syrian authorities told us were jihadist rebel fighters captured by the army.

We were in a Ministry of Interior prison near Damascus in an area now close to the front lines.

The men, four Syrian, an Iraqi, and a Turk, said they had indeed been in the jihadist movement fighting President Assad's forces, but now renounced the armed struggle even though they continued to espouse Salafist ideology. All are awaiting court appearances.

Jamil Us Turk, Ahmed al Rabido, Hamid Hassan al Attar, Bahar al Bashah, Ali Hussein and Mahmoud al Ahab said they were happy to be interviewed and had not been badly treated.

At one point I asked the guards to leave, spoke with the men alone and checked them for obvious signs of mistreatment, which were not apparent. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International both accuse the Syrian regime of routinely torturing prisoners.

As far as I could ascertain, the men were who they said they were. The Turkish man spoke Turkish, the Iraqi had an Iraqi accent, they displayed religious knowledge of the sort taught to those with a Salafist mindset.

The captured fighters are from Turkey, Iraq and Syria

Most of the rebel militias are not radical jihadists, but in the last few months there appears to have been a sharp increase in the number of foreign fighters coming to Syria.

The Syrian authorities are keen to promote the view that they are fighting an al Qaeda type force which partially explains why, after much pushing, we were allowed into a jail no reporters had been in before.

Mahmoud al Ahab, who described himself as a Palestinian Syrian, told me he was in the al Nusra Front which he said was an al Qaeda group. He had sworn an oath of allegiance to al Nursa but now felt this was a mistake.

Ahmed al Rabido, a 48-year-old Syrian, said he was a religious leader, a Mufti, in the Free Syrian Army.

"I joined because I wanted to demolish the secular state... I don't believe in this anymore because the country is being ruined," he said.

Bahar al Basah, 35, another Palestinian Syrian, told me he was influenced by the writings of Abu Qatada, the radical cleric currently under house arrest in the UK.

The men only became animated when I showed a little knowledge of Salafist ideology and brought up the works of Islamists such as the Egyptian Sayyid Qubt.

Sky's Tim Marshall interviewed the men awaiting trial

This led to a question about the future of Syria's minorities such as the Christians. Ahmed, Basah, and Hamid Hassan all agreed - Christians could only live there if they either converted, or paid the 'Jizyah' - a special tax levied on non-Muslims in previous centuries in the Middle East.  If not said Bahar, they could be killed.

When asked why, the answer was, to them, quite simple - because the Prophet Mohammed said so. I was then invited to become a Muslim.

The conversation verged on the surreal. There we were talking in a quite friendly manner, with the occasional joke, about killing people because they wouldn't pay the Jizyah, which critics regard as effectively obtaining money through menaces.

The interview ended with Ahmed volunteering that eventually Muslims must reclaim Andalucia in Spain for the Islamic Caliphate.

His logic, that it was justified because Spain used to be under Islam, was somewhat undermined when he went on to say that Islam should move on to bring the UK under its control and indeed, eventually, the whole world.

Rebel fighters want an end to President Assad's regime

This was a rare first-hand glimpse into the jihadi mindset.

The men are not representative of the FSA, indeed many militia units are deeply suspicious of the jihadists' aims.

However, it appears that a lot of the best weapons are reaching the jihadist groups, and they are using these to gain influence and territory. 

Even if the rebels overthrow the government, they won't just have a problem dealing with militia from the minority groups, they will have problems with each other.

As the men left to go back to their cells, we shook hands.

Two of them were still trying to convert me, asking me, with a smile, to say the Shahada 'La ilaha il Allah - there is no God but Allah.

Men like this scare Syria's Christians, Allawites, Shia, Druze, and Kurds, indeed they frighten many of the countries Sunnis, but the war here is now so steeped in blood that compromise seems almost impossible to achieve, and there are now people on both sides who reject compromise out of hand.

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John McAfee Rushed To Guatemala Hospital

Software pioneer John McAfee has been rushed to hospital in Guatemala after complaining of chest pains, according to reports.

Mr McAfee was rushed via ambulance to a Guatemala City hospital just hours after he was denied political asylum in the Central American country.

The software guru, who is fighting deportation to Belize where he is wanted for questioning by police over the death of his neighbour, suffered two mild heart attacks, witnesses told Reuters.

An ABC News correspondent on the scene said Mr McAfee appeared unresponsive until medical personnel attempted to undress him, prompting him to say, "not in front of the press".

The 67-year-old was being held at a Guatemalan immigration detention centre for entering the country illegally.

Police in Belize said earlier they expected him to be returned to the capital city of Belmopan "shortly".

McAfee is wanted for questioning in Belize

Mr McAfee fled to Guatemala over the weekend with his 20-year-old girlfriend, Sam Venegas, after going on the run following the murder of his neighbour Gregory Faull in Belize last month.

Police want to question him as a "person of interest" in his fellow US expat's death.

Though intent on eluding the police, Mr McAfee has stayed in constant contact with the press and maintained an active blog.

After his arrival in Guatemala, Mr McAfee employed former Guatemalan attorney general Telesforo Guerra to manage his plea to stay in the country.

"(Mr McAfee) is persecuted in Belize, persecuted politically because he stopped financing the government," Mr Guerra said.

Mr McAfee has maintained his innocence since escaping Belize police on the island of Ambergris Caye hours after his neighbour was shot dead on November 11.

Mr Faull, who was found with a 9mm bullet in his head, had led neighbours in writing a letter to the mayor complaining that the millionaire's "vicious" dogs and aggressive security guards were scaring tourists and residents.

Before he fled after the murder, Mr McAfee shot dead his four dogs, which he said may have been poisoned by Mr Faull.

Ballistics experts have exhumed the animals and are examining them to see if the bullets match that found in the victim.

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Egypt: Morsi Calls For Talks With Opposition

Mohammed Morsi has called for talks with the opposition in a bid to end the new political crisis engulfing Egypt.

The Egyptian President gave a national television address on Thursday evening in a bid to defuse the country's worst crisis in nearly two years.

He invited the opposition to a "comprehensive and productive" dialogue on Saturday at his presidential palace but gave no sign he would offer meaningful concessions.

Demonstrators responded by demanding the "downfall of the regime", using the chants that brought down previous leader Hosni Mubarak. Some protesters also raised their shoes in contempt.

Members of the main opposition coalition, the National Salvation Front, said they were assessing the offer but it was immediately rejected by the pro-democracy movement "April 6".

Riot police were injured as they tried to break up the fighting

Fighting outside Mr Morsi's Cairo palace has already left at least six dead and almost 700 injured and the Republican Guard intervened on Thursday to stop the violence.

The crisis was sparked by Mr Morsi's decree on November 22, giving himself wide powers and protecting himself from judicial review.

The opposition has previously demanded that the president scrap his decree, postpone the referendum and redraft the constitution.

Opposing sides used lasers against their rivals in the clashes

As well as drawing up a political roadmap, the leader said the talks would aim to resolve the fate of the upper house of parliament after the Islamist-dominated lower house was dissolved in June, the election law and other issues.

"I call for a full, productive dialogue with all figures and heads of parties, revolutionary youth and senior legal figures to meet this Saturday," he declared.

Several thousand opposition protesters near the palace waved their shoes in derision after his speech and shouted "Killer, killer" and "We won't go, he will go" - another of the slogans used against Mubarak in last year's revolt.

Mr Morsi's supporters stand by a tank outside the presidential palace

The Cairo headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood, the group that propelled Mursi to victory in a June election, was set ablaze. Other offices of its political party were attacked.

This week's violence reflects the widening rifts in the most populous Arab nation, where contrasting visions of Islamists and their liberal rivals have complicated a struggle to embed democracy after Mubarak's 30 years of one-man rule.

Mr Morsi said he did not insist on keeping his actions shielded from legal challenge, adding that his entire decree would lapse after the constitutional referendum, regardless of its result.

The offices of Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood was set on fire in Ismailia

He said a new constituent assembly would be formed to redraft the constitution if Egyptians rejected the one written in the past six months by an assembly dominated by Islamists.

The Republican Guard, an elite unit whose duties include protecting the presidential palace, had ordered rival demonstrators to leave by mid-afternoon.

Supporters of Mr Morsi withdrew, but opposition protesters remained, kept away by a barbed wire barricade guarded by tanks. By evening their numbers had swelled to several thousand.

The military played a big role in removing Mubarak duringlast year's popular revolt, taking over to manage a transitional period, but had stayed out of the latest crisis.

Thousands of supporters and opponents of Mr Morsi had fought well into Thursday's early hours, using rocks, petrol bombs and guns.

Before Mr Morsi's speech, opposition groups had called for protests after Friday prayers aimed at "the downfall of the militia regime", a dig at what they see as the Brotherhood's organised street muscle.

A communique from a leftist group urged protesters to gather at mosques and squares across Egypt, and to stage marches in Cairo and its sister city Giza, converging on the presidential palace.

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Four Dead After Ships Collide In North Sea

Four crew members have died and seven are missing after a cargo ship collided with another vessel and sank off the Dutch coast.

"We can confirm that four bodies have been found, along with 13 people rescued alive," said Coast Guard spokesman Marcel Oldenburger.

An air and sea rescue operation involving several helicopters, two navy patrol ships and even one of the ships involved in the collision has now been suspended.

"We have suspended the search until first light," Coast Guard spokesman Peter Verburg said.

"The chances of finding them alive are slim," he added, saying there was a chance that some of the crew may have gone down with the stricken vessel.

The 485ft Baltic Ace collided with the 440ft container ship Corvus J near busy shipping lanes some 40 miles off the coast of the southern Netherlands.

Baltic Ace was heading from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge to Kotka in Finland and the Corvus J was on its way from Grangemouth in Scotland to Antwerp, Belgium.

Earlier, 13 crew members were rescued from the Baltic Ace.

Four were flown to a hospital in Rotterdam, seven taken by rescue helicopter to a hospital in Belgium and two were being treated on board a ship that found them.

A coast guard spokesman said the cause of the collision was not known.

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John McAfee Arrested By Guatemalan Police

Anti-virus software pioneer John McAfee has been arrested by Guatemalan police for entering the country illegally.

Interior Minister Mauricio Lopez Bonilla said McAfee was detained by police at a hotel in Guatemala City.

On Wednesday McAfee said he had formally requested asylum in Guatemala claiming he is being persecuted in Belize, where he is wanted for questioning in connection with the fatal shooting of a neighbour.

More follows...

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Frankie Muniz Reveals He Suffered Mini Stroke

Former Malcolm In The Middle child star Frankie Muniz has revealed he suffered a mini-stroke, at the age of 26.

He posted on Twitter: "I was in the hospital last Friday. I suffered a 'Mini Stroke', which was not fun at all. Have to start taking care of my body! Getting old!"

Muniz, who turns 27 today, put his acting career on hold six years ago to race cars for a living, and earlier this year he joined a rock band.

According to celebrity website TMZ.com, Muniz was taken ill in Arizona last Friday when friends noticed he was having trouble speaking and understanding.

Muniz in the 35th Annual Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race in 2011

Mini-strokes usually affect those over the age of 55. They are temporary interruptions of blood flow to part of the brain but do not kill brain tissue.

Muniz played the title role in the hit TV comedy for six years, and appeared in teen movies Big Fat Liar and Agent Cody Banks.

When the TV show ended its run in 2006, Muniz said he was stepping away from acting to pursue a full-time career as a racing driver.

Earlier his year he joined Pennsylvania-based indie band Kingsfoil as a drummer.

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Gang Boss Shot Dead: Real IRA Member Held

A convicted member of the Real IRA is in custody following the murder of one of Ireland's most notorious criminals.

Eamon Kelly was shot dead after being chased down the road near his home in north Dublin, just two years after he escaped a similar attempt on his life when the attacker's gun jammed.

Dubbed "The Godfather" by Dublin's tabloid press, the 65-year-old was shot up to six times as he attempted to flee the gunman, according to police.

He was found injured on a footpath and died later in Beaumont Hospital.

A 32-year-old arrested near the scene on Furry Park Road in Killester is said to be a close associate of Real IRA leader Alan Ryan, who was murdered in September.

The suspect from south Dublin was previously jailed for Real IRA membership and his gang is suspected of being involved in a spate of shootings and pipebomb attacks. He is being questioned by gardai in Clontarf.

Kelly's crime empire has reportedly been at odds with Real IRA figures, who in recent years have demanded a slice of criminal gangs' drug-trafficking profits in exchange for not killing their members or burning down their business fronts.

Such killings have become regular occurrences in working-class parts of Dublin and the southwest city of Limerick, where two rival crime clans, the Keane-Collopy and McCarthy-Dundon gangs, have been killing each other -and occasionally innocent civilians - for a decade.

Fourteen other people have been shot dead in attacks linked to criminal gangs or disputes in the Irish capital this year.

Police allege that Kelly was a leading member of a gang which, working with the IRA, robbed banks and armoured-car cash shipments in Dublin in the 1980s and became a pioneer of Ireland's burgeoning cocaine trade.

In 1993, he became Ireland's first gangland boss to be convicted of possessing cocaine and received a 14-year prison sentence.

Since leaving prison a decade ago, Kelly has overseen a sharp rise in tit-for-tat violence, according to authorities.

Police allege that his longtime associate, Eamon "the Don" Dunne, oversaw at least 17 murders from 2005 to his own death in 2010, when he was shot eight times in the head as he sat drinking in a Dublin pub.

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Fort Hood Killings: Court Halts Beard Shaving

A military appeals court has removed the judge from the case of the Fort Hood shooting suspect and thrown out his order to forcibly shave the defendant's beard.

The US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces ruled that Colonel Gregory Gross did not appear impartial while presiding over the case of Major Nidal Hasan.

Hasan faces the death penalty if convicted of the 2009 shootings at the Texas Army post in which 13 people were killed and more than two dozen wounded.

He appealed after Col Gross ordered that he must be clean-shaven or be forcibly shaved before the court-martial.

Gross had repeatedly said Hasan's beard was a disruption to the court proceedings.

Clean-shaven Hasan pictured before the Army post shootings

Hasan has said his beard is a requirement of his Muslim faith, although facial hair violates Army rules.

The appeals court said the command, not the judge, is responsible for enforcing grooming standards.

But the court said it was not ruling on whether the judge's order violated Hasan's religious rights.

"Should the next military judge find it necessary to address (Hasan's) beard, such issues should be addressed and litigated anew," judges wrote in the ruling.

The court-martial had been set to begin three months ago, but has been on hold pending the appeals.

It was not immediately clear if Army prosecutors would appeal against this ruling to the US Supreme Court. Prosecutors have said they would not comment about the case until the trial is over, and Fort Hood officials did not immediately issue a statement.

Soldiers wounded in the incident, along with relatives of those who were killed, are campaigning to get the Pentagon to declare the massacre an act of terrorism rather than an incident of workplace violence.

Survivors say the change could help them get extra compensation and benefits.

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Syria: Obama Warns Against Chemical Warfare

Barack Obama has warned Syrian President Bashar Assad of the "consequences" if he were to make the "tragic mistake" of using chemical weapons against his own people.

The US President's remarks came as security officials said they had detected activity at chemical weapons depots.

"I want to make it absolutely clear to Assad and those under his command, the world is watching. The use of chemical weapons is and would be totally unacceptable," he said.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton echoed Mr Obama's caution that such action would cross a "red line" for the United States that would prompt action.

She did not, however, address the reports of movement at Syrian chemical weapons depots - or go into detail about what the response might be - but insisted that Washington would address any threat that arises.

Buildings destroyed by regime missiles in the village of Houla, near Homs

"We have made our views very clear: This is a red line for the United States," she said on Monday while in Prague for meetings with Czech officials.

"I'm not going to telegraph in any specifics what we would do in the event of credible evidence that the Assad regime has resorted to using chemical weapons against their own people. But suffice it to say, we are certainly planning to take action if that eventuality were to occur."

She added: "We once again issue a very strong warning to the Assad regime that their behaviour is reprehensible, their actions against their own people have been tragic.

"But there is no doubt that there's a line between even the horrors that they've already inflicted on the Syrian people and moving to what would be an internationally condemned step of utilising their chemical weapons."

White House, press secretary Jay Carney added: "We are concerned that in an increasingly beleaguered regime, having found its escalation of violence through conventional means inadequate, might be considering the use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people."

Hillary Clinton says chemical warfare would be a "red line" for the US

The warning came as Lebanese security officials said Syria's Foreign Ministry spokesman had left the country and was heading to the UK on a flight from Beirut.

However, it was unclear whether Jihad Makdissi had defected from Mr Assad's regime.

Syria has been careful never to confirm that it has any chemical weapons - any use of which would draw international condemnation.

Its ministry of foreign affairs said Syria "would not use chemical weapons - if there are any - against its own people under any circumstances".

Syria is believed to have several hundred ballistic surface-to-surface missiles capable of carrying chemical warheads, and there are concerns its chemical and biological weapons could fall into the wrong hands should the regime in Syria collapse and lose control of them.

The US has opposed military intervention or providing arms support to Syria's rebels for fear of further escalating a conflict that activists say has killed more than 40,000 people since March 2011.

Meanwhile, the United Nations said it was suspending its aid operations in Syria and withdrawing all non-essential international staff due to attacks on humanitarian aid convoys and the hijacking of goods or vehicles in recent weeks.

The European Union said it too was scaling back its activities in the Syrian capital Damascus due to the worsening security situation.

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Japan Tunnel Collapse: Five People Dead

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent

Police say at least five people have died after being trapped inside their burning vehicle in a highway tunnel that collapsed in Japan.

The Sasago tunnel on the busy Chuo Expressway, about 50 miles (80 km) west of Tokyo, caved in just after 8am local time.

CCTV footage from inside the tunnel shows large sections of the roof lying across the road. 

Several cars are understood to have been crushed and a fire in the tunnel has complicated the rescue effort. Seven people are still missing.

A fire in the tunnel complicated the rescue

Motorists described narrow escapes from falling debris, and a long walk through the darkness after abandoning their cars.

"When I was driving in the tunnel, concrete pieces fell down suddenly from the ceiling," a man in his 30s told public broadcaster NHK.

"I saw a crushed car catching fire. I left my car and walked for about an hour to get out of the tunnel."

Another said: "I could hear voices of people calling for help, but the fire was just too strong."

Aerial footage showed black smoke billowing from the 2.8-mile (4.7-km) tunnel in Yamanashi prefecture.

The fire was extinguished about 11am local time but the rescue and recovery operation has been delayed by concerns that there could be further collapses.

The cause of the collapse is not yet clear. There are no reports of earthquakes in the region though there is a suggestion that a landslide could have contributed to the incident.

Given the frequency of earthquakes in the region, the authorities will have access to rescue equipment which will prove useful for this sort of operation.

NHK reporter Yoshio Goto, caught in Sunday's accident, hit the accelerator and managed to drive out.

"But it was a bit too late and pieces of ceiling fell on my car. I kept pressing the pedal and managed to get out," he said.

"Then when I looked around, I saw half of the car ceiling was crushed."

It was the worst such accident in Japan since 1996, when a tunnel collapsed and falling rocks crushed cars and a bus, killing 20 people.

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Jovan Belcher: NFL Team Plays On After Deaths

An American football team has gone ahead with a scheduled match just 24 hours after one of its players killed himself at the stadium after shooting his girlfriend.

The crowd at the Kansas City Chiefs' Arrowhead Stadium observed a moment of silence for victims of domestic violence and their families.

There was no mention of Jovan Belcher who killed 22-year-old Kasandra Perkins before driving to the NFL team's practice facility and turning the gun on himself.

Coach Romeo Crennel and general manager Scott Pioli tried to stop Belcher, but instead watched as he shot himself in the head.

Kasandra Perkins' house

The Chiefs' chairman Clark Hunt offered sympathy to the families affected by the murder-suicide on Sunday, calling it "an incredibly difficult 24 hours for our family".

Mr Hunt spoke to The Associated Press on the field before the Chiefs' game against the Carolina Panthers.

He said the Chiefs consulted with the league about whether to play the game as scheduled, but ultimately left it up to the coach and the team captains to decide.

The Chiefs beat the Panthers 27-21.

Police have not released a motive for the shootings but said the couple had been arguing recently. They had a three-month-old daughter who is being cared for by family.

Belcher was a 25-year-old native of West Babylon, New York, on Long Island, who played college football at Maine.

He had played in all 11 of the Chiefs' games this season.

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Japan: 'Five Trapped' After Tunnel Collapses

Five people are thought to be trapped and a number of vehicles are ablaze inside a motorway tunnel which has collapsed in Japan, reports have said.

The Sasago tunnel on the Chuo Expressway, about 50 miles west from Tokyo, caved in at around 8am local time and is said to have affected to the Tokyo-bound lanes.

According to media reports, a 100-metre section of the tunnel has been affected - although there has been no immediate confirmation from authorities.

Kyodo News reported that firefighters had said there were "at least five" people trapped in the tunnel, saying a woman who escaped had been in a vehicle with five others, none of whom she had seen since she fled.

A local traffic police unit official told AFP news agency: "We have limited information on the accident at the moment but smoke is said to be coming out from the tunnel as an unspecified number of vehicles were burning."

A journalist working for the public broadcaster NHK was driving through the tunnel when it started to disintegrate.

"I managed to drive through the tunnel but vehicles nearby appeared to have been trapped," he reported.

"Black smoke was coming and there seemed to be a fire inside the tunnel."

NHK footage from inside the tunnel showed a white ambulance and several firefighters wearing protective gear, working in a section shrouded in smoke.

A number of cars with their lights flashing were also seen.

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Two Explosions Rock US Base In Afghanistan

Two explosions and gunfire have rocked a US base in Afghanistan with the Taliban claiming responsibility for the attack.

The insurgents said they inflicted casualties during the assault on the compound in Jalalabad.

The militants said in a telephone call to AFP that they had also launched an attack on Jalalabad airport.

Security forces surrounded the area. NATO officials were not immediately available for comment.

"We can confirm there have been multiple explosions in the vicinity of the Jalalabad airfield," the US-led coalition said in a statement.

"Currently, ISAF officials are on the scene gathering facts, and as more information becomes available, we will release it as appropriate."

In February, a suicide car bomber killed nine people at the base at an airport, almost exclusively used by NATO and the US military.

The US and Afghan government are scrambling to improve security before most NATO combat troops withdraw at the end of 2014.

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Japan: 'Five Trapped' After Tunnel Collapses

Five people are thought to be trapped and a number of vehicles are ablaze inside a motorway tunnel which has collapsed in Japan, reports have said.

The Sasago tunnel on the Chuo Expressway, about 50 miles west from Tokyo, caved in at around 8am local time and is said to have affected to the Tokyo-bound lanes.

According to media reports, a 100-metre section of the tunnel has been affected - although there has been no immediate confirmation from authorities.

Kyodo News reported that firefighters had said there were "at least five" people trapped in the tunnel, saying a woman who escaped had been in a vehicle with five others, none of whom she had seen since she fled.

A local traffic police unit official told AFP news agency: "We have limited information on the accident at the moment but smoke is said to be coming out from the tunnel as an unspecified number of vehicles were burning."

A journalist working for the public broadcaster NHK was driving through the tunnel when it started to disintegrate.

"I managed to drive through the tunnel but vehicles nearby appeared to have been trapped," he reported.

"Black smoke was coming and there seemed to be a fire inside the tunnel."

NHK footage from inside the tunnel showed a white ambulance and several firefighters wearing protective gear, working in a section shrouded in smoke.

A number of cars with their lights flashing were also seen.

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Two Explosions Rock US Base In Afghanistan

Two explosions and gunfire have rocked a US base in Afghanistan with the Taliban claiming responsibility for the attack.

The insurgents said they inflicted casualties during the assault on the compound in Jalalabad.

The militants said in a telephone call to AFP that they had also launched an attack on Jalalabad airport.

Security forces surrounded the area. NATO officials were not immediately available for comment.

"We can confirm there have been multiple explosions in the vicinity of the Jalalabad airfield," the US-led coalition said in a statement.

"Currently, ISAF officials are on the scene gathering facts, and as more information becomes available, we will release it as appropriate."

In February, a suicide car bomber killed nine people at the base at an airport, almost exclusively used by NATO and the US military.

The US and Afghan government are scrambling to improve security before most NATO combat troops withdraw at the end of 2014.

More follows...

10.52 | 0 komentar | Read More