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 rare access into the jail.

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 Qutb.

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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Egyptian Protesters Keep Up Pressure

Tens of thousands of protesters have demonstrated overnight outside Egypt's presidential palace, calling on President Mohamed Morsi to step down.

The peaceful night-time demonstration followed a tense day in which Mr Morsi's opponents broke through a barbed-wire security barricade outside the palace, climbing on army tanks and waving flags.

Some protesters overnight chanted "Leave! Leave!" to Mr Morsi, who is backed by the Muslim Brotherhood, while others daubed walls with graffiti and cartoons.

One caricature portrayed Mr Morsi with blood on his mouth, another depicted him as a pharaoh – a reference to a recent decree that expanded his powers and barred court challenges to his decisions.

After the night of protests, the streets of Cairo were calm.

The protesters say a new decree gives Mr Morsi pharaoh-like powers

A referendum on a new draft constitution opposed by liberals is set for December 15, and Mr Morsi has called for talks with the opposition to discuss how Egypt should move forward after the vote.

Amid the protests, Mr Morsi's deputy has raised the possibility that the referendum might be delayed.

But major opposition leaders have rejected Mr Morsi's call dialogue.

The unrest is the worst since last year's revolution, which toppled ex-president Hosni Mubarak, and the subsequent vote that made Mr Morsi the country's first freely elected leader.

At least six people have been killed and almost 700 injured in clashes around the palace.

"We will stay here for as long as it takes and will continue to organise protests elsewhere until President Morsi cancels his constitutional decree and postpones the referendum," said Ahmed Essam, 28, a computer engineer who took part in the overnight protest.

The upheaval in the most populous Arab nation worries the West, in particular the United States, which has given it billions of dollars in military and other aid since Egypt made peace with Israel in 1979.

US President Barack Obama called Mr Morsi on Thursday to express his "deep concern" over 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 to Wednesday the start of expatriate voting in the constitutional referendum, originally planned for Saturday.

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

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Gaza Marks Hamas Anniversary With Huge Rally

Tens of thousands of Palestinians are gathering in Gaza City for a rally marking the 25th anniversary of the militant group Hamas.

Leader Khaled Meshaal is due to address the crowd, a day after receiving a hero's welcome in his first ever trip to Gaza, which ended decades of exile.

Thousands of Hamas supporters, some of them flashing victory signs, others waving the movement's green flags, attended the Al-Qatiba complex, west of Gaza City.

Security was tight, with streets cordoned off and masked members of the group's military wing keeping watch from rooftops in the area.

At least 200,000 Palestinians are expected to attend.

The rally is likely to be used to proclaim victory in the recent eight-day conflict with Israel, which killed some 170 Palestinians and six Israelis and ended in an Egypt-brokered ceasefire.

Security forces are out in strength for the rally

Hamas has portrayed itself as the victor because Israel agreed to the truce instead of sending in ground troops, as it initially threatened.

At the rally, Mr Meshaal is also expected to promote Hamas's growing stature in the Arab world and push the case for reconciliation with its secular political rival, Fatah.

Local leaders of Fatah, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's faction, are expected to participate.

Hamas has governed Gaza since 2007.

Mr Meshaal left the nearby West Bank as a young boy in 1967

Mr Meshaal crossed the border from Egypt on Friday, kissing the ground as he got out of the car.

A veteran Hamas strategist, Mahmoud Al-Zahar, said: "All Palestinians will eventually return to their homeland. Khaled Meshaal is returning after a victory."

Founded in 1987 shortly after the start of the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, Hamas was inspired by Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.

Hamas is on the UK Home Office's list of proscribed groups, while the United States classifies it as a terrorist organisation.

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Egypt: 'Concerned' Obama Calls Morsi

President Barack Obama has called the leader of Egypt to express his deep concern about the deaths and injuries of protesters in the country.

The US president welcomed President Mohamed Morsi's call for a dialogue with the opposition and urged opposition leaders to join in this dialogue without preconditions.

Egypt's president had appeared on national television in an attempt to defuse the worst violence seen in the country since last year's revolution, and he said a controversial decree granting him widespread new powers might be modified.

Anger over what is perceived as Mr Morsi's increasingly autocratic rule came to a head on Wednesday when at least six people were killed and almost 700 injured during clashes between his supporters and opponents.

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

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 and postpone a referendum on a new draft constitution.

As well as drawing up a political roadmap, President Morsi 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.

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Hamas Chief Ends 45-Year Exile With Gaza Visit

The Hamas leader, Khaled Meshaal, has kissed the ground in the Gaza Strip in his first visit since going into exile in 1967.

Mashaal crossed the border from Egypt on Friday for a visit which marks the Islamist group's growing confidence.

He will spend just 48 hours in Gaza, attending a mass rally on Saturday to mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of Hamas and has been billed as a "victory" celebration after the recent conflict with Israel.

The Hamas leader was accompanied by his deputy, Musa Abu Marzuk, and embraced the Hamas prime minister, Mussa Abu Marzuk, on his arrival.

More follows...

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Linesman Death: Fourth Teen Held In Holland

Dutch police have arrested a fourth teenager in connection with the beating to death of a football linesman.

The 16-year-old from Amsterdam was arrested on Thursday evening, police said. There are now two 15-year-olds and two 16-year-olds in custody.

Volunteer linesman Richard Nieuwenhuizen died on Monday, a day after he was attacked during a game at the ground of Amsterdam team Nieuw Sloten.

Mr Nieuwenhuizen's own son had been playing in the game, which was held in the town of Almere.

Prosecutors said they expected to charge at least some of the teenagers with manslaughter, assault and public violence.

Mr Nieuwenhuizen's team, Buitenboys, have not announced the exact cause of his death, but Dutch TV station RTL said he had brain damage.

Mr Nieuwenhuizen left after Sunday's match and was not aware anything was wrong. He returned to his club later that night and collapsed.

"You can't believe this could happen. That kids of 15 or 16 are playing football, you come to watch and see something like that," said Buitenboys chairman Marcel Oost.

"He did it every week. He enjoyed doing it. He was a real football man - he was always here."

FIFA president Sepp Blatter said in a statement he was "deeply shocked" by Mr Nieuwenhuizen's death.

Parents and other volunteers regularly referee and officiate at sports matches involving their children in The Netherlands.

• Related stories
• Dutch Linesman Death: Teens To Be Charged

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Philippines Typhoon: Deadly Scale Becomes Clear

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent

The number of people killed in the Philippines typhoon may rise as high as 500.

Rescuers and recovery teams are continuing to discover devastated communities in remote regions of Mindanao Island.

Typhoon Bopha hit the east of Mindanao, far south of the capital Manila, at dawn on Tuesday morning.

Initial reports suggested that no one had been killed and only a few people injured.

However, as communication was restored and remote regions accessed, the reality became clear.

TV footage shows scores of dead bodies all caked in mud. Those who survived sit, stunned, next to their dead relatives.

A family wash clothes surrounded by a devastated banana plantation

One young boy is carried to safety by his cousin. His father is in hospital but his mother and his brother are dead.

Hundreds of the injured across Mindanao will have the same stories. Many thousands more are homeless.

Mindanao has the perfect landscape for storm destruction - much of the population live in shacks along the coastline, but inland the island is dominated by mountains and rivers.

Many people and their homes were wiped away by flooding and landslides.

In the Compostela Valley in the island's south-east, communities were evacuated to a local school and a community centre which were then hit.

"We didn't think the winds would get that strong. The floods were rushing towards us. We didn't imagine it would turn out that way, so we didn't come here to evacuate," one villager said.

The recovery will continue and the repair work will now begin. However, forecasters predict another storm within the next two weeks.

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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.

The 67-year-old was detained at a hotel in Guatemala City with the help of Interpol agents.

He entered the country over the weekend with his 20-year-old girlfriend Sam Venegas after going on the run following the murder of his neighbour in Belize last month.

Police spokesman Pablo Castillo said the software pioneer could be deported within hours to Belize or repatriated to the US.

John McAfee with his 20-year-old Belizean girlfriend Sam Venegas

"We understand that he has permanent residency in Belize, where he could be deported in the next few hours," the spokesman said.

"His status is illegal and he is being made available to immigration authorities so they can decide whether to deport him to his country of origin."

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.

"They accuse him of a common crime. So what I have to obtain is an authorisation of asylum."

John McAfee during an interview

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

The authorities in Belize say Mr McAfee is wanted for questioning as a "person of interest" and have urged him to give himself up.

Mr Faull, who was found with a 9mm bullet in his head, 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: Tanks Move In As Violence Kills Five

Egypt's army has moved tanks in to protect the presidential palace after a night of violent clashes in which at least five people were killed.

Running street battles between supporters of President Mohamed Morsi and his opponents raged overnight outside the palace.

Rival sides attacked each other with firebombs, rocks and sticks in the worst outbreak since Egypt's new crisis erupted two weeks ago.

The Health Ministry told state television that 446 people had been injured and five killed in the scenes outside the presidential complex in the north of Cairo.

The violence broke out on Wednesday after thousands of Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood supporters marched on the palace where 300 of the president's opponents were staging a sit-in.

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

Riot police were sent in and fired tear gas but were unable to stop the fighting, which continued until early morning.

Three tanks and three armoured vehicles have been moved outside the presidential complex ahead of a statement from Mr Morsi in which he is expected to address the new climate of unrest in the country.

According to the state news agency: "The Republican Guard began a deployment around the headquarters of the presidency ... to secure the headquarters of the presidency in its capacity as a symbol of the state and the official headquarters of government."

Opposing sides used lasers against their rivals in the clashes

Violence between the president's supporters and opponents has escalated rapidly since the first protests on November 22, after Mr Morsi assumed sweeping new powers, leading critics to brand him the "new pharaoh".

It has been exacerbated by the hasty drafting of a new constitution.

Despite the fighting, the president appears to be pressing ahead with plans for a constitutional referendum to pass the new charter.

Violence has spread to other parts of the country and protesters have set fire to the offices of Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood party in Suez and Ismailia, east of Cairo.

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

In Alexandria, the country's second biggest city, security officials said a senior Muslim Brotherhood official was taken to hospital after being severely beaten.

Four of the president's advisers resigned on Wednesday, joining two other members of his 17-member advisory panel who have abandoned him since the crisis began.

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

The opposition is demanding that Mr Morsi rescind the decrees giving him nearly unrestricted powers and shelve the controversial draft constitution, which was rushed through last week.

Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel laureate and a leading opponent of Mr Morsi's, said that the president's rule was "perhaps even worse" than Hosni Mubarak's, the former president who was overthrown in 2011.

He accused the president's supporters of a "vicious and deliberate" attack on peaceful demonstrators outside the palace.

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New York Barefoot Homeless Man 'Not Homeless'

The barefoot homeless man, whose gift of a new pair of boots from a New York cop turned into a web phenomenon, may not be homeless after all.

Jeffery Hillman has been living for over a year in an apartment in the Bronx according to the New York Daily News - with his rent paid by social security and veterans benefits.

But despite this, the 54-year-old has continued to be spotted shoeless around Manhattan since the cold November night when Officer Larry DePrimo bought him the $100 shoes, in the widely-lauded random act of kindness.

"Outreach teams from the Department of Homeless Services continue to attempt to work with him, but he has a history of turning down services," Barbara Brancaccio, a spokeswoman for the New York City agency, told the newspaper.

After the image was taken by a tourist from Arizona and posted on the NYPD Facebook page, more details about the then-anonymous vagrant emerged.

Mr Hillman was in the army and has two adult children.

He has family and old friends in New Jersey and Pennsylvania who are shocked by his plight, but also keen to help him.

"Jeffrey has his own life, and he has chosen that life, but he knows that our hearts and home are always open to him," his niece Alegra Hall told the New York Post.

Mr Hillman lived in city transitional housing sites called Safe Havens from 2009 until 2011, before securing his current apartment through a Department of Veterans Affairs programme, the Daily News said.

The story behind the mobile phone image may not be quite the fairytale many wanted to believe.

While New Yorkers still applaud the young policeman's gesture, opinion is sharply divided over whether Mr Hillman deserves sympathy or criticism.

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Cancer Girl Safer In Mexico, Say Parents

A young cancer patient was removed from a Phoenix hospital and taken to Mexico for her own safety, according to her parents.

Emily Bracamontes, who was being treated for leukaemia and recently had an arm amputated and a heart catheter fitted, was taken from her ward exactly a week ago by her mother.

Her disappearance triggered an urgent search, amid fears the cardiac device could become infected and lead to serious complications.

However her parents, Norma and Luis Bracamontes, have told Mexican TV that they simply wanted to protect their 11-year-old daughter from what they called bad medical treatment.

"It was the only way because they had threatened and intimidated her," her mother told Telemundo.

Luis Bracamontes spoke to Mexican TV station Telemundo

Emily's father, who was detained as he crossed back into the US on Monday, alleged her arm became infected and was partially amputated because of hospital negligence.

"They told my wife that she already had it," Luis Bracamontes said.

"That's not true. Her arm was healthy."

Emily, who is with her mother at an undisclosed location in Mexico, also spoke briefly to her father during the interview on his mobile phone.

She told him she was feeling fine.

Neither parent is charged with a crime yet, but authorities in the US want the child brought back to the hospital before it is too late.

The girl's father is a Mexican citizen with US residency. Emily and her mother are US citizens.

Authorities had speculated they might have been concerned about paying the bill at the Phoenix Children's Hospital.

Staff there say they are ready to talk to the child's family at any point.

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Dewani Murder: 'Trigger Man' Jailed For Life

A South African man has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Swedish woman Anni Dewani on her honeymoon.

Xolile Mngeni, 25, was convicted by a court in Cape Town of firing the shot that killed the 28-year-old woman in 2010.

Judge Robert Henney called the shooter "a merciless and evil person" who deserved the maximum punishment for his crime.

"He had no regard to her right to freedom, dignity, and totally disregarded and showed no respect to her right to life by brutally killing her with utter disdain," Judge Henney said.

Mngeni, who had surgery to remove a brain tumour while facing trial, maintained his innocence.

Two of the men accused of being his accomplices are already serving lengthy prison sentences after entering into plea bargains.

Zola Tongo and Mziwamadoda Qwabe both implicated Mngeni and said they had been hired by Mrs Dewani's British husband, Shrien, to kill his wife.

Shrien Dewani pictured last year

A motive has never been clearly explained for why Dewani, a businessman from Bristol, would want his new bride killed.

He has denied he hired anyone to kill his wife and was allowed by authorities to leave South Africa for the UK, where he was later arrested.

He is currently being treated in a secure mental health hospital for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

In March, a High Court ruled that it would be "unjust and oppressive" to extradite Dewani to South Africa, as his mental condition had worsened since his arrest.

Mrs Dewani was shot when a taxi the couple were travelling in was hijacked in Gugulethu township on the outskirts of Cape Town.

Prosecutors said Mngeni, Qwabe and Tongo were paid 15,000 rand (£1,066) for the killing.

Mngeni's left palm print was found on the car in which Mrs Dewani's body was recovered, the court heard during his trial.

Her watch, bracelet and mobile phone were also discovered in Mngeni's friend's shack.

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Philippines Typhoon: Bopha Forces Evacuations

A powerful typhoon has smashed into the southern Philippines, forcing more than 41,000 people to flee their homes to escape the strongest storm to hit the country this year.

Three people have been hit by falling trees, while another person had a heart attack as the typhoon lashed Mindanao island, said civil defence chief Benito Ramos, adding that their condition was not known.

"So far, casualties have been minimal. We attribute this to the co-operation of our people and the efforts of local officials," Mr Ramos told reporters.

The storm weakened slightly after making landfall early on Tuesday and was moving northwest.

Power has been cut off in at least eight municipalities, while parts of Agusan del Sur province are flooded, Mr Ramos said.

Winds have also blown roofs off some buildings on Mindanao.

The commercial centre of Cagayan de Oro, a city of 600,000 people, was hit by flooding as rivers overflowed.

Liza Mazo, regional civil defence official, said power was cut to reduce the risk of fires and electrocutions.

Cagayan de Oro residents ready for evacuation ahead of the storm

Residents evacuated high-risk coastal villages and along rivers, including in southern provinces that were devastated by a deadly storm a year ago.

Cagayan de Oro mayor Vicente Emano said on ABS-CBN television that police forcibly evacuated residents of low-lying areas after they refused to join thousands of others who had sought refuge at government shelters.

Schools were shut in Mindanao and across large areas of the central Philippines, with some of the schoolrooms serving as evacuation centres or to store relief supplies.

In the mountainous Compostela Valley, authorities halted mining operations and ordered villagers to evacuate to prevent a repeat of deadly losses from landslides and the collapse of mine tunnels seen in recent storms.

Bopha, which has a 373-mile (600-km) wide rain band, was expected to barrel across southern and central provinces before blowing out into the South China Sea on Thursday, forecasters said.

The Philippines is battered by about 20 typhoons a year, with 1,500 deaths recorded last year from cyclones that affected nearly a tenth of the total population by government count.

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Toulouse Gun Attack: Two Accomplices Arrested

French police have arrested two alleged accomplices of Islamist gunman Mohamed Merah, who shot seven people dead in Toulouse in March.

A man, identified as Charles Mencarelli and described by police as a member of the traveller community, was arrested in the southern town of Albi, about 45 miles (70 km) northeast of Toulouse.

He was arrested without incident and was to be brought to Toulouse for questioning, police sources told the AFP news agency.

Mencarelli's former partner was arrested separately at her home in Toulouse.

They are both being held on suspicion of helping Merah, 24, carry out the al Qaeda-inspired attacks, the sources said.

Merah, a Frenchman of Algerian origin, shot a rabbi, three Jewish schoolchildren and three French paratroopers before being shot dead in a police siege.

Abdelghani Merah published a book unreservedly condemning his brother

Merah's elder brother, Abdelghani, previously told French media that the gunman had accomplices, including someone from the traveller community who may have been involved in stealing the scooter Merah used in his attacks.

Another brother, Abdelkader, was also arrested as a suspected accomplice and remains in custody.

Merah, a petty criminal lured into Islamic extremist circles in Toulouse, visited Afghanistan and Pakistan before he carried out the attacks.

French intelligence services have been heavily criticised for failing to realise the threat posed by Merah.

His attacks prompted a rethink of French security policies. Legislation is being considered that will allow authorities to prosecute citizens who attend militant Islamist training camps abroad and to boost monitoring of extremist websites.

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Corfu Sex Attack Video Given To Essex Police

Police are trying to trace a young woman, believed to be British, who was videoed being sexually assaulted while on holiday in Corfu.

Essex Police were handed footage from a video camera in August which features the "shocking" attack alongside more routine holiday clips.

They are now trying to track the woman who was subjected to the ordeal on a hotel bed in Kavos during the early hours of July 30.

It is suspected that her attacker was a fellow Briton who was holidaying with a group of friends.

Most of the people staying in the resort at the time are thought to have been British.

Police have been investigating for months but have now decided to make their appeal public.

Detective Inspector Hayley King said: "We don't know when the young woman returned to the UK or which airport she flew back into. We strongly believe that she is from the UK.

"The offence took place in a hotel room. We don't though know which hotel it is in Kavos, and there are many."

In a bid to help the victim identify herself, police have said she was wearing a number of coloured wristbands obtained from local clubs.

:: Anyone with information is urged to contact Essex Police's sexual offences investigation team in Brentwood on 01279 625428 or email soit@essex.pnn.police.uk

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Russia: Drivers Stuck In 120-Mile Traffic Jam

Tens of thousands of vehicles have been stuck - some for three days - in a huge traffic jam on a motorway northwest of Moscow.

The length of the queue on the M-10 highway, which is one of the busiest in the country, was put at up to 120 miles (200km), according to media reports.

Heavy snow has been blamed for the gridlock - with one driver reported as saying he had travelled just "one kilometre over 24 hours".

Field kitchens have been set up along stretches of the road but many drivers said they are running out of fuel to keep their engines and heating running in the sub-zero temperatures.

Field kitchens have been set up along the route

"Drivers help one another and that's it, the problems are on the side of the authorities. There are no gasoline tankers, no water, nothing. We are just stuck here," a truck driver called Sergei said.

A police official said that by Sunday evening "the reach of the traffic jam is no longer than 55km and is gradually falling". The motorway is now thought to be moving normally again.

But a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin has been ordered to report to Mr Medvedev on measures to end the jam and help the stranded motorists.

The M-10 links Moscow with Russia's second largest city St Petersburg

Russian authorities have been accused of sluggish responses to weather-related problems, including deadly wildfires in 2010 and flooding in the south this summer.

The M-10 highway links Moscow with Russia's second largest city St Petersburg, some 435 miles (700km) from the capital, and stretches on to the border with Finland.

Russia's roads have been the butt of criticism since Tsarist times and its infrastructure has been plagued with problems since the Soviet era when defence spending was high at the expense of roads, housing, healthcare and other civilian needs.

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Samantha Koenig Murder Suspect Kills Himself

A man charged over the death of an Alaska coffee bar worker has been found dead in his jail cell.

Israel Keyes died of an apparent suicide, authorities said on Sunday, without giving further details.

He was facing a possible death penalty for the murder of 18-year-old Samantha Koenig, who was abducted from her kiosk in Anchorage last February.

Investigators said Keyes confessed to her murder, but also to killing Bill and Lorraine Currier from Essex, Vermont.

They went missing in June 2011. Their bodies were never found.

Keyes also indicated he killed four other people in Washington state and one person in New York state, but did not give the victims' names.

Ms Koenig's disappearance in the depths of winter gripped Anchorage for weeks, until her body was recovered on April 2 from an ice-covered lake north of the Alaskan city.

CCTV pictures had showed an apparently armed man in a hooded sweatshirt leading her away from her coffee stand.

Prosecutors say Ms Koenig likely died just a day later, but Keyes then used her phone to send text messages to conceal the abduction, and to later demand a ransom.

He was finally arrested in Texas after using her debit card.

The FBI said there may be victims in other states, besides the four indicated by Keyes. 

The 34-year-old was a self-employed carpenter and Army veteran who had been stationed at Fort Lewis in Washington state.

He moved to Anchorage in 2007 but also owned a house and property in Constable in New York state.

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Japan Tunnel Collapse: Only Visual Checks Done

The company in charge of a collapsed tunnel in Japan has admitted workers only carried out visual checks on metal bolts used to anchor concrete slabs in the tunnel roof.

Central Nippon Expressway Co faces a police investigation after at least nine people were killed in Sasago Tunnel, 50 miles west of Tokyo, when ceiling slabs fell on to moving vehicles inside the tunnel.

Transport minister Yuichiro Hata has instructed companies to check all 49 tunnels in Japan that have similar concrete slab structures.

Rescue efforts were suspended on Monday morning while work is carried out to support the remaining slabs and prevent further collapses.

An inspection of the tunnel's roof in September found nothing amiss, according to company official Satoshi Noguchi.

But company officials told Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun workers only carried out visual checks on whether bolts were securely in place, rather than tapping parts with a hammer to detect signs of corrosion.

They also said the September inspection only involved the use of torches and binoculars to check the panels.

The tunnel opened in 1977 and the collapse has been blamed on the ageing of the metal bolts.

Ryoichi Yoshikawa, executive officer of Central Nippon Expressway, said: "Based on the fact that the accident occurred 35 years after the tunnel was completed, we believe ageing was the reason."

The accident happened at the Sasago Tunnel in Yamanashi prefecture

Some of the nine-inch bolts were found near the site of the collapse, officials said.

Two vehicles caught fire inside the tunnel after the collapse on Sunday morning, with heavy smoke initially hampering rescue efforts.

The location of the collapse, around one mile into the three-mile tunnel, also made recovery difficult.

It is unclear if there are survivors inside.

An estimated 270 concrete slabs - each weighing 1.4 metric tons - collapsed over a stretch of around 110 metres.

Drivers 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."

Rescuers had to first deal with a fire in the tunnel

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Afghanistan: Taliban Suicide Bombers Hit US Base

Taliban suicide bombers have attacked a US base in Afghanistan, killing at least five people, and sparking a two-hour battle with American forces.

Militants drove two vehicles packed with explosives at the gates of Jalalabad Airfield before American helicopters fired on the attackers.

A guard said that after the initial explosion the airport had come under fire from rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and small arms.

According to an Afghan security official, three Afghan guards were killed in the fighting along with two university students who were caught up in the battle.

A number of Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) troops were wounded.

A local police official said nine militants were involved in the raid, three were killed by the car explosion and the remaining six were gunned down in the fire-fight that followed.

Lt Col Hagen Messer, a spokesman for Isaf, said:  "We can confirm insurgents, including multiple suicide bombers, attacked Jalalabad Airfield this morning. None of the attackers succeeded in breaching the perimeter.

"The final assessment of what happened this morning is not yet complete, but initial reports indicate there were three suicide bombers,"

Afghan president Hamid Karzai says the country can deal with the Taliban

A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility for the attack on Sunday morning.

On its website, the Taliban said: "First a fedayee (suicide bomber) mujahid ... detonated a car bomb causing the enemy heavy casualties and losses and removed all the barriers.

"After the attack other fedayee mujahids entered the base ... and started attacking the invading forces in the base."

The airport complex has multiple layers of security, with the Nato base set well back from the first entrance.

A senior Afghan security official said: "First there was a car bombing next to the entrance followed by gun attack by the insurgents.

"They couldn't reach Nato forces and they were killed in the area between the first and second gates."

It was the largest clash at the Jalalabad air base since February, when a suicide car bombing at the gate triggered an explosion that killed nine Afghans, six of them civilians.

The attack highlights the problems facing the coalition forces ahead of the pull-out of more than 100,000 Nato troops in 2014.

The country's president, Hamid Karzai, insists that Afghan security forces have made good progress and will be able to control the country when the troops leave.

However, there are concerns that the Taliban has managed to survive more than a decade of fighting and will stage a surge once foreign forces leave.

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John McAfee: Anti-Virus Pioneer 'Captured'

Anti-virus software pioneer John McAfee, who is wanted by police over his neighbour's murder, appears to have been found after weeks in hiding, his blog has said.

The website set up by Mr McAfee after he went on the run said there was an unconfirmed report that he was apprehended on the Belize-Mexico border.

The website whoismcafee.com has carried updates of Mr McAfee's progress since the murder of Gregory Faull, a 52-year-old retired American builder, on November 11. He has also taken to Twitter to promote his posts.

Under the title Breaking: John captured? a post, on December 1, said: "We have received an unconfirmed report that John McAfee has been captured at the border of Belize and Mexico.

"More information as it is received."

Mr McAfee has written entries describing how he has disguised himself as a beggar, a street trader and a drunken German tourist in order to watch police as they searched his Belize home.

At one point he claimed he was actually hiding out on his compound on the island of Ambergris Caye.

Police take away the body of Gregory Faull

He said he set up the website to counter claims made about him by the media and the Belize authorities and to assert his innocence shortly after his disappearance.

In an early post Mr McAfee said that he had given enough information to a friend to keep the website going should he be captured.

Police have said they simply want to question Mr McAfee over the murder of Mr Faull, who was found dead in a pool of blood at his home. He had suffered a single gunshot wound to the head.

Mr McAfee has denied he was responsible for the murder and says he went into hiding only because the Belize authorities have a vendetta against him. He believes he was the intended victim of the shooting, not Mr Faull.

Mr McAfee amassed a $100m (£63m) fortune from his software business but said he lost all but $4m of it in the financial crisis. He moved to Belize in 2008.

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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.

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."

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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