Mechanics Find Baby Girl 'Living In Car Boot'

A mechanic has spoken of the moment he found an underfed and dehydrated baby who had been forced to live hidden in a car boot, possibly since birth.

The girl, aged between 15 and 23 months, was discovered on Friday when her mother brought the car to a garage in Terrasson, in central France.

One of the workers heard "bizarre noises, like moans" coming from the car boot and opened it to find the girl.

Garage director Denis Latour said: "She was naked, on the side there was a crib ... and there was this unbearable smell.

"The baby girl was laying on garbage bags at the bottom of the trunk … crying and trying to get some fresh air because not only did it smell, but it was also hermetic."

Mechanic Guillaume Iguacel, who found the girl, said: "I'm still having trouble sleeping, it was a horrifying sight, seeing this little girl in her own excrement, not able to hold up her head, white as a sheet."

Mr Iguacel said the girl's mother appeared to have little concern for her daughter.

He said: "We were deeply shocked because she didn't find this abnormal.

"We told her to remove the little girl (from the boot) and give her something to drink right away."

The girl was taken to hospital where doctors said she was suffering from delayed growth and mental problems.

Local prosecutor Jean-Pierre Laffite said the baby "was hidden, it seems since birth, and more seriously, she is suffering from significant (developmental) delays".

The situation "defies belief", he said.

The girl's mother, 45, and her 40-year-old partner were arrested and charged on Sunday with child abuse and endangering a minor.

The pair face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty.

The mother told police she had given birth in secret and hidden the baby's existence from everyone, including her partner, the girl's father.

The couple have three other children - a four-year-old girl and two boys aged nine and 10 - who were handed over to social services following their parents' arrest.

The couple, who were both of Portuguese origin and both unemployed, lived in the village of Brignac, about six miles (10km) from the garage where the baby was found.

Neighbours told French media the mother had been behaving strangely and was seen spending an unusual amount of time in the car.

"We had the impression this woman lived in her car. She never left it," a neighbour identified as Pascale told Le Parisien newspaper.

"I remember seeing her several times a week with her car parked in a lot about 200 metres from her home.

"The boot was always open. I was wondering what she could be doing."

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Tiananmen Square Car Blaze: Police Hunt Suspects

By Mark Stone, China Correspondent

Chinese police are investigating whether an incident in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in which a jeep burst into flames, killing five people, might have been an attack by Muslim separatists from the western Xinjiang province.

No official details have been released but a document, circulated online and purported to be from the Chinese police, names two suspects and claims that the authorities are searching for several vehicles, all with Xinjiang number plates.

The document is addressed to all Beijing hotels and is described as a "notice of arrangement of the immediate search of suspect vehicles".

In Chinese, it reads: "On 28 October, 2013, our city had a major case.

"The suspects are Yusupu Aiheputi (male, registered residence address 2-3-27-1 Pishan Farm, Pishan County, Xinjiang province) and Yusupu Wumaierniyazi (male, registered residence address Unit 1 Sangejiao Village, Lukeqin Town, Shanshan County, Xinjiang province).

The crash took place directly below an iconic portrait of Chairman Mao

"The suspected vehicles are light coloured Sports Utility Vehicles, number plates: XinA45559, XinA82Q53, XinC96063 and XinBM7831."

The document adds: "To prevent suspected personnel and vehicles from continuing their crime, we are now asking all accommodation providers to immediately search all guests, parking vehicles and cars driven by former guests from October 1.

"If any discovery is made of the suspects or vehicles, please report to the security team's action and management branch."

The incident in Tiananmen Square took place directly underneath the iconic portrait of Chairman Mao, which hangs on the Tiananmen Gate at the north end of the square and represents one of the most symbolic locations in China.

The 4x4 vehicle left the main highway which crosses the square and veered into a crowd of tourists queuing to visit the Forbidden City.

Tiananmen Square was open on Tuesday but was heavily policed

The three occupants of the car died inside. Two tourists - one Chinese and one Filipino - were also killed and 37 people were injured.

Initially, Chinese authorities said the incident was a car crash. The scene was cleared up quickly and the square reopened to traffic and tourists within a few hours.

Foreign journalists were asked not to film the aftermath. Sky News staff were detained for 20 minutes and forced to delete all their footage.

Government censors spent the day deleting the theories and photographs from China's increasingly vocal social media forums.

There was no mention of the incident on China's main national evening news on state television.

Chinese language newspapers have reported simply that there was an accident in Tiananmen Square, although the English language state-run newspapers have included the suggestion that there may be links to the Uighur people of Xinjiang Province.

Screens were erected to hide the scene of the crash

Almost half the population of Xinjiang province, in the China's far west, are Muslim Uighurs, who accuse the Chinese government of violently eroding their religion and their culture.

They consider themselves to be culturally and ethnically much closer to the central Asian nations than to China and claim their ethnic identity is being diluted by the co-ordinated mass migrations of Han Chinese, the country's majority ethnic group, into the province.

The Chinese central government in Beijing, more than 2,000 miles to the east, has long claimed the Uighurs are waging a campaign of violence in an effort to secure themselves an independent state.

Incidents of violent clashes between Chinese state security forces and Uighurs in Xinjiang are common.

However, the facts are extremely hard to verify independently because foreign journalists are restricted from reporting in the region.

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Drone Kills Al Shabaab Bombmaker Ali Abdi

By Tim Marshall, Foreign Affairs Editor

The man said to be the master bombmaker for the al Shabaab terrorist group has been killed by a drone strike in southern Somalia.

A car carrying Ibrahim Ali Abdi, also known as Anta Anta, was hit by three missiles as it travelled along a road near the town of Jilib on Monday.

Somali intelligence sources, quoted by news agencies, said Ali Abdi was the group's explosives expert and specialised in making suicide vests and car bombs.

A witness to the attack, Hassan Nur, told Reuters he saw a drone above the Suzuki vehicle in which at least two men were travelling.

"I saw a big crash and then saw a drone disappearing far into the sky ... many al Shabaab men came to the scene," he said.

Al Shabaab was behind the September massacre on a Kenyan shopping centre

"Many cars were driving ahead of me, but the drone targeted this Suzuki."

An unnamed American official told the LA Times the strike was carried out by the US Army, but this has not been officially confirmed.

The US is known to operate drones from bases in Djibouti and southern Ethiopia.

The air strike follows a pattern of pressure bearing down on al Shabaab, which has been driven from Somalia's main towns by a combination of African Union forces and clandestine American operations. 

Al Shabaab hit back with the recent attack on a Nairobi shopping mall but appears unable to regain any ground inside Somalia. 

The loss of its chief bombmaker is a blow to the group as it will take time to train other men up to the deadly standard of Ali Abdi.

It comes less than a fortnight since the group claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack near a military base in the city of Beledweyne, around 210 miles north of Somalian capital Mogadishu, which killed at least 13 people.

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Mangaung: G4S Prison In 'Torture' Claims Probe

A South African prison run by British security firm G4S has been accused of torturing inmates with electric shocks and subjecting them to forced injections.

Insiders at Mangaung Correctional Centre, near Bloemfontein, said water was thrown over inmates to increase the impact of the electric charge.

The South African government has temporarily taken over the running of the jail from G4S and launched an investigation.

In a statement, it said G4S had "lost effective control of the facility" following "recent stabbing and hostage incidents".

G4S - which is trying to recover from a series of damaging incidents with the UK government - says it has seen no evidence of abuse by its employees.

The Wits Justice Project - part of the journalism department of the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg - obtained footage showing alleged abuse inside the high security prison.

It collected accounts of electric shocks and beatings from almost 30 prisoners during a year-long investigation.

In one video, the click of electrified shields and shrieking can be heard. It also shows a prisoner resisting a medication.

"Some said they would pass out when the shocks became too intense," said Ruth Hopkins, a journalist with the project.

Prisoners also complained about suffering broken limbs and other serious injuries, she said.

G4S is trying to recover from a series of damaging incidents in the UK

A staff member at the prison hospital said inmates were injected with Clopixol Depot, Risperdal, Etomine and Modecate - anti-psychotic drugs that can cause memory loss, muscle rigidity and strokes.

Former inmate Thabo Godfrey Botsane claims he was beaten by security officers because a cell in his unit had been set alight.

"They stripped me naked, poured water over me, electroshocked and kicked me," he said. "They left me naked and bleeding on the floor. A guy from the prison intelligence unit - not a nurse - came back and he injected me in my buttocks."

Former warders Pule Moholo, Dehlazwa Mdi and Themba Tom said they remember the sound of inmates screaming.

"There was a sound-proof room called the 'dark room'. EST members would bring inmates there, strip them naked, pour water over them and electroshock them," Mr Tom said. "We would try not to hear the crying and screaming. It was awful."

A G4S spokesman told Sky News it was investigating the claims.

"G4S staff at Manguang Correctional Services do not have access to medication nor do they administer medication," he said.

"All medical decisions for inmates are handled and addressed by independent certified medical staff, who may diagnose certain conditions, including any possible mental disorders, and prescribe medication in accordance with the relevant condition.

"We cannot verify the video where allegations of torture are made, however, we can confirm that we do not use any form of torture or shock treatment.

"There is an active an independent inspection regime in place at the prison - 365 days per year - and there have never been any allegations or concerns regarding anything of this nature."

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NSA Spied On Millions Of Spain And Italy Calls

Obama Under Fire Over Spying

Updated: 11:37am UK, Monday 28 October 2013

Anger in Europe and elsewhere has been mounting over US spying operations amid a flow of revelations by whistleblower Edward Snowden. Here is a timeline of events.

:: June 7, 2013: Revelations by Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor, uncover widespread spying operations by the US government, including the Prism programme.

:: June 10, 2013: Controversy over Snowden's decision to seek refuge in Hong Kong overshadows talks between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and President Barack Obama at the California desert.

:: June 12, 2013: The NSA defends the operations, saying they thwarted dozens of attacks.

:: June 19, 2013: Mr Obama gives a historic speech at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, but the surveillance controversy follows him and he has to defend Prism saying the US is  not "rifling through Germans' emails".

:: July 20, 2013: Several hundred people stage a protest at a suspected American surveillance facility near Frankfurt in Germany.

:: August 02, 2013: Snowden is granted a year's asylum in Russia after more than a month inside an airport terminal in Moscow.

:: August 7, 2013: Mr Obama cancels bilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin after Russia's decision to grant temporary asylum to Snowden.

:: September 18, 2013:  Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff cancels a visit to the US amid claims her emails and telephone calls were intercepted by the NSA.

:: October 21, 2013:  France summons the US ambassador in Paris after French newspaper Le Monde reported the NSA had swept up 70.3 million French telephone records in a 30-day period. French President Francois Hollande speaks to Mr Obama over the claims.

:: October 23, 2013: Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta raises the topic of spying during talks with Secretary of State John Kerry, after Italian newspapers reported that a parliamentary committee was told the US had intercepted phone calls, emails and text messages of Italians.

:: October 24, 2013: Germany summons the US ambassador in Berlin over claims that the US carried out surveillance on German Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone. The issue of personal data protection is on the agenda of a European Union summit.

::October 25, 2013: Germany and France demand talks with the US by the end of the year to restore trust in the wake of the controversy. The call is backed by British Prime Minister David Cameron.

:: October 27, 2013: The German newspaper Bild am Sonntag reports that Mr Obama knew in 2010 that his intelligence service was eavesdropping on Ms Merkel's phone. The report also says Mr Obama personally authorised the monitoring of the German chancellor's mobile phone.

:: October 28, 2013: The Spanish newspaper El Mundo reports that the NSA spied on more than 60 million phone calls in Spain between December 10, 2012, and January 8, 2013. Italian media report that some 46 million phone calls were spied on by the NSA in the same period.

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Tiananmen Square: Car Crashes Into Crowd

Five people have been killed and 38 others injured after a Jeep crashed into a crowd in China's Tiananmen Square.

The vehicle burst into flames after crashing through barriers

The vehicle struck people as it veered off the road at the north of the square. It then hit a barrier at the entrance to the Forbidden City and burst into flames.

A female holidaymaker from the Philippines and a male tourist from China's southern Guangdong province were killed along with the driver and two passengers in the vehicle, police said.

Of the 38 injured, three were tourists from the Philippines and one from Japan, they added.

The square, which was the site of pro-democracy protests in 1989 that were brutally crushed by the authorities, was evacuated immediately after the crash.

Streets leading to the area were blocked off, with screens erected to stop people photographing the scene.

Police put up screens to stop people taking photos of the crash

Two AFP journalists were detained close to the site when they went to report on the story.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying declined to say whether the government believed it was a terror attack. She said she did not know the specifics of the case and refused to comment further.

Sky's China Correspondent Mark Stone said local reports described it as an "accident", but he said many people would find that hard to believe given the "politically-sensitive" location.

"The location of the incident couldn't be more significant. It's right underneath the portrait of Chairman Mao on the Tiananmen Gate at the entrance to the Forbidden City. It is the most symbolic location in China," he said.

Officers blocked off roads to the square

"There are three likely scenarios. One: this was a car crash which, by astonishing coincidence, took place at the most politically-sensitive place in China.

"Or it was a form of protest; possibly a political protest against the communist leadership.

"The most probable scenario, however, is that this was an extreme form of petitioning: a family with a gripe, passed over by local authorities, take things to the extreme.

"We saw this with the airport bomber - a man who blew himself up at Beijing airport earlier this year to complain about police brutality in his province."

Two hours after the incident, Sky News drove through the square to film the aftermath.

"With the exception of a wet patch on the road, the whole area had been cleared up," Stone said.

The square was the focus of a 1989 protest that was violently suppressed

"But in an indication of how sensitive the incident is, the Sky News vehicle was stopped by the authorities. They questioned the Sky team for 20 minutes and forced them to delete the video footage."

News of the incident first emerged on Chinese social media sites, with pictures showing the flaming wreck surrounded by police and emergency vehicles.

Chinese bloggers are speculating that the crash must have been intentional.

"Is this the 2013 Tiananmen self-immolation incident?" asked one poster. "There's still a person inside the car!"

Around 120 people have set themselves alight since February 2009 in Tibet and adjoining regions of China, in protests against Chinese oppression.

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Ten Cars Explode In Baghdad, Killing Dozens

Ten cars rigged with explosives have blown up in Baghdad killing more than 38 people.

The bombs were hidden in parked cars and detonated over a 30-minute period in busy streets, mainly in Shia areas.

In a separate incident, at least 12 soldiers were killed in the northern city of Mosul, when a man driving a car blew himself up outside a government bank.

The soldiers were waiting to collect their salaries, police said. 

One of the wrecked cars is lifted away

At least 100 people were injured in the Baghdad attacks, many hurt as they attended markets.

Hundreds have been killed in Iraq this month, with the often sectarian-fuelled violence reaching its highest level since 2008.

Around 1,000 people were killed and more than 2,000 hurt in September alone, according to the UN.

And unofficial counts for October suggest more than 600 have been killed.

Sunni militants, including the local offshoot of al-Qaeda, are believed to be responsible for the attacks, which usually target Shia areas.

The Shia-led government has been accused of failing to address grievances among the Sunni Arab minority, including allegations of abuses by security forces.

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Merkel's Phone 'Bugged For Decade By US'

The United States may have bugged Angela Merkel's phone for more than 10 years, it has been claimed.

Der Spiegel magazine said the German chancellor's mobile telephone had been listed by the NSA's Special Collection Service (SCS) since 2002 and was still on the list weeks before Barack Obama visited Berlin in June.

Germany's outrage over reports of bugging of Ms Merkel's phone by the NSA prompted it to summon the US ambassador for the first time in living memory.

In an SCS document cited by Der Spiegel, the agency said it had a "not legally registered spying branch" in the US embassy in Berlin, the exposure of which would lead to "grave damage for the relations of the United States to another government".

Mr Obama met with Ms Merkel in Berlin earlier this year

From there, NSA and CIA staff were tapping communication in Berlin's government district with high-tech surveillance.

Quoting a secret document from 2010, Der Spiegel said such branches existed in about 80 locations around the world, including Paris, Madrid, Rome, Prague, Geneva and Frankfurt.

The magazine said it was not clear whether the SCS had recorded conversations or just connection data.

Mr Obama apologised to Merkel when she called him on Wednesday to seek clarification on the issue, Der Spiegel wrote, citing a source in Ms Merkel's office.

Ms Merkel's spokesman and the White House declined comment.

The rift over US surveillance activities first emerged earlier this year after reports that Washington had bugged European Union offices and had tapped half a billion phone calls, emails and text messages in Germany in a typical month.

But it appeared close to resolution after Ms Merkel's government said in August - just weeks before a parliamentary election - the United States had given sufficient assurances they were upholding German law.

Mr Obama ordered a review of US surveillance programmes after former NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked documents that raised alarm in the United States and abroad.

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Brooklyn Stabbings: Five Dead Including A Baby

A person is in police custody after four young children and a woman died from stab wounds in New York City.

The NYPD said that officers arrived at the scene early on Sunday and found all five victims unconscious and unresponsive.

A one-year-old boy and two girls, aged 7 and 9, were pronounced dead at the residence by emergency crews.

A 5-year-old boy and the 37-year-old woman were taken to separate Brooklyn hospitals where they were later pronounced dead.

Police did not release the victims' names or their relationship to one another.

A police officer seals off the street near the attack

Sources said a 25-year-old suspect, believed to be a relative, was arrested at the scene.

Police handcuffed the man inside the apartment, who was wearing jeans and had blood on his bare feet, before taking him away.

The children's distraught father reportedly arrived home from work to find the area sealed off by police.

One report said a machete and scissors were taken from the flat in the semi-detached building as evidence.

Fire Department spokesman Jim Long said emergency workers responded late on Saturday night to a 911 call from a person stabbed at the residence in the Sunset Park neighbourhood.

Authorities said the attack occurred at a home on 57th Street near Ninth Avenue.

The two victims declared dead at hospital had been taken to Lutheran Medical Centre and Maimonides Medical Centre.

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Al Qaeda-Linked Syrian Rebel Leader 'Killed'

The leader of the powerful Syrian rebel group the al Nusra Front has been killed, according to Syrian state-run TV.

According to the one-line report, Abu Mohammad al Golani was killed in the coastal province of Latakia.

It did not say when or give further details.

However the rebel group said in a statement on Saturday that its leader was in good health.

"What was claimed by one channel alone, regarding what it claimed was the killing of the emir of al Nusra Front, was a lie," said the group.

The extremist front has become one of the most effective among the rebel groups fighting President Bashar Assad's forces.

The al Nusra Front played a key part in the Battle of Aleppo

However, it has links to al Qaeda and is classed by the US, the UK and the UN as a terrorist organisation.

If al Golani's death is confirmed it will be a significant blow to rebels, who consider the group to be the "special forces" of the battle against the regime.

The group, whose goal is to overthrow Mr Assad and establish an Islamist state under Sharia law, announced its creation in January 2012 and were key players in the Battle of Aleppo.

But they have an uneasy alliance with the National Coalition for Opposition Forces and many rebel groups consider them to be too extreme.

Al Nusra is opposed to western intervention in the nearly three-year-long Syrian civil war and many members consider the US to be an enemy of Islam.

The news of al Golani's death came as a car bomb outside a mosque in Damascus killed at least 40, including seven children.

Dozens of people were wounded in the car bombing in the rebel-controlled town of Suq Wadi Barada, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Anti-regime activists blamed the attack on government forces, while state news agency SANA said "the car exploded while the terrorists were packing it with explosives".

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