Egypt: Five Killed In Sectarian Clashes

Five people have been killed and at least eight more wounded in clashes between Christians and Muslims in a town near Egypt's capital Cairo.

Security forces said the sectarian violence in El Khusus, north of the city, was some of the worst the country has seen for months.

Christian-Muslim confrontations have increased in Muslim-majority Egypt since the overthrow of former president Hosni Mubarak in 2011 gave freer rein to hardline Islamists repressed under his rule.

Four Christian Copts and one Muslim were killed when members of both communities started fighting and shooting at each other, sources said.

Residents claimed an angry crowd smashed shops belonging to Christians and a Reuters news agency reporter saw a burned-out Coptic day care centre and several damaged shops belonging to Christian traders. An apartment lived in by Muslims was also burned.

Residents said the violence started on Friday when a group of Christian children were drawing on a wall of a Muslim religious institute.

Muslim residents said the drawings had offended them because one looked like a cross.

Men inspect a room destroyed in the violence

"I saw the kids drawing on the wall after afternoon prayers so I grabbed them and told them to remove what they'd just written," said Mahmoud Mahmoud al Alfi, a Muslim resident.

Then another man arrived and started beating the children, drawing a large crowd, he said. The situation escalated when someone drew a gun and fired into the air, allegedly killing one boy with a stray bullet.

President Mohamed Morsi's office expressed condolences to the victims and vowed to fight any sectarian violence.

"The presidency ... totally rejects any attempt against the unity and cohesiveness of Egyptian society and will decisively confront any attempt to spark sectarian strife among Egyptian people, Muslim and Christian," according to a statement.

Muslim leaders were also quick to condemn the sectarian violence which comes as Egypt struggles with a severe economic crisis and high inflation after two years of political upheaval.

President Morsi, a Brotherhood leader elected in June, has promised to protect the rights of Copts, who make up about 10% of Egypt's 84 million people.

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Fish Hitches A Ride To US In Tsunami Boat

Wildlife officials in Washington state in the US have found an unusual stowaway aboard a Japanese boat believed to have washed ashore with debris from the 2011 tsunami.

The live fish, identified as a striped beakfish, appears to have survived the 5,000 mile (8,000km) journey in a wooden skiff just 5.5m-long.

The boat arrived on the Washington coastline on March 22 and the fish was discovered by a Department of Fish and Wildlife official in a bait box while he was collecting samples of marine organisms from the vessel.

The striped beakfish, which is primarily found in shallow Asian waters such as coral reefs, appears to have survived the trip by feeding on other organisms in the boat.

It is now being studied by scientists at the Seaside Aquarium in Seaside, Oregon, where it has also become a popular attraction for visitors.

"People are pretty fascinated about seeing this fish and the fact that it came all the way over from Japan in the debris, so it has been a pretty cool event," said Keith Chandler, the general manager of the aquarium.

The bait box also contained seaweed, crabs, barnacles, amphipods and other marine organisms.

Last year a huge concrete dock washed up on the Oregon coast after drifting across the Pacific Ocean from Japan.

The tsunami resulted from a magnitude-8.9 earthquake, which battered the northeast coast of Japan on March 11, 2011, killing more than 19,000 people and sparking a nuclear crisis.

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Nelson Mandela Leaves Hospital After 10 Days

Former South African president Nelson Mandela is spending his first day at home after 10 days in hospital being treated for pneumonia.

The 94-year-old was allowed to return home "following a sustained and gradual improvement in his general condition".

An ambulance is understood to have taken him back to his residence in Johannesburg.

President Jacob Zuma's office said Mr Mandela would now receive "home-based" care.

Mr Mandela is believed to have been transported home in this ambulance

A statement said: "President Zuma thanks the hard working medical team and hospital staff for looking after Madiba so efficiently."

He also extended his gratitude to all South Africans, friends of the nation and to people around the world for their support.

Spokesman Mac Maharaj told Sky News: "We are all very happy with the news and grateful to the doctors and the hospital staff for looking after him so well.

"The doctors say that given his age, they have to monitor him very carefully and they have to remain cautious all the time.

"He is frail, and we need to take into account his age ... but Madiba is a fighter and he is not ready to say goodbye to us."

It has been the third health scare in four months for the anti-apartheid leader.

He was in hospital briefly in early March for a check-up and before that in December for nearly three weeks with a lung infection and following surgery to remove gallstones.

The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, who became South Africa's first black President in 1994, is a global symbol of tolerance and the struggle for equality.

Mr Mandela stepped down as President in 1999 and has not been politically active for a decade.

He has a history of lung problems dating from when he contracted tuberculosis as a political prisoner.

He spent 27 years on Robben Island and in other jails for his attempts to overthrow the white-minority government.

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Pastor Rick Warren's Son, 27, Kills Himself

The 27-year-old son of popular US evangelist Rick Warren has killed himself, the California church led by the pastor has announced.

Saddleback Valley Community Church, near Los Angeles, said in a statement that Matthew Warren had struggled with mental illness throughout his life.

It said: "Matthew was an incredibly kind, gentle and compassionate young man whose sweet spirit was encouragement and comfort to many.

"Unfortunately, he also suffered from mental illness resulting in deep depression and suicidal thoughts.

"Despite the best healthcare available, this was an illness that was never fully controlled and the emotional pain resulted in his decision to take his life."

Barack Obama and John McCain at a 2008 forum hosted by Mr Warren

Mr Warren, the author of best-seller The Purpose Driven Life, delivered the invocation at President Barack Obama's inauguration in January 2009.

He said in an email to church staff that he and his wife had enjoyed a fun Friday evening with their son.

But Matthew Warren took his own life in "a momentary wave of despair at his home".

His body was found in his home Friday night, said Allison O'Neal, a supervising deputy coroner for Orange County. She declined to release the cause and manner of death pending an autopsy.

Over the years, Matthew Warren had been treated by America's best doctors and counsellors, and many well-wishers had prayed for him, his father said.

"I'll never forget how, many years ago, after another approach had failed to give relief, Matthew said, 'Dad, I know I'm going to heaven. Why can't I just die and end this pain?'" Mr Warren recalled.

Despite that, he said, his son lived for another decade.

"You who watched Matthew grow up knew he was an incredibly kind, gentle and compassionate man," Mr Warren wrote.

"He had a brilliant intellect and a gift for sensing who was most in pain or most uncomfortable in a room. He'd then make a bee-line to that person to engage and encourage them."

In 2008, Saddleback Valley Community Church sponsored a presidential forum with Mr Obama and the Republican candidate, John McCain.

Mr Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney had been invited to a similar forum last autumn, but Mr Warren cancelled it saying the campaign had become too uncivil.

Mr Warren founded Saddleback Church in 1980 in Lake Forest, 65 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

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Afghanistan Nato Raid 'Kills 11 Children'

A Nato air strike has killed 11 children and a woman in eastern Afghanistan, according to local officials.

The strike targeted militants in the Shigal district of restive Kunar province, which is on the border with Pakistan.

"Eleven children and a woman were killed when an air strike hit their houses," said Wasifullah Wasifi, the spokesman for Kunar province.

They were killed when their houses collapsed on them, officials said.

Six insurgents - two of them senior Taliban leaders - were also killed during the operation on Saturday.

Civilian casualties caused by Nato forces have been one of the most contentious issues in the campaign against Taliban insurgents, provoking harsh criticism from President Hamid Karzai and angry public protests.

President Hamid Karzai has condemned civilian casualties

Mr Karzai has banned his troops from requesting air strikes.

Shigal district governor Abdul Zahir said people had brought the children's bodies to the centre of the town.

A spokesman for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), Captain Luca Carniel, said they were aware of reports of civilian casualties and were assessing the incident.

He said ISAF had provided "air support" during the operation. The air strike had been called in by Nato forces, and not their Afghan allies, he continued.

Taliban militants have killed six Americans - including a young female diplomat - in the deadliest day in Afghanistan for the US in eight months.

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Israel Cyber Attack: Anonymous Blamed

Hackers associated with activist group Anonymous are being blamed for an attack which targeted Israeli government websites.

The defence ministry, the education ministry and the Central Bureau of Statistics were reportedly among those attacked.

"As of 0900 GMT the sites of the government of Israel are available to the public, as they have been all weekend," the finance ministry said in a statement.

However, tests on Sunday afternoon in the UK appeared to show problems loading up some Israeli government sites.

Anonymous has previously threatened to "disrupt and erase Israel from cyberspace" in protest over its mistreatment of Palestinians.

But Professor Yitzhak Ben Yisrael, who founded the Jewish state's National Cyber Bureau, played down the motives of the attack.

"Anonymous doesn't have the ability, nor is it its aim to destroy the country's essential infrastructure," he said.

"If it was, it wouldn't have announced it in advance," indicating the aim was probably to stir debate over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Last week, it was reported that Anonymous had hacked a number of North Korean websites, including its official Twitter account.

A tweet which read "hacked" was posted along with a link to a website showing the country's flag and a Guy Fawkes-style mask, which is synonymous with the cyber movement.

Anonymous also claimed to have breached North Korea's Flickr account and to have accessed 15,000 usernames and passwords from a university database.

The action is as part of its so-called Operation Free Korea with the hackers demanding uncensored internet access for all North Koreans.

They also want Kim Jong-Un to step down to make way for a democratically-elected government.

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India Houseboat Murder: 'Dutch Man Confesses'

By Alex Rossi, India Correspondent, in Kashmir

Police sources tell Sky News that a Dutch man they have been questioning over the murder of a British woman has now confessed.

Sarah Groves, 24, was found in a pool of blood inside the houseboat she had been living on for up to two months on the Dal Lake in Srinagar, Kashmir.

Officers have named the suspect as Richard de Wit, 43, and said he claimed to have been under the influence of drugs.

He had been staying on a neighbouring boat. When he was arrested 60 miles away he was carrying only his passport and was not wearing shoes. His shoes had been found outside the door of Miss Groves' room, along with hers.

The victim was staying on a houseboat on picturesque Dal Lake

Local police said Miss Groves, from Guernsey, had been stabbed at least 25 times with what was described as a "mountain knife".

The door to her room had also been forced open.

Her body is being sent for medical examination to determine whether she was sexually assaulted before being killed.

Deputy General Inspector Ahafadul Mujtaba told Sky News: "He has told us he killed the girl - we don't know why. He also says he had taken drugs, cannabis.

Shoes sit outside the door of the houseboat where Sarah Groves was staying

"We have taken his blood samples and have sent them away for testing. We have also not ruled out a sexual motive but there was no direct evidence at the scene. We are awaiting medical results."

Under Indian law a confession to a police officer is not admissible in a court of law.

The police say de Wit will be held in custody for the next 14 days whilst they continue to gather evidence.

Miss Groves' brother, Tom, posted on his blog, Justice for Sarah, that his sister had been on the houseboat because she was the girlfriend of the owner's son.

An RIP Facebook site has been set up for tributes to Miss Groves

He wrote: "The media are reporting that Sarah was just a tourist on the houseboat, who had become friends with the owner's son. The truth is that she went up there as his girlfriend."

Samir Shoda, one of the sons of the house boat owner, has been helping the police with their inquiries after finding the body.

Owner Hafeeza told Sky News: "She was very dear to me, she was just like my daughter."

Friends have paid tributes to Miss Groves on Facebook. Underneath a photograph of her smiling, Charlene Carter said: "That beautiful smile I will never forget."

Donna Stacey said: "Waste of a beautiful life just goes to show the world we live in."

Kim Paiva wrote: "I cannot believe it. Such an amazing vibrant friendly person. Your smiling face will be missed. Rest in peace sweet lovely girl."

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Afghanistan: Taliban Kill Six Americans

Taliban militants have killed six Americans, including a young female diplomat, in the deadliest day in Afghanistan for the US in eight months.

Three members of the military, two US civilians and an Afghan doctor died after being hit by an explosion while travelling to donate books to a school in the south.

In a statement, Secretary of State John Kerry paid tribute to Anne Smedinghoff, a 25-year-old foreign service officer with the US State Department, who was killed in the "despicable attack" in the province of Zabul.

He said: "She tragically gave her young life working to give young Afghans the opportunity to have a better future."

Anne Smedinghoff (Photo: Twitter)

The Illinois woman is the first American diplomat to die on the job since last year's attack on the US diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya.

"We also honour the US troops and Department of Defence civilian who lost their lives, and the Afghan civilians who were killed today as they worked to improve the nation they love," Mr Kerry added.

Officials said the suicide car bomber struck just as a coalition convoy drove past a caravan of vehicles carrying the governor of Zabul to the same event.

Another American civilian was killed in a separate insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan, the US military said in a statement.

It was the deadliest day for Americans since August 16 2012, when seven American service members were killed in two attacks in Kandahar province, the birthplace of the Taliban insurgency.

Joint Chiefs chair Martin Dempsey was in the country at the time

Six were killed when their helicopter was shot down by insurgents and one soldier died in a roadside bomb explosion.

Saturday's violence came hours after the US military's top officer General Martin Dempsey landed in Afghanistan for talks with local and coalition officials as foreign forces work to pull nearly all of their combat troops out of the country by the end of 2014.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the attack in Zabul and said the bomber was seeking to target either a coalition convoy or the governor.

"We were waiting for one of them," Ahmadi said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "It was our good luck that both appeared at the same time."

US troops hold the American flag during an Afghan re-enlistment

Insurgents have stepped up attacks around the country in recent weeks as Afghanistan enters what could be one of the most critical periods following the US invasion in late 2001 that ousted the Taliban.

The majority of US and coalition forces are expected to begin a significant drawdown in the latter part of this year, leaving Afghan forces in charge of security across the country within months.

Afghanistan is also gearing up for a presidential election next spring, and the Taliban have not yet accepted an offer to engage in peace talks in the Gulf state of Qatar.

There are about 100,000 international troops in Afghanistan, including some 66,000 from the US and around 9,000 from Britain.

The US troop total is scheduled to drop to about 32,000 by early next year, with the bulk of the decline occurring during the winter months.

British troop numbers are expected to fall from 9,000 to around 5,200 by the end of 2013.

While there has been no final decision on the size of the post-2014 force, US and Nato leaders say they are considering a range of between 8,000 and 12,000 - most of them trainers and advisers.

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North Korea Threat 'Very Serious', Says Hague

Foreign Secretary William Hague has warned that the international community must unite and treat the threat posed by North Korea "very seriously".

Mr Hague told Sky's Murnaghan show that there was a danger of "miscalculation" as Kim Jong-Un's bellicose statements ratchet up tensions on the Korean peninsula.

He was speaking after an American defence official revealed the US has delayed the testing of an intercontinental ballistic missile in an effort to defuse the situation.

Mr Hague said that was a "sensible decision" and said: "One of the dangers is of a miscalculation and the North Korean regime coming to believe their own paranoid rhetoric.

"We have to take this very seriously - this is a regime developing its nuclear weapons in contravention of all international treaties and resolutions."

Mr Hague urged a "calm and united" response to Kim Jong-Un, but said there was no evidence the country was preparing for all-out conflict.

The US brought forward deployment of a Global Hawk spy plane to Japan

He said: "We have not seen evidence of redeployment or repositioning of troops on the ground.

"All the evidence is that this rhetoric is about the regime in North Korea, just its actions and existence rather than positioning for all-out conflict on the Korean peninsula or elsewhere."

Mr Hague also backed Prime Minister David Cameron's suggestion that North Korea's threats show why Britain must make plans for a successor to its Trident nuclear deterrent.

A Pentagon source said the Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel decided to postpone the long-planned Minuteman 3 launch until next month because of concerns it would exacerbate the crisis.

North Korea's military warned this week it was authorised to attack the US using "smaller, lighter and diversified" nuclear weapons.

South Korean officials said the North has moved at least one missile with "considerable range" to its east coast - possibly the untested Musudan missile, believed to have a range of 1,800 miles.

The US has been carrying out joint military exercises in the area with South Korea involving warships and bombers.

Sky News Asia Correspondent Mark Stone says the postponement of the US missile launch marks a change in approach.

China's President said no country should throw "the whole world into chaos"

He said: "Two weeks ago the US military was issuing media releases announcing the deployment of B52 and B2 bombers to the region, as a show of strength and North Korea's response was to increase its own bellicose statements.

"China and Russia have collectively called on both North Korea and America to back down and in the past few days there have been signs that the Americans are altering their stance."

Meanwhile, China's Foreign Ministry expressed "grave concern" about escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula and asked for assurances about the safety of its diplomats.

And Chinese President Xi Jinping appeared to up the pressure on Pyongyang when he said in a speech that no country "should be allowed to throw a region and even the whole world into chaos for selfish gain".

North Korea held its most recent nuclear test in February and in December launched a long-range rocket that potentially could hit the continental US.

It has been angered by increasing sanctions and the exercises which are scheduled to continue to the end of the month.

This week, the US said two of its missile-defence ships were being moved closer to the Korean peninsula and a land-based system was being deployed to the Pacific territory of Guam later this month.

And deployment of an unmanned spy plane to northern Japan was brought forward to boost US surveillance after North Korean threats.

Japan will further boost its defences by ordering its armed forces to shoot down any North Korean missile headed towards its territory, according to press reports.

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Amina: Topless Tunisian Feminist Threatened

A Tunisian activist says she fears for her life after courting controversy by posting topless pictures of herself online in support of Arab women's rights last month.

Ukraine-based group Femen, which stages pranks for women's and gay rights, inspired the bold act of the 19-year-old, known as Amina Tyler.

Ms Tyler posted the pictures of herself with the words: "My body belongs to me" and "F*** your morals" emblazoned across her naked breasts, provoking the ire of Islamist groups.

Shortly after, she disappeared from public view, raising fears that she had suffered reprisals at the hands of extremists and giving rise to a number of rallies around the globe supporting her.

Activists protest for Amina in Stockholm last week

There were also rumours that she had been interned in a psychiatric hospital.

But Ms Tyler has resurfaced in an interview with French TV station Canal Plus, saying is afraid for her safety and needs to take refuge abroad.

She said she had received several death threats by telephone and via her Facebook account.

A tired-looking Ms Tyler said messages like "You will die" and "We will throw acid at your face, things like that," had been sent to her.

Men join the protest for Amina in Montreal

"I need to leave Tunisia, I'm afraid for my life and the lives of my family. There are a lot of rumours about what the Salafists want to do to me," she said.

After the photos appeared, Ms Tyler said her family drove her home, where her cousin "destroyed her telephone Sim card" and "beat her".

Later the family moved to a town three hours from Tunis, she said, where she was forced to stay at her home.

Ms Tyler nevertheless said she did not regret baring her breasts and would remain a Femen activist "until I'm 80 years old".

She added that she wanted to become a journalist and "help the Femen in some way or other".

But she condemned the burning of an Islamic flag by three feminists in front of Paris's Great Mosque on Thursday, which Femen declared as International Topless Jihad day in support of Muslim women, including Ms Tyler.

"I am against [that]," she said of the Islamic flag burning.

"Everyone is going to think that I encouraged it. That is unacceptable."

Last month, Ms Tyler made a TV appearance on a private Tunisian channel with her face blurred.

She insisted her bare-breasted action had not aimed to provoke.

"We, Femen, we have the courage to cry out our demands to liberate women," she said at the time.

A Femen protest near Tunisia Embassy in Paris

No official complaint has been lodged against Ms Tyler, according to her lawyer.

But she risks six months in prison for breaching the peace.

The Femen movement has flourished since 2010, with feminists around the world stripping off in protest against issues ranging from homophobia to prostitution and sexism.

Tunisian women are some of the most free in the Arab world but they have limited inheritance rights, which women's groups say have been further abused by the ruling Islamist party Ennahda.

But Femen's protests on Thursday drew criticism from some Muslim women, who said the style of protest did not help women's rights in the Arab world.

A Facebook campaign against Topless Jihad Day, which more than 1,500 people joined, said: "We as Muslim women and those who stand with us, need to show Femen and their supporters, that their actions are counterproductive and we as Muslim women oppose it."

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