Virginia Mall Shooting: Suspect Is Charged

Police have charged an 18-year-old college student for a shooting in a Virginia mall and campus site that left two women injured and caused students and shoppers to flee in a panic.

The two women were being treated in hospital and were reported to be in stable condition.

The shootings at a satellite campus of New River Community College, located inside a mall in Christiansburg, took place on Friday afternoon.

Suspect Neil Allan MacInnis has been charged with two counts each of malicious wounding and using a firearm in the commission of a felony.

Investigators have said they don not know what motivated the shootings. Authorities have not said what type of weapon was used or how it was obtained.

The college is inside a mall in southwestern Virginia

A student who hid as the gunfire rang out said the shooter attempted to lure more students out of hiding by pretending he was a police officer.

Clara Keller said she was working in a computer lab at the satellite campus when she heard a gunshot.

As more sounded and a woman screamed, she and four friends huddled under a desk.

Ms Keller said the shooter called out, "Help, help!" as he walked, apparently feigning to be a victim, then yelled, "It's the police!"

"I knew it was just a matter of holding still as long as possible until the real police got there," she said.

Police arrested MacInnis minutes later, and he is being held at Montgomery County Jail.

In 2007, a gunman killed 32 people at Virginia Tech

Police Chief Mark Sisson said authorities were investigating online postings reportedly made by MacInnis before the shooting, but that he was unable to confirm whether those postings were legitimate.

Mr Sisson also said MacInnis participated in the Christiansburg Police Department Citizens Academy program in 2012 - a course that gives civilians an idea of what happens at the department on a typical day.

Christiansburg is about seven miles (11km) outside Blacksburg, Virginia, the site of the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre.

That attack, in which a student killed 32 people and wounded 17 others, was the deadliest shooting incident by a single gunman in US history.

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Bus Crash At Dawn Near Antwerp, Belgium

A bus carrying Russian children has crashed in Belgium, leaving at least five people dead and another five critically injured.

The Polish vehicle containing the youngsters crashed through guardrails and ended up on its side under a raised road near the port city of Antwerp.

The accident in Ranst happened at dawn and no other vehicles were believed to be involved, mayor Lode Hofmans said.

He said: "We have five dead and five who are in critical condition", adding that two more were seriously injured and seven had light wounds.

Mr Hofmans said the bus had been taking the Russian children from Volgograd and was heading towards Paris when the accident happened.

Some 42 people were in the bus at the time of the crash. They were mainly teenagers and a few in their early twenties.

Pictures of the crash scene showed the white bus lying on its side with belongings of the passengers strewn outside.

The accident came hours after more than 30 people were killed when a bus plunged down a ravine in the Peruvian highlands.

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Cyprus Bailout Deal Is Hit By New Fears

Cyprus' central bank governor has warned he will only work with ministers on the country's EU bailout if the bank's independence is respected.

The comments from governor Panicos Demetriades come following a rift in Nicosia between the bank and political leaders over the EU/IMF-brokered bailout.

Last week, the government said the total bailout cost had jumped 6bn euros (£5.1bn) to 23bn (£19.6bn).

Mr Demetriades was appointed last May by the communist former administration but tension with the ruling centre-right government, in power for just two months, has deepened.

There has been growing pressure on him to resign over his handling of the economic crisis amid an unprecedented levy placed on bank accounts.

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades has been accused of meddling

In the past week, the southern Cypriot parliament has started an investigation against Mr Demetriades.

President Nicos Anastasiades's government withdrew the appointment of his trusted deputy and three central bank officials resigned.

The unfolding drama drew a scathing response from European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi, who wrote to the Cypriot president telling him any attempt to effectively sack the governor could land Cyprus in the European Court of Justice.

Mr Anastasiades, when asked by reporters to comment on the apparent feud between the two bodies, said he was "frankly, very saddened".

"My intention to work with the country's democratic institutions is a given," Mr Demetriades, who sits on the ECB's governing council, was quoted as saying in an interview with the Phileleftheros newspaper.

"We are ready to respond to every call for cooperation and coordination for the benefit of this country always, however within the framework of total respect towards the central bank's  independence, as stipulated by the ECB."

ECB president Mario Draghi has warned the southern Cypriot president

Under European Union law, a governor can only be dismissed if he no longer fulfils the conditions required for the performance of his duties, or if he is guilty of serious misconduct.

The investigation launched by Cypriot politicians last week is seeking to find out whether Mr Demetriades supplied enough information during an investigation into the demise of Cyprus's two biggest lenders, which left the economy in disarray.

The collapse of the Mediterranean island's banking system imposed massive losses on depositors in order to qualify for its 10bn euro (£8.5bn) bailout by the EU and IMF.

:: Gold futures dropped below the $1,500 barrier on Friday, the lowest since July 2011, just days after Cyprus moved to sell 10 tons of reserves to help fund the bailout.

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Bali Crash: Data Recorder Retrieved From Jet

Indonesian air crash investigators have started working to determine what caused a new passenger jet to miss a runway while landing in Bali and crash into the sea.

A data recorder remains in the submerged tail section

The Boeing 737-800 overshot the runway on the resort island and plunged into shallow water near the airport boundary.

All 101 passengers and seven crew members safely escaped from the Lion Air plane, although up to 45 people suffered injuries.

Some were forced to swim to safety while others waiting atop the wings of the twin-engine jet to be rescued by boat.

The rear broke free after being hit by tide and swell

Transportation Ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan said the National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) is examining the wreckage.

He said aviation authorities have removed the flight data recorder from the aircraft operated by West Java-based budget air carrier.

Local fisherman and eyewitness Fendi Yono said: "I saw two planes approaching the runway.

Investigators retrieved items from the sea near the Denpasar airport

"The first one landed smoothly while the second plane went very slowly (before it crashed into the sea), probably because the weather was foggy at the time."

The fuselage of the recently purchased plane was fractured during the crash.

Waves hitting the plane completely severed the rear of the aircraft from the main body, causing it to partially submerge.

Possessions spilled from the plane after the accident

Survivor  Santi Widiastuti said: "I don't know how this accident happened. I just heard a notification that the aircraft would be landing soon.

"Not long after that notice, I heard a loud noise like a plane crashing into something. Suddenly, from under the deck, water began to enter the plane. All happened so fast."

Salvage crews are now hoping to tow the aircraft and retrieve its cockpit voice recorder, which is located in the tail.

The plane overshot the runway on the resort island in Indonesia

Last month Lion Air signed a £18bn deal with Airbus for 234 passenger jets and two years ago it signed a contract with Boeing for 230 planes.

However, the rapidly-expanding carrier is reportedly banned from US and European airspace due to safety concerns.

Between 2004 and 2006, Lion Air suffered a series of six accidents, which all involved planes overshooting or missing the runway, although no one died in those incidents.

The plane's back was fractured by waves but later severed it completely

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Paris Jackson: My Father Was Incredible

Michael Jackson's daughter has spoken of her "incredible father" and defended her upbringing, insisting that the singer only ever wanted to protect her and her siblings.

In her first ever newspaper interview, 15-year-old Paris said the King of Pop battled to give his children a "normal childhood".

Paris and her brothers Prince and Blanket, now 16 and 11, were rarely seen in public during Jackson's lifetime.

When they were, the singer made them wear masks to cover their faces - creating bizarre scenes.

But Paris, speaking to The Mail on Sunday's Event magazine, said this was only to try and protect them from the public gaze.

"He didn't want anyone to see what we looked like. That way we could have what he didn't, which was a normal childhood," she said.

Paris with brothers Prince (L) and Blanket

She added: "I have lots of memories of my father. He was an incredible father. We all loved him to death.

"He'd try to educate us as much as he could and was always looking out for us. He was very protective."

Paris and her siblings live in Calabasas, California, with their grandmother Katherine following Jackson's sudden death in 2009.

After years of home schooling, she is now at an ordinary high school.

"I'm on a tight leash and I feel that if that leash was loosened a little bit I would definitely have a chance of a normal childhood ..., " she said.

"I have friends who are completely normal ... they don't even think of me as MJ's kid."

Paris's parents Debbie Rowe and Michael Jackson

She talked of her love for music and how her father had taught her to dance - but reveals she has ambitions to be a heart surgeon.

"I want to be an actress, but just throughout high school. Then I want to go to medical school and be a doctor specialising in heart surgery. I want to help people, that's it," she said.

The 15-year-old also told of her hopes that the family home, Neverland, would be restored for deprived children to enjoy.

Paris is shortly due to give evidence in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by her grandmother against the concert promoter AEG.

She has also recently rekindled her relationship with her mother, Debbie Rowe, and spent her last birthday shopping with her in Hollywood.

"When I'm with her we don't really have security with us which is really nice," she said.

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Guantanamo: Guards Fire Rounds To Quell Unrest

Guantanamo Bay prison guards have fired several rubber shots to quell prisoner unrest as they moved inmates into individual cells, US military officials said.

The violence erupted during an early morning raid carried out because, according to military officials, prisoners had covered up security cameras and windows as part of a protest and hunger strike over their indefinite confinement and conditions at the US base in Cuba.

Prisoners fought guards with makeshift weapons that included broomsticks and mop handles when troops arrived to move them, said Robert Durand, a military spokesman.

Guards responded by firing four "less-than-lethal rounds" in the section of the prison known as Camp Six, he said.

Mr Durand said there were "no serious injuries to guards or detainees" during the operation aiming "to reestablish proper observation" at the facility.

The rounds included a modified shotgun shell that fires small rubber pellets as well as a type of bean-bag projectile, said Army Colonel Greg Julian.

The violence broke out at so-called Camp Six (file image)

Mr Durand said inmates were being isolated "to ensure the health and security" for prisoners at the facility, where dozens of detainees are in the third month of a hunger strike.

"This action was taken in response to efforts by detainees to limit the guard force's ability to observe the detainees by covering surveillance cameras, windows, and glass partitions," the statement added.

"Round-the-clock monitoring is necessary to ensure security, order and safety, as detainees continued a prolonged hunger strike by refusing regular camp-provided meals."

The prison houses scores of detainees swept up more than a decade ago during in America's so-called war on terror.

The hunger strike began when the men claim prison officials searched their Korans for contraband. Officials have denied any mishandling of Islam's holy book.

An attorney representing some of the inmates slammed their treatment.

"It's just another example of force being used in GTMO (Guantanamo), instead of a sense of human rights," said military lawyer Lieutenant Colonel Barry Wingard.

"The sad thing is that it doesn't appear to matter which political party is in power in Washington. The officials in GTMO always resort to force over common sense."

Activists at an April 11 rally campaign for the closure of Guantanamo Bay

He said the prisoners had asked prison officials to take their Korans instead of "disrespecting" them.

"The officials refused to take the Korans, and continued to search the books in plain view of the prisoners," Col Wingard added.

"Of course, the bigger issue is the 11.5 years without charges and hopelessness of never being released."

Attorneys representing inmates at the prison have said that most of the estimated 130 detainees at Guantanamo's Camp Six wing, which houses "low-value" prisoners, are on hunger strike.

US authorities, however, put the number of hunger strikers at about three dozen.

US President Barack Obama ordered the closing of the Guantanamo detention centre when he took office in 2009, but that was blocked by a Republican-led bill that cut off funding to move the detainees to the US.

The politicians cited security concerns, saying the presence of the detainees would encourage terror attacks in the states or cities where they were being held.

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North Korea Rebuffs Talks As A 'Crafty Trick'

North Korea has rejected the South's call to negotiate to resolve the nuclear crisis, calling it a "crafty trick".

The development came as US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Japan for the last leg of his four-day Asia tour aimed at reining in Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.

South Korea last week urged the North to discuss stalled operations at a joint factory complex and other issues.

But an unidentified spokesman at the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said on Sunday that Pyongyang had no intention of talking with Seoul unless it abandoned its confrontational posture.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-UN has vowed to beef up its nuclear arsenal

It came as Mr Kerry held meetings in Tokyo with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and also with Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, who said North Korea could not be allowed to possess nuclear weapons.

Both countries reaffirmed their commitment deal with the threat posed by North Korea - and to hold talks with the regime if leader Kim Jong-Un was prepared to honour previous agreements on its missile and nuclear programme.

Mr Kerry said the US was "fully committed" to the defence of Japan on Sunday - just days after Pyongyang threatened the Japanese capital would be "consumed in nuclear flames".

In the past few weeks, North Korea has declared itself to be in a "state of war" with the South, announced that a mothballed nuclear site is to be reopened and threatened to carry out nuclear attacks against the US.

An anti-North Korea rally in Seoul on Sunday

Japan, separated by less than 1,000km (625 miles) of water and a frequent target of Pyongyang's anger, is in easy range, and has deployed Patriot missiles around Tokyo in anticipation of a missile launch by the North.

Speculation has been building since the North was reported to have loaded two mid-range Musudan missiles on mobile launchers and hidden them in underground facilities on its eastern coast.

The move last week prompted the US to bring forward its drone deployment to Japan and send an unmanned spy plane to its airbase in Misawa, in northern Japan.

The Musudan have never been tested but are believed to have a range of around 3,000km (1,860 miles), which could theoretically be pushed to 4,000km (2,485 miles).

US soldiers on a training exercise in Yeoncheon, northeast of Seoul

That would cover any target in South Korea and Japan, and possibly even reach US military bases located on the Pacific island of Guam - which Pyongyang has threatened to strike.

In Seoul, Mr Kerry warned North Korea it would do everything within its means to defend its allies - and that it would be making a "huge mistake" if it launched one of its medium-range missiles during the current standoff.

Japan is a firm ally of the US, More than 35,000 US military personnel are based across the islands.

Both nations share the view that the solution to the North Korean problem lies with Beijing.

Sky's Alex Rossi, who is in Tokyo, said: "There is a feeling here that if North Korea does decide to do something stupid, Japan may very well be in the firing line.

Female Korean soldiers on patrol in their high heels

"Tomorrow is the birthday - the 101st anniversary of the birth of the founding father of North Korea, Kim Il Sung - and it is possible that a medium-range missile may be tested or used."

On Saturday, the top US diplomat met China's leaders to persuade them to push North Korea, whose sole main ally is Beijing, to scale back its belligerence and return to the negotiating table over its suspected nuclear aims.

Both nations agreed to seek a peaceful resolution to the crisis and to work together to ensure a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.

Tensions have soared in the region since December, when North Korea test-launched a long-range rocket. In February, it conducted its third nuclear test, which drew fresh UN sanctions.

Mr Kerry said there had been enough confrontational language on North Korea and he did not want to get into a cycle of threats and counter-threats with the reclusive nation.

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Florida Hit By Outbreak Of Giant Land Snails

A growing infestation of dangerous giant snails is threatening to damage buildings and spread illness through southern Florida, experts fear.

Giant African Land Snails are being caught at a rate of 1,000 a week in the Miami-Dade county area around the city of Miami with numbers said to be increasing.

The animals, which can grow to the size of a rabbit, are eating through plaster in the walls of buildings as they attempt to consume the huge amounts of calcium they need to grow their shells.

They are also a health risk, being known to carry a type of parasite called the rat lungworm which can infect humans through contaminated water or vegetables.

According to experts, the shells of the snails often grow to a length of 15cm (6ins) with a diameter of 9cm (3.5ins) but some have been known to grow up to 30cm by 15cm (12ins by 6ins).

In Caribbean countries, where the snails have become a major problem, they have even been known to pose a hazard to vehicles by causing blowouts of tyres.

Gardeners have also been injured as the animals have been turned into dangerous projectiles by lawnmowers.

Denise Feiber, from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, said action needed to be taken soon or Florida could end up looking like Barbados which has been overrun by the molluscs.

Some Snails can grow to the size of a rat

"It becomes a slick mess," Ms Feiber said. "[The snails attack] over 500 known species of plants ... pretty much anything that's in their path and green."

Ms Feiber said about 117,000 have been officially destroyed so far since the first snail was spotted by a homeowner in September 2011.

She added that the number was expected to grow rapidly because the snails are due to start emerging from underground hibernation at the start of the state's rainy season in just seven weeks.

A typical snail can produce about 1,200 eggs a year and the creatures are a particular pest in homes because of their fondness for stucco, which has a particularly high calcium content.

Rat lungworm can cause illness in humans, including a form of meningitis, Ms Feiber said, although no such cases have yet been identified in the US.

The snail outbreak is just the latest in a series of invasions by foreign species, including the well-known infestation by giant Burmese pythons, which became established in the Everglades in 2000.

In December, the authorities launched a snake hunting competition in an attempt to keep numbers down.

Many non-native species thrive in the state's moist, subtropical climate.

Experts gathered last week in Gainesville, Florida, for a Giant African Land Snail Science Symposium, to seek the best ways to eradicate the molluscs, including use of a stronger bait approved recently by the federal government.

Ms Feiber said investigators were trying to trace the snail infestation source.

One possibility being examined is a Miami Santeria group, a religion with West African and Caribbean roots, which was found in 2010 to be using the large snails in its rituals, she said.

But many exotic species come into the US unintentionally in freight or tourists' baggage.

The last known Florida invasion of the giant molluscs occurred in 1966, when a boy returning to Miami from a vacation in Hawaii brought back three of them, possibly in his jacket pockets.

After his grandmother released the snails into her garden, the state had to spend $1m (£650,000) and 10 years eradicating them.

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Somalia Rocked By Bomb And Gun Attacks

At least 16 people have been killed in a series of bomb and gun attacks in Somalia.

Militants launched a sustained assault on the law courts in the capital Mogadishu.

Two car bombs were set off and the complex was stormed before the gang took hostages and a gun battle erupted with security forces.

Hussein Ali, who works at the courts, said: "Armed men entered the court and then we heard a blast. Then they started opening fire."

Government forces arrived and besieged the court buildings and there was a second blast while shots continued to ring out.

Somali forces at the scene of the assault

Gunmen were also seen on the roof of a court building firing shots during the attack which lasted several hours.

Some of those who were in the compound managed to escape the crossfire by locking themselves in a room or taking cover.

"I never expected to make it out alive," said Halima Geddi, who fled the complex two hours after the raid.

She said she had taken cover behind an outer wall.

"There is no peace. No one protects us. I came to see my boy who was supposed to be tried here," she said.

Smoke is seen rising from one of the court buildings

Somalia's interior minister Abdikarim Hussein Guled said all nine attackers were dead.

Six detonated suicide vests and three others were shot and killed during Sunday's assault.

The exact number of victims is unknown, but it is thought that they include government officials and civilians.

A further car bomb exploded at a building housing Somali intelligence on a road near Mogadishu airport hours later.

It was not immediately clear who carried out the attacks, but al Shabaab militants - an Islamic extremist rebel group linked to al Qaeda - has claimed responsibility for several suicide bombings in Mogadishu this year.

In control of much of the capital between 2009 and 2011, the group has been forced out of most major cities in central and southern Somalia by African Union peacekeepers.

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El Paso City Hall Collapses In A Few Seconds

A 10-storey city hall building in Texas has collapsed in just a few seconds after a controlled implosion to make way for a new baseball stadium.

The decision to demolish the 34-year-old property had sparked protests in the city of El Paso.

Authorities cordoned off a large section of the downtown area ahead of the blast, and hundreds gathered around the area to get a glimpse of the demolition.

It is part of a plan to revamp the city's centre, including building a $50m (£32m) ballpark for the Tucson Padres.

The team is scheduled to relocate to El Paso.

Authorities hope the baseball stadium will attract pedestrians and businesses to the area.

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