Nigeria College Attacked: At Least 40 Killed

At least 40 people have been killed after suspected Islamist gunmen fired on students as they slept at a college in northeast Nigeria.

The attackers reportedly stormed a dormitory and set fire to classrooms in the assault which happened about 1am local time on Sunday in the town of Gujba in Yobe state.

Nigeria's military is blaming militants from the Boko Haram insurgent group for the atrocity at the College of Agriculture.

A source told the AFP news agency that 40 bodies had been brought to hospital.

College provost Molima Idi Mato said security forces were still recovering bodies so he could not give an exact number of dead but said up to 50 had been killed.

He also said about 1,000 students had fled the scene.

The college is about 25 miles from the scene of similar school attacks around Damaturu town.

There were no security forces stationed at the college despite government assurances, said Mr Mato.

Members of Boko Haram pictured in February

Two weeks ago, state commission for education Mohammmed Lamin urged all schools to reopen and promising protection by soldiers and police.

Most schools in the area closed after militants killed 29 pupils and a teacher, burning some alive in their hostels at Mamudo outside Damaturu on July 6.

Northeast Nigeria is in a military state of emergency following an Islamic uprising by Boko Haram militants who have killed more than 1,700 people since 2010 in their quest for an Islamic state.

Yobe has seen a series of brutal attacks targeting students in recent months, all blamed on the group.

The name Boko Haram means "Western education is forbidden" and the group has repeatedly attacked schools, universities and colleges during its four-year insurgency.

The military has described the spate of recent attacks as a sign of desperation by the Islamists, claiming they only have the capacity to hit soft targets.

An offensive launched against Boko Haram in mid-May has decimated the group and scattered their fighters across remote parts of the northeast, the defence ministry has said. 

Boko Haram has said it is fighting to create an Islamic state in Nigeria's mainly Muslim north, but the group is believed to be made up of different factions with varying aims. 

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Wounded Syrians Left Bleeding With The Enemy

By Sam Kiley, Middle East Correspondent, Naharia

A hint of a rueful smile plays across his face as Zaaki Juma'a tells me he is glad his son is dead. What else can he say?

Muayed was 26. A year into marriage. A devout Muslim who left his village to go and fight in Syria and did not come back.

His family gathered to mourn him the day after they found out first that he had even gone to join the rebels against Bashar al Assad, and second that he had died there when they got an email and a photograph of his bullet riddled body.

There had been no explanation. No final letter of farewell and no news of the two friends who had gone with him.

Perhaps there never will be. Not least because the dead man and his comrades are Israelis - citizens of a country that is technically at war with Syria.

The Jewish State has been trying to keep the unfolding tragedy of Syria at arm's length. But like all of Syria's neighbours, it has been unable to resist the contagion of the war.

Mr Juma'a insisted that his son had died a martyr. That he had achieved what he set out to and would find heavenly reward for his sacrifice.

"It does not matter if you are an Israeli, or whatever passport you carry, if you are a Muslim and your fellow Muslims are suffering then you should help," Mr Juma'a says, clutching a photograph of the heavily bearded son he did not understand. Mr Juma'a is not religious.

"I have to respect his decisions," he says. "He has found his paradise."

Nahariya Hospital has treated 86 Syrian patients. Pic: Oren Peles

Around 10 Israeli Arabs are believed to have travelled to Syria to join rebel groups, most likely through Turkey. One is reported to have been arrested on return to Israel. Maed is the first to have been killed.

Israeli-held territory on the Golan Heights is regularly hit by stray mortars and artillery from fighting inside Syria and the Israeli defence forces have also engaged Syrian targets when they have been shot at.

But the Jewish State, which has also conducted air raids against weapons convoys believed to be heading to Hizbollah in Lebanon, is keen to stay out of the conflict for fear of triggering an escalation with the Lebanese guerrillas who have an arsenal of 40,000 rockets aimed at Israel.

The Israeli military has also, though, been quietly engaged in a humanitarian effort to treat wounded Syrians who are smuggled to one of its field hospitals on the Golan and on to intensive care units deeper into the country.

This secret pipeline of wounded ends at either the Safed or Nahariya Hospitals.

Dr Jean Soustiel, director of neurosurgery at Nahariya Hospital, which has treated a total of 86 Syrian patients, says many of them arrive with wounds that indicate attempted execution - gun shots to the back of the head and axe wounds.

Severely wounded, they most often arrive unconscious and with no idea that they are being treated by Israeli doctors at a hospital that was itself hit by a Hezbollah rockets in 2006.

"They are sometimes very afraid and nervous when they wake up and hear Hebrew being spoken and are told that they are in Israel," he says.

"But soon they relax as they can feel the warmth around them."

Syrian patients stay longer in hospital than they would normally because there is no reliable post-operative care back in Syria.

But the staff treating them also know that once back home, the Syrian patients cannot ever reveal that they were treated in Israel.

If they did they would be murdered - and privately some Israeli staff say they have heard of whole families being massacred because of this.

All of the Syrians are returned to their home country. One at least does not want to go home.

Registered, like all Syrian patients as 'John Doe', he lies in intensive care recovering from a smashed jaw, shattered leg, and internal injuries.

Dr Nickola Machul, director of intensive care, speaks to him in Arabic and he mimes his replies.

He had five children. Two survived the bomb attack on his village that so severely injured him. Tears cascade down his face as he signals this with his fingers.

Then he repeatedly indicates with both hands that he wants to stay put in Israel forever, a refugee in limbo hosted by his own country's enemies.

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Kenya: Somalis In Nairobi Fear Terror Backlash

Somalis living in Nairobi say they fear being targeted by Kenyans who blame them for the shopping centre massacre that left at least 67 people dead.

The Eastleigh area of the capital city is home to many from Somalia, the country where al Shabaab, the terror group thought to be behind the attack, is based.

Ahmed Mohammed, a security consultant in the area, said there were major concerns about a backlash against the community.

"People are worried about people coming and looting their businesses and they are also worried about authorities coming and doing a crackdown on Somalis," he told Sky News.

"Basically, when things like this happen, Somalis are the victims."

Poverty and unemployment make Eastleigh a fertile recruiting ground for al Shabaab.

Those who have glimpsed inside the organisation and witnessed its brutality are terrified of being hunted down for leaving or speaking out.

One man, who asked to remain anonymous, explained why.

Victims of the attack are honoured at a memorial in Nairobi

"What I am scared about is that Al Shabaab are beasts, they are not human beings," he said.

"If they see my face ... they will try to kill me. I have seen so many friends of mine who have been killed by al Shabaab."

Somali immigrant Farah Atosh, 25, has countless friends who have been recruited or approached by al Shabaab, but is determined to counter the terror group's propaganda.

"We are against them," he said.

"We are not supporting them. You might see or hear some people saying al Shabaab will not be able to carry out those attacks without the support of the Somali diaspora but honestly that is false information."

Many people who fled Somalia hoped they would find sanctuary and those who created new lives in Kenya want al Shabaab hounded out

One of them is Karim Muse, who told Sky News: "I would like to go to Somalia but (while) the al Shabaab are ... in Somalia, I don't want to go back.

"They have destroyed Somalia's people. They don't like Somalis, don't like other Christians, they don't like anyone, only themselves. Al Shabaab, they are cancer in the world."

It comes as forensic investigators continue to search the ruins of Westgate Mall - and after it emerged a sixth Briton had been confirmed dead following the attack.

Meanwhile, around 200 Nairobi residents, many of them of Indian descent, held a candlelit vigil on Saturday evening for victims the massacre.

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Italy In Chaos As Berlusconi Ministers Quit

Former Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi has withdrawn his ministers from the government, effectively bringing down the country's fragile ruling coalition.

The move leaves the eurozone's third-largest economy in chaos and was branded a "crazy and irresponsible act" by Prime Minister Enrico Letta.

Talks will now start to find a parliamentary majority to back a new cabinet and avoid another election - just seven months after the last one.

Mr Letta said the move was a 'crazy' act

Berlusconi had earlier encouraged the five ministers in his centre-right People of Freedom (PDL) party to resign over an increase in sales tax.

He said they should not be "complicit in the latest vexation imposed on Italians by the left".

"The prime minister's decision yesterday to freeze government action, thus leading to the rise in the VAT, is a serious violation of the government pact," Berlusconi said.

The move comes just days before a senate committee is expected to strip him of his seat over his conviction for tax fraud last month.

Mr Letta hit back, saying: "To try to justify his crazy and irresponsible act, aimed fully at protecting his personal interests, Berlusconi is ... using the VAT as an alibi.

"Italians will recognise such a big lie... and return it to the sender."

The relentless political jockeying that has defined Mr Letta's five-month tenure has already thwarted efforts to push through important reforms Italy needs to emerge from a two-year recession, a decade-long economic lethargy, a 2-trillion-euro public debt and youth unemployment of around 40%.

The resignations will delay those reforms even further.

Italian Labour Minister Enrico Giovannini told Rai state television: "So many measures we were working on now risk being set back.

"On Monday our borrowing costs are going to rise by many points."

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Pakistan Police Station Bombs Kill At Least 33

Two bombs have exploded near a police station in the city of Peshawar, killing at least 33 people and injuring 70.

At least one of the explosions appeared to have been caused by a bomb planted in a parked car and detonated by remote control, local police said.

It comes just a week after two suicide bombers killed 85 people in an attack on All Saints' Church, just 300 yards from the scene of Sunday's blasts.

Burning wreckage at the scene of the latest blasts

The area was crowded with shops and families.

Spokesman for the Lady Reading Hospital Jamil Shah said the dead included six children and two women as well as 70 wounded who have been brought to the hospital from the blast site.

A crowd gathered outside the hospital as relatives tried to find out the fate of their loved ones. Women sobbed as ambulances pulled up with more bodies.

A woman is carried to safety from the site of the latest blasts

Shopowner Sher Gul said he had made repeated trips to the hospital on his motorbike to bring six people to be treated for their wounds.

The northwestern frontier city is the gateway to the troubled tribal regions, which are overrun by Taliban and al Qaeda-linked militants.

Scenes at the Anglican church bombing a week ago

Islamist violence has been on the rise in Pakistan in recent months, undermining Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's efforts to tame the insurgency by launching peace talks with the Taliban.

The Taliban have repeatedly rejected Pakistan's constitution and have called for the full implementation of Islamic law and for war with India.

Mr Sharif was expected to meet Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly later on Sunday, only hours after Mr Singh described Pakistan as the "epicentre of terrorism in our region".

Last week's church attack by a Taliban faction was the deadliest attack on Christians in Pakistan.

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Top US Nuke Commander Faces Gambling Probe

The man who is second in charge at the military command responsible for all US nuclear war-fighting forces has been suspended amid a gambling investigation.

Navy Vice Admiral Tim Giardina is suspected in a case involving counterfeit gambling chips at a western Iowa casino, officials said.

Mr Giardina has not been arrested or charged, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) special agent David Dales said, and the state investigation was ongoing.

DCI agents stationed at the Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa, discovered the counterfeit chips, Mr Dales said.

He would not say when the discovery was made or how much in counterfeit chips was found, only that "it was a significant monetary amount".

"We were able to detect this one pretty quickly and jump on it," Mr Dales said.

He declined to say how authorities determined that casino chips had been counterfeited or how Mr Giardina might have been involved.

Mr Giardina, deputy commander at US Strategic Command, was suspended on September 3 and is under investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, a command spokeswoman said.

The highly unusual action against a high-ranking officer at Strategic Command was made more than three weeks ago but not publicly announced at that time.

Strategic Command oversees the military's nuclear fighter units, including the Navy's nuclear-armed submarines and the Air Force's nuclear bombers and nuclear land-based missiles.

The command is located at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, Nebraska.

Air Force General Robert Kehler, who heads Strategic Command, suspended Mr Giardina, according to the command's top spokeswoman, Navy Captain Pamela Kunze.

Mr Giardina is still assigned to the command but is prohibited from performing duties related to nuclear weapons and other issues requiring a security clearance, she said.

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Home And Away: Lighthouse In Fire Drama

By Jonathan Samuels, Australia Correspondent

The lighthouse made famous in TV soap Home And Away has been saved from destruction by volunteer firefighters.

The lighthouse obscured by thick smoke Pic: Lauren Austin

Hot and windy weather caused a major bushfire to take hold on the Barrenjoey headland, which often features in scenes from the hit TV show.

Crews managed to save the main lighthouse Pic: Ingleside RFS

The blaze, one of many across the state of New South Wales, broke out across the headland on Saturday, with billowing black smoke visible from the adjacent Palm Beach, which is renamed "Summer Bay" for the soap.

An emergency alert was initially issued and headland visitors were advised to seek shelter near the lighthouse after access to a walking trail was cut off.

About 80 Rural Fire Service volunteer firefighters and three aircraft were brought in to battle the fire.

The lighthouse was saved but a nearby lighthouse cottage sustained some roof damage.

At the height of the fire it was feared some tourists may have been trapped, but all people have since been accounted for.

One firefighter sustained minor injuries in the blaze.

It is not known how the fire was sparked.

RFS spokesman Ben Shepherd said 60% of the Barrenjoey headland around the lighthouse had been burnt.

Witness Scott Carpenter said the fire looked like "an inferno" and was engulfing the headland.

"I'm watching in horror," he said.

"The whole east side of the headland is in flames ... it's spreading very quickly."

The strong winds and hot temperatures have kept firefighters busy with 60 fires, including 20 uncontained, burning across NSW.

Much of the Barrenjoey headland has been burnt. Pic: NSW Rural Fire Service

Mr Shepherd said a fire at Port Stephens, near Italia Road, East Seaham, initially threatened homes but crews managed to save them.

Containment lines have been established around parts of the fire, Mr Shepherd confirmed.

The 'Summer Bay' fire crew. Pic: Ingleside RFS

A bushfire that started on Thursday has continued to burn in the Shallow Bay area in the Great Lakes.

The fire is contained, Mr Shepherd said.

Another bushfire that started on Thursday south of Taree is also under control.

A photo of the headland with the lighthouse shadow. Pic: Ingleside RFS

Mr Shepherd said while there were no total fire bans in place for Sunday, the main concern was the lack of rain.

"Until such time we get significant rain, we maintain the problem of any warm and windy days we have increasing fire risks and the possibility of fire bans," he said.

Almost 80 volunteers helped tackled the blaze on Barrenjoey headland

Last week a 16-year-old boy was charged with lighting fires which destroyed 40 hectares of land in the New South Wales Hunter Valley wine region.

The blaze threatened property and forced the evacuation of 60 children from a scout camp.

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NSA Maps Out Americans' Social Connections

The National Security Agency has used its huge vault of information to map US citizens' social connections, allowing it to identify their friends, current locations, and other personal information, according to The New York Times.

The paper said the super-secret electronic spy agency has developed sophisticated graphs of some Americans' friends and family networks based on phone call metadata and email logs.

Citing documents provided by former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden, it said the NSA began the project in November 2010 to examine some Americans' associates for foreign intelligence purposes after NSA officials lifted restrictions on the practice.

A memorandum from the spy agency in January 2011 indicated the policy shift was intended to help the agency "discover and track" connections between intelligence targets overseas and people in the US.

Snowden's documents show the NSA uses personal data from bank codes, insurance details, Facebook profiles, and GPS locations.

Snowden is wanted for leaking information on covert surveillance programmes

NSA officials declined to say how many Americans have been spied on by the project, including people involved in no wrongdoing.

The documents do not describe what has resulted from the scrutiny, which links phone numbers and emails in a "contact chain" tied to a person or organisation of interest overseas.

They also do not specify which phone and email databases are used to create the social network graphs.

NSA officials would not identify them when contacted by The Times, but said the large database of Americans' domestic phone call records revealed in June was not used.

Snowden's disclosures have sparked wide concerns that Americans' civil liberties have been violated by wide-spread electronic snooping.

Russia has granted temporary asylum to Snowden, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

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Jill Meagher Murder: Melbourne March In Memory

Thousands of people have marched in Melbourne in memory of Jill Meagher, who was raped and murdered in the city a year ago.

The marchers were joined by state leaders as they walked through the streets of Brunswick where the 29-year-old Irish woman was last seen in September 2012.

Bayley's crimes shocked and anger the public. Pic: Mary Rutledge

Serial sex offender Adrian Ernest Bayley, 41, pleaded guilty to raping and killing her and was sentenced to life in prison earlier this year.

Mrs Meagher was attacked as she was walked back to her flat after having drinks with colleagues from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Mrs Meagher, originally from Drogheda, County Louth, rejected a colleague's offer to escort her home.

Mrs Meagher moved to Melbourne three years before her death

Bayley accosted her on a street and dragged her into a lane only a few hundred metres (yards) from her home.

Artist Philip Werner put a post on Facebook last year that sparked a 30,000-strong march to honour Mrs Meagher and other victims of violent crime.

A floral tribute in Brunswick. Pic: Mary Rutledge

Mr Werner said he was not surprised thousands of people turned up again this year.

"I've called it a peace march and I believe people are here because they want to express the opposite sentiment to the things that led to the murder," he said.

"My feeling is that what killed Jill and others was anger and hate and violence and though we may feel angry, let us turn that anger into a peaceful defiance against violence."

Another marcher, Roberta Mascitti, said she joined the march to honour Mrs Meagher.

"I think during these kind of marches are really important even though it's a year on," she said.

"It's important for Jill Meagher and for her family as well as her husband to know that there are people here that, even though we didn't know her, that we remember her and that we respect what's she's gone through and try to just remember that memory." 

Bayley was sentenced to life in prison for the crimes

The crime shocked Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city.

The public was further outraged after it was revealed in court that Bayley was free on parole when he killed Mrs Meagher.

He had previously been convicted of raping five other women.

CCTV footage showing Mrs Meagher shortly before her murder

Last week, Bayley failed in his attempted to get his sentence reduced.

Ms Meagher's husband, Tom, expressed anger at legal aid for funding Bayley's bid, calling it a waste of money.

Tom and Jill Meagher moved to Melbourne from Ireland three years before her murder.

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Assad Vows To Respect Chemical Weapons Deal

Syria's President Bashar al Assad has said in a television interview that he will respect United Nations accords on chemical weapons.

It comes after a resolution to destroy his chemical stockpile was passed unanimously by the UN Security Council on Friday.

All 15 members of the council voted in favour of the resolution, which was widely seen as a compromise between the US and Syria's key ally, Russia.

Mr Assad was asked in an interview on Italian television station RaiNews24 if Syria would comply with the deal.

He replied: "We joined the international agreement against the acquisition and use of chemical weapons even before this resolution was passed."

A member of the UN chemical weapons team in Syria

The UN vote after two weeks of intense negotiations marks a major breakthrough following two and a half years of paralysis that has gripped the council since the Syrian uprising began.

More than 100,000 Syrians have been killed during that time while millions have been displaced.

On Sunday at least 12 people, mostly students, died in an air strike that hit a secondary school in the rebel-held city of Raqqa, activists said.

Countries including the US, UK and France have accused Mr Assad's regime of carrying out a chemical attack in Damascus that killed hundreds of civilians last month.

The Syrian government said rebels fighting to overthrow the president were responsible for the atrocity.

UN inspectors confirmed a chemical attack had taken place but they not say who did it. They have been investigating other sites of alleged chemical atrocities.

The UN resolution calls for consequences if Syria fails to comply, but those will depend on the council passing another resolution in the event of non-compliance.

That will give Russia the means to stop any punishment from being imposed.

US Secretary of State John Kerry

US Secretary of State John Kerry said the "strong, enforceable, precedent-setting" resolution showed diplomacy can be so powerful "that it can peacefully defuse the worst weapons of war".

He said the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons stockpile would begin in November and be completed by the middle of next year.

For the first time, the council endorsed the roadmap for a political transition in Syria adopted by key nations in June 2012 and called for an international conference to be convened "as soon as possible" to implement it.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the target date for a new peace conference in Geneva was mid-November.

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