Egypt Troops Surround Kerdasah After Gun Battle

Egyptian troops backed by helicopters have encircled an Islamist stronghold after exchanging gunfire with suspected militants who killed a senior police officer.

General Nabil Farag was shot dead as troops stormed into the Kerdasah district to arrest people accused of torching a police station and killing 11 security officers in August, according to state TV.

State news agency MENA said Gen Farag, an aide to the police chief of Giza city, was killed on the outskirts of the town by "terrorists and criminal elements".

Security sources said dozens of weapons, including rocket-propelled grenades had been seized and 41 arrests were made as police hunted 140 wanted people.

Interior ministry spokesman Hany Abdel Latif said: "The security forces will not retreat until (Kerdasah) is cleansed of all terrorist and criminal nests."

Footage broadcast by the privately-owned Mihwar TV channel showed armoured personnel carriers, police and soldiers in the streets.

Security forces reportedly imposed a curfew of the area, which police had effectively been barred from entering for almost two months following violence over the ousting of President Mohamed Morsi.

Cairo authorities also briefly shut several lines on the metro system after two unexploded bombs were found on the tracks 100m from Helmeyet el Zaytoun station in the northeast of the city.

The Interior Ministry later said the bombs were "fake", AFP reported.

Mr Morsi's exit was triggered by mass protests that led to counter-protests nationwide.

Violence between his supporters and security forces included large-scale attacks on police stations, individual security officers and churches.

At least 1,000 people have died in the violence with most deaths coming during the security forces' dispersal of two pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo on August 14.

About 100 police officers also died in the clashes.

Nearly 2,000 Islamist activists and politicians have been arrested since Mr Morsi was forced from office.

Kerdasah, known for producing and selling fancy fabrics is 14km from Cairo and known to be an Islamist stronghold.

Residents of the area said on Wednesday they were not in control but do not want police there.

"We don't trust them as we know they will come to arrest people we know and respect whom they blame on the violence that we know was done by outsiders, not by our respectable sheikhs," Ahmed Aly said.

Egyptian security forces had last Monday stormed the town of Delga in Minya province, about 300km south of Cairo, clearing barricades set up by Mr Morsi's supporters there who were almost in control of the town.

Some 56 residents were arrested.

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China: 'Bo Xilai Letter' Hints At Comeback

Chinese politician Bo Xilai has maintained that he will be vindicated of corruption allegations, just days before he is due to hear the verdict in his trial.

In a letter circulating on the internet, said to be from the fallen Communist Party secretary, he suggests he will wait quietly in jail to be exonerated and that "everything will be clear one day".

He also blames his wife Gu Kailai for his legal troubles.

Bo's father, Bo Yibo, was imprisoned several times during his political career but was eventually rehabilitated and served as China's vice premier - and the letter suggests that the former Politburo member believes he will follow the same path.

"Dad has been imprisoned many times in life, and I will set him as my example!" the letter reads.

The letter's authenticity has not been verified but the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported that two people with close ties to the Bo family had confirmed that it came from him.

The newspaper did not name its sources, which has been common with Hong Kong media covering the sensitive case.

Li Xiaolin, a prominent Beijing lawyer who has been advising the family of Bo's wife, said it is probably fake because the author hinted at a comeback - thought to be an unlikely prospect. 

Bo's wife Gu Kailai was found guilty of killing Briton Neil Heywood

Li said: "How could he clearly state that intention?"

Bo, the former party leader in Chongqing city, was tried on charges of taking bribes, embezzlement and abuse of power last month in the eastern city of Jinan.

During the five day court trial, Bo mounted an unusually spirited defence, acknowledging mistakes in his leadership but admitting no guilt.

Observers believe Bo will be found guilty when the verdict is announced on Sunday. He could receive the death penalty but many expect him to receive a lengthy jail sentence.

His downfall is believed to have come in factional infighting ahead of China's leadership transition, but it was triggered by the killing of British businessman Neil Heywood.

Bo's wife Gu has been convicted of the murder, which Bo was accused of covering up.

"It is wrong that I have been implicated, but everything will be clear one day, and I will wait for it quietly in the jail," the letter reads.

The author also pledged not to bring disgrace to his parents and their glory.

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Greece Protests After 'Neo-Nazi' Killing

Protesters and police have clashed violently in Greece following the murder of a leftist musician by a suspected neo-Nazi.

Police fired tear gas as thousands of people demonstrated against fascism in Athens, the northern city of Thessaloniki and the western city of Patras.

Around 5,000 people shouting "break down the fascists" and wielding banners that read "fascism, never again" took to the streets in the district of western Athens where 34-year-old Pavlos Fyssas was stabbed to death outside a cafe on Wednesday.

Most protested peacefully, but police officers fired volleys of tear gas at a group of demonstrators who pelted them with wooden sticks and stones, and arrested 23 people.

In Thessaloniki, where some 6,000 people marched, police fired tear gas after some protesters smashed shop windows.

Protesters throw rocks and Molotov cocktails - police fired tear gas

Around 1,000 protesters threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at police in Patras, who responded with tear gas. A retired police officer was injured in the scuffles, according to a police source.

A 45-year-old alleged member of the extreme-right Golden Dawn group who was arrested at the scene has confessed to stabbing Mr Fyssas, a left-wing hip hop singer who, his father said, had been "hunted down" and dealt a "professional" stab blow.

The suspect's wife was also arrested for allegedly giving false evidence to police during the investigation.

Golden Dawn has denied any connection to the murder, which came a few days after a group of communists were beaten by suspected neo-Nazis.

Protesters buckle under the effects of tear gas

The party, which ranks third in opinion polls despite being implicated in violence, has capitalised on the country's recession plight and widespread anger towards mainstream parties for failing to tackle decades of corruption.

It is widely recognised as being a neo-Nazi organisation and its badge has a design resembling a swastika, although it has rejected this label.

Government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou blamed the killing squarely on Golden Dawn, condemning the group's "raw violence" and calling on other parties to "raise a barrier to the vicious circle of tension and violence".

The anti-fascist protests came as around 20,000 people marched peacefully in Athens, Thessaloniki and other cities during a two-day strike called by the civil servants' union Adedy.

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Yemen Marriage Child Abuses 'Covered Up'

By Zein Ja'Far, Sky News Producer

There are growing concerns that cases of girls being abused in child marriages in Yemen are being covered up by authorities.

The issue has returned to the spotlight after reports that an eight-year-old girl died of internal bleeding after marrying a man five times her age.

In 2006, the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) found 14% of Yemeni girls married before the age of 15 and more than half were married before they turned 18.

Poverty, illiteracy and a lack of awareness of the damage it causes young girls are all cited as reasons why child marriage is still practised.

Sky News Arabia spoke to two sisters, Sa'adah and Ameenah, both married at the age of 13, with the backing of their families.

Sa'adah now has two young children and was abandoned by her husband

Sa'adah gave birth to two children with her husband, but he has since abandoned them.

Ameenah, after spending months unhappy in her marriage, managed to find a way out and returned to her family home.

Both now live with their parents. 

"I don't want another husband," said Sa'adah. "I just want to focus on my studies now. I advise girls not to get married before they finish their studies. When they get older then they can get married."

Although widespread, particularly in rural areas, child marriage is controversial and divisive in Yemen.

Protesters have called for an minimum age for marriage in Yemen

Campaigners have long fought for a minimum legal marriage age to be introduced but previous attempts have been blocked by conservative politicians in the country.

However, the emergence earlier this month of a troubling story from northern Yemen has reignited the debate and could prove to be a turning point.

Local media reports claimed that an eight-year old child, known as Rawan, died from heavy bleeding after sleeping with her 40-year old husband.

The story spread on social media sites and soon reached newspapers and broadcasters around the world causing outrage and dismay.

Authorities in Yemen denied the story was true.

Ameenah was 13 when she married but managed to return to her family

Then, a girl, identifying herself as Rawan, gave an interview to a journalist telling him she was alive, healthy and unmarried. 

Saeed al Batati, who filmed the interview with the young girl and her father, said there was disagreement between local residents and officials about Rawan's fate. 

Armed security escorts and local residents surrounded the interviewees "creating a sense of fear".

To add to the uncertainty, when photos of the eight-year old were shown to neighbours, who claimed to know the family, they denied they were of Rawan.

Some have suggested the country's authorities are trying to suppress what, if true, would be a tragic and deeply disturbing episode.

Young girls and their children are being killed, claims Arwa Othman

Yemen human rights minister Huriya Mashhoor said she was pressing parliament to ban the practice and pass a minimum legal marriage age of 18.

But her attempts could once again be blocked by political opponents who say the issue is blown out of proportion and will refuse to sign off on any new legislation.

It is a view strongly disputed by human rights activist Arwa Othman.

"We don't want anyone trying to downplay this problem," she said.

"It's a practise that exists and we have tens of women who are killed at a young age. Them and their children."

Yemen is one the world's poorest countries, racked by political divisions and instability and those fighting hard to end child marriage could face a long battle.

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Assad To Destroy Chemical Weapons 'In A Year'

Syrian leader Bashar al Assad has said he is committed to destroying his stockpile of chemical arms - but warned it would take a year to do so.

In an interview with Fox News, Mr Assad said he was committed to getting rid of the arsenal but conceded it would cost at least £600m ($1bn).

And he also challenged America to foot the bill.

"It needs a lot of money, it needs about one billion (US dollars)," he told the US crew at the presidential palace in Damascus.

"If the American administration is ready to pay those money, and to take responsibility of bringing toxic materials to the United States, why don't they do it?"

Mr Assad denied responsibility for the gas attack. Picture: Fox News

Mr Assad also insisted that his decision to destroy the weapons was not forced upon him by the threat of US strikes.

He said destroying the weapons was "a very complicated operation, technically".

"So it depends, you have to ask the experts what they mean by quickly. It has a certain schedule," he said.

"It needs a year, or maybe a little bit more."

Assad forces have been shelling in Idlib, activists say

Mr Assad also said a UN report that found "clear and convincing evidence" of a sarin nerve gas attack in Syria last month is "unrealistic", and denied responsibility for it.

He also used the one-hour interview to criticise the American stance in the Syrian crisis, saying that, unlike Russia, Washington had tried to get involved in Syria's leadership and governance.

And as diplomatic wrangling over Syria's chemical weapons continues, a roadside bomb in a central Syria has killed at least 14 members of President Assad's minority Alawite.

Rebels take cover in the Idlib countryside in northwestern Syria

The blast targeted two buses near the Alawite village of Jabourin, north of Homs city, said the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Alawites are an offshoot sect of Shia Islam who mostly support Mr Assad and have been increasingly targeted by hardline fighters among the Sunni Muslim-dominated opposition.

More than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria's civil war

And Turkey has closed one of its border gates to Syria following clashes near the town of Azaz, which is close to the Turkish frontier.

The fighting between the Western-backed Free Syrian Army fighters and an al Qaeda-affiliated rebel group appears to have ceased.

The clashes comes as US Senator John McCain penned an opinion piece for a Russian website in which he criticises Vladimir Putin's close ties with the Assad regime.

Mr McCain's column was in response to Mr Putin's piece in The New York Times last week which was highly critical of America's response to the Syrian crisis.

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Japan: Fukushima Reactors To Be Demolished

Japan's Prime Minister has ordered the destruction of the two nuclear reactors that survived after a tsunami hit the Fukushima plant in 2011.

Shinzo Abe said he stood by his commitment to the International Olympic Committee that the nuclear plant would be made safe before the Summer Games in 2020.

"I will work hard to counter rumours questioning the safety of the Fukushima plant," he said after touring the site on Thursday.

Mr Abe also revealed he had told the plant's owners, the Tokyo Electric Power Co to set a time frame for dealing with leaking contaminated water.

"In order for them to concentrate on this, I have directed them to decommission the no. 5 and no. 6 reactors that are now halted," Mr Abe said.

Mr Shinzo meets a worker at the Fukushima plant

The tsunami that battered the Fukushima Daiichi plant on March 11, 2011 caused fuel-rod meltdowns and radioactive contamination of air, sea and food.

Some 160,000 people were evacuated from their homes and many are still waiting to return.

Recently authorities have been struggling to contain leaks of radioactive groundwater.

Mr Abe said the president of Tokyo Electric, Naomi Hirose, had promised to finish treating contaminated water by March 2015

Tanks of contaminated water at the plant

His visit to the plant, 140 miles (240km) north of Tokyo, came after he pledged the government would take a more central role in the clean-up as part of Tokyo's successful bid for the Olympics.

Four reactors were destroyed by meltdowns and hydrogen explosions but reactors 5 and 6 escaped serious damage and Tokyo Electric has been allowed to include them as an asset on its balance sheet.

The company, which has posted more than £16.8bn ($27bn) in net losses since the disaster, is negotiating with a syndicate of Japanese banks for a refinancing of £517m (($816m) due next month.

It is feared the order to scrap the two remaining two reactors will make it even more difficult to reach a deal.

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McCain To Russia: 'Putin Doesn't Respect You'

Vladimir Putin's Letter To America

Updated: 1:25pm UK, Thursday 12 September 2013

By Vladimir Putin, Russian President, for The New York Times

Recent events surrounding Syria have prompted me to speak directly to the American people and their political leaders. It is important to do so at a time of insufficient communication between our societies.

Relations between us have passed through different stages. We stood against each other during the Cold War. But we were also allies once, and defeated the Nazis together. The universal international organisation - the United Nations - was then established to prevent such devastation from ever happening again.

The United Nations' founders understood that decisions affecting war and peace should happen only by consensus, and with America's consent the veto by Security Council permanent members was enshrined in the United Nations Charter. The profound wisdom of this has underpinned the stability of international relations for decades.

No one wants the United Nations to suffer the fate of the League of Nations, which collapsed because it lacked real leverage. This is possible if influential countries bypass the United Nations and take military action without Security Council authorisation.

The potential strike by the United States against Syria, despite strong opposition from many countries and major political and religious leaders, including the Pope, will result in more innocent victims and escalation, potentially spreading the conflict far beyond Syria's borders.

A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism. It could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilise the Middle East and North Africa. It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance.

Syria is not witnessing a battle for democracy, but an armed conflict between government and opposition in a multireligious country. There are few champions of democracy in Syria. But there are more than enough Qaeda fighters and extremists of all stripes battling the government.

The United States State Department has designated Al Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, fighting with the opposition, as terrorist organisations. This internal conflict, fuelled by foreign weapons supplied to the opposition, is one of the bloodiest in the world.

Mercenaries from Arab countries fighting there, and hundreds of militants from Western countries and even Russia, are an issue of our deep concern. Might they not return to our countries with experience acquired in Syria? After all, after fighting in Libya, extremists moved on to Mali. This threatens us all.

From the outset, Russia has advocated peaceful dialogue enabling Syrians to develop a compromise plan for their own future. We are not protecting the Syrian government, but international law. We need to use the United Nations Security Council and believe that preserving law and order in today's complex and turbulent world is one of the few ways to keep international relations from sliding into chaos.

The law is still the law, and we must follow it whether we like it or not. Under current international law, force is permitted only in self-defence or by the decision of the Security Council. Anything else is unacceptable under the United Nations Charter and would constitute an act of aggression.

No one doubts that poison gas was used in Syria. But there is every reason to believe it was used not by the Syrian army, but by opposition forces, to provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patrons, who would be siding with the fundamentalists. Reports that militants are preparing another attack - this time against Israel - cannot be ignored.

It is alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace for the United States. Is it in America's long-term interest? I doubt it. Millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan "you're either with us or against us".

But force has proved ineffective and pointless. Afghanistan is reeling, and no one can say what will happen after international forces withdraw. Libya is divided into tribes and clans. In Iraq the civil war continues, with dozens killed each day. In the United States, many draw an analogy between Iraq and Syria, and ask why their government would want to repeat recent mistakes.

No matter how targeted the strikes or how sophisticated the weapons, civilian casualties are inevitable, including the elderly and children, whom the strikes are meant to protect.

The world reacts by asking: if you cannot count on international law, then you must find other ways to ensure your security. Thus a growing number of countries seek to acquire weapons of mass destruction. This is logical: if you have the bomb, no one will touch you. We are left with talk of the need to strengthen non-proliferation, when in reality this is being eroded.

We must stop using the language of force and return to the path of civilised diplomatic and political settlement.

A new opportunity to avoid military action has emerged in the past few days. The United States, Russia and all members of the international community must take advantage of the Syrian government's willingness to place its chemical arsenal under international control for subsequent destruction.

Judging by the statements of President Obama, the United States sees this as an alternative to military action.

I welcome the president's interest in continuing the dialogue with Russia on Syria. We must work together to keep this hope alive, as we agreed to at the Group of 8 meeting in Lough Erne in Northern Ireland in June, and steer the discussion back toward negotiations.

If we can avoid force against Syria, this will improve the atmosphere in international affairs and strengthen mutual trust. It will be our shared success and open the door to cooperation on other critical issues.

My working and personal relationship with President Obama is marked by growing trust. I appreciate this. I carefully studied his address to the nation on Tuesday. And I would rather disagree with a case he made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States' policy is "what makes America different. It's what makes us exceptional".

It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord's blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.

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Mumbai Gang Rape: Five Men Are Charged

Five men have been charged with the gang rape of a young photographer in Mumbai, in a case that has reignited anger over women's safety in India.

Four of them, who were arrested within days of the attack, appeared at the Esplanade Court in Mumbai.

As well as rape, they were charged with unnatural sex, illegal confinement, destruction of evidence and conspiracy.

Charges were also filed in a juvenile court against a fifth suspect, who was under 18 at the time of the incident on August 22.

The 22-year-old photographer was repeatedly raped while she was on assignment taking pictures in an abandoned mill compound in central Mumbai.

A male colleague accompanying her was also beaten and tied up with a belt while she was assaulted and threatened with a broken beer bottle, police say.

The scene of the attack

Afterwards the victim reported the attack to local police and was admitted to hospital with external and internal injuries. She was discharged several days later.

She was quoted by The Times of India as saying "rape is not the end of life" and that she wanted to return to work.

Her family released a statement saying they were hopeful of the "severest of punishments" for those responsible. Officials have promised swift justice.

The attack sparked outrage in Mumbai, a financial hub which has long been regarded as safer for women than the capital New Delhi, where the fatal gang rape of a young student in December shook the nation.

A protest against the Mumbai gang rape

The 23-year-old, who died of internal injuries, was lured into a private bus by a gang of six men after a trip to the cinema with a male friend, who was beaten up.

Last week, a court convicted four adult suspects in the case and sentenced them to death, which the judge said was to deter other would-be rapists.              

Since news of the Mumbai gang rape emerged, police say a 19-year-old telephone operator has come forward to tell them she was raped in the same mill compound at the end of July, allegedly by three of the same suspects and two others.

In another blow to Mumbai's image, a school bus cleaner was arrested at the weekend on suspicion of raping a four-year-old in the vehicle on the outskirts of the city earlier this month.

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South Africa Crime Stats Hide Rape Problem

By Alex Crawford, Sky News Special Correspondent

South African police have unveiled crime statistics which lobby groups say are the worst in a decade.

The figures showed increases in some of the crimes that most frighten and upset South Africans.

Murder and attempted murder rates were both up – albeit minimally (0.6% and  6.5%) despite a decline over the past nine years – and car-jacking is up alongside residential robberies (2% and 3.6% respectively).

The statistics prompted criticism from Gareth Newman at the Institute of Security Studies (ISS), who said: "This shows that government's approach to crime is not working.

"After a long period of decreases in serious and violent crime, these are the worst figures we have seen in 10 years."

But the police took a different view, saying the statistics showed that police interventions were having the desired results, although there was still a long way to go to rid South Africa of crime.

Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said: "Our journey since apartheid gives us confidence that we will reach a crime-free society.

"However improbable it may sound to the sceptics, success is guaranteed."

Mr Mthethwa also accepted the number of rapes was still too high after a 0.4% decline.

The crime figures were revealed by Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa

But the statistics mask the hidden tragedy of the thousands of women whose ordeal goes uninvestigated and unpunished.

Studies by the Medical Research Council found as few as one in 25 raped women reported the attack to police.

As the latest controversial figures were released, Sky News spoke to a rape victim and her attacker in the country branded the world's rape capital by Interpol.

The rapist - an educated man with a family and a good job – spoke frankly about overpowering the woman he was dating, because he felt it was his right.

Sky's Alex Crawford speaks to a rapist about the attack that saw him jailed

He also admitted to having sex with his wife against her will and "reaching that point" with a number of girlfriends - although he was only investigated and convicted over one incident.

His victim told Sky News she feared for her life during the attack, wondering if after he had raped her, she would then be killed to silence her.

She said: "I was so scared. I was so frightened."

"He twisted my arm and the look in his eyes was so frightening. I kept saying 'no, no, no' but he wouldn't listen."

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Baby Killed By Airport Conveyor Belt

A baby has died after he was trapped in the baggage collection conveyor belt at a Spanish airport following a flight from Gatwick.

The child's American mother flew into Alicante-Elche airport at 11pm on Wednesday with her baby and other young child on an easyJet flight from London, sources at the airport said.

She placed the child inside a baby carrier on a stropped heavy baggage collection belt - which was activated by the weight, setting it in motion.

Her Canadian husband was waiting for the family in the arrivals zone when the incident happened at around 11.30pm.

Guardia Civil is investigating the incident

The family were reportedly in Spain for a holiday in the nearby resort town of Denia on eastern Spain's Costa Blanca.

A Guardia Civil spokesman said: "We are still in the early stages of the investigation and looking at CCTV footage, but it seems that it was an accident.

"The mother left the baby on the conveyor belt, which can be activated by detecting weight or by an airport employee.

"It seems that the baby carrier's weight activated the belt and the child was trapped in the rollers in the drop zone."

Guardia Civil officers on duty at the airport alerted emergency services.

Despite attempts to resuscitate the baby, he was pronounced dead by the airport's on call doctor at the scene.

A post-mortem examination is expected to take place on Thursday or Friday.

More follows...

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