Rouhani: 'No One Should Have Nuclear Arms'

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has said that "no nation should possess nuclear weapons", ahead of high-level talks with the US.

At a UN General Assembly meeting on nuclear disarmament, Dr Rouhani also called on Israel to join the Non-Proliferation Treaty and put its widely suspected nuclear arms under international control.

Dr Rouhani said: "As long as nuclear weapons exist, the risk of their use, threat of use and proliferation persist. The only absolute guarantee is their total elimination."

Iran is accused by Western countries of seeking an atomic bomb.

Israel, which is widely believed to have nuclear weapons but has never acknowledged its programme, has not signed the treaty, unlike Iran.

Dr Rouhani said: "Almost four decades of international efforts to establish a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East have regrettably failed.

"Israel, the only non-party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty in this region, should join thereto without any further delay."

The Iranian leader, who generally does not refer to Israel by name, was speaking in his role as head of the Non-Aligned Movement.

Dr Rouhani, a self-described moderate in the clerical regime who swept to power in June, has urged a quick resolution of a standoff with Western powers over Iran's contested nuclear programme.

Earlier, he told the Washington Post that he was keen to reach an agreement over the country's nuclear progamme within three months.

He told the newspaper: "If it's three months that would be Iran's choice, if it's six months that's still good. It's a question of months, not years."

Dr Rouhani is due to attend talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry later - the first high-level contact between Washington and Tehran in six years.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spearheaded criticism of Dr Rouhani, calling him a "wolf in sheep's clothing" and urging no let-up in pressure on Iran.

Mr Netanyahu has charged that Iran, which says its nuclear work is for peaceful purposes, is seeking a nuclear weapon and has not ruled out an Israeli military strike.

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France: Mother Admits Missing Girl Is Dead

A French mother who issued a tearful appeal for her missing five-year-old daughter has admitted the girl is dead.

Cecile Bourgeon, 25, initially told investigators in May that she had fallen asleep in a park in Clermont-Ferrand in central France when Fiona vanished.

Police took Bourgeon and her partner, Berkane Maklouf, in for questioning on Tuesday in the southern city of Perpignan, where they now live.

Bourgeon (centre) is taken in for questioning

Her lawyer, Gilles-Jean Portejoie, said Bourgeon has now told police her daughter is dead and her body has been buried close to Clermont-Ferrand.

Fiona had "died accidentally following punches that were not delivered by (her mother) personally", the lawyer said, adding that his client is expected to be questioned further.

Three people close to the couple have also been held for questioning at Clermont-Ferrand.

Mr Portejoie talks to the press outside the Perpignan police station

Bourgeon was six months pregnant when she reported Fiona missing.

She said the girl had been playing with her two-year-old sister when she vanished.

After Bourgeon launched the emotional appeal, support groups were set up on Facebook and marches organised.

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India: Militants Attack Police And Army Bases

By Neville Lazarus, Sky News Asia Producer

India's prime minister has condemned a "heinous terrorist attack" on a police station and nearby army base in which nine people were reportedly killed.

Militants dressed in army uniform stormed a police station in the Samba region of Jammu, where they shot dead six people and hijacked a truck.

They then drove to a nearby army base where they killed the truck driver and began shooting at soldiers inside the camp, two of whom are thought to have died.

The attack triggered calls for planned talks between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Nawz Sharif to be cancelled.

However, Mr Singh suggested the meeting would go ahead as planned.

"This is one more in a series of provocations and barbaric actions by the enemies of the peace," he said.

The attack happened in India's northwestern Jammu district

"We are firmly resolved to combat and defeat the terrorist menace that continues to receive encouragement and reinforcement from across the border.

"Such attacks will not deter us and will not succeed in derailing our efforts to find a resolution to all problems through a process of dialogue."

Mr Singh had been under pressure not to agree to talks while attacks near the India-Pakistan border continue.

India has accused Pakistan of 120 ceasefire violations since the start of the year.

Pakistan denies arming or training militants but says it offers moral support to Kashmir's Muslim population, which it claims faces human rights abuses at the hands of Indian forces.

There has been no meaningful dialogue between India and Pakistan since the Mumbai attacks in 2008 in which 166 people were killed.

The Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba was behind the attack on the landmark Taj Mahal Hotel and other targets.

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Germany: 'Forest Boy' Escapes Jail Sentence

A mysterious youth who turned up in Berlin in 2011 claiming to have lived in woodland for years has avoided prison.

Instead Robin van Helsum, 21, has been sentenced by Berlin's juvenile district court to 150 hours of community service and ordered to undergo therapy.

In a tale that captured the world's imagination, he appeared at Berlin city hall in September two years ago saying that his first name was Ray and that he had lived in woods with his father for five years.

Speaking English and only a few words of German, 'Ray' claimed his father had died suddenly and that, after burying him in the woods, he walked north for five days to the German capital.

He gave his age as 17 - two years less than he really was.

Police never found a body and after a month-long investigation and an international appeal for information, the teenager, dubbed "forest boy", was identified by a former girlfriend.

It turned out he was a young Dutchman from the city of Hengelo who had left home without a word to his family.

Van Helsum faced charges of defrauding the German social welfare system for telling authorities he was a minor.

That lie entitled him to thousands of euros' worth of youth benefits over several months in an institution for assisted living where he was assigned a legal guardian.

Although the court decided against a jail term, it warned Van Helsum he could face a claim for the benefits he had received.

"The abatement of action was agreed with the consent of public prosecutors," the court said in a statement.

"However, it does not rule out any claims for restitution by juvenile services against the accused."

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Kenya Attack: 'Killers Sat With Fizzy Drinks'

A butcher who survived the terrorist attack on Nairobi's Westgate mall by hiding behind his counter has described how gunmen sat sipping fizzy drinks before continuing their deadly rampage.

Fred Bosire's tale of survival came as the Foreign Office revised down the number of British nationals who died in the Kenyan capital from six to five.

It also emerged that Interpol has issued an arrest warrant for British woman Samantha Lewthwaite following the attacks.

As a new picture was released showing two of the attackers walking through the shopping centre, Mr Bosire described catching a glimpse of five of the terrorists as they took a break from their murderous campaign.

The 35-year-old, who works in the Nakumatt supermarket, said: "I heard them open what I knew to be the soda fridge when I heard that spurt of gas that's released when you pry open a soda can or bottle.

Two further explosions have been heard at the shopping centre in Nairobi

"I could see their feet dangling from the deep freezers when they sat down for what I took to be a break from the killing.

"There were five pairs of feet. Their hems and shoes were covered in blood."

Mr Bosire said the attackers were soon stalking the supermarket once more, shouting to survivors: "If you're still alive, we'll let you go."

"I heard some ladies call out," he said.

"I wish they hadn't. I wish they'd held on, because I heard them get shot in cold blood."

Kenyan troops continue to patrol the area around the shopping mall

Mr Bosire said that during the early stage of the siege, shoppers were "still walking around, pushing their shopping carts slowly, trying to figure out what was going on".

"I didn't think we were the targets but then I heard the shooters speak," he said.

"It was hard to make out what they were saying at first because they spoke in a mix of English, Kiswahili and what I think was Arabic. But I knew we were in trouble."

Mr Bosire heard the gunmen shouting: "You have invaded our country, you have raped our women and killed our elderly. It is time we got some retribution."

He remembered hearing the "squishy sound of meat" and how he thought the bullets had struck the meat on his counter.

It was only later he realised he had been shot through his leg.

Miraculous tales of survival have emerged since the attack

He also recalled an emotional phone call with his wife as he waited for his ordeal to end, during which he asked her to not to tell their son about his death until after the youngster's primary school exams in October.

"I told her not to call me again because I was dying," he said.

Mr Bosire spent hours lying on the supermarket floor, drifting in and out of consciousness as the terrorists moved around the building, killing 67 people.

Eventually, he spotted army boots and heard a soldier saying he had "never seen so many bodies".

"He shook my leg to see if I was still alive," he said.

Troops helped rescue hostages and those trapped inside the mall

"I tried to call out but all that came out was a guttural sound. But it was enough."

Other survivors caught up in the atrocity continue to describe the terror they endured as they waited to be freed.

Radio presenter Sneha Kothari Mashru described how she smeared herself with a victim's blood to trick the attackers into thinking she was dead.

Another survivor, Rafia Khan, said she taught the Muslim practice of the shahada to nine others as they hid together in a ceiling in a desperate attempt to save their lives.

"If (the gunmen) ever got to us, we were going to say, 'No, no, we know the shahada'," she said.

Al Shabaab, the Somali militant group which claimed responsibility for the attack, recently confirmed witness accounts that those able to prove they were Muslim were allowed to leave the mall.

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Costa Concordia: Divers Find Human Remains

Divers have found human remains in the sea where the Costa Concordia cruise liner sank last year off the Italian island of Giglio.

The huge ship was carrying more than 4,000 holidaymakers and crew when it capsized after striking rocks, killing 32 people, including two whose bodies were not recovered.

The remains were "absolutely consistent" with the two missing people, an Indian man and an Italian woman, said Franco Gabrielli, the head of the government agency overseeing the vessel's salvage.

However, their identities can only be definitively confirmed only after DNA testing, he added.

Schettino is on trial for alleged manslaughter

Relatives of the two victims have been notified of the discovery, Mr Gabrielli said.

Recovering the submerged bodies after 20 months under the weight of the 114,500-ton vessel was "almost a miracle," he added.

The side of the ship where the remains were found is badly smashed in after lying submerged since it capsized in January 2012.

Specialised police divers would remove the remains, which will be examined by forensic experts on the mainland in Tuscany.

DNA testing could take a few days, authorities said.

Experts also plan to go inside the ship to retrieve some of the Concordia's computers, so they can try to determine why backup generators and other equipment failed to work immediately after the collision.

The Costa Concordia was hauled upright last week in a complicated 19-hour salvage operation.

The ship is due to be towed away from the Mediterranean holiday island, probably by next spring, and eventually broken up for scrap.

The Concordia's captain, Francesco Schettino, is on trial for alleged manslaughter, causing the shipwreck and abandoning ship during a confused and delayed evacuation. 

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Brits To Face Russia Court Over Oil Rig Protest

By Katie Stallard, Russia Correspondent

Six British citizens are among 30 Greenpeace activists expected to appear in court in Russia later facing allegations of piracy.

Six Greenpeace activists and a photographer have already been remanded in custody for two months after being formally arrested.

They will be held in a pre-trial detention centre while investigations continue.

Simultaneous hearings were held in multiple rooms of Murmansk's tiny district courthouse in the Arctic port city in an attempt to process all 30 cases.

The activists were led into the dock in handcuffs in the same clothes they were wearing when they were taken from their ship.

Activist Paul Ruzycki inside a defendants' box

Several made statements pleading that they had children and asking to stay in the city until and during any trial, but bail was repeatedly refused.

Their ship, the Arctic Sunrise, was boarded on September 19 by an armed task force of Russia's FSB border control.

Masked men rappelled onto the vessel from a helicopter, reportedly corralling the activists into the mess hall at gunpoint.

When the captain refused to steer the ship, it was taken under tow by a Russian coastguard ship to the port of Murmansk, home of Russia's northern fleet.

Four activists had attempted to scale the Russian oil rig, Prirazlomnoye, in the Barents Sea 24 hours earlier using climbing ropes thrown from high-speed inflatables, but were forced to abandon their ascent after security forces fired a series of warning shots and brandished knives.

Photographs have emerged showing a man in a balaclavas pointing a gun at an unarmed activist with his hands up, another shows an officer clearly holding a knife.

Video footage released by Russia's Investigative Committee shows gunshots being fired into the water close to the protesters' craft, and the climbers' safety ropes being pulled despite audible shouts from those above that they are coming down.

Russian coastguard point weapons at the activists

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that the activists were clearly not pirates, but defended their detention, stating that they had violated international law and endangered people's lives.

Greenpeace insists the protest was entirely peaceful, and that the only danger is from Russia's plans for arctic oil exploration.

They maintain their ship was in international waters at the time and there were no legal grounds to board it.

Greenpeace International executive director Kumi Naidoo said: "The Russian authorities are trying to scare people who stand up to the oil industry in the Arctic, but this blatant intimidation will not succeed.

"We are resolute in our commitment to protecting the Arctic environment and the world's climate.

"We call on people in Russia and around the world to stand with our activists and defend their right to peaceful protest."

The Arctic Sunrise sails under the Dutch flag

Greenpeace UK executive director John Sauven added: "We are deeply concerned by the decision of the judge to refuse bail ... Greenpeace and its supporters in the UK will work together to support the activists and their families at this time."

A spokesperson for the British Embassy in Moscow told Sky News that consular staff were in Murmansk providing assistance.

The 30 detained activists are from 18 countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, New Zealand, Russia, the US and the UK.

The Arctic Sunrise sails under the Dutch flag.

Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans has reportedly spoken to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov about the incident on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York and The Netherlands has called for Russia to release the ship and its crew immediately.

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Kenya: Samantha Lewthwaite Hunted By Interpol

Interpol has issued an arrest notice for British terror suspect Samantha Lewthwaite at the request of Kenya.

The agency issued a Red Notice, or internationally wanted persons alert, following the massacre at a shopping mall in Nairobi.

Muslim convert Lewthwaite, 29, is wanted by Kenya on charges of being in possession of explosives and conspiracy to commit a crime dating back to December 2011.

She has been dubbed the 'white widow' because she was married to 7/7 London suicide bomber Jermaine Lindsay.

Samantha Lewthwaite may have lived in South Africa

Circulated to all 190 Interpol member countries, the Red Notice represents one of the agency's most powerful tools in tracking international fugitives.

"By requesting an Interpol Red Notice, Kenya has activated a global 'tripwire' for this fugitive," said Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble.

"Through the Interpol Red Notice, Kenyan authorities have ensured that all 190 member countries are aware of the danger posed by this woman, not just across the region but also worldwide," he added.

Sky's foreign affairs editor Tim Marshall said that the arrest notice actually made "very little difference indeed" in the search for Lewthwaite.

"There is nothing to suggest that she was in the shopping complex - she might have been - but there is nothing to suggest she was," Marshall said.

Samantha Lewthwaite's fake passport

"She is wanted for fundraising and now that Kenya has made the request to Interpol it is normal form that they will issue the red notice."

There has been intense speculation linking Lewthwaite to the Nairobi shopping mall attack by Islamist militants from the al Qaida-linked al Shabab group.

The Kenya authorities have said forensic experts are working to establish if any of the attackers was female after receiving reports that a British woman was involved.

Lewthwaite is also known as 'Natalie Webb'

Lewthwaite - who uses the alias "Natalie Webb" - had previously only been wanted at national level for the  possession of a fake South African passport.

Mr Noble said her case highlighted the "invisible threat"' posed by terrorists and criminals travelling internationally using illicit passports.

"Every year hundreds of millions of individuals are boarding international transport and crossing borders without having the authenticity of their travel or identity document checked," he said.

"This dramatically compromises our ability to effectively screen and identify at airports and land crossings those individuals who could be suspected criminals and terrorists."

Earlier it was reported that Lewthwaite used her South African identity - Natalie Faye Webb - to take out bank loans and rent property in Johannesburg.

She rented at least three properties and ran up debts of £5,600, according to the eNews Channel Africa (eNCA).

Although she signed rental leases it was unclear whether she lived at any of the premises.

According to credit records released by eNCA, she was listed as living in the city's predominantly South Asian neighbourhood of Mayfair for four years.

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Kenya Attack: Briton Held At Nairobi Airport

Kenyan police are questioning a British passport holder stopped at Nairobi airport over the mall massacre, Sky News understands.

The man is being questioned after he aroused suspicions at the Kenyan airport because of facial bruising.

His passport shows he was born in Somalia and Sky News understands he received UK citizenship two years ago.

The suspect (pictured) is being questioned over the mall attack

Although he has a base in east London, he has spent time in his country of birth recently and told Kenyan police he got his bruises from fighting in Somalia.

The Kenyans believe he has links with al Shabaab and he has a lot of questions to answer.

They want to know what he was doing in Somalia and whether he knew the mall attackers.

They also want to know whether he has any knowledge of the other 200 Britons who've returned to the UK over the past few years after time inside Somalia with al Shabaab.

The British High Commission in Kenya confirmed they were offering the suspect consular assistance and did not believe he was a significant character in the investigation.

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Pakistan Villagers Flock To Earthquake Island

Dozens of Pakistani villagers have sailed across to a new island that rose from the sea following Tuesday's earthquake.

The land mass, 5km off the coast, is around the length of a football field and the width of a tennis court, according to geologists.

Dead fish were reportedly found floating in the water nearby, and people have been warned to stay away - but many villagers made the voyage regardless and took home stones as souvenirs.

Scientists who visited the island on Wednesday to collect samples said the rocks were emitting methane gas.

Villagers arrive by boats to visit the island (pic, Reuters)

A team of Frontier Corp solders also went to the island and erected a Pakistani flag.

Muhammed Arshad, a hydrographer with the navy, said similar islands appeared after earthquakes of 1999 and 2010, but disappeared in the rainy season.

The rock formations are brought to the surface by gases locked beneath the seabed, which heat and expand during seismic activity.

People survey the newly-formed island (pic, Reuters)

The large earthquake struck a remote mountainous part of Pakistan on Tuesday, around 60 miles (100km) southwest of the city of Khuzdar in Balochistan province.

The quake centred on the Awaran district – one of the poorest areas in the country – and flattened hundreds of homes.

Officials have said 327 people were killed but reports say the figure could be a lot higher.

Children walk through the rubble of a destroyed mud hut (Pic, Reuters)

The Baluchistan provincial government said at least 552 people were injured in the quake.

The tremor was felt as far away as the Indian capital of New Delhi, hundreds of miles to the east, where buildings shook.

In 2005, a 7.6 magnitude quake in Kashmir, in north-eastern Pakistan, killed at least 73,000 people and left several million homeless in one of the worst natural disasters to hit the country.

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