Australia: Police Raid Hells Angels' Lairs

More than 700 Australian police have swooped on Hells Angels clubhouses and properties and seized guns, ammunition, drugs and cash in a crackdown on biker gangs linked to organised crime.

Officers stormed 59 fortified premises across Melbourne, Victoria, on Thursday in an unprecedented move amid an escalating war between the biker outfit and the rival Comanchero gang that has sparked public clashes with firearms.

Sky News Australia's Melbourne reporter Greg Thompson said: "It comes after a pretty intense couple of weeks between rivals.

"There have been a number of drive-by shootings, explosives left at gyms and tattoo parlours."

Speaking from the scene of a raid in Thomastown, he added: "Police say it is a serious situation and that they are doing everything they can to locate these military-style weapons and get them off the streets of Melbourne."

Biker gangs linked to organised crime are a growing problem in Australia

New anti-fortification laws came into effect on Sunday, which allow police to tear down barriers, cameras and booby traps. 

"If they're affiliated with the Hells Angels, they've been targeted," Acting Deputy Commissioner Steve Fontana said, conceding that they had yet to locate their main target - military-style weapons - which reports said were AK-47s or M1 carbines.

But he said officers remained "determined to track them down".

He said the co-ordinated operation involving police helicopters and sniffer dogs, which started at 4am, was the largest on a single motorcycle gang in Victoria state's history.

"This sends a strong warning to other outlaw motorcycle gangs - if you are going to get involved in these violent firearms-related incidents in public places, we are going to come down strong," he added.

There are up to 40 biker gangs known to be operating in Australia

Some 13 people were arrested including Hells Angels sergeant-at-arms Peter "Skitzo" Hewat.

At one property, so much ammunition was recovered that a truck was needed to take it away.

Biker gangs linked to organised crime, particularly drugs, are a growing problem across Australia.

Earlier this year, police launched a series of similar dawn raids across Sydney.

Australia's worst outbreak of biker violence was a 1984 shoot-out between the Bandidos and Comancheros in the car park of a Sydney pub, in which six gang members and a 15-year-old girl died.

Tensions also spilled over in a deadly brawl between the Comancheros and Hells Angels at the city's domestic airport in 2009, with one biker bludgeoned to death in front of horrified passengers.

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Deputy Nuclear Chief Fired Amid Gambling Probe

The deputy commander of US nuclear forces has been fired because of a gambling investigation.

US Navy Vice Admiral Tim Giardina was notified that he had been relieved of duty amid allegations that he used counterfeit chips at an Iowa casino.

He will drop in rank from a three-star to a two-star admiral because of the loss of his command, and will be reassigned pending the outcome of a probe by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

Admiral Giardina, who had held the job since December 2011, had already been suspended from his post on September 3.

He is alleged to have used at least $1,500 (£940) in fake gambling chips while playing poker at the Horseshoe Casino, Iowa state officials have said. He has not been charged.

The Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs is across the Missouri River from Strategic Command headquarters near Omaha, Nebraska.

The move to relieve such a high-ranking official is extremely rare in the history of US Strategic Command, which is responsible for nuclear forces including nuclear-armed submarines, bombers and land-based missiles.

The command also oversees space operations governing military satellites.

Officials have said the admiral is not being investigated for compromising any classified material.

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Libya PM Zeidan Freed After Kidnap At Gunpoint

Libya's Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has appealed for calm after he was freed from a dramatic kidnap at dawn by gunmen at the Tripoli hotel where he is living.

The brazen abduction seemed to be in retaliation for a raid by US special forces in the capital over the weekend that saw a suspected al Qaeda leader seized.

In an appearance on state television, Mr Zeidan said: "I hope this problem will be resolved with reason and wisdom," adding that he hoped there wouldn't be any "escalation."

The gunmen who abducted Mr Zeidan were believed to be militiamen, and it is thought he was freed when members of another militia stormed the site where he was being held.

After he was released, the PM thanked those who helped free him but provided no details and avoided pointing fingers at those behind the abduction.

Mr Zeidan said: "We hope this matter will be treated with wisdom and rationality, far from tension. There are many things that need dealing with."

Haitham al Tajouri, a commander from a militia group called the Reinforcement Force, told Al Ahrar television that his men exchanged fire with the captors.

Ali Zeidan (c) arrives at the government HQ after being freed

A group of former rebels, which had been hired by the government to provide security in the city, said it had "arrested" Mr Zeidan after US Secretary of State John Kerry confirmed Libya's role in the US capture of Libyan Abu Anas al Libi.

The group, known as the Operations Room of Libya's Revolutionaries, said it had seized Mr Zeidan "on the prosecutor's orders" - but the public prosecutor's office said it had issued no such warrant for his arrest.

His abduction reflected the weakness of the government, which is virtually held hostage by powerful militias, many of which are made up of Islamic militants.

The PM was detained at the interior ministry's anti-crime department, said an official. He had been taken from the luxury Corinthia Hotel after being seized by up to 150 armed men who arrived in pick-up trucks.

Witnesses said a large group of them entered the building, some stayed in reception while others headed to the 21st floor where Mr Zeidan was staying.

The gunmen scuffled with the prime minister's guards before they seized him and led him out at around 5.15am (local time), said the witnesses, adding he offered no resistance while he was being led away.

Two years after a revolution toppled Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, the fragile central government has been struggling to contain tribal militias and groups of former rebels who spearheaded the uprising.

Mr Zeidan pictured with Prime Minister David Cameron

But with the regular police forces and army weak and in disarray, the government has had to enlist some militias to act as security forces.

However, they often remain more loyal to their own agendas and commanders than the state, and many have hard-line Islamic ideologies sympathetic to al Qaeda.

Sky's Tim Marshall said: "The prime minister of Libya's jurisdiction runs about to the end of his hotel corridor and then stops because there is no real government, certainly in the sense that we understand it.

"It is a lawless place that is falling apart into different factions, tribes, regions, areas and groups. The fact this man has been detained does not alter the trajectory of Libya's spiral into chaos.

"What is very important about the fact that the PM can be taken from his hotel by armed men is symbolic of how bad things have got."

Al Qaeda suspect Abu Anas al Libi was seized by the US last Saturday

David Cameron's spokesman said on Thursday afternoon the British Prime Minister had spoken to his Libyan counterpart.

"They talked about how the UK would continue to support the Libyan government ..." the spokesman said. "Including support in helping them overcome the security challenges that they face."

He did not say in concrete terms, what that support would involve.

There has been anger among militant groups over the US special forces operation that seized al Libi, whose family met Mr Zeidan hours before the PM's abduction.

Al Libi, who was whisked away to a US warship in the Mediterranean, is suspected of being involved in the twin bombings of US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in 1998.

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Woman Denied Help Gives Birth On Hospital Lawn

A photograph of an indigenous woman in Mexico taken as she gave birth outside a clinic where she was denied help has led to the suspension of the health centre's director.

Irma Lopez and her husband were turned away from the health centre by a nurse who said she was only eight months pregnant and "still not ready" to deliver.

But an hour-and-a-half later, her waters broke, and she gave birth to a son, her third child, on her own, as her husband pleaded with the nurse to call for help.

The 29-year-old said: "I didn't want to deliver like this. It was so ugly and with so much pain."

The photograph of her giving birth, her newborn still bound by the umbilical cord and lying on the ground, emerged in several newspapers, including the front cover of La Razon de Mexico, and was widely circulated on the internet.

It was taken by a witness to her ordeal at the Rural Health Centre in the village of San Felipe Jalapa de Diaz.

Mrs Lopez, who is of Mazatec ethnicity, and her husband had walked an hour to the clinic from the family's one-bedroom hut in the mountains of northern Oaxaca.

She was eventually taken in by the clinic after giving birth and discharged the same day with prescriptions for medicine and products that cost her about £19, she said.

"I am naming him Salvador," said Mrs Lopez, which means saviour in English. "He really saved himself."

Authorities in the southern Mexican state have now suspended the health centre's director, Dr Adrian Cruz, and launched an investigation into the incident, which happened on October 2.

The case has pointed to the persistent discrimination against Mexico's indigenous people, and the shortcomings of its health care system.

Hundreds of women still die during or right after pregnancy.

Mayra Morales, Oaxaca's representative for the national Network for Sexual and Reproductive Rights, said: "The photo is giving visibility to a wider structural problem that occurs within indigenous communities.

"Women are not receiving proper care. They are not being offered quality health services, not even a humane treatment."

Nearly one in five women in the state of Oaxaca gave birth in a place that was not a hospital or a clinic in 2011, according to Mexico's census.

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US Suspends Millions In Aid To Egypt Military

The United States is suspending the handover of hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of aid and support to the Egyptian armed forces.

The US government said it was "recalibrating" its $1.3bn (£0.8bn) annual aid to Egypt, putting on hold the delivery of large military systems and withholding some of its cash assistance.

A spokesman said military aid would be frozen "pending credible progress toward an inclusive, democratically elected civilian government through free and fair elections".

In recent weeks the country has been hit by intensifying violence, which follows the toppling of elected president Mohamed Morsi.

Hundreds have been killed during demonstrations, the vast majority of whom were supporters of Mr Morsi.

The move by the US raises expectations that the Obama administration will describe Mr Morsi's ousting as a coup.

Under US law it is illegal to fund a regime that has taken power as a result of a military coup.

Many have claimed the overthrow of Mr Morsi was a coup because it appeared to have taken place with the support of Egypt's powerful military.

It also involved the removal of a democratically elected leader, and his replacement with a non-elected ruler whose appointment was announced by the military.

Egypt's armed forces have been funded with aid since the Camp David Accord in 1978, which was seen as a crucial move in the promotion of peace in the Middle East.

The amount it receives is second only to the amount received by Israel, which was also a signatory to the accord.

Egypt uses much of its aid to order US-made defence equipment such as Apache attack helicopters and F-16 warplanes.

The spokesman did not say exactly how much of the aid would be suspended, but among the shipments delayed would be one for a number of M1A1 Abrams tanks and Apache helicopters placed on order four years ago.

Egypt will still receive crucial spare parts for certain military equipment, and training for the country's armed forces will continue.

The US will also continue to provide aid that helps "secure Egypt's borders and bolsters counterterrorism and security in the Sinai".

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Taylor To Serve War Crimes Sentence In UK

Former Liberian president Charles Taylor will serve his 50-year war crimes sentence in a UK prison, the Government has confirmed.

Justice Minister Jeremy Wright said Taylor would be transferred to a British jail following his conviction by the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

The ex-warlord was sentenced in May 2012 for aiding rebels who committed atrocities during Sierra Leone's civil war.

He was found guilty of 11 crimes including terrorism, murder, rape and the use of child soldiers by groups fighting in the 1991-2002 conflict.

Judge Richard Lussick said Taylor was responsible for "some of the most heinous crimes in human history".

Taylor brandishing an AK-47 in 1990 on his way to ousting Liberia's leader

The conviction made him the first former head of state to be found guilty of war crimes since World War II.

Taylor has always claimed he is innocent, saying he only made contact with the rebels to urge them to stop fighting.

Sweden and Rwanda were thought to be possible destinations for his to serve his sentence, but Mr Wright confirmed his transfer to the UK in a written statement to Parliament.

He said: "International justice is central to foreign policy.

"It is essential for securing the rights of individuals and states, and for securing peace and reconciliation.

Liberia shares a border with Sierra Leone

"The conviction of Charles Taylor is a landmark moment for international justice.

"It clearly demonstrates that those who commit atrocities will be held to account and that no matter their position they will not enjoy impunity."

More than 50,000 people were killed during Sierra Leone's brutal 11-year civil war.

Thousands more were left mutilated in the conflict that became known for the extreme cruelty of rival rebel groups who hacked off the limbs of their victims and carved their initials into their opponents' flesh.

Taylor helped plan attacks in return for "blood diamonds" mined by slave labourers in Sierra Leone and political influence in the volatile West African region.

Naomi Campbell gave evidence at Taylor's war crimes trial

He was convicted not only of aiding and abetting Sierra Leone rebels from Liberia, but also for actually planning some of the attacks carried out by rebel groups such as the Revolutionary United Front and the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council.

Supermodel Naomi Campbell and actress Mia Farrow gave evidence at the trial about Taylor apparently giving Ms Campbell blood diamonds in 1997 after a dinner in South Africa hosted by Nelson Mandela.

It is not the first time Britain has hosted a foreign war criminal - four men convicted of war crimes in the former Yugoslavia served time in British jails.

The men spent time in high-security prisons, with one former Bosnian Serb general stabbed at Wakefield prison apparently in retaliation for the massacre of Muslims in the UN safe haven of Srebrenica in 1995.

The former president of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic, would have stayed in a British jail on his conviction, but died in 2006 while he was on trial in The Hague.

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Libyans 'Unsurprised' By PM's Abduction

In the wake of the kidnapping of Prime Minister Ali Zeidan from the Corinthia hotel in Tripoli, a group of Libyan men amassed outside the building.

Wearing casual clothes, they wielded Kalashnikovs and shouted at drivers as they assisted the hotel's normal security team.

Extra security provided by the army or official militias funded by the government was absent.

The Corinthia is a location widely considered to be one of the safest in the capital and is used by EU and IMF missions when they are in Libya.

On Thursday morning though it was a scene of chaos, with long queues at the reception desk as Western businessmen attempted to check out.

'We've been told to leave, that's all I know,' said one British guest as he stood in line with his luggage.

In the streets people seem resigned and unsurprised by the abduction, and seem to see it as a logical step in the deteriorating security situation. Many are getting on with their day-to-day business.

"There's no real police or security. What do you expect?" said Abdul Rahebi, who runs a cafe near the Corinthia Hotel.

"This wouldn't have happened under Gaddafi," said one of his customers, sparking laughter amongst those queuing for coffee.

PM Ali Zeidan (C) arrives at the government HQ after being freed

Although people do not miss the authoritarian regime of Gaddafi there is a certain sense of nostalgia now about the days before the revolution.

"At least you knew who you knew who was abducting people back then," said Seraj Mohamed Essa, who works in a nearby hotel.

Over the last six months it seems like support for Mr Zeidan has waned on an almost daily basis.

During his term as prime minister, he has failed to create a functioning security force, made no progress on creating a constitution and struggled to regain control over oil fields in the east.

Carjackings, assassinations and bombings are increasingly frequent and handguns are sold at market stalls next to cages of canaries in a market just 10 minutes walk from the Corinthia Hotel.

As the security situation has worsened the already limited grip of the government has weakened leaving a vacuum that has quickly been filled by numerous ideological militias.

Former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi

These include the federalists in the east who have become increasingly powerful and taken over essential oil infrastructure costing crippling production and costing the government more than £3.1bn in lost revenue.

The other main group that has benefited from the weakening government is Libya's militant Islamist groups who have surged in popularity by offering services that the government cannot, caring for the poor, protecting hospitals and collecting rubbish.

These extremist Islamic groups in Libya have been vocal in their criticism of the secretive US operation to abduct Anas al Libi, with many blaming Libya's weak government, which has struggled to minimise the destabilising effect of the raid.

One of the groups that has been most critical is Ansar al Sharia, a militant group that flies the same flag as al Qaeda and has been connected to the 2011 raid on the US diplomatic compound that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens.

It has staged two days of protests expressing anger over the US operation.

"Ansar al Sharia don't represent the masses but many people feel that the Libyan government has failed us by allowing American agents to secretly work in our country," said Seraj Mohamed Essa.

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US Shutdown: Man Mows Lincoln Memorial Lawn

Amid a political stand-off that has shut down the government, a man has grabbed the nation's attention after he was spotted mowing the lawn of the Lincoln Memorial.

The shutdown has affected National Park services, with thousands of workers on unpaid leave.

So Chris Cox, from South Carolina, has taken it upon himself to do some of the work.

US media reports said Mr Cox was pushing a lawnmower and toting a chainsaw on the north side of the monument.

He had been tidying up around the memorial and the Reflecting Pool - until police asked him to leave.

"I figured out that I could play a valuable role as a janitor, if you will," Mr Cox, a 45-year-old chainsaw sculptor, told the Washington Post.

National parks and monuments are closed

"So I started cleaning up the overflowing trash cans. I bought a blower and I've been blowing all of the trails, and today I cut the grass out here.

"I'm not here to point fingers. I only want to inspire people to come out and make a difference."

Meanwhile at the White House, Barack Obama is preparing to hold talks later today with Congress leaders to seek an opening in the stalemate that has caused the shutdown and is now threatening to bring about a federal default.

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said a default could cause "irrevocable damage".

In testimony before the Senate Finance Committee, Mr Lew said: "If Congress fails to meet its responsibility, it could be deeply damaging to the financial markets, the ongoing economic recovery, and the jobs and savings of millions of Americans."

The White House talks come as Republicans are considering advancing a short-term increase to the debt ceiling to avert a default. But it is not clear if they would attach any conditions to the bill.

Hardliners within the GOP have consistently pushed Speaker John Boehner to add conditions beyond what Mr Obama says he will accept.

The president has warned of potentially "catastrophic" consequences if the US breaches its limit, which is projected by the US Treasury to occur after October 17.

But he said he will not negotiate until Congress agrees to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling.

President Barack Obama has said he felt "exasperated"

"The president remains willing to negotiate over the future direction of fiscal policy, but he will not negotiate over whether the United States should pay its bills," Mr Lew told the committee.

The shutdown came amid an effort by the Republicans to derail or delay Mr Obama's healthcare reform, known as Obamacare.

It has idled some 800,000 "non-essential" federal workers and is testing the patience of Americans.

The Pentagon has struck a deal with a charity group which will restore death benefits to the families of soldiers killed in action.

Leaving grieving military families without the death benefit during the shutdown had triggered outrage.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said: "I am offended, outraged, and embarrassed that the government shutdown had prevented the Department of Defense from fulfilling this most sacred responsibility in a timely manner."

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Israel's Warning To UK On Relations With Iran

By Sam Kiley, Middle East Correspondent

Israel's Prime Minister has attempted to pour cold water on warming relations between Britain and Iran, imploring that diplomatic relations should not be re-established unless Iran entirely dismantles its "nuclear weapons programme" and stops calling for the "annihilation of the state of Israel".

In an exclusive interview with Sky News in his Jerusalem offices, Benjamin Netanyahu continued his now well-established campaign to counter-attack Iran's recent "charm offensive" in Washington and the United Nations in New York.

Western diplomatic sources said that they have grounds to believe that the new Iranian president Hassan Rouhani may be "genuinely interested in joining the community of nations and conceding on its weapons programme" in order to end crippling international economic sanctions.

Mr Netanyahu said that the West could be suckered by Mr Rouhani's moves.

"It could be duped and shouldn't be duped. It's got sufficient examples of warnings not to be duped ... Churchill said don't let the Nazis arm themselves. Do not let an implacable radical regime have awesome power. And he was right.

"And there is a lesson to be learned here - don't let a regime with unlimited ambitions and aggression, Iran,  that is participating in the mass murder of Assad ... propping Assad up right now against thousands and tens of thousands of men women and children, by practising terrorism across five continents," the Prime Minister of the Jewish State said.

He observed that a "good deal" that ended sanctions would be one that says to Iran 'do what Syria is doing now'.

That is, if Assad came and said 'please relax the pressure remove the military option against me and I will give you 20% of my chemical weapons' -  people would laugh him out of court.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani

He said: "Effectively that is what Iran is proposing. It is proposing that it gets rid of some of our military nuclear capability but we leave really the bulk of what we need to rush forward and make enough enriched uranium to make a bomb and you remove the sanctions ..."

Israel has worked hard to build an international coalition against Iran.

It has alternatively threatened to attack Iran's alleged nuclear weapons programme unilaterally - and agreed to let Washington take the lead on making implied military threats.

But the phone call between Mr Rouhani and US President Barack Obama at the end of the Iranian president's visit to the East Coast of the US, has rattled the Israeli leadership across the political spectrum.

Most would agree with Mr Netanyahu that "you've got a situation now where Iran is on the ropes - they're on the ropes, the economy is about to collapse".

"But … (they are) very close to threshold status to produce enough fissile material for the core of atomic bombs - that's the hard part of making an atomic bomb," he said.

"Now you have got them they're in the 12th round of a boxing match and they're on the ropes and instead of growling they're smiling. And you're supposed to let them rise from the ropes and continue?"

Israel's main fear is a temporary deal between Iran and the international community, which would already have the backing of Russia and China, two of the five permanent members of the UN security council, to trade a partial lifting of economic sanctions for partial concessions on developing weapons grade uranium.

But wasn't Mr Netanyahu risking appearing both petulant and belligerent by taking a hard line on Iran, out of step with the rest of the world?

The Israeli Prime Minister replied: "No I was accused (of being) petulant and belligerent at the time of the Arab spring two or three years ago. And I said 'it's not quite what you think - it may herald an Islamist tide that will sweep away all the hopes for democracy'.

"Most people think I was right about that."

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Republicans Make Offer To Extend Debt Ceiling

House Republicans will propose a temporary extension of the US debt ceiling if President Obama agrees to negotiations over budget issues including "Obamacare".

House of Representatives leader John Boehner will offer a six-week extension to the debt ceiling to Mr Obama during a meeting at the White House later on Thursday.

Mr Obama has previously refused to negotiate over budget issues until Congress ended the now 10-day government shutdown and prevented the threat of a first-ever government default.

During a news conference, Mr Boehner said the proposed extension to the debt ceiling was conditional on budget discussions.

National parks and monuments have been closed during the 10-day shutdown

He said: "It's time for leadership. It's time for these negotiations and this conversation to begin.

"What we want to do is to offer the president today the ability to move a temporary increase in the debt ceiling in agreement to go to conference on the budget."

The proposal would allow the US government to borrow money until November 22 - potentially averting an unprecedented federal default that could occur as early as October 17.

The Treasury Department has said it would be unable to pay all of its bills if the $16.7 trillion debt ceiling is not raised before next Thursday.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde warned on Thursday that US failure to raise its debt ceiling would do serious damage to the global economy.

The shutdown began after Congress failed to pass a bill to temporarily fund the federal government, resulting in hundreds of thousands of federal employees stopping work.

The measure is normally routine, but has become entangled in Republican demands for delays or amendments to President Obama's health care overhaul and reduced government spending.

More follows...

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