Sofa Bed 'Suffocates' Three-Year-Old Girl

A New York man has been charged over the death of a three-year-old girl who apparently suffocated after she became trapped inside his sofa bed, officers said.

Mohamed Barry, 50, was arrested for allegedly failing to supervise Aissante Diallo, the daughter of his live-in girlfriend.

He is accused of endangering the welfare of a child in connection with the youngster's death.

Barry told police he had briefly gone out on Sunday evening, reportedly for about 10 minutes, leaving Aissante and two older siblings, aged five and 10, in his Harlem apartment.

Officers found the three-year-old girl unconscious, and she was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

The three children were playing on the sofa bed when one of the folds came down, trapping the little girl inside, CBS reported, citing sources.

Investigators were awaiting confirmation of the cause of death from the medical examiner, the network added.

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Kenya Siege: British Woman 'Among Attackers'

A British woman and "two or three Americans" are said to be among the militants who took part in an attack on a shopping centre in Nairobi.

Kenyan Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed confirmed al Shabaab fighters were responsible for the attack at the Westgate building.

In an interview with the American PBS Newshour programme, Ms Mohamed said: "Both the victims and the perpetrators ... came from Kenya, the United Kingdom and the United States.

"From the information that we have, (there are) two or three Americans, and I think so far I have heard of one Brit."

Asked about the British woman, Ms Mohamed added: "A woman, and I think she has done this many times before."

Her comments have been dismissed by an al Shabaab spokesman who said: "Those who describe the attackers as Americans and British are people who do not know what is going on."

Ms Lewthwaite is known to be in East Africa

Ms Mohamed's remarks have, however, fuelled speculation that British terror suspect Samantha Lewthwaite, who was married to the July 7 bomber Jermaine Lindsay, was involved.

Ms Lewthwaite, dubbed the "White Widow", is known to be in East Africa and is wanted by Kenyan police over alleged links to a terrorist cell that planned to bomb the country's coast.

In March last year officials said Ms Lewthwaite, from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, had fled to Somalia and that officers were hunting a woman who used several identities, including hers.

On Monday night, Ms Lewthwaite's grandmother, Elizabeth Allen, 86, of County Down, was said by a friend to be "deeply distressed" by suggestions her granddaughter had been involved in the attack.

Councillor Raj Khan, whose family knew Ms Lewthwaite's family socially in Aylesbury, said he was surprised at speculation she was involved in the attack. He called her an "average, British, young, ordinary girl".

Ms Lewthwaite has gained "semi-mythical status" since travelling to East Africa, according to terrorism expert Raffaello Pantucci, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute.

Mr Pantucci said: "I don't think we've had any concrete evidence of her being involved in this incident, but the fact of her being mentioned in this context is not surprising because of her connections, and it is known that she is somewhere in East Africa."

Kenya's Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed spoke to the PBS Newshour programme

However, Professor David Anderson, an expert in African terrorism at the University of Warwick, said Ms Mohamed's remarks must be taken with a "pinch of salt".

He said: "It would be very unusual if a female, and a British female at that, was involved in an al Shabaab operation."

Britain's Foreign Office would not confirm claims about the involvement of a British woman, while US officials said there was no evidence of the nationalities or identities of the attackers.

Speaking in Pakistan, Home Secretary Theresa May told the BBC she would not be commenting on reports that a British woman was involved.

According to The Times, FBI sources are investigating claims that the terrorists were recruited in a Somali community known as "Little Mogadishu" in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Somalia's al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which began on Saturday and has left at least 62 people dead.

Kenyan security forces claim they have taken control of the shopping centre after a final assault on the militants, but heavy gunfire can still be heard coming from the complex.

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Greenpeace Activists Face Piracy Charges

Russia has filed piracy charges against Greenpeace activists who tried to climb onto an offshore drilling platform.

The protesters are on a Greenpeace ship, the Arctic Sunrise, which was seized last week by the Russian coastguard and towed into a port near Murmansk on Tuesday.

It was unclear how many of the 30 activists on board face piracy charges, which carry a potential prison sentence of up to 15 years and a fine of 500,000 rubles (£9,800).

The Investigative Committee, Russia's federal investigative agency, said it would question all those who participated in the protest and detain the "more active" among them.

Arctic Sunrise, Greenpeace's ship

Two activists tried to climb onto the Prirazlomnaya platform in the Arctic on Thursday and others assisted from small inflatable boats. The platform is owned by state-controlled gas firm Gazprom.

The Greenpeace protest was aimed at calling attention to the environmental risks of drilling for oil in Arctic waters.

Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said: "When a foreign vessel full of electronic technical equipment of unknown purpose and a group of people calling themselves members of an environmental rights organisation try nothing less than to take a drilling platform by storm, logical doubts arise about their intentions.

"Such activities not only infringe on the sovereignty of a state, but might pose a threat to the environmental security of the whole region."

Greenpeace insists that Russia had no right under international law to board its ship.

One activist claims coastguard officers hit and kicked some activists when they stormed the vessel.

The Arctic Sunrise was anchored on Tuesday in a small bay near Severomorsk, the home port of Russia's Northern Fleet, 15 miles north of Murmansk.

Greenpeace said the 30 activists were from 18 countries.

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Kenya Siege: Heavy Gunfire Heard Inside Mall

Heavy bursts of gunfire have been heard from inside a Nairobi shopping centre as Kenyan soldiers fight with terrorists to rescue hostages.

At least 10 hostages remain inside the mall on the fourth day of the siege in which 62 people have been killed, including six Britons - among them an eight-year-old girl.

Medics who have been inside the complex warned that the numbers of dead are significantly greater than have been confirmed, and the city morgue is preparing for the arrival of a large number of bodies.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to make an announcement to the nation later, a spokesman said.

It was not clear whether he would announce an end to the operation.

Victims: Ross Langdon, Eliv Yavus and eight-year-old Jenah Bawa

In a new Twitter feed claiming to be run by Somalia's al Qaeda-linked rebel group, al Shabaab, a post said that "the mujahideen are still holding their ground".

It warned "there are countless number of dead bodies still scattered inside the mall" and said it was "far greater than how the Kenyans perceive it".

Another post said that they were still holding hostages who were "still alive looking quite disconcerted but, nevertheless, alive".

In an audio broadcast on a pro-militant website, the al Shabaab spokesman Ali Mohamoud Rage threatened that unless Kenya pulled its troops out of Somalia it could expect further terror attacks.

Bullet holes around a window of the Westgate mall

The Kenyan police responded with a Twitter message in which it told people to ignore enemy propaganda and said: "Troops now in mop up operations in the building. More to follow. Be calm."

They also said that they had been defusing bombs set up by the militants inside the mall, as part of the building's roof has now collapsed.

The army has confirmed that three soldiers have been killed in the fighting.

The Kenyan government insisted early on Tuesday that it was "in control" of the mall and that all hostages trapped by the attackers had been evacuated.

Kenyan forces at the shopping centre early on Tuesday

Government spokesman Manoah Esipisu said: "Our special forces are inside the building checking the rooms. Obviously it's a very, very big building.

"We think that everyone, the hostages, have been evacuated but we don't want to take any chances. The special forces are doing their job and yes, I think we are near the end."

Sky News Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay said: "The government has said it's all over … but that seems to conflict with what we are hearing both from the military sources here - one of them told me that there were at least maybe two gunmen still holed up - and indeed al Shabaab itself."

Bodies arrive at the city morgue

He said that he had spoken to a medic who had been inside the building and they had said the numbers of dead were "huge" and warned that the official figures would rise.

The developments came as Kenya's Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed said that a British woman and two or three Americans were among those who had attacked the centre.

Her comments have led to increasing speculation that the Briton could be the 29-year-old widow of the 7/7 bomber Jermaine Lindsay, Samantha Lewthwaite.

However, a leading terrorism expert has said her involvement is unlikely and al Shabaab has denied the claim that Britons and Americans are involved.

The extremists also appeared to verify a picture that has been circulating on the internet claiming to be taken from the shopping centre CCTV and showing the gunmen.

Smoke is seen rising from the shopping centre

The two figures in the picture are seen in black headscarves, ambling past a children's sweet stall in the mall.

According to Sky News sources, the British military is now giving assistance to Kenyan forces at the mall and has offered further assistance.

On Monday, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said: "As the Prime Minister made clear, we have said we will provide them with any assistance which they request. We haven't yet been asked to provide any assistance beyond broad background advice."

Barack Obama, whose father was born in Kenya, said the United States stood with Kenyans against "this terrible outrage".

The atrocity is the worst in Nairobi since an al Qaeda bomb attack on the US embassy in 1998 that killed more than 200 people.

:: The Kenyan Red Cross has set up a webpage for anyone worried about friends or relatives who might be caught up in the siege.

:: A helpline has been set up for people in the UK who are concerned about relatives in Kenya: 020 7008 000.

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Earthquake Measuring 7.8 Hits Rural Pakistan

At least 39 people have been killed after a major earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 hit a remote area of south western Pakistan.

The quake struck a remote mountainous part of the country at 4.29pm local time (12.29BST) around 100 kilometres (60 miles) southwest of the city of Khuzdar in Balochistan province, at a depth of 15 kilometres.

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

Early reports said dozens had died, but many of the buildings in that part of the country are made of weak materials and there were fears of more casualties.

Abdul Qadoos, deputy speaker of the Balochistan assembly, told Reuters that 30 people and at least 30 percent of houses in the impoverished Awaran district had been destroyed.

The United States Geological Survey issued a red alert for the quake, warning that heavy casualties were likely, based on past data.

Tremors were felt across the province as well as in the sprawling port city of Karachi, residents said. People in Ahmedabad in India, hundreds of miles from the epicentre, ran out of buildings and into the street.

A senior Pakistani meteorologist, Muhammad Riaz, told Dunya TV station it was a "major" earthquake and "heavy destruction" was likely.

Mumtaz Baluch, an official in Awaran district, 350 kilometres southwest of Quetta, said: "There are reports of houses being collapsed in the district. We also have initial information about injuries to people as a result of the collapse of houses.

"We have dispatched our teams to the affected area to ascertain the losses."

Office workers in Karachi rushed out of their buildings and sat on the footpaths along the roads or stood away from structures.

Noor Jabeen, a 28-year woman working for an insurance company, said: "My work table jerked a bit and again and I impulsively rushed outside."

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

The epicentre is in a remote, sparsely-populated mountainous area of Balochistan.

More follows...

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Pakistan Protests At Deadly Church Bombings

Angry Christians have been demonstrating across Pakistan in protest at Sunday's church bombings as the number of dead climbed overnight to 81.

In the country's deadliest attack against the minority faith, a pair of suicide bombers blew themselves up amid hundreds of worshippers outside an historic church in Peshawar, north-western Pakistan.

Christian protesters have blocked roads around the country in protest at the attack.

Christian men in Quetta shout anti-government slogans after the bomb attack

On one of the main roads coming into the capital, Islamabad, demonstrators burned brush and tyres and demanded government protection for the members of the Christian minority.

"We are a peaceful nation. We are loyal citizens of Pakistan," said Simon Jalal, a priest. "We want our rights, we want security. Security should be provided to our churches to stop more incidents like yesterday's."

Members of the Christian community in Lahore hold placards and candles

The attack on the All Saints Church in the city of Peshawar, which also wounded more than 140 people, occurred as worshippers were leaving.

A wing of the Pakistani Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying they would continue to target non-Muslims until the US stops drone attacks in the remote tribal region of Pakistan.

The bombings also raised new questions about the Pakistani government's push to strike a peace deal with the militants to end a decade-long insurgency that has killed thousands of people.

Within hours of the attack, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's toughened his stance, but fell short of calling for outright military action against insurgents holed up in tribal areas on the Afghan border - an option supported by Pakistan's army.

Christians are a minority in Pakistan, where roughly 96% of the country's 180 million people is Muslim. The rest is made up of other religions, including Christianity.

Christians have often been attacked by Sunni Muslim militants, who view them as enemies of Islam because of their faith.

Christians are also in a precarious position in Pakistan.

Protests have been held across Pakistan

While many Pakistanis condemned the Sunday bombings, Christians have often faced discrimination across the country.

They find it difficult to get access to education or better jobs and are known for having to contend with menial labour such as rubbish collecting or street cleaning.

It comes as police confirmed a bomb has also exploded near a patrol in southwest Baluchistan province, killing four people, including three officers.

No one has said they carried out the attack. Baluchistan is home to both Islamic militants and nationalists who have been fighting an insurgency against the government for decades for a greater share of the province's natural resources.

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Kenya Terrorists 'Were Dressed Up As Women'

Men dressed as women were among the attackers who massacred shoppers at a mall in Kenya, it has been claimed.

A government minister said that the terrorists who attacked the shopping complex in Nairobi were all men, but added that some were dressed as women.

Earlier, a white woman wearing a veil was reportedly spotted shouting orders to gunmen in Arabic during the attack on the Westgate complex in the Kenyan capital.

Some reports linked Samantha Lewthwaite, the English widow of 7/7 bomber Jermaine Lindsay, and the attack.

She is wanted by Kenyan police over links to a suspected terrorist cell.

Soldiers are moving in on the terrorists at the shopping centre

However the Foreign Office later said it was not linking the two.

Sky News' Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay said: "I saw a picture of a white woman wearing a balaclava and carrying a weapon."

Security sources say the group of attackers are from several different countries.

A commander of the group believed to be behind the attack has reportedly denied that any of militants are from the UK or US.

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Merkel Romps To Victory In German Election

By Robert Nisbet, Europe Correspondent

Angela Merkel has joined her jubilant supporters in song and dance after winning a third term as German Chancellor.

Speaking at a post-election party to chants of "Angie, Angie, Angie", she hailed a "superb result" for her conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Together with sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU), it saw its combined share of the vote rise by 8%.

Ms Merkel will have to forge alliances with traditional opponents

German newspaper Der Spiegel said the country was now a "Merkel republic", such was the returning Chancellor's dominance at the polls.

However, Ms Merkel's celebrations are unlikely to continue for long, as she begins the task of securing new coalition partners to govern Europe's largest economy.

The liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) her coalition partner since 2009, saw its support plummet by nearly a tenth to 4.8%.

It slumped beneath the 5% threshold of national support and is now barred from the Bundestag, the national parliament.

"The party leadership will discuss everything when we have a final result but we can celebrate tonight," Ms Merkel said.

"I see the next four years in front of me and I can promise that we will face many tasks, at home, in Europe and in the world."

Officials results show the CDU/CSU won 41.5% of the vote, seeing off the main opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) who managed 25.7%.

The humiliation of the FDP almost handed Ms Merkel an absolute majority, as its exclusion lowered the number of seats the CSU would have needed to control the chamber.

But she fell just five seats short of that total and will need to forge alliances in order to govern.

It seems most likely she will seek a "grand alliance" with the SDP, which will be expected to seek promises in return for its support.

They could include a greater emphasis on growth across the eurozone, rather than austerity, and the introduction of a minimum national wage.

But Ms Merkel's support from the electorate is so strong, it will strengthen her hand in any negotiation.

It is unlikely there would be an obvious sea-change in the government's political trajectory.

That will be welcomed by many in the EU and leaders around the world who know that a change of direction might spook the markets and raise borrowing costs for indebted nations.

It will also cheer Prime Minister David Cameron, as Ms Merkel appears to share his conviction that the EU could be strengthened if power flows from Brussels back to member states.

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Missouri Woman Held For 'Kidnapping Grandson'

A 60-year-old woman has been arrested in Missouri for allegedly kidnapping her grandson 13 years ago.

The boy disappeared as an infant in 2000.

Police in Missouri's Livingston County started investigating after a school official grew suspicious about the boy's background and alerted officers.

Police started looking into the boy's history and located his biological father in the southern US. 

Further investigation "gave probable cause to support the allegation the juvenile was abducted about 13 years ago in the state of Florida when the victim was a very small child," a police statement said.

Police then moved to arrest Sandy Hatte on allegations of child abduction. US news reports say the woman is the boy's grandmother.

She is being held on a $25,000 (£16,000) bond.

"The dad was working, come home from work and she was gone with the baby," Detective Eric Menconi told WDAF-TV, Fox 4.

"And he hasn't been able to find them since."

The station said Hatte was homeless until a man offered them a place to stay in Chillicothe, a city in Livingston County.

The boy has since been reunited with his father, and Mr Menconi said "they hit it off pretty well". 

The police thanked the school official who tipped them off.

"Had she not been paying attention and concerned about the safety and well-being of every child then this may have continued for who knows how long," the statement said.

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Kenya Siege: Gunmen 'Running and Hiding'

Islamist militants who have killed at least 62 people in a Nairobi shopping centre are reported to be "running and hiding" in stores as security forces close in.

Two of the "terrorists" have been killed and several others injured after the military launched a major assault, said Kenya's interior minister Joseph Ole Lenku.

He added there was "no way out" for the other fighters and "no room for escape" in the three-day-long siege.

And he claimed security forces were in control of all floors of the four-storey building following Saturday's raid by gunmen from Somali militant group al Shabaab - linked to al Qaeda.

Aerial view of the smoke rising from the shopping centre

Sky's chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay, reporting from the scene, said a source told him around six or seven gunmen were still fighting the military in the shopping mall.

Mr Lenku said most hostages had been freed, without giving specific numbers.

Four British nationals were among the dead, including Ross Langdon, who had dual Australian nationality.

The 33-year-old architect died alongside his Dutch wife Eliv Yavus who was pregnant and due to give birth in two weeks.

Colleagues of Mr Langdon told Sky News: "We were shocked at the news. Ross was the kind of guy who restored your faith in humanity - what a senseless waste."

Mr Langdon and Eliv Yavus. Pic: Windgrove: Life on the Edge blog

Earlier in the day, four huge explosions were heard followed by a barrage of gunfire at the Westgate shopping complex in the Kenyan capital.

Black smoke poured from the top of the building as troops lay siege to the mall while military and police helicopters circled above. Hours later, as night fell, the smoke was still billowing.

A security official told reporters at the scene: "It is us who caused the explosion, we are trying to get in through the roof."

However, Kenyan minister Mr Lenku said the smoke had been caused by the al Shabaab fighters setting fire to mattresses as a decoy.

Kenyan troops take cover as they await developments

He said he expected security forces to end the siege soon and two of the attackers had been killed.

"We think the operation will come to an end soon," he told a news conference. "We are in control of all the floors, the terrorists are running and hiding in some stores ... there is no room for escape."

Kenya's police chief David Kimaiyo admitted some hostages had still not been rescued, but insisted: "We're increasingly gaining advantage of the attackers."

Defence chief General Julius Karangi said the militants were "a multinational collection from all over the world".

Sky's Stuart Ramsay reporting on the siege

The Kenyan Defence Force said earlier on its Twitter feed it was making every effort to bring the situation "to a speedy conclusion".

It said it had secured most of the shopping mall, and many of the hostages had been rescued.

Officials said the attackers have been using the hostages as human shields and have threatened to kill them.

Al Shabaab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage warned the hostages would "bear the brunt of any force directed against the mujahedeen".

Troops make their way to the shopping mall

The group said the shopping mall attack was in retaliation for Kenyan military action in Somalia that is helping to support the Mogadishu government.

The atrocity is the worst in Nairobi since an al Qaeda bomb attack on the US embassy in 1998 that killed more than 200 people.

The Kenyan Red Cross has set up a webpage for anyone worried about friends or relatives who might be caught up in the siege.

:: A helpline has been set up for people in the UK who are concerned about relatives in Kenya: 020 7008 000. 

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