Protesters storm Kuwaiti parliament

Pictures from a social networking site reportedly show protesters inside the parliament building

Dozens of Kuwaiti protesters stormed parliament late on Wednesday, as hundreds more demonstrated outside.

Eyewitnesses said they were demanding that Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah step down.
Hundreds of people, including opposition lawmakers, have been protesting weekly outside parliament over alleged corruption.
Some reports said riot police had beaten demonstrators using batons as they gathered outside parliament.
AFP news agency reports that at least five protesters were injured.
"Now, we have entered the house of the people," said Mussallam al-Barrak, who was among those who led the protest against Sheikh Nasser, a nephew of the emir.
Corruption claims
The demonstrators broke open the gates to the parliament building and managed to enter the main chamber, where they sang the national anthem and then left a short time later.
One eyewitness and protester told the BBC that guardsmen did not intervene when they entered the parliament building, stormed after protesters' attempt to march on the prime minister's house were blocked.
"Some people managed to get inside. No confrontation happened with the national guard who are guarding the building," junior doctor Mohammed said.
"People are asking for more reforms, and especially as recently the government has not been going with the spirit of the constitution, which some regard as the absolute minimum of democracy."
As the crowd returned to the square outside, the protesters outside shouted: "The people want to bring down the head (of government)," Reuters reports.
Kuwait's parliament is one of the few elected bodies in the Gulf.
Kuwait has not seen the mass protests that toppled former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Tunisia's Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali, thanks to a generous welfare system, observers say.
But opposition groups have escalated pressure on Kuwait's leadership in recent months over claims of corruption and perceived attempts to roll back political freedoms.

Deadly early snowstorms hit US northeast

• New Yorkers make their way through falling snow in New York. Snow and icy rain pelted …
• A vendor cleans the fresh snow around his stall of Halloween pumpkins at a farmers …

Freezing conditions hit the US East Coast on Sunday after a rare October snowstorm and icy rain reportedly killed at least three people, sparked long airport delays and caused massive power outages.
The "historic early season" snowstorm wrought havoc on air, rail and road traffic from Washington to Boston, with the National Weather Service warning that travel at night would be "extremely hazardous."
One person died in Connecticut in a traffic accident caused by icy road conditions, local media reported.
In Massachusetts, a fallen power line electrocuted a man, and a tree that fell under the weight of snow killed a person in Pennsylvania, the reports said.
A total of two million people were without power in a storm zone stretching from the Mid-Atlantic to New England, MSNBC reported.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie declared a state of emergency across his state "because of the severe weather conditions," he said on Twitter.
Nearly 500,000 customers were without power in New Jersey alone, he said, urging residents to "stay safe and off the roads."
Air travelers were seeing an average delay of six hours on flights to and from Newark International Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said. Similar problems were affecting New York's Kennedy international airport.
Passengers at Philadelphia's international airport were experiencing delays of two and a half hours on average, the FAA said on its website.
Rail travel was also hit, with the Amtrak service between Philadelphia and Harrisburg suspended until further notice due to signal problems caused by the storm.
Christie said there were "significant closures and delays" on NJ Transit train lines due to downed trees on the tracks.
Forecasters issued a winter storm warning for large parts of the northeast, in effect until 6:00 am (1000 GMT) Sunday, predicting heavy snow, freezing temperatures and strong winds with gusts of up to 60 miles per hour (100 kph).
Nearly a foot (30 centimeters) of snow fell in parts of Pennsylvania, Connecticut and New Jersey, authorities said.
In Manhattan, where the storm marked the first October snow in decades, forecasters said up to 10 inches could fall.
In Maryland and West Virginia, some towns already had 10 inches on the ground as of 2000 GMT Saturday, the weather service said.
Unseasonably cold air was pouring into the northeast, and deep tropical moisture was set to surge northward along the east coast and "fuel an expanding area of heavy rain and snow."
Much of the region was hit by Hurricane Irene in August. Its heavy rains and wind killed more than 40 people, left millions without power, destroyed homes and caused record flooding.
The unseasonably cold and wet weather did not dampen the spirits of anti-Wall Street protesters camped out in New York and Washington.
"Snow, what snow? I've got a country to worry about," read a sign held by a woman at New York's Zuccotti Park -- the nerve center of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
"We're cold, we're wet -- cancel the debt!" chanted a few dozen protesters marching in downtown Washington.
At the White House, President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle did not let the weather ruin their annual Halloween trick-or-treating event. They handed out candy, cookies and dried fruit to area children wrapped in wet coats.
"Let's give out some candy," Obama said. "I know it's cold. ... It's not ideal out here."

Hells Angels feud leaves trail of death and destruction

California's worst biker gang feud for a decade, which began as a battle over the right to use a Starbucks coffee shop, has left several men dead, wounded or missing.

Santa Cruz deputy police chief Steve Clark said: 'It was all about who would be allowed to hang out at the Starbucks downtown' 

The bloody turf war between the Hells Angels and a rival motorcycle club called the Vagos, has also led to shoot outs in the neighbouring states of Nevada and Arizona.

According to the US Justice Department both the Hells Angels and the Vagos are "outlaw" gangs involved in drug and weapons trafficking, extortion and money laundering.

The current spate of bloodshed between them can be traced to a disagreement at a Stabucks in the beach town of Santa Cruz last year.

A brawl in which some participants wielded ball-peen hammers erupted outside the coffee shop before police arrived and bikers scattered.

That led to a gunfight in the northern Arizona town of Chino Valley which left five people wounded and 27 under arrest.

Last month the president of a Hells Angels chapter, Jeffrey Pettigrew, 51, was shot dead at a casino in Sparks, Nevada and a Vagos member was wounded in a drive-by shooting the next day.
At Pettigrew's funeral on Oct 15 another leading Hells Angel, Steven Tausan, 52, was shot and killed in an apparent internal quarrel over the death of their leader.
The alleged funeral gunman Steven Ruiz was initially thought to have been killed and police dug up a grave at the cemetery where they thought he had been hastily buried.
He was not there and is now believed to be on the run.
The last large scale California biker feud, between the Hells Angels and a group known as the Mongols, stemmed from a casino riot in 2002 and left at least three bikers died.
The Hells Angels were founded in 1948 in California, and have since established more than 230 chapters with up to 2,500 members worldwide.
Leaders of the organisation deny involvement in criminal activity and argue the club should not be blamed for the illegal actions of individual bikers.
The Vagos were formed in California in the late 1960s and have around 600 members in the western United States and Mexico.
Graham Barlowe, a US Department of Justice agent in California, said: "There have been concerns about this rivalry for some time."
Santa Cruz deputy police chief Steve Clark said: "It was all about who would be allowed to hang out at the Starbucks downtown.
"The Vagos brazenly came in and tried to cement their presence. It was a pretty strong play on their part to establish themselves as the premiere club.
"Only in Santa Cruz would you have biker wars over who's going to control pumpkin spice lattes."

Kenya troops move into Somalia to pursue kidnappers

 

Kenyan troops have been converging on the border with Somalia in recent days

Kenya has sent troops into Somalia in a bid to pursue militants it suspects of carrying out a spate of kidnappings.

Government spokesman Alfred Matua said troops were pursuing Somali al-Shabab militants across the border.
But a Somali diplomat at the United Nations said that if the reports were true it would be a violation of Somalia's sovereignty.
Several Westerners have been seized in Kenya by suspected Somali militants and taken into Somalia.
Two Spanish aid workers were abducted from Kenya's sprawling Dadaab refugee camp on Thursday.
A British woman and a French woman have been kidnapped from remote beach resorts over the past month, dealing a major blow to Kenya's tourism industry.
The first secretary of Somalia's mission to the United Nations, Omar Jamal, said the reports of Kenyan soldiers crossing the border had not been officially confirmed but said he was afraid the involvement of Kenyans in Somalia could make the situation worse.
"We understand the Kenyan concerns very well," he said.
"However if any action is to be taken... the Somali government has to be on the same page, the Somali government has to be informed, the Somali government has to know exactly in many details what is going on, otherwise it will be a different story."
Warplanes An eyewitness said he had seen about 25 armoured vehicles full of Kenyan soldiers passing through the Somali town of Dhobley. Tanks were also seen.
There are reports that Kenyan military helicopters have been carrying out raids in Somalia.
Senior Somali military commander Abdi Yusuf told Reuters that warplanes had attacked two al-Shabab bases in southern Somalia but could not confirm if the jets were Kenyan.
"I can't identify the military aircraft, but our neighbour Kenya is fully supporting us militarily and our mission is to drive al-Shabab out of the region," he said.
In response, al-Shabab - the radical Islamist insurgent group in Somalia - tried to raise the alarm in the areas it controls, AP news agency reports.
Residents in the town of Qoqani said militants were going into people's homes and forcibly recruiting new fighters, the report said.

 

MSF worker Montserrat Serra was abducted along with her colleague Blanca Thiebaut

 

Senior al-Shabab figure Sheikh Hassan Turki vowed to repulse the Kenyan forces.
"Kenya violated the territorial rights of Somalia by entering our holy land, but I assure you that they will return disappointed, God willing," he said.
"Mujahideen fighters will force them to test the pain of the bullets."
Abdirahman Omar Osman, spokesman for Somalia's UN-backed government, said Kenya is "providing logistical and moral support" but insisted that Somali forces are the ones "battling the Shabab on the ground".
Kenyan Defence Minister Yusuf Mohammed Haji said: "If you are attacked by an enemy, you are allowed to pursue that enemy until where you get him. We will force them far away from our border."
Our correspondent says some Kenyans fear their country could become a target for more al-Shabab attacks if it becomes more deeply embroiled in Somalia's conflict.
Kenya's Internal Security Minister, George Saitoti, announced on Saturday that forces would be sent to fight al-Qaeda inside Somalia.
The move comes days after the two aid workers with Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), named as Blanca Thiebaut and Montserrat Serra, were taken from Dadaab, the world's largest refugee camp.

Just 80km (50 miles) from the Somali border, Dadaab currently houses nearly half a million refugees, most of whom are Somalis who have fled conflict and famine.
A Kenyan driver working for the Care charity was abducted from Dadaab on 21 September.
Last month, 56-year-old Briton Judith Tebbutt was kidnapped - and her husband David killed - by gunmen while the couple were on holiday in a remote Kenyan resort at Kiwayu.
On 1 October, a 66-year-old French woman was seized by an armed gang on Kenya's northern resort island of Manda and taken to Somalia.
The UK Foreign Office has advised against all but essential travel to the Kenyan coast near the Somali border.

Egypt clashes: Copts mourn victims of Cairo unrest

Eyewitnesses said people were deliberately shot and run over by military vehicles

Thousands of Egyptian Coptic Christians have gathered for the funerals of protesters killed during clashes with security forces in Cairo on Sunday.

Many mourners expressed anger at the army, which they blame for the deaths.
The protesters say they were attacked by thugs before the security forces fired on them and drove military vehicles into the crowds.
The ruling military council has ordered a swift inquiry into the violence, in which 25 people died.
The council, which was handed the power to govern by President Hosni Mubarak before he was ousted in a popular revolt, is in temporary charge of the country while elections are organised.
US President Barack Obama called for restraint "so that Egyptians can move forward together to forge a strong and united Egypt".
"These tragic events should not stand in the way of timely elections and a continued transition to democracy that is peaceful, just and inclusive," he said in a statement.
The Copts, who make up about 10% of Egypt's 85 million population, have a number of grievances against the interim administration.
They say the authorities have been slow to punish radical Islamists who have attacked their churches.
Infiltrators blamed Sunday's protest was sparked by the burning down of a church in the southern Aswan province.

Coptic Christians organised Sunday's demonstration after a church was set on fire near Aswan last week. Local Muslims insisted it did not have the proper construction permits.
In the past few months, security services have repeatedly been accused of failing to intervene to stop sectarian clashes across the country.
The transitional government is also accused of doing little to address the long-standing grievances of Christians. These include complaints about restrictions on building churches and a school curriculum focused on Islam.
Speaking on al-Arabiya television, Fouad Allam, the former head of Egypt's security services, gave a stark warning: "There needs to be serious action from the leaders to resolve the root causes, otherwise this could lead to civil war."

On Monday there were more angry scenes and low-level clashes between security forces and Copts, who had gathered for the funerals.

Many mourners directed their anger against the military, and particularly the head of the military council Field Marshal Mohamed Tantawi.
"Tantawi you traitor, the blood of Copts is not cheap," Christians chanted outside the hospital where the bodies of their loved ones had been stored.
Others called for Field Marshal Tantawi to be deposed.
In addition to the 25 people who were killed on Sunday, hundreds more were injured.
It is not clear how many of those killed were Christians, but the authorities said three soldiers were among the dead.
Coptic Church leader Pope Shenuda III blamed Sunday's violence on infiltrators.
"The Christian faith denounces violence. Strangers infiltrated the demonstration and committed the crimes for which the Copts have been blamed," the pope said in a statement.
The military called on the government to carry out a quick investigation into the clashes by "forming a fact-finding committee to determine what happened and take legal measures against all those proven to have been involved".
Security has been stepped up at vital installations in Cairo, with additional troops deployed outside parliament and the cabinet building in anticipation of further unrest.
Election tension Thousands of people - mainly but not exclusively Christians - joined Sunday's march from the Shubra district of northern Cairo to the state TV building in Maspero Square.
They were calling on the military council to sack the governor of Aswan province.
They also accused state TV of fanning the flames of anti-Christian agitation.
The demonstrators said they were assaulted by attackers in plain clothes before the clashes with the security forces broke out.

Egypt's Copts

• Estimates of the number of Coptic Christians in Egypt range from 5.6m to 11m
• Descended from ancient Egyptians; Coptic language is derived from ancient Egyptian
• Split from Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholics in 451AD in row over nature of Christ
• On most issues doctrinally similar to Eastern Orthodox Church

The violence began outside the state TV building but soon spread to Tahrir Square, the centre of the demonstrations which led to President Hosni Mubarak's resignation in February.

There were reports of thousands joining in the street violence, attacking both sides. Rioters tore up the pavement and hurled stones.
Christians in Egypt have been worried by the increasing show of strength by ultra-conservative Islamists.
In May, 12 people died in attacks on Coptic churches. In March, 13 people were killed in clashes between Muslims and Copts in Tahrir Square.
A parliamentary election is scheduled for 28 November, the first such vote since Mr Mubarak was ousted.
The Copts, the largest minority in Egypt, complain of discrimination, including a law requiring presidential permission for churches to be built.
And the country recognises only conversions from Christianity to Islam, but not the other way.

New Zealand oil ship leak 'raises questions'

Bruce Anderson, Maritime New Zealand: "It has the potential to be a significant environmental impact"

New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key says "serious questions" must be answered about why a container ship ran aground on a reef off one of the country's most spectacular coastlines.

Oil leaking from the Liberian-flagged Rena has created a 5km (3 mile) slick.
An all-out effort is under way to remove nearly 2,000 tonnes of oil from the vessel, which is stranded 12 nautical miles off the coast.
Heavy swells and gale-force winds are forecast for the area from Monday.
Officials says 20-30 tonnes of oil have already spilled into the Bay of Plenty, one of the country's top tourist destinations, since the MV Rena ran aground on Wednesday.
If the ship breaks up, it could release 1,700 tonnes of heavy fuel into an area that is home to whales, dolphins, seals, penguins and a variety of other birds.
'Working tirelessly' John Key, who flew over the scene in a helicopter on Sunday, said two inquiries to determine why the ship had collided with the Astrolabe Reef were already under way.
"People know about the reef, and for it to plough into it for no particular reason - at night, in calm waters - tells you something terrible has gone wrong and we need to understand why," he told Radio New Zealand.

 

Four naval vessels and two barges are in the area to try to contain the spill.
The barges have already begun scooping up the oil that has spilled into the sea.
A third ship is alongside the MV Rena and attempts are under way to hook them up so the oil can be transferred off the stricken ship.
But the process of linking up the two ships is tricky in the calmest of conditions, and will be all but impossible in gale-force winds and heavy swells, our correspondent adds.
And, because one end of the ship is stuck on the reef while the other floats free, the oncoming storm brings another fear for rescue teams.
"Once you increase the swell, the upsurge, the lift on the aft end of the ship will increase, and the chances of her separating start to rise," explained Marine Risk Assessor John Riding.

"From tip to toe, they are covered in black sticky gunk, matting up all their feathers right down to the skin”

Brett Gartrell Wildlife Health Centre

 

The MV Rena's owners, Greece-based Costamare Inc, said it was "working tirelessly" on the response.

"Minimising any impact to New Zealand's coastline is the absolute priority," the firm said in a statement. "The current primary focus of the salvage operations is the safe transfer of the vessel's fuel oil from her tanks."
Our correspondent says that the next 48 hours will determine whether this incident can be contained or become a serious environmental disaster.
Exclusion zone
The department of conservation has established two wildlife rescue centres and dispatched teams to scour the beaches and islands of the Bay of Plenty looking for oil-covered animals and birds.
The maritime authorities has said a total of eight oiled birds, including little blue penguins, had been recovered and taken to a wildlife facility in Te Maunga.
"From tip to toe, they are covered in black sticky gunk, matting up all their feathers right down to the skin," said Brett Gartrell, of New Zealand's Wildlife Health Centre. "They have ingested it and started to get anaemic which is part of the toxic effect of the oil."
Officials say they are preparing for the possibility the slick will hit the coast, after dispersants sprayed from aircraft proved ineffective.
"It has the potential to be very, very serious indeed, simply because of the age of the ship, the damage she's sustained," Andrew Berry of Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) said.
MNZ has established a one-kilometre maritime exclusion zone around the ship and warned that the fuel oil is toxic.
The animal welfare group Forest and Bird said the timing of the accident, in the middle of the breeding season for birds, was "disastrous".

Libya NTC fight Gaddafi forces in streets of Sirte

Commanders say they are mounting fresh tank and artillery attacks on areas still held by Gaddafi loyalists

Street fighting has raged in Sirte for a second day as troops loyal to Libya's transitional government confront the remnants of ex-leader Col Muammar Gaddafi's forces.

Interim authority forces seized control of a key boulevard, isolating a conference centre where Gaddafi loyalists have been holed up.
Thousands of civilians remain trapped.
Once Sirte falls, Libya's leaders say they will declare liberation, even if Col Gaddafi remains on the run.
"There is a very vicious battle now in Sirte," said National Transitional Council (NTC) chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil in the capital Tripoli.
"Today our fighters are dealing with the snipers that are taking positions and hiding in the city of Sirte."

What looked yesterday like a rapid sweep through Col Gaddafi's hometown has slowed down to a grinding battle to take each street and each building.
Civilians have continued to leave Sirte when they can, in cars overloaded with people and their possessions. They're stopped and searched thoroughly for any evidence of pro-Gaddafi sympathies before they can move on, although many say they have no other place to go.
They looked terrified. Some said they still loved Gaddafi and would have stayed and fought, but for the welfare of their families.
They were convinced, they said, that they would be killed when they came out. In an effort to ease those fears, government fighters handed out bottles of water and flags of the new Libya that these dogged supporters of the old regime have so fiercely resisted.

Snipers on rooftops

On Friday, NTC forces launched what they called a final assault on Sirte, pushing pro-Gaddafi fighters back from their positions and towards the city centre.

But on Saturday, their rapid advance slowed down as they fought street by street to take control of the city, Col Gaddafi's birthplace and a symbolic second capital for Libya.
Pro-Gaddafi snipers fired from the rooftops of the Ouagadougou conference centre, the university and a complex of flats.
However, the NTC side won control of a key boulevard which connects the Ouagadougou centre to central Sirte.
NTC fighter Faraj Leshersh told Reuters the Gaddafi loyalists were experts at operating unseen, using trenches or burning tyres to give themselves cover to move between buildings.
"They took advantage of the dust and they advanced a little. There is 500m (yards) between us and them," he said.
Civilians continued to leave Sirte, on foot and by car. They were stopped and searched by NTC forces at checkpoints.
The NTC gave civilians the opportunity to leave before the assault began.
However, thousands remained in the city, unable to get out or fearful after warnings from pro-Gaddafi fighters that they would be attacked by the interim forces if they surrendered.
Efforts to negotiate with loyalist commanders have also failed. On Thursday, Col Gaddafi delivered an audio message urging Libyans to take to the streets "in their millions" to resist the interim leaders.
Pro-Gaddafi forces also control the desert enclave of Bani Walid, but it is seen as less significant as it does not lead to any exit routes from the country.