China: Couple Speaks Of 'Forced Abortion'

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent

A couple have told Sky News how they were physically forced into an abortion by the Chinese authorities, three months before their child was due to be born.

At 4am last Friday, a group of 20 officials from the Shandong Province Family Planning Commission forced their way into the home of Zhou Guoqiang and his wife Liu Xinwen.

The officials kicked down the door of the family's home. Mr Zhou was held down while his wife was pulled from her bed and taken away.

Lui Xinwen, 33, was taken to the People's Hospital of Fangzi District in Weifang City where she was injected with an abortion-inducing drug.

Liu Xinwen says she was forcibly removed from her bed

Her baby, which she would later discover was a boy, died a day later in her womb. It took a further day for the foetus to be delivered.

Her husband was not told where she had been taken. It took him five hours to find her at the hospital. By then, the injection had been given.

Sky News met the couple six days later. Mr Zhou had invited us to the family's modest home in a rural corner of the province to hear their story.

We found his wife lying in the bed she had been taken from a week earlier. She was sobbing quietly.

"I miss him." she said.

An image of Liu Xinwen in hospital

"I didn't get to see him. I would be even more upset if I had seen him.

"Baby, I'm sorry. We were not meant to be. You rest in peace in heaven. We will pray for you. We hope your next life is better."  

Her heartbreak is the most brutal consequence of China's one-child policy.

The law is designed to keep the country's population in check. It prevents couples from having more than one child with a few exceptions in some rural provinces.

The policy is supposed to be enforced through financial penalties and not forced abortions. But in some provinces, over-zealous local officials, keen to keep within their birth quotas, break the law and terminate pregnancies by force.

"They don't have any humanity. They are not humans." Liu Xinwen said.

"They must have children and parents too. But they don't have any conscience. This is how China is."

Mr Zhou told how the officials held him down on the sofa while others took his wife away. In all, there were 16 male officials and four females.

We then sit down to look at photos he had taken in the hospital room. They are almost indescribably graphic.

One photograph shows Liu Xinwen lying on the bed. Beside her, on the floor, is a bucket. Inside is her aborted child.

Several other images show the foetus. It is fully formed.

Mr Zhou broke down after discussing the abortion

"His nose, ears, mouth are all there." Mr Zhou said.

"It is a child that would have lived if not for the forced abortion. It's because of their cruelty. Look, his hand is very obvious."

Mr Zhou broke down as he recalled the moment he arrived in the hospital, just minutes after the injection had been administered.

"My wife was lying in bed. I asked her: 'Have you been injected?' She said 'yes'. I asked if the baby was still moving. She said 'not much'.

"After that, I didn't want my wife to see my crying. I went outside. I cried, but only for a while because I needed to return to comfort her. She was very sad. She cried, day and night.

"Every time I heard babies' voices from other wards, I could hardly control myself. I had to go out. I have lost my child. I am speechless, words can't describe my feelings."

A footprint on the front door of the couple's home

He claimed that his wife was forced to sign papers which said she had agreed to the abortion.

When she initially refused, he said they told her that if she did not sign the papers, they would arrest her husband and she would have nothing. We have not been able to independently verify this.

The couple already have one son. Zhou Junfeng is 10. As we talk to his parents, he runs around the house playing. He is oblivious to the grief around him.

After Zhou Junfeng was born his mother underwent a state-proscribed procedure to insert a contraceptive coil into her body.

She says that this "forced sterilisation" must have failed, allowing her to fall pregnant for a second time.

The couple had the option to tell the authorities about the pregnancy the moment they discovered it, four months after conception.

They decided not to come clean because they were concerned that an abortion may be forced on them.

Mr Zhou and his son cook together

Instead, they said they planned to tell the authorities after the birth and then offer to pay the fine. This is common in parts of China and is sometimes acceptable.

Mr Zhou offered to take us to the hospital to see the room where the abortion happened.

Inside the hospital, we saw the room which is part of a fully functioning maternity ward; it is not a backstreet abortion clinic.

We found just two members of staff. One refused to comment. The other, a young nurse, was reluctant and a little startled to find a foreign TV crew in her hospital. 

"I don't know if it's forced or not. And I don't know the reason for it." she said.

"This is a maternity ward; there are many reasons for abortions. I don't know the specific reason for this case and it's not my place to care."

Sky News has approached the Shandong Health and Family Planning Commission, the central government Family Planning Commission in Beijing and the Chinese Embassy in London for a response to this case.

To date, none has been forthcoming.

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Capitol Shooting: Woman Dead After Car Chase

A woman has been shot dead after she led police officers on a car chase that ended in gunfire near the US Capitol in Washington.

Witnesses said shots rang out after the woman driving a black Toyota Infiniti attempted to smash through a barricade close to the White House.

The woman then fled, and was pursued by police who caught up with her near the Capitol Building.

Video footage showed officers with guns drawn attempting to get the driver out of the vehicle on the west side of the Capitol Building before she then flees again, with officers in chase.

The car is then understood to have crashed near the Hart Senate Office Building, on Capitol Hill.

Police seen moving through US Capitol. Pic: Marc Schloss

Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier said a one-year-old child was pulled from the car after the woman was shot.

She was later pronounced dead. Police revealed in a press conference that shots occurred in two locations.

The first series took place at the junction of 15th Street and East Street, close to Pershing Park.

The second set happened on Maryland Avenue NW, close to the Hart Senate Office Building.

In between, the car went down Pennsylvania Avenue, to the US Capitol, before escaping along Constitution Avenue where it was stopped as it entered Maryland Avenue.

First responders are seen aiding a victim at the scene

Ms Lanier said two officers were injured and were taken to hospital. One was an officer with the Capitol Police Department. The other was with the Secret Service.

The Capitol police officer, said to be a veteran of 23 years, was recovering in hospital, but was "doing really well."

"He's going to be fine," said Capitol Police Chief Kim Vine.

It is understood he was injured when the vehicle he was in while chasing the suspect, hit a barrier in front of Capitol Hill.

No details were released about the Secret Service officer, other than he too was not badly hurt.

The woman was confirmed dead by Ms Lanier, but she said police were not releasing any details about the suspect.

She would not comment on whether the woman was of Somali origin. Capitol Police Chief Vine said it did not appear that terrorism was a motive, but Ms Lanier said nothing has been ruled out.

The child, believed to be girl, was later taken to hospital.

Witnesses said at least 20 police cars chased the Toyota toward Capitol Hill, where the car crashed outside the Capitol.

A lockdown was put in place at the Capitol and other federal buildings, but lifted about an hour after the shots rang out.

Sky News US correspondent Amanda Walker, who is in Washington, said she heard a series of shots within minutes of each other before police swarmed the area.

She said: "It was about 2.20pm local time and we heard a series of gunshots and then there was a brief pause for around five minutes.

"Then we heard further gunshots and that's when immediately we heard this cacophony of sirens, police cars and various units going around this area that is constantly so heavily-guarded."

Senator Bob Casey told reporters he was walking from the Capitol to the Senate Russell Office Building across the street when he noticed several police officers driving fast up Constitution Avenue on motorcycles.

He said: "Within seconds of that we heard three, four, five pops." He said he assumed they were gunshots.

Television footage showed at least one person being removed from the scene on a stretcher.

As a warning was sounded, the House of Representatives abruptly went into recess and lawmakers left the chamber floor.

The House had just finished approving legislation aimed at partly lifting the government shutdown by paying National Guard and Reserve members.

People standing outside the Supreme Court across the street from Congress were hurried into the court building by authorities.

The White House was quickly locked down after the incident at Capitol Hill and the stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the compound was closed to pedestrians.

Secret Service said the procedures were precautionary.

In a notice distributed by email, the US Capitol Police advised everyone to "close, lock and stay away from external doors and windows".

The reports come two weeks after a deadly shooting at the nearby Navy Yard and amid a government shutdown.

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Greece: Golden Dawn Party Leader Jailed

An Athens court has ordered the head of Greece's extremist right-wing Golden Dawn party to be jailed pending trial on charges of running a criminal organisation.

Nikos Michaloliakos, a sitting member of Parliament, was remanded in custody after overnight testimony lasting more than six hours.

The order is part of an investigation into his party triggered by the killing of a left-wing rapper.

On Wednesday, the court ordered the release of three party lawmakers on bail and the jailing of a fourth in the same case. All have denied the charges against them.

Michaloliakos and five of his party politicians were among 20 people arrested over the weekend in a crackdown against the alleged neo-Nazi party.

It follows the fatal stabbing of rapper Pavlos Fyssas on September 17, whose death sparked protests involving thousands of people.

Golden Dawn, which the government has described as a "Nazi creation", rose from the margins of Greece's political scene to become the country's third most popular party amid the nation's severe financial crisis.

It has been blamed for a series of violent attacks, mostly against immigrants.

The party denies it is behind any violence.

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Fifa Meets To Debate World Cup Date Switch

Heat On Fifa Over World Cup Switch

Updated: 3:03am UK, Thursday 03 October 2013

By Paul Kelso, Sports Correspondent

Of all the questions raised by Qatar's World Cup, the one most in need of an answer is the least likely to be addressed when Fifa's executive committee convenes in Zurich this week.

According to the short note in the agenda under the heading "sports politics", discussion will be limited to the timing of Qatar 2022.

If Fifa President Sepp Blatter gets his way, the committee will agree in principle to move the tournament away from its traditional - but in Qatar potentially dangerous - date of June and July, to a more temperate slot in the autumn or winter.

There will then follow a period of consultation in which all the stakeholders affected are talked round or persuaded through compromises that could yet involve financial compensation.

There will be much debate about when the tournament should take place, with everyone from the Premier League to the NFL canvassed and conciliated.

That is Blatter's plan, although he will face resistance from Michel Platini.

The Uefa president is proving just as elusive in a blazer as he was as player.

Having voted for Qatar and then been the first to call for a move to winter, he is now in favour of deferring a decision.

Whatever the outcome, expect far more to be said about when the World Cup should take place, rather than whether it should be held in Qatar at all.

From the moment the tiny Gulf state was chosen, it was as clear as the Zurich mountain air that it would be problematic at best and a catastrophic folly at worst.

It should not have needed experts to explain that playing the world's greatest football tournament in the desert in summer was lunacy, but Fifa commissioned some anyway.

They concluded it was a major challenge and ranked Qatar fourth out of five bidders.

That did not stop 14 of the wise men on the executive committee from voting Doha.

Several of them have since been stripped of their Fifa blazers, ejected for corruption or resigned before they could be pushed.

Those that remain, and their successors, will attempt to prevent the entire deal unravelling.

We can speculate as to why Blatter lacks the stomach to do the obvious and re-run the 2022 race with Qatar transparently bidding for a winter tournament. But it is clear that is not his immediate priority.

Self-preserving instincts to the fore, he is hoping to engineer a grand compromise that keeps legal challenges at bay and allows him to run for a fifth term as president in 2015, something he once promised he would not do.

Europe's professional leagues will complain long and loud but as long as Fifa retains the backing of a rump of national associations, they will have little choice but to follow suit.

A November tournament that avoids a clash with the Winter Olympics remains the likeliest outcome, should Blatter play his hand right.

But there is one joker left in the pack - Michael Garcia, attorney-at-law and independent ethics investigator of Fifa's myriad alleged sins.

After nine months at bay, next week he embarks on a world tour of 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidders, pledging, I am told, to "make waves".

If he turns up something new, or makes any of the many alleged abuses of bidding rules stick, Qatar's World Cup may not happen at all.

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Israel 'Will Not Let Iran Get Nuclear Bomb'

Israel is ready to act "alone" to stop Iran getting a nuclear bomb, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned.

He said the only way to peacefully stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons is to combine tough sanctions with a credible military threat.

Mr Netanyahu argued Israel's future is threatened by a "nuclear-armed" Iran seeking its destruction.

He told the UN General Assembly: "Israel will not allow Iran to get nuclear weapons. If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone. Don't let up the pressure (on Iran)."

He added that the only deal that could be made with Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, was one that "fully dismantles Iran's nuclear weapons program."

Iran's Khodadad Seifi branded the Mr Netanyahu's remarks "inflammatory"

He was dismissive of President Rouhani's diplomatic overtures to the West, and his strong denials that the Tehran government was seeking a nuclear weapon.

Mr Netanyahu said: "Rouhani is a wolf in sheep's clothing. A wolf who thinks he can pull the wool over the eyes of the international community.

"But like everyone else, I wish we could believe Rouhani's words, but we must focus on Iran's actions."

He said Iran's "vast and feverish" effort to acquire nuclear arms has continued since President Rouhani's election.

"Iran wants to be in a position to rush forward to build nuclear bombs before the international community can detect it and much less prevent it," he claimed.

A nuclear-armed Iran would be a more dangerous threat than North Korea, Mr Netanyahu added.

"As dangerous as a nuclear armed North Korea is, it pales in comparison to the danger of a nuclear armed Iran," he said.

"A nuclear armed Iran in the Middle East wouldn't be another North Korea  - it would be another 50 North Koreas."

His speech drew a swift response from Iran, who accused the Israeli leader of "sabre rattling".

Khodadad Seifi, a deputy ambassador at Iran's UN mission, told the UN General Assembly that Netanyahu's remarks had been "inflammatory".

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Berlusconi Faces Revolt In Confidence Vote

By Robert Nisbet, Europe Correspondent

European leaders are watching nervously as Italy's government faces a confidence vote which could trigger fresh instability in the debt-wracked country.

At the weekend, Silvio Berlusconi ordered five ministers, drawn from his centre-right People of Freedom party (PdL), to resign from the cabinet prompting a constitutional crisis.

Since inconclusive elections in February, Italy has been run by an unusual left-right coalition, headed by the centre-left Democratic Party leader Enrico Letta.

The prime minister has a majority in the lower house but has relied on the PdL in the Senate to reach a workable government majority.

Mr Berlusconi detonated his political bomb as he prepares to face a vote to strip him of his seat in the upper house after Italy's highest appeal court upheld his conviction for tax fraud.

If the 77-year-old media billionaire is booted out of the Senate, he would lose immunity from prosecution in a number of other cases currently moving through the Italian court system.

But there are signs some within his own party are tiring of his relentless legal difficulties and may vote to support the current government.

Mr Letta has led Italy's coalition government since February

Fabrizio Cicchitto, a leading PdL politician, was quoted in the influential La Repubblica newspaper as saying: "Making the government fall would be a mistake."

Analysts believe a victory for Mr Letta could still create difficulties, with the PdL moving out of government to head a large opposition bloc, backed by the firepower of Berlusconi's sizeable media empire.

Alternatively, if the government loses the vote, fresh elections would be inevitable - but again, there is no certainty any party would emerge as a clear winner.

Italy is the Eurozone's third largest economy and is struggling with low growth, high unemployment - rising to 12.2% in August and 40% among the young - and worrying levels of private and public debt.

As a result, Italy is finding it more expensive to borrow money to pay its bills. Further uncertainty could drive costs still higher, further inflaming Europe's sovereign debt crisis.

Mr Letta has built on the work of his technocratic predecessor Mario Monti by trying to increase tax revenues and cut government bloat, and has received tacit support from other Eurozone governments and EU institutions.

Angela Merkel, fresh from her own electoral endorsement, rang him to say she hopes political stability will return to Italy and that the reform programme will continue.

With the Eurozone finally emerging from recession, the threat of more market turmoil is extremely unwelcome.

There is another, more optimistic, view.

Some suggest this latest crisis could precipitate the end of Mr Berlusconi's 20-year dominance in Italian politics which, in turn, may usher in a calmer, less confrontational - albeit less colourful - period.

That would cheer many in Brussels and beyond.

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Kenya: Troops 'Looted Shops' In Attack Mall

Shop owners at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi have been returning to their stores after last week's terrorist attack to find displays ransacked and valuables stolen.

They say jewellery and mobile phones have been taken, cash tills plundered and restaurants emptied of alcohol.

Shopkeepers believe troops sent in to protect the complex are to blame, although they admit they have no proof.

One witness told the Associated Press he saw a Kenyan soldier take cigarettes out of a dead man's pocket.

Owners spent Monday removing merchandise and other valuables from their stores and restaurants to prevent any more thefts.

A family trapped inside the mall after the attack

Soon after the attack began on September 21, officials put a cordon around the mall, allowing only security forces and a few government personnel to pass through.

One business owner said money and mobile phones were taken from bags and purses left behind in the mayhem.

Employees of a book shop on the second floor returned to find cash registers yanked open and cash gone.

The store's laptops were also stolen, although none of the books were touched, said owner Paku Tsavani.

People giving blood for victims of the attack

It is the second time in two months that Kenyan security forces have been accused of robbery after an emergency.

There were also reports of looting during a huge fire at Nairobi's main airport in August.

Acknowledging the Westgate thefts, Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku promised: "Those responsible for looting will be prosecuted."

Meanwhile, Kenyan intelligence officials are to be questioned by the country's MPs about whether they had advance warning of the attack.

Soldiers about to enter the shopping mall

Almost no details have been released about what happened immediately after the terrorists moved in.

Mr Lenku has declined to give any information about them, saying: "We do not discuss intelligence matters in public."

Nine suspects are now in custody following the assault, which is thought to have been carried out by the Islamist Somali group al Shabaab.

Kenyan police assisted by US, Israeli and European experts are still examining the shopping centre, which was extensively damaged.

A candlelit vigil held for victims of the attack

The Red Cross says 39 people are still missing, although the government insists everyone is accounted for.

At least 50 Kenyans were killed in the raid, along with six Britons and citizens of France, China, Ghana, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Peru and the Netherlands.

A candlelit vigil was held for the dead at a makeshift memorial near the mall just before sunset on Sunday.

The attack, which al Shabaab claims was in retaliation for Kenyan military operations in Somalia, ended after a four-day siege by security forces.

Five of the attackers were killed.

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US Shutdown: Senate Rejects Budget Changes

The Senate has rejected conditions imposed on the federal budget by the House of Representatives, paving the way for a partial shutdown of government services.

Senators in the Democrat-dominated upper house refused to support a bill by their colleagues in Congress which delayed the introduction of the controversial Obamacare.

The rejection of the bill means there is no agreement on how federal money should be spent in the coming budgetary year.

If the Democrats and Republicans fail to find a solution before the deadline at midnight on Monday, the shutdown goes into force at 12.01am EST on Tuesday (5.01am BST).

President Obama addressed the nation on Monday afternoon (US time), frankly setting out what a shutdown would mean for the people of the United States.

"Vital services that seniors and veterans, women and children, businesses and our economy depend on will be hamstrung.

"Tourists will find every one of our national parks and monuments ... immediately closed and of course the communities and small businesses that rely on these national treasures for their livelihoods will be out of customers and out of luck.

Senator Ted Cruz has been among the most ardent critics of Obamacare

"These Americans are our neighbours, their kids go to our schools, they worship where we do ... they are the customers of every business in this country. A shutdown will have a very real economic impact, right away.

"The idea of putting progress at risk, is the height of irresponsibility. One faction, of one party, in one House of Congress, in one branch of government, does not get to shutdown government just to refight the results of an election.

"My hope and expectation, is in the 11th hour once again, Congress will choose to do the right thing, once again."

His comments came after the Senate's 54-46 vote refusing to accept the House of Representative's spending plans.

Although there have often been spats over the amount federal government should be spending or gathering in tax, the federal funding bill is usually considered routine business.

This time, however, the spending plans are tied to the highly controversial health care law promoted by President Obama.

Assuming no compromise is reached before midnight EST, it will be the first shutdown in 17 years.

The last shutdown was under President Bill Clinton in 1995

While essential services such as mail delivery would remain in place, up to about 800,000 government employees could be forced off work, possibly without pay.

National parks, some museums and such tourist attractions as the Statue of Liberty would be closed. While Social Security and Medicare benefits would keep coming, there could be some delays in certain cases.

The healthcare law was previously passed by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2010, despite opposition by the Republican Party, especially Tea Party conservatives.

Although Obamacare has become a legal entity, it still has to be funded.

Funding for the scheme was due to be in this year's federal budget, which was due to start on October 1.

A number of the most hardline Republicans in the House of Representatives have sought to frustrate the introduction of Obamacare by finding a way to stop it being funded.

Their latest move was to introduce conditions to the federal funding bill that would have delayed the start of the health care scheme and altered Obama's plans to tax medical devices.

The Senate rejection of the House's bill, leaves federal funding in a stalemate. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate have to agree before a budget can be approved.

The fear that a shutdown could occur had an immediate effect on Wall Street, which was down 150 points, or 1%, at the start of the day.

With a solution looking increasingly elusive, both sides have been blaming the other.

Markets in other countries also fell in response to the fears. In Japan the Nikkei closed 2% lower while the FTSE 100 was almost 1% lower on the day.

The last time the federal government shutdown was under President Bill Clinton, when services ground to a halt for 28 days between December 1995 and January 1996.

It nearly happened again in April 2011.

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Kenya: New Arrest As Travel Warning Slated

Another person has been arrested over last weekend's terror attack at a Nairobi shopping centre that left at least 67 people dead.

Nine suspects are now in custody following the gun and grenade assault believed to be by Islamist militants from the al Qaeda-linked Somali group al Shabaab.

Kenyan officials have arrested 12 people in connection with the raid on September 21 in the capital, but three have been freed.

Interior minister Joseph Ole Lenku said the latest arrest was made on Sunday.

But he declined to give any information about the suspected attackers or those arrested, saying "we do not discuss intelligence matters in public".

Kenyan police assisted by US, Israeli and European experts are still poring over the partially wrecked building.

Investigators have also identified a car used by the gunmen and found in it "an assortment of illegal weapons," said Mr Lenku.

Part of the car park collapsed during the siege

Five of the attackers were killed and the Kenyan government believes no hostages were left in the mall after the assault "unless forensic evidence shows otherwise," the minister went on.

The Red Cross has said 59 people remain missing, though the Kenyan government has said no one was unaccounted for.

Six British nationals were among the victims when gunmen stormed the upmarket Westgate shopping mall.

While the centre was a chaotic scene for many hours after the attack began, with people moving in and out of the building, Mr Lenku insisted no terrorists could have escaped.

The raid, claimed by al Shabaab in retaliation for Kenyan military operations in Somalia, ended after a four-day siege when security forces went in to flush out the gunmen.

It had been thought that a number of attackers and hostages had been trapped under rubble when the roof the mall collapsed.

What caused the collapse has not been revealed but a government official admitted on Saturday it happened as a result of action by Kenyan forces.

Meanwhile, the east African country has asked the American government to remove a warning to US citizens, advising them to take extra care when travelling to Kenya, calling it "unnecessary" and "unfriendly".

Mr Lenku said he strongly objected to the advisory that urged Americans to "evaluate their personal security situation in light of continuing and recently heightened threats from terrorism" there.

He said: "We believe issuing the travel advisory is counter-productive in the fight against global terrorism.

"We request the United States, as a friend of Kenya, to lift the travel advisory."

A memorial service was held outside the shopping centre on Saturday to remember victims of the attack - a week after the assault.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has vowed not to bow to al Shabaab which has threatened more attacks if Kenya failed to pull its troops out of Somalia.

But his administration faces tough questions after the apparent leaking of an intelligence report dated September 13 that warned of an elevated risk, which some top officials reportedly said was treated too casually. 

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Nigeria College Attacked: At Least 40 Killed

At least 40 people have been killed after suspected Islamist gunmen fired on students as they slept at a college in northeast Nigeria.

The attackers reportedly stormed a dormitory and set fire to classrooms in the assault which happened about 1am local time on Sunday in the town of Gujba in Yobe state.

Nigeria's military is blaming militants from the Boko Haram insurgent group for the atrocity at the College of Agriculture.

A source told the AFP news agency that 40 bodies had been brought to hospital.

College provost Molima Idi Mato said security forces were still recovering bodies so he could not give an exact number of dead but said up to 50 had been killed.

He also said about 1,000 students had fled the scene.

The college is about 25 miles from the scene of similar school attacks around Damaturu town.

There were no security forces stationed at the college despite government assurances, said Mr Mato.

Members of Boko Haram pictured in February

Two weeks ago, state commission for education Mohammmed Lamin urged all schools to reopen and promising protection by soldiers and police.

Most schools in the area closed after militants killed 29 pupils and a teacher, burning some alive in their hostels at Mamudo outside Damaturu on July 6.

Northeast Nigeria is in a military state of emergency following an Islamic uprising by Boko Haram militants who have killed more than 1,700 people since 2010 in their quest for an Islamic state.

Yobe has seen a series of brutal attacks targeting students in recent months, all blamed on the group.

The name Boko Haram means "Western education is forbidden" and the group has repeatedly attacked schools, universities and colleges during its four-year insurgency.

The military has described the spate of recent attacks as a sign of desperation by the Islamists, claiming they only have the capacity to hit soft targets.

An offensive launched against Boko Haram in mid-May has decimated the group and scattered their fighters across remote parts of the northeast, the defence ministry has said. 

Boko Haram has said it is fighting to create an Islamic state in Nigeria's mainly Muslim north, but the group is believed to be made up of different factions with varying aims. 

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Italy In Chaos As Berlusconi Ministers Quit

Former Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi has withdrawn his ministers from the government, effectively bringing down the country's fragile ruling coalition.

The move leaves the eurozone's third-largest economy in chaos and was branded "crazy and irresponsible act" by prime minister Enrico Letta.

Talks will now start to find a parliamentary majority to back a new cabinet and avoid another election - just seven months after the last one.

Berlusconi had earlier encouraged the five ministers in his centre-right People of Freedom (PDL) party to resign over an increase in sales tax.

He said they should not be "complicit in the latest vexation imposed on Italians by the left".

"The prime minister's decision yesterday to freeze government action, thus leading to the rise in the VAT, is a serious violation of the government pact," he said.

The move comes just days before a senate committee is expected to strip him of his seat over his conviction last October for tax fraud.        

Mr Letta hit back, saying: "To try to justify his crazy and irresponsible act, aimed fully at protecting his personal interests, Berlusconi is ... using the VAT as an alibi."

"Italians will recognise such a big lie... and return it to the sender."

The relentless political jockeying that has defined Mr Letta's five-month tenure has already thwarted efforts to push through important reforms Italy needs to emerge from a two-year recession, a decade-long economic lethargy, a 2-trillion-euro public debt and youth unemployment of around 40%.

The resignations will delay those reforms even further.

Italian Labour Minister Enrico Giovannini told Rai state television: "So many measures we were working on now risk being set back.

"On Monday our borrowing costs are going to rise by many points."

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Kenya: Somalis In Nairobi Fear Terror Backlash

Somalis living in Nairobi say they fear being targeted by Kenyans who blame them for the shopping centre massacre that left at least 67 people dead.

The Eastleigh area of the capital city is home to many from Somalia, the country where al Shabaab, the terror group thought to be behind the attack, is based.

Ahmed Mohammed, a security consultant in the area, said there were major concerns about a backlash against the community.

"People are worried about people coming and looting their businesses and they are also worried about authorities coming and doing a crackdown on Somalis," he told Sky News.

"Basically, when things like this happen, Somalis are the victims."

Poverty and unemployment make Eastleigh a fertile recruiting ground for al Shabaab.

Those who have glimpsed inside the organisation and witnessed its brutality are terrified of being hunted down for leaving or speaking out.

One man, who asked to remain anonymous, explained why.

Victims of the attack are honoured at a memorial in Nairobi

"What I am scared about is that Al Shabaab are beasts, they are not human beings," he said.

"If they see my face ... they will try to kill me. I have seen so many friends of mine who have been killed by al Shabaab."

Somali immigrant Farah Atosh, 25, has countless friends who have been recruited or approached by al Shabaab, but is determined to counter the terror group's propaganda.

"We are against them," he said.

"We are not supporting them. You might see or hear some people saying al Shabaab will not be able to carry out those attacks without the support of the Somali diaspora but honestly that is false information."

Many people who fled Somalia hoped they would find sanctuary and those who created new lives in Kenya want al Shabaab hounded out

One of them is Karim Muse, who told Sky News: "I would like to go to Somalia but (while) the al Shabaab are ... in Somalia, I don't want to go back.

"They have destroyed Somalia's people. They don't like Somalis, don't like other Christians, they don't like anyone, only themselves. Al Shabaab, they are cancer in the world."

It comes as forensic investigators continue to search the ruins of Westgate Mall - and after it emerged a sixth Briton had been confirmed dead following the attack.

Meanwhile, around 200 Nairobi residents, many of them of Indian descent, held a candlelit vigil on Saturday evening for victims the massacre.

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