Egypt: Protesters Breach Palace Barricade

Protesters have broken through a barbed wire barricade outside the presidential palace in the Egyptian capital Cairo.

Thousands of demonstrators had gathered outside the palace following a night of clashes between supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Morsi on Thursday.

After forcing their way through, some protesters climbed onto army tanks and began waving flags, while others reportedly sprayed graffiti on palace walls.

Protesters climb a barbed wire fence near the presidential palace in Cairo

Troops of the Republic Guard moved to the front gate to secure the main entrance to the palace.

Earlier, the main opposition group in Egypt said it would not take part in talks with the country's president aimed at ending unrest.

Ahmed Said, one of the leading members of the National Salvation Front, said the coalition had rejected Mr Morsi's offer of a meeting to discuss how Egypt should move forward after a referendum on a new constitution set for December 15.

Protesters gather outside the presidential palace

Prominent reformist Mohamed ElBaradei also urged politicians to shun the talks, while the state news agency reported that the liberal Wafd party said it would not take part. Both are members of the Front.

The call for talks came amid the worst violence seen in the country since last year's revolution.

Opponents of Mr Morsi have taken to the streets to protest against a decree by Mr Morsi on November 22, giving himself extra powers and protecting himself from judicial review.

Hundreds of Egyptians have been injured in clashes

At least six people were killed and almost 700 injured in clashes around the palace on Wednesday.

US President Barack Obama called Mr Morsi on Thursday to express his "deep concern" about the deaths and injuries.

He welcomed the offer of talks but warned they should be entered into "without preconditions", a White House spokesman said.

Meanwhile, Egypt's election committee has postponed the start of expatriate voting in the constitutional referendum, the state news agency reported.

Voting was due to begin on Saturday but will now start on Wednesday.

The committee did not say whether the delay would affect the date of the referendum.

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Syria: Rebel Prisoners On Their Religious War

Interviewing people who, under different circumstances, might kill you, is a strange experience.

To the soundtrack of multiple rocket launchers and small arms fire, I met six men who the Syrian authorities told us were jihadist rebel fighters captured by the army.

We were in a Ministry of Interior prison near Damascus in an area now close to the front lines.

The men, four Syrian, an Iraqi, and a Turk, said they had indeed been in the jihadist movement fighting President Assad's forces, but now renounced the armed struggle even though they continued to espouse Salafist ideology. All are awaiting court appearances.

Jamil Us Turk, Ahmed al Rabido, Hamid Hassan al Attar, Bahar al Bashah, Ali Hussein and Mahmoud al Ahab said they were happy to be interviewed and had not been badly treated.

At one point I asked the guards to leave, spoke with the men alone and checked them for obvious signs of mistreatment, which were not apparent. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International both accuse the Syrian regime of routinely torturing prisoners.

As far as I could ascertain, the men were who they said they were. The Turkish man spoke Turkish, the Iraqi had an Iraqi accent, they displayed religious knowledge of the sort taught to those with a Salafist mindset.

The captured fighters are from Turkey, Iraq and Syria

Most of the rebel militias are not radical jihadists, but in the last few months there appears to have been a sharp increase in the number of foreign fighters coming to Syria.

The Syrian authorities are keen to promote the view that they are fighting an al Qaeda type force which partially explains why, after much pushing, we were allowed into a jail no reporters had been in before.

Mahmoud al Ahab, who described himself as a Palestinian Syrian, told me he was in the al Nusra Front which he said was an al Qaeda group. He had sworn an oath of allegiance to al Nursa but now felt this was a mistake.

Ahmed al Rabido, a 48-year-old Syrian, said he was a religious leader, a Mufti, in the Free Syrian Army.

"I joined because I wanted to demolish the secular state... I don't believe in this anymore because the country is being ruined," he said.

Bahar al Basah, 35, another Palestinian Syrian, told me he was influenced by the writings of Abu Qatada, the radical cleric currently under house arrest in the UK.

The men only became animated when I showed a little knowledge of Salafist ideology and brought up the works of Islamists such as the Egyptian Sayyid Qubt.

Sky's Tim Marshall interviewed the men awaiting trial

This led to a question about the future of Syria's minorities such as the Christians. Ahmed, Basah, and Hamid Hassan all agreed - Christians could only live there if they either converted, or paid the 'Jizyah' - a special tax levied on non-Muslims in previous centuries in the Middle East. If not said Bahar, they could be killed.

When asked why, the answer was, to them, quite simple - because the Prophet Mohammed said so. I was then invited to become a Muslim.

The conversation verged on the surreal. There we were talking in a quite friendly manner, with the occasional joke, about killing people because they wouldn't pay the Jizyah, which critics regard as effectively obtaining money through menaces.

The interview ended with Ahmed volunteering that eventually Muslims must reclaim Andalucia in Spain for the Islamic Caliphate.

His logic, that it was justified because Spain used to be under Islam, was somewhat undermined when he went on to say that Islam should move on to bring the UK under its control and indeed, eventually, the whole world.

Rebel fighters want an end to President Assad's regime

This was a rare first-hand glimpse into the jihadi mindset.

The men are not representative of the FSA, indeed many militia units are deeply suspicious of the jihadists' aims.

However, it appears that a lot of the best weapons are reaching the jihadist groups, and they are using these to gain influence and territory. 

Even if the rebels overthrow the government, they won't just have a problem dealing with militia from the minority groups, they will have problems with each other.

As the men left to go back to their cells, we shook hands.

Two of them were still trying to convert me, asking me, with a smile, to say the Shahada 'La ilaha il Allah' - there is no God but Allah.

Men like this scare Syria's Christians, Allawites, Shia, Druze, and Kurds, indeed they frighten many of the countries Sunnis, but the war here is now so steeped in blood that compromise seems almost impossible to achieve, and there are now people on both sides who reject compromise out of hand.

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Pregnant Kate: Radio Station Faces Backlash

Two DJs are being offered counselling after the nurse duped by their prank call to the Duchess of Cambridge's hospital died in a suspected suicide.

Nurse Jacintha Saldanha was found dead days after taking the hoax call and putting it through to a nurse on Kate's ward, who divulged private information about her treatment.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge led tributes to the 46-year-old mother of two, saying they were "deeply saddened" by news of her death.

Major advertisers have dumped 2Day FM and presenters Mel Greig and Michael Christian have been taken off air as the station faces a backlash over the disastrous stunt.

Speaking at a news conference in Melbourne, Rhys Holleran, CEO of 2Day FM's parent company Southern Cross Austereo said the "shocked and devastated" DJs had been offered help dealing with the tragedy.

The duchess said she felt "much better" when she left the hospital

He said: "This is a tragic event that could not have been reasonably foreseen and we're deeply saddened by it.

"I spoke to both presenters early this morning and it's fair to say they're completely shattered.

"These people aren't machines, they're human beings. We're all affected by this."

Holleran would not say who came up with the idea for the call, only that "these things are often done collaboratively".

He said 2Day FM would work with authorities, but was confident the station hadn't broken any laws, noting that prank calls in radio have been happening "for decades".

"They're not just part of one radio station or one network or one country - they're done worldwide," he said

The DJ pair bragged about the stunt on Twitter after an initial apology

Supermarket giant Coles and telecoms firm Telstra both announced they are withdrawing their business from the station at the earliest opportunity, while Australian media are reporting that media company Optus is also reviewing its position.

The station later announced that it would pull all advertising from its airwaves with immediate effect.

In a separate move, Australia's broadcasting regulator says it will be quizzing the owners of 2DayFM over the incident.

A spokesman for Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard described the incident as a "terrible tragedy".

During the hoax call, Greig impersonated the Queen and Christian mimicked Prince Charles and they managed to elicit details about the pregnant Duchess' medical condition.

A fierce online storm erupted as soon as news of the nurse's death emerged, with both presenters bombarded by messages on Twitter and the radio station's own comment section deluged.

Police found the nurse's body at her hospital accommodation

At the time, the station's website had still been promoting the video of the prank call, but this was later removed.

Online critics called for the presenters to resign and some claimed they had "blood on their hands".

Ms Saldanha, who had worked at the hospital for four years, was found dead at an address near King Edward VII's Hospital in London on Friday morning.

Her family said in a statement: "We as a family are deeply saddened by the loss of our beloved Jacintha."

A spokesman for Prince William and wife Kate said: "Their Royal Highnesses were looked after so wonderfully well at all times by everybody at King Edward VII's Hospital, and their thoughts and prayers are with Jacintha Saldanha's family, friends and colleagues at this very sad time."

"At no point did the Palace complain to the hospital about the incident. On the contrary, we offered our full and heartfelt support to the nurses involved and hospital staff at all times."

The King Edward VII's Hospital said: "It is with very deep sadness that we confirm the tragic death of a member of our nursing staff, Jacintha Saldanha.

"Jacintha has worked at the King Edward VII's Hospital for more than four years. She was an excellent nurse and well-respected and popular with all of her colleagues.

"We can confirm that Jacintha was recently the victim of a hoax call to the hospital. The hospital had been supporting her throughout this difficult time."

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Dead Fin Whale Washes Ashore In Malibu

A 40-foot whale carcass has washed ashore on one of Southern California's most pristine beaches and has begun to rot while authorities try to decide who should remove it.

The 40,000-pound (18,143-kg) male fin whale washed up in Malibu on Monday, not far from homes owned by singers Barbra Streisand and Bob Dylan.

Los Angeles County lifeguards had the idea of trying to pull the carcass out to sea but were unsure if they could manage the job.

County fire inspector Brian Riley said: "Our lifeguards think this probably exceeds our capabilities. You would need a tug boat to drag it out to sea."

In that case, the city was not sure who would do it, said spokeswoman Olivia Damavandi.

The Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbours was not responsible for disposing of the whale because "it's on a private beach", said spokeswoman Carol Baker.

The beach is controlled by homeowners down to the high tide line; the state is responsible for the tidelands, she added.

The California Wildlife Centre examined the carcass on Tuesday and found a gash on the young whale's back and a damaged spine, indicating it may have been hit by a ship.

Such accidents have become more common as increasing numbers of migrating blue, fin and humpback whales swim to California's shore to feast on krill.

The endangered fin whale is the second-largest animal in the world and can grow up to 85 feet (26 metres), weigh up to 80 tons and live to be 90 years old.

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Egypt: 'Concerned' Obama Calls Morsi

President Barack Obama has called the leader of Egypt to express his deep concern about the deaths and injuries of protesters in the country.

The US president welcomed President Mohamed Morsi's call for a dialogue with the opposition and urged opposition leaders to join in this dialogue without preconditions.

Egypt's president had appeared on national television in an attempt to defuse the worst violence seen in the country since last year's revolution, and he said a controversial decree granting him widespread new powers might be modified.

Anger over what is perceived as Mr Morsi's increasingly autocratic rule came to a head on Wednesday when at least six people were killed and almost 700 injured during clashes between his supporters and opponents.

Members of the main opposition coalition, the National Salvation Front, said they were assessing the offer of dialogue but it was immediately rejected by the pro-democracy movement "April 6".

The crisis was sparked by Mr Morsi's decree on November 22, giving himself wide powers and protecting himself from judicial review.

The opposition has previously demanded that the president scrap his decree, postpone the referendum and redraft the constitution.

As well as drawing up a political roadmap, President Morsi said the talks would aim to resolve the fate of the upper house of parliament after the Islamist-dominated lower house was dissolved in June, the election law and other issues.

"I call for a full, productive dialogue with all figures and heads of parties, revolutionary youth and senior legal figures to meet this Saturday," he declared.

Several thousand opposition protesters near the palace waved their shoes in derision after his speech and shouted "Killer, killer" and "We won't go, he will go" - another of the slogans used against Mubarak in last year's revolt.

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McAfee: Lawyers Bid To Prevent Belize Return

Lawyers for software guru John McAfee are making legal moves to prevent him being returned to Belize after he was released from hospital in neighbouring Guatemala.

McAfee had suffered chest pains and was rushed to hospital but a government doctor who examined him said his heart rhythm and blood pressure were normal and that he appeared to be suffering from high stress.

McAfee had been taken ill soon after Guatemalan authorities said his request for asylum had been denied. He was later returned to a detention centre.

McAfee has issued a plea on his blog for the public to petition Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina to let him stay.

"Please email the President of Guatemala and beg him to allow the court system to proceed, to determine my status in Guatemala, and please support the political asylum that I am asking for," the post read.

McAfee's legal team said they were preparing to appeal against the denial of asylum to the country's constitutional court, a process that could give McAfee perhaps another day or two in Guatemala.

He had been taken to the immigration centre after his arrest for illegally entering the country following a bizarre journey as a self-styled fugitive, with an active blog and constant contact with the press.

Belize police spokesman Raphael Martinez said officials expected McAfee to be flown back to his country.

Police want to question him about the killing of neighbour Gregory Viant Faull, who was shot in early November on the Belize island where both men lived.

The Faull family has said through a representative that the murder of their loved one on Ambergris Caye has become lost in the media frenzy provoked by McAfee's manipulation of the media through phone calls, emails and blog posts detailing his life on the run.

McAfee said US embassy officials had said they couldn't help him with a request to be returned to the US instead of Belize.

McAfee said he had formally requested asylum in Guatemala due to fears for his safety because he has sensitive information about official corruption and refused to donate to local politicians.

His Guatemalan lawyer, Telesforo Guerra, has said 67-yeard-old McAfee's life would be in danger if he is sent back to Belize.

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Four Dead After Ships Collide In North Sea

Four crew members have died and seven are missing after a cargo ship collided with another vessel and sank off the Dutch coast.

"We can confirm that four bodies have been found, along with 13 people rescued alive," said Coast Guard spokesman Marcel Oldenburger.

An air and sea rescue operation involving several helicopters, two navy patrol ships and even one of the ships involved in the collision has now been suspended.

"We have suspended the search until first light," Coast Guard spokesman Peter Verburg said.

"The chances of finding them alive are slim," he added, saying there was a chance that some of the crew may have gone down with the stricken vessel.

The 485ft Baltic Ace collided with the 440ft container ship Corvus J near busy shipping lanes some 40 miles off the coast of the southern Netherlands.

Baltic Ace was heading from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge to Kotka in Finland and the Corvus J was on its way from Grangemouth in Scotland to Antwerp, Belgium.

Earlier, 13 crew members were rescued from the Baltic Ace.

Four were flown to a hospital in Rotterdam, seven taken by rescue helicopter to a hospital in Belgium and two were being treated on board a ship that found them.

A coast guard spokesman said the cause of the collision was not known.

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Philippines Typhoon: Deadly Scale Becomes Clear

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent

The number of people killed in the Philippines typhoon may rise as high as 500.

Rescuers and recovery teams are continuing to discover devastated communities in remote regions of Mindanao Island.

Typhoon Bopha hit the east of Mindanao, far south of the capital Manila, at dawn on Tuesday morning.

Initial reports suggested that no one had been killed and only a few people injured.

However, as communication was restored and remote regions accessed, the reality became clear.

TV footage shows scores of dead bodies all caked in mud. Those who survived sit, stunned, next to their dead relatives.

A family wash clothes surrounded by a devastated banana plantation

One young boy is carried to safety by his cousin. His father is in hospital but his mother and his brother are dead.

Hundreds of the injured across Mindanao will have the same stories. Many thousands more are homeless.

Mindanao has the perfect landscape for storm destruction - much of the population live in shacks along the coastline, but inland the island is dominated by mountains and rivers.

Many people and their homes were wiped away by flooding and landslides.

In the Compostela Valley in the island's south-east, communities were evacuated to a local school and a community centre which were then hit.

"We didn't think the winds would get that strong. The floods were rushing towards us. We didn't imagine it would turn out that way, so we didn't come here to evacuate," one villager said.

The recovery will continue and the repair work will now begin. However, forecasters predict another storm within the next two weeks.

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John McAfee Arrested By Guatemalan Police

Anti-virus software pioneer John McAfee has been arrested by Guatemalan police for entering the country illegally.

The 67-year-old was detained at a hotel in Guatemala City with the help of Interpol agents.

He entered the country over the weekend with his 20-year-old girlfriend Sam Venegas after going on the run following the murder of his neighbour in Belize last month.

Police spokesman Pablo Castillo said the software pioneer could be deported within hours to Belize or repatriated to the US.

John McAfee with his 20-year-old Belizean girlfriend Sam Venegas

"We understand that he has permanent residency in Belize, where he could be deported in the next few hours," the spokesman said.

"His status is illegal and he is being made available to immigration authorities so they can decide whether to deport him to his country of origin."

After his arrival in Guatemala, he employed former Guatemalan attorney general Telesforo Guerra to manage his plea to stay in the country.

"[Mr McAfee] is persecuted in Belize, persecuted politically because he stopped financing the government," Mr Guerra said.

"They accuse him of a common crime. So what I have to obtain is an authorisation of asylum."

John McAfee during an interview

Mr McAfee has maintained his innocence since escaping the Belize police on the island of Ambergris Caye hours after Gregory Faull was shot in the head on November 11.

The authorities in Belize say Mr McAfee is wanted for questioning as a "person of interest" and have urged him to give himself up.

Mr Faull, who was found with a 9mm bullet in his head, led neighbours in writing a letter to the mayor complaining that the millionaire's "vicious" dogs and aggressive security guards were scaring tourists and residents.

Before he fled after the murder, Mr McAfee shot dead his four dogs, which he said could have been poisoned by Mr Faull.

Ballistics experts have exhumed the animals and are examining them to see if the bullets match that found in the victim.

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Gang Boss Shot Dead: Real IRA Member Held

A convicted member of the Real IRA is in custody following the murder of one of Ireland's most notorious criminals.

Eamon Kelly was shot dead after being chased down the road near his home in north Dublin, just two years after he escaped a similar attempt on his life when the attacker's gun jammed.

Dubbed "The Godfather" by Dublin's tabloid press, the 65-year-old was shot up to six times as he attempted to flee the gunman, according to police.

He was found injured on a footpath and died later in Beaumont Hospital.

A 32-year-old arrested near the scene on Furry Park Road in Killester is said to be a close associate of Real IRA leader Alan Ryan, who was murdered in September.

The suspect from south Dublin was previously jailed for Real IRA membership and his gang is suspected of being involved in a spate of shootings and pipebomb attacks. He is being questioned by gardai in Clontarf.

Kelly's crime empire has reportedly been at odds with Real IRA figures, who in recent years have demanded a slice of criminal gangs' drug-trafficking profits in exchange for not killing their members or burning down their business fronts.

Such killings have become regular occurrences in working-class parts of Dublin and the southwest city of Limerick, where two rival crime clans, the Keane-Collopy and McCarthy-Dundon gangs, have been killing each other -and occasionally innocent civilians - for a decade.

Fourteen other people have been shot dead in attacks linked to criminal gangs or disputes in the Irish capital this year.

Police allege that Kelly was a leading member of a gang which, working with the IRA, robbed banks and armoured-car cash shipments in Dublin in the 1980s and became a pioneer of Ireland's burgeoning cocaine trade.

In 1993, he became Ireland's first gangland boss to be convicted of possessing cocaine and received a 14-year prison sentence.

Since leaving prison a decade ago, Kelly has overseen a sharp rise in tit-for-tat violence, according to authorities.

Police allege that his longtime associate, Eamon "the Don" Dunne, oversaw at least 17 murders from 2005 to his own death in 2010, when he was shot eight times in the head as he sat drinking in a Dublin pub.

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Nasa Plans To Send New Rover To Red Planet

Nasa has announced plans to send a new rover to Mars in 2020 as it prepares for a manned mission to the Red Planet.

The news comes a day after results of the first soil tested by the Curiosity rover found traces of some of the compounds like water and oxygen that are necessary for life.

President Barack Obama's administration "is committed to a robust Mars exploration programme", Nasa Administrator Charles Bolden said.

"With this next mission, we're ensuring America remains the world leader in the exploration of the Red Planet, while taking another significant step toward sending humans there in the 2030s."

Nasa was forced to pull out of some joint missions with the European Space Agency after its budget was slashed earlier this year. 

It hopes to save money on the next rover - currently estimated to cost $1.5bn - by using spare parts left over from Curiosity and sticking to the same successful design.

Curiosity landed on Mars on August 6

The new rover brings the number of Nasa missions currently operating or being planned for Mars to seven.

The Opportunity rover has been exploring the Martian surface since 2004.

The much more sophisticated Curiosity rover landed in Gale Crater on August 6. Two other spacecraft are currently orbiting Mars to study the planet from above and help relay signals from the rovers.

A new craft - the Maven - is set to launch next year to study the Martian upper atmosphere.

Nasa also plans to send a craft dubbed InSight to dig the planet's depths in 2016 to determine whether its core is solid or liquid like Earth's.

"The challenge to restructure the Mars Exploration Programme has turned from the seven minutes of terror for the Curiosity landing to the start of seven years of innovation," said astronaut John Grunsfeld, Nasa's associate administrator for science.

While the rover's name and actual mission must still be worked out, Mr Grunsfeld said he hoped it would improve on Curiosity with the addition of a 3D camera.

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Turkey Storms: Cargo Ship's Crew Missing

Nine crew members are missing after their boat sank off the coast of Istanbul in stormy conditions.

Turkish rescue workers are also involved in an operation to save 14 sailors from another cargo vessel after it suffered a mechanical failure.

Two people also died and three are still missing after a rescue boat crashed into the rocks off Turkey's Sile coast.

Sile lies about 25 miles east of the northern end of the Bosphorus Strait, the only maritime outlet for cargo from Black Sea countries, including Russian oil and grain.

Stormy weather conditions frequently force the strait's closure in winter, but officials have said it is still open.

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Syria: Obama Warns Against Chemical Warfare

Barack Obama has warned Syrian President Bashar Assad of the "consequences" if he were to make the "tragic mistake" of using chemical weapons against his own people.

The US President's remarks came as security officials said they had detected activity at chemical weapons depots.

"I want to make it absolutely clear to Assad and those under his command, the world is watching. The use of chemical weapons is and would be totally unacceptable," he said.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton echoed Mr Obama's caution that such action would cross a "red line" for the United States that would prompt action.

She did not, however, address the reports of movement at Syrian chemical weapons depots - or go into detail about what the response might be - but insisted that Washington would address any threat that arises.

Buildings destroyed by regime missiles in the village of Houla, near Homs

"We have made our views very clear: This is a red line for the United States," she said on Monday while in Prague for meetings with Czech officials.

"I'm not going to telegraph in any specifics what we would do in the event of credible evidence that the Assad regime has resorted to using chemical weapons against their own people. But suffice it to say, we are certainly planning to take action if that eventuality were to occur."

She added: "We once again issue a very strong warning to the Assad regime that their behaviour is reprehensible, their actions against their own people have been tragic.

"But there is no doubt that there's a line between even the horrors that they've already inflicted on the Syrian people and moving to what would be an internationally condemned step of utilising their chemical weapons."

White House, press secretary Jay Carney added: "We are concerned that in an increasingly beleaguered regime, having found its escalation of violence through conventional means inadequate, might be considering the use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people."

Hillary Clinton says chemical warfare would be a "red line" for the US

The warning came as Lebanese security officials said Syria's Foreign Ministry spokesman had left the country and was heading to the UK on a flight from Beirut.

However, it was unclear whether Jihad Makdissi had defected from Mr Assad's regime.

Syria has been careful never to confirm that it has any chemical weapons - any use of which would draw international condemnation.

Its ministry of foreign affairs said Syria "would not use chemical weapons - if there are any - against its own people under any circumstances".

Syria is believed to have several hundred ballistic surface-to-surface missiles capable of carrying chemical warheads, and there are concerns its chemical and biological weapons could fall into the wrong hands should the regime in Syria collapse and lose control of them.

The US has opposed military intervention or providing arms support to Syria's rebels for fear of further escalating a conflict that activists say has killed more than 40,000 people since March 2011.

Meanwhile, the United Nations said it was suspending its aid operations in Syria and withdrawing all non-essential international staff due to attacks on humanitarian aid convoys and the hijacking of goods or vehicles in recent weeks.

The European Union said it too was scaling back its activities in the Syrian capital Damascus due to the worsening security situation.

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Fort Hood Killings: Court Halts Beard Shaving

A military appeals court has removed the judge from the case of the Fort Hood shooting suspect and thrown out his order to forcibly shave the defendant's beard.

The US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces ruled that Colonel Gregory Gross did not appear impartial while presiding over the case of Major Nidal Hasan.

Hasan faces the death penalty if convicted of the 2009 shootings at the Texas Army post in which 13 people were killed and more than two dozen wounded.

He appealed after Col Gross ordered that he must be clean-shaven or be forcibly shaved before the court-martial.

Gross had repeatedly said Hasan's beard was a disruption to the court proceedings.

Clean-shaven Hasan pictured before the Army post shootings

Hasan has said his beard is a requirement of his Muslim faith, although facial hair violates Army rules.

The appeals court said the command, not the judge, is responsible for enforcing grooming standards.

But the court said it was not ruling on whether the judge's order violated Hasan's religious rights.

"Should the next military judge find it necessary to address (Hasan's) beard, such issues should be addressed and litigated anew," judges wrote in the ruling.

The court-martial had been set to begin three months ago, but has been on hold pending the appeals.

It was not immediately clear if Army prosecutors would appeal against this ruling to the US Supreme Court. Prosecutors have said they would not comment about the case until the trial is over, and Fort Hood officials did not immediately issue a statement.

Soldiers wounded in the incident, along with relatives of those who were killed, are campaigning to get the Pentagon to declare the massacre an act of terrorism rather than an incident of workplace violence.

Survivors say the change could help them get extra compensation and benefits.

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Iran 'Captures' US Drone In Its Airspace

Iran has "captured" a US drone gathering intelligence over Gulf waters after it entered its airspace, state TV has reported.

The report quoted the Revolutionary Guard's navy chief General Ali Fadavi on the "intruding" ScanEagle drone, but offered no precise details on the location or how it had been seized by the Guards' naval unit.

In 2011 Iran claimed it brought down a CIA spy drone after it entered Iranian airspace from its eastern borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Tehran later claimed it had retrieved data from the RQ-170 Sentinel, a top-secret drone equipped with stealth technology.

More follows...

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Japan Tunnel Collapse: Nine People Dead

Nine people are now known to have died after a tunnel collapsed on a busy highway west of Tokyo, officials have said.

The bodies were found in three vehicles crushed by concrete slabs which fell from the roof of the Sasago Tunnel in Yamanashi prefecture.

A fire broke out soon after the cave in and a number of survivors fled to safety on foot.

Rescue work has been suspended while the roof is being reinforced to prevent more collapses.

Jun Goto, an official at the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, said he expected the search to resume by the afternoon.

He said it was unclear whether there were any other victims.

Police and the firm that runs the highway, Central Japan Expressway Co., are investigating why the concrete panels collapsed.

An inspection of the tunnel's roof in September found nothing amiss, according to Satoshi Noguch, a company official.

An estimated 270 concrete slabs suspended from the arched roof of the tunnel fell over a stretch of about  120 yards (110 metres), Mr Noguchi said.

Rescuers had to first deal with a fire in the tunnel

The operator was exploring the possibility that bolts holding a metal piece suspending the panels above the road had become aged, he added.

The panels were installed when the tunnel was constructed in 1977.

When the disaster struck on Sunday morning, black smoke could be seen billowing from the 2.8-mile (4.7-km) tunnel.

The fire was extinguished about 11am local time but the rescue and recovery operation has been delayed by concerns that there could be further collapses.

Drivers described narrow escapes from falling debris, and a long walk through the darkness after abandoning their cars.

"When I was driving in the tunnel, concrete pieces fell down suddenly from the ceiling," a man in his 30s told public broadcaster NHK.

"I saw a crushed car catching fire. I left my car and walked for about an hour to get out of the tunnel."

Another said: "I could hear voices of people calling for help, but the fire was just too strong."

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Russia: Drivers Stuck In 120-Mile Traffic Jam

Tens of thousands of vehicles have been stuck - some for three days - in a huge traffic jam on a motorway northwest of Moscow.

The length of the queue on the M-10 highway was put at up to 120 miles (200km), according to media reports.

One driver was reported as saying he had travelled just "one kilometre over 24 hours".

The cause of the gridlock was blamed on heavy snow.

Field kitchens have been set up along stretches of the road but many drivers said they were running out of fuel to keep their engines and heating running in the sub-zero temperatures.

"Drivers help one another and that's it, the problems are on the side of the authorities. There are no gasoline tankers, no water, nothing. We are just stuck here," a truck driver called Sergei said.

Field kitchens have been set up along the route

A police official said that by Sunday evening "the reach of the traffic jam is no longer than 55km and is gradually falling".

But a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin has been ordered to report to Mr Medvedev on measures to end the jam and help the stranded motorists.

Russian authorities have been accused of sluggish responses to weather-related problems, including deadly wildfires in 2010 and flooding in the south this summer.

The M-10 highway links Moscow with Russia's second largest city St Petersburg, some 435 miles (700km) from the capital, and stretches on to the border with Finland.

Russia's roads have been the butt of criticism since Tsarist times and its infrastructure has been plagued with problems since the Soviet era when defence spending was high at the expense of roads, housing, healthcare and other civilian needs.

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Jovan Belcher: NFL Team Plays On After Deaths

The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Carolina Panthers 27-21 after going ahead with a scheduled match within 24 hours of one of their players killing himself.

The crowd at the Kansas City Chiefs' Arrowhead Stadium observed a moment of silence for victims of domestic violence and their families.

There was no mention of Jovan Belcher who killed 22-year-old Kasandra Perkins before driving to the NFL team's practice facility and turning the gun on himself.

Coach Romeo Crennel and general manager Scott Pioli tried to stop Belcher, but could only watch as he shot himself in the head.

Kasandra Perkins' house

The Chiefs' chairman Clark Hunt offered sympathy to the families affected by the murder-suicide on Sunday, calling it "an incredibly difficult 24 hours for our family".

He said the Chiefs consulted with the league about whether to play the game as scheduled, but ultimately left it up to the coach and the team captains to decide.

The Chiefs rallied to win their second game of the season 27-21.

Police have not released a motive for the shootings but said the couple had been arguing recently. They had a three-month-old daughter who is being cared for by family.

Belcher was a 25-year-old native of West Babylon, New York, on Long Island, who played college football at Maine.

He had played in all 11 of the Chiefs' games this season.

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NFL Player Shoots Girlfriend Then Himself

An American football player with the Kansas City Chiefs has shot himself dead after reportedly killing his girlfriend.

Javon Belcher, 25, drove to the team's practice facility near Arrowhead Stadium and turned the gun on himself as two team officials were confronting him.

Police spokesman Darin Snapp said authorities received a call from a woman who said her daughter had been shot multiple times at a home around five miles from the stadium in Kansas City.

The call actually came from Belcher's mother, who referred to the victim as her daughter, leading to some initial confusion, police said.

She said her son and his girlfriend, who has been named as 22-year-old Kasandra M Perkins, had been arguing recently. The couple had a three-month-old baby.

Mr Snapp said when police arrived at the practice facility they saw a black male in a car with a handgun to his head talking to two Chiefs officials.

He said the linebacker - who was in his fourth season with the American football franchise - thanked general manager Scott Pioli and head coach Romeo Crennel for all they had done for him, before shooting himself.

He said: "When we arrived (at the house), a lady informed us that her daughter had been shot multiple times by her boyfriend. She identified him as a Chiefs player."

After officers arrived at the training facility, the coaches told them they never felt in danger.

Mr Snapp added: "They were just talking to him and he was thanking them and everything.

"The suspect began to walk in the opposite direction of the coaches and the officers and that's when they heard the gunshot. It appears he took his own life."

Belcher, from West Babylon, New York, played college football at Maine.

"The entire Chiefs family is deeply saddened by today's events, and our collective hearts are heavy with sympathy, thoughts and prayers for the families and friends affected by this unthinkable tragedy," Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt said in a statement.

The Chiefs are due to play the Carolina Panthers at Arrowhead on Sunday. The game is expected go ahead as scheduled.

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Suicide Bombers Attack US Base In Afghanistan

Taliban suicide bombers have attacked a US base in Afghanistan with explosives and gunfire, sparking a two-hour battle with American forces.

Militants detonated a car bomb at the gate of Jalalabad Airfield before American helicopters opened fire on the militants.

Local police officials said a dozen bodies in Afghan police and military uniforms were around the entrance.

It was not immediately clear whether the dead were Afghan security forces or militants dressed in uniforms, a tactic the Taliban sometimes deploys during its attacks.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed the militants stormed the base, but a spokesman for the Afghan Defence Ministry, General Mohammad Zahir Azimi, said none of the militants had been able to enter.

The Nato military coalition also described it as a failed attack.

Lieutenant Colonel Hagen Messer, a spokesman for the international military coalition, said: "We can confirm insurgents, including multiple suicide bombers, attacked Jalalabad Airfield this morning.

"None of the attackers succeeded in breaching the perimeter."

He said the fighting had ended by mid-morning, and one member of the Afghan security forces had been killed.

Several foreign troops were wounded, but Lt Col Messer did not give any numbers or details.

"The final assessment of what happened this morning is not yet complete, but initial reports indicate there were three suicide bombers," he added.

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Japan: 'Bodies Found' After Tunnel Collapse

Police have seen several bodies in a car inside a highway tunnel that collapsed in central Japan, reports say.

The Sasago tunnel on the busy Chuo Expressway, about 80-km (50 miles) west from Tokyo, caved in just after 8am local time, sending debris crashing down on cars and triggering a fire.

Seven people were believed to be missing and two were injured, the fire service said.

At least two cars were thought to be trapped.

Motorists described narrow escapes from falling debris, and a long walk through the darkness after abandoning their cars.

"When I was driving in the tunnel, concrete pieces fell down suddenly from the ceiling," a man in his 30s told public broadcaster NHK.

"I saw a crushed car catching fire. I was rightened, left my car and walked for about an hour to get out of the tunnel."

CCTV footage of inside of the tunnel

Footage showed black smoke billowing from the 4.7-km (2.8-mile) tunnel in Yamanashi prefecture.

After the fire was extinguished about 11am, video footage from cameras inside the tunnel showed firefighters picking their way through cement roof panels that collapsed onto vehicles inside the tunnel.

NHK reporter Yoshio Goto, caught in Sunday's accident, hit the accelerator and managed to drive out.

"But it was a bit too late and pieces of ceiling fell on my car. I kept pressing the pedal and managed to get out," he said.

"Then when I looked around, I saw half of the car ceiling was crushed."

It was the worst such accident in Japan since 1996, when a tunnel collapsed and falling rocks crushed cars and a bus, killing 20 people.

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