Syria Chemical Weapons: UN Resolution Agreed

A draft resolution to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons arsenal has been agreed by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

Britain's UN ambassador Mark Lyall Grant revealed the UK, France, the US, Russia and China had agreed on a "binding and enforceable draft ... resolution".

The US and Russia had been at odds on how to enforce the resolution and a senior American official described the deal as "historic".

It is understood the text contains no mention of military intervention and Mr Lyall said compromise was crucial.

"The United Kingdom would've liked a direct reference to the international criminal court," he said.

"We would've liked much stronger language on the abuse of human rights, human rights violations by the regime but what this resolution does do is for the first time for many months it brings together in a strong message of unity of the Security Council and for that it was worth making some compromises."

Mr Assad said Syria was prepared for a US attack irrespective of a deal

The agreement by the permanent members, whose differences have prevented action on Syria, represents a major breakthrough in addressing a conflict that began two and a half years ago and has killed more than 100,000 people.

The text of the draft resolution was due to be presented to the 10 other members of the Security Council at a meeting on Thursday night - with a vote expected on Friday.

A senior US official said: "This is a breakthrough arrived at through hard-fought diplomacy.

"This is historic and unprecedented because it puts oversight of the Assad regime's compliance under international control."

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed the accord without giving details of the text.

"We reached an understanding with the United States on a draft resolution," he said.

Meanwhile, Syria's President Bashar al Assad said in an interview with Venezuelan TV that the US may still attack despite an agreement on chemical weapons.

"Maybe we should put that possibility into consideration, in every place of the world (meaning of an outside military attack)," he said.

"We ask ourselves whether there is a possibility of an attack. There may not be one at the moment, but no one knows for sure when that possibility could become a reality. There will always be that possibility and we should not discard it."

The flurry of diplomatic activity is in response to a poison gas attack on August 21 that killed hundreds of civilians in a Damascus suburb, and President Barack Obama's threat of US strikes in retaliation.

US Secretary of State John Kerry subsequently said Mr Assad could avert US military action by turning over "every single bit of his chemical weapons" to international control within a week.

Russia, Syria's most important ally, agreed and Mr Kerry and Mr Lavrov signed an agreement in Geneva on September 13.

Mr Assad's government quickly accepted the broad proposal, but there have been tough negotiations on how its stockpile will be destroyed.

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Iran And US Agree To New Nuclear Talks

UN Leaders Make Nice In New York

Updated: 6:52am UK, Wednesday 25 September 2013

By Dominic Waghorn, US Correspondent

It's that time of year when the world's leaders descend on Manhattan for their annual get together.

The UN General Assembly, best known for diplomatic dustups and theatrical posturing by flamboyant dictators.

Nikita Khruschev comes to mind, probably bashing the podium with a shoe and Yasser Arafat brandishing a pistol.

If that's your thing, this year will be a disappointment.

I almost walked into Robert Mugabe just now. The Zimbabwean dictator and entourage swept into an elevator barely noticed, not pursued by a single camera. 

Was it my imagination or did he seem almost lonely? The last of a dying breed.

Fellow demagogues like Muammar Gaddafi deposed and killed, Hugo Chavez dead, this year's UN panto villain, Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir a no show, chickening out apparently, afraid of war crime charges.

And as for the Iranians who can normally be relied on to stick it to Great Satan and provoke at least a walkout?  This year quite the opposite. Making nicey nicey instead with the Americans with what looks like a historic thaw in the offing. Whatever next?

Barack Obama swept into the UN in his normal black limo looking like a man on a date.

For weeks he's been exchanging increasingly flirtatious letters with Iranian president Hassan Rouhani.

Friends of both had been talking up chances of the two men meeting briefly in a corridor somewhere. Nothing too serious you understand but a completely casual yet completely choreographed handshake.

In the end, the pair did not meet - US officials said a meeting proved to be too complicated for the Iranians.

At the UN, the US leader talked about "taking a major step down a long road towards a different relationship - one based on mutual interests and mutual respect".

Hassan Rouhani said his country was prepared to engage in stalled negotiations over its disputed nuclear programme and was open to talks with the US "to manage differences".

Enough to make some of America's friends worry things are moving too fast, along with plenty of America's enemies in Tehran, if for different reasons.

This is just the beginning, there are plenty of reasons to be sceptical and it may all come to nothing.

But there's no doubt something has shifted and this year's story here is not about confrontation but rapprochement instead.

They certainly don't make UN General Assemblies like they used to.

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Mumbai Building Collapse: Dozens Trapped

A multi-storey building has collapsed in the Indian city of Mumbai, killing at least two people and leaving up to 90 people trapped.

Rescuers are trying to reach the dozens feared to be under the rubble, having already pulled out 12 people alive who were immediately rushed to hospital by waiting ambulances.

The residential building in India's financial capital, which is said to be home to up to 22 families, crumbled to the ground shortly after dawn.

Rescue workers pull out a survivor from underneath the rubble

Several diggers were immediately pressed into action to lift some of the larger slabs of concrete, allowing teams of rescuers to begin the task of searching for survivors, some of whom could be heard calling for help.

"Approximately 80 to 90 people are believed to be left behind in the building and trapped," said Alok Awasthi, local commander of the National Disaster Response Force.

The building is owned by the city's civic administrative body, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai.

It said the building was for employees and their families who had been asked to leave earlier this year - but did not say why.

Spokesman Vijay Khabale-Patil said: "The building was around 30 years old. We had issued a notice to them in April to vacate the building, but they did not act."

Firefighters at the scene look through a gap in the collapsed structure

Five other apartment blocks have collapsed in or around Mumbai in recent months, including one illegally constructed building in April that killed 72 people.

A few weeks later a section of a hospital collapsed, injuring at least eight people.

And in June, 10 people, including five children, died when a three-storey building crumbled.

Building collapses have become relatively common across India.

Massive demand for housing around India's fast-growing cities combined with corruption often result in builders using substandard materials or adding extra floors without permission.

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Battle To Save US Youth From 'Jihadi Pipeline'

By Greg Milam, US Correspondent

Authorities in the American city regarded as the 'jihadi pipeline' for terror group al Shabaab say they are winning the battle to prevent young men being recruited.

The FBI says the group, which has admitted being behind the Nairobi mall massacre, has persuaded dozens of young men from within the Somalian community in Minneapolis to join them.

Police and community leaders in the city, the largest Somalian population in the United States, have waged a war to win the hearts and minds of young men and keep them out of al Shabaab's clutches.

And, they say, what was a steady flow of recruits has slowed to a trickle.

US Attorney General Eric Holder has said he has seen no evidence to suggest that any Americans were involved in the Nairobi operation.

But events in Kenya have sent a shudder through families in the Minneapolis Riverside area known as "Little Mogadishu" - they fear that some of those young men who have disappeared will be caught up in al Shabaab attacks on Western targets.

Al Shabaab militants train on the outskirts of Mogadishu in 2008

Last month the group posted a YouTube video featuring the so-called Minnesota Martyrs, three young inner-city Americans appealing for others to join them on "the path to paradise".

One, speaking directly to camera, says: "If you guys only knew how much fun we have over here, this is the real Disneyland, come here and join us, take pleasure in this fun."

And Sky News understands that two more young men disappeared from Minneapolis earlier this month - with their families fearing the worst.

Despite this, the authorities say they are making progress in the face of what the FBI says is one of the largest efforts to recruit Americans to a foreign terrorist organisation.

Sergeant Derwin Ellis, who leads the outreach effort for the sheriff's department, told Sky News: "We're moving in a positive direction.

A campaign is under way in Minneapolis to keep youths away from al Shabaab

"How that is measured as far as the battle overall is hard to say. Until al Shabaab ceases to exist I won't say that battle is over with."

Mohamed Farah is the executive director of a non-profit organisation called Ka Joog, which translates as "stay away". He told Sky News the outreach efforts are working.

He said: "The only way to combat such an organisation is education, making sure our young people understand and are educated not only in their religion, but socially, so they're aware of the good and the bad.

"It is working, it is definitely working. There will always be bad apples, but we must be positive."

They hope the example of young, smart, media-savvy role models in the community will be inspirational.

One of them, student Abdul Mohamed, told Sky News: "I'm very confident in the notion that this will end, that the youth will snap out of it, will realise this is not the right way to go, that nothing positive that can come out of it.

"There is hope in the future."

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Rouhani: Iran Wants Nuclear Deal 'In Months'

Iranian President Hasan Rouhani has said he wants to reach an agreement over the country's nuclear programme within three months.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Dr Rouhani said he was keen to set a three or six-month timetable to seal a nuclear deal.

He emphasised that Iran envisioned a process lasting "months, not years", and added that he had the backing to broker a deal from the country's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

"If we are on the issue of the nuclear file, we need resolution in a reasonable time," he told the newspaper.

"The only way forward is for a timeline to be inserted into the negotiations that's short - and wrap it up. That is a decision of my government, that short is necessary to settle the nuclear file.

"If it's three months that would be Iran's choice, if it's six months that's still good. It's a question of months, not years."

Dr Rouhani balked at meeting President Obama in New York

The United States, other Western powers and Israel suspect Tehran is using its nuclear programme as a cover to develop an atomic bomb, a claim Iran denies.

Dr Rouhani's comments come after signs of improving relations between the US and the Islamic Republic following his election earlier this year.

The Iranian leader, however, opted against meeting US President Barack Obama at the United Nations on Tuesday.

His latest comments came ahead of discussions on Iran's nuclear activities between US Secretary of State John Kerry, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and their counterparts from the UK, China, France, Germany and Russia at the UN headquarters in New York.

Dr Rouhani said told the UN General Assembly that Iran was willing to make its nuclear programme "transparent" to assure the international community it was not seeking to build a bomb.

"If the West recognises Iran's legal rights then there's really no hurdle in creating full transparency that's necessary to settle this case," he said.

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Kenya Survivor 'Smeared Herself In Blood'

A survivor of the Nairobi mall attacks has described how she smeared herself with a victim's blood to play dead and fool the terrorists.

Radio presenter Sneha Kothari Mashru said a teenage boy lying next to her died of his wounds as they hid from the gunmen at the Westgate shopping centre in the Kenyan capital.

"I realised he was shot, because he was bleeding," she said.

"So I pulled out (his) phone slowly and I tried to switch it off, it was all full of blood, and I tried to switch off the phone so that it could stop ringing (in case it alerted the attackers).

"So I took a lot of his blood, (as) much (as) I could and I tried to put it on myself. I put it on my arm, a lot of the teenager's blood, and while I was trying to put it on my hand I just realised that he had stopped breathing at that time.

"So I put it on my arm, as much as I could, and I covered my face with my hair, because my hair was let loose even then, just to pretend that I'm dead or probably badly injured.

"I would still love to know who he is and everything, because his blood probably protected me from getting probably more injured or attacked."

Meanwhile, terror group al Shabaab has claimed its militants carried out a "meticulous vetting process" to separate Muslims from non-Muslims before killing dozens of men, women and children in the mall.

Witnesses had described how the gunmen rounded up those inside centre before asking them questions about Islam.

The attackers then allowed those they deemed to be Muslims to leave the shopping complex.

In an email exchange with the Associated Press, the al Qaeda-affiliated terror group confirmed its fighters specifically targeted foreigners during the attack.

"The Mujahideen carried out a meticulous vetting process at the mall and have taken every possible precaution to separate the Muslims from the Kuffar (disbelievers) before carrying out their attack," the group said.

It added: "Our targets have always been disbelievers, invaders and the apostate governments officials/troops who are allied with them."

Miraculous tales of survival have emerged since the attack

The number killed in the attack is expected to rise from the current figure of 67, with speculation there could be additions to the six British dead.

Five terrorists were also killed in the four-day siege at the shopping centre, while 10 suspects remain in custody in relation to the incident.

Former prime minister Tony Blair told Sky News that terrorists are a "cancer" who will only be defeated by better education.

Speaking outside the United Nations headquarters in New York, the current envoy to the Middle East said Islamist ideology had created an enemy that was "insidious and venomous, but also difficult to beat".

"Unless we are educating people to a tolerant and respectful and open-minded approach to the world, then this cancer of these terrorist groups will continue," he said.

Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud has warned that such attacks may become more frequent as al Shabaab tries to reassert its dwindling power base.

"Some people sometimes mix the issues that Shabaab want an Islamic state in Somalia - that's not true. Shabaab want a unified state all over the world," he told Channel 4 News.

"They do not believe in borders, they do not believe in sovereignty, so their theme is global, it's not even regional. They may do this act again and again."

Experts from countries including the UK, the US and Israel are helping Kenyan authorities with the forensic investigation at the mall. Explosives experts and sniffer dogs are searching for booby traps in the wreckage.

Newly-released pictures show a gaping hole in the mall's roof and mounds of rubble.

The devastation was caused after soldiers fired rocket-propelled grenades and knocked out a support column.

A Kenyan government official said the soldiers fired to distract a sniper so that hostages could be evacuated.

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Kenya: Days Of Mourning For Terror Victims

Kenya has begun three days of mourning for the victims of Nairobi's shopping centre attack, as authorities prepare to retrieve the bodies of victims still trapped inside.

At least 67 people have been confirmed dead in the attack, including 61 civilians and six security officials.

Kenyan authorities say the number of dead may rise further, as bodies are feared to be trapped beneath rubble in the mall after three levels collapsed.

Six Britons - including an eight-year-old girl - are among the dead, and Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has warned there may be further British victims.

A Western embassy official said the number of additional dead could reach as high as 100. Morgue workers are preparing to receive further victims.

Smoke rises from the Westgate mall in Nairobi

"They're just seeing dead bodies. They've found no survivors, no live hostages," a Nairobi resident, who did not wish to be named, told The Associated Press.

About 175 people were also wounded when al Shabaab militants stormed the Nairobi mall on Saturday afternoon.

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta announced in a televised address that troops had "shamed and defeated" the militants following a four-day siege.

"Kenya has stared down evil and triumphed. These cowards will meet justice as will their accomplices and patrons, wherever they are," Mr Kenyatta said.

Some 11 suspects have been arrested in connection with the attack, and a further five died during the siege at the complex.

Kenyan troops stormed the shopping complex

Police have confirmed that the attackers are either dead or in custody.

The Foreign Office has confirmed the arrest of a Briton, and say they are making contact to offer standard consular assistance.

"Now it is for the forensic and criminal experts," said police spokesman Masoud Mwinyi.

Explosives experts are searching for possible booby traps in the wreckage.

"They are checking for any potential explosive devices left behind," a security source told the AFP news agency, adding that specialist remote-controlled demining robots were on hand.

Teams of sniffer dogs have been taken into the building to check for explosives and to find bodies.

Workers wore face masks and some soldiers wrapped scarves around their mouths to cover what they said was an overpowering stench inside the centre.

Sky's chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay said that police have come across a large number of booby traps, and a large explosion was heard at the centre on Wednesday morning.

"Any suspicious objects they'll blow up," he said. "There's a security fear here still that maybe some of the gunmen are still alive."

The attackers marched into the four-storey, part Israeli-owned mall at midday on Saturday, shooting dead shoppers with machine guns and tossing grenades.

Al Shabaab has claimed it carried out the attack in retaliation for Kenya's military intervention in Somalia.

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Kenya Siege Survivors Tell Of Brush With Death

Survivors of the Nairobi shopping centre terrorist attack have spoken of their attempts to hide from the gunmen as they fired indiscriminately at shoppers.

The attack at the Westgate Shopping Mall, which began on Saturday, has so far killed at least 67 people.

Eleven suspects are in custody and five of the attackers - thought to be members of Somalia's al Shabaab group - have been killed, but it is still unclear whether the four-day siege has been ended.

Ben Mulwa had just got out of his car after arriving at the mall for lunch with a friend.

He described running from his vehicle into the mall to escape the shooting when he saw four men armed with automatic weapons.

"There was a security guard who came to seek safety right next to where I was," he told Sky News after returning to hospital.

"He was the first to be shot dead because I remember they shot him right through the head.

"Before I could come to terms with that, that's when I saw the second gunman pointing a gun in my direction. All I remember is I heard a very loud bang.

"I think I almost passed out for a couple of seconds. A bullet grazed over my forehead - how he was able to miss me - and he was only three or four metres away from me - is a miracle somehow."

Kenyan security forces outside the Westgate mall

Mr Mulwa was also hit in the knee, and hid in a flowerbed before he was rescued.

Syed Ibrahim was shot by the gunmen and pleaded for his life, before the terrorists let him go.

He said: "I just told them to leave me alone, I've been injured, so they let me go and said we won't do anything to you because you have been shot already.

"The memory, you can't forget, you usually see it on TV or in movies. You wouldn't expect to see it in reality.

"It's not yet over, let's pray for the best."

Meanwhile, a five-year-old bravely confronted one of the gunman in the mall, telling him: "You're a very bad man, let us leave."

The Sun newspaper reported the little boy stood up to one of the terrorists after he shot his mother Amber in the leg.

The gunman then gave the boy and his six-year-old sister Mars bars, before letting them escape from the mall.

The children's father, Dan Prior, said: "I am very relieved that my family have survived and my thoughts go out to those families that are not as fortunate as my own. 

"My children are traumatised and my wife is very unwell as a result of this senseless atrocity."

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Pakistan Earthquake Leaves More Than 200 Dead

At least 210 people have died after a powerful earthquake struck southwestern Pakistan, causing hundreds of homes to collapse.

The earthquake, which centred on the thinly populated province of Balochistan, was felt across south Asia.

It destroyed around 90% of houses, many of them built from mud, and damaged communications.

At a magnitude of 7.7, the quake was so strong it caused a small island to emerge just off the coastline in the Arabian Sea.

The rubble of a house in Awaran which collapsed during the earthquake

There were conflicting reports on the number of casualties, as rescue workers tried to reach those trapped beneath the rubble.

Zahid bin Maqsood, the additional home secretary of Balochistan, said 210 people were confirmed dead and 375 injured.

However, officials speaking to the AFP news agency said 238 deaths had been confirmed so far, with 208 in the worst affected district of Awaran alone.

Deputy commissioner Abdul Rasheed Gogazai said at least 370 people had been injured in the region.

A survivor drinks tea and sits among his remaining possessions

The Pakistan army deployed helicopters and 1,000 soldiers to help with the rescue effort in the huge, earthquake-prone province of deserts and rugged mountains bordering Iran and Afghanistan.

The area has only minimal infrastructure, making the evacuation and treatment of those injured by the earthquake more difficult.

Jan Muhammad Buledi, a spokesman for the Balochistan government, said: "We are seriously lacking medical facilities and there is no space to treat injured people in the local hospitals."

A convoy of 60 vehicles carrying food, medicines, tents and paramedics is due to arrive in Balochistan after leaving the city of Karachi.

The aid will be distributed among the 300,000 people thought to have been affected by the earthquake.

They include around 60,000 who live within 50km (31 miles) of the epicentre, southwest of Khuzdar, according to the UN disaster agency.

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Merkel Romps To Victory In German Election

By Robert Nisbet, Europe Correspondent

Angela Merkel has triumphed by securing a third term as German Chancellor but she will have to find new coalition partners to govern Europe's largest economy.

Her conservative Christian Democratic Union and its sister party the Christian Social Union saw their combined share of the vote rise by 8% in an unexpectedly strong endorsement of her austerity policies.

Ms Merkel told supporters it was "a super result" but she did not immediately speculate about the shape of the next government.

Ms Merkel will have to forge alliances with traditional opponents

"I see the next four years in front of me and I can promise that we will face many tasks, at home, in Europe and in the world," she said during a television appearance on Sunday night.

"The party leadership will discuss everything when we have a final result but we can already celebrate tonight."

Preliminary official results showed that overall the CDU/CSU won 41.5%, seeing off the main opposition Social Democrats who managed 25.7%.

It was a poor night for the liberal Free Democratic Party, which was Ms Merkel's coalition partner since 2009, and saw its support plummet by nearly 10% to 4.8%.

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

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

But she is just shy of that total, so will need to forge alliances in order to govern.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Kenya: Dramatic Video Shows Moment Of Attack

Where The Victims Are From

Updated: 4:46pm UK, Sunday 22 September 2013

The attack on the upscale Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi has killed at least 59 people and wounded some 175 more. The dead include Africans, Europeans, Asians and North Americans.

KENYA
Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta says he shares the grief of the nation - his nephew and nephew's fiancee are among the dead.

INDIA
Two Indians were killed and four wounded in the attack, said Syed Akbaruddin, spokesman for India's External Affairs Ministry.

BRITAIN
Britain's Foreign Office said at least three UK nationals were killed in the attack and warned  the number of fatalities is "likely to rise."

FRANCE
French President Francois Holland said two French women were killed.

SOUTH AFRICA
One South African citizen was killed, said the country's International Relations Department.

CANADA
Two Canadians - including a diplomat - died in the attack, according to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He paid tribute to the victims and noted the loss of diplomat Annemarie Desloges, who served in Canada's High Commission to Kenya as a liaison officer with the Canada Border Services Agency.

GHANA
Ghanaian poet Kofi Awoonor died after being injured in the attack, Ghana's presidential office said. In addition to his writings, Awoonor was a professor and a former ambassador Brazil, Cuba and the United Nations.

THE NETHERLANDS
Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans confirmed a 33-year-old Dutch woman has died and that seven other Dutch citizens who were in the centre escaped unharmed. The victim's identity was not released.

CHINA
A 38-year-old Chinese woman was killed the Chinese Embassy in Kenya said in a statement. Her son was injured and hospitalised in a stable condition, according to the statement posted on the embassy's website.

US
The wife of a foreign service national working for the US Agency for International Development was killed, and four American citizens were reported injured, said US officials.

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Kenya Stand-Off: Explosions In Renewed Assault

Kenyan troops are carrying out a major assault in an attempt to end the stand-off with al Shabaab gunmen inside the Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi.

At least three loud explosions and heavy gunfire have been heard coming from the complex where 68 people, including three Britons, have died since the siege began on Saturday.

There have also been reports of ambulances being driven at high speed from the scene.

One of the Britons killed in the attack has been named in reports as Ross Langdon, who had dual nationality with Australia.

Ross Langdon is feared to be among those killed

An architect, he apparently died alongside his girlfriend who was heavily pregnant, according to Australian media.

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

It said it has secured most of the shopping centre, and most of the hostages have been rescued.

Officials say up to 15 al Shabaab militants may still be inside the centre. They have threatened to kill the remaining hostages.

Kenyan military spokesman Colonel Cyrus Oguna told Sky News: "We cannot reveal the numbers of gunmen we suspect are there, but we estimate the operation will end very soon.

Kenyan soldiers enter the main gate of the shopping centre

"We do not negotiate with terrorists and that position has not changed. Everyone who has been rescued is being checked to make sure none of the terrorists escaped during the dragnet."

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta said there have been "numerous offers of assistance from friendly countries" to help end the stand-off, but that for now it remains a Kenyan operation.

However, a Kenyan security source has confirmed that Israeli agents "are rescuing the hostages and the injured". The Westgate shopping complex is part Israeli-owned.

Britain's SAS is also reportedly helping out in an advisory role.

The Kenyan Red Cross confirmed 68 people have been killed. At least 49 remain missing and around 200 have been injured. Five of these are said to be from the US.

A Kenyan army soldier takes cover behind a wall near the centre

Police have conceded the number of dead could be "much, much higher", after reports emerged that there are multiple fatalities still inside the shopping centre.

The Foreign Office confirmed three Britons were among those killed and warned that number was likely to rise.

Prime Minister David Cameron is cutting short a visit to Balmoral to chair a meeting of the emergency response committee Cobra in London later today. Defence Secretary Philip Hammond will chair an earlier Cobra meeting this morning.   

Mr Cameron has described the attack on the shopping complex as "despicable" and an act of "appalling brutality".

Also killed were two Canadians, two French citizens, two Indian citizens, a South Korean, a South African, a Dutch woman and the former UN envoy Kofi Awoonor.

Briton Samantha Lewthwaite: Is she involved

The Foreign Office is investigating claims that a female British terror suspect nicknamed the "White Widow" could be linked to the plot.

Samantha Lewthwaite, who was married to July 7 bomber Jermaine Lindsay, is wanted by Kenyan police over links to a suspected terrorist cell

In March 2012 it was reported that Lewthwaite, 29, who is originally from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, had fled across the border from Kenya to Somalia.

Sky's Stuart Ramsay, in Nairobi, said: "We know that she'd been in the area. She has been linked to a number of attack in east Africa and they have been trying to capture her.

"Interestingly she has been used in the past with planning and propaganda, not actual assaults, although there is some evidence she has been linked to at least one.

Onlookers watch as the stand-off continues at the Westgate complex

"It is difficult to know whether or not it is her. The government have said there have been reports of more than one woman involved.

"The president himself has said the women appeared to have command positions in al Shabaab, which does appear to be extremely well organised.

"It is thought to consist of foreign nationals as well as people from Somalia. I've heard reports of one Briton being involved and someone from Canada as well."

Security forces have taken control of the upper and lower levels of the shopping complex, and an army spokesman told Sky News they were trying to secure the second floor where the terrorists may be hiding.

Other reports suggested the attackers are holed up in a toilet block next to a supermarket on the ground floor of the complex.

The Somalia-based al Shabaab militant group has claimed responsibility and warned of further attacks.

Mr Kenyatta said one of his nephews and his nephew's fiancee were among the people confirmed killed.

"They shall not get away with their despicable and beastly acts," the president said in an emotional speech to the nation. "We will punish the masterminds swiftly and indeed very painfully."

The attack is the worst in Nairobi since an al Qaeda bombing at the US embassy killed more than 200 people in 1998.

Judges at the International Criminal Court have adjourned the trial of Kenyan vice president William Ruto for a week to allow him to return home and help deal with the hostage crisis.

Ruto and Mr Kenyatta face charges of crimes against humanity in relation to their role in coordinating a wave of violence that swept Kenya in the aftermath of the country's contested 2007 elections.

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

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

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Iraq Suicide Bombers Kill Almost 100 At Funeral

Almost 100 people have died after two suicide bombers targeted a funeral in the Shi'ite neighbourhood of Sadr City in Baghdad, police have said.

One bomber detonated his explosives-laden car as he drove up near a tent where mourners had gathered and another on foot blew himself up nearby.

A third explosion followed as police, ambulances and firefighter were gathering at the scene.

The explosions set several cars on fire, sending a towering plume of thick black smoke over the city.

One of the mourners, Sheik Sattar al Fartousi, said: "I saw several charred bodies on the ground and tents on fire and also burning cars. Wounded people were screaming in pain.

"The scene was horrible. The funeral turned into an inferno."

He said the first blast went off as dinner was being served in one of several tents set up for the funeral of a member of the al Fartousi tribe. He estimated that more than 500 people were attending the event.

A plume of black smoke was sent over Sadr City

Hussein Abdul Khaliq, a government employee who lives in the area, said: "This funeral was not a military post or a ministry building, yet it was still targeted. This shows that no place and no one is safe in Iraq."

The attack happened at sunset on Saturday, hours after insurgents launched a suicide attack on a police headquarters in the city of Beiji, about 110 miles north of Baghdad, killing seven policemen and wounding 21 others.

In that attack, police said guards managed to kill one suicide bomber, but three other bombers were able to set off their explosive belts inside the compound.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Al Qaeda's branch in Iraq frequently targets Shi'ite civilians and security forces in an attempt to undermine public confidence in the Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad.

Thousands of Iraqis have been killed in violent attacks in recent months - a level of bloodshed not seen since Iraq pulled back from the brink of civil war in 2008 - despite appeals for restraint from Shi'ite and Sunni political leaders.

More than 4,000 people have been killed in violent attacks between April and August, according to the United Nations.

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Kenya Attack: Hostages Held In Terror Strike

Gunmen are holding hostages inside a Nairobi shopping centre where dozens of people have been killed and hundreds wounded in a terrorist attack.

Several children were among those massacred by al Qaeda-linked terrorists armed with guns and grenades at the Westgate shopping centre in Kenya's capital.

Kenyan Red Cross chief Abbas Gullet told the AFP news agency that at least 43 people were killed and 200 injured.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said British nationals were caught up in the "callous and cowardly and brutal" attack.

Hundreds of shoppers were caught up in the attack

The Kenya National Disaster Operation Centre said the number of hostages still being held by al Shabaab gunmen inside the complex remains unknown.

The lower and upper floors of the centre have been secured but witnesses reported hearing fierce gunfire and explosions on Sunday morning, more than 20 hours after the siege began.

A Kenyan security officer at the scene said: "We will free all those inside and stop this.

"We cannot give details of the operations except to say that everything that can be done is being done."

Security staff rescued those unable to walk

Gunmen wearing bullet-proof vests opened fire and detonated grenades inside the shopping centre, which is popular with expatriates and wealthy Kenyans.

Some of those killed were executed after failing to recite a Muslim prayer at gunpoint. Others were shot at the entrance to the mall as they tried to escape.

Two Canadians have been confirmed dead in the attack, while two French citizens are understood to be among those killed.

The US State Department said American citizens have reportedly been injured but not killed.

The Westgate shopping centre is located in the centre of Nairobi

The Somalia-based al Shabaab terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack and warned of more attacks.

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta has spoken to the nation in a televised address, saying Kenya had "overcome terrorist attacks before, and we will defeat them again".

"Our security forces are in the process of neutralising the attackers and securing the mall," he added.

"Terrorism is a philosophy of cowards. They want to cause fear and despondency in our country, but we will not be cowed.

Armed security staff went from shop to shop looking for the attackers

"I ask God to give you comfort. My government will provide the support needed in the days to come."

Saadia Ahmed, a radio presenter from Nairobi caught up in the attack, told Sky News how the attack began.

"We heard three explosions outside the building then all of a sudden we heard gunshots and people ducked down," she said.

"A lot of people were shot while they were trying to escape. I saw one of the gunmen with an AK-47 and later two of them were talking and it sounded like Somali or Arabic."

Police rescued hostages as they searched for the gunmen

Ms Ahmed said the attackers released people who were able to prove they were Muslim.

"I witnessed a few people get up and say something in Arabic and the gunmen let them go. A colleague of mine said he was Muslim and recited something in Arabic and they let him go as well.

"I saw a lot of children and elderly people being shot dead. I don't understand why you would shoot a five-year-old child. They were firing at random at anyone who tried to escape."

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

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Bo Xilai Found Guilty Of Corruption In China

By Mark Stone, China Correspondent, in Jinan

Communist Party politician Bo Xilai has been sentenced to life in prison by a Chinese court following a scandal that culminated in one of the country's highest-profile trials in decades.

Bo, 64, was given a life term for taking 26.8m yuan (£2.73m) in bribes.

The court also gave him 15 years in prison for embezzlement and seven years for abuse of power.

The verdict marks the end of a protracted legal and political saga which began with the murder of a British businessman and caused political ripples right to the heart of China's Communist leadership.

Bo's five-day trial ended last month at the Intermediate People's Court in the eastern city of Jinan.

With unprecedented openness and moments of genuine suspense, it was a Chinese trial like no other before it.

Bo Xilai with wife Gu Kailai, who he dismissed as 'crazy'

Through televised highlights and minute-by-minute microblog updates from the court, the Chinese public was able to follow Bo's robust self-defence and disdainful cross-examination of witnesses.

Performing with the charisma and trademark flair which has set him apart in Chinese politics, he laughed-off the central accusation against him that he had illegally obtained the 26.8m yuan.

He said money did not interest him, claiming, rather unusually, that even his underwear was 50 years old.

In one of the most dramatic moments of the trial, Bo dismissed the two star witnesses against him - his wife, and his former chief of police - as "crazy" and a "liar" respectively.

In reference to some of the bribery allegations, he complained that "not even the worst TV script writers could come up with such plots".

At times though, the trial itself resembled a soap opera, with Bo revealing a complicated love triangle between himself, his wife Gu Kailai, and Wang Lijun, his former police chief.

The prosecution produced documentary and anecdotal evidence which it claimed showed the Bo family to be extremely wealthy with bulging bank accounts, access to private jets and a villa near Cannes in France.

Bo Guagua, son of Bo Xilai, was accused of enjoying a 'playboy' lifestyle

Stories emerged in court regarding the antics of Bo Guagua, the son of Bo and Gu Kailai.

The young Bo, who studied at Harrow, Oxford and Harvard had, according to the prosecution, jetted across Europe and Africa and been allowed to enjoy a playboy lifestyle which went against all Communist Party principles.

Many of the trips and other financial deals were, the prosecution claimed, the result of Bo's corrupt dealings with businessmen.

Bo had abused his various positions of power over decades.

He had instigated corrupt deals with numerous business associates with whom his relationship should never have been financial.

For almost two decades, from 1985, Bo climbed up the Communist Party ladder from mayor of the northeastern port city of Dalian, to governor of Liaoning Province.

The sensational trial grabbed the attention of China's media

He served as the Chinese government's commerce minister and wowed many foreign counterparts with his relaxed demeanour, modern and apparently capitalist outlook and his political drive.

At one point, it was almost certain he would be chosen as one of the seven men on the Standing Committee of the Politburo who run the country.

However, his career came to a spectacular halt four-and-a-half years after he became Communist Party secretary in the central Chinese city of Chongqing.

The fall from grace was swift and almost inevitable after his wife was accused of the murder of a friend and business associate of the Bo family, a Briton called Neil Heywood.

In a dramatic sequence of events over the winter of 2011-12, the conspiracy began to unravel.

Bo's chief of police in Chongqing left his post and fled to a US consulate.

Wang asked for political asylum and told the Americans that Bo's wife had poisoned Mr Heywood.

His asylum request was rejected but the lurid claim could not be ignored.

The fact Wang had chosen to tell the Americans and not his own superiors was an acute embarrassment for the Communist Party.

Within months, Wang and Gu were tried, convicted and jailed.

The Chinese government presented Bo's trial as the downfall of a corrupt crook.

However, it was widely seen as being far more a political purge of a man who posed a threat to the current leadership of President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang.

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