The BBC: A bomb has exploded in a mainly Shia Muslim part of Baghdad, killing seven people and injuring at least 20 others, Iraq police have said. The blast was in a shopping area in Kadhamiya, near the most important shrine for Shia Muslims in the city. A day earlier, nine people died in another bombing in the area. That followed a series of attacks on Monday killing 34, raising fears that violence levels in Iraq may rise again after reaching their lowest since 2003.  According to the  AP, no group has claimed responsibility for the recent blasts, but the U.S. military suspects al-Qaida in Iraq, a Sunni extremist group that has targeted Shiite civilians in the past. The government has blamed supporters of Saddam Hussein in league with al-Qaida and suggested the blasts were timed for this week's anniversary of the founding of his disbanded Baath party. Thursday is also the sixth anniversary of the U.S. capture of Baghdad, which ended Saddam's Sunni-dominated regime.

A BBC investigation (click here for link) reveals that the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) abducted civilians in Kosovo who were then mistreated and in some cases killed, a BBC investigation has found. Sources told the BBC that Kosovo Serbs, ethnic Albanians and gypsies were among an estimated 2,000 who went missing. This took place both during and after the war in Kosovo, which ended in June 1999. Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, the former KLA political director, has rejected the allegations. Mr Thaci said he was aware that individuals had "abused KLA uniforms" after the war, but said the KLA had distanced itself from such acts. He added that such abuse was "minimal".

Reuters report Georgia braced on Thursday for mass demonstrations against President Mikheil Saakashvili by opponents emboldened by a disastrous war last year with Russia. The opposition accuses Saakashvili of an authoritarian streak that has stifled democratic reforms promised in the 2003 Rose Revolution that swept him to power in the former Soviet republic. War in August, when Russia crushed a Georgian assault on breakaway South Ossetia and sent tanks to within 40 km (25 miles) of Tbilisi, emboldened critics who argue the president has made too many mistakes to stay in power until 2013. Opposition leaders, their ranks swollen by defectors, are predicting turnout of 150,000, and say protests will continue daily until Saakashvili, 41, resigns and calls elections. Fire crews and hundreds of police in full riot gear entered the courtyard of the parliament in central Tbilisi overnight. Meanwhile, AFP say The United States on Wednesday urged both sides in Georgia to avoid violence after the opposition called for major protests to oust President Mikheil Saakashvili. Opposition leaders have vowed to attract more than 100,000 supporters to peaceful rallies starting Thursday to force out Saakashvili, a close US ally whose popularity was dented by Georgia's disastrous war with Russia last year.n"We urge the government of Georgia and all those participating in the April 9 protest rally to ensure that the demonstrations are peaceful and without violence," State Department spokesman Robert Wood said. "Peaceful protests are an important part of any democracy and an integral and acceptable way to express political views," he said.

 The BBC says the American warship, the USS Bainbridge, has reached the area off the coast of Somalia where a cargo ship was seized by pirates a day earlier. US crew members have recaptured their ship but the captain is still being held hostage by the attackers.The pirates' boat is floating near the Maersk Alabama, its owners told the Associated Press. At least six other vessels are said to be heading its way.The ship was taken about 500km (311 miles) off Somalia's coast.US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the government was following the situation very closely and urged the world to act to end the "scourge" of piracy. The Boston Globe reported earlier that a crew commanded by two graduates of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy regained control of a cargo ship seized by a small band of armed Somali pirates yesterday, thwarting the first attack on a US-flagged vessel in recent memory. The bold maneuver reportedly forced a tense standoff with the pirates, who fled the vessel in a lifeboat with the ship's captain, Richard Phillips, a 53-year-old from Underhill, Vt., and a 1979 graduate of the Bourne college. The attack marked the most dramatic example to date of the mounting threat the pirates pose to the international shipping trade in the volatile waters off the Horn of Africa.Relatives of Phillips and of Shane Murphy, 33, of Seekonk, a 2001 graduate and the ship's chief officer, anxiously monitored the often murky news reports throughout the day. They described the two men as dedicated seamen who understood the danger of encountering armed attackers and were fiercely protective of their crews.

The Deutsche Welle: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is to disclose the country's new atomic developments on Iran's Nuclear Day holiday on Thursday in the central city of Isfahan. Ahmadinejad is to inspect the Natanz plant near Isfahan, where currently 6,000 centrifuges are operative and according to Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, at least 4,000 more centrifuges are to be installed during the current year. According to the ISNA news agency, the Iranian president is also to inaugurate the Fuel Manufacturing Plant (FMP) in another section of Isfahan.

Reuters: Libya is suing the Geneva authorities for more than 500,000 Swiss francs ($435,500) following the arrest of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son last July in an assault case, their lawyer said on Thursday. The lawsuit alleges police used disproportionate means when arresting Hannibal Gaddafi, now 32, and his pregnant wife Aline on charges of mistreating two domestic employees. Some 20 armed police forced open their luxury hotel suite after being alerted to repeated altercations. The couple had come to the Swiss city to give birth to their second child.

 According to the BBC Bolivian President Evo Morales has said he will refuse to eat until the upper house of parliament, the Senate, passes a new electoral law. The opposition-controlled Senate is blocking a bill that would give greater political power to Bolivia's indigenous majority, to which Mr Morales belongs. Fourteen special indigenous electoral districts would be created in places where Indian groups are in a minority. The opposition says the bill would help the re-election of Mr Morales. Meanwhile, Aljazeera says the hunger strike is aimed at pressuring the country's parliament to set a firm date for general elections that he is likely to win. Morales, who took office in 2006, has said opposition politicians are trying to block the poll, which was approved by voters as part of a constitutional referendum held in January. "Faced with the negligence of a bunch of neo-liberal lawmakers, we have no choice but to take this step [hunger strike] ... they don't want to pass a law that guarantees the implementation of the constitution," Morales said at the presidential palace in La Paz on Thursday. Fourteen leaders of labour and social groups said they were joining the president on the hunger strike. Voice of America say that In a related development, the president of the United Nations General Assembly, Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, voiced his support for President Morales in a statement issued Thursday through a spokesperson. D'Escoto once served as foreign minister in Nicaragua's leftist Sandinista administration that ruled the country from 1979 to 1990 and fought a civil war against U.S.-funded Contra rebels.  

The BBC says  A mass funeral for victims of the Abruzzo earthquake is to take place shortly as Italy holds a day of national mourning for its 287 dead. The families of those who died and senior political figures are among those who will attend the state funeral outside the shattered city of L'Aquila. There will be between 100 and 150 coffins at the Mass, local reports say. Meanwhile, Italy's president said poor construction was to blame for many of the deaths in Monday's disaster.  RTE News say flags will fly at half-mast in Italy today as a national day of mourning is held for the victims of last Monday's earthquake in the central Abruzzo region, in which at least 281 people have died.Survivors from the devastating earthquake will attend a state funeral in the epicentre city of L'Aquila for the victims. Senior government officials and church leaders will join mourners for the service, which is to be held according to both Catholic and Muslim rites and will be held in the open air. Reuters add that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi called L'Aquila a "ghost town" and said reconstruction would cost billions. He plans to attend the state funeral, where Catholic mass will be led by the Vatican's second highest priest, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. The funeral required a special dispensation because mass is not usually celebrated on Good Friday in the Catholic church. Pope Benedict has said he will visit Abruzzo soon. There will also be an Islamic rite funeral for six Muslim victims.

CNN say Pro-Taliban cleric Sufi Mohammad has announced he has pulled out of a peace deal in the violence-plagued Swat Valley, saying the government is not serious about implementing Islamic law, or sharia, in the region. Mohammad brokered the cease-fire in late February between the Pakistani government and his son-in-law, Maulana Fazlullah, who commands the Taliban in Swat Valley. With the deal, the area would come under sharia law, which -- under the Taliban's strict interpretation -- would prevent women from even being seen in public without their husbands or fathers. Mohammad has set up a protest camp at the headquarters of his son-in-law's Taliban-aligned group, Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat Mohammadi (TNSM), according to a police official. The headquarters are located in Batkhelah in the Malakand agency of North West Frontier Province. Speaking to reporters Thursday, Mohammad expressed frustration that President Asif Ali Zardari had not signed off on the peace deal. He blamed the Pakistani government for any bloodshed that might follow. RTT News say Reports add there is a feeling among the local politicians and religious leaders that the Islamic judicial system is not being implemented in Swat because of pressure from the Americans. Sufi Mohammad struck a cease-fire agreement with the North West Frontier Province's (NWFP) regional government on February 16 to end a 16-month armed campaign to enforce Taliban rule, led by his son-in-law Maulana Fazlullah. The elderly cleric has been camping in Mingora since then, convincing Taliban to respect the deal. Zardari is not ready to approve it so long as complete peace in Swat is not achieved.

AP report that Defense Department officials say the American boat captain held by Somali pirates tried to escape but was recaptured. Captain Richard Phillips jumped over the side of the small lifeboat where he has been held for two days and began swimming. Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk about unfolding operations, say Phillips was retaken by the pirates after he jumped from the boat around midnight local time in open ocean off the Somali coast. A U.S. Navy ship patrolling nearby was able to see Phillips moving around and talking after his return to the pirate's boat. The defense officials think he is unharmed. CNN say Captain Phillips tried to escape from his captors Thursday night by jumping out of the lifeboat where he's being held, a U.S. official said Friday. Phillips was believed to be trying to swim to the USS Bainbridge, a naval warship that is in communication with the gunmen holding Phillips off Somalia's coast, the official said. The kidnappers jumped into the water, recaptured him, and returned him to the lifeboat, according to the official. The U.S. military has every reason to believe that he was unharmed in the incident, the official said. Phillips has been held since Wednesday, when the hijackers briefly seized control of his ship, the Maersk Alabama. He is being held by four gunmen in the lifeboat about 300 miles off the Horn of Africa. Meanwhile, two U.S. warships were on their way Friday to help the crew of the Bainbridge secure Phillips' release.

Reuters say the suicide bomber charged a checkpoint in northern Iraq on Friday under a charge of gunfire, detonating a truck laden with explosives and killing five U.S. troops and two Iraqi policemen. The U.S. military gave the death toll in a statement and said the attack in the restive city of Mosul was the single deadliest incident for U.S. soldiers in Iraq in over a year. Mosul, some 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, is one of two regions of Iraq where U.S. forces are still locked in major combat operations against al Qaeda and other insurgents, despite a drop in violence elsewhere in Iraq over the past year. Iraq's Interior Ministry said the authorities had been warned of such an attack but were unsure when it might happen. U.S. and Iraqi forces opened heavy fire on the truck after it ignored a request to stop at a checkpoint close to an Iraqi police base in southwest Mosul. "The truck exploded 50 meters before reaching its target (the base)," Interior Ministry spokesman Major General Abdul Karim Khalaf said, adding that only one Iraqi policeman was killed in the attack. He could not confirm the U.S. casualties. "There was more than 1,000 kg of explosives in the truck, which leveled three buildings (near the base)," he added. The explosion left a huge crater and damaged buildings over 100 meters away from the blast site, an Iraqi policeman said. Leila Fadel reports for Mcclatchi Newspapers that a truck bomb killed five U.S. soldiers in northern Iraq and wounded another Friday in one of the worst attacks on U.S. soldiers in more than 11 months. The explosives-laden truck also killed two Iraqi National Police officers and wounded 17 others, a U.S. military statement said. Iraqi police said that three police officers were killed. Iraqi police said that the truck carried more than 200 pounds of explosives when it targeted the National Police station in the Mansour neighborhood in southwestern Mosul, a major city in the north. Iraqi police put the number of wounded at 62, 20 of whom were Iraqi National Police.Two people thought to be connected to the attack were detained, according to the U.S. military.

Reuters report Russia successfully test-fired a Topol intercontinental ballistic missile on Friday as part of checks needed to extend its service life for up to 22 years, Russian media reported. The Topol was fired from the Plesetsk cosmodrome, nestled among the forests of northern Russia, and successfully hit the test site on Russia's Pacific peninsula of Kamchatka, 6,000 km (3,700 miles) to the east. "This launch confirmed the time extension for the Topol group of missiles for up to 22 years," Itar-Tass news agency quoted Colonel Alexander Vovk of the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces as saying. Test launches of new missiles have become routine in recent years, and the Kremlin says the financial crisis will not discourage it from spending as much money as needed on defense. The Topol, which entered service in 1985, was last test-fired last October. Russia has extended the highly mobile Topol's use way past the 10-year guaranteed operational life set by the manufacturer. It is designed to pierce anti-missile defense systems such as those that the United States has said it wants to build in Eastern Europe. The RS-12M Topol, called the SS-25 Sickle by NATO, has a maximum range of 10,000 km (6,125 miles) and can carry one 550-kiloton warhead.

The BBC says  violence in Nigeria's oil region left 1,000 people dead and cost $24bn (£16bn) last year, a report says, according to an official and activist. Ledum Mitee, chairman of the Niger Delta Presidential Technical Committee, says the figures only cover the first nine months of 2008. Militants and criminal gangs often attack oil installations, leading to reprisals from the military.The unrest has cut Nigeria's oil output by about 25% in recent years. Last week, President Umaru Yar'Adua said his government was considering granting amnesty to violent groups if they disarm. Earlier this week AFP reported Gunmen have kidnapped a British oil worker in southern Nigeria, killing one police officer and wounded another as they did so, a security source said Monday. Assailants kidnapped the British man, who works for Nigerian oil services company Adamac Industries Limited, from a hotel bar in the Nigerian oil hub of Port Harcourt on Sunday night, the source said on condition of anonymity. A police officer working with an escort unit was killed in the incident and another officer was injured, according to the source. In London, the Foreign Office told AFP it had received reports of the kidnapping and was "urgently investigating". The past three years have seen an upsurge in militant activities in the region with frequent attacks on foreign oil companies and a wave of kidnappings of expatriate employees. Most hostages are released unharmed after a few days or weeks, often after a ransom is paid. The militant groups -- the most prominent being the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) -- often claim to be acting on behalf of impoverished local people fighting for a fairer share of the oil wealth. Unrest in the Niger Delta has cost Nigeria its position as Africa's leading crude exporter. Its oil output has fallen by about a quarter since 2006.

The BBC says  A suicide bomber has attacked a US-allied Sunni militia group in Iraq, killing at least nine people and wounding 31 others, police say. The bomber struck as militiamen from a local Awakening council were waiting to collect their salaries at an army post in Iskandariya, south of Baghdad. The US-sponsored Awakening councils have helped cut violence in Iraq after turning against al-Qaeda.But this has made them a target for militants, correspondents say. The bomber in Iskandariya was wearing a belt of explosives, which he detonated after mingling with militiamen who had gathered to receive their monthly pay, security sources say. The town, about 50km (30 miles) south of Baghdad, is located in an area that used to be known as the "Triangle of Death" because it was so troubled. AP says the suicide bomber mingled into a crowd of U.S.-allied Sunni paramilitaries in Iraq on Saturday and detonated his explosives belt, killing nine and wounding 30 others waiting in line for their salaries, Iraqi police said. The 11 a.m. explosion took place outside the military headquarters in the town of Jbala, about 35 miles (50 kilometers) south of Baghdad, said police spokesman Maj. Muthana Khalid. The bomber walked into the group of about 250 Awakening Council members and blew himself up. The recent spate of attacks, which this week killed at least 53 people in Baghdad alone, will likely raise concerns about the readiness of Iraqi forces to take over security of their country as the Obama administration prepares to remove all combat troops from Iraq by the end of August 2010. The decision of tens of thousands of Sunni fighters to turn against the insurgency starting in 2006 has been key to reducing violence in Iraq, but the so-called Awakening Councils are constantly being targeted by militants. The Iraqi government, however, has been suspicious of the fighters, maintaining that some retain ties to the insurgency. Reuters say the U.S.-sponsored Sunni patrolmen, or Sahwas, helped cut violence in Iraq after they turned on al Qaeda and other insurgent groups although ties between them and the Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad have been strained in recent weeks by the arrest of Sahwa leaders. The violence unleashed by the U.S.-led invasion six years ago has fallen dramatically across Iraq over the past 18 months but insurgents continue to carry out frequent car and suicide bomb attacks. Suicide bombings are a hallmark of al Qaeda. The attack took place in Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of the Iraqi capital, which was once part of an area known as the "Triangle of Death" where Sunni Islamist extremists frequently attacked Shi'ite Muslims. The militiamen were waiting to get overdue pay cheques from the authorities. Delays in paying the Sahwas, also known as "Awakening Councils," have contributed to tensions between them and the government. "The Sahwa men were preparing to enter the military post to receive their salaries when a suicide bomber managed to blow himself up among them, killing nine of them," said police colonel Ali al-Zahawi, head of Iskandariya police.

Reuters report up to 5,000 Georgians rallied Saturday against President Mikheil Saakashvili, a sharp drop in numbers for the third day of an opposition street campaign to demand his resignation. They turned out in the capital Tbilisi under cold grey skies, blocking traffic in front of the parliament, the office of the president and public broadcaster. Opposition leaders gathered 60,000 Thursday and 20,000 on Friday, and promised a nationwide campaign of civil disobedience until Saakashvili quits over his record on democracy and last year's disastrous war with Russia. The 41-year-old president has polarized opinion in the former Soviet republic since coming to power on the back of the 2003 Rose Revolution. He ruled out resigning Friday. AP say Thousands of people marched through Georgia's capital Saturday on the third day of peaceful protests calling for President Mikhail Saakashvili to step down. The largest rallies were held outside national television stations, where protesters called for the demonstrations to be shown live. Saakashvili has vowed to complete his second five-year term, which runs through 2013, and he has called for talks. The protests are being led by a coalition of more than a dozen opposition parties whose leaders have long shunned talks. But on Friday they said they were willing to talk to the president, if certain conditions were met. No talks have yet been scheduled, but European Union special representative Peter Semneby said he was in touch with both sides to help bring them together. "It's in the air that this could happen," he told The Associated Press. The protesters are most angry with Saakashvili over his handling of the brief war last summer with Russia. The Georgian army fled ahead of invading Russian troops, and the country lost territory as separatists and their Russian allies took full control of two breakaway Georgian regions. Saakashvili's actions during the war "were not mistakes," said Maria Loladze, 82. "He should be put on trial." The protesters also accuse the president of concentrating power in his hands and embarrassing his countrymen by his erratic behavior.

News of the World exposes that Samson Obama, the US president's half-brother, has been arrested when attempting to enter the UK on his way to his brother's inaguration ceremony in January. He is suspected of a sexual assult on a 13 year old girl from Berkshire, where his mother lives, in a previous visit. He later managed to get on a connecting flight to the US, and attend the inaguration event. The BBC say a Home Office spokesman said Samson Obama was denied a visa after immigration officers noticed one of his documents was false. That led them to further inquiries.Samson Obama, who runs a mobile phone shop outside Nairobi, had been planning to make a short break in the UK on his way to Washington. He eventually took a connecting flight to the US without formally entering the UK. A UK Border Agency spokesman said in general, Britain would oppose the entry of individuals where their presence was "not conducive to the public good". Samson Obama is one of several half-siblings of the US president by his father. Barack Obama Sr left his son when he was two years old and lived most of his life in Kenya, where he fathered a number of other sons and a daughter with three other wives. He died in a car crash in 1982. Times online say the immigration officers who desined Samson Obama's entry saw the details on the database, which suggested that he was the same man who had been arrested by police in Berkshire after approaching a group of young girls, including a 13 year-old, and allegedly trying to sexually assault one of them, the News of the World reported. He then followed the girls into a cafe where he became aggressive and was asked to leave by the owner. Police were called and Samson was arrested. He reportedly gave officers false identification details and supplied his mother’s address in Bracknell.

Times Online say tensions are once more at breaking point in Bangkok following the arrest of the anti-government activist who led the weekend invasion of a high-level political summit in Thailand's resort town of Pattaya, forcing foreign leaders to flee. Arisman Pongruangrong, leader of the anti-government group known as the 'Red-shirts', was arrested this morning, infuriating the activists who are now besieging Government House in Bangkok. As Asian and Australasian leaders fly home today from the embarrassing debacle of the abandoned Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit, the anti-government demonstrators have warned of more action to come in their battle to oust the government and the nation’s prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva. Hundreds of Red-shirts, members of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorshi, p over-ran the summit with remarkable ease on Saturday, even though Thailand had deployed a thousands-strong force of police and soldiers to guard the resort venue. AP report Thailand's humiliated government Sunday arrested the leader of demonstrators who shut down a 16-nation Asian summit. The prime minister vowed further crackdowns as the protesters regrouped in the capital for renewed rallies. Police Maj. Gen. Supon Pansua said that Arisman Pongruengrong, who spearheaded Saturday's demonstrations, was taken into custody and detained at the headquarters of Thailand's Border Patrol Police. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva earlier Sunday vowed swift legal action against the protesters who stormed the venue of an East Asian Summit in the beach resort of Pattaya. Abhisit spoke on national television as fears mounted that the country could face violence or a military crackdown in coming days. Jakrapob Penkair, another protest leader, said members of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship were gathering around Government House, the prime minister's office, which has been the prime focus of their earlier demonstrations demanding Abhisit's resignation. "We will decide where to march to later to pressure the authorities to release him (Arisman)," Jakrapob said. A tense-looking Abhisit said in a Sunday broadcast that one arrest warrant had already been issued and others would follow in efforts to stem a rising tide of anti-government protests that climaxed in Saturday's melee. Thai authorities had to evacuate Asian leaders by helicopter after hundreds of anti-government protesters stormed into their summit site, forcing Abhisit to cancel the meeting.

CNN says the polar bear attacked a woman at Berlin Zoo Friday afternoon after she climbed a fence and jumped into its habitat during feeding time, police said Saturday. One adult polar bit her several times after she plunged into the moat, police said. Zoo workers tossed rescue rings toward the woman to hoist her out and distract polar bears swimming nearby, said Goerg Gebhard, a Berlin police officer. "They saved her life," Gebhard told CNN. The woman was severely injured and was being treated at a hospital, police said. COED Magazine online shows footage of the attack.

The BBC says  pressure is mounting on Gordon Brown to explain who was involved in drafting e-mails sent by a senior adviser which discussed smears against senior Tories. Damian McBride quit after his obscene and unfounded claims about Conservative leader David Cameron and shadow chancellor George Osborne became known. Opposition MPs are calling on the prime minister to personally apologise. Cabinet Office minister Liam Byrne has said the prime minister knew nothing of the e-mails. A Number 10 spokesman said no-one else in Downing Street knew about the "juvenile and inappropriate" messages, which came to light after they were picked up by a Westminster blog. However, shadow home secretary Chris Grayling claimed the e-mails demonstrated a "structured plan" to publish "blatant lies" about opposition MPs."It's a sign of something absolutely rotten at the heart of Gordon Brown's Downing Street," he told BBC News. "This is an exceptionally serious matter and he needs to explain immediately what happened. "The real question now is was [Mr McBride] the only person involved in all of this." Mr Byrne dismissed suggestions of an orchestrated smear campaign. "This was one private e-mail exchange between a couple of friends who were knocking backwards and forwards ideas," he said. "Mr McBride, having scribbled this stuff, decided that the right place for it was the waste basket," he added. The e-mails were originally sent in January to former government spin doctor Derek Draper, who runs the LabourList blog and was proposing to set up a new gossip-led site. However, they came to the attention of Paul Staines, author of the "anti-politics" Guido Fawkes blog, who revealed their contents. According to the Sunday Times the offending messages are said to contain lurid and unfounded allegations about the private lives of David Cameron and George Osborne, along with other Conservative MPs. Damian McBride, the Prime Minister’s ex-political press officer, sent them via a Downing Street account to Derek Draper. A close friend of Lord Mandelson, Mr Draper writes a left-wing blog and runs the website LabourList.org.uk. This afternoon Tory MP Charles Clarke, a former Home Secretary, called for Mr McBride to be dismissed. “Damian McBride has no place in 10 Downing Street," he said. “His actions bring shame to the Labour party and he should be dismissed immediately.” The call to sack Gordon Brown’s aide came after Downing Street was forced to issue an apology earlier today. In an attempt to distance itself from the growing scandal Downing Street denied all prior knowledge of the emails. A Number 10 spokesman said the emails were ‘juvenile and inappropriate’ and were written and sent without the knowledge of the Prime Minister. Mr McBride, a special adviser in Downing Street, stopped dealing with the media on a day-to-day basis following the resignation of the former Transport Secretary, Ruth Kelly in September 2008. He was given responsibility for strategy and planning after staying on at Number 10.

The Guardian says a Sunday school teacher in California has been arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and killing her daughter's eight-year-old friend after admitting to police she owned the suitcase in which the girl's body was found. Relatives of Melissa Huckaby, 28, expressed shock after she was taken into custody on Friday as part of an investigation into the murder of Sandra Cantu, who became the focus of a major search after going missing last month in Tracy, a city east of San Francisco. Several of Huckaby's relatives said last night the allegations were "completely out of character." Sandra's body was found in Huckaby's suitcase in an irrigation pond nearly a week ago. Huckaby, who is the mother of the dead girl's best friend, was on suicide watch at San Joaquin county jail, where she remained in custody without bail on suspicion of kidnapping and killing Sandra. The girl, who lived in a mobile home park with her mother, grandparents and siblings, disappeared on 27 March, sparking a search by hundreds of volunteers and rescue teams. ABC say Huckaby, 28, was arrested at 11:55 p.m., about five hours after she drove herself to the station at the request of police, according to Tracy Police Sgt. Tony Sheneman. "She gave enough information to us during the course of the interview that probable cause was there to arrest her," said Sheneman. A massive search for the child, Sandra Cantu, included hundreds of volunteers and law enforcement officials. The search ended April 6 when farmworkers who were draining the irrigation pond to water fields found a suitcase. CNN say Huckaby's family said Sunday the accusations are "completely out of character." The Tracy, California, family offered their prayers to the victim's family. He was referring to Sandra Cantu, who was last seen alive March 27 in the mobile home park where she lived with her family -- the same mobile home park where Huckaby lives with her own 5-year-old daughter. The two children were close friends and played together frequently, Tracy police Sgt. Tony Sheneman said.

AP say Hezbollah agents operating in Egypt were plotting to attack Israeli tourists at resorts in the Sinai Peninsula, Egyptian and Israeli officials said Sunday. Egypt announced recently that a cell of 49 men with links to Hezbollah were planning attacks aimed at destabilizing the country. Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, rejected the accusations but confirmed over the weekend that it had dispatched a member to Egypt — a rare acknowledgment that the Lebanese militant group was operating in another Arab country. Egypt's allegations were fresh evidence of the growing strains between the region's staunch U.S. allies — namely Egypt and Saudi Arabia — and increasingly powerful Iranian- and Syrian-backed militant groups like Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas. On Sunday, Egyptian Cabinet minister Mufed Shehab said authorities seized explosive belts and other bomb-making materials from the agents and accused them of planning to buy a boat to "bring weapons and ammunition from Yemen, Sudan and Somalia and smuggle them into the country." The alleged agents also were "observing and locating the tourists groups who repeatedly come to south Sinai resorts and residences paving the way to target them in hostile activities," Shehab told Egyptian parliament members in a reference to Israeli tourists who frequently travel to the Sinai for beach resort vacations. Israel warned its citizens last week not to visit the Sinai desert because of new intelligence reports of militant plots to attack and kidnap Israelis there. An Israeli official told The Associated Press that the operatives specifically planned to target Israeli tourists in the Sinai. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the press. Israeli Cabinet Minister Yisrael Katz also told Army Radio on Sunday that Nasrallah had ordered his men to "hit Israeli targets." "He (Nasrallah) acknowledges that his men were involved in smuggling Iranian weapons into Gaza in order to hit Israel," Katz said. In a televised speech on Friday, Nasrallah, confirmed that Sami Shehab, one of the 49 and a senior Hezbollah member, was sent to Egypt to help militant Palestinian allies in the months before Israel's three-week offensive in the neighboring Gaza Strip. Nasrallah said Shehab was arrested in November on charges of smuggling arms and equipment to Gaza via the strip's Egyptian border — but he denied that Hezbollah was planning attacks in Egypt. Meanwhile, AFP say that in December, Nasrallah, whose militant group is supported by Damascus and Tehran, slammed Egypt for keeping its Rafah border post with Gaza closed during Israel's deadly offensive against the territory. He accused Cairo of complicity in the Israeli blockade on Gaza and cast doubt on Egypt's neutrality in efforts at the time to mediate a ceasefire.  Haaretz analist Zvi Bar'el argues the current tension between Hezbollah and Egypt is a result of the latter's ongoing controvercy with Iran.

CNN says U.S. Navy snipers fatally shot three pirates holding an American cargo-ship captain hostage after seeing that one of the pirates "had an AK-47 leveled at the captain's back," a military official said Sunday. The captain, who'd been held in a lifeboat in the Indian Ocean since Wednesday, was rescued uninjured, Navy Vice Adm. Bill Gortney told reporters. Capt. Richard Phillips' ship, the Maersk Alabama, was stormed by pirates 350 miles off Somalia on Wednesday morning. He was "resting comfortably" on the USS Boxer after his rescue Sunday night, according to the Navy. Phillips contacted his family and received a routine medical exam after his rescue at 7:19 p.m. (12:19 p.m. ET), the Navy Central Command said. Video from aboard the Boxer showed a smiling Phillips shaking hands with Navy personnel."The captain is in good health. He's showered up and in a clean set of clothes," Gortney said in a telephone news conference from Navy Central Command in Bahrain. The Wall Street Journal says the Easter Sunday rescue of cargo ship Captain Richard Phillips from Somali pirates is a tribute to his personal bravery and the skill and steel nerves of the U.S. Navy. Now the Obama Administration has an obligation to punish and deter these lawless raiders so they'll never again risk taking a U.S.-flagged ship or an American crew. The New York Times report arrangements were being made Sunday night for Captain Phillips's return home to Vermont.“I share the country’s admiration for the bravery of Captain Phillips and his selfless concern for his crew,” US President Barack Obama said in a statement. “His courage is a model for all Americans.”

The BBC says at least 21 people have been killed in a fire at a hostel for homeless people in north-western Poland, officials say. Another 20 were injured in the blaze in the town of Kamien Pomorski, 60km (37 miles) east of the border with Germany, which began in the middle of the night. Many of the injuries were sustained as residents jumped from upper floors of the three-storey building. At least 77 people were staying at the hostel, waiting for the local authority to provide them with housing. Emergency teams are now sifting through the wreckage of the building. The cause of the blaze is not yet known. Radio Netherlands says at least 21 people have died in a fire in the homeless shelter. Twenty other people were injured. Some of the victims were children. When the fire broke out in the town of Kamien Pomorski, at least 80 people were staying in the three-storey building. Many of them were injured when they panicked and jumped out of the windows. The fire-fighters' ladders reached only to the first storey. Polish fire-fighters are now searching the wreckage for more victims.

Reuters say Somalia's militant Islamist rebel group al Shabaab said Monday it fired mortars at a plane carrying a U.S. lawmaker, a day after U.S. snipers killed three Somali pirates and freed the American ship captain they had been holding hostage. An al Shabaab spokesman said his group fired at the plane carrying Representative Donald Payne as he left the anarchic Horn of Africa country following a rare one-day visit by a U.S. official. Payne's plane took off safely and no-one was hurt. CNN say the plane carrying U.S. Rep. Donald Payne was fired on Monday as it left the airport in Mogadishu, Somalia, but the aircraft departed safely and landed without incident in Nairobi, Kenya, his office said, citing U.S. State Department officials. "We understand that his plane was fired on ... as he left, ... but that they have left safely and that no one was hurt," said Kerry McKenney, spokeswoman in Payne's Washington office, citing police officers at the airport. "We are hoping that he's safe and on his way back home." Police officers at the airport told Payne's staff in Washington that the plane was damaged in the attack, but the severity was not immediately clear. Payne, who was traveling with an Africa expert from the Library of Congress, was the only lawmaker on the trip, McKenney said. They traveled to London, England, on April 9 and two days later to Djibouti, she said. Payne travels to Africa often, and a plane carrying him was attacked during a previous trip to Somalia, McKenney said. He was aware of the danger he could face, State Department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters. "We provided the congressman with a briefing and gave him a very frank and straightforward assessment of the security situation on the ground," Wood said, noting the State Department has issued an advisory warning Americans not to travel to Somalia. The New Jersey Democrat and chairman of the Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health was visiting Somalia because "he felt it was important to travel there to see firsthand what was happening," McKenney said. The trip was planned before the pirate standoff involving the Maersk Alabama, though the issue of piracy was on Payne's agenda, she said.

The AFP reports Pakistan's president signed an accord to put part of the country under Islamic law as part of efforts to end a Taliban insurgency, despite fears Tuesday that it would encourage extremism. President Asif Ali Zardari's move formalises a controversial deal between a pro-Taliban cleric, who led thousands of supporters to fight against US troops in Afghanistan, and the government in North West Frontier Province. The deal applies to Malakand, a district of around three million people in the province that includes the Swat valley. The central government lost control in Swat, a former ski resort and jewel in the crown of Pakistani tourism, after cleric Maulana Fazlullah launched a campaign to enforce Taliban-style sharia. The  Financial Times says the agreement has attracted fresh controversy after a group of Pakistani human rights activists earlier this month released footage showing the Taliban publicly whipping a 17 -year old woman in Swat after she was accused of adultery. The incident sparked fresh debate over the Taliban’s particularly harsh brand of justice.