September 23, 2013


 * Armed conflict and attacks
 * Westgate shopping mall shooting:
 * Explosions and gunfire are reported from the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi where al-Shabaab gunmen are still holed up. According to the.
 * The Kenyan Interior Minister says that three gunmen were killed and that his troops are in control of all five floors of the building. (Euronews)


 * Syrian civil war:
 * President Bashar al-Assad said he will allow international experts to access chemical weapons sites. (CBS News)


 * Disasters and accidents


 * At least 25 people are dead in Hong Kong and southern China after Typhoon Usagi passes through with the storm having killed eight people in the Philippines.


 * Law and crime
 * In his first public statement since his resignation, former Pope Benedict XVI denies that he covered up child sexual abuse cases involving priests during his tenure. (Reuters)


 * Politics and elections
 * An Egyptian court bans all Muslim Brotherhood activities nationwide and its assets will be confiscated according to the court ruling. (RT)

Asia

 * China banned a list of military hardware and chemicals from export to North Korea, a sign of rising concern over the country's weapons programs. According to a new study, North Korean scientists have learned how to produce components for advanced centrifuges, undermining the sanctions regime against the country.


 * Hun Sen, Cambodia's authoritarian prime minister, was elected to another five-year term over the strident objections of the opposition, who allege the July 28 election was marred by widespread cheating.


 * Many Christians in Pakistan are demanding state protection after a twin suicide bombing at a Peshawar church left 85 dead.

Middle East

 * Egypt: A court in Egypt issued an injunction against the Muslim Brotherhood that effectively bans the group and represents a serious escalation in the military-backed government's efforts to crack down on Islamist dissent. The ruling, issued by the Cairo Court for Urgent Matters, orders the group's assets to be seized and the organization dissolved.


 * A double bombing struck a Sunni funeral service in Baghdad, killing 14 and marking the third day in a row such a service has been targeted.


 * A Russian deputy foreign minister said that U.N. chemical weapons inspectors will return to Syria on Wednesday to investigate other alleged chemical weapons attacks.


 * French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said his country would be willing to include Iran under certain conditions in peace talks to end the Syrian civil war.

Europe

 * After a ringing victory at the polls, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is maneuvering to form a coalition government.


 * Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, a jailed member of the punk band Pussy Riot, was moved into an isolation cell after beginning a hunger strike to protest conditions at her penal colony.


 * A suicide bombing in the Russian province of Dagestan left two officials dead and more than 10 wounded.

Africa

 * Bloody Stand-Off at Nairobi Mall Continues

Top news: With sporadic fighting continuing at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, the stand-off in the Kenyan capital stretched into its fourth day Tuesday as Kenyan officials sought to project an air of control over the situation and al-Shabab militants insisted on Twitter that they remained inside the mall and would continue to fight. At least 62 are dead and over 200 wounded.

Kenyan officials claim that they have regained control over the shopping complex, but militants apparently still holed up inside the complex claim otherwise. "There are countless number of dead bodies still scattered inside the mall, and the Mujahideen are still holding their ground," al-Shabab wrote on Twitter.

As the crisis in Nairobi continues, a slew of questions have emerged about the identities of the attackers and their tactics. Kenyan Foreign Minister Amina Mohammed claimed that several Americans took part in the attack, an allegation that hasn't yet been verified but matches other reports from the attack. According to the Washington Post, most of the attackers spoke English and were young, and included some women, an indication that the group was probably composed of individuals from several countries.

But these questions may remain unanswered for some time. According to the New York Times, several attackers may have escaped during the initial confusion following the attack. Witnesses report that they saw some attackers quickly change clothing and emerge from the shopping mall posing as victims, raising the possibility that highly skilled terrorists remain on the loose in Kenya.


 * The International Criminal Court granted Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto a one-week leave from his trial on charges of crimes against humanity to help deal with the ongoing crisis in his home country.


 * Nearly 700 rhinos have been killed in South Africa this year, making it the deadliest year on record for the endangered animals.


 * The death toll in Nigeria from a raid on alleged members of Boko Haram increased to eight.

|WIKI}}&action=edit&redlink=1&preload=Template:Preload_Daily_Summary-United_States United States

 * Three members of Venezuela's National Guard were arrested on suspicion of involvement in an attempt to smuggle several tons of cocaine aboard an Air France flight.


 * The death toll from a pair of hurricanes that struck Mexico rose to 110.


 * A prominent Catholic priest in Argentina was sentenced to 15 years in jail four years after being convicted of sexually abusing a teenage boy.

= Resources =