Australia: Bushfire Conditions Set To Worsen

By Jonathan Samuels, Australia Correspondent

Fire conditions are expected to worsen in the New South Wales Blue Mountains, with anyone without a reason to be in the area warned to get out.

Firefighters in the southeast of the country have been struggling to contain raging bushfires, which have been burning for more than a week.

The Blue Mountains national park 50 miles west of Sydney has been one of the worst-affected areas.

More than 200 properties have been destroyed and one 63-year-old man lost his life, suffering a heart attack while trying to protect his home.

Bushfires have ripped through properties with devastating force

With strong winds and high temperatures set to return on Wednesday, firefighters are preparing to face an active fire edge nearly a mile long.

Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons warned: "This will be as bad as it gets.

"On days like tomorrow there's a very real potential for more loss of homes and life.

"It's a difficult, dynamic, dangerous fire ground situation."

The weather conditions will be worse than initially feared, leading to widespread extreme fire danger ratings.

Sky News spoke to Andrew and Tracy Curtis whose home was razed to the ground last week in the village of Winmalee.

The couple were both at work as their home burned - even Mrs Curtis's workplace was under threat from the flames.

"Tracy rang me to say, 'It's not looking good, I don't think I'm gonna make it. I'm gonna say goodbye, I love you'," said Mr Curtis.

Mrs Curtis explained how she thought the worst was going to happen.

"All I could see was just the flames around us - the embers coming towards the building. That's when I freaked," she said.

Fire crews on standby in the Blue Mountains, 50 miles west of Sydney

Thousands of firefighters and 90 aircraft are battling 57 fires, 17 of them uncontained, on the sixth day of the state's bushfire emergency.

Some light rain in the region has done little to ease the situation.

All Blue Mountains schools, pre-schools and childcare centres will be closed on Wednesday and some nursing homes are being evacuated.

Emergency Services Minister Michael Gallacher is telling parents to keep their children close.

"It's not a day off where mum and dad can let the kids out tomorrow into the community," he told parliament.

"We are asking parents or those who are guardians of children to keep those children under your care, under your direction tomorrow because the situation is so fluid."

The temperatures are expected to drop on Thursday, but a dry change will bring strong southwesterly winds of up to 50mph through the fire-affected areas.

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Nevada School Shooting Teacher Hailed A Hero

A Nevada maths teacher who was killed trying to protect his students during a shooting rampage has been called a hero.

Police are trying to determine a motive for the shooting at Sparks Middle School. The teacher, former serviceman Michael Landsberry, was killed and two students were injured before the shooter turned his weapon on himself.

Police believe a student was the sole gunman and said he used a semi-automatic handgun, but it was not clear where he had found it.

The shootings happened as students were filing off buses and reuniting with friends on the playground after a week-long holiday. It was witnessed by up to 30 children.

A parent escorting his son away

"We have a lot of heroes today, including our children ... and our fallen hero, an amazing teacher," Washoe County School District Superintendent Pedro Martinez said.

Dozens attended a vigil in memory of the teacher just hours after the shooting.

It was no shock to family members that Mr Landsberry - a 45-year-old married military veteran with two stepdaughters - would take a bullet.

"(He was) probably trying to stop that kid from hurting himself or anyone else," said his sister-in-law Chanda Landsberry.

The shooting took place as students were filing off buses

She added his life could be summed up by his love of family, his students and his country.

"The kids loved him," she said.

On his school website, Mr Landsberry posted a picture of a brown bear and took on a tough-love tone, telling students: "I have one classroom rule and it is very simple: 'Thou Shall Not Annoy Mr L.'"

Witnesses described a scene of chaos and fear

Sparks Mayor Geno Martini said Mr Landsberry served two tours in Afghanistan with the Nevada National Guard and was well known in the school community.

The wounded students, both 12, were reportedly in a stable condition. One was shot in the shoulder, and the other was hit in the abdomen.

The shooting in Sparks, a city of roughly 90,000 that lies just east of Reno, was the latest episode of schoolyard violence. It took place less than a year after the massacre in Newtown, Connecticut.

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Royal Prank Radio Boss Says '**** Happens'

The boss of a media company whose radio station made a prank call to the hospital where the Duchess of Cambridge gave birth has come under fire after telling shareholders: "**** happens".

Max Moore-Wilton, chairman of Southern Cross Media, mentioned the prank by 2Day FM DJs Michael Christian and Mel Greig as he spoke to shareholders in Australia.

Nurse Jacintha Saldanha, who put the presenters through to a colleague thinking they were the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, was found dead three days after information about Kate's condition was revealed.

Kate was being treated for acute morning sickness at the time of the prank

The mother-of-two is believed to have taken her own life.

Asked about Ms Saldanha's death, which led to a global backlash against 2Day FM, Mr Moore-Wilton told an AGM in Melbourne: "These incidents were unfortunate, no doubt about that.

"But in the immortal words of someone whose identity I cannot recall, **** happens."

MP Keith Vaz, who started helping Ms Saldanha's family soon after her death, branded the comments "an insult to the memory of a loving mother and wife".

"The radio station has clearly not learnt the lessons from this incident," he said.

"Mr Moore-Wilton must apologise for his comments immediately."

Ms Saldanha reportedly criticised Mr Christian and Ms Greig in one of several notes left in nurses' quarters at King Edward VII Hospital, London, where her body was found in December last year.

An inquest into her death has been postponed twice and a new date has yet to be set.

Ms Greig is expected to travel to London to give evidence at the hearing, which will also hear from the nurse who was duty on the night Ms Saldanha died.

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'White Widow' Lewthwaite's Ode To Bin Laden

By Alex Crawford, Special Correspondent

The British terror suspect sought by police following the Nairobi shopping mall massacre wrote a poem in praise of Osama bin Laden in which she warned that al Qaeda is "stronger and fiercer" than ever, Sky News can reveal.

Samantha Lewthwaite - known as the "White Widow" - pledged to continue the fight to bring terror to the West and suggested she was prepared to be a martyr for the Islamic cause.

In the 34-line Ode To Osama, which was found by police on a computer in her Kenyan home, Lewthwaite said her love for the mastermind of the September 11 attacks "is like no other".

She lamented his death in 2011 at the hands of American special forces and called on Muslims to follow his example.

Investigators found an "Ode to Osama" on Lewthwaite's computer

"Us we are left to continue what you started," she wrote.

"To seek the victory until we are martyred. To instill (sic) terror into kuffar (non-Muslims) …Your life an example of how we should be.

"Oh Muslims listen to our beloved sheik's words, Let not his struggle and efforts go unheard, Revive what he started and strive to success, Then maybe we can be raised with the best."

The British suspect rented an apartment overlooking the Junction mall

Lewthwaite was married to July 7 bomber Jermaine Lindsay and lived with him in Buckinghamshire before the 2005 attacks. They had two children together.

Last year it emerged she had left Britain for East Africa and had been linked to the al Qaeda terror group al Shabaab.

Despite her sorrow at bin Laden's death, she warned the West - and US President Barack Obama - that the jihad was not over.

Sky News gained access to a flat directly below the one Lewthwaite rented

"As for our enemies our words will be less," she wrote.

"You picked the wrong army to contest. Al Qaeda are stronger and fiercer than ever. Their (sic) was no victory for you Mr Obama The honour is his on martyred Osama!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

As part of an investigation, Sky News has discovered that Lewthwaite, who is being hunted by Interpol in the aftermath of the Westgate Shopping Mall massacre, lived in a flat in the Kenyan capital overlooking a different shopping centre  for seven months in 2011.

Sky's Alex Crawford spoke to a block supervisor, who recognised Lewthwaite

She used her South African alias Natalie Faye Webb while she rented the apartment with her four children.

Sky News sources who are involved in the hunt for her have said this was one of three addresses she acquired in the capital.

It is the first time she has been specifically placed in the city where last month's attack, which left at least 67 people dead, took place.

Lewthwaite rented the apartment using her known alias, Natalie Faye Webb

Detectives examining the hard drive of a computer left at her house in Mombasa found several self-portraits of Lewthwaite, including one where she posed with two of her children.

They also discovered evidence which led them to an apartment block in Nairobi overlooking the Junction shopping mall, which British and Kenyan intelligence believe was a potential target for the al Shabaab terror group with which Lewthwaite has been linked.

She lived there with her four children and despite having no apparent income paid 60,000 shillings (nearly £500) a month for the three-bedroom flat.

The clean-up at the site of the Westgate mall attacks is ongoing

A man from the apartment block said she used to go shopping at the nearby mall - popular just like Westgate with wealthy expats - for up to four hours at a time.

Police also traced a flash drive back to her which showed the British woman who married a suicide bomber had spent eight years researching chemicals, explosive ingredients and how to make bombs.

One document she downloaded is entitled the Mujahideen explosives handbook.

The examination of her hard drive showed she had also Googled a significant number of dieting and fitness sites, including websites with workout routines to help you lose weight and makeover sites which demonstrated how to have hair like the singer Taylor Swift.

Out of nearly 2,000 files found, a vast number were about health and body image, and she had downloaded documents about getting started in bodybuilding and visited one site about self-defence.

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SpongeBob Headstone Removed From US Cemetery

An Iraq War veteran's headstone shaped like the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants has been removed because the cemetery deemed it inappropriate for its traditional grounds.

The decision has enraged the family of the late Kimberly Walker, 28.

"They had no compassion for what we were going through," said her mother, Deborah Walker.

The headstone was made in the likeness of Ms Walker's favourite cartoon character, and features a smiling SpongeBob in an army uniform, with her name and rank.

It was erected at Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati on October 10 - almost eight months after she was found dead in a Colorado hotel room.

Kimberly Walker had served two tours in Iraq

Her family said they had secured the cemetery's prior approval for the 7ft headstone.

But they said cemetery staff called them the day after it was installed to say it would have to come down.

Cemetery president Gary Freytag confirmed the headstone - along with a near-exact duplicate erected for Ms Walker's living twin sister - had been removed and would not be allowed back up.

He said such headstones "aren't appropriate for our historic cemetery".

Mr Freytag said the employee who had approved the headstones had made an error of judgement.

The headstone being removed

A meeting between Ms Walker's family and cemetery employees is scheduled for later today, and a solution could include a more traditional gravestone bearing a small likeness of the character, Mr Freytag said.

Acknowledging the cemetery was at fault, he said it was prepared to reimburse the family for each headstone, which cost a combined $26,000 (£16,100), and pay for new ones.

Ms Walker was a US Army corporal assigned to the 2nd General Support Aviation Battalion and served two year-long tours in Iraq in 2006 and 2010 as a petroleum supply specialist, her family said.

She was found strangled and beaten to death in a hotel room in Colorado Springs on Valentine's Day this year.

Her boyfriend, an Army sergeant stationed nearby, was arrested and charged with her killing.

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Israel Kills 'Bus Bomber' In West Bank Shootout

A suspected bus bomber has been killed by Israeli forces during an operation inside the West Bank.

The dead man, a member of Islamic Jihad, died in a gunfight which ended in a cave between the villages of Bilin and Kufr Ne'meh, six miles (10km) northwest of Ramallah.

The Israeli army put out a statement about the incident, naming the dead man as Mohammed Assi.

It said he was responsible for the bombing of a bus in Tel Aviv in November 2012 that wounded 29 people.

"A wanted Palestinian terrorist was killed this morning in Bilin during a gunfight with the army while he was in a cave," tweeted army spokesman Avichay Adraee in Arabic.

Islamic Jihad also put out a statement confirming the man had died, saying he had been "assassinated by the occupation in Kufr Ne'meh".

In a separate tweet, the Israeli army's official spokesman Peter Lerner described him as the "planner" of the Tel Aviv bombing.

"On 21st November 2012 a terrorist planted a bomb on a bus in #TelAviv injuring 29 people. This a.m. its planner was killed in exchange of fire," he wrote.

"Mohammad Assi involved in #TelAviv bombing last Nov. opened fire at security forces and was killed this a.m. in the exchange of fire."

He said two others who were involved in the bombing had been arrested.

Witnesses told the AFP news agency the incident began at 5am (3am BST) when Israeli troops entered Bilin then moved into an area between the village and nearby Kufr Ne'meh, sparking gunfire.

Troops surrounded a cave in the area and bulldozed it, a Palestinian medic at the scene said.

The Tel Aviv bombing took place on a bus near the defence ministry.

The attack came as Israel was engaged in a major air campaign in Gaza to stamp out cross-border rocket fire that ended with a mutual ceasefire several hours later.

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Ireland: Blonde Roma Girl Taken Into Care

A blonde girl thought to be aged around seven and living with a Roma family in Ireland has been taken into care, Sky Sources have revealed.

Police are understood to have swooped on the family after a tip off from a member of the public.

The girl, who also has blue eyes, was taken into care after officers called to a house in the Dublin suburb of Tallaght on Monday afternoon.

Concerns were raised after the member of the public saw the blonde girl being looked after by the Roma family.

Sky Sources have said that the parents were unable to prove the identity of the girl.

It follows the taking into care of a four-year-old blonde girl called Maria and the arrest of a Roma couple in Greece last week.

The youngster taken from the family in Dublin is now being cared for by Ireland's Health Services Executive.

Sky News has been told the couple who were looking after the girl are being questioned by police in Dublin.

Ireland's Sunday World newspaper reported that the couple were asked by police to produce a birth certificate but, at first, could not find one.

The parents, according to the paper, then claimed the girl was born at Dublin's Coombe hospital in April 2006, but inquiries with the hospital resulted in no record being found of the girl being born in the hospital at that time.

After two hours in the house, the parents eventually found a birth certificate but the Gardai were not satisfied that it matched.

It is understood police may seek to take DNA samples to determine if the girl is related to anyone in the Roma camp.

The couple who claimed to be the parents of a blonde, blue-eyed girl aged around four in Greece have been charged with abduction.

More follows...

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Three Killed In Medical Helicopter Crash

Three people have been killed after a medical helicopter crashed in Tennessee while on the way to pick up a patient.

Fayette County Sheriff's Department received a call from Hospital Wing command in Bolivar to say one of its helicopters was overdue on Tuesday morning.

Staff lost contact with the aircraft at around 6.20am, a spokeswoman for Le Bonheur Children's Hospital told The Commerical Appeal.

The wreckage of the helicopter was found along Highway 64 west of Somerville. All three people on board - the pilot, a nurse and a respiratory therapist - were killed.

The aircraft had taken off from Memphis and was heading to Bolivar.

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Foreign Ministers 'Fully United' On Syria

A group of Western states and Arab powers have agreed to put their "united and collective weight" behind calls for a UN-led peace process in Syria.

The Friends of Syria group, meeting in London, called on both sides in the civil war to participate in next month's peace summit in Geneva.

It also pledged its continued support to the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), an umbrella group of moderate armed forces trying to overthrow Bashar al Assad.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the group was not making it a precondition of the talks next month that Assad can have no part in Syria's political future.

But he made it clear he does not expect him to play any role in a transitional administration because the SNC would never agree to his participation.

"The only sustainable way to end this conflict and the suffering of innocent Syrian civilians is through a political transition in Syria," he said.

William Hague called on the Syrian opposition to fully commit

"The purpose of our meeting today has been to send a signal of our resolve, unity and determination in bringing that about."

He condemned the Assad regime for "laying siege" to the Syrian people and "presiding over a humanitarian catastrophe".

And he said the Government was using tanks, torture and scud missiles as it continued its "record of utter abuse and suppression".

Mr Hague also revealed that Britain would unveil more support for the Syrian opposition before the summit in Switzerland in November.

He described it as "substantial non-lethal support" which is likely to include communication, medical and logistics equipment.

"It will help them to save lives on the ground," he said.

The Friends of Syria group includes the British foreign minister and those of 10 other countries.

Failure to have agreed a united front could have jeopardised the chances of the Geneva conference, due on November 23, from taking place.

Calling Geneva II, it is intended to build on last year's Geneva agreement where most countries including Russia signed up to a rough road map intended to bring peace.

Mr Hague said the countries had agreed to put its "united and collective weight" behind the Geneva II process, which looks to create a transitional governing body.

He insisted this would offer the Syrian people "the best hope to improve their lives" and urged the Syrian National Coalition to fully commit to it.

However, Syrian opposition chief Ahmad Jarba was reportedly set to tell Western and Arab allies he would only attend talks aimed at removing Assad from power.

According to the text of a speech he was due to give at the London meeting, he was due to warn the opposition would otherwise lose credibility.

The address, seen by Reuters, says: "Geneva cannot succeed and we cannot take part if it allows Assad to gain more time to spill the blood of our people while the world looks on."

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Maria: Police Investigate Lisa Irwin Lead

Mystery Blonde Girl: Eight 'Promising' Leads

Updated: 11:32pm UK, Sunday 20 October 2013

A charity looking after a young girl who was found living with a Roma family in Greece say they have eight "promising" leads in relation to her case.

Authorities have put out a worldwide appeal to help identify the four-year-old-child - known as 'Maria' - and find her real family.

The youngster was discovered living in squalid conditions in a Roma camp near the town of Farsala on Wednesday after a raid by police looking for drugs and weapons.

It is thought she may have been trafficked or abducted.

South Yorkshire Police have said "there appears to be no direct correlation" between this case and the disappearance of Ben Needham who was 21 months old when he went missing on the Greek island of Koss in 1991.

In a statement they said: "The case of Ben Needham continues to be investigated by the Greek authorities and South Yorkshire Police continues to support his family.

"No investigation is currently being carried out by the Force in light of this recent case and officers from South Yorkshire Police will only become involved should authorities in Greece require our assistance."

The Smile Of The Child charity told Sky News it had received more than 5,000 calls from Greece and abroad, and thousands of emails from the United States, Europe and Australia.

It said of the eight "promising" calls, four were from the US, and one each from Sweden, France, Canada and Poland, and the organisation was passing the information to police.

Charity spokesman Panos Pardalis Dresios said the girl, who is in hospital, was playing with her toys and "feeling much better".

He added: "What we're trying to do is for the kid to be calmed down and to play, and the experts will be the ones who will decide how they're going to deal with this."

Maria was found with people who were pretending to be her parents, but DNA tests later proved they were not.

The couple, a 39-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman, were arrested and charged with abducting a minor.

But a man calling himself Kostas, the brother of the 39-year-old male, said Maria was very loved and cared for.

"We got this girl in a very nice way. We raised her. We got her. She was given to us and we raised her," he said.

"She had problems with her eyes. We took her to the doctor, we took her everywhere. We didn't take her to sell her. We loved her so much, with so much passion."

Giorgos Tsakiris, the general secretary of the Roma association in Farsala, said the girl had a good life with the people who were raising her.

He said: "I can tell you better than her other siblings, the biological ones. She spent her days very well and that is why the little girl loves them and what they say about abductions is not true."

After police raided the camp, an officer became suspicious when he noticed Maria bore no likeness to her supposed family.

Further investigations into the couple raised even more suspicions.

Authorities allege the mother claimed to have given birth to six children in less than 10 months, while 10 of the 14 children the couple registered as their own are unaccounted for.

Maria's discovery has given hope to the family of Ben Needham, a British boy who disappeared from outside his grandparent's farmhouse on the Greek island of Kos in 1991.

The news of Maria being found has also buoyed the hopes of missing Madeleine McCann's parents.

Clarence Mitchell, a spokesman for Kate and Gerry McCann, said: "They have always maintained that until there is evidence to prove otherwise missing children can still be out there waiting to be found."

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