Bowling Ball: Boy, 5, Beaten To Death By Teen

A 13-year-old boy has apparently confessed to killing a five-year-old by hitting him in the head with a bowling ball after becoming irritated.

Sida Osman's body was found on Wednesday by police in North Texas, 18 hours after he was last seen riding his bike.

The teenager made the statement after people found him crying, according to a summary of the case read out during a detention hearing, reported by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Police claim the older boy who cannot be named because of his age, and Sida went into the fenced back garden of a vacant house close to where they lived.

The teenager became irritated with Sida "and hit him multiple times in the head, causing his death".

Several Somali families, many who have spent time in Kenyan refugee camps after fleeing unrest in their native country, live in the complex.

Although Sida's parents are Somali refugees, he was born in the US and was due to start kindergarten later this year, according to the local newspaper.

The suspect faces a capital murder charge but is not eligible to stand trial as an adult as he is a juvenile.

Sida's mother, Dahabo Abdi, told Dallas-Fort Worth television station KTVT that she did not know the suspect.

As the family gathered outside the apartment on Thursday, children from the area gave Sida's mother handwritten notes expressing their affection for him.

Some read the notes aloud, including one that read, "you were just an innocent kid".

Muhammad Elmi, the child's uncle, told Dallas-Fort Worth television station KXAS that the family never expected such a tragic outcome.

"We expected to see him alive - you know, coming back to the house smiling, happy," he said.

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Western US Set To Swelter In Record Heatwave

A dangerous heatwave is set to scorch the western United States, with record temperatures possible in parts of the country.

Baking sun will see California's notoriously hot Death Valley reach as high as 54C (129F), not far off the world-record high of 57C (134F) recorded there exactly a century ago.

A series of safety precautions are being put in place, with temporary cooling stations being set up for the homeless and elderly as airlines monitor the soaring temperatures to ensure it remains safe to fly.

In Las Vegas and Phoenix - where tigers at the city's zoo are being fed frozen fish snacks - the strong high-pressure system settling over the region is expected to see the mercury hit up to 48C (118F).

Extreme temperatures are expected in California

Temperatures are expected to be only slightly lower in Utah - marketed as having "the greatest snow on Earth" - parts of Wyoming and Idaho.

And cities in Washington state, which is better known for cool, rainy weather, should get into the mid-30s early next week.

In Albuquerque, New Mexico, the mercury hit 41C (105F) on Thursday afternoon, the hottest it has been in the state's most populous city in 19 years.

National Weather Service meteorologist Mark O'Malley said: "This is the hottest time of the year but the temperatures that we'll be looking at for Friday through Sunday, they'll be toward the top.

A tourist protects herself from the sun on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

"We'll be at or above record levels in the Phoenix area and throughout a lot of the southwestern United States. It's going to be baking hot across much of the entire west."

Scientists say that the jet stream, the river of air that dictates weather patterns, has been more erratic in the past few years.

It is responsible for weather systems getting stuck, like the current heatwave. Scientists disagree on whether global warming is the cause of the jet stream's behaviour.

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Austrian Alps Fall Kills British Climber

A British climber has died in the Austrian Alps after losing his balance and plunging around 200 metres (650ft) down a slope.

Police said the 42-year-old man, who has not been named, was hiking with a companion in the Tyrol region in western Austria on Friday.

Neither was an experienced climber, according to police.

The Foreign Office confirmed it was communicating with the Austrian authorities.

A spokeswoman said: "We can confirm the death of a British national in Austria. We are providing consular assistance to the family." 

The official tourism website for the area said it is popular with novice hikers and seasoned climbers, with a rating system that includes "easy" hiking trails, moderate mountain footpaths and "extreme" Alpine routes.

The latest tragedy comes just over a month after a British skier died when he fell down the north face of the Aiguille du Midi mountain in the French Alps.

The man was with another skier when they were caught in a storm while descending the challenging Vallee Blanche near Chamonix.

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EDL Leader Robinson Arrested Amid Tribute Bid

Two English Defence League leaders have been arrested in London as they attempted to march to Woolwich, where Drummer Lee Rigby was killed in May.

Tommy Robinson shouted, "You are enforcing Sharia law", at officers who held him on suspicion of obstructing police as he tried to enter the London borough of Tower Hamlets.

The EDL had previously announced plans to walk through part of the capital before gathering outside Woolwich Barracks, near where Drummer Rigby was hacked to death in broad daylight.

EDL member Kevin Carroll was also arrested

But the Metropolitan Police put conditions on the march which demanded that it ended at Old Palace Yard, opposite the House of Lords.

As well as planning to lay flowers in memory of Drummer Rigby, Mr Robinson and EDL co-leader Kevin Carroll, who was also arrested, were walking to raise money for a young girl fighting cancer.

Sky Correspondent Tom Parmenter said: "They'd walked six miles when they were arrested outside Aldgate East underground station.

"Police had been tracking the walk across London and had regularly spoken to them about their route.

"The EDL leaders had been warned not to go past a large mosque in east London or enter the borough of Tower Hamlets.

"As they approached the boundary of the borough they were warned again by officers who told them they may be arrested."

Mr Robinson and Mr Carroll repeatedly asked if they would actually be arrested before another man approached the pair and assaulted Mr Carroll. 

Parmenter said: "As police officers tried to deal with the situation the EDL leaders continued to walk forward and then a senior policewoman placed the pair under arrest."

The pair, who were wearing T-shirts bearing the words "support our troops", were led into a police van in handcuffs while complaining about their treatment. They were taken to Wandsworth police station, in southwest London, and two other men were arrested over the assault.

Mr Robinson is led into a police van

At the start of the walk in Hyde Park, Mr Robinson had said: "There's two of us doing a charity walk.

"They're (police) saying it (Tower Hamlets) is a Muslim area but to me there is no Muslim area, there are just areas of my capital city that if I have to walk from A to B then you have to walk through."

"Obviously I don't want to get arrested and I don't want to get in trouble so we'll cross that bridge when we get to it." 

Scotland Yard said the conditions were imposed because of fears the march and the gathering would result in "serious public disorder" and it had warned that a breach would lead to arrest.

The Met said it had attempted to work with the EDL to facilitate the march and gathering and offered them two alternative routes that avoided the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is home to the East London Mosque.

In a statement posted on the EDL's Twitter feed, the group said: "Tommy Robinson & Kev Caroll arrested for obstructing the police and carted off."

The statement claimed "negotiations" for their release were taking place and that the pair still hoped to walk to Woolwich to lay flowers.

Mr Robinson earlier replied to a tweet asking him what weather he was expecting for Saturday: "ill be in a cell by lunch time so won't matter. Ha ha"

The EDL campaigns against what it says is the spread of radical Islam, but it has been accused of Islamophobia and previous rallies have ended in clashes with anti-fascist groups.

Earlier this week, two American political activists who founded an anti-Muslim group were banned by the Home Secretary from entering the UK following reports they were to attend this weekend's march.

Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, who set up Stop Islamisation of America and run the website Jihad Watch, have been forbidden from entering the country on the grounds their presence would "not be conducive to the public good".

The police also banned the British National Party from marching from Woolwich Barracks earlier in June and ordered it to move its protest to Westminster.

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Moors Murderer: I Killed Four More People

Previously unpublished letters show Moors murderer Ian Brady claimed to have killed four more people.

Brady writes that he had murdered others (Pictures: The Daily Telegraph)

The letters, which emerged as his bid to be transferred from a maximum security hospital to prison failed, show that he confessed to killing two men in his native Glasgow and a man and woman in Manchester.

Brady described the other murders as "happenings" and says his male victim in Manchester was killed "on the waste ground behind the station" and the other was a "woman in the canal".

One of his Glasgow victims was killed "above" Loch Long, at the mouth of the Clyde, Brady wrote.

The letters, which have been published in The Daily Telegraph, were written to journalist Brendan Pittaway in the 1980s.

On Friday Brady lost his £250,000 legal bid to be transferred to a jail after a week-long public hearing, meaning the child killer will remain at Ashworth Hospital on Merseyside on the grounds that he is mentally insane.

Brady says his other killings were 'happenings'

The tribunal was the first time Brady has been seen in public since the 1980s, when he was taken back to Saddleworth Moor in the search for the bodies of two of his victims.

Brady and his partner, Myra Hindley, were convicted of luring children and teenagers to their deaths, with their victims sexually tortured before being buried on Saddleworth Moor. Hindley died in hospital in 2002 at the age of 60, still a prisoner.

The brother of victim Keith Bennett, whose body was never found, has said Brady was "nothing more than a serial killer of children, a paedophile, a coward and a self-pitying liar".

Alan Bennett wrote: "I have to say now that I am glad Brady did have his say, he tied his own defence team in knots, never gave a definitive answer under cross-examination and went on to show anybody interested that he is nothing more than a self-pitying liar."

In Brady's letters he says Bennett's body was buried in Yorkshire, rather than the Moors as originally thought.

Here Brady asks journalist Brendan Pittaway to keep letters confidential

Responding to Brady's claims about the other murders, Martin Bottomley, head of Greater Manchester Police's Cold Case Review Unit, said: "In the 1980s, Brady 'confessed' to a number of other unrelated murders. All these claims were thoroughly investigated at that time and found to be completely unsubstantiated.

"GMP has been investigating Brady's horrendous crimes and their aftermath for over 40 years now.

"A week hardly goes by when we do not receive some information which purports to lead us to Keith's burial site.

"All of these claims are investigated and it remains our aim to find Keith for the sake of his surviving family members.

"Only one person knows where Keith is buried and he refuses to disclose that information, preferring to taunt Keith's loved ones."

Brendan Pittaway told Sky News Brady's state of mind in the letters was obvious.

"When he was more controlled and talking about subjects he wasn't so angry about, his writing was rational, the sentences were shorter," he said.

"When he was talking about Hindley and the authorities who he detested ... his language would be peppered with references to cranks and conspiracies."

Brady told the tribunal his killings were 'recreational'

The decision on Brady's appeal was given by the three-man panel headed by Judge Robert Atherton, who heard the tribunal at Ashworth Hospital.

Reasons for the decision will be given at a later date because of the length of the material the panel needs to consider.

After the ruling, Dr David Fearnley, medical director at Ashworth, said the judgement was "consistent with the expert opinions of our clinicians".

Brady - who claims to have been on a hunger strike since 1999 - told the hearing he was merely "a petty criminal" and described his crimes as "recreational killings".

Brady, pictured in 1966

His legal application challenged the order made under the Mental Health Act when he was transferred from prison to Ashworth in 1985, when he was diagnosed as being a paranoid schizophrenic.

Brady's legal team argued that, despite his severe personality disorder, he is not mentally ill.

He suggested that, if he is allowed to go back to a jail, he would be "free to end his own life" by starving himself to death.

Brady has the right to challenge the decision, which would require a further hearing at an Upper Tribunal.

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Egypt Protests: US Citizen Among Three Dead

Violent clashes across the Egyptian cities of Alexandria and Port Said have left three people dead and more than 70 others injured.

Andrew Pochter was a student in Ohio

Two people were killed in Alexandria. One of them was an American citizen, the US State Department confirmed. 

He has been identified as Andrew Pochter, 21, from Maryland, who was a student at Kenyon College in Ohio.

He had been working as an intern at an American non-profit organisation teach where he was teching English to children and improving his Arabic, his family said in a statement.

"He had studied in the region, loved the culture, and planned to live and work there in the pursuit of peace and understanding," read the statement, that asked for privacy in a time of grieving.

Mr Pochter died from a stab wound to the chest after violence erupted between supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Morsi.

General Amin Ezzeddin, a senior Alexandria security official, said the American was using a mobile phone camera near an office of Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood in the city's Sidi Gaber neighbourhood when it was being attacked by protesters.

He was rushed to a military hospital, where he died.

A second victim was shot dead during clashes in the city, while a third person died as protests also turned violent in Port Said.

The deaths come as leading clerics warned of "civil war" in Egypt after violence in the last week has left several dead and hundreds wounded.

They backed Mr Morsi's offer to talk to opposition groups ahead of mass protests scheduled for Sunday.

State news agency MENA said 70 people had been injured.

A protester hurls a rock towards riot police in Alexandria

TV footage showed protesters running from the scene as gunshots were heard.

The offices of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the political arm of Mr Morsi's party, were also set on fire during the confrontations.

A Brotherhood member was also killed overnight in an attack on a party office at Zagazig, in the heavily populated Nile Delta, where much of the recent violence has been concentrated.

Mr Morsi's movement said five supporters in all had died this week - three in Mansura and two in Zagazig.

A supporter of Mr Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo

The June 30 protest was called by Tamarod, a grassroots movement which says it has more than 22 million signatures for a petition demanding Mr Morsi's resignation and a snap election.

It alleges that Mr Morsi reneged on his promise to be a president for all Egyptians and has failed to deliver on the uprising's aspirations for freedom and social justice. Mr Morsi's supporters have questioned the authenticity of the signatures.

The president himself warned in a televised speech on Wednesday that the growing polarisation threatens to "paralyse" Egypt.

The army, which oversaw the transition from former president Hosni Mubarak's autocratic rule but has been on the sidelines since Mr Morsi's election, warned it would intervene if violence erupts.

Anti-government protesters start a fire outside an FJP office in Alexandria

It has brought in reinforcements to key cities, security officials said.

In an updated travel warning, the State Department cautioned US citizens "to defer non-essential travel to Egypt at this time due to the continuing possibility of political and social unrest".

President Barack Obama said during a visit to South Africa that the "most immediate concern" was to protect US embassies and consulates in Egypt.

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Bus Crash Video Studied By Turkey Police

A CCTV camera has filmed the moment a bus full of tourists veered across a busy road before flipping over and crashing into a pole.

People were seen climbing out of the vehicle as it lay on its side.

Bystanders ran to the scene to help victims following the crash, which happened as the bus turned a corner in the southern Turkish resort city of Alanya.

A 15-year-old Swede and a 68-year-old Dane were killed in the crash.

The "Danish Spies" travel agency said a group of 27 Scandinavians - 11 Swedes, 10 Norwegians and six Danes - were on their way back from a trip to nearby mountains on Friday when it tilted over.

The other tourists were said to have sustained minor injuries in the accident, which is being investigated by police.

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Cameron Visits British Troops In Afghanistan

By Joey Jones, Deputy Political Editor

David Cameron has travelled to Afghanistan to pay tribute to the work of British troops on Armed Forces Day.

The Prime Minister made an unannounced visit to Camp Bastion in Helmand Province where he met troops on the front line, dined with them in their living quarters and took control of a bomb disposal robot.

He also met Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai in the capital Kabul amid faltering efforts to engage the Taliban in a political process of reconciliation.

Mr Cameron's trip to Afghanistan followed comments made by General Nick Carter, a senior British Army officer and deputy commander of the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf).

The Prime Minister holds a press conference with President Karzai

Gen Carter told The Guardian there may have been opportunities to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table more than a decade ago.

"The problems that we have been encountering over the period since then are essentially political problems, and political problems are only ever solved by people talking to each other," he said.

Speaking in Lashkar Gah, Mr Cameron told Sky News: "I think you can argue about whether the settlement we put in place after 2001 could have been better arranged.

"But at the same time I know that you cannot bank on that, which is why we have built up the Afghan army, built up the Afghan police, supported the Afghan government so that after our troops have left ... this country shouldn't be a haven for terrorists."

Mr Cameron was shown some of the latest surveillance equipment

Mr Cameron, who has now moved on to Pakistan for talks with President Asif Ali Zardari, also told soldiers about plans for a permanent memorial to those who have lost their lives in Afghanistan since 2001.

The monument for the 444 British personnel killed in the conflict will be built at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire and will be funded by fines paid by banks following the Libor scandal.

Meanwhile, a senior British military source suggested that Nato forces would need to assist the Afghans for up to five years after the combat role ends in 2014.

The British military have committed to running an academy for Afghan officers but the source suggested that Nato could also be required to help with close air support, casualty evacuation and logistics.

The Prime Minister joined British troops for a meal at Camp Bastion

A senior No 10 source said it will be for the National Security Council to decide what the UK's ongoing role would be but added: "We have done our fair share."

"The Prime Minister has been clear that we have paid a heavy price and already given a lot," he said.

"Our combat troops will leave at the end of next year.

"The only military commitments we have made beyond 2014 are to part-run the officer academy and to provide financial support to sustain Afghan forces. We have not been asked to do anything more.

"The Prime Minister's view is that we have done our fair share and it will now be for other Isaf partners to carry the main burden."

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Barack Obama Speaks With Mandela's Wife

Barack Obama has told Nelson Mandela's wife he hopes the ailing former leader "draws peace and comfort from the time he's spending with loved ones".

The US President spoke by telephone to Graca Machel while she stayed at the 94-year-old's hospital bedside.

Mr Obama also met two of the Nobel Peace laureate's daughters and eight of his grandchildren at a private meeting, which lasted 30 minutes, at the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory in Johannesburg.

In a statement after the visit, he said: "I also reaffirmed the profound impact that his legacy has had in building a free South Africa, and in inspiring people around the world - including me.

"That's a legacy that we must all honour in our own lives."

Mr Obama will not see the former South African president, who is critically ill, "out of deference" to him and the family's wishes.

Mr Mandela is critically ill in hospital

The president is in Pretoria as part of a three-nation Africa tour, which saw him hold bilateral talks with South Africa's president Jacob Zuma.

After the meeting, Mr Obama told reporters: "Our thoughts and those of Americans and people around the world are with Nelson Mandela and his family and all of South Africans.

"The struggle here against apartheid, for freedom, Madiba's moral courage, this country's historic transition to a free and democratic nation has been a personal inspiration to me, has been an inspiration to the world."

What has happened in South Africa shows the "power of principle" and people standing up for what's right continues to shine as a beacon, he said.

Mr Zuma said Mr Mandela's condition remains "critical but stable" but the government hopes he will be out of hospital soon.

He added that both leaders were "bound by history as the first black presidents of your respective countries".

Scenes outside the hospital where Mr Mandela is being treated

Later, Mr Obama likened Mr Mandela to the first US President George Washington because of the decision of both to step down at the peak of their power.

"What an incredible lesson that is, he said, calling Mr Mandela "one of the greatest people in history".

Earlier, Mr Obama told reporters in Senegal that he "did not need a photo op" with the anti-apartheid icon and would not be pushing for a visit with him.

The prospect of a public encounter between the first black presidents of South Africa and the US had been eagerly awaited for years, but has now been scuppered by Mr Mandela's failing health.

The president, who has previously called Mr Mandela a "personal hero", is due to make a tour on Sunday of Robben Island, the former prison where the anti-apartheid leader passed 18 of the 27 years he spent in jail.

Mr Obama faced protests by South Africans against US foreign policy, especially American drone strikes.

Mr Mandela with his wife Graca Machel

Police fired stun grenades to disperse several hundred protesters who had gathered outside the Soweto campus of the University of Johannesburg, where Mr Obama addressed a town hall meeting with students.

The visit comes after Mr Mandela's ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela said the former South African president's condition has shown "great improvement" over recent days.

Speaking outside the Pretoria hospital on Friday where Mr Mandela is being treated for a recurring lung infection, she said he remained "unwell".

She said: "It becomes very difficult to understand the seeming impatience and statements like: 'It is time for the family to let go'.

"And statements like: 'We are praying for the family not to pull the tubes'.

"Those are insensitive statements that none of you would want made about your parents and grandparents."

Mr Mandela, South Africa's first black president, was taken to hospital three weeks ago with recurrent lung problems.

He turns 95 next month.

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Tour de France 'Carnage' After Bus Gets Stuck

Tour de France cyclists were left battered and bruised after a huge crash which followed a bus getting wedged under the finish line banner.

Britain's Mark Cavendish saw his hopes of wearing the yellow jersey dashed as he was held up behind the crash, describing the situation as "carnage".

Panicked officials had tried to free the vehicle, belonging to the Orica GreenEdge team, after it got stuck just minutes before cyclists were to cross the line.

Organisers decided to move the finish line back 3km so that riders would have a clear end to the opening stage of the race, from Porto-Vecchio to Bastia on Corsica.

But then they told riders they had restored the original route because the bus, which had apparently taken a wrong turn, had finally moved on.

Moments after the announcement was relayed to cyclists, a huge crash involving favourites Peter Sagan and Andre Greipel happened in the suburbs in the town of Bastia, a few kilometres from the finish line.

Pre-stage favourite Cavendish said: "What caused the problems was the change to the finish.

"We were hearing in the radios with 5km to go the finish was in 2km. Then a kilometre later, it's at the finish. It was carnage."

The crash felled dozens of riders, as Cavendish added: "I count myself lucky."

Due to the confusion in the final moments of the race, all riders were awarded the same time for the stage.

German Marcel Kittel got the yellow jersey after picking his way through the fallen riders.

A spokesman for Orica GreenEdge said on Twitter their bus driver had been following instructions when he ended up at the finish line.

"Joking aside, our bus driver is devastated," he wrote.

"He's an awesome guy and (unlike me) a great driver. He was being told to keep moving forward."

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