One Thousand Inmates Escape From Libya Prison

Inmates have staged a major jailbreak at a prison in the east Libyan city of Benghazi as the facility was also attacked from the outside.

Security official Mohammed Hejazi said the prisoners staged a riot inside Koyfiya prison as an attack took place outside the facility.

Gunmen fired into the air outside the prison as inmates began setting fires inside, suggesting the escape was pre-planned.

Special forces later arrested 18 of those who escaped, while other returned on their own, according to security officials.

It was unclear if the jailbreak was part of protests taking place at the offices of Islamist-allied parties in Libya's main cities.

Those who escaped either face or had been convicted of serious charges.

Protesters have massed across the country angry over the killing of an activist critical of the country's Muslim Brotherhood group.

Hundreds gathered in the capital Tripoli to denounce the shooting of Abdul Salam al Musmari, setting fire to tyres and demanding the dissolution of Islamist parties.

Al Musmari, who publicly criticised the Brotherhood, was killed by unknown attackers in a drive-by shooting in Benghazi.

Benghazi's security situation is among the most precarious in post-revolution Libya.

Last year, the US ambassador and three other Americans were killed in an attack there.

Libyan prime minister Ali Zeidan said he would reshuffle the cabinet and reorganise the government to cope with the "urgent" situation.

He added: "What is happening is an attempt to obstruct the state's progression."

The country's government is struggling to assert its authority over armed groups that helped topple Colonel Gaddafi in 2011 during the Arab Spring uprisings.

It comes after Iraq's prime minister Nouri al Maliki ordered the detention of several senior security officials in connection with a major jailbreak that saw hundreds of inmates escape from the notorious Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad.

A statement from his office said those detained included the chief of staff of the federal police's fourth division.

Al Qaeda's Iraq branch claimed responsibility for the attack and a simultaneous raid on Taji prison. Members of the terror organisation were among the prisoners thought to have escaped.

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Tunisia: Police Fire Tear Gas At Protesters

Tunisian police have fired tear gas to disperse violent protests in the southern town of Sidi Bouzid, the hometown of slain secular opposition figure Mohamed Brahmi.

Tensions have run high in Tunisia since Brahmi's assassination, and large protests have been met with force by the authorities.

In a bid to stave off unrest in the capital Tunis and in the country's south, secular coalition partners of Tunisia's ruling Islamist party are in talks to reach a new power-sharing deal.

A spokesman for the Constituent Assembly, Tunisia's transitional parliament tasked with drafting a new constitution, said he expected a deal within the coming hours.

"The trend now is to move towards expanding the base of power," Mufdi al Masady told a local radio station.

The effort to reach a new deal by secular coalition partners of the ruling Ennahda party could help defuse increasingly hardline rhetoric on both sides. But so far, protests in the country have continued.

Mourners attend the funeral of slain opposition leader Mohamed Brahmi

In Sidi Bouzid, locals say angry protesters threw rocks at police late on Saturday.

"Hundreds of protesters lit tyres on fire to block roads and they threw rocks at the police," resident Mahdi al Horshani told the Reuters news agency.

"There is a lot of anger and frustration at the situation."

Tensions have grown in Tunisia since Brahmi's killing on Thursday, which came just months after another secular opposition figure was gunned down.

Secular opposition groups immediately began organising protests and demanded the dissolution of the Islamist-led government.

Their efforts have been fuelled by the recent protests and unrest in Egypt, which toppled that country's democratically elected but unpopular Islamist leader a year after he came to power.

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Egypt: 'Concern' As Scores Killed In Protests

Egypt: Timeline Of Unrest

Updated: 3:52pm UK, Saturday 27 July 2013

Key developments in Egypt since the beginning of the Arab Spring.

:: 2011

January 25: Egyptians stage nationwide demonstrations against the rule of President Hosni Mubarak.

February 11: Mubarak steps down and turns power over to the military, which dissolves parliament and suspends the constitution.

November 28: Egypt holds mutiple-stage parliamentary elections and the Muslim Brotherhood wins nearly half the seats in the law-making lower house.

:: 2012

May 23: First round of voting in the presidential elections.

June 30: Mr Morsi, elected with 51.7% of the vote, is sworn and becomes Egypt's first civilian and Islamist president.

August 12: The new president scraps a constitutional document that gave sweeping powers to the military and sacks Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who ruled after Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February, 2011.

November 22: Mr Morsi announces sweeping new powers for himself.

November 30: Islamist-dominated constituent assembly adopts a draft constitution despite a boycott by liberals and Christians.

December 8: The president annuls the decree giving himself increased powers.

December 15 and 22: 64% of voters in a two-round referendum back the new constitution. Egypt plunges into political crisis, with demonstrations by Morsi supporters and opponents sometimes turning deadly.

:: 2013

January 24: There is violence between demonstrators and police on the eve of the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled Mubarak. Nearly 60 people die in a week.

April 5: Four Christians and a Muslim are killed in sectarian violence.

May 7: President Morsi's cabinet reshuffle falls short of opposition demands.

May 16: Gunmen kidnap three policemen and four soldiers in the Sinai Peninsula. They are freed on May 22.

June 2: Egypt's highest court invalidates the Islamist-dominated senate, which assumed a legislative role when parliament was dissolved, and a panel that drafted the constitution.

June 15: Mr Morsi announces "definitive" severing of ties with Syria.

June 21: Tens of thousands of Islamists gather ahead of planned opposition protests.

June 23: Defence Minister Abdel Fattah al Sisi warns the army will intervene if violence erupts.

June 28: The US says non-essential embassy staff can leave after an American is killed during the protests.

June 29: The Tamarod (Rebellion) campaign which called rallies for June 30 says more than 22 million have signed a petition demanding Mr Morsi's resignation and a snap election.

June 30: Tens of thousands of Egyptians take to the streets nationwide determined to oust the president on the anniversary of his turbulent first year in power. At least 16 people die in protests across the country.

July 1: The opposition gives President Morsi a day to quit or face civil disobedience. Egypt's armed forces warn they will intervene if the people's demands are not met within 48 hours.

July 2: The presidency rejects the army's ultimatum, saying it will pursue its own plans for national reconciliation.

July 3: Mr Morsi is overthrown late in the day as the country's most senior army official announces the suspension of the Islamist-tinged constitution and a "road map" for a return to democratic rule to stop the bloodshed.

July 4: As Mr Morsi is held by the army, Supreme Constitutional Court Chief Justice Adly Mansour is sworn in as Egypt's interim president.

July 6: Fierce street battles between supporters of Morsi and their opponents leave at least 36 people dead.

July 8: Some 35 people are shot dead in clashes between Morsi supporters and the Egyptian army outside the Republican Guard's headquarters in Cairo.

July 9: Mr Mansour appoints economist Hazem el-Beblawi as prime minister and opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei as vice president. A military announcement backs up the appointments.

July 26: Millions pour into the streets of Egypt in rival demonstrations after a call by the country's military chief for protesters to give him a mandate to stop "potential terrorism" by supporters of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood. Five are killed in clashes. Prosecutors announce Morsi is under investigation for a host of allegations including murder and conspiracy with the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

July 27: Clashes in the early morning hours between security forces and Morsi supporters kill at least 120 protesters in Cairo.

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Halliburton To Plead Guilty Over Gulf Oil Spill

Halliburton is to plead guilty to destroying evidence in connection with the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

The US company has agreed to pay the maximum statutory fine of $200,000 (£130,000), to stay on probation for three years and to continue to cooperate with the government's criminal investigation.

Halliburton, which is the world's second-largest oilfield services company, has also made a $55m (£35.7m) voluntary contribution to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

Halliburton was BP's cement contractor on the drilling rig whose blowout triggered an explosion that killed 11 workers and spilled millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

A Justice Department statement said Halliburton - which constructed the cement casing of the well at the centre of the disaster - had carried out its own internal investigations following the disaster in April 2010.

But results of computer simulations carried out in May and June 2010 were ordered to be destroyed and were unable to be recovered, the Justice Department said.

The company said in a statement that it had agreed to plead guilty "to one misdemeanour violation associated with the deletion of records created after the Macondo well incident".

The Justice Department has agreed it will not pursue further criminal prosecution of the company or its subsidiaries for any conduct arising from the 2010 spill, Halliburton's statement said.

The plea agreement is subject to court approval, the company said.

According to the government, Halliburton recommended to BP that the Macondo well contain 21 centralisers, metal collars that can improve cementing, but BP chose to use six.

The government said that, during an internal probe into the cementing after the blowout, Halliburton ordered workers to destroy computer simulations that showed little difference between using six and 21 centralisers.

Efforts to locate the simulations forensically were unsuccessful.

Halliburton and BP have blamed each other for the failure of the cement job to seal the Macondo well.

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill was the largest offshore oil disaster in US history, wreaking havoc on the region's environment and economy.

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Egypt: Army And Morsi Camp Showdown Looms

A deeply polarised Egypt is braced for bloodshed ahead of rival mass rallies called by the army and Islamists who back the ousted president Mohamed Morsi.

Army chief General Abdel Fattah al Sisi has summoned Egyptians to the streets in an intended turning point in its confrontation with followers of Mr Morsi, the elected leader the military removed on July 3.

Mr Sisi said he wanted Egyptians to give the military a "mandate" to take the necessary measures against "violence and terrorism".

It comes as the country's state news agency reported Mr Morsi had been detained over accusations he killed soldiers and conspired with the Palestinian group Hamas.

Mr Sisi delivered his call in full military uniform and dark sunglasses

The claims were dismissed as "ridiculous" by his Muslim Brotherhood party, which has been camped out at street vigils calling for his reinstatement.

An army official said the military has given the party a Saturday deadline to end its resistance and join a military-set roadmap to fresh elections.

But the Brotherhood says it wants nothing to do with the army's transition plan and has called its own crowds out for counter-demonstrations in a "day to remove the coup".

Mr Morsi has been in military detention at an undisclosed location since he was overthrown.

UN leader Ban Ki-moon has called on the military to free Mr Morsi and other Islamic Brotherhood leaders, said deputy UN spokesman Eduardo del Buey.

Mr Ban also says he "urges all sides to act with maximum restraint" during the demonstrations.

A Morsi supporter (C) is chased by those backing the army earlier this week

Both the army and the Muslim Brotherhood dramatically escalated rhetoric in the lead-up to the rallies, following a month of clashes in which about 200 people, mainly supporters of Mr Morsi, have died.

The army has threatened to "turn its guns" on those who use violence.

In a Facebook post, the army said it will not "turn its guns against its people, but it will turn them against black violence and terrorism which has no religion or nation".

An army official told Reuters: "We will not initiate any move, but will definitely react harshly against any calls for violence or black terrorism from Brotherhood leaders or their supporters."

The main anti-Morsi youth protest group, which has backed the army, said it would go to the streets to "cleanse Egypt".

Thousands have been holding vigils calling for Mr Morsi's reinstatement

The Muslim Brotherhood accused the army of pushing the nation towards civil war and committing a crime worse than destroying Islam's holiest site.

The Brotherhood also claims the authorities have been stirring up the violence to justify their crackdown.

The rallies are expected to peak after the evening prayer marking the end of the day's Ramadan fast.

Police said they were planning large-scale reinforcements and the Interior Ministry said it would undertake "unprecedented measures to protect citizens and their property".

The head of the army, Mr Sisi, was appointed by Mr Morsi in a bid by the president to rein in Egypt's all-powerful military.

Anti-Morsi protesters with a poster of Mr Sisi

But Mr Sisi turned against him after a year in which the Egyptian economy floundered and support for Mr Morsi slumped.

Posters of the general have since appeared in shops and stalls across Cairo.

The US - which has close ties with Egypt's military - said it was "very concerned" by Mr Sisi's call for mass rallies.

After Mr Sisi's comments, the US announced it would suspend a delivery of F-16 warplanes.

The country remains deeply split over Mr Morsi's ousting.

The Brotherhood accuses the army of ejecting a democratically elected leader in a long-planned coup, while its opponents say the army responded to the will of the people.

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Spain Train Crash: Driver To Be Questioned

Police are due to question the driver of a train that derailed in Spain later, killing at least 80 people, in one of Europe's worst rail disasters.

The driver, named by local media as 52-year-old Francisco Jose Garzon, has remained under police guard in hospital since the crash on Wednesday night.

The eight-carriage train came off the tracks on a bend, hit a wall and caught fire just outside the pilgrimage destination Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain.

While data from the train's black box recorder is still being examined, early indications suggest the train may have been travelling at more than twice the speed limit at the time of the crash.

Mr Garzon boasted about speeding on his Facebook page

The train entered the bend at 190 km per hour (120mph), according to local media reports. The speed limit on the curve was 80km per hour (50mph).

Witnesses are reported to have heard Mr Garzon shout into a phone: "I've derailed! What do I do?"

A judge in Santiago de Compostela, capital of the region of Galicia, ordered police to take a statement from the driver.

It was not clear what kind of injuries Mr Garzon - who helped to rescue victims - had suffered.

But as his country mourned, it emerged that Mr Garzon is thought to have boasted on his Facebook page about how fast he was driving a train in March last year.

An official inspects the train's engine

The driver posted a picture of a train speedometer at 200kph (124mph) on the social networking site. His Facebook page has since been blocked.

"What a blast it would be to go parallel with the Guardia Civil (Spanish police) and go past them triggering the radar. Haha what a fine for Renfe (Spanish rail operator) haha," he wrote on what is believed to be his Facebook page.

Mr Garzon was being formally investigated and under police guard but he has not been arrested, the regional supreme court said.

Earlier reports said there was a second driver on the train, but it is believed Mr Garzon was the only driver at the time.

He is believed to have taken control of the train from a second driver about 65 miles south of Santiago de Compostela.

An aerial view of the carnage caused by the derailment

According to reports, one of the drivers realised what was about to happen before the crash and made a desperate call to Renfe ahead of the bend, saying: "I'm going at 190kmh, I'm going to derail."

In a second call to Renfe after the accident, the driver explained that he was trapped in the train.

"We are human, we are human," he is reported to have said. "I hope there are no dead because they would fall on my conscience."

Two investigations are being carried out into the catastrophe - one to look into possible failings by the driver and the other to examine the train's in-built speed regulation systems and see if it was a technical malfunction that meant the driver was not warned of the reduced speed limit around the bend.

Many questions remain unanswered about what went wrong, with some experts claiming that high speed alone would not explain the crash and speculation that the train's braking systems might have failed.

The impact was so huge one carriage flew several metres into the air

Reporting from the scene, Sky News Europe Correspondent Robert Nisbet said investigators would be focusing on the statements made by the driver immediately after the derailment.

Nisbet pointed to further reports from Spanish media suggesting the driver had told officials at Santiago de Compostela train station that an electronic warning signal was flashing inside the driver's cabin to indicate he was going to fast.

"He is said to have pressed a button to acknowledge the warning but still apparently did not slow down," Nisbet said.

State train company Renfe said Mr Garzon had been at the firm for 30 years and he had been driving trains for more than a decade. He became a an assistant driver in 2000 and a fully qualified driver in 2003.

Meanwhile, medical experts are continuing to try to identify 13 of the victims as distraught families continue to wait for news about their loved ones.

Relatives of passengers on the train wait for news of their loved ones

DNA tests are expected to be carried out on those with catastrophic injuries to identify them, with results available in the coming days.

The victims of the crash included a US citizen and a Mexican. At least one British citizen and four children were among the 95 people injured. Just over 30 of those in hospital are still critically ill.

Video footage from a security camera showed the train, which had 247 people on board, hurtling into a concrete wall at the side of the track.

The impact was so huge one carriage flew several metres into the air and landed on the other side of a concrete barrier.

The Alvia 730 series train was travelling from Madrid to the port city of Ferrol when it crashed about 8.40pm local time - 7.40pm UK time - on Wednesday.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy visits the scene of the crash

The crash occurred on the eve of a major Christian religious festival honouring St James, the disciple of Jesus whose remains are said to rest in a shrine.

Many of the dead or injured were believed to be Catholic pilgrims converging on the city.

Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who was born in Santiago de Compostela, visited the scene of the crash on Thursday and declared three days of official mourning across the country.  King Juan Carlos also visited one of the hospitals where many passengers are being treated.

Local reaction to the crash has been such that an appeal for blood donations resulted in hospitals having to turn people away because they could not cope with the demand. Many local hotels are also offering free rooms to relatives of those involved.

Wednesday's train crash is the worst Spain has experienced since a three-train accident in a tunnel in the northern Leon province in 1944.

Due to heavy censorship at the time, the exact death toll for the Torre del Bierzo disaster has never been established.

The official figure was given as 78 dead, but it is thought that as many as 250 could have been killed.

There was another serious accident in Spain in 1972 when a Madrid to Cadiz express collided head-on with a local train on the outskirts of Seville. A total of 77 people died, with more than 100 injured.

The latest crash comes less than two weeks after six people were killed and scores injured in a train crash just south of Paris.

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Hot Air Balloon Crash Caught On Camera

A hot air balloon carrying 11 people has crashed into a lake in the Netherlands, injuring two people.

Dramatic footage taken by a passerby shows the vessel coming down in Lake Gooi, near the city of Almere, and its basket being dragged along by the tide until it hits the shore.

The basket remains on its side in the water while the edge of the balloon dips and comes down on a road alongside the lake in front of a travelling car.

Witnesses can be seen rushing to help the passengers in the stricken balloon.

Dutch emergency services, including two coastguard boats, police, firefighters and ambulances were alerted to the accident and attended the scene.

The two people hurt were taken to hospital with minor injuries.

The cause of the crash, which happened at around 9.40pm on Tuesday, is unknown. It is being investigated by police and the Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ETI).

Almere is situated in central Flevoland province, east of Amsterdam.

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Las Vegas Policeman Killed In Helicopter Fall

A Las Vegas police officer has fallen to his death from a helicopter hoist while rescuing a stranded hiker from a mountain ledge.

David Vanbuskirk was part of the search and rescue team sent to the Mary Jane Falls area of Mount Charleston.

Police said the area was too difficult and dangerous to access on foot and decided to use the helicopter's internal rescue hoist to lower Mr Vanbuskirk on to the mountainside.

He attached a rescue device to the victim but became detached from the hoist line as the pair were being lifted into the helicopter and fell into a canyon below.

The victim remained attached to the cable and was pulled into the aircraft.

A spokesman for Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said the exact distance Mr Vanbuskirk fell is still under investigation but added: "The fall was non-survivable and he perished on impact."

Mr Vanbuskirk had been with the department since October 1999 and was assigned to the search and rescue section in February 2007.

Television cameras captured a procession of police cars driving through the dark with their flashing lights on after the accident in a gesture of respect for the fallen officer.

"We're a big family, a close family, and this is going to be trying on us for quite a while," Las Vegas police assistant sheriff Joseph Lombardo said.

"We will survive it. We'll come back together and hopefully in my lifetime it will never happen again."

The National Transportation Safety Board, Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the police department will investigate, Mr Lombardo added.

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Dewani To Be Extradited To South Africa

Shrien Dewani will be extradited to South Africa to face charges of orchestrating his wife's murder, a judges rules.

More follows...

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Pope In Brazil: Thousands Mob Pontiff's Car

Thousands of Brazilians mobbed the Pope's car after his driver went the wrong way down a street in Rio de Janeiro.

Rio Transportation Secretary Carlos Osorio said the Fiat that Francis was riding in from the airport to the city centre turned into the wrong side of a 12-lane road known as Avenida Presidente Vargas.

Instead of taking the left lanes that were free of traffic, the car turned into the right lanes cluttered with buses and taxis, forcing the pontiff's car to stop, he said.

Thousands who had lined the streets then rushed the car, reaching into the Pope's open window, many taking photos of him.

His secretary was not happy during the incident

Vatican spokesman the Reverend Federico Lombardi acknowledged that the Pope's motorcade took a wrong turn, but said the pontiff was never concerned for his safety, even if his secretary who was sitting with him in the car was.

"His secretary was afraid, but the Pope was happy, with his hand out the window waving," Rev Lombardi said.

"There are no concerns for security. The concerns are that the enthusiasm is so great that it's difficult to respond to so much enthusiasm for the Pope. But there is no fear and no concern."

The Pope later toured round the main streets In Rio

Pope Francis, who is on a seven-day trip to his home continent, then switched to an open-air Popemobile as he toured around the main streets in central Rio.

At the official welcoming ceremony, Pope Francis said he had come "to meet young people from all over the world" attracted by the messages of Jesus.

During his stay, the 76-year-old will meet young Catholics converging for the Church's World Youth Festival in Rio.

Police fire rubber bullets at protesters

More than one million people are expected to pack the white sands of Copacabana for ceremonies presided over by Pope Francis. He will also visit a tiny chapel in a slum and make a side trip to venerate Brazil's patron saint, Our Lady of Aparecida.

Police and anti-government protesters earlier clashed outside the palace hosting the Pope's welcoming ceremony.

About an hour after the Pope concluded his short speech, police began cracking down on the protests, firing rubber bullets in an effort to disperse the crowd.

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