Clashes ahead of Brazil's Libra oil exploration auction

The BBC's Wyre Davies reports as attempts are made to disperse protesters

Brazilian security forces and protesters have clashed in Barra da Tijuca, near Rio de Janeiro, where the Brazilian government is auctioning off exploration rights for a huge oilfield on Monday.

Members of the National Security Force fired tear gas and rubber bullets to try to disperse some 300 protesters.

Several protesters have been injured.

President Dilma Rousseff had ordered tight security after violent demonstrations in Rio last week.

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Local media said a small number of protesters tried to set a car alight while others tried to block cars carrying officials from Brazil's Mining and Energy Ministry from getting to the hotel where the auction is taking place.

"There were bizarre scenes. Riot police firing tear gas and stun grenades, not just against protesters, but also on to the beach, with hundreds of tourists and sun worshippers looking on incredulously," the BBC's Wyre Davies reported from Rio de Janeiro.

Among the protesters are members of various unions representing oil workers, who have been on strike since Thursday at more than 40 oil platforms and refineries.

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With only eight months to go before the World Cup, for the government to order the army onto the streets of Barra de Tijuca (the coastal strip to the west of Rio) is not a decision that will have been taken lightly. They will provide images that Brazilian authorities would frankly rather the world did not see at such a critical moment.”

Wyre DaviesRio de Janeiro correspondent

'Sell-out'

The unions accuse the government of "selling off" Brazil's riches.

Eleven international oil companies are said to be interested in the Libra oilfield, and nine of them have so far reportedly paid the required registration fee.

The Libra offshore oilfield is located at a depth of some 5,000m (16,500ft), below a thick layer of salt sediments, which makes its exploration extremely challenging.

The site of the Libra auction is well guarded

Protesters set fire to rubbish bins and overturned the car of a local broadcaster

A small group of protesters used corrugated iron sheets as shields

Part of the beach was blocked off to prevent protesters from accessing the area

The Brazilian government hopes that by bringing foreign expertise on board it will be able to exploit Libra's estimated 8-12 billion barrels of recoverable oil reserves.

"We're taking over this immense wealth that lies under the sea and on land. It is not available to us if it stays where it is," Mines and Energy Minister Edison Lobao told AFP news agency.

But critics say Brazil should protect the monopoly of exploration of its oil reserves.

Others argue that the rules set by the government for the auction have scared off big players such as BP and Exxon for allegedly allowing too much state intervention.

The Libra field belongs to the Brazilian government's National Petroleum Agency (ANP) and is part of huge oil reserves discovered in 2010 under a layer of rock, sand and salt beneath the seabed.

The discovery potentially doubles Brazil's known oil reserves.

[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-24605389]

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Iraq violence: Five suicide bombers in deadly attack

Five suicide bombers have attacked government buildings in Iraq's western Anbar province killing two policemen and three officials, police say.

At least 20 people were injured. No group has said it carried out the attack but police told the BBC they suspect Sunni Muslim insurgents.

Iraq has experienced a surge in violence in recent months.

In another incident, police said a suicide bomber killed six people in the city of Samarra, north of Baghdad.

The bomber targeted the house of a senior policeman but he is believed to have survived the attack. Those killed are said to be members of his family.

Multiple suicide attacks

In Anbar province, police said two bombers on foot and another driving a vehicle rigged with explosives attacked the police headquarters in the town of Rawa.

The other suicide bombers struck an army checkpoint at the town's entrance and the local administrative headquarters where officials were meeting.

It was the second attack in less than a month to hit Rawa, about 75km (45 miles) from the Syrian border.

Analysts say more than 6,000 people have been killed in acts of violence in Iraq this year.

Correspondents say the failure of Iraq's Shia-led government to address the grievances of Iraq's Sunni Arab minority has driven the surge in unrest.

Many Sunnis complain of being excluded from government jobs and senior posts and of abuses by security forces.

[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24600096]

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Kenya attack: Westgate mall bodies 'probably gunmen'

Two charred bodies pulled from Kenya's Westgate shopping centre on Thursday are "highly likely" to be two of the attackers, an MP has told the BBC.

Suspected attackers

• On 22 September Somali militant group al-Shabab says it carried out the attack
• Officials initially said 10 to 15 attackers were involved, but CCTV shows only four men
• Authorities release the names or nicknames of four suspects they say were killed in the siege: Abu Baara al-Sudani, Omar Nabhan, Khattab al-Kene and Umayr;
• BBC Newsnight names one suspect as Hassan Abdi Dhuhulow, a 23-year-old Norwegian national

Ndung'u Gethenji, chairman of the committee investigating the attack, said AK47 rifles used by the militants were found next to the bodies.

The authorities will now conduct forensic tests on the bodies.

At least 67 people died when suspected al-Shabab militants stormed the Nairobi shopping centre on 21 September.

The attack sparked a four-day siege in which large parts of the shopping centre were destroyed.

The Kenyan authorities have released the names, or nicknames, of four suspects in the attack, but have given few other details.

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Mr Gethenji said the bodies recovered on Thursday were likely to be militants because the army does not use AK47s.

He said another body recovered from the rubble was likely to be a soldier.

It is still not clear whether some of the attackers might have escaped, or even how many attackers there were.

Officials initially said 10 to 15 gunmen were involved, but CCTV footage appears to show only four militants.

The BBC's Will Ross in Nairobi says Kenyans still feel there are a lot of unanswered questions, and will be shocked if it turns out that just four gunmen caused such havoc.

The Somali militant group al-Shabab said its members carried out the attack in response to Kenya's army carrying out operations on Somali territory.

There are about 4,000 Kenyan troops in the south of Somalia, where they have been fighting the militants since 2011.

The BBC's Newsnight programme has revealed that one of the suspected attackers is a 23-year-old Somalia-born Norwegian national, Hassan Abdi Dhuhulow.

His family fled to Norway in the 1990s, but he returned to Somalia in 2009 and allegedly joined the Somali militant group.

Al-Shabab, which is believed to have between 7,000 and 9,000 fighters, controls large parts of Somalia.

The group, which is banned as a terrorist group by both the US and the UK, is fighting to create an Islamic state in Somalia.

CCTV shows the gunmen around the shopping mall

[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-24577711]

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Schools in Lurgan and Holywood closed by bomb alerts

Church Road in Holywood has been closed due to an alert

Schools in counties Armagh and Down have been closed due to bomb alerts.

Ceara Special School and Carrick Primary School in Lurgan have been closed following the discovery of a suspicious object.

A number of homes have also been evacuated, as has Lurgan Hospital. Sloan Street is closed at the junction with Sloan Avenue.

Holywood Nursery School in County Down is also closed after a suspect object was found in a hedge on Church Road.

Both objects are being examined by Army bomb disposal experts.

The principal of the special needs school in Lurgan, Dr Peter Cunningham, said the disruption had been "immense".

"We were able to prevent the children coming to school because we have a texting service, so we were able to do that very quickly when the PSNI told us to close the school," he said.

"But by that time our children had their uniforms on waiting in their houses all over the Lurgan, Craigavon and Portadown area.

"Our children just don't understand - when they get their uniforms on, it's time to go to school.

"When the bus doesn't come our children, especially those who work under a very strict routine become very anxious, so we have lots of anxious children and equally anxious families."

[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-24577597]

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Newly released security video shows horror of Kenya mall attack

Newly released surveillance video shows in horrific, chilling detail the chaos and the carnage that ensued when terrorists armed with assault rifles and grenades stormed an upscale shopping mall in Kenya.

The video, obtained Thursday by Reuters, is so graphic that CBSNews.com has chosen to omit some segments. The remaining portions capture the utter panic of the shoppers and mall workers and the cool deliberation of the attackers hunting them down.

More than 60 people were killed in the four-day siege that began Sept. 21 when attackers stormed the Westgate Mall in Nairobi. The Somali-based Islamic terrorist group al-Shabab, which is linked to al Qaeda, has claimed responsibility for the attack.

One section of the security video shows shoppers wandering into Nakumatt supermarket at the Westgate Mall. Suddenly, people begin to run further into the store as they hear gunshots, but one man is left lying on the floor. Seconds later, two gunman stalk into the supermarket and one shoots the helpless man. The victim tries to raise himself but apparently does not have the strength to get up, and the gunmen leave him squirming in a spreading pool of his own blood.

Later, the wounded man is seen again, still lying in the same spot, as terrorists return and coolly shoot him again.

In another scene, a terrorist is shown rounding up hostages. They include a woman with two young children walking beside her. She pushes a supermarket cart with what appears to be a wounded child in the main basket.

A limping teenage girl holds her hands up as the terrorist herds her along. The front of her sweatshirt is soaked with blood.

In a mall restaurant, diners and waiters can be seen running for cover. People crouch under a counter as armed men -- presumably police or security -- arrive and take positions in the restaurant.

The security cameras capture a dramatic scene in a mall corridor as terrified shoppers try to run for cover. Many drop to the floor and begin to crawl away on their elbows and knees as streaks of gunfire can be seen in the air. In the melee, one man trips over another and is sent sprawling onto the floor. He quickly begins to crawl toward shelter.

The footage also shows what at first seems to be deserted mall corridor -- but the camera detects people hiding behind any shelter they can find. They cower in silence, but sometimes a person can be seen shaking in terror.

As the video was released Thursday, the U.S. Embassy in Uganda's capital, Kampala, warned that it is on alert for the possibility of a terror attack that could resemble the Westgate Mall massacre.

[http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57608108/newly-released-security-video-shows-horror-of-kenya-mall-attack/]

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KP cabinet approves anti-terror task force, demands FC back again

PESHAWAR: Following the death of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) law minister Israrullah Gandapur in a suicide attack, the KP cabinet in a special meeting on Thursday approved tough decisions to control the law and order situation in the province.

A special meeting of the KP cabinet, headed by Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, approved the establishment of an anti-terrorism task force which will be led by the Inspector General of Police and comprise members of all law enforcement and intelligence agencies including Army, Frontier Corps and Frontier Constabulary.

The cabinet has also demanded of the center to return the Frontier Constabulary's platoons back to the province so that they can be deployed at sensitive places for controlling law and order and fighting terrorism.

The cabinet in another decision called upon the federal government to pace up the peace talks process as KP is facing the brunt of terrorist attacks.

They also ordered monitoring of all Afghan refugees living in the capital and deportation of those found to be involved in any criminal activity.

The cabinet has also ordered property dealers to submit data of the tenants living in rented houses in the city to detect terrorists and criminal elements.

The assassinated law minister Israrullah Gandapur was a member of the ruling party in KP, the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI).

He is the most senior member of the party to have been killed so far.

PTI chief Imran Khan condemned the killing of the Gandapur and directed the PTI-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to bring those responsible for the incident to justice as soon as possible.

[http://dawn.com/news/1050144/kp-cabinet-approves-anti-terror-task-force-demands-fc-back-again]

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Brazil crime bosses threaten 'World Cup of Terror'

Leaders of one of Brazil's most feared gangs have warned they will order a wave of terrorist attacks during next year's World Cup if they are moved into a maximum security prison in the state of Sao Paulo.

One of Brazil’s largest criminal gangs has threatened to unleash a wave of terrorist attacks during next year’s FIFA World Cup and presidential elections if authorities transfer jailed bosses to a solitary confinement unit in the state of Sao Paulo, according to a Brazilian daily.

The First Command of the Capital gang, better known in Brazil by the Portuguese acronym PCC, also plan to organise prison strikes and target police officers, according to mobile telephone conversations intercepted by intelligence units and leaked to the Estado de Sao Paulo daily.

SPORTS MINISTER QUITS Brazil Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo said Wednesday he would step down from his cabinet job in December to run for Sao Paulo state governor, with the FIFA World Cup less than eight months away. Huge infrastructure investments ahead of the football tournament have sparked wide protests across the country since June, including in Sao Paulo.

The threat to spread fear during next year’s international football tournament comes a week after an extensive report by prosecutors on the PCC’s activities was revealed by the same newspaper. The report confirmed that the gang’s leaders continued to run crime operations from inside prisons via mobile phones.

The PCC's “World Cup of Terror” warning came after Brazil's press reported that cartel bosses would be moved to the maximum security Presidente Bernardes Prison, located near Sao Paulo’s isolated western border, and that new equipment blocking mobile telephone signals would be installed at penitentiaries.

The state’s top cop, Benedito Roberto Meira, said he had ordered his troops to be on high alert. Over 100 state police officers were murdered in 2012 after the PCC ordered attacks on security forces.

‘Security system strong’

Authorities rushed to downplay the danger to tourists, who are expected to flock to Brazil in their thousands for the World Cup starting in June.

“I don’t think that a criminal organisation can threaten an event like the World Cup,” Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo told reporters on Wednesday after a parliamentary session dedicated to tourism. “As we know, Brazil is a country with many problems, but relatively sophisticated in some areas. Our security system is strong.”

“It is a group that should be taken seriously and is being fought like any criminal organization,” Sao Paulo’s public security office said in the statement. “However, the information gathered so far by intelligence services does not point to any indication that an attack will occur.”

No quarter

The gang’s threat to violently disrupt the World Cup is just the latest bad publicity for Brazil as the country prepares to host one of the most eagerly awaited and watched events on the planet.

BRAZIL Brazil can't kick negative attention ahead of World Cup

Latin America's largest country saw unprecedented mass protests in June, with middle-class Brazilians sometimes clashing with police outside new multimillion-dollar stadiums built for the sports event. Brazilian police have also faced criticism for a drive to "pacify" shanty-towns in Rio de Janeiro with heavy-handed operations.

Reacting to its own report in an editorial on Wednesday, the Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper said the PCC had gone too far and urged the government institutions to wage an incessant war on the crime syndicate.

“As soon as possible, [police] must launch an offensive and give no quarter to that criminal organisation, which represents an unacceptable threat to the authority of the state,” the newspaper said. “Getting rid of mobile phones in prisons and putting their leaders in solitary confinement [...] are critical measures to contain and break the PCC.”

[http://www.france24.com/en/20131017-brazil-world-cup-terror-gang-prisons-mobile-phones-maximum-security-sao-paulo?ns_campaign=editorial&ns_source=twitter&ns_mchannel=reseaux_sociaux&ns_fee=0&ns_linkname=20131017_brazil_world_cup_terror_gang_prisons]

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