US Shutdown Is 'Ideological Crusade' - Obama

President Barack Obama has urged Republicans in Congress to reopen the government, saying "one faction of one party" does not get to "hold the economy hostage over an ideological crusade".

Speaking from the White House Rose Garden more than 12 hours into a government shutdown, Mr Obama said the longer an impasse continues, the worse the impact will be.

America woke up to the shutdown after a deeply polarised Congress failed to agree a new budget in a dispute over Mr Obama's signature healthcare law.

Mr Obama blames the shutdown on the Republicans

The president said shutting down the government will not accomplish some Republicans' stated goal of "rolling back efforts to provide health insurance for those who don't have it".

Earlier Tuesday, Mr Obama sent federal workers a letter lamenting that they had become "punching bags" in Washington's partisan fiscal fights.

"This shutdown was completely preventable. It should not have happened," Mr Obama said in the letter.

As the shutdown entered into force, "closed" signs and barricades sprang up at the Lincoln Memorial, museums and federal workplaces across the country.

Some of America's most famous tourist attractions, such as the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in New York, and Alcatraz Island near San Francisco were closed to the public.

Almost all of Nasa shut down, except for Mission Control in Houston. Even the National Zoo's popular panda cam went dark, shut off for the first time since a cub was born there in late August.

The shutdown affects national parks such as Yellowstone

Up to 800,000 government employees are furloughed, and more than a million others could be asked to work without pay.

Meanwhile, workers classified as essential government employees, such as air traffic controllers or Border Patrol agents, continue to work. 

Republicans in the House said on Tuesday they would push for a series of small funding bills aimed at reopening portions of the government, including national parks.

The White House rejected the plan, saying it showed an "utter lack of seriousness" on funding the federal government.

The government's return to full operation will depend on how long it takes politicians to bridge their differences - and there was no immediate sign of compromise on Capitol Hill.

For now, Democrats and Republicans keep blaming each other.

The Republicans had insisted on delaying the healthcare reform - dubbed Obamacare - as a condition for passing a bill.

But this approach was rejected by allies of the president in a series of back-and-forth moves between the Republican-controlled House and the Democrat-dominated Senate.

House Speaker John Boehner said Mr Obama refused to negotiate

The Democrats accused the Republicans of succumbing to the Tea Party hard-line conservatives and seeking to gain political advantage at the expense of citizens.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said: "The government is closed because of the irrationality of what's going on on the other side of the Capitol."

House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican, said he did not want a government shutdown, but added the healthcare law "is having a devastating impact ... Something has to be done."

Meanwhile, Obamacare itself was unaffected and enrolment opened for millions of people shopping for medical insurance.

The House of Liberty can be seen only from a distance

Online insurance marketplaces at the heart of the healthcare overhaul struggled to handle the volume of consumers on Tuesday, resulting in some glitches.

The shutdown, meanwhile, is likely to further alienate citizens already largely disillusioned by their ruling class and for the most part disappointed with the president's performance, according to the latest polls.

The political dysfunction on Capitol Hill also raised fresh concerns about whether Congress can meet a crucial mid-October deadline to raise the government's $16.7trn debt ceiling.

This would force the country to default on its obligations, dealing a potentially painful blow to the economy and sending shockwaves around global markets.

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Chinese Tourists Given Tips On How To Behave

Chinese authorities have issued tourists with a handbook telling them how to behave when going abroad, including not to pee in pools.

As tourists from China increasingly travel abroad, they have developed a stereotype of "uncivilised behaviour", which Vice Premier Wang Yang said in May "damaged the image of the Chinese people".

The image-conscious National Tourism Administration has now published the 64-page Guidebook for Civilised Tourism, including illustrations, aimed at reining in unruly behaviour.

Instructions include do not pick your nose in public, leave footprints on public toilet seats or steal life jackets.

The rulebook explains that if tourists take the safety device from under their plane seat "if a dangerous situation arises then someone else will not have a life jacket".

It also warned travellers to keep their nose-hair neatly trimmed and, if they had to pick their teeth, never to use their fingers.

The handbook also dispensed country-specific advice: Chinese visitors to Germany should only snap their fingers to beckon dogs, not humans.

Chinese people are increasingly going abroad for holidays

The government had previously issued pithy guidelines telling tourists how to behave, but the latest booklet elaborated in far more detail.

Several countries, including debt-laden European nations, have eased visa restrictions to attract increasingly affluent Chinese tourists, but reports have also emerged of complaints about etiquette.

And the issues also affect tourists travelling closer to home. A woman from mainland China who in February had her son relieve himself in a bottle in a crowded Hong Kong restaurant sparked an outpouring of anger online, with some locals deriding mainlanders as "locusts".

The handbook, published to coincide with a week-long public holiday that started on October 1, has been met with a mixed response.

A tour guide surnamed Zhang, based in Hong Kong, said his company had given him a copy of the rules at the start of the seven-day October holiday.

Before this he said they had distributed a much briefer set of guidelines - which fitted onto a single sheet of paper.

"I feel things need to be improved," he said, standing in the city square packed with mainland tourists.

"If we bring chaos to other places, it's our image - the Chinese image - that suffers."

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Kenya: Bodies Recovered From Westgate Mall

Somalis Fear Kenya Terror Backlash

Updated: 4:41am UK, Sunday 29 September 2013

Somalis living in Nairobi say they fear being targeted by Kenyans who blame them for the shopping centre massacre that left at least 67 people dead.

The Eastleigh area of the capital city is home to many from Somalia, the country where al Shabaab, the terror group thought to be behind the attack, is based.

Ahmed Mohammed, a security consultant in the area, said there were major concerns about a backlash against the community.

"People are worried about people coming and looting their businesses and they are also worried about authorities coming and doing a crackdown on Somalis," he told Sky News.

"Basically, when things like this happen, Somalis are the victims."

Poverty and unemployment make Eastleigh a fertile recruiting ground for al Shabaab.

Those who have glimpsed inside the organisation and witnessed its brutality are terrified of being hunted down for leaving or speaking out.

One man, who asked to remain anonymous, explained why.

"What I am scared about is that Al Shabaab are beasts, they are not human beings," he said.

"If they see my face ... they will try to kill me. I have seen so many friends of mine who have been killed by al Shabaab."

Somali immigrant Farah Atosh, 25, has countless friends who have been recruited or approached by al Shabaab, but is determined to counter the terror group's propaganda.

"We are against them," he said.

"We are not supporting them. You might see or hear some people saying al Shabaab will not be able to carry out those attacks without the support of the Somali diaspora but honestly that is false information."

Many people who fled Somalia hoped they would find sanctuary and those who created new lives in Kenya want al Shabaab hounded out

One of them is Karim Muse, who told Sky News: "I would like to go to Somalia but (while) the al Shabaab are ... in Somalia, I don't want to go back.

"They have destroyed Somalia's people. They don't like Somalis, don't like other Christians, they don't like anyone, only themselves. Al Shabaab, they are cancer in the world."

It comes as forensic investigators continue to search the ruins of Westgate Mall - and after it emerged a sixth Briton had been confirmed dead following the attack.

Meanwhile, around 200 Nairobi residents, many of them of Indian descent, held a candlelit vigil on Saturday evening for victims the massacre.

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Berlusconi Drops Bid To Topple Government

Silvio Berlusconi has abandoned his bid to topple Italy's Prime Minister, saying he would vote to support the government.

At the weekend, Silvio Berlusconi ordered five ministers, drawn from his centre-right People of Freedom party (PdL), to resign from the cabinet, prompting a constitutional crisis.

Since inconclusive elections in February, Italy has been run by an unusual left-right coalition, headed by the centre-left Democratic Party leader Enrico Letta.

Prime Minister Enrico Letta praised his government's success on Wednesday

A confidence vote in parliament was called after Berlusconi launched his challenge to the leadership.

But in a humiliating climbdown Berlusconi said he had changed his mind on Wednesday after hearing Letta's promise to lower taxes and "the need for a government that can carry out institutional reforms in Italy".

"We have decided to vote for confidence, not without internal disputes," Berlusconi said.

The surprise about-turn made victory for Mr Letta's coalition a certainty and was immediately cheered by the markets, with shares in Milan jumping 1.45% higher after the shock announcement.

Mr Letta shook his head as Berlusconi was speaking and the address was followed by stunned silence.

Lawmakers were still set to vote despite the change of heart by a man who has dominated Italian political life for much of the past two decades.

Letta earlier asked lawmakers to vote for him, saying Italians were tired of "blood in the arena".

"Italy runs a risk that could be a fatal risk. Seizing this moment or not depends on us, on a yes or a no," Letta said in his address to the Senate.

"This is an historic situation," he said.

Several key figures from Berlusconi's own party broke ranks with the billionaire media mogul after his decision to call time on the government.

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China Puffer Fish Tower Row Blows Up Online

A viewing tower built in the shape of a giant puffer fish has caused a storm of protest on Weibo, China's version of Twitter.

Encased in 8,920 copper plates and built at a cost of around 70m yuan (£7m), the building on an island in Yangzhong county in the province of Jiangsu, hovers 15 storeys above ground.

The People's Daily, the Chinese government's main mouthpiece, reported that Yangzhong aimed to promote the puffer fish as the world's biggest metal construction in terms of volume.

The tower is just the latest example of what many in the world's second largest economy believe to be costly vanity projects.

A giant vase of flowers has been installed in Tiananmen Square

"To spend so much money on something so meaningless, I really admire these 'wealthy' people," Mother988 said, with apparent heavy irony.

Even The People's Daily acknowledged that the construction had divided opinion.

"Once this giant puffer made its appearance, it caused a heated debate online," it said.

Public records show Jiangsu's local government bodies are the most indebted in the country.

The puffer fish is covered in 8,920 copper plates

Jiangsu has said its debt is manageable, but this week announced plans to control land sales, becoming the first Chinese government to do so.

A giant vase of flowers installed in Beijing's Tiananmen Square to celebrate China's National Day has also prompted furious debate after a newspaper revealed it cost 570,000 yuan (£57,000).

The pot, topped with huge fake flowers and imitation peaches, is 13m high and 11m in diameter.

The state-run Beijing Youth Daily said that the display cost 8,000 yuan more than the previous year's installation.

"Who permitted spending taxpayer's money in this way?" one user of Sina Weibo wrote.

A huge flower is lifted into place by workers in Beijing

Another wrote: "570,000! That money could be put to much better use."

Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged to reduce government waste, introducing a ban on new government buildings and guidelines for banquets since coming to power.

Central Henan province drew controversy in 2011 when a state-backed charity tried to build an eight-storey sculpture of Song Qingling, the second wife of modern China's founding father Sun Yat Sen - but the building was scrapped half-way through.

The eastern province of Zhejiang also came under the spotlight after it modelled one of its city court houses on Capitol Hill.

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Baby Breakthrough: Infertile Woman Gives Birth

A 30-year-old infertile woman has given birth to a baby in Japan after doctors used a new technique to "reawaken" her ovaries into producing eggs again.

The experimental technique, developed by researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine in California, is in its early stage and was only tried on a small group of Japanese women with a specific kind of infertility problem.

The condition, known as primary ovarian insufficiency, affects about 1% of women and causes the ovaries to stop working before the age of 40.

Egg donation is the only option for women who enter menopause at a young age if they want to attempt to carry a pregnancy.

However, scientists now hope the breakthrough can also help women in their early 40s who have trouble becoming pregnant because of their age.

Medics at the St Marianna University School of Medicine in Kawasaki, Japan, used the technique in an experiment on 27 women who had an average age of 37.

Pic: Kazuhiro Kawamura, who performed the C-section

The women stopped menstruating nearly seven years earlier on average and agreed to have both ovaries removed, according to a report published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Of this group, 13 women were found to still have residual follicles, which typically contain one immature egg.

Human females are born with about 800,000 of these follicles. Most will remain dormant, but normally one follicle develops to maturity each month and releases an egg.

"Our treatment was able to awaken some of the remaining primordial follicles and cause them to release eggs," said Aaron Hsueh, senior author of the report and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Stanford University.

The ovaries were dissected and treated with stimulant drugs to block a certain growth pathway that causes the follicles to stay dormant.

Small pieces of the ovaries were then transplanted back into the women, near their fallopian tubes.

Eight of the 13 women showed signs of follicle growth, and were treated with hormones to stimulate ovulation.

From that group, five developed mature eggs, which the researchers harvested for in vitro fertilisation using the sperm of the women's partners.

One woman received two embryos and carried a single pregnancy to term and gave birth to a son in Tokyo last December.

The child was delivered by C-section - because the foetus was in a breech position at 37 weeks - by the report's lead author Kazuhiro Kawamura, associate professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at the St Marianna University.

Aaron Hsueh, professor of obstetrics and gynecology, Stanford University

"Although I believed, based on our previous research, that this in vitro activation (IVA) approach would work, I monitored the pregnancy closely and, when the baby was in a breech presentation, I performed the Caesarean section myself," said Mr Kawamura.

"I could not sleep the night before the operation, but when I saw the healthy baby, my anxiety turned to delight.

"The couple and I hugged each other in tears. I hope that IVA will be able to help patients with primary ovarian insufficiency throughout the world."

He said the mother hoped to have another child with one of the frozen embryos in storage from her treatment.

Of the other four women who also developed mature eggs, one is pregnant, two are preparing for embryo transfer or are undergoing additional egg collection and one woman was implanted with an embryo, but failed to become pregnant.

The researchers are now planning to investigate whether the technique could help counteract other causes of infertility, such as cancer treatment.

Alan Copperman, director of the division of reproductive endocrinology at Mt Sinai Medical Center in New York, said he applauded the US-Japanese team's "novel approach to an age-old problem", but added that it was "extremely premature to comment on the widespread potential for this procedure to help women with ovarian failure to achieve reproductive success".

Other experts expressed caution at the results.

"It shows a lot of promise (but) I don't think it's even close to being ready (for routine use)," said Dr Mark Sauer, of the Columbia University Medical Center in New York.

Dr Amber Cooper, of Washington University, St Louis, said the technique was "very much an experimental method".

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Athlone Child Rape Charges: Man In Court

By Vicki Hawthorne, Ireland Correspondent

A 30-year-old man has been charged with the rape of two young girls in Ireland.

It is alleged that the children, aged nine and six, were attacked on Saturday in the town of Athlone in County Weastmeath.

The man, who cannot be identified, has been charged with four counts of rape. 

A police officer told the court that the man had made no reply when the charges were put to him.

Members of the Irish police armed support unit were in attendance during Tuesday's short hearing at Longford District Court.

As the accused was driven away from court a crowd of up to 30 people who had gathered at the back gates jeered and shouted.

The case has sparked anger among the community in Athlone. 

A protest involving up to 300 residents was held outside the police station throughout Monday. People taking part said they wanted to show support for the families of the two alleged victims.

The accused has been remanded in custody and will appear before a court again on October 4.

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US Shutdown: Deadline Passes Without Deal

A bitterly divided Congress has plunged the US into a partial government shutdown – the first in almost two decades – that will put some 800,000 workers on unpaid leave and close museums and national parks.

A deadline to fund government spending passed without agreement, and the shutdown went into force at 12.01am.

The Democrat-dominated Senate and Republican-controlled House of Representatives refused to back down in a clash over President Barack Obama's controversial healthcare law, known as Obamacare.

The deadlock means non-essential services, including some of America's most famous tourist attractions, will be forced to close.

Workers classified as essential government employees, such as air traffic controllers or Border Patrol agents, will continue to work.

Shortly after midnight, Mr Obama tweeted: "They actually did it. A group of Republicans in the House just forced a government shutdown over Obamacare instead of passing a real budget."

The last shutdown took place under President Bill Clinton

It is the first US shutdown in 17 years, with analysts concerned about its potential impact on Wall Street and global markets.

Mr Obama warned of the possible risks to the economy, saying a shutdown would have "very real economic impact, right away".

David Cameron said: "It is a risk to the world economy if the US can't properly sort out its spending plans."

It is "a reminder to all of us that we need to have properly planned public-expenditure systems, properly planned tax, properly planned arrangements for getting our deficit down", the British Prime Minister said.

New York's Statue of Liberty and the National Zoo in Washington, as well as Yellowstone and other national parks, are among the tourist attractions the shutdown will affect.

Republican opposition to the new healthcare law has been fierce

The Internal Revenue Service will suspend audits and taxpayer services, programmes for children will be halted and up to 800,000 government employees will be furloughed. More than a million others could be asked to work without pay.

The military's 1.4 million active duty personnel will remain on duty and Mr Obama signed a law on Monday to ensure they would receive their pay on time.

The Pentagon is looking for ways to ways to expand the number of Defense Department civilians who are exempt from furloughs, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said.

Mr Obama said he had been willing to negotiate, and placed the blame on Republicans, especially the hard-line Tea Party conservatives.

"One faction of one party, in one house of Congress, in one branch of government doesn't get to shut down the entire government just to refight the results of an election," Mr Obama said.

"Keeping the people's government open is not a concession to me."

The Republicans had sought to tie passing the government spending bill to a delay in major elements of the Obamacare reform.

They insisted the fault rested with Democrats who had refused to negotiate any changes to the healthcare law.

House Speaker John Boehner, who spoke to the president before the midnight deadline, claimed "the Senate has continued to reject our offers".

Some of America's most iconic landmarks will be affected by the shutdown

Mr Obama's healthcare law was passed by Congress and signed into law in 2010, despite opposition by the Republican Party, especially from within the Tea Party.

Some elements of the scheme - which aims to provide greater access to affordable health insurance for poorer sections of society - take effect today despite the shutdown because they operate with money that is not subject to the budget wrangling.

Market reaction was muted following stock market falls across the board on Monday in anticipation of the shutdown.

Japan's Nikkei rose slightly while in Europe the FTSE 100 share index was flat in early trading following the previous day's 0.8% drop.

Dow Jones Futures pointed to a rise on opening in New York.

The dollar dropped slightly against the pound while there was also a move towards safe havens as gold values rose by up to 0.5%.

A protester voices her dissatisfaction outside the Capitol building

London-traded Brent Crude fell by 0.4% to $107 a barrel as the shutdown was seen as potentially damaging to US economic growth prospects.

Much of the shutdown's economic impact will depend on how long it takes politicians to find a solution.

The last shutdown, under the Clinton Administration, lasted 21 days between December 1995 and January 1996.

The political dysfunction at the Capitol also raised fresh concerns about whether Congress can meet a crucial mid-October deadline to raise the government's $16.7trn debt ceiling.

This would force the country to default on its obligations, dealing a potentially painful blow to the economy and sending shockwaves around global markets.

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Baghdad Car Bombings 'Kill At Least 42'

A wave of car bombings in Baghdad has killed at least 42 people and injured 75, according to police and medical officials.

Police said the parked car bombs - in Shia neighbourhoods - hit outdoor markets and car parks.

The deadliest bombing was in the Sadr City neighbourhood where at least seven died, including two soldiers.

That attack was followed by four more bombs, which went off in quick succession in New Baghdad, Habibiya, Sabaa al-Bour and Kazimiyah.

Iraqi security forces sealed off the sites of the attacks as firefighters struggled to extinguish the blazes that broke out. The twisted wreckage of vehicles and other debris littered the streets.

It is not yet clear who carried out the bombings, but hardline Sunni militants who view Shia Muslims as non-believers have been stepping up their insurgency across the country in recent months.

The site of one of the bombs in the Sadr City district

"Our war with terrorism goes on," interior ministry spokesman Saad Maan said.

"Part of the problem is the political infighting and regional conflicts ... There are shortcomings and we need to develop our capabilities mainly in the intelligence-gathering efforts."

The attacks follow another day of violence in Iraq on Sunday.

At least 40 people died in a suicide bombing at a Shia funeral in Mussayab, 40 miles south of Baghdad. The attack caused the mosque's roof to collapse.

Two more suicide bombings in Irbil - in the relatively peaceful northern Kurdish region - also killed six people.

Al Qaeda is believed to be trying to build on the Sunni minority's discontent toward what they consider to be second-class treatment by Iraq's Shia-led government.

The United Nations mission in Iraq said 716 civilians and 88 members of the Iraqi Security Forces were killed in acts of violence in August.

Almost 5,000 civilians have been killed since the start of 2013, according to UN figures given at the start of September.

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US Shutdown Looms As Congress Squabbles

The US government is teetering on the brink of a partial shutdown that will curtail all but essential services, with no compromise in sight in a deeply polarised Congress.

If the Democrats and Republicans fail to find a solution before the deadline on a new spending bill, the shutdown goes into force at 12.01am on Tuesday.

The federal funding bill is usually considered routine business, but this time the measure is tied to the highly controversial health care law promoted by President Barack Obama.

It would be the first shutdown in 17 years.

While essential services would remain in place, nearly a million government employees will be forced off work without pay, and museums and national parks will close.

National parks and the capital's Smithsonian museums will be closed, pension and benefits cheques will be stopped and passport applications will not be processed.

The healthcare law was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2010, despite opposition by the Republican Party, especially Tea Party conservatives.

Senator Ted Cruz has been among the most ardent critics of Obamacare

The Republican-dominated House has passed a funding bill that would delay the full effect of the healthcare law by one year.

But the Senate, controlled by the Democrats, has promised to reject the bill when it reconvenes later - resulting in a stalemate.

"To be absolutely clear, the Senate will reject both the one-year delay of the Affordable Care Act and the repeal of the medical device tax," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said.

"After weeks of futile political games from Republicans, we are still at square one."

With a solution looking increasingly elusive, the blame game has begun on Capitol Hill.

A Tea Party leader, Senator Ted Cruz, pointed the finger at Senate Democrats.

"The House has twice now voted to keep the government open. And if we have a shutdown, it will only be because when the Senate comes back, Harry Reid says, 'I refuse even to talk,'" said Mr Cruz, who led a 21-hour talkathon against Obamacare.

The last shutdown was under President Bill Clinton in 1995

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the "Republicans decided they would rather make an ideological point by demanding the sabotage of the healthcare law".

The expected shutdown is jolting markets worldwide.

The New York Times said Mark Zandi, the chief economist for Moody's Analytics, estimated that a partial shutdown would trim annual economic growth by 0.2 percentage points in the fourth quarter, even if it ended within four days.

An impasse of a month could cut growth by 1.4 percentage points.

Mr Zanda estimated that an interruption longer than two months "would likely precipitate another recession".

The last time the federal government shutdown was under President Bill Clinton, when services ground to a halt for 28 days between December 1995 and January 1996.

It nearly happened again in April 2011.

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