Pentagon Plans New Spy Network As Big As CIA

The Pentagon has announced plans to assemble an espionage network large enough to rival the CIA in size, according to reports.

As part of the project, US military officials would send hundreds of additional spies overseas, the Washington Post reported.

It would also see the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) overhauled, away from a primary focus on activities related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

When the expansion is completed, the DIA could have as many as 1,600 intelligence "collectors" around the world - far more than its current overseas presence which numbers in the hundreds.

That total would include military attaches and others who will not work undercover, the newspaper wrote.

But US officials said the plans also include deployment of a new generation of clandestine operatives to be trained by the CIA.

These new operatives would work with the US Joint Special Operations Command, but would be given their assignments by the Department of Defence.

The Pentagon's top intelligence priorities are Islamist militant groups in Africa, weapons transfers by North Korea and Iran and military modernisation underway in China, the newspaper added.

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NFL Player Shoots Girlfriend Then Himself

An American football player with the Kansas City Chiefs has shot himself dead after reportedly killing his girlfriend.

Javon Belcher, 25, drove to the team's practice facility near Arrowhead Stadium and turned the gun on himself as two team officials were confronting him.

Police spokesman Darin Snapp said authorities received a call from a woman who said her daughter had been shot multiple times at a home around five miles from the stadium in Kansas City.

The call actually came from Belcher's mother, who referred to the victim as her daughter, leading to some initial confusion, police said.

She said her son and his girlfriend, who has been named as 22-year-old Kasandra M Perkins, had been arguing recently. The couple had a three-month-old baby.

Mr Snapp said when police arrived at the practice facility they saw a black male in a car with a handgun to his head talking to two Chiefs officials.

He said the linebacker - who was in his fourth season with the American football franchise - thanked general manager Scott Pioli and head coach Romeo Crennel for all they had done for him, before shooting himself.

He said: "When we arrived (at the house), a lady informed us that her daughter had been shot multiple times by her boyfriend. She identified him as a Chiefs player."

After officers arrived at the training facility, the coaches told them they never felt in danger.

Mr Snapp added: "They were just talking to him and he was thanking them and everything.

"The suspect began to walk in the opposite direction of the coaches and the officers and that's when they heard the gunshot. It appears he took his own life."

Belcher, from West Babylon, New York, played college football at Maine.

"The entire Chiefs family is deeply saddened by today's events, and our collective hearts are heavy with sympathy, thoughts and prayers for the families and friends affected by this unthinkable tragedy," Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt said in a statement.

The Chiefs are due to play the Carolina Panthers at Arrowhead on Sunday. The game is expected go ahead as scheduled.

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John McAfee: Anti-Virus Pioneer 'Captured'

Anti-virus software pioneer John McAfee, who is wanted by police over his neighbour's murder, appears to have been found after weeks in hiding, his blog has said.

The website set up by Mr McAfee after he went on the run said there was an unconfirmed report that he was apprehended on the Belize-Mexico border.

The website whoismcafee.com has carried updates of Mr McAfee's progress since the murder of Gregory Faull, a 52-year-old retired American builder, on November 11. He has also taken to Twitter to promote his posts.

Under the title Breaking: John captured? a post, on December 1, said: "We have received an unconfirmed report that John McAfee has been captured at the border of Belize and Mexico.

"More information as it is received."

Mr McAfee has written entries describing how he has disguised himself as a beggar, a street trader and a drunken German tourist in order to watch police as they searched his Belize home.

At one point he claimed he was actually hiding out on his compound on the island of Ambergris Caye.

Police take away the body of Gregory Faull

He said he set up the website to counter claims made about him by the media and the Belize authorities and to assert his innocence shortly after his disappearance.

In an early post Mr McAfee said that he had given enough information to a friend to keep the website going should he be captured.

Police have said they simply want to question Mr McAfee over the murder of Mr Faull, who was found dead in a pool of blood at his home. He had suffered a single gunshot wound to the head.

Mr McAfee has denied he was responsible for the murder and says he went into hiding only because the Belize authorities have a vendetta against him. He believes he was the intended victim of the shooting, not Mr Faull.

Mr McAfee amassed a $100m (£63m) fortune from his software business but said he lost all but $4m of it in the financial crisis. He moved to Belize in 2008.

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Egyptian Protesters Scare Away Court Judges

A group of senior judges in Egypt has halted all work after crowds of protesters surrounded their building, delaying what is set to be a controversial ruling on a new constitution.

They had been due to decide on the legitimacy of an Islamist-dominated panel that drafted the disputed constitution last week.

But the ruling has been delayed "indefinitely" after several thousand supporters of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi gathered outside the Supreme Constitutional Court in Cairo.

The judges said they had been put "under psychological pressure" and the court said in a statement that it cannot work in a "climate filled with hatred".

Officials cited "administrative reasons" for the delay.

The protesters held up placards denouncing the judges and preventing them from entering, and the officials were forced to admit the judges had stayed away due to fears for their safety.

The postponement and protest are part of a worsening political crisis pitting the largely secular opposition and powerful judiciary against Mr Morsi and his fellow Islamists.

A supporter of the Islamist President holds up a copy of the Koran

In the past, Islamists have assaulted secular politicians, lawyers and activists outside court complexes as judges inside deliberated rulings they anticipated would be against their interests.

In turn, the Islamists say the courts are filled with judges loyal to former president Hosni Mubarak's ousted regime.

The Supreme Constitutional Court ruled in June to dissolve the Islamist-dominated People's Assembly, parliament's lower chamber, on the grounds that a third of its members were illegally elected.

Besides ruling on the legitimacy of the constituent assembly, the court had also been expected to rule on parliament's upper chamber, which is also dominated by Islamists.

A ruling from the court - regardless of which way it goes - would be a direct challenge to Mr Morsi.

Last month he gave himself near-absolute powers, placing himself and the assembly above any oversight, including by the judiciary.

Mr Morsi's decrees caused an uproar among the nation's secular-led opposition.

The Islamist-led constituent assembly fuelled the anger last week when it rushed through a vote on the charter's 230 clauses in an all-night session.

The panel's secular and Christian members have withdrawn from the panel, claiming the process has been hijacked by the Islamists.

But Mr Morsi, who has been in power since June, praised the draft as a giant step towards democratic rule and ordered a nationwide referendum on the document to be held on December 15.

The opposition is now considering a call for civil disobedience to force Mr Morsi to rescind his decrees.

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Teacher Shot With Arrow By Son At US College

A British-born college teacher fatally injured after being shot in the head with an arrow by his own son has been hailed a hero after giving his students time to flee the classroom.

James Krumm, 56, was taking a computer science class at Casper College, in Casper, Wyoming, when his son Christopher barged in and shot him using a high-powered bow.

The 25-year-old had already stabbed to death his father's live-in girlfriend Heidi Arnold, 42, at their home two miles from the college.

As Mr Krumm fought with his son during the attack on Friday, the students in the classroom were able to escape to safety.

When police arrived at the World Physical Science Centre building, James Krumm was dead and his son was bleeding from self-inflicted knife wounds, Casper police chief Chris Walsh said.

He said: "I can tell you the courage that was demonstrated by Mr Krumm was absolutely without equal."

Christopher Krumm killed his father on the college campus

Authorities believe six students were in the classroom when the attack took place.

Mr Walsh said Christopher Krumm stabbed himself after shooting his father, then fatally stabbed his father in the chest during a struggle.

Ms Arnold, a maths teacher, died from multiple stab wounds and her body was found in the gutter near their home in Hawthorne Avenue.

He had smuggled the powerful compound bow on to the campus under a blanket, and was also carrying two knives.

Police carried out a search warrant at Christopher Krumm's last known address in Vernon, Connecticut, on Friday.

Andra Charter, a 20-year-old student, said she heard screams outside her biology class.

She said: "As we were walking out, there was a girl screaming 'there's somebody stabbing Mr Krumm!'"

James Krumm, who was born and grew up in the UK but is understood to have left the country by the time he was an adult, was head of the college's computer science department.

The college has planned a candlelight vigil and memorial service on Tuesday.

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Kim Kardashian Sparks Protests In Bahrain

Riot police have fired tear gas to disperse more than 50 hardline Islamic protesters denouncing Kim Kardashian's visit to Bahrain.

The clashes took place just before the reality TV star opened a branch of her Millions Of Milkshakes shop in the Gulf kingdom.

Protesters chanted "God is Great" near the shopping complex in Riffa, some 20km south of the capital Manama, but the demonstrators were cleared before the celebrity appeared.

The 32-year-old had previously posted glowing remarks about Bahrain on her Twitter account, calling it "the prettiest place on earth". The message was re-tweeted by Bahrain's foreign minister.

Her trip had sparked anger among Islamist legislators earlier in the week.

But dozens of fans turned out to support the reality TV star

They submitted an urgent proposal at the end of a parliamentary session where they referred to her as "an actress with an extremely bad reputation", according to the Gulf Daily News.

But the motion was dismissed because other MPs quickly left the chamber.

The furore did not seem to affect Kardashian, who described her visit to Bahrain as an "amazing trip".

Kardashian was embroiled in a controversy two weeks ago after she posted Tweets first praying for Israel and then Palestine - leading to a backlash from her fans.

She later deleted the comments and issued a statement apologising for causing any offence.

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Afghanistan: Taliban Suicide Bombers Hit US Base

Taliban suicide bombers have attacked a US base in Afghanistan, killing at least five people, and sparking a two-hour battle with American forces.

Militants drove two vehicles packed with explosives at the gates of Jalalabad Airfield before American helicopters fired on the attackers.

A guard said that after the initial explosion the airport had come under fire from rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and small arms.

According to an Afghan security official, three Afghan guards were killed in the fighting along with two university students who were caught up in the battle.

A number of Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) troops were wounded.

A local police official said nine militants were involved in the raid, three were killed by the car explosion and the remaining six were gunned down in the fire-fight that followed.

Lt Col Hagen Messer, a spokesman for Isaf, said:  "We can confirm insurgents, including multiple suicide bombers, attacked Jalalabad Airfield this morning. None of the attackers succeeded in breaching the perimeter.

"The final assessment of what happened this morning is not yet complete, but initial reports indicate there were three suicide bombers,"

A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility for the attack on Sunday morning.

On its website, the Taliban said: "First a fedayee (suicide bomber) mujahid ... detonated a car bomb causing the enemy heavy casualties and losses and removed all the barriers.

"After the attack other fedayee mujahids entered the base ... and started attacking the invading forces in the base."

Afghan National Army soldiers arrive at Jalalabad following the attack

The airport complex has multiple layers of security, with the Nato base set well back from the first entrance.

A senior Afghan security official said: "First there was a car bombing next to the entrance followed by gun attack by the insurgents.

"They couldn't reach Nato forces and they were killed in the area between the first and second gates."

It was the largest clash at the Jalalabad air base since February, when a suicide car bombing at the gate triggered an explosion that killed nine Afghans, six of them civilians.

The attack highlights the problems facing the coalition forces ahead of the pull-out of more than 100,000 Nato troops in 2014.

The country's president, Hamid Karzai, insists that Afghan security forces have made good progress and will be able to control the country when the troops leave.

However, there are concerns that the Taliban has managed to survive more than a decade of fighting and will stage a surge once foreign forces leave.

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Portuguese Model Convicted Of Killing Lover

A Portuguese model has been convicted of the murder of a TV personality nearly two years ago in a Times Square hotel room.

A Manhattan jury did not believe Renato Seabra was out of his mind when he choked, bludgeoned and castrated Carlos Castro.

Seabra had pleaded not guilty to the murder on the grounds of insanity, and his defence team said he was mentally ill.

Prosecutors argued that Seabra and Mr Castro were a couple and the former, eager for fame and fortune, was enraged that Mr Castro had ended their relationship.

Assistant District Attorney Maxine Rosenthal said: "It is no coincidence Castro's life ended at the same time he ended his relationship with the defendant.

"The motive is as clear as if it were written in lights on a Times Square marquee."

The murder took place at the Intercontinental Hotel near Times Square

Seabra, 23, from Cantanhede in central Portugal, was a contestant on modelling reality TV show A Procura Do Sonho - which means Pursuit of a Dream.

Mr Castro, 65, was a well-known TV personality and writer in Portugal.

During testimony, Seabra told doctors he thought he was heterosexual, but went along with the relationship because he thought it could help him.

Defence lawyers argued that the violence of the attack showed he had a psychotic break with reality and went beserk, believed he was on a mission from God to rid the devil of homosexuality from Mr Castro.

A court-ordered psychiatric exam found Seabra fit for trial.

Mr Castro's body was found on January 7 last year in a hotel room the men were sharing. A "Do Not Disturb" sign was placed on the door.

Seabra later told police he had choked Mr Castro, stabbed him in the face and groin with a corkscrew, rammed a computer monitor on to his head and stomped on his face.

He then showered and wandered the city, before taking a taxi to a hospital. He also took $1,600 (£1,000) from Mr Castro before he left.

Seabra faces the possibility of life in prison. He will be sentenced on December 21.

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Syria: Car Bomb In Homs Kills At Least 15

Fifteen people have been killed in a car bomb attack in Syria, state media has reported.

"A terrorist attack struck the (government-held) Hamra district of Homs," the Sana news agency said, adding that a further 24 people had been wounded.

Amateur video footage posted online by opposition activists showed the bodies of at least three victims, including a woman buried in the rubble of a building as a car burned not far away.

Another video showed a car turned upside down on a pavement, as other vehicles blazed nearby.

A third video showed an injured child lying in hospital, crying in pain.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported fewer casualties.

"At least seven civilians were killed in a car bomb explosion near the sports stadium," it said, adding that many of the wounded were in a critical condition so the death toll was likely to rise.

Homs is Syria's third largest city and was one of the cradles of the armed uprising against the rule of President Bashar al Assad.

The city suffered devastating violence early this year but for the past six months the army has kept mainly Sunni Arab rebel-held districts around the centre under siege rather than launching an all-out assault.

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Japan Tunnel Collapse: Five People Dead

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent

Police say at least five people have died after being trapped inside their burning vehicle in a highway tunnel that collapsed in Japan.

The Sasago tunnel on the busy Chuo Expressway, about 50 miles (80 km) west of Tokyo, caved in just after 8am local time.

CCTV footage from inside the tunnel shows large sections of the roof lying across the road. 

Several cars are understood to have been crushed and a fire in the tunnel has complicated the rescue effort.

A fire in the tunnel complicated the rescue

Motorists described narrow escapes from falling debris, and a long walk through the darkness after abandoning their cars.

"When I was driving in the tunnel, concrete pieces fell down suddenly from the ceiling," a man in his 30s told public broadcaster NHK.

"I saw a crushed car catching fire. I left my car and walked for about an hour to get out of the tunnel."

Aerial footage showed black smoke billowing from the 2.8-mile (4.7-km) tunnel in Yamanashi prefecture.

The fire was extinguished about 11am local time but the rescue and recovery operation has been delayed by concerns that there could be further collapses.

The cause of the collapse is not yet clear. There are no reports of earthquakes in the region though there is a suggestion that a landslide could have contributed to the incident.

Given the frequency of earthquakes in the region, the authorities will have access to rescue equipment which will prove useful for this sort of operation.

NHK reporter Yoshio Goto, caught in Sunday's accident, hit the accelerator and managed to drive out.

"But it was a bit too late and pieces of ceiling fell on my car. I kept pressing the pedal and managed to get out," he said.

"Then when I looked around, I saw half of the car ceiling was crushed."

It was the worst such accident in Japan since 1996, when a tunnel collapsed and falling rocks crushed cars and a bus, killing 20 people.

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