Boston Bombing: Georgia Denies Terror Training

Georgia's president has denied suggestions that one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects was given extremist training in his country.

Reports in Russia this week had claimed that 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev attended a seminar in Georgia where students were allegedly encouraged to commit terrorist acts.

Russian newspaper Izvestia said it had seen a report which allegedly revealed the Tsnarnaev attended events in the summer of 2012, organised by Georgian and US companies.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev (L) is alleged to have had extremist training in Georgia

Mikheil Saakashvili, President of Georgia, told Sky News: "They (the Tsarnaev brothers) have never been to Georgia, although Russia is our neighbour and obviously Chechnya is a neighbouring region and people move back and forth.

Robel Phillipos has been charged with lying to investigators

"Russia has been saying this all the way through and the reason they have been saying that is that every time they want to justify their interference in our internal politics ... the simplest thing that came to their minds is that 'oh by the way they are training terrorists it's a common problem'."

Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili had earlier accused previous governments of colluding with alleged terrorists from the North Caucasus.

It comes after lawyers for a teenager charged with lying to investigations after the Boston bombing claimed he was not a flight risk and should be released from jail.

Robel Phillipos, 19, faces a detention hearing on Monday in US District Court.

He was charged last week with lying to investigators about visiting bomb suspect Dzhokar Tsarnaev's college dorm room on April 18 - three days after the bombings.

Three people were killed in two explosions at the end of the marathon

Two other friends were charged with conspiring to obstruct justice by taking a backpack with fireworks and a laptop from Tsarnaev's room.

The April 15 bombing, which used pressure cookers packed with explosives, nails, ball bearings and metal shards, killed three people and injured more than 260 others near the marathon finishing line.

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'On His Way': Bieber Keeps Fans Waiting Again

Justin Bieber has upset parents and young fans in Dubai after arriving on stage for the latest leg of his Believe world tour more than two hours late.

The Canadian pop star eventually performed to a rapt audience at Dubai's Sevens Stadium, but parents have spoken of their anger at the unexplained delay at the start of the Saturday night concert.

Organisers told the crowd between 8pm and 10pm that Bieber "was on his way", al Arabiya reported, as the 19-year-old singer continued to leave his fans waiting.

Sunday is a school day in Dubai. Parents told Sky News that their children were kept awake until the early hours due to the late starting time.

One parent, Rachael Quborsi, told Sky News that her 11-year-old daughter returned home from the concert at 12.45am local time.

"I think it is disgusting that he can be over two hours late and he keeps on doing it. Who do these pop stars think they are?" Ms Quborsi said.

The singer took to the stage more than two hours late

Bieber's late arrival comes after thousands of parents and fans booed the singer when he arrived late for a sold-out concert at London's O2 Arena.

Parents were left waiting outside the O2 to pick their children up from the March 4 concert, only to find out the event had been delayed for two hours.

Other parents left with their heartbroken children after just a few songs, for fear of missing the last trains home on a school night.

Speaking from Dubai, parents told Sky News they were disappointed with Bieber's newest late-show antics.

"Clearly, having done this in London and being slated for it has made no difference to this performer and his management team," said Eddie Bradley.

"My wife and nine-year-old daughter, along with friends have been waiting for four hours at the venue for the concert to start.

"We are disgusted by this lack of consideration for paying fans, many of whom should be in bed by now in readiness for school."

Bieber is due to perform another concert in Dubai today.

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Palestinian TV Show To Find Would-Be President

By Sam Kiley, Middle East Correspondent In Ramallah

Palestinians have been gulping down a dose of reality - reality television with a political twist.

The hit show, called simply The President, has grown out of widespread frustration among Palestinians at their own moribund politics in the real world.

The current president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, remains in office four years after his mandate expired.

His party, Fatah, rules over the West Bank while in Gaza, Hamas, the Islamist movement labelled a terrorist organisation by many countries in the West, reigns - also years beyond the mandate it won in 2006.

The Palestinian assembly has not met for many months. The roster of leaders has not changed for decades.

Part Apprentice part X-Factor, viewers are gripped by a show in which they get to chose who should be their next president.

The show is proving a hit with Palestinian TV audiences

Enter Raed Othman, the director general of the Ma'an broadcast network.

"I thought of this programme because we have to show that the Palestinian people understand and want real democracy. We want elections - real elections. But if we cannot have them then we can do our own," he said backstage during the filming of the latest episode of his show which has whittled 1,200 potential presidents to 16.

He added:  "There are a lot of people who say we don't have leaders, so we need to prove to them that there are a lot of leaders in Palestine. We want to teach the people that democracy is possible whenever we want".

Contestants are filmed taking on tasks - being an ambassador to a European country for a day, running a major corporation, taking questions from foreign and local journalists, even how to inspect guards of honour.

They are then put through the ringer by a panel of judges, among them leading politicians like Hannan Ashrawi, a former spokeswoman for the Arab League. Viewers combine votes sent in by text message with the judges' marks in early rounds.

The show's judges include leading politicians

The winner will be chosen entirely by the public by text.

He, or she, will not be rewarded with high office, just a modest family car. But the real prize is the opportunity to break into the Palestinian political scene.

"This programme will give me the chance, me and the other competitors, my colleagues, to get inside this procedure without needing at least 20 or 30 years of step-by-step involvement in the political situation," said Baha'a al Khateeb, an adult education manager, as he prepared to step on set - a conference room in a Ramallah hotel.

He is careful not to criticise the current Palestinian leadership. Not because he fears reprisals, Palestinians enjoy freedom of speech, but because he has spent several weeks presenting himself as a unifying figure.

Baha'a al Khateeb battles for the coveted title of 'President'

Fatah and Hamas remain bitterly opposed to each other and fought a bloody civil war in Gaza in 2007.

These divisions have weakened the ability of Palestinian leaders to negotiate an end to the occupation on the West Bank and the siege of Gaza by Israel.

Mr Khateeb, like most of the contestants, favours uniting the factions, stepping up non-violent actions and civil disobedience against the Jewish State. Plus a boycott of all Israeli products by Palestinian shoppers.

There is no immediate prospect of Palestinian elections - but by using his media exposure to call for a boycott, Mr Khateeb may have found a platform which can transform an idea into a political reality.

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Belgium: One Dies In 'Toxic Train' Crash Fire

One person has died and 17 others have been injured after a train carrying highly toxic chemicals derailed in Belgium, causing a major fire.

The blaze erupted and spread along a drainage ditch

The accident and blaze prompted authorities to evacuate nearly 300 people from their homes.

Jan Briers, governor of eastern Flanders, said there were two dead and 14 injured, but authorities later announced one person had been killed and 17 were being treated in hospital.

Flammable liquid caught alight and explosions occurred

Some of the injured were people living well away from the scene of the accident. Interior Minister Joelle Milquet blamed toxic fumes from the highly flammable liquid chemicals.

The accident happened at around 2am local time, between the towns of Schellebelle and Wetteren, on the Belgian railway network.

Once daylight arrived the extent of damage could be seen

Six of the train's 13 cars derailed and two were thrown on to their side by the force of derailment. The blaze led to a series of explosions in the railway cars.

Fire then spread over hundreds of yards, prompting authorities to evacuate residents living more than 500 yards from the site of the accident.

The train crash, near Ghent, occurred near a set of track crossing points

But Ms Milquet said toxic fumes reached much further through the drainage system. "There is a problem of poisoning linked to the smoke," she said.

"But there is also another reaction, since some of the chemical product went into the drains and caused a kind of chemical reaction with gases that are toxic and escaped into certain streets beyond the perimeter that had already been evacuated due to the fire."

Smoke and fumes were subdued by spraying water across the scene

Firefighters decided to let the cars burn out in a controlled manner as water could have released further toxic chemicals.

The causes of the accident remained unclear. The cars derailed as the train changed tracks and observers said it might have been travelling too fast.

The train came from the Netherlands and was bound for Ghent's seaport, Gent-Zeehaven.

Officials said the tracks would be shut for days

Train services were disrupted and problems were expected for several days, with buses laid on to transport passengers.

Two similar accidents involving trains carrying tanks of toxic products occurred in Belgium in May 2012.

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Tornado Smashes Through Northern Italy

Dramatic footage has emerged of a tornado that ripped through northern Italy, damaging hundreds of buildings and injuring at least 12 people.

Amateur video showed the twister as it struck towns and villages close to Emilia Romagna's regional capital Bologna.

Footage on YouReporter, a web portal for citizen journalists, showed the tornado directly over the small village of Bentivoglio.

Franca Fantuzzi was away from home when the storm hit.

Amateur footage shows the huge twister passing over rooftops

"Fortunately, I and my children had taken a holiday so we weren't here," she said, gazing at the damage.

Many farmers were out on their land and were caught up in the twister, like Sandro Roversi, who took shelter under his tractor.

Pointing to his vehicle, covered in debris, he said: "I couldn't move, it came so quickly, I was inside. I threw myself underneath, and I was OK. It was an enormous force, enormous."

Huge hailstones hit cars as the storm passed

The governor of Emilia Romagna, Vasco Errani, asked the central government to declare a state of emergency.

Italy's agricultural watchdog Coldiretti warned of millions of euros of damage to farms and crops.

The same area was devastated by an earthquake in May 2012.

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Football Referee Dies After Punch From Player

A referee who was left in a coma after being punched by a teenage player during a game a week ago has died.

Ricardo Portillo, 46, of Salt Lake City, died in the hospital where he was being treated following the assault on Saturday night.

Police have accused a 17-year-old player of punching Mr Portillo after he gave him a yellow card for a foul.

Spokesman Justin Hoyal said: "The suspect was close to Portillo and punched him once in the face as a result of the call."

The teenager has been booked into juvenile detention on suspicion of aggravated assault. Mr Hoyal said authorities will consider additional charges following the referee's death.

The cause of death has not been given. An autopsy is to be carried out later.

Mr Portillo suffered swelling in his brain and had been listed as being in a critical condition at the Intermountain Medical Centre in Murray, Salt Lake City, where he was treated.

Johana Portillo, 26, said last week she had been told by witnesses that the player hit her father in the side of the head.

She said: "When he was writing down his notes, he just came out of nowhere and punched him."

The teenager was playing in goal during a junior high school match when he was cautioned for pushing an opposition player.

He began arguing with Mr Portillo before punching him in the face.

Mr Portillo asked to be held up because he felt dizzy, but then sat down and began vomiting blood.

By the time an ambulance arrived he had fallen into a coma.

His family said he had been attacked before while refereeing games. Johana said they had begged him to stop because of the risk from angry players.

She said: "It was his passion. We could not tell him no."

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California Wildfire Now 60% Contained

Emergency services battling a huge wildfire burning in coastal mountains in southern California have now contained nearly 60% of the blaze.

The fire has burned more than 43 square miles since breaking out near Camarillo on Thursday morning.

High winds and hot, dry air stoked the flames but the normal flow of damp air off the Pacific Ocean has now helped firefighters to contain it.

Thousands of homes have been threatened, but so far only 15 have been damaged.

Nearly 2,000 firefighters are tackling the blaze, assisted by water-dropping helicopters and aircraft.

Cooler weather has helped firefighters tackling Springs Fire

Captain Don Horgon, of the Ventura County Fire Department, said: "We actually have a pretty good marine layer, which is like thick fog on the coast moving inland, cooler temperatures and higher humidity.

"That coupled with our efforts out there with our firefighters have made the situation quite a bit better."

Officials said the blaze, known as the Springs Fire, is expected to be fully under control by Monday.

All fire-related evacuation orders were lifted on Saturday night.

There are no reports of deaths or injuries, although one firefighter and a civilian were hurt in a vehicle collision.

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Bangladesh Disaster: More Than 600 Dead

The death toll from the collapse of a textile factory complex in Bangladesh has reached more than 620 after dozens more bodies were pulled out from the wreckage.

It has been 12 days since the disaster but bodies are still being found in the rubble of the eight-storey building, part of which was constructed illegally.

Lieutenant Imran Khan, of the army control room set up to co-ordinate the recovery operation, said a further 53 bodies had been recovered on Sunday.

The Rana Plaza building - situated in Savar, an industrial suburb of the capital Dhaka - housed five clothing factories, employing a total of 3,122 staff.

It is not known how many workers were inside the complex when it collapsed. Around 2,500 survivors have been accounted for.

Hundreds of distraught relatives gathered at the site as cranes and bulldozers cut through a mountain of concrete and mangled steel.

Officials said it was becoming more difficult to identify the dead because of the level of decomposition and missing limbs.

"We've identified only a handful of them by their mobile phones that were found in their pockets or identity cards given by the factories," said Zillur Rahman Chowdhury, deputy administrator of Dhaka district.

Preliminary findings of a government probe have blamed vibrations from four giant generators on the compound's upper floors for triggering the collapse.

Protests have taken place about the poor working conditions of workers

The building's architect, Masood Reza, has said he designed the structure to house a shopping mall and offices, not factories.

Several people have been arrested over the disaster, including the building's owner Mohammed Sohel Rana, who was captured near the border with India as he tried to flee the country.

He allegedly had the approval to construct five floors but added three more illegally.

He is expected to be charged with negligence, illegal construction and forcing employees to work - which carry a maximum penalty of seven years imprisonment.

A murder complaint has been brought against him by the wife of one of the workers.

Bangladesh is the world's second-largest clothing exporter behind China. The industry accounts for 80% of the country's exports and more than 40% of its industrial workforce.

The tragedy has sparked protests about the poor working conditions of workers who toil for as little as £25 a month to produce clothing for top international brands.

The European Commissioner for Trade, Karel de Gucht, has said if conditions do not improve for workers in Bangladesh, the EU could impose punitive measures.

He told Sky News' Murnaghan programme: "We are going to make it very clear to the Bangladeshi government that they have to take immediate action, with a precise timeline ... because what is happening is not acceptable"

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'Israel Rocket Strike' On Syria Military Site

Syria says Israeli air strikes against three targets near Damascus "open the door to all possibilities".

Information Minister Omran Zoabi spoke after an emergency cabinet meeting organised to respond to the attack, believed to have targeted missiles bound for Hezbollah.

The rockets hit a military research centre in Jamraya on the outskirts of the capital in the early hours of this morning.

The building was the target of an earlier Israeli strike in January and Israeli radio has reported the latest attack has been confirmed by a senior security official.

A Western intelligence source said "stores of Fateh-110 missiles that were in transit from Iran to Hezbollah" were the target.

Video footage uploaded online by activists shows a huge ball of fire rising into the night sky.

More of the unverified footage uploaded by activists

Mr Zoabi accused Israel of working with "terrorist groups" and although he did not hint at a concrete course of action, he said it was Damascus's duty to protect the state from any "domestic or foreign attack through all available means".

Sunday's attack is the third Israeli assault this year on Syrian soil. Previous strikes on Syria by Israel have not elicited a military response from Syria or its allies Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah.

Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al Mekdad told CNN the strike was "a declaration of war" by Israel and represented an alliance between Islamic terrorists and Israel.

Iran has condemned the Israeli attack and urged countries in the region to stand against the action, the Fars news agency reported.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not mention the strikes at a news conference, but spoke pointedly about his commitment to keeping Israel secure.

Protests in Banias at the beginning of the uprising in 2011

Meanwhile, hundreds of families are fleeing a Syrian coastal area where activists say government troops have massacred nearly 200, many of them women and children.

Opponents of Bashar al Assad's regime say that fighters loyal to the President carried out two massacres on Saturday night and on Thursday in a Sunni Muslim area driven by a policy of ethnic cleansing.

Activists posted a video online of the bodies of 10 people it said were killed in Ras al Nabaa in the city of Banias, in an overnight attack.

The activists said half of the victims were children and that the number of deaths could be as high as 60.

It comes just two days after pro-Assad militias are alleged to have killed as many as 100 Sunnis in the nearby village of Baida.

Amateur video showed a man and at least three children dead inside a room.

Syria's crisis has claimed the lives of an estimated 70,000 people

A baby had burned legs and its body was covered in blood. Next to him was a young girl whose face had been deformed after apparently being hit with sharp metal.

Other footage from activists showed entire families killed in their beds. A dead woman is seen cradling a child in her arms and two toddlers lying next to them.

The videos have not been independently verified.

The crisis in Syria, which began in March 2011 with pro-democracy protests and later turned into a civil war that has killed an estimated 70,000 people, has largely evolved along sectarian lines.

The Sunni majority forms the backbone of the rebellion, while Mr Assad's minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, anchors the regime's security services and the military's officer corps.

Other minorities, such as Christians, largely support Mr Assad or are standing on the sidelines, fearing the regime's collapse would bring about a more Islamist rule.

It has been estimated as many as 4,000 people are fleeing from the predominantly Sunni southern parts of the Mediterranean city of Banias amid fears of further large-scale killings.

The US has condemned the attack on Thursday. State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said: "We strongly condemn atrocities against the civilian population and reinforce our solidarity with the Syrian people."

She added: "The United States is appalled by horrific reports that more than 100 people were killed May 2 in gruesome attacks on the coastal town of Bayda, Syria.

"Regime and Shabiha forces reportedly destroyed the area with mortar fire then stormed the town and executed entire families, including women and children."

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US: Five Women Killed In Limousine Blaze

Five women have been killed after the limousine they were travelling in caught fire on a San Francisco Bay bridge.

California Highway Patrol officer Amelia Jack said the five victims were trapped inside the burning vehicle on the San Mateo bridge.

Four other female passengers and the male driver managed to escape. All the victims were aged in their 30s.

Four women and the driver were able to escape the burning vehicle

The group were travelling across the bridge, which links Foster City and Hayward across the bay - when smoke came from the back of the limousine.

The driver pulled over and the vehicle quickly became engulfed in flames.

The limo was travelling west-bound on the bridge when it caught fire

Three of the survivors were suffering from smoke inhalation and one had severe burns. They were rushed to hospitals.

Several lanes of the bridge were closed at around 10pm on Saturday as officers investigated the cause of the blaze.

One lane was reopened on Sunday.

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