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| Gunmen storm Nairobi Mall, at least 20 killed - Reuters Posted: 21 Sep 2013 08:47 AM PDT 
NAIROBI | (Reuters) - Gunmen stormed a shopping mall in Nairobi on Saturday killing at least 20 people in what Kenya's government said could be a terrorist attack, and sending scores fleeing into shops, a cinema and onto the streets in search of safety. Sporadic gun shots could be heard hours after the assault started as soldiers surrounded the mall and police and soldiers combed the building, hunting down the attackers shop by shop. Some local television stations reported hostages had been taken, but there was no official confirmation. The Somali militant group al Shabaab, which Kenya blames for shootings, bombings and grenade attacks against churches and the security forces, had threatened before to strike the Westgate mall, popular with the city's expatriate community. The chain of attacks follows action by Kenyan forces against al Qaeda-linked militants in Somalia two years ago. Police helicopters circled above the mall as armed police shouted "get out! get out!" and scores of shoppers fled the building. Smoke poured out of one entrance of the high and witnesses said they heard grenade blasts. Others said they saw about five armed assailants storm the beige stone Westgate shopping mall and that the incident appeared to be an attack rather than an armed robbery. "They don't seem like thugs, this is not a robbery incident," said Yukeh Mannasseh who was on the mall's top floor when the shooting started. "It seems like an attack. The guards who saw them said they were shooting indiscriminately." Kenya's Ministry of Interior said: "It is a possibility that it is an attack by terrorists, so we are treating the matter very seriously.". Asked if foreign security services were involved in the operation to flush out the attackers, he said, "At this stage it has not become necessary yet." One eyewitness who identified himself as Taha said he heard the screech of brakes followed moments later by an explosion and then sustained gun fire from the ground floor. Another survivor said he was shot by a man who looked Somali. Some shoppers ran up stairs and escalators and hid around the mall's cinema complex. Police found another terrified group hiding in a toilet on the first floor. At least two dozen wounded were wheeled out on stretchers and shopping trolleys. Many of the victims had multiple light wounds, apparently from flying debris. Other walked out, some with bloodied clothing wrapped around wounds. Reuters correspondents saw at least 20 bodies in two different locations. The Kenyan Red Cross said at least 15 had been killed and more casualties were still inside the complex. "The casualties are many, and that's only what we have on the outside," Kenya Red Cross Society Secretary General Abbas Guled said. "Inside there are even more casualties and shooting is still going on." "CARNAGE" Al Shabaab have previously threatened to launch strikes on Nairobi's tower blocks and soft targets including nightclubs and hotels known to be popular with Westerners in the capital. But they have so far failed to carry out such an attack. "I personally touched the eyes of four people and they were dead. One of them was a child," said one former British soldier at the scene. "It's carnage up there." Asked if the attack was a robbery, one paramilitary officer said: "No, terrorist". There has, though, been no official statement from the police regarding the attackers' motive. Police cordoned off the roads surrounding the mall in central Nairobi's Westlands neighborhood. Satpal Singh, who was in another cafe on the mall's top floor said he ran downstairs when he heard the gunfire and was shot at near the mall's main exit. "A Somali guy shot at me. The guy who shot me was carrying a rifle, an AK-47," 36-year-old Singh said. (Reporting by Edmund Blair and Goran Tomasevic; Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Ralph Boulton) |
| Republicans "trying to mess with me" on budget, Obama says - CBS News Posted: 21 Sep 2013 09:15 AM PDT LIBERTY, Mo. President Obama slammed House Republicans for "trying to mess with me" by passing a bill today to fund the government but also defund Obamacare. At a Ford plant that stamps out components for trucks and vans, Mr. Obama said the budget battles in Washington are "always a contentious process." But in a campaign-style speech to autoworkers, the president revved his engine against those he called "a faction on the far right." He says they convinced their leadership to pursue policies that could result in a government shutdown or default, if funding for his signature health care program is not cut off. The president's remarks came just a few hours after the House passed a bill to keep the government funded through the end of the year, but at the same time, block further funding for the Affordable Care Act, which even the president refers to as Obamacare.  President Barack Obama speaks at the Ford Kansas City Stamping Plant in Liberty, Mo., Friday, Sept. 20, 2013. / AP Photo/Pablo Martinez MonsivaisHe called on Congress to quickly pass a funding bill that would avert a government shutdown beginning the start of the new fiscal year October 1st, and to also enact an increase in the debt ceiling, so the U.S. Treasury can resume borrowing to pay its obligations. "They're willing to plunge America into default, if we can't defund Obamacare," said the president. "They're not focused on you," the president told about 2,000 Ford autoworkers gathered on the floor of the stamping plant. "They're focused on politics. They're focused on trying to mess with me." "This is not a banana republic," the president said of the possibility the U.S. might have to default. "We don't run out on our tab. We just can't not pay our bills."  Obama refuses to negotiate over the debt limitMr. Obama reaffirmed his determination not to bargain with Congress over raising the debt ceiling. "I will not negotiate over the full faith and credit of the United States," he declared to cheers from his crowd. He demanded that Congress fund the government and raise the debt ceiling with "no obstruction, no games, no holding the economy hostage if you don't get 100 percent of what you want." For decades, said the president, raising the debt limit was a routine action by Congress for Democrats and Republicans, under Ronald Reagan and Lyndon Johnson alike. He said raising the debt ceiling doesn't cost a dime and doesn't add a penny to the deficit. It does, however, permit more borrowing by the U.S. Treasury which does add to the national debt, now at an all-time high of over $16.7 trillion. The debt has increased more than $6 trillion since Mr. Obama took office - the result of increased federal spending and a decline in revenues. If Congress doesn't act to raise the debt limit, "we could have another financial crisis," said the president. On the flight to Missouri aboard Air Force One, Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest said there were no firm plans for Mr. Obama to meet with congressional leaders, but he told reporters to "expect that the president will have conversations with congressional leaders in the days ahead." This was Mr. Obama's fourth speech this week designed to spotlight economic progress made in the five years since the financial crisis began in 2008 with the collapse of Lehman Brothers. He gave a speech at the White House on Monday, addressed corporate CEOs at the Business Roundtable on Wednesday and convened a meeting of his Export Council on Thursday. He also spoke of the economy in an interview Tuesday with Spanish-language Noticias Telemundo. His visit to the Ford plant was also meant to illustrate that the auto industry represents one of the best examples of economic recovery on the president's watch. The White House is quick to point out that "America's auto manufacturers are selling more cars and trucks and have created 340,700 jobs since 2009." The Ford assembly plant, of which the stamping facility is a part, provided the president with a venue in which employment is on the rise. In May, says the White House, 2,500 factory workers were employed building Ford F-150 trucks. That figure has now grown to 3,500, split among three shifts, to meet expanded demand for the popular pickup. The White House says employment will grow futher to near 4,500 workers producing F-150s and the new Ford Transit vans. |
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