The number of people killed in a series of grenade blasts yesterday in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, increased to six, while another four people are missing, the Kenya Red Cross said.
The death toll rose after one of 69 people admitted to the hospital succumbed to injuries, the medical charity said in a statement on its Twitter account today, citing Internal Security Minister George Saitoti.
Police suspect “sympathizers of al-Shabaab,” the Somali Islamist militant group linked to al-Qaeda, were responsible for the attack in which at least three hand grenades were thrown …

Autopsy carried out in Rome finds that Franco Lamolinara was shot four times, including a fatal shot in the head
An autopsy on the body of the Italian hostage killed in Nigeria during an unsuccessful British-Nigerian rescue mission has found that he was shot at close range in the head.
The autopsy, conducted in Rome hours after the body was flown to Italy on Saturday, found that Franco Lamolinara was shot four times at close range, including a fatal shot in the head. Lamolinara and his British colleague Chris McManus were found …

MOSCOW — About a dozen protesters were arrested by the police on March 10 as several thousand pro-democracy demonstrators attended a rally to denounce the March 4 presidential election that was won by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Sergei Udaltsov, leader of the Left Front movement, was among those arrested while trying to conduct an unsanctioned march on the margins of the main, officially sanctioned demonstration.
Udaltsov has been charged with failure to obey a police officer and could face up to 15 days’ administrative detention. He had called on supporters to …

Cairo’s envoy to the Palestinian territories in contact with Gaza groups, Israel in efforts to quell hostilities, calls Israeli attacks in Gaza “unjustifiable,” and rejects claims of terror threat emanating from Sinai.
Egypt was making efforts Sunday to halt a further escalation of violence in southern Israel and the Gaza Strip which has seen more than 130 rockets fired towards the Jewish State and 17 Palestinians killed in Israel Air Force strikes since Friday.
“Egypt is in a race against time in order to halt hostilities as soon as possible to avoid …

Former United Nations chief Kofi Annan, on a difficult peace mission to Syria, prepared to hold more talks with President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday as Syrian forces pursued a drive to crush rebel bastions in the northwest.
Annan, joint envoy of the United Nations and Arab League, appeared to make little headway on Saturday in a “candid and comprehensive” meeting with Assad, who blamed the bloodshed on “terrorists” seeking to destabilize Syria.
The Syrian state news agency SANA said he told Annan Syria would help in “any honest effort to find a …