Brazil: Child Dies After Water Main Bursts

A child has died and 17 people have been injured after a burst water main flooded a residential area near Rio de Janeiro.

Three-year-old Isabela Severo dos Santos was taken to the hospital but did not survive after swallowing large amounts of water. 

Firefighters wade across the water dragging a dinghy

According to Brazilian authorities seven people remain in hospital.

Local television showed images of a giant fountain of water crashing down on buildings, destroying homes and sweeping away cars in the ensuing current.

Water crashed down onto nearby homes and swept away cars

People could be seen wading through the floodwaters trying to climb on to a roof.

Some 20 houses were destroyed in the resulting floods

The burst pipeline, operated by State Company for Water and Wastewater, has now been shut down but large volumes of water are still leaking and continue to flood the neighbourhood.

The cause of the accident is still unknown. Firefighters are using boats to rescue residents who have been trapped by the flooding.

Officials say some people are still missing and suspect some may have been buried or submerged by the high pressure water as it burst out of the ruptured pipeline.

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Israeli-Palestinian Talks Set Nine-Month Goal

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have set a nine-month goal for reaching a so-far elusive peace deal.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden met with the Israeli and Palestinian negotiators

US Secretary of State John Kerry said the sides agreed to meet again within two weeks to continue negotiations on reaching a pact.

Speaking as the two sides wrapped up an initial round of talks on Tuesday, Mr Kerry said they were committed to "sustained, continuous and substantive negotiations on the core issues" that divided them.

Mr Kerry opposite Tzipi Livni and her Palestinian counterpart Saeb Erekat

He said the next round of negotiations would take place in either Israel or the Palestinian territories.

"The parties have agreed here today that all of the final status issues, all of the core issues and all other issues are all on the table for negotiation," Mr Kerry said.

"And they are on the table with one simple goal - a view to ending the conflict. Our objective will be to achieve a final status agreement over the course of the next nine months."

Shuafat refugee camp is seen behind the Israeli barrier in the West Bank

Earlier, President Barack Obama invited the negotiators to the White House to give a boost to his administration's third bid to relaunch the stalled Middle East peace talks.

Mr Kerry said he was aware of the deep scepticism surrounding the new push for peace and acknowledged the road ahead would be difficult.

However, he said he was hopeful an agreement could be reached.

Refugee camps are a key area of contention - this one is in the Gaza Strip

"While I understand the scepticism, I don't share it. And I don't think we have time for it," he said.

Mr Kerry said the negotiations, to be mediated on a day-to-day basis by his new Middle East peace envoy Martin Indyk, would be cloaked in secrecy and the parties had agreed he would be the only person to comment on them.

Israel and the Palestinians remain deeply divided over so-called "final status issues" - such as the fate of Jerusalem, claimed by both as a capital, the right of return for Palestinian refugees and the borders of a future Palestinian state complicated by dozens of Jewish settlements scattered across the occupied West Bank.

At the State Department ceremony, Mr Kerry was flanked Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat, who each spoke briefly about the need to resolve the long-standing conflict.

"It's time for the Palestinian people to have an independent sovereign state of their own," said Mr Erekat, who spoke first.

"It's time for the Palestinians to live in peace, freedom and dignity within their own independent, sovereign state."

Ms Livni allowed that she and Mr Erekat had been involved in failed negotiations before, notably the Annapolis Process that former president George W Bush initiated in 2008, but she said this time could be different.

"You know, Saeb," she said to Mr Erekat, "we all spent some time in the negotiations room ... but we didn't complete our mission.

"And this is something that we need to do now, in these negotiations that we will launch today. And the opportunity has been created for us, for all of us, and we cannot afford to waste it.

"I believe that history is not made by cynics; it is made by realists who are not afraid to dream. Let us be these people."

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Thailand Oil Spill: Koh Samet Slick Spreads

An oil spill that has blackened the shores of a popular Thai tourist island has spread to nearby isles despite a major clean-up operation.

About 50,000 litres of oil has leaked from a pipeline operated by PTT Global Chemical Plc (PTTGC) in Rayong province since Saturday morning.

The black tide has washed into Prao Bay on Ko Samet Island, a popular getaway destination for Thai citizens and foreign tourists.

About 600 metres of the white sand beaches has been covered with sticky crude oil, while a 12-inch (30cm) thick oil slick floated off the shoreline.

Progress has been made on cleaning the oil that washed into Prao Bay, but rough seas and strong winds spread thin films of oil to a rocky bay farther north.

Marine and Coastal Resources provincial director Puchong Saritdeechaikul said his team detected a clear oil sheen that had spread to smaller isles off Samet's eastern shore.

The clean-up operation continues on Ko Samet Island

A naval commander also said there was a risk the oil would wash ashore on the mainland.

"A thin film of oil may reach the mainland. It has started to go towards there," Vice Admiral Roongsak Sereeswad said.

Tourists have checked out from the three resorts on Prao Bay, which has been declared a disaster zone.

Chairat Trirattanajarasporn, president of the Rayong Tourist Association, said about 30% of the tourists have left the island.

"There are no tourists coming in any more, only people leaving. Some groups already cancelled bookings. Some are scared and started to leave," Mr Chairat said.

One Bangkok tour operator even launched an appeal for people to donate hair to make a boom to absorb the oil.

"An oil expert said hair can absorb spilled oil so we will collect hair to make a hair sausage," Thammtorn Junprasert said.

"I'm now contacting hotels for donation of old pillows stuffed with duck feathers."

A cleaning vessel works on the sick of Ko Samet as part of the operation.

Fishermen in Rayong have also demanded compensation from PTTGC, saying the leaked oil will cause long-term damage to the environment.

The company apologised on Monday and said the bay would be cleansed within three days - a goal questioned by environmental activists.

Mr Saritdeechaikul said that "there's no way it will be finished by that time".

Conservationist group Greenpeace also said much more work needed to be done.

"There is a lot of oil still in the bay," Greenpeace campaigner Ply Pirom said.

"It's very disappointing that this global company has no emergency plan to deal with the crisis."

Satit Pituthecha, a Democrat Member of Parliament for Rayong, said the country's tourism and fishing industries would take six months to recover from the spill.

Crude oil from an Omani tanker moored offshore was being transferred via a pipeline to a refinery when the leak was detected.

It is the fourth major oil spill in Thailand's history, according to the Energy Ministry.

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Swartz Death: MIT Cleared In Internal Review

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has said it did nothing wrong in the case of Aaron Swartz, the internet activist who committed suicide as he faced trial on hacking charges.

The 26-year-old took his own life In January after being accused of breaking into university computers and illegally downloading millions of academic articles.

He was facing 13 felony charges and possibly decades behind bars.

The MIT review of its own behaviour in the case found that the school did not target Swartz, did not seek his federal prosecution and did not oppose a plea bargain.

But the 182-page report suggested the school had nothing to be proud of, either.

"By responding as we did, MIT missed an opportunity to demonstrate the leadership that we pride ourselves on," it said.

MIT "is respected for world-class work in information technology, for promoting open access to online information, and for dealing wisely with the risks for computer abuse", the report added.

MIT's president said the school's decisions were "made in good faith".

Swartz was a computer programming prodigy who as a teenager helped create the RSS web feed format, and co-founded the social news website Reddit.

He was not an MIT student, but his father is a consultant to the school and Swartz had various informal connections to it.

MIT played a 'central role' in Swartz' suicide, his father said

Prosecutors said he was a thief who tapped into MIT's computer network to download millions of pay-for-access scholarly articles, which he planned to share publicly.

The case drew attention because Swartz was considered by some to be a pioneer of efforts to make online content freely available.

In the aftermath of his death, friends and supporters suggested MIT wrongly assisted federal prosecutors.

Hal Abelson, the MIT computer science and engineering professor who headed the inquiry, said MIT never made statements supporting the prosecution or the defence and never weighed in on potential punishments for Swartz.

But Swartz's father, Robert, said in a statement that the report showed MIT "played a central role in Aaron's suicide".

He said the school favoured the prosecution by providing access to witnesses that the defence did not get and by handing over information without subpoenas.

But Mr Swartz also applauded the university for "its commitment to self-examination".

His son's girlfriend, Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman, called the report a "whitewash".

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Breivik: Killer 'Must Be Allowed To Study'

It would be "torture" if mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik was to be denied the right to study at Oslo University, his lawyer has said.

Right-wing extremist Breivik is hoping to study political science at Oslo University after his first application was denied in May due to incomplete paperwork.

His lawyer, Geir Lippestad, told Norwegian paper The Local: "I believe it is next to torture to give him no meaning in his life when he is spending the next 20 to 30 years in prison. 

"We must treat people decently even if they've done terrible things. If not we may as well start talking about the death penalty."

Rescue workers in the aftermath of the Utoya massacre

News of the application by Breivik, who killed 77 people in a bombing and shooting rampage two years ago, has caused unrest among politicians.

Education minister Kristin Halvorsen has said she might step in to block progress, by working with the Justice Ministry to change the law.

Halvorsen told Norwegian TV 2 that it is a "very special situation" because they are "dealing with a serial killer who is never going to re-enter society."

Breivik making a salute at his trial following the murder of 77 people

Breivik is serving a 21-year sentence - the maximum allowed - for killing eight people with a bomb outside government offices in Oslo, before embarking on a shooting spree on the island of Utoya where a Labour Party's youth summer camp was being held.

Knut Bjarkeid, the director of the prison where Breivik is held, said he would encourage the mass killer to study for a degree.

He told The Local: "The prison will always try to pave the way for inmates to get a formal education, so that they are able to get a job when they come out."

If he did qualify to study he would be able to use the prison's own internet server which uses dozens of filters to limit access.

The Local quoted the university's rector as saying the application would be considered in the same way as any other.

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Salad Blamed For Parasitic Outbreak In US

Prepackaged salad is thought to be the source of a parasitic outbreak in the US that has made hundreds of people ill.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reported that the salad mix, the brand of which hasn't been revealed, may be the cause of a multi-state outbreak of cyclosporiasis, affecting at least 372 people.

The single-celled organism cycosplora has been detected in 16 states, causing infections of the small intestine and a number of uncomfortable side effects. 

Iowa and Nebraska authorities believe the parasite may be contained in a packaged blend of iceberg and romaine lettuce, carrots and red cabbage. The FDA report said it is "following other leads as well". 

The pre-washed mix has been taken off the shelves in Iowa where 145 people have fallen ill, the biggest number reported by a state.

The FDA wrote: "The goal will be to combine information collected from other affected states with that provided by the state health authorities in Iowa and Nebraska to identify a specific food item linked to the illnesses.  

"Should a specific food item be identified, the FDA, CDC, state and local partners will work to track it to its source.

"This is labour intensive and painstaking work, requiring the collection, review and analysis of hundreds and at times thousands of invoices and shipping documents."

Cyclospora can cause diarrhoea for up to 57 days, vomiting, bloating and fatigue.

It is unlikely to be passed from person to person.

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Pakistan Jailbreak: Taliban Moves Prisoners

The Taliban claims to have smuggled more than two dozen militants they broke out of a prison to one of Pakistan's tribal regions.

Two Taliban commanders said the 25 militants had arrived in the South Waziristan tribal area and were travelling on to North Waziristan, Pakistan's main sanctuary for Taliban and al Qaeda militants.

Monday night's deadly jailbreak in the town of Dera Ismail Khan was codenamed Freedom From Death, cost 11.5 million rupees (£75,600) and took six months to plan, according to the commanders, who remained anonymous.

Eighteen of the 150 militants who took part were given special commando training, they claimed.

Guards at the prison said they were totally overwhelmed when the heavily-armed Taliban fighters staged the attack.

More than a dozen people were killed in the assault, including two of the attackers.

Police said more than 47 of the 252 prisoners who escaped have been captured.

The attack took six months to plan, according to the Taliban

Senior prison officials had reportedly been tipped off that an attack was likely but the security forces were still unprepared for the raid.

Hidayat Ullah, a policeman who was guarding the prison when the attack started, said he and several colleagues jumped into an armoured vehicle inside the prison grounds and drove to the main gate to defend the compound.

They directed fire at the gate after the militants blew it up, but a mortar or rocket-propelled grenade hit their vehicle, killing two policemen and wounding Mr Ullah and two others.

"After that, I don't know what happened," the policeman said from the hospital where he is being treated.

The Taliban carried out a similar attack on a prison elsewhere in the northwest less than 18 months ago.

The assaults raise serious questions about state institutions' capacity to battle the Taliban insurgency that has raged for years and killed tens of thousands of security personnel and civilians.

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Prison Break: Video Of Brazen Inmate Escape

Footage has emerged of an "armed and dangerous" criminal making a brazen prison break.

A manhunt is under way for alleged armed robber Derrick Estell, who apparently enlisted the help of two accomplices to help him escape from the county jail in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

CCTV cameras show Estell, 33, talking on a phone used by inmates, while two police officers kept an eye on him through a service window.

Derrick Estell waits for his chance to escape as he makes a phone call

When alleged accomplice William Harding briefly distracted the officers, Estell took a headlong dive through the window and made for the exit - closely followed by one of his guards.

Cameras in the car park show Estell sprinting away from the jail towards an alleyway, where he climbed into a car, which pulled away before pursuing officers could stop it.

The prisoner makes his bid for freedom - diving through a service window

The car was found abandoned a few minutes later, but Estell and his suspected getaway driver Tamara Upshaw had disappeared.

Harding was arrested on suspicion of helping the escape on July 28, while police are continuing to search for Estell and Upshaw.

A guard tumbles through the window in pursuit of Estell

Estell had been in jail since March, when he allegedly stole a truck and went on the run, leading to a stand-off with a Swat team.

Police said Estell, who had more than two dozen charges pending against him before his escape, is "armed, dangerous and extremely aggressive".

Estell remains at large

Lt James Martin from Garland County sheriff's office said: "Investigators have reason to believe that others are involved in the planned escape and are working to confirm the information received and issue warrants for their arrest."

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Eoghan And Ruairi Chada: Man Arrested

A man in his 40s has been arrested as part of a police inquiry into the deaths of two young brothers in Ireland.

Eoghan Chada, 10, and Ruairi Chada, 5, are understood to have been found in the boot of their father's car after he crashed into a wall in County Mayo.

Their father,  43-year-old Sanjeev Chada, was hospitalised after the crash on Monday.

Police believe the boys died before the crash. 

The man in custody was arrested in Castlebar early on Wednesday and was detained at Westport Garda Station, police said.

The brothers disappeared from the family home in Bagenalstown, Co Carlow, on Sunday, sparking a nationwide search amid fears he had abducted them after telling his wife he was taking them bowling.

Following the disappearance, officers had issued the first ever amber alert for missing children in Ireland, triggering nationwide broadcasts, social media alerts and traffic and travel messages.

Police said there was no knowledge of any breakdown in relations in the family.

Eoghan and Ruairi were described as extremely popular and "two little sports fanatics" who were members of their local junior hurling club.

The vehicle involved in the crash - which took place 185 miles from the family's home - was taken away from the scene for forensic tests.

Officers are now appealing for businesses to review CCTV footage and check for a dark green Ford Focus car registration number 06 CW 238.

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Zimbabwe: Tsvangirai Predicts Election Win

By Emma Hurd, Sky News Correspondent

Morgan Tsvangirai claims he is heading for a "resounding" victory against president Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe's presidential election.

Casting his vote in the capital, Harare, Mr Tsvangirai said he believed he had the support to oust his old rival.

"It's not if but when," he said.

Zimbabweans began queuing outside polling stations before dawn with African observers reporting no major problems in the process, despite allegations of vote rigging and fraud.

Mr Mugabe has repeatedly pledged that the election will be free and fair. 

"There is no pressure being exerted on anyone," he told reporters as he voted.

The 89-year-old is seeking to extend his 33-year grip on power in the country, but has promised to "surrender" if the result goes against him.

Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai cast their votes

But many have dismissed the president's words and Mr Tsvangirai himself has said he takes the promise "with a pinch of salt".

Suspicions of vote rigging were sparked by a Research and Advocacy Unit study, which said the electoral roll includes one million dead voters or people who have emigrated.

Voters appear keen to have their say though, with some queuing up wrapped in blankets fours hours before polling stations opened.

Several hundred people waited to vote in green tents in Mbare, the oldest township in Harare.

"I am happy to have cast my vote," said Ellen Zhakata, 66.

"I just want an end to the problems in our country.

Queues formed as Zimbabweans waited for the polls to open

"All my children are outside the country because of the economic troubles here. I am so lonely. How I wish they could be working here."

Zimbabwe's economic problems have seen millions leave the country to find work in recent years.

Hyperinflation reached 231,000,000% five years ago but a scarcity of US dollars - now the country's main currency - means the economy has stabilised and inflation is back in single digits.

Violence marred the last election in 2008, with Mr Tsvangirai pulling out of a second round run-off against Mr Mugabe after 200 of his supporters were killed.

The African Union and the the Southern African Development Community have both sent observers to monitor this year's elections.

However, there are still worries that violence and intimidation could be used.

"We are very worried that if the result does not go Robert Mugabe's way we could see a return to the violence that marred the 2008 election," said Tiseke Kasambala, Southern Africa Director for Human Rights Watch.

She told Sky News: "The heads of his security forces have made clear that they are not going to accept a victory by the opposition or by Morgan Tsvangirai."

The opposition leader has based his latest campaign on a plan to lure back foreign investors, create one million jobs in five years and improve public services.

Mr Mugabe has focused his promises on expanding the redistribution of wealth to poor black Zimbabweans, as well as making threats of violence against homosexuals.

Final results are expected in about five days.

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