Bill Gates 'Under Pressure To Quit Microsoft'

Three top investors in Microsoft are taking aim at Bill Gates to step down as chairman of the company he founded nearly 40 years ago, according to reports.

The mystery backers have not been named but are understood to be lobbying the company's board of directors for Mr Gates to be replaced, unnamed sources say.

The investors are said to be of the view that Mr Gates' presence on the board is blocking the adoption of new development strategies and making it hard for the chief executive to make substantial changes.

Miscrosoft's founder handed the chief executive role to Ballmer in 2000

The news comes days after current chief executive Steve Ballmer announced he will retire within a year following pressure from backers, as the company struggles to reposition itself in the ultra-competitive tech sector.

The investors targeting Mr Gates collectively own 5% of the $277bn (£171bn) company and have stressed they are also unhappy with his role on the special committee that is searching for Ballmer's successor.

They also have misgivings that Mr Gates wields power of out of proportion to his declining shareholding, down to 4.5% now from 49% in 1986.

The company remains one of the world's most valuable tech companies

Although Microsoft is still one of the world's most valuable technology companies, its shares have remained fairly static for 10 years as Ballmer has struggled in the face of competition from Apple and Google.

This is the first time major shareholders have focused on Mr Gates, who lowered his profile at Microsoft after handing over to Mr Ballmer in 2000 to focus on his $38bn (£23bn) Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

One of the sources said Mr Gates was one of the technology industry's greatest pioneers, but the investors felt he had been more effective as chief executive than as chairman.

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Chinese Tourists Given Tips On How To Behave

Chinese authorities have issued tourists with a handbook telling them how to behave when going abroad, including not to pee in pools.

As tourists from China increasingly travel abroad, they have developed a stereotype of "uncivilised behaviour", which Vice Premier Wang Yang said in May "damaged the image of the Chinese people".

The image-conscious National Tourism Administration has now published the 64-page Guidebook for Civilised Tourism, including illustrations, aimed at reining in unruly behaviour.

Instructions include do not pick your nose in public, leave footprints on public toilet seats or steal life jackets.

The rulebook explains that if tourists take the safety device from under their plane seat "if a dangerous situation arises then someone else will not have a life jacket".

It also warned travellers to keep their nose-hair neatly trimmed and, if they had to pick their teeth, never to use their fingers.

The handbook also dispensed country-specific advice: Chinese visitors to Germany should only snap their fingers to beckon dogs, not humans.

Chinese people are increasingly going abroad for holidays

The government had previously issued pithy guidelines telling tourists how to behave, but the latest booklet elaborated in far more detail.

Several countries, including debt-laden European nations, have eased visa restrictions to attract increasingly affluent Chinese tourists, but reports have also emerged of complaints about etiquette.

And the issues also affect tourists travelling closer to home. A woman from mainland China who in February had her son relieve himself in a bottle in a crowded Hong Kong restaurant sparked an outpouring of anger online, with some locals deriding mainlanders as "locusts".

The handbook, published to coincide with a week-long public holiday that started on October 1, has been met with a mixed response.

A tour guide surnamed Zhang, based in Hong Kong, said his company had given him a copy of the rules at the start of the seven-day October holiday.

Before this he said they had distributed a much briefer set of guidelines - which fitted onto a single sheet of paper.

"I feel things need to be improved," he said, standing in the city square packed with mainland tourists.

"If we bring chaos to other places, it's our image - the Chinese image - that suffers."

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Pim Fortuyn: Politician's Killer May Be Freed

The animal rights activist who assassinated populist politician Pim Fortuyn in 2002 is eligible for early parole, a Dutch criminal justice agency has ruled.

Mr Fortuyn was shot dead days before the country's national elections.

Volkert van der Graaf was convicted of the killing and sentenced to 18 years.

Mr Fortuyn founded his own party and shot to popularity on an anti-immigration platform.

Van der Graaf said at his trial he regarded him as a "danger to society".

At the time of his conviction, 20 years was widely regarded as the harshest possible sentence for a criminal who is not insane.

The decision to make Van der Graaf, 44, eligible for parole was opposed by the justice ministry.

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Kenya: Bodies Recovered From Westgate Mall

Somalis Fear Kenya Terror Backlash

Updated: 4:41am UK, Sunday 29 September 2013

Somalis living in Nairobi say they fear being targeted by Kenyans who blame them for the shopping centre massacre that left at least 67 people dead.

The Eastleigh area of the capital city is home to many from Somalia, the country where al Shabaab, the terror group thought to be behind the attack, is based.

Ahmed Mohammed, a security consultant in the area, said there were major concerns about a backlash against the community.

"People are worried about people coming and looting their businesses and they are also worried about authorities coming and doing a crackdown on Somalis," he told Sky News.

"Basically, when things like this happen, Somalis are the victims."

Poverty and unemployment make Eastleigh a fertile recruiting ground for al Shabaab.

Those who have glimpsed inside the organisation and witnessed its brutality are terrified of being hunted down for leaving or speaking out.

One man, who asked to remain anonymous, explained why.

"What I am scared about is that Al Shabaab are beasts, they are not human beings," he said.

"If they see my face ... they will try to kill me. I have seen so many friends of mine who have been killed by al Shabaab."

Somali immigrant Farah Atosh, 25, has countless friends who have been recruited or approached by al Shabaab, but is determined to counter the terror group's propaganda.

"We are against them," he said.

"We are not supporting them. You might see or hear some people saying al Shabaab will not be able to carry out those attacks without the support of the Somali diaspora but honestly that is false information."

Many people who fled Somalia hoped they would find sanctuary and those who created new lives in Kenya want al Shabaab hounded out

One of them is Karim Muse, who told Sky News: "I would like to go to Somalia but (while) the al Shabaab are ... in Somalia, I don't want to go back.

"They have destroyed Somalia's people. They don't like Somalis, don't like other Christians, they don't like anyone, only themselves. Al Shabaab, they are cancer in the world."

It comes as forensic investigators continue to search the ruins of Westgate Mall - and after it emerged a sixth Briton had been confirmed dead following the attack.

Meanwhile, around 200 Nairobi residents, many of them of Indian descent, held a candlelit vigil on Saturday evening for victims the massacre.

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Colorado Rock Slide: 'Hero' Dad Saved Girl

A 13-year-old girl who was the sole survivor of a rock slide that killed five members of her family has said her dad shielded her with his body.

The girl was pulled out of the rubble and airlifted to hospital with a broken leg after the rock slide on a Colorado hiking trail on Monday.

Gracie's parents, Dwayne Johnson, 46, and Dawna Johnson, 45, and another daughter 18-year-old Kiowa-Rain Johnson were killed.

Two of Gracie's cousins who were visiting from Missouri, Baigen Walker, 10, and Paris Walkup, 22, also died.

Gracie Johnson was pulled from the rubble. Pic: CBS News

Sheriff's Deputy Nick Tolsma told NBC: "Her dad is a real hero.

"[Gracie] told me at the last second when the boulders were coming down on top of them that he covered her up and protected her, which I believe saved her life."

The rock slide sent boulders the size of cars falling from a cliff onto a popular viewing area that overlooks Agnes Vaille falls.

The area is in Chalk Creek Canyon below Mount Princeton, a 14,197ft peak in south-central Colorado.

A memorial for the Johnsons at Buena Vista High School. Pic: CBS News

It is believed heavy rain during summer and recent snowfall may have triggered the slide.

Mr Tolsma, who was one of the first at the scene, heard screaming from beneath the rubble.

Then he saw Gracie's hand sticking up through the rocks.

"I started digging her out until I had more help come and we got her all the way out," he told NBC.

The trail is popular with Colorado hikers and tourists

The Johnson family was from nearby Buena Vista.

Both parents coached at Buena Vista High School, where their daughters were students. Classmates mourned near a rock on campus that has become a memorial.

Principal Brian Yates said: "We all loved them." 

Family friend Mike Carr said Dwayne Johnson was quick to help others.

"Probably his only regret is that he didn't jump in front of his whole family - he's just that type of guy," Mr Carr said.

The rock slide came after flash floods in Colorado that killed eight people, causing millions of dollars in damage.

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Biker In NYC Confrontation 'Paralysed'

A man involved in a group of bikers' alleged assault of a driver in Manhattan suffered spine injuries in the confrontation and is paralysed, his wife has said.

The incident in which police say the bikers assaulted the driver of a Range Rover in front of his wife and child has been caught on video.

Police have so far arrested two suspects, both from the bikers' group.

The video, taken from a rider's helmet cam, shows a large group of bikers clustering around the Range Rover in Manhattan.

There is an initial collision, then the bikers chase down the car, which at various points is blocked in traffic or surrounded by the riders.

At one point, the SUV suddenly accelerates, bouncing over at least one of the motorcycles and its rider as others scramble to get out of the way.

The chase ends when the SUV exits the highway and gets stuck in street traffic.

The video shows one biker using his helmet to smash the driver's window, another one trying to smash the window with his fists.

Police said the group then pulled the man from the SUV and beat him, although that part is not shown on the recording posted online.

The biker who may never walk again, Ed Mieses, is the one hit by the car as it sped away, his wife Dayana said.

He suffered broken legs, fractured ribs and spine injuries, according to his family.

Mr Mieses, known as Jay Meezee, is an aspiring rapper from outside Boston, and he and his wife have two teenaged children.

The six-minute video, posted online, shows the driver speed away

"There's no hope for his back," Mrs Meises told reporters outside hospital.

"They crushed his spine.They broke it in two different places, so he will be forever, forever paralysed."

"My husband got off his bike to help the guy," she said of the confrontation.

"When you look at the video you can see he (the driver of the car) is running over something.

"It's not just a motorcycle, it's a human being that was under there."

The driver of the SUV, Alexian Lien, 33, was taken to a hospital where he needed stitches for his face. His wife and two-year-old were not injured.

Police say Mr Lien had called 911 to report the bikers were driving erratically, and reported being scared for his wife and child.

He has not been charged, but police are still investigating.

Police have arrested the biker they say was involved in the initial accident, Christopher Cruz, and charged him with reckless endangerment, reckless driving, endangering the welfare of a child and menacing.

A second suspect identified as Allen Edwards is also in custody after he turned himself in.

He is believed to be the man seen on video striking the Range Rover windows with his fists, and was charged with reckless endangerment, criminal mischief and menacing.

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Pregnant Briton Dies At Spanish Airport

A pregnant British woman has died after fainting at an airport in northeastern Spain, officials say.

A spokeswoman for Catalonia's regional emergency health service said the woman, believed to be 20 years old, was dead by the time an ambulance arrived at Girona airport.

She had been due to travel with her family to Birmingham before she collapsed, according to a Spanish airport authority spokeswoman.

Further details about the woman's death were not immediately available.

She has not been identified.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman told Sky News: "We are aware of the death of a British national at an airport in Girona, Spain.

"We are providing consular assistance to the family at this difficult time."

The woman's body has been taken to Girona for a post-mortem examination.

Reports in Spain offered conflicting accounts on the length of time it took for medical staff to arrive at the scene.

Some said it took 25 minutes to get to the stricken woman, while others said it was closer to 15 minutes.

An emergency services spokesman said the response time for the ambulance was considered within normal standards in such situations.

Joan Muntada of the UGT workers' union said it was considering some sort of legal action against authorities over the case after the health assistance service in the airport was closed a year ago.

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Italian PM Wins Vote After Berlusconi U-Turn

Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta has won a confidence vote with a crushing majority after Silvio Berlusconi abandoned his bid to topple the government.

Berlusconi's humiliating climbdown came after defections in his party robbed him of the backing he needed to bring down the government.

Out of 305 senators who took part in the vote, 235 were in favour of Mr Letta's coalition government and 70 against with no abstentions - far higher than the majority required of 153 senators.

At the weekend, Berlusconi ordered five ministers from his centre-right People of Freedom party (PdL) to resign from the cabinet, prompting a constitutional crisis.

The three-time premier was incensed at a vote planned on Friday that could strip him of his Senate seat following his tax fraud conviction and four-year prison sentence.

Since inconclusive elections in February, Italy has been run by an unusual left-right coalition, headed by the centre-left Democratic Party leader Mr Letta.

Shortly before the vote took place, Berlusconi took the floor in an unexpected address after Mr Letta made an impassioned plea to keep his five-month-old coalition alive.

Berlusconi said he had changed his mind after hearing Mr Letta's promise to lower taxes and mindful of the need for reforms.

"Italy needs a government that can produce structural and institutional reforms that the country needs to modernise," Berlusconi said in his brief remarks.

"We have decided, not without internal strife, to vote in confidence."

Mr Letta shook his head as the billionaire media mogul was speaking and the address was followed by stunned silence.

The surprise about-turn made victory for Mr Letta's coalition a certainty, but the vote still went ahead.

Berluscon's shock announcement was immediately cheered by the markets, with shares in Milan jumping 1.45% higher.

Mr Letta earlier asked politicians to vote for him, saying Italians were tired of "blood in the arena".

"Italy runs a risk that could be a fatal risk. Seizing this moment or not depends on us, on a yes or a no," Mr Letta said in his address to the Senate.

"This is an historic situation."

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Shutdown 'Impacts Army Day-To-Day Operations'

The US Army Chief of Staff has said the government shutdown is significantly harming the Army's day-to-day operations.

General Ray Odierno urged Congress to find a resolution to the funding row that led to the first government shutdown in 17 years.

"It is going to be difficult for us to do anything," Gen Odierno said.

"We won't be doing training like we normally would, we won't be travelling, we won't be doing the coordination necessary, only mission-essential tasks.

''The longer it goes on, the worse it gets. Every day that goes by, we are losing manpower, we are losing capability, so in my mind it is important we get this resolved."

As the shutdown entered its second day, President Barack Obama is scrapping parts of a trip to Asia as the political stand-off shows no sign of letting up.

The Martin Luther King Memorial is among sites affected

Mr Obama called off stops in Malaysia and the Philippines, while keeping plans to travel to regional summits in Indonesia and Brunei.

The shutdown that began on Tuesday have left federal government functions in limbo from coast to coast.

National parks such as Yellowstone and Alcatraz Island have been shuttered and government websites have gone dark.

As many as 800,000 workers are taking unpaid leave.

Some have rebelled against the shutdown - on Tuesday, veterans pushed past barricades at the National World War Two Memorial to get into the site.

The crisis has also forced the cancellation of a Ku Klux Klan rally at Gettysburg National Military Park originally planned for Saturday.

Park officials - who had granted permission despite criticism, citing the right to freedom of expression - said they rescinded all permits for special events.

Many citizens are anxious about their future

Mr Obama has accused Republicans of taking the government hostage to sabotage his signature healthcare law, which was passed three years ago.

"They've shut down the government over an ideological crusade to deny affordable health insurance to millions of Americans," Mr Obama said on Tuesday.

Republicans, who control the House of Representatives, view the law, called the Affordable Care Act and known as Obamacare, as a dangerous extension of government power.

They have coupled their bid to undermine it with continued efforts to block government funding, resulting in the impasse with Democrats, who control the Senate.

Politicians in both parties have suggested the stand-off might last for weeks.

Republicans have sought passage of legislation aimed at reopening small slices of the government, such as national parks and programmes for veterans.

But that approach was quickly rejected by the Democrats, who said Republicans cannot pick and choose what parts of the government they want to open.

"That's important - a park? How about the kids who need daycare?" said Democratic Representative Sander Levin of Michigan.

"You have to let all the hostages go. Every single one of them."

Republicans lamented that the rejection of their proposals would harm veterans like the ones who were at the National World War Two Memorial.

"They're coming here because they want to visit their memorial, the World War Two memorial, " said Republican Representative Mike Simpson of Idaho.

"But no, the Obama Administration has put barricades around it."

The veterans did not seem interested in taking sides.

"It's just like a bunch of little kids fighting over candy," said George Atkinson, an 82-year-old veteran of the Korean War.

"The whole group ought to be replaced, top man down."

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Tom Clancy: Patriot Games Writer Dies At 66

Best-selling US author Tom Clancy, who wrote high-tech, Cold War thrillers including Patriot Games and The Hunt For Red October, has died aged 66.

He reportedly died in hospital in Baltimore last night.

A cause of death has not yet been revealed.

Clancy penned a series of spy and military thrillers including The Hunt For Red October, Patriot Games, Clear And Present Danger and The Sum Of All Fears, which were all made into successful Hollywood films.

Several of his books featured his hero character Jack Ryan, a CIA analyst.

Harrison Ford played Ryan in Patriot Games and Clear And Present Danger while Alec Baldwin was in the role for The Hunt For Red October, alongside Sean Connery as the captain of a Soviet submarine.

Ben Affleck played Ryan in The Sum Of All Fears, and a fifth film featuring Ryan called Shadow One is due for release later this year.

The president of Clancy's publisher Putnam, Ivan Held, was quoted as saying: "He was a thrill to work with."

Hollywood star Harrison Ford played Clancy's character Jack Ryan

Clancy was born in Baltimore on April 12, 1947. He entered Loyola College as a physics major, but then switched to English, admitting later he was not clever enough for the rigours of science.

After graduating in 1969, he married wife Wanda and joined her family's insurance business, all the while scribbling down ideas for a novel.

In 1979, Clancy began Patriot Games, in which he invented his hero, Jack Ryan.

In 1982, he put it aside and started The Hunt For Red October, basing it on a real incident in November 1979, in which a Soviet missile frigate called the Storozhevoy attempted to defect.

In real life, the ship did not make it, but in Clancy's book the defection was a success.

By a stroke of luck, President Ronald Reagan got Red October as a Christmas gift and quipped at a dinner that he was losing sleep because he could not put the book down.

Clancy later said those remarks helped put him on the New York Times best-seller list.

The writer had said his dream had been simply to publish a book, hopefully a good one, so that he would be in the Library of Congress catalogue.

He had sold the The Hunt for Red October manuscript to the first publisher he tried, the Naval Institute Press, which had never bought original fiction.

The book led to a string of hits, both on the page and in Hollywood blockbusters, including the 1987 book Patriot Games, made into a film five years later.

He even ventured into video games with the best-selling Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent.

Ubisoft Entertainment, a company that Clancy co-founded, said: "We are saddened to learn of Tom Clancy's passing and our condolences go out to his family.

"Tom Clancy was an extraordinary author with a gift for creating detailed, engrossing fictional stories that captivated audiences around the world.

"The teams at Ubisoft, especially at the Red Storm studio, are incredibly grateful to have collaborated with and learned from him, and we are humbled by the opportunity to carry on part of his legacy through our properties that bear his name."

Sandi Mendelson, who worked with Clancy early in his career, told Sky News: "Working with him was just extraordinary.

"It was the beginning of his rise in popularity ... He was incredibly professional and talented ... his writing was extraordinary, the detail, the authenticity, people got lost in his books."

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