More than 60 killed at Pakistan church

Two suicide bombers have killed at least 53 people attending a church service in Pakistan. Source: AAP

A TWIN suicide bombing has killed more than 70 people at a church service in northwest Pakistan, the attack believed to be the deadliest on Christians in the country.

The bombers struck at the end of a service at All Saints Church in Peshawar, the main town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province which has borne the brunt of a bloody Islamist insurgency in recent years.

Doctor Arshad Javed of Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital said 72 people had been killed and more than 100 wounded.

Provincial health minister Shaukat Ali Yousufzai confirmed the death toll and told AFP the provincial government had announced a three-day period of mourning in the state.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the "cruel" attack, saying it violated the tenets of Islam.

Sahibzada Anees, one of Peshawar's most senior officials, told reporters the bombers struck when the service had just ended.

"Most of the wounded are in critical condition," he said.

"We are in an area which is a target of terrorism and within that area there was a special security arrangement for the church. We are in a rescue phase and once it is over we will investigate what went wrong."

Former minister for inter-faith harmony Paul Bhatti and provincial lawmaker Fredrich Azeem Ghauri both said the attack was the deadliest ever targeting Christians in Pakistan.

The small and largely impoverished Christian community suffers discrimination in the overwhelmingly Muslim-majority nation but bombings against them are extremely rare.

Schoolteacher Nazir Khan, 50, said at least 400 worshippers were greeting each other when there was a huge explosion.

"A huge blast threw me on the floor and as soon as I regained my senses, a second blast took place and I saw wounded people everywhere," he said.

An AFP reporter saw shreds of human flesh and bloodstains on the walls and floor of the church, its windows ripped apart by the blast.

Pages of a Bible were scattered near the altar and rice meals mingled with dust on the floor amid shattered benches.

Walls were gouged with ball bearings used in the explosives, he said.

Grieving relatives blocked the main Grand Trunk Road highway with bodies of the victims to protest against the killings.

Christians in Karachi, Lahore, Multan and other cities also staged demonstrations to condemn the killings and demand state protection.

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Voters cast ballots on fate of Swiss Army

FOR the third time in almost a quarter-century, neutral Switzerland is voting on a proposal to abolish mandatory service in its army.

Voters were heading to the polls on Sunday on a referendum by pacifists and left-wing parties that would do away with military conscription, despite similar proposals that were defeated in 1989 and 2001.

Surveys indicate it is likely to be defeated again, with more than two-thirds of the country still favouring mandatory service for most men between the ages of 18 to 34. Women can serve voluntarily.

The Swiss government has urged voters to retain the service - counter to what most Western European nations have done since the Cold War.

About 20,000 soldiers a year attend basic training for 18 to 21 weeks.

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Dutch royal Beatrix breaks cheekbone

PRINCESS Beatrix, the former Dutch queen, has undergone surgery after falling and breaking a cheekbone.

Beatrix, 75, was operated on Sunday morning after the fall and will remain hospitalised for a few days.

After 33 years on the throne, Beatrix was replaced as Dutch monarch on April 30 this year by her eldest son Willem-Alexander.

Following her abdication, she was named Princess Beatrix and continues to perform public duties.

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Computer mishap delays ISS supply ship

A BRAND new commercial cargo ship making its orbital debut has experienced trouble with a computer data link, and its arrival at the International Space Station has been delayed at least two days.

The rendezvous was aborted less than six hours before the scheduled arrival of Orbital Sciences Corp's Cygnus capsule, packed with 590 kilograms of food and clothes for the space station crew.

The Virginia-based company said it was working on a software repair, but it would be at least two more days until another approach is attempted.

Orbital Sciences said the two orbiting vessels established direct contact early Sunday, four days after the Cygnus' launch from Virginia. But the Cygnus rejected some of the data, which interrupted the entire rendezvous. Until then, everything had been going well.

Because this is a test flight of the Cygnus, nothing valuable or urgent is on board. If necessary, it could keep orbiting the world for weeks, even months, before pulling up at the orbiting lab.

Orbital Sciences is the second private company to launch supplies to the space station. In 2012, the California-based SpaceX began accomplishing that job for NASA.

The space agency is paying the two companies to deliver goods to the space station, in the absence of the now-retired space shuttles.

Three astronauts - an American, Italian and Russian - currently are aboard the orbiting outpost.

On Wednesday, three more crew members will be launched from Kazakhstan. Orbital Sciences will have to work around that manned flight, delaying the Cygnus further if a Tuesday hookup is not feasible.

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Australian killed in Nairobi mall attack

No Australians are believed to have been injured in the deadly mall shooting in Kenya. Source: AAP

A DUAL Australian-UK national is among the victims of the unfolding Nairobi shopping mall siege, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says.

"Advice received from the Australian High Commission in Nairobi confirms that an Australian-UK dual national was among those killed in the terrorist attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi," a DFAT spokeswoman told AAP late on Sunday.

"The Australian government deeply regrets this senseless loss of life and extends deepest sympathies to the family of the victim.

"It is not appropriate to name the individual."

Consular assistance will be extended to the family of the person killed, but no identifying details have been released.

At least 59 people were killed and 175 wounded when al-Qaeda-linked Somali militants stormed an upmarket shopping centre in the Kenyan capital, according to local officials.

Between 10 and 15 gunmen are believed to be holed up in the building with an unknown number of hostages, a full day after the carnage began.

DFAT says it's received confirmation that two Canadian nationals have been killed, including a diplomat, and the French government has advised that two of its nationals are among the victims.

One New Zealand national has been confirmed as injured.

"The situation on the ground remains fluid," DFAT's spokeswoman said.

"DFAT has received advice from several Australians who were caught up in the attack and managed to escape to safety."

Among them is Melbourne woman Sarah Williamson, who reportedly survived by huddling in a phone store.

The 23-year-old was in the mall with her father, who works for the UN, when she heard the first explosions.

"She heard the first grenade go off and said, 'What was that, dad?'," her mother Linda has told Fairfax Radio Network.

"Then he heard the guns firing and he knew exactly what it was and he said, 'We're under attack, everybody to the back of the room.'"

The Eltham woman spent six hours trapped in the store before she could run to safety.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has condemned the terrorist attack and expressed her sympathy to Kenyans and President Uhuru Kenyatta, who has lost family members in the incident.

"The thoughts of all Australians are with the victims and their families," she said in a statement.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott was briefed on the unfolding crisis earlier on Sunday.

Australians still in Kenya have been urged to avoid all public places in Nairobi for the next 24-48 hours and closely monitor local media.

People with concerns about family or friends in Kenya should try to contact them directly or if unsuccessful phone the DFAT consular emergency centre on (02) 6261 3305.

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At least six dead in Kenyan mall attack

Gunmen have opened fire inside an upmarket mall in Kenya's capital of Nairobi. Source: AAP

AT least six people have been killed and dozens wounded after black-clad masked gunmen attacked an upmarket shopping mall in the Kenyan capital, according to witnesses.

An AFP television journalist saw three bodies laid out in front of Nairobi's Westgate mall, and two more bodies inside.

An eyewitness who survived the assault by gunmen said he saw the body of a child being taken out of the mall.

"The gunmen tried to fire at my head but missed. At least 50 people were shot. There are definitely many casualties," a mall employee, Sudjar Singh, told AFP.

"I saw a young boy carried out on a shopping cart, it looked like he was about 5 or 6. It looked like he was gone, he was not moving or making any noise."

Three bodies were laid out in front of the mall, their heads covered, according to an AFPTV reporter. Two more bodies were laid inside the mall.

Heavy gunfire could also be heard inside the mall as armed police moved in.

The area is surrounded by police and ambulances.

Shocked and terrified people ran from the area, some of them wounded, while cars with bullet holes were abandoned outside, according to another AFP reporter on the scene.

"I saw three of the attackers dressed in black and with covered faces and they were carrying heavy rifles," said a witness and survivor who identified herself as Annette.

Kenneth Kerich, who was shopping when the attack happened, described scenes of panic.

"I suddenly heard gunshots and saw everyone running around so we lied down. I saw two people who were lying down and bleeding, I think they were hit by bullets. The gunfire went on from ground floor and the upper floors," he said.

"Initially we thought it is police fighting thugs. But we could not leave until when officers walked in, shot in the air and told us to get out."

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Yoga Guru 'detained at Heathrow'

A SPIRITUAL leader who was due to lead a 1,500-strong yoga class has been stopped from entering the UK, his supporters say.

Swami Ramdevji, 47, was expected to lead the class in Glasgow on Monday night.

But his supporters said he was stopped at Heathrow Airport on Friday night and detained for eight hours.

Ramdevji, who is also known as Baba Ramdev and reportedly has an 85-million strong worldwide following, was given a 24-hour visa and instructed to return to Terminal Five at Heathrow on Saturday afternoon, when his supporters fear he will be thrown out of the country.

The organisers of his visit said they have contacted Hindu temples throughout the UK asking for supporters to protest at the airport against the move.

A trust run by Ramdevji, who has his own television channel in India, bought the island of Little Cumbrae just off the coast of Largs in south west Scotland and established it as a yoga centre two years ago.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "We would not comment on individual cases."

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Pope keeps cleric who leads US crackdown

POPE Francis is keeping in place the German prelate who leads the crackdown on US nuns and who also helps craft the Catholic Church's sex-abuse response.

After six months in the job, Francis made several key appointments Saturday in the Vatican's curia, or bureaucracy.

Francis renewed Archbishop Gerhard Mueller in the powerful role of prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Mueller, originally appointed by Benedict XVI, directs the Holy See's crackdown on nuns suspected of undermining Catholic teaching on the priesthood and homosexuality.

His office also shapes policy dealing with clergy who sexually abuse minors.

The pope replaced an Italian cardinal with an Italian prelate as head of the clergy department, another crucial office as the worldwide Roman Catholic Church grapples with a priest shortage.

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Greek man who stabbed rapper jailed

GREEK authorities say a man with ties to an extreme right party accused of fatally stabbing an anti-fascist rapper has been jailed after testifying to an examining magistrate and a prosecutor.

Court officials say the 45-year-old suspect, whose name hasn't been officially released, has said he was being attacked by a group of people and acting in self-defence when he stabbed 34-year-old Pavlos Fyssas in the chest Wednesday.

Police officials said on Saturday the suspect has acknowledged "loose" ties with extreme right party Golden Dawn, saying he has only helped in distributing food to the poor.

Authorities are examining mobile phone records to find whether the attack on Fyssas was coordinated. The suspect denies having talked to any Golden Dawn officials before the attack.

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Russia 'could drop' support to Assad

RUSSIA'S Interfax news agency is quoting a top Kremlin official as saying the government could drop its support for Bashar Assad if the Syrian president reneges on his commitments to give up chemical weapons.

Interfax on Saturday quoted Sergei Ivanov, President Vladimir Putin's chief of staff, as saying Russia's position "could change" if it was "certain that Assad is cheating" on giving up chemical weapons.

Ivanov emphasised that he was speaking "theoretically and hypothetically." While speaking at a conference on Thursday, Putin said he was confident that Assad's government would be quick to comply.

Russia has been the biggest international backer of the Assad regime and a long-time ally of Syria, continuing a history of cooperation and exchange from Soviet times.

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