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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Cooking fire claims Qld toddler's life

A TODDLER has died in a house fire west of Brisbane after his 15-year-old aunt accidentally started the blaze during a cooking mishap while babysitting.

The single-storey house in Toowoomba was well alight when emergency services arrived on Thursday about 6pm (AEST).

Firefighters searched the burning house and found a two-year-old boy's body.

Two other boys and two girls aged between seven and 15 were taken to Toowoomba Hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.

It's been widely reported a 15-year-old girl was babysitting her siblings and nephew and had left cooking oil unattended on the stove, which caught alight.

She attempted to put it out with water, which only exacerbated the problem.

Detective acting Senior Sergeant Scott Stahlhut did not dispute the cause when it was put to him by reporters, but was reluctant to confirm or elaborate.

"Police are preparing a report now which will be provided to the coroner," Sen-Sgt Stahlhut told reporters on the scene.

"Full details of how this terrible event unfolded will be made known in that report, so I can't comment at this stage (about) what's transpired."

Neighbours tried to rescue the toddler, but the blaze, which had entirely engulfed the house within minutes, was too strong.

"A girl came out saying her nephew was still inside and as I went to break through the window to see if I could try to rescue him, I just thought 'nah', because the smoke was too big," neighbour Terrance Mann told reporters.

"At that moment we realised there was just nothing we could have done."

Police also wouldn't confirm the children were left at home unsupervised.

Fire investigators remain at the scene on Friday.

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NT government wants GST to remain at 10%

The Northern Territory treasurer says he's happy for the GST to stay at 10 per cent. Source: AAP

A HIKE in the GST would be detrimental to Australia's competitiveness in the long run, the Northern Territory treasurer says.

Dave Tollner, of the Country Liberals, says the NT is happy for the GST to remain at 10 per cent, and does not support Western Australian Liberal Premier Colin Barnett in his calls to increase it to 12.5 per cent.

"(It) certainly might help some short term problems but I think in the long run would harm our international competitiveness and be detrimental," Mr Tollner told the ABC on Friday.

"We're taking a position that we want to tighten our belts, we want to reduce spending, at the same time try and maintain services but to get to a position where we live within our means."

But he did call for the federal government to review a Commonwealth Grants Commission decision last year to take $100 million in funding from the NT, saying it was the equivalent to stripping $6 billion from NSW or Victoria.

The decision was based on census data that showed more people in the eastern states identifying as Aboriginal and therefore receiving more federal funding, but a spokesman for the treasurer's office said it didn't consider the unique issue of the NT's vast geography.

"The way it was formulated didn't factor in the huge issue of remoteness, and how socially disadvantaged Aboriginal people are by living in remote areas," the spokesman told AAP.

Otherwise, Mr Tollner said, he was happy with how the GST was being allocated.

Around 80 per cent of the NT's budget comes from the GST.

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Raise a glass, Newton-John clinic opens

Olivia Newton-John has opened the final stage of her Cancer and Wellness Centre in Melbourne. Source: AAP

OLIVIA Newton-John says her completed cancer centre in Melbourne should be a place where everybody knows your name, and has a drink waiting for you too - if that's what you want.

Newton-John recently lost her sister to cancer and says the experience taught her how important "loving care and support" is for someone who is dying.

On Friday, after a decade in the making, budget shortfalls and many fundraising campaigns, the star finally opened the final stage of the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre in the city's north.

The opening brings online more palliative care beds, more treatment beds and additional research laboratories.

But the cancer survivor says the centre needs to also be about enabling patients to be surrounded by people who know them and care about them.

"(People who) give you all the food you want, that give you a vodka if you want one," she said.

Newton-John said the marriage of the words "cancer" and "wellness" are important too.

"When you see that you think, 'I can go from cancer to wellness,'" she said.

Her big dream is that, one day, she can erase "cancer" from the centre's logo.

"It will be a wellness centre only because we'll find a cure for cancer."

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Woman holds up pizza shop near Ipswich

A WOMAN has allegedly attempted to rob a pizza shop south of Brisbane armed with a knife.

The 33-year-old is accused of entering the Redbank Plains store in Ipswich on Friday afternoon and demanding cash at knifepoint.

The restaurant's employees refused and the woman left only to be arrested a short time later.

She has been charged with attempted armed robbery and will appear at Ipswich Magistrates court on Saturday.

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Man stalks girl on Sydney's north shore

POLICE are looking for a man who followed a girl in his car and then stalked her into a park on Sydney's north shore.

The 14-year-old was walking in Hunters Hill on Thursday afternoon when she noticed a grey 4WD with roof racks and black and white number plates trailing her.

She ran to a nearby park, and the male driver got out and followed her on foot.

The girl managed to alert a passer by who called police.

The man left the park and drove away.

He is described as being Caucasian in appearance, about 55 years old, with blond shoulder-length dreadlocks.

He was wearing a bright-coloured Hawaiian shirt and jeans, and is about 190cm tall and thin.

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