The man accused of  masterminding the 9/11 attacks on United States has refused to respond to questions at a militant tribunal in Guantanamo Bay. The Pentagon has previously said Khalid Sheikh Mohammed admitted planning the attacks for al-Qaeda. He and four other defendants are facing charges including hijacking,terrorism and murder of nearly 3,000 people in New York and Washington in 2001. Steve Kingstone reports from the trial. 

“Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is setting defiant assignments wearing white Pakistani style dress, his beard now with the reddish tinge.When he refused to put on the headphones supplying Arabic translation, his lawyer said this was because of the torture that had been imposed on his client in the former waterboarding.Later another of the defendants Ramzi Binalshibh did attempted to addressthe court. When told by the judge he could speak later, he replied in English “Maybe I won’t be here later. Maybe they are going to kill us and they are going to say I’m committed suicide.”

President Obama has launched his campaign for re-election in November with the rally in Ohio.The state seen as critical for the outcome of the race for the White House. Mr Obama told a crowd of supporters that United States has been fighting its way back from economic recession under his leadership and victory is crucial.

“This is not just another election .This is a make-or-break moment for the middle-class and we’ve been through too much to turn back now.”

He criticized his Republican challenger Mitt Romney, saying he would reverse the gains of achieves so far. Mr Obama is also addressing a rally in Virginia, another state seen vital to victory.

A fire at a drug rehabilitation centre in the Peruvian capital Lima has killed 14 people. Firefighters said patients could not escape the blaze because the doors and windows were locked and barred. There is only one survivor. The cause of the fire, the Sacred Heart of Jesus clinic has not yet been established. It’s the second such tragedy in Peru this year. In January, the fire at another clinic in Lima killed 29 people that prompted calls for better regulation of rehabilitation facilities, many of which are unlicensed.

Egyptian military prosecutors have ordered that around 300 people detained during violent clashes with the security forces on Friday should be held in custody for 15 days while charges are considered. The only exception will be a few women among them. Here’s Sebastian Usher.

“On the surface, the Abbassiya district where defence ministry is located with relatively calm but underneath tensions are still raging.The immediate reason for the anger of the protesters was an attack on the sitting-in held outside the defence ministry on Wednesday. Some 20 people were killed when unidentified assailants used firebombs and clubs to try to drive the protesters out. Many accused the governing military council of having a very least testily allowed the onslaught.”

World News from the BBC

A car bomb has killed several people in Syria’s second biggest city Aleppo. Syrian state media and opposition activists say the explosion happened outside a carwash in the suburb. Reports say a man calling himself a member of the opposition Syrian Free Army said the group attacked the carwash because the owner was a member of the feared pro-government militia the shabiha.

Reports from Mali say Islamists fighters have desecrated the Holy Site in the northern city of Timbuktu. Officials said armed men from the Islamist group Ansar Dine attacked and burned the tomb of a revered 16th century Muslim scholar which is classified as World Heritage site. The Malian government said the attack was an unspeakable act in the name of Islam.

Thousands of South Sudanese stranded in a shift camp in Sudan for months as relations deteriorated between the two countries, are to be flown back home. International Organisation for Migration says it agreed to repatriate up to 15,000 southerners stranded in the camp 300km south of Khartoum. 

And US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has urged feuding Bangladeshi political parties to work together to solve their problems for the good of their country. Mrs. Clinton is visiting the country warned that political turmoil risks to sending a negative signal to foreign investors. Anbarasan Ethirajan reports.

In a candid message, the US Secretary of State said Bangladesh's democracy was at stake and asked all parties to settle their differences to a constructive dialogue. Mrs. Clinton also raised issue of Ali's disappearance and killings in Bangladesh and urged the government to conduct a thorough and independent investigation into them. Last week, the main opposition, Bangladesh national party, called for a series of general strikes in protest at the alleged abduction of one of its leaders by security agencies. The authorities denied the charges. Mrs. Clinton said violence, protest and strikes will undermine development.

BBC News

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