Mall Terror: The standoff between the military and a group of terrorists continued throughout the night at the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi. An estimated 10-15 attackers are still in the mall.

  Witnesses to the massacre yesterday said the attackers shouted, “Muslims should leave!” before they killed at least 59 people and wounded 175 with guns and grenades. The terrorist group al Shabab has claimed through Twitter posts that the attack is in retaliation for Kenyan military actions in their home country Somalia. After the situation settled into a standoff, the group Tweeted, “There will be no negotiations whatsoever”.

Tyler Hicks, a photographer for the NY Times, was nearby and took stunning pictures inside the mall as people fled and cops searched for the gunmen. He said, “It seemed everywhere you turned there was another body.”

Pakistan Terror: A suicide attack on an historic Christian church in Pakistan killed at least 75 people today. Services had concluded and the worshippers were outside to receive free food when two bombs exploded.

National: In the wake of mass shootings in Washington and Chicago last week, President Obama yesterday urged supporters of stiffer gun control “to get back up and go back at it”. Thirteen people were shot on a Chicago basketball court and 12 were killed last week at the Washington Navy Yard. Speaking to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Obama said, “as long as there are those who fight to make it as easy as possible for dangerous people to get their hands on a gun, then we’ve got to work as hard as possible for the sake of our children.” Federal gun control motivated by the Newtown, Conn. school massacre stalled in Congress earlier this year.

World: Bo Xilai, once a rising power in the Chinese Communist Party, yesterday was given a life sentence for corruption and covering up his wife’s involvement in the murder of a British businessman. Testimony in the trial revealed a lurid love triangle and that Bo had taken $4.4 million in bribes and owned a $3.2 million villa in France. But Bo said that during the criminal investigation he had been subjected to hundreds of hours of grueling questioning during which his family was threatened.

French Connection: French authorities revealed that earlier this month they found 1.3 tons of cocaine packed in 30 suitcases on a flight from Venezuela to Charles de Gaulle. Six people were arrested, but the suitcases were not registered to anyone on the plane. The drugs were given a street value of $270 million.

At the Other End: The Venezuelan government has seized a toilet paper plant in an effort to relieve a nationwide shortage. The government plans to monitor production and shipment. Earlier this year the government ordered millions of rolls of toilet paper, but the nation is still shouting from behind the bathroom door.

Tin Cup: Harvard, the richest university in the US with an endowment of $30.7 billion, yesterday announced an effort to raise another $6.5 billion. If you think that might be difficult, Harvard has already raised $2.8 billion of it in a “pre-launch” campaign.

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