Government tells residents to leave battle zone as al-Shabaab militia takes positions near presidential palace Somalia was today embroiled in some of its fiercest fighting for nearly a year as government troops shelled advancing rebels in the capital, Mogadishu. The Islamist militia group al-Shabaab attacked government positions near the president’s palace and four people were killed by return fire, witnesses said. The violence erupted in the Wardhigley district in the early hours, the third day of battles between the insurgents and government forces backed by African Union troops.

Party leader accuses education officials of taking no action against teachers promoting leftwing politics The British National party (BNP) has accused local education authorities of taking no action against “leftwing teachers … promoting their own politically correct brand of politics” as it welcomed ministers’ decision not to ban BNP members from the profession

Catholic prelate says priests and deacons should keep sermons brief and maintain eye contact to keep flock well-tended The book of Genesis says God created the heavens and Earth in less than a week. Now, Catholic clergy are being asked to follow suit and keep their sermons to under eight minutes in a recommendation issued from the Vatican. Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, the secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, says homilies should be brief to cater for people with short attention spans

Its UK publisher risked ruin at an obscenity trial in 1954, but this tale of an ad-man adulterer has contemporary resonance Police turned up at the Soho offices of the publishers Martin Secker and Warburg shortly after new year, 1954.

Officials agree to pay up to $660m to Ground Zero workers who say they were made ill by inhaling fumes and dust at site of 9/11 attacks New York City authorities have agreed to pay up to $657.5m (£437m) to rescue and recovery workers who claim that they became ill after inhaling dust at the Ground Zero site of the 9/11 terror attacks. Lawyers representing more than 10,000 plaintiffs, who claim they were exposed to toxic contaminants after the collapse of the World Trade Centre, said the settlement must first be approved by a judge and agreed by 95% of the claimants.

Commander of new police rapid-response force among victims of explosion after gun battle in eastern Afghanistan Insurgents opened fire on a police post in eastern Afghanistan and detonated a roadside bomb as police reinforcements arrived, killing three officers. Among the dead was the commander of a new police rapid-response force created in Paktia province to deal with Taliban threats, said Azizudin Wardak, the provincial police chief. Two more members of the elite force were wounded, while another officer was injured in the gun battle near Gardez, the provincial capital, last night

Victory ends 20-year run for leftist coalition that led country back to democracy after Pinochet’s dictatorship The billionaire businessman Sebastián Piñera was today sworn in as Chile’s president and almost immediately ordered coastal residents to flee to higher ground as the country was hit by the largest aftershock since last month’s devastating earthquake.

Television network denies claims that Until Nothing Remains depicts group as totalitarian and unethical Germany’s state broadcaster is locked in a row with the Church of Scientology which wants to block an upcoming feature film that depicts the controversial organisation as totalitarian and unethical. Bis Nichts Mehr Bleibt, or Until Nothing Remains, dramatises the account of a German family torn apart by its associations with Scientology

Prime minister’s coalition ahead in southern Shia provinces as electoral commission releases first preliminary results Early results from Iraq’s election show a coalition headed by the prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, leading in two southern Shia provinces. The first preliminary results to be released by the electoral commission showed Maliki leading in Najaf and Babil provinces, south of Baghdad. Results from the rest of the country are still being counted after the election on Sunday .

The Lost Boys actor has been found dead at the age of 38 from a rumoured overdose in Los Angeles The life and career of the former child star and 1980s teen idol Corey Haim might be seen as a succession of cliches. From the early, hugely promising screen appearances to the swift rise as a teen pin-up in movies such as The Lost Boys, he suffered the predictable dip into paparazzi fodder and later into anonymity when his pretty teenage looks faded