World news: Woman held captive for 18 years 'too scared to escape'

A WOMAN who was kidnapped, raped and held captive for 18 years was so afraid of her abductors that she never tried to escape, according to court documents.

Jaycee Dugard said in testimony to a United States grand jury that she was zapped with a stun gun while being taken from a South Lake Tahoe street at age 11 and kept under a blanket in a car as she was driven to the home of Phillip and Nancy Garrido.

Ms Dugard said she heard a man laughing as he said: "I can't believe we got away with it."

Garrido threatened to use the stun gun on her again and said he had vicious dogs that would attack her if she left the property.

Ms Dugard was later locked inside a backyard studio without being allowed to leave for an entire year. During later years, she felt helpless because she did not know where she would go if she escaped. The document was released after the Garridos were sentenced.

Serial sex offender Garrido, 60, who pleaded guilty to kidnapping and 13 sexual assault charges, including rape, was ordered to spend the rest of his life in prison and his wife, Nancy, 55, was given a decades-long sentence.

Officers wearing camouflage gear stand during a ceremony marking Federal Police Day in Mexico City.

Romney aims for White House

Mitt Romney has formally declared his candidacy to challenge President Barack Obama in next year's US election.

The ex-Massachusetts governor told supporters n a farm New Hampshire that he would seek the Republican nomination to try to oust the Democratic president.

Performing elephant dies

An Asian elephant that gained fame by water skiing decades ago has died, a US theme park announced.

Queenie, 59 was put to sleep after her health deteriorated. The Wild Adventures park in Georgia, said the animal had suffered from declining quality of life.Bomber 'from United States'

US authorities are trying to confirm the identity of a suicide bomber who carried out an attack in Somalia after a militant group claimed that the man was a Somali-American from Minnesota.

The group al Shabab said 25-year-old Abdullahi Ahmed of Minneapolis bombed the African Union base in Mogadishu on Monday, killing three soldier.

The FBI has agents in East Africa trying to determine the identity of the bomber

Tribesmen gear up for battle

Thousands of tribesmen threatened to descend on Yemen's capital to join the battle against forces loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh as the country slid deeper into an all-out fight for power.

Government forces in Sanaa unleashed some of the heaviest shelling yet against their tribal rivals as the conflict escalated.

Sea life cargo 'smugglers' face charges

Philippines: Officials have filed criminal charges against several people linked to a huge shipment of endangered sea turtles and rare black corals.

The men are facing charges of violating the ban on coral exploitation and exportation and related offences.

Syria: Electricity, phone lines and the water supply have been cut off in an area of the country that is a new centre for protests against President Bashar Assad.