Cameron: Meriam Death Sentence Is 'Barbaric'

David Cameron says the death sentence handed down to Meriam Ibrahim is "barbaric" and has called on Sudanese authorities to intervene.

The Prime Minister joined international condemnation of the 27-year-old mother's plight, saying he is "absolutely appalled" by the case.

"The way she is being treated is barbaric and has no place in today's world," he told The Times.

"I urge the government of Sudan to overturn the sentence and immediately provide appropriate support and medical care for her and her children.

"The UK will continue to press the government of Sudan to act."

Ms Ibrahim was found guilty by a Sudanese court of apostasy in renouncing Islam and adultery for marrying a Christian, Daniel Wani.

Husband Daniel Wani with his newborn baby in prison

She was sentenced to 100 lashes and death by hanging earlier this month.

Her death sentence has been suspended for two years so she can nurse her daughter Maya, who was born in prison on Wednesday.

Ms Ibrahim was forced to give birth to the child while shackled to a prison floor after guards at Omdurman Women's Prison refused to release her.

Both the UK and US governments have summoned the Sudan's charge d'affaires to discuss the case.

The US State Department has described Ms Ibrahim's incarceration as "horrific" and continues to press Sudanese officials to intervene.

US embassy officials have been attending Ms Ibrahim's public hearings and are monitoring the appeals process in Khartoum.

Mr Cameron's comments follow condemnation from former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and British politicians including Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg.

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Retailers' Credit Union To Defy Payday Lenders

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

Some of Britain's biggest high street names, including New Look and Next, are forming a credit union that will offer staff an alternative to the sky-high interest rates charged by payday lenders.

Sky News has learnt that RetailCure, which has also received backing from entrepreneurs such as Rymans owner Theo Paphitis, is drawing up plans to launch later this year.

The new venture has received start-up funding of £1m and will eventually be accessible to the 4.8 million people who work directly in retail or in related sectors of the economy, half of whom earn less than £8 an hour.

It will be chaired by John Lovering, a veteran retailer who has led buyouts of companies including Debenhams, Homebase and Somerfield.

Speaking to Sky News, he said: "The industry feels that we have to find a way of providing a source of cheap, reliable credit for our people.

"The three million in retail and the nearly five million in the wider industry do have a need for low-cost, value-for-money, short-term borrowing facilities, and that's what we as an industry are trying to provide."

Booker and Matalan have also agreed to support RetailCure, while John Lewis Partnership and Wm Morrison have been approached and are expected to provide financial assistance.

The launch of RetailCure comes amid a still-intense political debate about the business model employed by payday lenders, which charge interest rates that work out at more than 5,000% on an annual basis.

The high street chains' credit union will charge interest on a sliding scale from roughly 7% to nearly 28% depending upon the borrower's credit history.

Mr Lovering expects the average loan request to be lower than £5,000, and believes that RetailCure could ultimately become Britain's biggest credit union.

"We think we can build a loan-book of £50m and attract 50,000 members relatively quickly," he said.

Assuming it receives regulatory approval, savers who deposit funds with RetailCure will be protected by the same Government guarantee as that which covers high street banks.

Earlier this week, the Church of England unveiled a pilot scheme through which a new credit union network will be piloted in three of its dioceses.

That project is being led by Sir Hector Sants, the former boss of the City watchdog, which since April has had oversight of consumer credit providers such as payday lenders.

Last year, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Justin Welby, said he had told the then boss of Wonga that he wanted to "compete (the company) out of existence".

The remarks sparked acute embarrassment for the Archbishop, however, when it emerged that the Church of England's pension fund was among the investors in one of Wonga's financial backers.

In its annual report this week, the Church Commissioners said they had yet to dispose of the holding because doing so would crystallise a significant loss for its pension fund.

Some industry stakeholders were sceptical about the prospects for RetailCure.

Russell Hamblin-Boone, chief executive of the Consumer Finance Association, which represents short-term lenders, said greater choice was welcome but warned that it faced significant uncertainties.

"What this body will have to do is make sure it complies with very stringent regulations that are applied to financial services.

"I would ask questions around what is going to be the collection policy, what happens if somebody leaves the retailers business still owing a debt, how are you going to collect that?"

RetailCure hopes to launch formally in November.

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Thousands Pay Respect To Inspirational Stephen

By Rhiannon Mills, News Correspondent

Thousands of people have queued outside Lichfield Cathedral to pay their repects to cancer fundraiser Stephen Sutton ahead of his funeral.

A two day vigil began on Thursday and will continue until this afternoon with many more expected to sign the book of condolence.

His family will hold a private funeral later where they will say their final goodbyes, but at 11am his mother Jane has asked people to join in a "Thumbs Up For Stephen" event, and "do something to make others happy".

Millions of people across the world have been inspired by Stephen's courage facing terminal cancer.

A 'Thumbs Up For Stephen' event has been planned

And as his hearse arrived on Thursday evening, drawn by four white horses, there was spontaneous applause from the crowd. A bright yellow wreath bearing the icon of a smiley face lay beside the white coffin.

Leading the vigil the Dean of Lichfield, the Very Reverend Adrian Dorber, told the gathered mourners Stephen "in his all too brief life" had taught "how to make the unacceptable, beautiful".

"He chose to share his exuberance with us, not his pain. He was one of those very rare people who've helped us live our lives with generosity."

Julia Hayburn, assistant headteacher at Stephen's former school, Chase Terrace Technology College, said: "Words like awesome, awe-inspiring and inspirational became synonymous with Stephen.

"But they only touched the surface of what he has become on a national and international scale."

There was spontaneous applause as the hearse carrying Stephen arrived

The teenager, from Burntwood in Staffordshire, had originally launched his fundraising appeal hoping to raise £10,000 for the Teenage Cancer Trust, but just hours before the vigil began the total had reached more than £4 million.

He died on May 14 after succumbing to multiple tumours.

The Teenage Cancer Trust's chief executive Siobhan Dunn said earlier today Stephen's memory would "never be forgotten" because it would live on through the work of the charity.

She added: "I think it's really important there's a public celebration of Stephen's life and I think that's exactly what he would have wanted.

"He was looking for us to put the fun into his funeral so hopefully we're going to do that."

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Rise In Emotional Abuse Cases Among Children

By Joe Tidy, Sky News Reporter

The number of emotional neglect and abuse cases referred to authorities has risen by nearly 50% over the past 12 months, according to a leading charity.

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) says its helpline dealt with more than 8,000 people suffering emotional neglect and abuse this year.

The charity says some 5,354 of these cases were so serious they were referred to police or children's services, compared to 3,629 cases in the previous year.

Peter Wanless, the CEO of the NSPCC, says the statistics show emotional cruelty is not being recognised in the same way as physical abuse.

"It's very easy for us to see physical abuse if a bone gets broken, but the emotional abuse of a child has just that sort of effect on their mind," he said.

NSPCC helplines receive 60,000 calls each year

NSPCC helplines receive 60,000 calls each year from people who fear children are being mistreated.

They deal with sexual abuse allegations, physical abuse and claims of emotional cruelty.

One solution to the growing issue of emotional cruelty is a change to the law.

Sky News has learned a so-called "Cinderella Law" could see parents who deny their children affection face prosecution.

Robert Buckland MP is hopeful the change will be introduced soon.

He said plans for the new law may be announced in the Queen's Speech.

"I'm very optimistic that in this year's Queen's Speech we will hear this measure being announced.

"It might come in the form of a separate bill; it might come in the form of an amendment to an existing bill going through parliament.

CEO Peter Wanless: Emotional abuse can be as damaging as physical abuse

"But I firmly believe and hope and expect to see this welcome reform being announced this week."

However, some are concerned that this law could unfairly prosecute parents.

Parenting author Frank Furedi says: "Throughout history, the best antidote to cruelty was the cultural and educational development of society.

"We need fewer laws and more opportunities for children, and indeed for their parents, to realise their potential."

One man who knows how this abuse can affect children is Morris Robinson, who was emotionally abused by his father.

He says his childhood was devoid of love, affection and support.

"It's hard to describe when you're left to your own devices, but then you get cruel treatment, verbal cruel treatment," he said.

"You wouldn't get any praise for anything and I don't remember him ever going to school to do anything.

"He would swear abuse at me and when you're a child it's always threatening.

"You would ask him to maybe fix your bike and he'd say: 'I've f*****g told you it won't fix'."

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Online Abuse: Police Deal With Thousands Of Kids

By Tom Cheshire, Technology Correspondent

Almost 2,000 children have been investigated by police in the last three years over social media abuse and online bullying, Sky News has learned.

New figures show children as young as nine are among more than 1,200 who have then been charged with a criminal offence or given a caution, warning or fine.

The Sky News investigation also found almost 20,000 adults were the subject of police probes for these offences, the equivalent of around 20 cases a day.

And the number of cases is on the rise - up more than 5% since 2011.

The figures, obtained through Freedom of Information requests, lay bare for the first time how policing the internet has become a daily task for Britain's forces.

And as 18 of the UK's police forces failed to provide figures, the true number of investigations is likely to be much greater.

They include a series of high-profile prosecutions in recent years of people accused of posting abuse on Twitter.

Ellie, a teenage victim of online harassment who reported her case to police, told Sky News she thought the figures were "shocking".

She said she suffered death threats and comments about her family on social media.

"They stalked me and knew a lot about me," she said.

Many of the cases relate to messages posted on Twitter

"I drove at the time and where I used to live there's a little bridge. And within hours of driving over it, there was a comment saying you should have crashed your car over the bridge you drove over.

"With bullying that happens at school, people can get away from it at home. For me, this literally followed me everywhere I went."

Sky News asked police forces how many investigations they had launched in the last three years under Section 127 of the 2003 Communications Act, which covers abuse on Twitter or other social media sites, in text messages or through nuisance phone calls.

New guidance issued last year raised the threshold for prosecution, but experts say the rise in the number of cases despite the stricter definition is the result of easy internet access via smartphones.

According to responses from 34 police forces, 6,919 people were investigated in 2011/12 under Section 127, including 744 children.

In 2012/13, 6,974 cases were probed including 578 under-18s. After the first nine months of 2013/14, those figures had already hit 7,318 and 610 respectively.

Over the three years, 1,932 children were investigated and 1,203 were either charged with a criminal offence, fined, cautioned or warned verbally. Of the 19,279 adults investigated over that period, 11,292 were subject to police action.

Hertfordshire Police investigated and charged the most people in 2013 - 1,042, up from 291 in 2011. The Metropolitan Police had the highest three-year figure, 2,099.

Four 10-year-olds and one nine-year-old in Tayside were given warnings by police.

Luke Roberts, a social network expert at Beat Bullying, told Sky News: "There are more devices than ever. So whether it's smartphones, internet-connected TVs, more apps - they allow more young people to be harassed than ever before.

"In terms of social networking, we'd like to see more transparency, in terms of giving clear reporting mechanisms to children."

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Missing Plane: 'Search Boat May Have Made Pings'

MH370 Data Leaves Many Unanswered Questions

Updated: 4:55pm UK, Tuesday 27 May 2014

By Lisa Holland, Foreign Affairs Correspondent

It is 47 pages which are supposed to satisfy the families of the missing Malaysia Airlines aircraft about the fate of their loved ones.

But soon after its publication both the families and aviation analysts scouring the details said the information added little that was new.

And what's more it lacked the finer detail enabling other experts to give their own independent assessment of the data.

The lion's share of the information released relates to data from MH370 while it was still on the ground in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. 

It goes on to give information about the electronic pings or 'handshakes' received from the aircraft after its ACARS communication system was switched off shortly after it took off for Beijing.

Aviation analysts say one of the so-called pings - at 11.41pm on the night the aircraft disappeared - is omitted from the data.

We don't know why.

They also say that additional data giving the exact position of satellites and their distance from the aircraft have not been released. 

It is this kind of detail which makes further interpretation by others difficult.

And that's something which has been leapt on by the families who have called for all information known to authorities to be released. 

This data was known within a few weeks of the aircraft's disappearance on March 8, but it has taken until now for it to be released.

A team of international experts used the satellite data along with other information such as radar data and engine performance calculations to reach their conclusion. 

But it's not clear why it's taken until now for the basic data to be released.

Inmarsat, the British satellite company which provided the ping data to the Malaysians, said they were unable to release information without the authority of the Malaysian government. 

The Malaysian government concluded within a couple of weeks of the flight going missing that it had ended in the southern Indian Ocean.

Steve Wang, a relative of one of the missing Chinese passengers, said: "What we want is the full version of the information including all the data and how it is calculated. 

"Data on its own means nothing. The data leads to a conclusion not an ending."

Sarah Bajc, whose partner Philip Wood was on the missing plane, said she was "annoyed" that Inmarsat and the Malaysian authorities hadn't released everything they used to reach their conclusions.

She said: "I see no reason for them to have massaged this before giving it to us."

Communications expert Mischa Dohler says there are still many unanswered questions - and there is still information to be released.

He said: "I don't think this specific data will help in the search for the aircraft. It is important we find the plane but we may never know what happened."

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Scots Independence Costs 'Badly Misrepresented'

Scots Independence: Rest Of UK Firms Want Union

Updated: 4:40am UK, Wednesday 07 May 2014

By Niall Paterson, Sky News Correspondent

An overwhelming majority of businesses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland say that Scotland should remain part of the UK, according to a survey for the British Chambers of Commerce.

The BCC, which itself remains impartial in the debate, surveyed close to 2,500 of its members, and whilst 11% said Scotland should vote yes, some 85% preferred the union to remain.

Two thirds said no new opportunities would arise in the event of a 'Yes' vote, and just over a third, 35%, said a formal currency union, a key ambition of the SNP-led campaign, would be in the best interests of the UK as a whole.

The BCC's director general John Longworth said: "Business opinion across the United Kingdom on the Scottish independence debate is far from unanimous. That's only logical, as businesses have different interests, and different views on our complex history of economic and political union.

"In the event of a 'Yes' vote, cross-border trading and currency arrangements loom large in businesses' thinking. If Scotland votes 'no', constitutional questions remain around the devolution of power and the distribution of public funding between nations."

The poll has been seized upon by those campaigning for a 'No' vote, as with a recent report from credit ratings agency Moody's which said an independent Scotland would find itself downgraded.

Edinburgh South Labour MP and Shadow Business Minister Ian Murray said: "This survey confirms what some of Scotland's largest employers like Standard Life, RBS and Shell have made clear. Breaking up the UK would create huge risks and cost jobs in Scotland.

"The majority of businesses in the rest of the UK do not support a currency union. It would be bad for Scotland and bad for the rest of the UK. That's why it is off the table.

"What people in Scotland need from the nationalists is some honesty about what would replace the pound if we leave the UK. Would we rush to adopt the euro or would we set up a separate Scottish currency? The idea that Scots can go to the polls blind on this fundamental issue isn't credible."

Yet there is hardly unanimity north of the border either - nor an overwhelming sense of fear that cross-border trade would come to a juddering halt.

Many here expect business to continue if not entirely as normal then with significant benefits in the longer term.

Tony Banks, chairman of Business for Scotland, a pro-independence campaign group with close to two thousand members said: "This is a survey that of course doesn't include Scottish businesses who have a rather different perception.

"Scottish independence offers real advantages to everyone, not only in Scotland but across our shared markets in Europe - that independence doesn't equal isolation and businesses here are well aware of the opportunities they can gain.

"Even the Scottish Chambers of Commerce survey issued last week conceded that 53% of its members see the opportunities that independence could bring."

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NHS To Send Obese People To Slimming Clubs

Obese and overweight people should be sent to slimming clubs on the NHS, according to official new guidance.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) advice says sending people on "lifestyle weight management programmes" will save the health service money.

Sent out to doctors and local authorities, the 61-page document says 12-week programmes costing £100 or less can be cost-effective.

It said approved schemes must be proven to be effective at 12 to 18 months, which it said Slimming World, Rosemary Conley and Weight Watchers had shown they were.

While acknowledging there is "no magic bullet" to the "complex" problem, the guidance says the 64% of the population classed as obese or overweight can enjoy significant health benefits by losing as little as 3% of their weight.

Carol Weir, guidance developer for Nice and head of nutrition and dietetics at Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust, said Nice recognised the difficulties people faced losing weight and the "significant" effort required to prevent a regain of the weight once lost.

"Obviously, if you need to lose weight, the more weight you lose the better, and the health benefits derive from that, but even a 3% loss, kept up long term, is beneficial and that is why we are recommending sensible changes that can be sustained life long," she said.

"It is not something where you can just wake up one morning and say 'I am going to lose 10llbs' - it takes resolve, it takes encouragement, and one of the things about involvement in these programmes is the mutual support from others who try to do the same thing seems to be hugely helpful from a motivational point of view."

Professor Mike Kelly, director of the centre for public health at Nice, said obesity was costing the British economy and the NHS £5.1bn a year and that only smoking was a bigger health issue for the country.

"Many of the gains we've made by having a population who smoke in much lower numbers than 40-50 years ago - many of those benefits, particularly with respect to heart disease, are being lost by the additional risks that come as a consequence of overweight and obesity."

Obesity increases the risk of serious conditions including diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers. Statistics show more than a quarter of adults in England are now classified as obese, while 42% of men and 32% of women are overweight.

Under the guidance issued by Nice, GPs have been told to raise the issue of weight loss in a "respectful and non-judgemental" way and identify people who are eligible for referral for lifestyle weight management services by measuring their Body Mass Index (BMI).

Public Health England and other agencies should be a national source of information on effective lifestyle weight management programmes suitable for commissioning, it said.

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Nick Clegg 'Could Lose Seat At Next Election'

European Elections: The Winner And Losers

Updated: 4:01am UK, Monday 26 May 2014

By Michael Thrasher, Sky's Election Analyst

UKIP stormed to first place in the European elections, becoming the party of choice for nearly a third of voters.

This is the first time since 1906 that a party other than the big two - Conservative and Labour - has topped the poll in a nationwide vote.

The first result, once again delivered by the North East region, gave a taste of things to come. 

Last time the region's three Euro seats were spread among the three established parties.

This time both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats lost their seats leaving Labour leading with two MEPs but UKIP picking its first seat of the night.

Across the region UKIP even finished ahead of Labour in four local authorities that are used to tally the European votes.

As more regions declared their results it became clear that UKIP was on course to finish on top in the popular vote.

It out-polled the Conservatives in the South East and South West, in the Eastern region where it has gained a real foothold at local council elections and also the East Midlands. 

In the West Midlands, in parliamentary terms a real battleground between the Conservatives and Labour it was UKIP that once again eclipsed the traditional parties.

Further evidence that UKIP has been instrumental in stalling Labour's progress came in the Yorkshire and Humber region. Here, UKIP finished first with 31% of the vote, a two-point lead over Labour in what is generally regarded as one of the party's strongest areas.

Compared with the last time voters selected MEPs in 2009 UKIP registered double-digit increases in vote share across every region to declare overnight. 

The biggest losers were the Liberal Democrats who endured an appalling time, following so closely upon extremely disappointing local election results.

The pro-European party lost all but one of its MEPs from the first nine of Great Britain's 11 regional constituencies to declare and were relegated to fifth place behind the Greens.

The pressure that had grown on Nick Clegg as the party watched its councillors defeated may grow yet further as his critics point to his decision to debate with Nigel Farage as a catalyst for the party's collapse.  

Although Labour gained seats it will again be subjected to the accusation that it is punching below its weight. Opinion polling suggested that it was vying with UKIP for first place but the results show a clear gap between the two parties.

Indeed, while Labour is likely to overtake the Conservatives in the national vote once the counting is completed in Scotland the gap between the two main parties will not be great.

The national projection of the local election voting placed Labour just one percentage point ahead of the Conservatives and the closeness of the Euro voting will add to the pressure on the Labour leadership.

Of course, the pattern of voting will be different at next year's general election. Many voters that backed UKIP this time will return to one or other of the major parties.

But Mr Farage has undoubtedly produced chaos and confusion among the established parties and no one can be sure at this point about the impact his party will have in less than a year's time.

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EU Must Reform For Jobs And Growth - Cameron

By Robert Nisbet, Europe Correspondent

David Cameron has called fellow European leaders and urged them to "seize the opportunity" for reform on jobs and growth following the European Elections.

In a series of phone calls the Prime Minister urged them to "heed the views expressed at the ballot box" over recent days.

His intervention came ahead of today's Informal European Council dinner in Brussels, where leaders are expected to discuss the results of the European poll.

Many European leaders, including Mr Cameron and Denmark's Helle Thorning-Schmidt, saw their support fall away to anti-immigration parties such as UKIP.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also lost votes to the anti-Europe group Alternative For Germany.

Mr Cameron told leaders, including Ms Merkel and Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, that the results of the poll underlined the need for reform, in particular on job creation and economic growth.

Germany's Angela Merkel lost votes to an anti-Europe party

"The PM has been making the point in these conversations that leaders should seize the opportunity of Tuesday's dinner to heed the views expressed at the ballot box," said Downing Street.

"The turnout and results in the EP elections have underlined the need for reform to ensure that the EU is doing more to deliver what voters care about: jobs, growth and a better future."

A senior diplomat said the informal dinner will look at the EU Council's priorities over the next five years, and discuss the likely impact of the confusing mosaic of political interests elected to the chamber.

The diplomat said no names for a potential president of the Commission would be discussed, and that the process of picking a successor to Jose Manuel Barroso could take weeks, not days.

The leaders might use the dinner to slim down the Council's "to do" list, in order to concentrate on encouraging growth and employment, so restoring faith in the institutions of the European Union.

Mr Hollande has called for a "re-focus" of Europe

Parties which campaign against the European Union, or its current structure and priorities, doubled their representation in the parliament with a humiliation for the French President Francois Hollande.

Mr Hollande's Socialist Party secured nearly half as much support as the right-wing Front National.

He has signalled his intention to press ahead with reforms in France, while also pushing for the EU to prioritise growth and jobs.

"I am a European, it is my duty to reform France and re-focus Europe," he said in a message broadcast on French television.

The EU Council is also expected to discuss developments in Ukraine, where presidential elections were held at the weekend.

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Far-Right National Front 'Win' In France

By Robert Nisbet, Europe Correspondent

Voters have dramatically altered the make-up of the European Parliament by doubling the number of MEPs from the populist, eurosceptic right and the anti-austerity Left.

Marine Le Pen's far-Right National Front scored its first victory in European Parliament elections in France.

Without waiting for the final result, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls went on television to call the result "an earthquake" for France and Europe.

The National Front (FN) won around 25% of the vote in France, according to exit polls, easily beating the centre-Right UMP on 20%.

Exit polls say far-Right and hard-Left parties have gained ground in many countries, including in Greece where the extreme Right Golden Dawn are thought to have won nearly 10% of the vote.

By the half way stage, the centre-Right parties were expected to be the biggest group, with 212 out of 751 seats.

The Socialists were expected to gain 185 seats, the Liberals third with 71, the Greens fourth with 55 and the far-Left next with 45.

Eurosceptic parties were expected to win about 143 seats.

Marine Le Pen celebrates winning France's Euro election

The winners in Greece, the anti-austerity movement Syriza, are thought to have topped the polls with more than 27% of the vote.

In Germany, the EU's biggest member state with the largest number of seats, the pro-European centre ground held firm, according to the polls.

Ms Le Pen, whose party beat President Francois Hollande's ruling Socialists into third place, told supporters: "The people have spoken loud and clear ... they no longer want to be led by those outside our borders, by EU commissioners and technocrats who are unelected.

"They want to be protected from globalisation and take back the reins of their destiny."

Eurosceptic Conservative MPs in the UK were quick to point out they had predicted the rise of the Right.

Harwich and Essex MP Bernard Jenkin wrote on Twitter: "Some of us who opposed Maastricht 20 years ago predicted it would lead to the rise of the right in the EU: and here we are."

Douglas Carswell, the Clacton MP, said: "So maybe those of us who sometimes banged on about Europe were on to something?"

Foreign Secretary William Hague said: "I think we should be concerned about some of these developments across the rest of Europe and that is why it is so important that the next European Commission, the European Council, the next European Parliament do get the message that there is rising discontent and tensions of many kinds in Europe."

In Denmark the Right wing Danish People's Party topped the polls, although its leaders have ruled out an alliance with the National Front.

Spain's two main political parties, the ruling conservative Popular Party in power since 2011 and the Socialist Party, lost major ground to smaller parties, mainly on the left. The Catalan independence party also performed well.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's centre-Left Democratic Party (PD) came in ahead of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) in his country's exit polls.

In Belgium, the controversial Flemish separatists secured four of  21 EU parliamentary seats available in the country, more than any other party. 

Turnout in Eastern Europe was predicted to be low, with estimates of around 20% expected. 

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European Elections: UKIP Tops British Polls

By Joey Jones, Deputy Political Editor

UKIP has topped the European polls in the UK, with the Labour Party vying with the Conservatives for second place and the Lib Dems all but wiped out.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage has hailed his party's first win in a national election, winning 23 MEP seats, as an "earthquake" in British politics.

Coming a year ahead of the General Election, it is the first time a party other than the Conservatives or Labour has topped a nationwide poll in 108 years.

The Lib Dems lost all but one of its 11 MEPs, with the party coming in fifth place - after the Greens - in every region so far.

Farage's party broke a record that had stood since 1906

With only Northern Ireland's results yet to come in of the 12 UK regions, UKIP has 29.1% of the vote, Labour 25.4%, the Conservatives 24.6%, the Greens 7.9% and the Lib Dems 6.9%. There was a turnout of 36%.

UKIP is among a host of Eurosceptic parties across the continent looking set to make major gains as voters express their anger at the financial crisis that crippled many countries in the 28-member bloc.

Mr Farage, whose party also won a seat in Scotland for the first time, told Sky News: "It looks like we're going to top the poll and think that it is the earthquake that I've been looking for.

"We hit the Labour Party in the north of England in a way that nobody thought possible. I think for too long the argument has been UKIP picks up the Conservative vote and people have ignored the fact that, actually, with Labour voters, Lib Dem voters and non-voters, Conservatives are a minority of our vote."

In his acceptance speech after topping the poll in the South East, Mr Farage pledged: "You have not heard the last of us."

Nick Griffin lost his seat on the European Parliament

He said the victory for his party's "people's army" was "just about the most extraordinary result that has been seen in British politics for 100 years".

BNP leader Nick Griffin, meanwhile, failed in his bid to be re-elected as an MEP in the North West.

He told Sky News: "We're out tonight but we'll be back. We set the agenda, we're the ones who broke the taboo about immigration - we've allowed UKIP to do what they've done but when people see they don't deliver their votes will crumble."

A senior Lib Dem source said it was "not looking good", adding that it was "touch and go in one or two regions".

And Lib Dem party president Tim Farron told Sky News: "If you decide to be the only party that's going to tackle the kind of anti-European theme that's been in British politics for perhaps 25 years now ... then you are potentially going to take a hit."

The Conservative's Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond, insisted the vote was skewed by a significant number of "lender voters" who would abandon UKIP and return to the Conservative fold for the 2015 general election.

Mr Hammond told Sky News: "UKIP is a protest party. Most of the people who are voting for UKIP - not all of them, but most of them - are disillusioned voters of other parties who have moved to UKIP to send us a message, and we've got a year to show them that we've got that message.

"We've got to reiterate our continuing story about how our economic plan is delivering for Britain, recognising that not everybody is feeling the benefit of that yet.

"We've got to make sure they do and we've also got to express the specific concerns that people are articulating about immigration and about Europe."

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Drive-By Killer Stabbed Three Before Gun Spree

The son of a Hollywood director "repeatedly stabbed" three men to death in his apartment before killing three more during a shooting spree, say police.

British-born Elliot Rodger, son of an assistant director on The Hunger Games film, had three semi-automatic handguns and 400 rounds of ammunition with him when he died.

The 22-year-old also left seven others in hospital as he sped around Isla Vista, a student enclave next to the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Rodger said he was angry at women for rejecting him

County Sheriff Bill Brown told reporters Rodger had tried to get into a college sorority house during the Friday night attack, and that women inside had heard "loud, aggressive knocking" for several minutes.

Unable to gain access, police said he then shot three young women outside the building, killing a 19-year-old and a 22-year-old student.

Police showed images of the handguns used by the 22-year-old

The sixth victim, 20-year-old student Christopher Michael-Martinez, was shot dead outside a delicatessen.

In an emotional statement, his father called on the "insanity" to stop and blamed "irresponsible politicians" for not doing more on gun control.

Rodger's family said the 22-year-old had been receiving psychiatric care.

He had also been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome and had "multiple therapists", said Alan Shifman, the family's lawyer.

Police believe Rodger shot himself in the head after he crashed his BMW

A day before the attack, the killer posted a video on YouTube, promising to slaughter "spoilt, stuck-up, blonde" women who he said had rebuffed him.

Rodger made a chilling tirade against women and the rest of humanity, threatening a "day of retribution".

"For the last eight years of my life, ever since I hit puberty, I've been forced to endure an existence of loneliness, rejection and unfulfilled desires all because girls have never been attracted to me," he said.

Police are investigating 10 locations and multiple crime scenes

"You throw yourselves at all these obnoxious men," he continued, "instead of me - the supreme gentleman - I will punish all of you for it." He chuckles sinisterly.

He also published a rambling 141-page manifesto on the internet, called My Twisted World, where he detailed his childhood.

Police said Rodger's attacks had taken place at 10 locations as he fled from officers and fired at pedestrians from his black BMW.

A van enters the apartment complex where three men were stabbed to death

He also crashed into two cyclists - one of whom caved in the windshield.

Police exchanged fire with Rodger and believe they hit him in the hip as they opened fire on his car. The rampage ended when he crashed his vehicle after ploughing into the second cyclist.

Sheriff Brown said they found him with a gun wound to the head, which they believe was self-inflicted.

Rodger shot at pedestrians and mowed down two pedestrians

Rodger's guns were all legally purchased and registered to him.

Seven people remain in hospital at Santa Barbara's Cottage Hospital with gun wounds and injuries caused by the suspect's car, said Dr Stephen Kaminski. Two of them are in a serious condition.

Rodger's family called police last month worried about his welfare but officers said they found him "polite and courteous" and no action was deemed necessary.

Peter Rodger was assistant director of The Hunger Games

In a blog post, he wrote he was born in the UK and moved to the US when he was five. His father, Peter, was educated in Maidstone, Kent.

Rodger was reportedly pictured two years ago on the red carpet with his father at a premiere for The Hunger Games, a dystopian futuristic drama in which teenagers fight each other to the death.

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California Shooting: Witnesses Relate Horror

Witnesses have described how gunman Elliot Rodger sprayed bullets from a black BMW in a drive-by rampage in California that left seven people dead.

Stunned survivors said Rodger fired indiscriminately at groups of young people socialising on Friday night in the bustling student enclave of Isla Vista.

Tyler Haden, a journalist with the Santa Barbara Independent newspaper, told Sky News people were "visibly distraught" after the attack.

UC Santa Barbara students near one of the crime scenes

"We saw a lot of different emergency responders milling about," he said. "There was a lot of confusion because there were so many different crime scenes."

Robert Johnson said a black BMW had slowed down near IV Deli Mart, a popular gathering spot, where people were eating outside. "Someone in the car" opened fire, he said.

Onlookers console each other after the tragedy

"I heard somewhere between 12 to 20 shots into a group of people who were eating in front of it," he told NBC Los Angeles.

Alexander Mattera, 23, added: "We heard so many gunshots, it was unbelievable. I thought they were firecrackers. There had to have been at least like two guns. There were a lot of shots."

Twenty-year-old student Ian Papa said he saw the gunman driving wildly through the street, at one point knocking down two cyclists.

The gunman was Elliot Rodger, son of a Hollywood director

"He hit two bikes," Mr Papa told the New York Times. "One he barely grazed. The other was ploughed down. The biker went through the windshield."

Another witness, Daniel Slovinsky, told the Los Angeles Times: "I heard some pops, but I just assumed they were fireworks. 

"Contrary to what you might expect, there wasn't a whole lot of chaos immediately. I didn't hear any screaming. A few people were running."

Police say they were alerted around 9.30pm on Friday

Xavier Mozejewski told KEYT-TV that it was like an "old Western shoot-out".

Jimmy Chang, a reporter for the UCSB newspaper, said a female student had told him the gunman opened fire on her as she was walking down the street.

"He actually drove across the street to meet her," Chang told NBC Los Angeles.

"The guy stuck his head out and says, 'Hey, what are you doing?' She ignored him. The guy pulled out a gun and shot at her. The bullet missed her head. She said she thought it was a BB gun, and she just kept walking faster."

A bicycle lies next the wreckage of the car

Sienna Schwartz told CNN that she started to flee when the shots began flying.

"He shot and I felt like air passing my face," she said.

The killer had two gun battles with police before crashing into a parked car. He was found slumped in the BMW with a gunshot wound to the head, though it is unclear if it was self-inflicted.

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Missing Yacht: Life Raft Discovered Unused

The life raft on the missing yacht Cheeki Rafiki has been found unused in its storage space, the US Coast Guard has said.

The search for the missing British sailors ended at 3am UK time after a search of the capsized boat found the only realistic means of survival had not been not deployed.

Navy divers found a completely flooded cabin with shattered windows, said the Coast Guard.

From left: Andrew Bridge, Steve Warren, James Male and Paul Goslin

"A US Navy warship smallboat crew and surface swimmer captured underwater imagery clearly identifying the raft in its storage space [behind the wheel]. The image was shared with and acknowledged by the families," said a statement.

"The crew and swimmer deployed to investigate the overturned boat after a helicopter crew located it 1,000 miles offshore Massachusetts and within the US Coast Guard's search area.

The lfe raft was found stored in the aft portion of the upturned boat

"The Navy surface swimmer determined the boat's cabin was flooded and windows were shattered, contributing to the complete flooding inside."

It had already been announced that the search would be called off in the early hours of Saturday if no signs of possible survival were discovered.

"None of the current developments" indicate the crew are still alive, said the US Coast Guard.

A statement on behalf of Steve Warren's family said it was an "incredibly difficult" time and that the search effort had been "exceptional".

The search effort involved military aircraft and ships

The upturned 40ft yacht had been found on Friday, with divers first knocking on the hull to check for signs of life.

The families had said they were still hopeful their loved ones would be found despite the search being only hours from ending.

Relatives of Steve Warren, 52, Andrew Bridge, 22, James Male, 23, and Paul Goslin, 56, said they had been told "endless stories" of people surviving for months at sea.

The men's familes had campaigned for the search to go on

The vessel ran into difficulties on May 15 and began taking on water while returning to the UK from a regatta in Antigua.

Yacht training and charter company Stormforce Coaching said it had been in contact with the skipper at the time, and that the crew were keeping the situation stable.

The original search was halted after 53 hours amid bad weather but resumed on Tuesday after a request from the UK government and a online petition which collected more than 200,000 names.

The Cheeki Rafiki had been at a regatta in Antigua

The hunt included commercial vessels as well as aircraft from the US Coast Guard, US Navy, US Air Force, the Canadian military and the RAF.

Rescuers scoured more than 21,000 square miles of ocean during their second search for the boat.

Experts had agreed it would be impossible for the crew to survive outside of the life raft in cold, rough seas.

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Local Elections: UKIP Makes Significant Gains

Nigel Farage says his party is a "serious player" for 2015 after UKIP made significant gains in the local elections, leaving the other main party leaders admitting there was work to do.

The Prime Minister conceded the Conservatives had to start delivering on immigration and welfare reform, and said the public had become "frustrated" with the status quo.

With just a handful of results still to be called, Mr Farage successfully forecast that his party would win double the 80 seats predicted.

Mr Farage told the leaders of the main parties he would "see them in Westminster" as the results showed UKIP now had the potential to cause an "earthquake" at next year's General Election.

He said: "The UKIP fox is in the Westminster henhouse."

Asked whether the party would widen its pitch to voters beyond the EU and immigration, Mr Farage insisted it already had "clear principles" on cutting taxes and bringing back grammar schools.

David Cameron said the Conservatives had got to work harder

He added: "Don't think the immigration issue is going to go away. The plight of the eurozone is such that immigration is likely to be an even bigger question at the time of the general election."

With two results still to come, UKIP had gained 167 seats - giving them 184 seats in all but with no councils under their control; and Labour had won 3,999 seats, giving it control of 81 councils - an increase of five.

The Conservatives have 2,679 seats overall, controlling 41 councils - down 13; the Liberal Democrats picked up 882 seats , seeing the number of councils under their control falling from eight to six.

UKIP took seats off both Labour and the Conservatives in their heartlands, which was particularly damaging to Ed Miliband, who has been accused by his own party of running an "unforgivably unprofessional" campaign.

Ed Miliband celebrated in Redbridge but said discontent had built up

Labour lost its grip in the north and, in a serious blow, lost control of Thurrock, a key marginal for the General Election in 2015.

Mr Miliband rejected that he was an electoral liability and told Sky News: "I think we ran a good campaign."

"I think in some parts of the country we have had discontent building up for decades about the way the country has been run and about the way our economy works … so what you are seeing in some parts of the country is people turning to UKIP as an expression of that discontent."

UKIP made its greatest gains in Essex, where Margaret Thatcher once identified the "Essex Man", a man who moved out of London, once voted Labour but switched to the Tories.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg admitted the Lib Dems had a bad night

David Cameron said: "We have got to work harder and we have got to really deliver on issues that are frustrating people and frustrating me, like welfare reform and immigration and making sure people really benefit from this recovery."

Education Secretary Michael Gove told Sky News there were lessons to be learned from UKIP's success.

According to the latest Sky News projection, the results so far would give a hung parliament at the 2015 General Election, with Labour holding the largest number of MPs.

Sky's election analyst Professor Michael Thrasher said UKIP's success suggested the party would claim at least one seat in the House of Commons next year - most likely in Castle Point, Essex.

Sky's European elections coverage starts at 9pm on Sunday

As predicted, the Liberal Democrats suffered significant losses, losing control in Kingston-Upon-Thames and in Portsmouth.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg admitted the party had had a bad night but said: "Actually I think in the areas where we have MPs where we have good organisation on the ground ... we are actually doing well."

Mr Farage celebrated by going on a tour of the areas where he had been most successful.

Siobhan Robbins, who was with him in Thurrock, said: "It was like he was a pop star. People were gathered around him and there was a scrum. I saw two grown men cry. One of them was saying: 'Thank you Nigel Farage. Thank you for showing us the light'."

:: Follow all the results as they come in on Twitter with @skyelections.

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Patients Discharged At Night: 'It's Sickening'

Sky News viewers have reacted with anger at our investigation that shows the number of patients leaving hospital in England between 11pm and 6am has risen.

Health Correspondent Thomas Moore's report comes despite NHS bosses ordering a crackdown on the practice.

Sarah Louise Matthews-Lang wrote on Facebook: "I'm a care assistant in a brilliant care home and it sickens me if a resident of ours gets sent back to us at 2am, yes that's right 2am.

"It's shocking how they send them back without relatives, so they are very distressed due to this. Yes I do give the hospital hell as this is abuse, and so do the family that doesn't get information from hospital when they should."

Diane Widger wrote: "I worked in a specialist care home and they sent patients back to us very late at night in the cold and looking distressed!!"

Pepper Ferne also wrote on Facebook: "Yes, it happened to me recently from Leeds General Infirmary. Discharged at 1am, still very shaky and ill. Had to go walking the city and pay £10.00 for a hackney cab home."

However Alan Reynolds thinks it is a difficult decision for the hospitals.

He wrote: "Who has the greater need for the bed: the person in A&E needing treatment or the person whose treatment has been completed? Seems obvious to me, and it looks a case of needs must. How this is managed to maximise utilisation of a scarce resource may not be easy to answer."

Alexander Crossley wrote on Twitter: "If a patient is healthy enough to go home at 2am they should do so the hospital can treat others."

:: Have your say on Facebook or share your experiences on Twitter using the hashtag #nhsovernight

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Hundreds Discharged From Hospitals Every Night

By Thomas Moore, Health Correspondent

Thousands of NHS patients are being discharged from hospitals every year in the middle of the night despite bosses ordering a crackdown on the practice, a Sky News investigation has found.

The number of patients leaving hospital in England between 11pm and 6am has actually risen in the last two years, new figures show.

In almost half of cases, the proportion of patients discharged overnight has also increased.

In April 2012 NHS England medical director Professor Sir Bruce Keogh called on hospitals to cut down on overnight discharges following a series of cases where vulnerable patients had been left to make their own way home.

Dr Mike Smith has said the practice is driven by the need for beds

The NHS was accused of discharging patients overnight to try to free up beds.

However, figures obtained by Sky News following Freedom of Information requests show that since Sir Bruce's intervention the practice is still widespread and in many cases rising.

According to the figures more than 300,000 patients have been discharged late at night since 2012 - an average of around 400 a night. Tens of thousands of those patients were over 75.

As only 72 of England's 160 NHS trusts were able to provide full figures for the last three years, the true number is certain to be far higher.

Dr Mike Smith, chair of the Patients Association, said: "They have got people in A&E chomping at the bit, lying in corridors, they have got to be admitted and they have no beds.

The number of patients discharged overnight increased at 41 hospital trusts

"It's for the convenience of staff and the person they are admitting but at the gross detriment to the person they are chucking out."

Experts say that patients often end up in care homes in the middle of the night.

Nadra Ahmed, chair of the National Care Association, said: "They are going back without any relevant information about how their care might have changed, what the diagnosis might have been, their paperwork is not following because people are off duty and often without the relevant medication they need for the following day or even through the night."

Patient Michael Atkinson told Sky News that in March 2013 he was discharged from the Royal Bolton Hospital A&E at 3am, despite being in a confused state.

He was found by police an hour later wandering on a cricket pitch almost a mile away.

He said: "I did not know who I was, where I was I did not know where I was going. I was just wandering basically. I was in pain."

Michael Atkinson was found wandering after he was discharged overnight

His wife Helen said: "He could have died. He was blue with cold. Something must be done to stop this happening. You are in hospital for a reason - to be looked after."

The hospital said that Mr Atkinson had left before transport could be arranged for him but said that staff had tried to learn lessons from the incident.

Sky News asked 160 NHS trusts in England how many patients had been discharged between 11pm and 6am in the past three years.

Of those, 72 trusts provided figures for all three years. In 41 cases, the number of patients discharged overnight increased.

In 31 cases the proportion of patients discharged between 11pm and 6am increased. In three trusts it remained the same.

Of the 72 trusts that replied, 152,472 patients were discharged between 11pm and 6am in 2011/12, rising to 152,479 in 2013/14.

The figures also reveal that 20,152 were aged over 75 in 2011/12; 19,728 in 2012/13 and 18,548 in 2013/14.

The proportion of patients discharged overnight remained the same at 2.41%.

Some 25 trusts said they did not collect the data or that it would take too much time to find it and the remaining hospitals did not reply to the FOI request.

A spokesperson for NHS England, said: "Discharging patients at night without appropriate support is unacceptable, particularly if a patient is vulnerable.

"Where a patient wishes to leave late at night or early in the morning, it should accommodated only where it is safe and clinically appropriate and with the support of family, friends or carers.

"The decision to do this should always be based on what is best for the patient."

:: Have your say on Facebook or share your experiences on Twitter using the hashtag #nhsovernight

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Police To Patrol More Than 100 Polling Stations

By Jason Farrell, Senior Political Correspondent

Police will be stationed at more than 100 polling stations to combat voter intimidation and fraud at the Local and European elections on Thursday, Sky News has learned.

The Electoral Commission has identified 16 areas as being at "high risk" for vote-rigging and bullying. 

This includes Tower Hamlets, which in response has introduced what the council described as "the strongest measures to prevent fraud of any authority in London - and one of the most robust in the country".

The council said: "On polling day, police officers will be stationed at all 125 polling stations in the borough for the whole 15 hours of the poll (from 7am to 10pm) to deal with any alleged malpractice or public order issues."

Returning Officer John Williams said they were responding to allegations of intimidation during previous elections.

He said: "In general it has been enthusiastic campaigners gathering outside polling stations and trying to convince electors as they are coming in to vote who they should be voting for and sometimes that can be intimidating for people."

Councils are also investigating irregularities on nomination, voter registration and postal vote forms.

In Tower Hamlets they are not just screening signatures and birth dates on postal votes, but also visiting houses with high numbers of registered voters.

More than 5,000 names have been removed from the electoral register since February.

Most councils said they would respond as situations arose

Pendle, in Lancashire, is another area identified.

Conservative council candidate Abdullah Zaid said activists have in the past coerced vulnerable voters on the doorstep.

He said: "They say, 'how do we know you're voting for us? To assure us you need to do the postal vote applications (now).'

"Then they do the applications themselves and get their signatures and send off the postal votes."

Lib Dem Councillor Tony Greaves, who has campaigned on the issue and sits in the House of Lords, said: "Fiddling postal votes has happened at every local election in Pendle since 2002 and it has taken this long for people and the police to sit up and take notice.

Police will be at all 125 polling stations in Tower Hamlets

"It is a disgrace to British democracy and I will not stop saying so, both in Pendle and in the House of Lords, until it is stamped out."

Labour Leader Mohammad Iqbal said it can be as bad at polling stations.

"One of the reasons that people chose postal voting in Pendle is because they were fed up of certain political activists - and this is across all parties both Labour, Liberal Democrats and Conservatives," he said.

"The activists used to stand outside polling stations and harass people and that was one of the reasons why people took up postal voting."

Pendle is one of 16 areas identified by the Electoral Commission

The at-risk areas are mostly Asian communities.

The others are: Hyndburn, Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley and Oldham, Kirklees, Bradford, Calderdale, Derby, Walsall, Birmingham, Coventry, Peterborough, Slough, and Woking.

Apart from Tower Hamlets, no other council is planning to police every polling station, although Walsall will have officers at four out of 139 polling stations.

Most said they would respond to situations as they arose.

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Prince Charles 'Compares Putin To Hitler'

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been compared to the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler by Prince Charles, it has been claimed.

The Prince of Wales' alleged remark about Mr Putin's actions over Ukraine reportedly came during a four-day tour of Canada when he spoke to a woman who fled the Nazis and lost family members in the Holocaust.

A spokesman for Clarence House said: "We do not comment on private conversations.

"But we would like to stress that the Prince of Wales would not seek to make a public political statement during a private conversation."

Charles was being shown around the Museum of Immigration in Halifax, Nova Scotia, along with Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall.

The pair paid tribute to World War Two veterans and their families, and during the course of the visit they spoke to museum volunteer Marienne Ferguson.

Ms Ferguson told the Prince she fled to Canada with her family in 1939, not long before Hitler annexed the Baltic coastal Free City of Gdansk.

Prince Charles and Camilla in Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island

Speaking to the Press Association after meeting Charles, the 78-year-old said: "The Prince said, 'And now Putin is doing just about the same as Hitler'.

"I must say that I agree with him and am sure a lot of people do.

"But I was very surprised that he made the comment as I know they (members of the Royal Family) aren't meant to say these things.

"I told the Prince that while my family and I were lucky to get a permit to travel, many members of my relatives had permits but were unable to get out before the war broke out on September 1.

"They were sent to the concentration camps and died."

Labour (Co-op) MP Mike Gapes, who represents Ilford South, has condemned the comments.

He said on Twitter: "If Prince Charles wants to make controversial statements on national or international issues he should abdicate and stand for election.

"In constitutional monarchy policy and diplomacy should be conducted by parliament and government. Monarchy should be seen and not heard."

Charles and the Russian leader are due to meet next month when they attend the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy on June 6.

Mr Putin has faced international anger over Russia's actions in neighbouring Ukraine, including the controversial annexation of Crimea.

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Thailand Army Declares Martial Law After Unrest

Armed troops and military vehicles topped with machine guns have been deployed in central Bangkok after the army declared martial law across Thailand.

Soldiers have been seen in the city's retail and hotel district, and the army commandeered television stations to broadcast their message to the nation.

They also surrounded the national police headquarters in Bangkok and banned protest marches.

Military chiefs have denied staging a coup and claims it is trying to restore order after six months of protests and political unrest that have left Thailand without a fully functioning government.

Soldiers are taking charge of public security to protect against any more violent protests, said army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha.

Soldiers stop a taxi in the Bangkok suburbs

"To bring back peace into all groups and all sides as soon as possible, I've used legal sections two and four to announce martial law over all of Thailand," said the General.

Protesters have been told to stay put and the country's media will also be censored, said the army, who told the Thai people not to panic.

Thailand has been in a state of upheaval since 2006, but the latest unrest began in November when anti-government protesters tried to oust former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

The protesters railed against a government amnesty bill they said was designed to help former leader Thaksin Shinawatra - Yingluck's brother - avoid being jailed for corruption.

General Prayuth Chan-ocha broadcast his message to the nation

Yingluck Shinawatra was finally removed earlier this month for abuse of power - along with nine ministers.

 TYingluck YYYYYUYYYYYYYYYYYYHowever, the move has done little to dampen disquiet against the interim government.

The army's surprise announcement comes a day after acting prime minister Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan refused to step down.

Hundreds of people have been injured and 28 have died in the last six months of protests.

Regional neighbours have already expressed concern at the army's seizing of power, with Japan "strongly urging" self-restraint and calling for "sincere negotiations".

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Abu Hamza Faces Life In Jail After NYC Verdict

A Terror Camp Inspired By Hamza

Updated: 9:38pm UK, Monday 19 May 2014

By Hannah Thomas-Peter, New York Correspondent

The hamlet of Bly, Oregon, is remote, arid and sparsely populated.

Only a few hundred people live there, many of whom enjoy the solitude, lack of law enforcement, and permissive gun laws.

On the face of it then, Bly did not seem a bad place to try to set up a terrorist training camp on US soil.

From his base at London's Finsbury Park mosque, Abu Hamza conspired to do just that; inspiring followers to find a location, and dispatching associates to train recruits.

The men intent on preparing for holy war might have gone unnoticed were it not for Sergeant Maurie Smith, at the end of his night shift in nearby Klamath Falls, spotting a white compact car with a lighting violation.

He said: "I noticed that they were wearing army fatigues, long trench coat jackets, they had head gear on, long beards, and (were) of Arabic descent."

The driver was "overly polite" and the three adult male passengers behaved oddly, said Sgt Smith, with one of them clutching a briefcase to his chest, the other trying to shelter a young child with his body.

They said some of them were going to San Francisco to sight-see.

With little back up and restrictive search and seizure laws in the state, the officer issued a citation and let them go, but he ran a check on the driver and entered a full report into the system.

The search alerted the FBI, who arrived in Klamath Falls just three hours later.

Sgt Smith said the FBI agents had lost track of the men until he contacted them and said he felt like he had "cheated death that day".

He said: "I was upset about not searching the vehicle, and they said 'well, they're highly trained individuals, we've been tracking them for a while, they are linked to some terrorist organisations', and that basically if you'd hit the right button at that very moment they would have shot you dead on the spot, without feeling any remorse about it."

But not everyone in Bly believes the camp was a hub for violent extremists intent on taking their new jihad skills to Afghanistan.

Many locals, as well as Abu Hamza's own lawyers, contend that little was achieved there other than some perfectly legal horse riding, fitness drills and target practice.

Tow company owner Dean Lawrence said he knew one of the men.

"He used to come by the store and buy gas, ask me for work a few times, seemed a nice guy," he said.

"I think it's been made out to be worse than what it was."

Former county sheriff Tim Evinger said his community was in shock after the discovery.

He said: "You know the biggest lessons were that this can happen anywhere, it can happen in our back yard here in remote Oregon, it can happen in the cities."

This conviction is the latest in a string of high-profile terror cases being tried in New York.

In March a jury found Osama bin Laden's son-in-law Sulaiman Abu Ghaith guilty of terrorism offences.

Richard Barrett, former head of counter-terrorism at MI6, said: "Abu Hamza was very typical of many people at that time in the late 90s and early 2000s, of skating along that line between being a complete rabble rouser and being a bit of a threat, a real threat.

"He probably wouldn't be able to do anything particularly operationally sophisticated because he's not that sort of guy, but there's no doubt that through his radical preaching and so on, he could persuade others that was the right thing to do."

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Hunt For Killer On Run From Jail For Third Time

Police are hunting a convicted murderer who has gone on the run from prison for the third time.

Arnold Pickering, 44, and armed robber Thomas Moffett walked out of HMP Kennet in Liverpool at 9.30am on Saturday morning.

The pair were due back at around 4.40pm the same day. Their disappearance was reported to Merseyside Police at about 7pm.

Pickering was serving a life sentence for stabbing a man to death in Oldham, Greater Manchester, in 1990.

He killed his 55-year-old victim, who was partially blind and deaf, while on the run from Strangeways in Manchester.

Pickering last absconded in December 2009 when he was let out on day release from HMP Kirkham to work on the bins in Manchester city centre.

He handed himself in four days later in Motherwell, Scotland.

Moffett armed himself with a nail gun and robbed off-licences

The killer is described as around 5ft 11in tall, medium build with blue eyes. He has tattoos on his arms and chest.

Moffett, 51, is serving an indeterminate sentence for a string of robberies carried out in Blackburn, Lancashire, in 2006.

He armed himself with a nail gun and then raided six off-licences.

The pair were risk assessed as suitable for temporary release on licence by the Ministry of Justice.

Officers earlier said they believe both men could be in the Southport area, and warned the public not to approach the fugitives.

Police later confirmed that a 51-year-old man was arrested in Blackburn, Lancashire, for being unlawfully at large.

Prisons Minister Jeremy Wright said: "I am not prepared to see public safety compromised.

"The system for allowing prisoners out on temporary licence has been too lax up till now and we are making major changes to address this.

"There will shortly be significant restrictions on who is granted temporary release - which from now on must be earnt - tightening up of monitoring arrangements and abolishing any leave without a clear link to rehabilitation."

Officers are appealing to anyone with information to call Merseyside Police on either 0151 777 3803 or 0151 777 3891, or via 101.

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Missing Yachtsmen: Relatives' Heartfelt Plea

Relatives of four British sailors missing at sea have made a heartfelt plea for rescuers to resume their search in the Atlantic Ocean.

Speaking to Sky News, family members of the sailors say they believe their loved ones are still alive and that the US Coastguard should not have abandoned its rescue mission.

The crew was returning from Antigua Sailing Week in the 40ft yacht when it ran into difficulties 620 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, on Thursday.

Contact with Andrew Bridge, 21, James Male, 23, Steve Warren, 52, and Paul Goslin, 56, was lost in the early hours of Friday while they were diverting to the Azores.

Mr Bridge's aunt, Georgina Bridge, said her nephew was the captain of the yacht, named the Cheeki Rafiki.

She told Sky News the sailor's family remains hopeful that the crew will be found alive.

L-R: Andrew Bridge, Steve Warren, James Male, Paul Goslin

"Obviously the family are really concerned that the search has been suspended and we are really hoping that it will be resumed," she said.

"We are holding out great hope that Andrew and the guys on board Cheeki Rafiki will be found.

"We are hopeful that they were able to launch a life raft and that they are still on board that, so we would just really like the search to be resumed."

Speaking to The Times newspaper, Mr Male's father Graham Male said: "We just want them to continue searching."

US and Canadian aircraft searched for the missing crew on Friday and Saturday, with help from three merchant vessels.

The search was called off on Sunday amid treacherous weather conditions.

A US Coastguard spokesman said the crews searched more than 4,000 square miles of the ocean for pings from the vessel's personal locator beacons.

"After receiving no more transmissions we believe that we would have found them by now if we were going to find them.

The yacht reportedly capsized on the way back from the Caribbean

"These beacons are small devices and the ones being used have a very short battery life."

Mr Bridge, from Farnham in Surrey, was being paid by the Southampton-based yacht training and charter company Stormforce Coaching for his role as captain, a spokeswoman for the firm said.

Stormforce director Doug Innes said that the yacht had first started taking on water on Thursday, but the skipper was in contact and the crew were keeping the situation stable.

"Although the search efforts co-ordinated by Boston were exceptional we are devastated that the search has now been called off so soon," Mr Innes said.

"Our thoughts are with the four yachtsmen and their families and we hope and pray for them all."

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'Migrants Must Learn English', Asian Minister

Immigrants must learn to speak English and respect Britain's laws and culture, the new Culture Secretary, Sajid Javid, has said.

Mr Javid, the son of Pakistani immigrants and the first Asian Secretary of State, said that people were entitled to expect that immigrants made a contribution to society.

"People want Britain to have more control over its borders, and I think they are right," he told The Sunday Telegraph.

"People also say, when immigrants do come to Britain, that they should come to work, and make a contribution and that they should also respect our way of life, and I agree with all of that. It means things like trying to learn English."

His comments come at a time when the Tories are under pressure from UKIP over the issue of immigration ahead of Thursday's European elections.

Mr Javid suggested that immigrants already well-established in the UK also needed to take greater responsibility for integrating with the rest of society.

"I know people myself, I have met people who have been in Britain for over 50 years and they still can't speak English," he said.

"I think it's perfectly reasonable for British people to say, look, if you're going to settle in Britain and make it your home, you should learn the language of the country and you should respect its laws and its culture."

A self-confessed Thatcherite, Mr Javid, MP for Bromsgrove, was appointed Culture minister during a reshuffle by David Cameron in April.

The son of a bus driver, who left Pakistan for Rochdale, had been a senior managing director at Deutsche Bank in charge of trading operations in Asia until 2009, where he had been earning an estimated £3m a year.

Mr Javid is tipped as a Tory leader of the future and has said he sees his Muslim faith as no barrier to one day taking the top slot.

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Carney: UK Housing Market Has 'Deep Problems'

By Ed Conway, Economics Editor

The British housing market has "deep, deep" problems, according to the Governor of the Bank of England.

In an interview with Sky's Murnaghan show to be broadcast in full later this morning, Mark Carney warns that rising house prices represents the biggest current risk to the economy.

And the number of large mortgages being approved to house buyers is on the rise, he adds.

Mr Carney says that the UK is in need of new house building.

He says that compared to his home country of Canada, for example, the UK built half the number of new homes every year despite having twice the population. 

Canada builds around 200,000 new homes a year compared to just 133,000 similar properties that were built in the UK last year.

Mr Carney said: "The issue around the housing market in the UK … is there are not sufficient (numbers of) houses (being) built."

Mark Carney has issued a warning over the UK housing market

Asked if more houses need to be built, Mr Carney replied: "That would help us out.

"We're not going to build a single house at the Bank of England. We can't influence that.

"What we can influence … is whether the banks are strong enough. Do they have enough capital against risk in the housing market?"

Mr Carney said they could also check lending procedures "so people can get mortgages if they can afford them but they won't if they can't".

"By reinforcing both of those we can reduce the risk that comes from a housing market that has deep, deep structural problems," he added.

Mr Carney said there was evidence that large mortgages, where lenders approve loans of more than four times people's salaries, are on the rise again.

"We don't want to build up another big debt overhang that is going to hurt individuals and is very much going to slow the economy in the medium term," he said.

"We'd be concerned if there was a rapid increase in high loan-to-value mortgages across the banks. We've seen that creeping up and it's something we're watching closely."

Last week, Mr Carney surprised many by playing down the chances of an imminent rise in interest rates despite fears of a growing house price bubble.

But he admitted the issue was the biggest current threat to the economy.

"The biggest risk to financial stability, and therefore to the durability of the expansion, centres on the housing market and that's why we're focused on that," he said.

Prices are currently rising at more than 10% a year across the country.

Analysis by Sky News has shown the number of £1m properties has doubled since 2008.

Earlier this month, the OECD think tank called on the Bank of England to impose measures to help quell rising house prices.

Both the coalition and Labour are committed to building hundreds of thousands of new homes.

However, construction still lags behind Government targets.

Housing Minister Kris Hopkins said: "In 2010 we inherited a broken housing market, but our efforts to fix it are working.

"We've scrapped the failed top-down planning system, built over 170,000 affordable homes, and released more surplus brownfield sites for new housing.

"We've also helped homebuyers get on the housing ladder, because if people can buy homes, builders will build them."

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Nigeria President Visits Abducted Girls' Town

Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan will today visit the town where more than 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped by Islamic militants, as he faces mounting international criticism of his handling of the crisis.

Accompanied by heavily armed guards, Mr Jonathan will make the journey to Chibok in Borno state - the heartland of the Boko Haram militant group - and meet some of the girls' families.

Afterwards he is due to fly to Paris for a security summit to discuss the Boko Haram threat.

Mr Jonathan and his government have been widely criticised for their slow response to the kidnapping on April 14, which saw 276 girls abducted by militants. A total of 223 are still missing.

But they were forced to act in the face of a social media campaign and street protests that won global support and attracted the attention of foreign powers, who have now sent specialist teams to help in the rescue effort.

In the US, which has sent drones and surveillance aircraft, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations said Nigeria had been "tragically and unacceptably slow" to tackle the crisis.

"I have called on President (Goodluck) Jonathan to demonstrate the leadership his nation is demanding," Democratic senator Robert Menendez said.

Mr Jonathan has come under fire for his response to the crisis

Department of Defence official Alice Friend said Nigeria, which has previously resisted outside help to put down the five-year insurgency, could be "an extremely challenging partner to work with".

"In the face of this sophisticated threat, Nigeria's security forces have been slow to adapt with new strategies and new tactics," she added.

Mr Jonathan has ruled out a prisoner swap with the extremists after Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau mooted the possibility in a video showing the kidnapped schoolgirls released on Monday.

But the government said it remained open to wider talks on ending the insurgency, Britain's minister for Africa Mark Simmonds told reporters in Abuja after meeting Mr Jonathan on Wednesday.

Relatives of the missing girls have called for their unconditional release.

"For me, I want these girls released without any negotiations," said Ayuba Chibok, whose niece is among the hostages.

"Even if Boko Haram wants to request something from the government, let them request something else. Let (Shekau) release these girls unconditionally."

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Turkey Mine: PM Facing Fresh Violence Claims

Fresh images have emerged purporting to show members of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's entourage attacking protesters angered over the government's handling of the Soma mine disaster.

An amateur video filmed during Mr Erdogan's visit to the site of the mining disaster appears to show two of his bodyguards punching an anti-government protester.

The video was shot after the prime minister was forced to take refuge in a grocery store as he was jeered while walking through a hostile crowd in the mining town on Wednesday. His car was then mobbed by protesters calling for his resignation.

One protester has since claimed that he was attacked by Mr Erdogan himself, although those claims have not been verified. 

The allegations come as the death toll from Turkey's worst mining disaster rose to 238, with more bodies expected to be pulled from the mine in the coming hours.

Mr Erdogan's bodyguards appear to be punching one protester

Separate images have previously emerged showing Yusuf Yerkel, an adviser to the prime minister, kicking a demonstrator as he is held on the ground by police officers during the visit.

Mr Yerkel released a statement on the attack which read: "I am sad I was not able to maintain my composure despite all the provocations, the insults and attacks to which I was exposed."

The images have fuelled public anger over the government's handling of the disaster, with many accusing political leaders of not demonstrating enough compassion. 

A protester is kicked by an adviser to Turkey's PM during trouble in Soma

The government is also accused of failing to address safety concerns within Turkey's mining industry. Just two weeks ago the ruling AK party rejected an opposition attempt to launch an inquiry into the safety standards at mines in Soma.

Mr Erdogan has rejected the allegations, saying such accidents are not uncommon and happen in other countries. He highlighted cases in 19th century Britain.

Mr Erdogan said: "These types of things in mines happen all the time.

"It's in its nature. It's not possible for there to be no accidents in mines. Of course we were deeply pained by the extent here."

Victims of the disaster are being buried in mass graves close to the mine

Thousands of protesters clashed with riot police in several Turkish cities for a second day on Thursday. 

Police fired water cannon at tens of thousands of demonstrators in the capital Ankara and in the western city of Izmir. 

Turkey's four biggest unions also held a one-day strike, alleging that workers' lives were put at risk by cost cuts. 

In a joint statement, they said: "Hundreds of our workers have been left to die from the very beginning by being forced to work in cruel production processes to achieve maximum profits."

Protesters have accused Mr Erdogan of ignoring safety concerns

Relatives in Soma, meanwhile, began to bury those killed in the disaster as emergency workers battled toxic fumes in their frantic search for those still missing.

An estimated 150 miners are still feared to be trapped inside the mine, although hopes are slim that they will be found alive. 

The last survivor was pulled from the mine on Wednesday. 

Those still trapped are thought to be some 1.2 miles (2km) below the surface and 2.5 miles (4km) from the mine entrance.

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