Sri Lanka: Cameron Mobbed By Tamil Protesters

David Cameron has been mobbed by 250 Tamil protesters in north Sri Lanka, who claim their relatives have been murdered by the state.

In chaotic scenes, the Prime Minister's convoy was surrounded by demonstrators all trying to show him their family pictures and tell their stories of suffering in the country's 26-year civil war.

The protesters were the relatives of "the disappeared" - those who have just vanished without explanation but whom, it is alleged, have been either captured or killed by the state.

Sky's Deputy Political Editor Joey Jones, who is travelling with the Prime Minister, said: "He was in a vehicle, in his Jeep, but people spilled through the police line trying to get up towards the Prime Minister ...

"One or two young women really pressed up against the car as it was departing, trying to get photographs and testimony to what they fear may have happened to their loved ones to David Cameron."

The Prime Minister has travelled to the northern city of Jaffna, to meet Tamils scarred by years of ethnic fighting in the country, ahead of his meeting with the country's president in which he will raise the question of Sri Lanka's human rights record.

Protesters broke through the police lines

Mr Cameron, who is the first president or prime minister to travel to the region since Sri Lanka gained independent in 1948, said he had been confronted by "incredibly powerful" images during his visit to the north.

He said: "Going to the headquarters of a Tamil newspaper here in northern Sri Lanka and seeing pictures of journalists, shot and killed, on the walls and hearing stories of journalists who have disappeared long after the war has ended, that will stay with me.

"And also the image, in this camp, of talking to a young woman who came here when she was very young - a child in this camp - and wants nothing more than to go to her own home."

Mr Cameron added: "The fact is about this country that there is a chance of success because the war is over, the terrorism has finished, the fighting is done.

"Now what's needed is generosity and magnanimity from the Sri Lankan government to bring the country together."

The Prime Minister has pledged to use the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) to challenge President Mahinda Rajapaksa over "chilling" claims of human rights abuses. 

Mr Cameron meets with Tamils in a local village

As many as 40,000 civilians are estimated to have died in the final months of the regime's fight with Tamil Tiger separatists, according to the United Nations.

There have been allegations of battlefield executions and rapes by regime forces and claims they indiscriminately shelled Tamils fleeing the fighting as the Tigers were defeated.

Mr Cameron will put pressure on Mr Rajapaksa to agree to an independent inquiry into the alleged war crimes by state forces.

The UN says that abductions and torture continue in the country.

Mr Rajapaska used the international conference to warn the Commonwealth not to be judgemental.

He told those present that it was thanks to him that the "menace of terrorism" was at an end.

Police officers intervene as protesters attempt to get to Mr Cameron

He claimed the war crimes alleged to have been carried out by the military in 2009 amounted to "exerting the greatest right, the right to life" for his country's people.

Paul Harrison, Sky's Royal Correspondent who is in Colombo at the meeting, said: "The image of Sri Lanka which Mr Rajapaksa would rather portray to the world is one of handshakes with foreign heads of Government, colourful cultural shows and visits by royalty, like Prince Charles.

"After months of criticism ahead of the biennial Chogm meeting, this time in the Sri Lankan capital, Mr Rajapaksa hijacked his own international conference to warn the Commonwealth not to be 'judgemental'."

Labour leader Ed Miliband had called on Mr Cameron to boycott the Chogm event in protest at Sri Lanka's human rights record and said he should join other Commonwealth members to block Mr Rajapaska from taking up the two-year chairmanship of the 53-nation group.

But Mr Cameron insisted it was far better to go and raise concerns than stay away.

Earlier on Friday Prince Charles kicked off the Commonwealth summit at a colourful opening ceremony in the capital, Colombo, declaring his "admiration" for the way the country has rebuilt after a devastating tsunami in 2004.

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Patient Neglect To Be Made A Criminal Offence

Wilful neglect of patients will be made a criminal offence under NHS reforms being introduced in the wake of the Mid Staffs and other care scandals.

Prime Minister David Cameron said health workers who mistreated and abused patients would face "the full force of the law" in a package of measures to be unveiled next week.

The offence will be modelled on laws against the wilful neglect of adults under the Mental Capacity Act, punishable by fines or up to five years in prison.

The move was one of the central recommendations of a patient safety review commissioned by ministers in the wake of findings that there were up to 1,200 excess deaths at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.

It was led by Professor Don Berwick, a former adviser to US President Barack Obama, who said it was needed to target the worst cases of a "couldn't care less" attitude that led to "wilful or reckless neglect or mistreatment".

Mr Cameron said: "The NHS is full on brilliant doctors, nurses and other health workers who dedicate their lives to caring for our loved ones.

"But Mid-Staffordshire hospital showed that sometimes the standard of care is not good enough.

"Never again will we allow substandard care, cruelty or neglect to go unnoticed and unpunished.

"This offence will make clear that neglect is unacceptable and those who do so will feel the full force of the law."

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Typhoon Haiyan: Victims Flee Tacloban

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent on Latye Island, The Philippines

With nothing but the clothes on their backs, hundreds of typhoon victims are making a desperate bid to escape Tacloban.

People are try to escape the devastation of Tacloban

The ferry terminal in Ormoc City is full of lost Filipinos. They have nowhere to go. No plan, no home, no job, nothing.

All they have left are the few belongings they carry: small damp rucksacks, plastic bags, umbrellas. Some have only what they are wearing.

And they are supposed to be the lucky ones - the survivors of this cruel swipe of nature.

Each of them has their own story. Here is just one.

Julio Gatela is 32. He had a computer shop in Tacloban until his city became the place most devastated by the typhoon.

We meet him in the vast queue for one of the ferries away from here.

Julio lost everthing when the typhoon hit

The first thing we discover is that he has eaten just a few biscuits for 5 days.

There is food in this particular town, but he hasn't the money to buy any. He has just enough for the ferry and no more.

He shows us, pulling out an old damp sack from his bag. It is full of coins he managed to collect from the rubble of his home. The rest of his savings were notes - paper money which would never have survived so much water.

This is a not a well-off part of The Philippines. There are banks but not everyone has an account. Julio doesn't. He saved his earnings at home.

Our conversation is heartbreaking. Julio doesn't know what he'll do.

Many people have been left with just the clothes on their backs

"I don't have nothing else to do. I just want some rest. It's tragic out there (in Tacloban) so I have to calm myself and try to forget everything terrible that happened to us."

He is visibly depressed. I think he's probably emotionally broken. His face twitches as he talks to us.

"We don't know where else to go. What happened and why to us is a mystery for us."

He recalls the moment the storm hit.

"It was really terrible. Thundering strong winds. I cannot describe how strong it is. Different from every typhoon I have ever seen before.

"My roof was trembling. I put my life jacket on and I just waited. No one really knew what was going to happen. We have never seen big waves like this."

Many are trying to get to the neighbouring island of Cebu

With any luck, and with the coins he has salvaged, he will be on a ferry soon.

It will take him to the neighbouring island of Cebu where he hopes he will find the power to get him back on track.

"I don't know." he says. "I will just start at the beginning again."

In disasters like this, it's natural to think about the children, the mothers, the elderly. The reality is that everyone is suffering.

In fact, the children are probably the most resilient. I can see a few running around now, playing in the stifling sun which breaks the torrential rain. They don't really understand the chaos around them.

As I watch the kids playing, Julio recalls the friends and family he has lost.

"My uncle and many friends. And everything is destroyed. Everything."

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Typhoon Haiyan: 4,000 Dead In Tacloban Alone

The death toll from Typhoon Haiyan in the devastated coastal city of Tacloban has now reached 4,000 alone, according to a city hall bulletin.

The figure is the first public acknowledgement that the number of fatalities has exceeded an estimate provided by Philippine President Benigno Aquino, who said this week the predicted death toll would be closer to 2,500.

On Thursday, official confirmed deaths nationwide stood at 2,357 after the November 8 typhoon - one of the strongest ever recorded.

President Aquino has faced mounting pressure to speed up the distribution of aid.

Helicopters from the USS George Washington deliver supplies

There has also been confusion over the number of fatalities in the disaster.

A notice board in Tacloban City Hall said the toll had doubled overnight to 4,000 deaths. That figure is compiled by local officials who began burying bodies in a mass grave on Thursday.

But the UN, citing government figures, put the latest overall death toll at 4,460.

Preliminary numbers of those missing remained at 22,000, according to the Red Cross.

A soldier stands at a checkpoint in the devastated city of Tacloban

Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez said some victims may have been swept out to sea after a tsunami-like wall of seawater slammed into coastal areas.

Mr Aquino said initial estimates of 10,000 dead by local officials were overstated by "emotional trauma".

Survivors have grown increasingly desperate and angry over the speed of aid distribution, which has been hindered by looting, a lack of fuel for rescue vehicles and debris-choked roads.

It comes as helicopters from the USS George Washington aircraft carrier began flying food, water and medical teams to ravaged regions on the islands.

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Typhoon Haiyan: Flow Of Foreign Aid Quickens

More aid is reaching the desperate victims of Typhoon Haiyan, as the international relief effort continues to build momentum.

But as vital help arrives for more survivors, some in the worst-hit areas say they still have not seen any aid since the typhoon struck on Friday. 

The Philippines Government said it had received more than £56m in foreign aid so far and praised the "generous and swift response".

Britain's Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal reached £13m within 24 hours of its launch.

The city of Tacloban was destroyed in the disaster

DEC chief executive Saleh Saeed said: "People have given so generously in such a short space of time."

The United Nation's World Food Programme said nearly 50,000 people around the stricken city of Tacloban received rice in family food packages on Wednesday.

The packs include three kilogrammes of canned food and rice - enough to feed a family for a few days, the WFP said.

More packages will be handed out in the coming days as relief operations continue to reach more of the 11 million people affected by the disaster.

Residents take shelter in a Tacloban church

The Salvation Army UK and Ireland has launched its own appeal and a team in the Philippines is making arrangements with the Air Force to transport food parcels, water and medical supplies to Tacloban in in Leyte province.

Britain's first flight delivering humanitarian aid arrived earlier on Wednesday, the Government has said.

A chartered Boeing 777 carrying 8,836 shelter kits from UK Government stores in Dubai landed in Cebu City and will be delivered to those in worst-affected areas.

A team of US Marines already on the ground has given out relief supplies for the effort, called Operation Damayan, or Help in Time of Need.

A US Marine coordinates the loading of water at an air base near Manila

UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos applauded the international community's reaction, but said much more needed to be done in a disaster of such magnitude.

Hundreds of thousands of people have had their homes damaged or destroyed and are in desperate need of food, water and shelter after the typhoon smashed into the island nation, leaving thousands dead.

Logistical bottlenecks have been holding up relief goods from reaching parts of the disaster zone.

Sky's Asia Correspondent Mark Stone, in the ruined village of Tabontabon in Leyte, said "at the moment no-one is here to help".

"Those who survived desperately need help. There is nothing like enough supplies or aid here and there is a depressing lack of co-ordination."

Homeless Tacloban residents inside a school

Tabontabon community leader Miguel Gamez said: "What we really need is food, safe drinking water and materials for us to build our houses."

In nearby Tacloban, the situation is also dire, with essential supplies low and increasingly desperate survivors jostling for aid.

Gunshots also reportedly forced the delay of a mass burial of victims in the ruined city.

Mayor Alfred Romualdez said: "We had finished digging the mass burial site. We had the truck loaded with bodies but there was some shooting. They could not proceed."

Eight people were also crushed to death in Alangalang town, 10 miles from Tacloban, after a huge crowd of typhoon survivors rushed a government rice warehouse, causing a wall to collapse.

The incident underlined the increasing sense of fear and desperation setting in among those battling to survive the aftermath of the typhoon.

Locals in Tacloban also reported seeing members of the army firing guns, as well as armed civilians in the street.

Meanwhile, it was reported that a 13-year-old boy who was walking alone through the city at night was slashed across the neck and stabbed in the stomach.

The country is struggling to cope with the number of bodies

The latest official government death toll stands at 2,344, with 3,804 injured and a further 79 missing.

But authorities have said they have not come close to accurately assessing the number of bodies lying amid the rubble or swept out to sea.

President Benigno Aquino has declared a "state of national calamity", allowing the government to impose price controls and quickly release emergency funds.

The US and the UK are sending warships to the Philippines, which will reach the region in the next few days.

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Most Wanted British Fugitives Hunted In Spain

By Rhiannon Mills, Sky News Reporter

An "unlucky 13" of Britain's most wanted criminals who are thought to be hiding in Spain will be unveiled today, including the suspected leader of a £90m cocaine-smuggling ring.

Ian Stanton, 42, from Liverpool, is accused of being the ringleader of a gang who smuggled more than 400kg of cocaine to the UK hidden in a shipment of Argentinian beef.

The drugs were found at Tilbury docks in Essex in May, and the shipment was due to be delivered to a cold-storage company in Wigan.

He has links to Merseyside - specifically Crosby, Kirkby and Maghull - but also London, the Netherlands and Spain.

The full list of 13 is due to be unveiled in Madrid by Crimestoppers, the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) and Spanish police, in the eighth appeal of its kind run under Operation Captura.

Hank Cole from the NCA told Sky News: "They are a mixture of serious criminals ranging from alleged sex offenders, those who've committed or attempted to commit murder, and significant drug traffickers.

"So these are the worst or most serious criminals that the National Crime Agency is looking to capture.

"Historically Spain had no extradition treaty to the UK so it was seen as a safe haven for UK criminals, since then the law has changed and we've successfully extradited large numbers of UK criminals back to the UK."

The initiative, targeting criminals thought to have fled to Spain, was launched in 2006 and so far has seen 53 out of 63 suspects caught.

Crimestoppers founder Lord Ashcroft said: "Despite our success so far, there are still a number of dangerous criminals who see Spain as a safe haven to hide from their past. But with the support of the Spanish and UK public, we can hunt them out and bring them to justice."

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Typhoon Haiyan: Race To Get Aid To Survivors

As the international community races to get aid into the Typhoon Haiyan disaster zone, survivors are struggling to cope without shelter, clean water or food.

The Philippines is grappling with the aftermath of Friday's typhoon, with shattered communications and transport links hampering relief efforts.

It is feared that thousands of people have died, making it one of the deadliest storms in recorded history.

With communications down many Filipinos living in neighbouring provinces simply do not know if their loved ones are still alive.

And families and friends of the missing based overseas have taken to social media in an effort to locate their loved ones.

The United Nations has launched a global appeal for aid, estimating that $301m (£190m) will be needed.

A man places a cross beside a body covered in a blanket in Leyte

The UK's first flight, delivering more than 8,800 shelter kits, has now landed in the country.

The delivery came as the Queen has also made a personal donation to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal which was launched on Tuesday.

In a message to Filipino President Benigno Aquino, the monarch said: "Prince Philip joins me in offering our heartfelt condolences to the victims and their families at this difficult time."

The Queen's message came after the Government announced it would match public donations to leading UK charities.

Under a new agreement with the DEC - made up of 14 charities - the first £5m donated will be matched pound for pound.

The Government had already committed £10m in aid, so the additional £5m commitment will increase the UK's support to £15m in total.

Britain is also deploying a Royal Navy warship with equipment to make drinking water from seawater and a military transport aircraft.

The US is sending an aircraft carrier, the USS George Washington.

The scale of the disaster and challenges of delivering the assistance mean few in areas strewn with debris and corpses have received much help yet.

Sky's Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay, who is in Cebu City, has said the "grim situation" there has not improved.

He said there has been a huge amount of destruction and that almost every building in the storm zone has been damaged.

"People in Cebu are concerned they have been forgotten in favour of other areas hit by the typhoon," Ramsay said. "We're not seeing the massive aid that you would expect and hope to see by this stage.

"The relief situation isn't really under way. There is a general feeling that the authorities have not taken control of this and it has all been chaotic."

He said people have been begging along the roadside in the early hours of the morning.

"People are sleeping rough or anywhere they can," he said.

There are also fears that another storm is due to hit, bring much rain.

The devastation near the airport in Tacloban on Leyte island

To the east of Cebu is the island of Leyte, where Sky's Asia Correspondent Mark Stone said up to 20 people had been killed by falling bags of rice in the scramble to get to aid supplies from a warehouse.

Stone travelled to the island with people who did not know if their family members were alive or dead.

"There's no mobile phone network here, no way of communicating," he said.

The official number of dead in the disaster rose to 1,774 on Tuesday, though authorities have said they expect that to rise markedly.

The UN warned that 10,000 people were feared dead in just one city, Tacloban, in Leyte.

But the President said the toll could actually be closer to 2,000 or 2,500.

"Ten thousand, I think, is too much. There was emotional drama involved with that particular estimate," Mr Aquino told CNN.

Two Americans are among the dead, the US State Department has confirmed.

:: To make a donation to the DEC Philippines Crisis Appeal visit www.dec.org.uk, call the 24-hour hotline on 0370 60 60 900, donate over the counter at any high street bank or post office or send a cheque.

You can also donate £5 by texting the word SUPPORT to 70000.

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Typhoon Haiyam Leaves Tacloban Devastated

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent, in Tacloban City

Tacloban City is hell. It is a place completely devastated and entirely broken in every way except one.

Dead bodies still lie in the streets

The resillience of the Filipino people has been humbling and extraordinary.

At a destroyed convenience store we stopped to chat to the owner and her daughter.

They have nothing left. Only three walls remain of their home and their livelihood. There is no roof. I ask how they are doing, quickly realising what a stupid question it is.

There is no electricity in the city

"We are surviving." the mother says, her voice breaking.

"You are still smiling, " I say to her. "Of course," she says. "We are Filipinos. We always smile."

Normally that's true. And even now when you smile at the locals they smile back.

Many people have left Tacloban for Manila

"Hello sir," they shout. "Hello mam."

Tacloban now has a horrible notoriety after what happened here. Dead bodies still lie on the sides of the streets.

But those who survived desperately need help. There is nothing like enough supplies or aid here and there is a depressing lack of co-ordination.

As I write this I can see men, women and small children sitting in the mud waiting.

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Typhoon Haiyan: New Storm On Way

Rescuers are struggling to get desperately needed aid to areas of the Philippines devastated by Typhoon Haiyan - as a new storm approaches.

Aid workers are being held back by blocked roads and damaged airports as they try to deliver tents, food and medicines to the worst-affected areas.

Troops have been sent to the city of Tacloban to restore law and order after reports of looting, with Filipino President Benigno Aquino declaring a state of calamity and considering whether martial law is necessary.

Vehicles were left strewn amid the destruction in Tacloban (pic: Unicef)

Looters have reportedly broken into supermarkets, while a Red Cross aid convoy was raided. Consumer goods such as televisions and washing machines have also been stolen.

With at least 10,000 people thought to have been killed by the typhoon and two million affected, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced the UK would contribute £10m to aid efforts.

Britain will also deploy Royal Navy warship HMS Daring to provide humanitarian assistance and RAF military transport aircraft to take equipment and supplies.

Children plead for help in typhoon-hit town Tabogon

In Tacloban, corpses hung from trees and were scattered in the streets. As others remained buried in flattened buildings, survivors were left pleading for food, water and medicine.

One UN official said he was told there had been a three-metre (10ft) water surge through the city.

A further 300 are confirmed dead and 2,000 missing on the neighbouring island of Samar.

A woman mourns next to the body of her husband and others

Water has been cut off in many areas, making the relief effort more difficult.

Threatening to further hamper relief efforts is a new storm approaching the southern and central Philippines.

Government weather forecasters said the tropical depression could bring fresh floods to typhoon-affected areas.

The depression is expected to hit land on the southern island of Mindanao late Tuesday and then move across the central islands of Bohol, Cebu, Negros and Panay, which all suffered typhoon damage, forecaster Connie Dadivas said.

Survivors make their way through the rubble of destroyed buildings

It could bring "moderate to heavy" rains, or about five to 15 millimetres (0.2 to 0.6 inches) per hour, he said.

Sky's Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay, in Manila, said: "The relief operation is only just getting going, it's fairly piecemeal at the moment.

A displaced child and her mother in an evacuation centre (pic: Unicef)

"They really don't have the volume of aircraft they need to either get aircraft in or people out in sufficient quantities to try and control what has become, day-by-day, a more difficult situation."

At least six people have also been killed in Vietnam after the typhoon made landfall near the Chinese border.

Some 600,000 people were evacuated from at-risk areas in the north of the country before Haiyan - downgraded to a weaker Category One storm - battered the coast with 98mph (157kmph) winds.

Philippine Army members board a US plane on the way to help survivors

All schools in capital Hanoi were closed on Monday and extra police were dispatched to redirect traffic in flood-prone areas.

At least two million people are said to have been directly affected by the typhoon's path and the death toll is expected to rise further as rescuers reach cut-off areas.

"This area has been totally ravaged", said Sebastien Sujobert, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Tacloban.

The winds felled trees and homes across swathes of the country

"Many lives were lost, a huge number of people are missing, and basic services such as drinking water and electricity have been cut off."

Haiyan hit the east coast of the Philippines on Friday and smashed through its central islands, with winds of 147mph (235 kmph) and a storm surge of 20ft (six metres).

Video from Eastern Samar province's Guiuan township - the first area where the typhoon made landfall - also showed a trail of devastation. Many houses were flattened and roads were strewn with debris and uprooted trees. 

Survivors now face the prospect of rebuilding their lives

Witnesses reported seeing looting and violence, with President Aquino admitting it was a major concern.

Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Zagala told AFP news agency that 100 soldiers had been sent to help police restore law and order in Tacloban.

The United Nations said it was sending supplies but access to the worst-hit areas was a challenge.

Looters carry away supplies from a shop

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has directed the military's Pacific Command to deploy ships and aircraft to support search-and-rescue operations and airlift emergency supplies.

The European Commission has released €3m (£2.5m) in emergency funds, while the UK is providing £6m in aid and Prime Minister David Cameron has telephoned President Aquino to offer his support.

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Typhoon Haiyan: Families Search For Relatives

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent, in Leyte

Many thousands of relatives of those who were hit by the typhoon still have no idea of the fate of their loved ones

At the ferry terminal in Cebu city hundreds are queuing to make the hardest of journeys.

Communications on the neighbouring island where their families live are down, the pictures emerging are grim and so the only way they will find out if their families survived is to go.

Ramon Gerado Jnr, 46, has made an extraordinary journey to find his family.

Aerial shots show the true scale of the Typhoon Haiyan destruction

Like so many Filipinos, Ramon works abroad. So for three days he travelled from Saudi Arabia, where he is a construction worker.

"I am praying that my family is ok. But still, I am...." he stops. It all seems too much.

We board the ferry for the two hour crossing to Leyte Island.

It is packed, and with another storm coming, the sea is rough.

Everyone on board must be thinking the same thing: a mixture of hope and dread.

Some families have been forced to take food from damaged shops

Sitting next to me are two young women. They are in their late teens I would guess, and judging by their appearance they are sisters.

They are not talking. They are deep in thought. They seem far away, staring out of the window at the coastline of their battered homeland.

I decide not to break their thought by engaging in conversation, so I can only guess why they are making the journey.

It is pretty obvious though. If they are like the other 99% then they too are making the grim journey to find out the fate of their families.

Worried relatives have travelled to Leyte to look for loved ones

Both are clutching their mobile phones, presumably hoping the brightly-coloured handsets might suddenly defy the lack of signal and ring with good news.

As we arrive at the small city of Ormoc, on Leyte Island, we start to get a sense of the scale of devastation.

The buildings are roofless, the trees that are still standing have been stripped of all their branches. And this is only the beginning of the journey.

It will be many more hours before we get to Ramon's town. "I want everyone to witness what has happened here to my family," he said.

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