CIA Director Petraeus Quits Over Affair

CIA Director David Petraeus has resigned over an extramarital affair - which officials say was uncovered by an FBI investigation.

According to his letter of resignation, General Petraeus asked President Barack Obama on Thursday to allow him to resign, and on Friday the president accepted.

The general admitted he had shown "extremely poor judgement" in having an affair.

"Such behaviour is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organisation such as ours," he wrote.

He had only been sworn in as director of the Central Intelligence Agency on September 6, last year.

Prior to that, he was a four-star general with 37 years' service in the US Army.

His last assignments in the army were as commander of Isaf, the International Security Assistance Force, and commander of US forces in Afghanistan and in Iraq.

The resignation took Washington's intelligence and political communities by surprise, coming as a sudden end to the public career of the best-known general in recent years.

Neither Gen Petraeus nor the CIA explained why he felt he had to step down over the affair, and whether his liaison presented a purely personal problem or raised security issues in his sensitive work as spy chief.

The affair came to light as the FBI was investigating whether a computer used by the general had been compromised, the New York Times and other US media reported, citing government officials.

General Petraeus with his wife Holly

In a statement released after the resignation was announced, Mr Obama hailed the "extraordinary service" of Gen Petraeus.

"David Petraeus has provided extraordinary service to the United States for decades," Mr Obama said.

"By any measure, he was one of the outstanding general officers of his generation."

The president said the CIA's Deputy Director Michael Morell would serve as acting director.

"I am completely confident that the CIA will continue to thrive and carry out its essential mission," Mr Obama said.

Gen Petraeus has been married for 37 years to Holly, who he met when he was a cadet at the US Military Academy at West Point.

Although the president made no direct mention of Gen Petraeus' reason for resigning, he offered his thoughts and prayers to the general and his wife.

He said Mrs Petraeus has "done so much to help military families through her own work. I wish them the very best at this difficult time".

The CIA has come under fire in recent weeks in the wake of the September 11 attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed US ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

Critics have questioned how much the intelligence agency knew about the likelihood and nature of the attack.

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Babies To Be Vaccinated Against Stomach Bug

Babies are to be vaccinated against a highly infectious bug that is one of the most common causes of diarrhoea in children.

From September 2013, infants aged between two and four months will be immunised against rotavirus, which causes diarrhoea, vomiting, abdominal pain, fever and dehydration.

At present, almost every child will have had the viral infection by the age of five. It is the most common cause of gastroenteritis in young children and babies.

The Department of Health said the move will mean thousands of young children will be spared hospital stays and hundreds of thousands of GP visits.

At present, the virus causes 140,000 diarrhoea cases a year in under-fives across the UK, and leads to around 14,000 hospital stays.

Vaccination experts believe the immunisation programme will halve the number of vomiting and diarrhoea cases caused by rotavirus and there could be 70% fewer hospital stays as a result.

Children will receive the vaccine, to be given orally as two separate doses of liquid drops, as part of their routine vaccination programme.

Professor David Salisbury, director of immunisation at the DoH, said: "Rotavirus spreads very easily.

"Many people think of diarrhoea as something that all children get and that you have to put up with. But there is a way to protect children from this.

"I'd encourage all parents of young children to accept this vaccine when the programme begins next year."

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Syria: 'Casualties After Two Large Blasts'

Two large explosions have struck the Syrian city of Deraa, causing multiple casualties, according to the state-run news agency.

The blasts were reportedly followed by clashes between regime forces and rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad.

Activists said dozens of members of the Syrian security forces were killed when two cars loaded with explosives drove into a military camp.

In what could have been a double suicide attack, the first car was driven into the camp and exploded, followed by the second vehicle, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Deraa was the birthplace of the Syrian uprising against Mr Assad

The blast from the second vehicle caused the casualties, it added.

Deraa, in the south of the country, was the birthplace of the Syrian uprising against Mr Assad, which erupted in March 2011.

The conflict began largely with peaceful protests against his rule but turned bloody after rebels took up arms in response to the regime's crackdown.

Activists say more than 36,000 people have died in Syria during the 19-month-long uprising.

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BBC Boss 'Was Unaware' Of Child Abuse Slur

Lord McAlpine: Full Statement

Updated: 10:45am UK, Friday 09 November 2012

Tory peer Lord McAlpine today described reports linking him to the North Wales child abuse allegations as "wholly false and seriously defamatory". Here is his full statement.

"Over the last several days it has become apparent to me that a number of ill-or uninformed commentators have been using blogs and other internet media outlets to accuse me of being the senior Conservative Party figure from the days of Margaret Thatcher's leadership who is guilty of sexually abusing young residents of a children's home in Wrexham, North Wales in the 1970's and 1980's.

"It has additionally become apparent to me that a number of broadcasters and newspapers have, without expressly naming me, also been alleging that a senior Conservative Party figure from that time was guilty of or suspected of being guilty of the sexual abuse of residents of this children's home.

"It is obvious that there must be a substantial number of people who saw that I had been identified in the internet publications as this guilty man and who subsequently saw or heard the broadcasts or read the newspapers in question and reasonably inferred that the allegation of guilt in those broadcasts and newspapers attached to me.

"Even though these allegations made of me by implication in the broadcast and print media, and made directly about me on the internet, are wholly false and seriously defamatory I can no longer expect the broadcast and print media to maintain their policy of defaming me only by innuendo.

"There is a media frenzy and I have to expect that an editor will soon come under pressure to risk naming me. My name and the allegations are for all practical purposes linked and in the public domain and I cannot rewind the clock.

"I therefore have decided that in order to mitigate, if only to some small extent, the damage to my reputation I must publicly tackle these slurs and set the record straight. In doing so I am by no means giving up my right to sue those who have defamed me in the recent past or who may do so in the future and I expressly reserve my rights to take all such steps as I and my solicitors consider necessary to protect my interests.

"On Tuesday, 6 November the Home Secretary, the Rt Hon Theresa May MP, made a statement in the House of Commons about the historic allegations of child abuse in the North Wales police force area.

"She explained that in 1991, North Wales Police conducted an investigation into allegations that, throughout the 1970s and 1980s, children in homes that were managed and supervised by Clwyd County Council were sexually and physically abused.

"The result of the police investigation was eight prosecutions and seven convictions of former care workers. Despite the investigation and convictions, it was widely believed, she said, that the abuse was in fact on a far greater scale, but a report produced by Clwyd Council's own inquiry was never published, because so much of its content was considered by lawyers to be defamatory.

"In 1996, the Rt Hon William Hague MP, the then Secretary of State for Wales, invited Sir Ronald Waterhouse to lead an inquiry into the abuse of children in care in the Gwynedd and Clwyd Council areas. Mrs May told the House of Commons that the Waterhouse inquiry sat for 203 days and heard evidence from more than 650 people.

"Statements made to the inquiry named more than 80 people as child abusers, many of whom were care workers or teachers. In 2000, the inquiry's report 'Lost in Care' made 72 recommendations for changes to the way in which children in care were protected by councils, social services and the police.

"Following the report's publications, 140 compensation claims were settled on behalf of the victims.

"Mrs May further said that the report found no evidence of a paedophile ring beyond the care system, which was the basis of the rumours that followed the original police investigation and, indeed, one of the allegations made in the past week.

"Last Friday, a victim of sexual abuse at one of the homes named in the report - Mr Steve Messham - alleged that the inquiry did not look at abuse outside care homes, and he renewed allegations against the police and several individuals.

"I am, as is now well known to readers of the internet and to journalists working for the print and broadcast media, one of the individuals implicated by Mr Messham.

"I have every sympathy for Mr Messham and for the many other young people who were sexually abused when they were residents of the children's home in Wrexham.

"Any abuse of children is abhorrent but the sexual abuse to which these vulnerable children were subjected in the 1970's and 1980's is particularly abhorrent.

"They had every right to expect to be protected and cared for by those who were responsible for them and it is abundantly clear that they were horribly violated. I have absolutely no sympathy for the adults who committed these crimes.

"Those who have been convicted were deservedly punished and those who have not yet been brought to justice should be as soon as possible.

"The facts are, however, that I have been to Wrexham only once. I visited the local Constituency Conservative Association in my capacity as Deputy Chairman.

"I was accompanied on this trip, at all times, by Stuart Newman, a Central Office Agent. We visited Mary Bell, a distant relative of mine and close friend of Stuart Newman.

"We did not stay the night in Wrexham. I have never been to the children's home in Wrexham, nor have I ever visited any children's home, reform school or any other institution of a similar nature.

"I have never stayed in a hotel in or near Wrexham, I did not own a Rolls Royce, have never had a 'Gold card' or 'Harrods card' and never wear after-shave, all of which have been alleged.

"I did not sexually abuse Mr Messham or any other residents of the children's home in Wrexham. Stuart Newman is now dead but my solicitors are endeavouring to locate a senior secretary who worked at Central Office at the time to see if she can remember the precise date I visited that Association.

"I fully support the decision (announced by the Home Secretary in the House of Commons on Tuesday) of the Chief Constable of North Wales, Mr Mark Polin, to invite Mr Keith Bristow, the Director General of the National Crime Agency, to assess the allegations recently received, to review the historic police investigations and to investigate any fresh allegations reported to the police into the alleged historic abuse in north Wales care homes.

"Although I live in Italy and have done so for many years and although I am in poor health, I am entirely willing to meet Mr Polin and Mr Bristow in London as soon as can be arranged so that they can eliminate me from their inquiries and so that any unwarranted suspicion can be removed from me.

"I wish to make it clear that I do not suggest that Mr Messham is malicious in making the allegations of sexual abuse about me. He is referring to a terrible period of his life in the 1970's or 1980's and what happened to him will have affected him ever since. If he does think I am the man who abused him all those years ago I can only suggest that he is mistaken and that he has identified the wrong person.

"I conclude by reminding those who have defamed me or who intend to do so that in making this statement I am by no means giving up my right to seek redress at law and repeat that I expressly reserve my rights to take all such steps as I and my solicitors consider necessary to protect my interests."

McAlpine of West Green

8 November 2012

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Lord McAlpine Denies Sex Abuse Allegations

Lord McAlpine: Full Statement

Updated: 10:45am UK, Friday 09 November 2012

Tory peer Lord McAlpine today described reports linking him to the North Wales child abuse allegations as "wholly false and seriously defamatory". Here is his full statement.

"Over the last several days it has become apparent to me that a number of ill-or uninformed commentators have been using blogs and other internet media outlets to accuse me of being the senior Conservative Party figure from the days of Margaret Thatcher's leadership who is guilty of sexually abusing young residents of a children's home in Wrexham, North Wales in the 1970's and 1980's.

"It has additionally become apparent to me that a number of broadcasters and newspapers have, without expressly naming me, also been alleging that a senior Conservative Party figure from that time was guilty of or suspected of being guilty of the sexual abuse of residents of this children's home.

"It is obvious that there must be a substantial number of people who saw that I had been identified in the internet publications as this guilty man and who subsequently saw or heard the broadcasts or read the newspapers in question and reasonably inferred that the allegation of guilt in those broadcasts and newspapers attached to me.

"Even though these allegations made of me by implication in the broadcast and print media, and made directly about me on the internet, are wholly false and seriously defamatory I can no longer expect the broadcast and print media to maintain their policy of defaming me only by innuendo.

"There is a media frenzy and I have to expect that an editor will soon come under pressure to risk naming me. My name and the allegations are for all practical purposes linked and in the public domain and I cannot rewind the clock.

"I therefore have decided that in order to mitigate, if only to some small extent, the damage to my reputation I must publicly tackle these slurs and set the record straight. In doing so I am by no means giving up my right to sue those who have defamed me in the recent past or who may do so in the future and I expressly reserve my rights to take all such steps as I and my solicitors consider necessary to protect my interests.

"On Tuesday, 6 November the Home Secretary, the Rt Hon Theresa May MP, made a statement in the House of Commons about the historic allegations of child abuse in the North Wales police force area.

"She explained that in 1991, North Wales Police conducted an investigation into allegations that, throughout the 1970s and 1980s, children in homes that were managed and supervised by Clwyd County Council were sexually and physically abused.

"The result of the police investigation was eight prosecutions and seven convictions of former care workers. Despite the investigation and convictions, it was widely believed, she said, that the abuse was in fact on a far greater scale, but a report produced by Clwyd Council's own inquiry was never published, because so much of its content was considered by lawyers to be defamatory.

"In 1996, the Rt Hon William Hague MP, the then Secretary of State for Wales, invited Sir Ronald Waterhouse to lead an inquiry into the abuse of children in care in the Gwynedd and Clwyd Council areas. Mrs May told the House of Commons that the Waterhouse inquiry sat for 203 days and heard evidence from more than 650 people.

"Statements made to the inquiry named more than 80 people as child abusers, many of whom were care workers or teachers. In 2000, the inquiry's report 'Lost in Care' made 72 recommendations for changes to the way in which children in care were protected by councils, social services and the police.

"Following the report's publications, 140 compensation claims were settled on behalf of the victims.

"Mrs May further said that the report found no evidence of a paedophile ring beyond the care system, which was the basis of the rumours that followed the original police investigation and, indeed, one of the allegations made in the past week.

"Last Friday, a victim of sexual abuse at one of the homes named in the report - Mr Steve Messham - alleged that the inquiry did not look at abuse outside care homes, and he renewed allegations against the police and several individuals.

"I am, as is now well known to readers of the internet and to journalists working for the print and broadcast media, one of the individuals implicated by Mr Messham.

"I have every sympathy for Mr Messham and for the many other young people who were sexually abused when they were residents of the children's home in Wrexham.

"Any abuse of children is abhorrent but the sexual abuse to which these vulnerable children were subjected in the 1970's and 1980's is particularly abhorrent.

"They had every right to expect to be protected and cared for by those who were responsible for them and it is abundantly clear that they were horribly violated. I have absolutely no sympathy for the adults who committed these crimes.

"Those who have been convicted were deservedly punished and those who have not yet been brought to justice should be as soon as possible.

"The facts are, however, that I have been to Wrexham only once. I visited the local Constituency Conservative Association in my capacity as Deputy Chairman.

"I was accompanied on this trip, at all times, by Stuart Newman, a Central Office Agent. We visited Mary Bell, a distant relative of mine and close friend of Stuart Newman.

"We did not stay the night in Wrexham. I have never been to the children's home in Wrexham, nor have I ever visited any children's home, reform school or any other institution of a similar nature.

"I have never stayed in a hotel in or near Wrexham, I did not own a Rolls Royce, have never had a 'Gold card' or 'Harrods card' and never wear after-shave, all of which have been alleged.

"I did not sexually abuse Mr Messham or any other residents of the children's home in Wrexham. Stuart Newman is now dead but my solicitors are endeavouring to locate a senior secretary who worked at Central Office at the time to see if she can remember the precise date I visited that Association.

"I fully support the decision (announced by the Home Secretary in the House of Commons on Tuesday) of the Chief Constable of North Wales, Mr Mark Polin, to invite Mr Keith Bristow, the Director General of the National Crime Agency, to assess the allegations recently received, to review the historic police investigations and to investigate any fresh allegations reported to the police into the alleged historic abuse in north Wales care homes.

"Although I live in Italy and have done so for many years and although I am in poor health, I am entirely willing to meet Mr Polin and Mr Bristow in London as soon as can be arranged so that they can eliminate me from their inquiries and so that any unwarranted suspicion can be removed from me.

"I wish to make it clear that I do not suggest that Mr Messham is malicious in making the allegations of sexual abuse about me. He is referring to a terrible period of his life in the 1970's or 1980's and what happened to him will have affected him ever since. If he does think I am the man who abused him all those years ago I can only suggest that he is mistaken and that he has identified the wrong person.

"I conclude by reminding those who have defamed me or who intend to do so that in making this statement I am by no means giving up my right to seek redress at law and repeat that I expressly reserve my rights to take all such steps as I and my solicitors consider necessary to protect my interests."

McAlpine of West Green

8 November 2012

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Coronation Street Star Bill Tarmey Dies

Former Coronation Street star Bill Tarmey, who played loveable rogue Jack Duckworth in the show, has died.

A spokeswoman for the soap opera said Tarmey, who featured as the long-suffering husband of Vera, died in Tenerife while on holiday.

The actor's family confirmed the news and said in a statement: "The family of Bill Tarmey have confirmed that he sadly passed away this morning in Tenerife. They have respectfully asked the media for privacy as they grieve for a wonderful husband, father and brother."

And the star's former colleagues issued their own statement: "The cast, crew and production team at Coronation Street are devastated to hear of Bill's death. Our thoughts and prayers are with Bill's wife and soulmate Ali and their family at this very sad time."

Liz Dawn returned as Vera for Bill Tarmey's final scene as Jack Duckworth

Tarmey, 71, was a native Mancunian. He started out working as a builder and began his showbiz career singing in working men's clubs.

He joined Coronation Street as an extra in 1977 but show bosses spotted his potential and two years later he landed the role that made him famous.

He left the soap in 2010 after more than 30 years playing the pigeon-fancying, loveable rogue alongside Liz Dawn, who played his wife Vera.

He was dogged by ill-health, having suffered a heart attack at the age of 35, and then a stroke a year later.

A lifelong smoker, he underwent a quadruple heart bypass 15 years ago and another bypass operation in June 2002.

Corrie stars have been adding their own tributes on Twitter.

Antony Cotton, who plays Sean Tully in the show, tweeted: "Goodnight Bill Tarmey. You were the best. We'll miss you so much x"

Catherine Tyldesley, who plays Eva in the show, said: "So sad to hear that Bill Tarmey has died. #legend #RIPBILL. My deepest sympathies to all who knew him best xxx".

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Care Home Abuse Victim Tells Of Sex Parties

By Tom Parmenter, Sky Correspondent

A man who was abused in North Wales care homes has told how he was routinely taken to London and forced to take part in sex parties.

He alleges he was regularly abused as a 12-year-old boy by members of the establishment in a smart London flat. 

Michael was 10 when he was first taken into care at the former children's home called Bersham Hall near Wrexham, north Wales.

He quickly became drawn into the abusive regime at the home.

But he says it was when staff from another home called Bryn Estyn in Wrexham moved to Bersham Hall that the abuse became worse.

Now 44, Michael was one of a number of boys who would be taken down on a minibus that belonged to the home to London on a Friday evening.

He told Sky News: "I'm going to be blunt, we were taken to sex parties and we'd be traded off and displayed and we would be picked out one by one." 

He claims he was so institutionalised by his time in care that he saw the trips to London as a privilege.

He said: "To us it was great, we could drink, we could smoke we could be naughty we were in the adult world - fantastic.

"Then uncle 'whoever' would pat his knee and call you over and he'd give you another drink and he'd talk to you.

"A lot of them were quite old men, 50s or 60s, very posh. They would take us away to separate bedrooms where we were abused.

"It was how compliant you were, how nice you were towards them and looking back it was all about what they could get away with."

He has now reported allegations of rape at the parties to his local police force.

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M1 Crash: Seven Hurt And Lorry Driver Arrested

A lorry driver has been arrested after a man suffered life-threatening injuries in a seven-vehicle motorway pile-up.

Thames Valley Police say six cars and a lorry were involved in the crash on the northbound carriageway of the M1, close to junction 14 near Milton Keynes, shortly after 8.30am.

A 55-year-old man from Bedfordshire, who was driving a blue Vauxhall Corsa, was airlifted to Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, where he is in a critical condition.

Six women, aged between 35 and 59, suffered minor injuries and were treated at Milton Keynes General Hospital.

The crash closed part of the M1. Picture from Twitter: Thames Valley Police

The 43-year-old driver of a green Volvo lorry was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving. He remains in police custody.

The M1 was closed northbound between junctions 13 and 14 for around four hours while accident investigators examined the scene. The road was fully re-opened by 12.45pm.

Witnesses are asked to contact PC Garry Fortnum, of the Milton Keynes Roads Policing Team, on 101.

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Essex Fatal Fire: 'House Was Burgled'

A house in Essex where a doctor and her five children died in a fire may have been burgled, the police have said.

Sabah Usmani and the children died after a fire at their home in Barn Mead, Harlow, in the early hours of October 15.

Her husband, Abdul Shakoor, who is also a doctor, tried unsuccessfully to save his family from the blaze.

Detectives from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate believe there may have been a burglary at the home after the family went to bed and before the fire was discovered.

A laptop bag containing personal papers belonging to Dr Shakoor was found abandoned near lock-up garages in Whitewaits, Harlow, on October 26, and police believe the laptop may have been stolen in the burglary.

Police said that on October 15 there were two unsuccessful attempts to break into other properties in Harlow.

Detectives are investigating if these incidents relate to the suspected burglary at the family's house.

Police officers and Dr Shakoor have asked members of the public with information to come forward.

Two people, a teenage boy aged 15 to 16 who was wearing a tracksuit, and a slim girl in a Burnt Mill School uniform, were seen throwing the laptop bag away near the garages in Whitewaits.

Police said: "Detectives need to speak to them urgently to find out where they found the bag (and are) also appealing for information about the whereabouts of Dr Shakoor's Toshiba laptop."

The interior of the Essex house where the family died

"Dr Shakoor remembers leaving the laptop in the living room before going to bed on the evening of the fire.

"It was bought in Saudi Arabia and has a two-pin connection that was used with an adaptor.

"Officers are asking anyone who has been offered a second-hand laptop to come forward."

Police also want to speak to a group of four young men who were outside the house in the early hours of October 15.

The young men - aged between 16 and 19 - were wearing tracksuits and baseball caps. There were also two boys on bikes.

Emergency services fought to save the family during the blaze, but Sabah, a 44-year-old doctor, her daughter Hira, 12, and sons Sohaib, 11, and Rayyan, six, died at the scene.

Her son Muneeb, nine, and daughter Maheen, three, were taken to hospital in a critical condition and later died.

Essex Police and the Fire and Rescue Service, along with independent fire experts, have so far been unable to identify the cause of the blaze.

Detective Superintendent Rob Vinson said: "From the onset this house fire and that of the nearby car fire were investigated as suspicious incidents by a dedicated team from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate.

"Scientists have been sifting through the remains of the fire and have confirmed that to date there is no evidence of a flammable liquid being used. It is however important to emphasise that detailed forensic testing remains ongoing.

"Behind the scenes detectives and specially trained staff have been working around the clock piecing together information and intelligence which has led us to this point.

"This remains one of the most complex cases the investigative team has ever dealt with, but we remain steadfast in our approach and confident the answers lie within the local community.

"We will continue to gain intelligence and work to find answers to the questions of what happened that resulted in such a tragic loss of life."

Dr Shakoor has pleaded with members of the public with information that could help detectives to come forward.

He said: "It is impossible for me to put into words what the loss of my wife and children means to me and the devastating effect it has had on all of my family.

"In the space of just one night I have lost everything dearest to me. Today I am looking to the community once again for help in providing answers to the many questions that remain."

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Collapsed Comet 'Massive' Sale Slated Online

Customers who rushed to a sale at Comet have expressed disappointment over the level of discount.

The electronics retailer had announced a "massive stock liquidation" ahead of store closures as early as next week, but angry shoppers took to Twitter to complain about the price reductions.

Scott Houston said: "Comet 'Firesale' is no more than 10-15% off. Prices aren't even competitive with online prices. Time wasted."

And Matt Arthur tweeted: "Anyone thinking of going to the Comet 'liquidation sale', don't bother. 10% off audiovisual, 20% off kitchen appliances, still cheaper online."

Ajay Deshpande added: "If you are looking for cheap electrical goods then don't go to the Comet 'sale'!"

The sale was announced on Comet's website

In response, a spokesman for administrator Deloitte said: "The discounts are gentle. It's not a hard sale."

The sell-off, which began at 9am on Thursday, is only available in its 236 stores, with customers unable to buy products online. 

But some customers did manage to bag a bargain, with Alex Pegg tweeting: "In-pulse (sic) buy of the day, an Apple ProBook (£100 off from Comet)".

The electrical chain said gift vouchers would be accepted on sale items, following the temporary suspension of the tokens over the weekend. 

Comet is expected to confirm store closures next week following the sale

But it warned customers it would not offer refunds, and any items ordered before the company went into administration that have not been paid for will not be delivered. 

Comet's administrator Deloitte is in the process of winding down the business following its collapse on Friday, which leaves 6,600 jobs hanging in the balance.

But rival Dixons, which owns Currys and PC World, postponed hiring 3,000 Christmas staff by a week to allow Comet staff to apply.

It said it was "amazed" by the number of Comet employees that had enquired about positions so far.

Deloitte is attempting to find a buyer for the business and would not comment on speculation over store closures - although reports suggest stores could start to be closed next week.

If the chain does collapse, it will become one of the biggest high street casualties since Woolworths in 2008.

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Cameron Warns Of Sexual Abuse 'Witch Hunt'

David Cameron has warned accusations of child abuse could turn into a "witch hunt" of people who are gay after he was handed a list of suspects on live television.

The Prime Minister was given the list of suspected paedophiles by Phillip Schofield when he appeared on ITV's This Morning, where he was appearing to talk about dementia.

He did not look at the list and put it on the table, before raising concerns about internet speculation over who might be embroiled in historic cases.

"There is a danger if we are not careful that this can turn into a sort of witch hunt, particularly about people who are gay, and I'm worried about the sort of thing you are doing right now, taking a list of names off the internet," he told Schofield.

"If anyone has any information about anyone who's a paedophile, no matter how high up in society they are, that is what the police are for."

He added: "I've heard all sorts of names bandied around and what then tends to happen is everyone sits around and speculates about people, some of whom are alive, some of whom are dead."

Mr Cameron insisted the Government was moving quickly to investigate new claims, which include allegations that a senior Tory from the Thatcher era was involved in abuse in North Wales.

One of the alleged victims in that case, Steve Messham, has claimed he was regularly taken to a hotel and sold for sex - including to the politician.

The Prime Minister described the allegations as "extremely serious" and pointed out that the Government had this week launched an inquiry into the Welsh care home scandal.

There are now a series of different investigations into historic allegations, with two into the Welsh case and others sparked by the Jimmy Savile scandal.

The Prime Minister defended the move not to set up a single inquiry to look at all the claims, insisting this would not necessarily be quicker.

"The idea that if you had one mega-inquiry that you would speed everything up, I'm not sure is true," he said.

"I don't rule out taking further steps. I want the Government to be absolutely on top of this, I don't want anything to be covered up, I don't want any information to be held back. If there are more things we have to do, we will do them.

"But we always have to remember it's very easy for governments just to stand up and say, 'Here's a new inquiry.' What we've got to do is get to the truth as fast as we possibly can."

Foreign Secretary William Hague, who was Welsh Secretary at the time of the Waterhouse Inquiry into the care home allegations, has promised to leave "no stone unturned".

"I ordered an inquiry back in 1996 and I strongly support what the Home Secretary has announced this week. If there is anything more to look at, it must be looked at," he told ITV.

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Bradley Wiggins And Coach Shane Sutton Hurt

GB cycling team's head coach has been taken to hospital after a cycle crash - just hours after Tour de France victor Bradley Wiggins was hurt in a separate collision.

Shane Sutton OBE, 55, is recovering in hospital following a crash in Manchester in which he suffered bruising and bleeding on the brain.

Wiggins, 32, has been released from hospital after he sustained a broken rib and a dislocated finger or thumb in a collision with a van near his home in Eccleston, Lancashire, on Wednesday.

A statement for Greater Manchester Police confirmed Mr Sutton, from Cardiff, was involved in a collision with a blue Peugeot 206 driven by a 61-year-old man.

It said he suffered a head injury in the collision and was taken to Hope Hospital for treatment, where he is in a stable condition.

A bike can be seen as police deal with Wiggins' accident. Picture: The Sun

A spokeswoman for British Cycling said: "It is extremely rare that our riders and coaches are hurt while out cycling on the road, even rarer that two incidents should occur in a short space of time, and we wish Shane and Bradley a speedy recovery."

The spokeswoman said: "British Cycling has confirmed that Shane Sutton, head coach for the GB Cycling Team, was involved in an incident this morning on the A6 near Levenshulme in Manchester.

"Shane was taken into hospital where it was identified he has suffered bruising and bleeding on the brain.

"Shane was wearing a helmet. He is set to undergo more tests, and is likely to stay in hospital for the next few days.

"Cycling is not an intrinsically dangerous activity but there is much more to be done to improve conditions for cyclists on the roads.

"British Cycling is calling on the Government to put cycling at the heart of transport policy to ensure that cycle safety is built into the design of all new roads, junctions and transport projects, rather than being an afterthought."

Wiggins, who won gold in the road race at London 2012, was taken by ambulance to Royal Preston Hospital following the collision in Crow Orchard Road, Wrightington, shortly after 6pm, Wednesday.

Police will question the driver of a white Vauxhall Astra Envoy van who was uninjured in the collision.

Both cyclists were wearing cycle helmets.

Fellow GB cyclists spoke of their shock at the two accidents.

Laura Trott, who won two gold medals at the London Olympics, wrote: "What the hell is happening these days!! Wishing wiggo and shane a speedy recovery x @LauraTrott31."

Geraint Thomas, who won gold in the team pursuit at London 2012 and Beijing 2008, wrote: "What a 24hrs for British cycling, hope Shane and Brad heal up fast!! #weneedyou @GeraintThomas86."

Sprint expert Mark Cavendish tweeted: "Really wishing my friend Bradley Wiggins a speedy recovery in hospital after being knocked off his bike by a car yesterday."

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Republican Rape Remark Candidates Defeated

Two Republican candidates who made controversial remarks about rape and abortion during the US election campaign have both been defeated in their campaign to join the Senate.

Richard Mourdock in Indiana lost to Democrat Joe Donnelly while Congressman Todd Akin lost out to Democrat incumbent senator Claire McCaskill in Missouri.

The losses of the two candidates - and the Maine seat going to independent candidate Angus King - hit Republican chances of capturing the Senate from the Democrats.

Mr Mourdock, who is strongly anti-abortion under any circumstances, shocked both Republicans and Democrats by saying during the campaign that if a pregnancy occurred as a result of rape it was "a gift from God".

"I struggled with it myself for a long time," the would-be senator said. "But I came to realise that life is that gift from God, and I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something God intended to happen."

The only exception to an outright ban on abortion was if the life of the mother was at stake, he insisted.

Mr Akin was expected to win the Missouri seat until his comments in August about "legitimate rape" caused outrage.

Senator Tammy Baldwin speaking to supporters following her success

Mr Akin said on TV that he believed women's "natural" defences would prevent them getting pregnant if they really had been raped.

Politicians from his own party called for him to drop out of the election race but, while he apologised for his remarks, he refused to withdraw from the campaign.

In a tight race in Wisconsin, Democrat congresswoman Tammy Baldwin prevailed in a close race with former Governor Tommy Thompson and will become the first openly gay US senator.

In Massachusetts, Republican Scott Brown, who managed to win the Senate seat after the death of Ted Kennedy in 2009, was defeated by Democrat Elizabeth Warren.

But the results mean the newly re-elected President Barack Obama will still have to deal with a divided Congress.

The Democrats retain control of the Senate, while Republicans keep a solid control of the House of Representatives.

Before the election, the Republicans had hoped to win the Senate in which they held 47 seats to the Democrats 53. That, now, is impossible.

House Speaker John Boehner will continue to block Mr Obama's tax plans

But the Republicans are sure of keeping control of the House which has a total of 435 seats. Although the Democrats made a few gains, the Republicans still have a commanding lead.

House Speaker John Boehner, who gets to keep his job, said voters made clear there is no mandate for raising taxes.

Mr Obama has proposed imposing higher taxes on households earning over $250,000 a year.

However, control of the Senate means Democrats can protect the president's signature legislative achievement, his health care reform law, which Republicans had promised to repeal.

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April Jones: Man Sentenced For Facebook Posts

An 18-year-old man has been given a six-week suspended sentence for making offensive comments on Facebook about missing girl April Jones.

Sam Busby, a sales adviser from Worcester, was arrested by police after posting grossly offensive sexual remarks on the social networking site.

The teenager pleaded guilty to sending an indecent and offensive message brought under the 2003 Communications Act.

"He told the police that he was an immature teenager and it was an attempt to get some attention," prosecutor Kerry Lovegrove told magistrates in Worcester.

Solicitor Belinda Arris, defending, said Busby felt extremely sorry and ashamed, and was now likely to lose his job.

"He's so, so sorry, he has closed down his Facebook account and no longer engages in any social networking," she said.

Murder suspect Mark Bridger

Magistrates said they had taken into account Busby's early guilty plea and remorse, as they handed him six-week jail term suspended for 18 months.

In a separate case, another Facebook user was recently given a 12-week jail term for a similar offence where comments were made about the five-year-old.

Police are continuing their search for April more than a month after she disappeared in the Welsh town of Machynlleth. She was last seen on October 1.

Mark Bridger, 46, has been charged with abduction and murder.

Ms Lovegrove told the court that Busby's initial post on Facebook was a "joke" about April obtained from another website.

Although other Facebook users urged Busby to stop, he went on to write more offensive comments, prompting a woman to contact police.

After his arrest, Busby said he had been responsible for the comments, and told officers he thought they could only be seen by his friends on Facebook.

Magistrates also ordered Busby to pay an £80 victim surcharge and keep to a 7pm to 7am curfew for eight weeks.

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US Election: How Romney Lost And Obama Won

"We are not as divided as our politics suggest," newly re-elected President Barack Obama insisted as he addressed thousands of his supporters at his victory party in Chicago.

His inclusive message - white or black , straight or gay, red state or blue state "we are one United States of America" - deliberately reprised the great speech which first brought him to national, and international, prominence when he ran for the US Senate just eight years ago.

It was also a reminder of how little has changed in American politics in this election in spite of the record $6bn spent on the campaign.

Mr Obama is still the president. The Democrats still have a narrow majority in the US Senate.

The Republicans still have the majority in the House of Representatives. Democrat heartlands are still on the east and west coasts and in the north east. The Republican firewall in the southern states was not breached.

After four difficult years in the White House, there was a modest swing against Mr Obama on Tuesday night but, at around 2%, it was not enough to dislodge his hold on the electoral college.

With only Florida still to be allocated, Mr Romney won just two states off Mr Obama, Indiana and North Carolina, the latter by the smallest of margins.

President Barack Obama celebrates re-election

As Mr Romney accepted in his concession speech in Boston, this outcome means that the US has, on balance, rejected "the different direction" he and, more specifically his Republican allies, were offering the country.

In state referendums, there were votes in favour of recognising gay marriage and of the recreational use of marijuana.

And in two states carried by Mr Romney on Tuesday night - Indiana and Missouri - there was rejection for the two Republican tea-party candidates Todd Akins and Dick Mourdock who had made extreme ideological assertions about rape and abortion.

Even on voting day, prominent Republicans were asserting loudly that the predictions of the mainstream media (including me) and the opinion polls were wrong.

They believed that their supporters and independent voters were enthused for Mr Romney and that demoralised Democrats would boycott the polls.

This scenario simply did not happen. Turnout was healthy (although below 2008 and even 2004 numbers).

And, according to the exit polls, Mr Obama's support was both quantitatively and qualitatively amongst the demographic groups which put him in power - women, younger voters and ethnic minorities.

This president did not get a honeymoon at the start of his first term and he will not get one now. America is spared a transition and a lame duck session of Congress.

Which means that he and his Republican opponents in the House have until the end of the year to agree more palatable ways of dealing with the national overdraft or they will plunge off the "fiscal cliff" with severe automatic tax rises and public spending cuts kicking in.

The big question is how the now leaderless Republicans respond to this second rebuff from the voters?

There were astonishing scenes on the result shows as well-known right-wing pundits argued with each other about the coverage, and some accused Mr Romney as "a northwestern Liberal".

One-time presidential candidate Donald Trump has expressed outrage at the result and called for a march on Washington.

Donald Trump has expressed outrage at the result

Anger has also been directed at the prominent Republican Chris Christie of New Jersey, who openly congratulated Mr Obama on his response to last week's hurricane.

None of this suggests there is as yet a mood for cool, calm reflection amongst Republicans on the national political mood.

Mr Romney offered no lead on this in his concession speech. So it seems unlikely that Speaker Boehner will now "reach out" constructively to the newly-mandated president.

Mr Obama has a government team in place but some changes are inevitable.

Hillary Clinton has said she wants to step down as Secretary of State but she may stay on for some months to deal with pressing foreign policy questions: Syria, Iran and the new Chinese government due to be put in place by the Communist Party this week.

The US constitution bars Mr Obama from running for a third term, which means whether she stays or goes Mrs Clinton is now the favourite for the Democratic nomination in 2016.

Rather surprisingly the president did not thank the Clintons publicly on Tuesday night, but his aides have said the first phone call he made after Mr Romney privately threw in the towel was to Bill Clinton, who campaigned so hard for him.

Hillary Clinton is favourite for the 2016 Democratic nomination

Both David Cameron and Ed Miliband have congratulated Mr Obama on his re-election and both are genuinely pleased - and not just because of continuity and stability.

The Prime Minister is cheered because Mr Obama is the first leader in this economic slowdown to have kept his job, unlike Nicolas Sarkozy, Silvio Berlusconi and others.

Number 10 believes Mr Obama has shown you can persuade the voters that you are dealing with an economic mess which you did not create.

On the other hand, Labour leader Mr Miliband believes Mr Obama's policies are closer to his own, stressing stimulus above austerity.

So 'No Drama' Obama has become 'No Change Election' Obama. But that does not mean he plans to be 'No Legacy' Obama.

With the clock now ticking on his administration, the president says he goes back to the White House "inspired" and "hopeful" to "continue our journey forward and remind the world just why it is that we live in the greatest nation on earth".

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Obama 'Wants To Work With Defeated Rival'

Re-elected US President Barack Obama has tried to unify the country by reaching out to his defeated Republican rival about moving the country forward.

Following a bitter and costly election campaign, the president easily overcame challenger Mitt Romney - taking seven of the nine key battleground states.

Mr Romney won in North Carolina but Democrat Mr Obama swept to victory in Ohio, Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, Wisconsin, Virginia and Colorado.

With Florida still the last swing state left to call, he has 303 electoral college votes to Mr Romney's 206 and is well over the crucial threshold of 270.

Obama confirmed his win on Twitter - it's now the most-retweeted tweet ever

The president was also ahead in the national popular vote, with the country-wide exit poll putting him on 50% - two points ahead of his Republican challenger.

This is despite his popularity plunging since he was swept into the White House on a wave of hope in 2008 and unemployment currently standing at 7.9%.

:: READ MORE - Live Election Updates

Jubilation spread through the night in Chicago as it became clear Mr Obama was going to be re-elected. Once Mr Romney had conceded by phone, the president appeared on stage to rapturous cheers as Stevie Wonder's hit Signed, Sealed, Delivered played.

Mr Obama tried to unify the nation, saying: "In the weeks ahead I look forward to sitting down with governor Romney to talk about where we can work together to move this country forward."

He also said: "Despite all the hardship we've been through, despite all the frustrations of Washington, I've never been more hopeful about our future. I have never been more hopeful about America.

President Obama walks on stage with his family before his Chicago speech

"I believe we can seize this future together because we are not as divided as our politics suggest. We're not as cynical as the pundits believe. We are greater than the sum of individual ambitions."

He added: "We know in our hearts that, for the United States of America, the best is yet to come."

The first US black president declared that he was returning to the White House "more determined and more inspired than ever ... about the future."

Before appearing in person, the Democrat had told his supporters via Twitter: "This happened because of you. Thank you," and: "We're all in this together. That's how we campaigned and that's who we are. Thank you".

The Obamas and Bidens after their victory was called

In a third post, he said simply: "Four more years," and posted a picture of himself hugging his wife Michelle. This was retweeted more than half a million times - a Twitter record.

In Washington, thousands of well-wishers danced and waved flags outside the White House after the result became clear - chanting "four more years" and "USA, USA".

Crowds whooped and cried out "Obama, Obama" and gave high-fives to strangers as election fever swept across the city.

The contest had been billed as one of the tightest races for the White House in decades but ultimately, Mr Obama won comfortably.

His victory appeared to be a vindication for a campaign team that had predicted a close but winnable election - despite the pain of the deepest economic crisis since the 1930s Great Depression.

Romney campaign staff in Boston were shocked as Democrat victories piled up and Republican supporters looked increasingly devastated as they realised their dream was over.

The candidate, who was watching the result in the city, rang Mr Obama to concede once he lost Ohio and then briefly addressed the crowds.

Romney supporters absorbing the result

"This is a time of great challenges for America and I pray that the president is successful in guiding our nation," he said.

The Republican thanked his running mate Paul Ryan and his family, calling wife Ann "the love of my life" and saying "she would have been a wonderful first lady".

He added: "Paul and I have left everything on the field. We have given everything to this campaign. I so wish that I had been able to fulfil your hopes to lead the country in a different direction, but the nation chose another leader."

Mr Romney had earlier revealed he had written a 1,118-word victory speech and claimed he had not prepared anything in case he lost.

Until last month, the Republican was considered to have little chance of ousting Mr Obama after his campaign was damaged by a string of gaffes.

Mitt Romney spoke to supporters after conceding defeat

However, a lacklustre performance by the president in the first television debate turned the race on its head and Mr Romney surged back in the polls.

The incumbent was much stronger in the second and third debates, but it was not enough to derail the Romney campaign.

Better than expected employment figures last week helped bolster the Democrat and then fate also played a hand when Hurricane Sandy roared in.

The superstorm forced Mr Romney into the shade as campaigning was suspended and Mr Obama returned to presidential duties, but the pair was still neck-and-neck going into the final day.

Once the euphoria of another victory fades, the president will face a tough task enacting his second-term agenda, after Republicans - who thwarted him repeatedly in his first term - retained control of the House of Representatives.

The Empire State Building turns blue after Barack Obama's victory

Democrats kept the Senate but fell short of the 60-vote super majority needed to pass major legislation over Republican blocking tactics.

Two Republican Senate candidates, Richard Mourdock in Indiana and Todd Akin in Missouri, both lost their seats after making controversial remarks about rape during the campaign.

Read live updates from Sky's Ian Woods, Amanda Walker and Andrew Wilson in the US.

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North Wales Abuse Victim Says Name And Shame

By Becky Johnson, North of England Correspondent

A man who claims he was among hundreds of children abused at a care home in North Wales in the 1970s has told Sky News he wants those involved to be named and shamed.

Keith Gregory was 12 years old when he was abused while in care at the Bryn Estyn children's home in Wrexham.

He told Sky News: "I know there was a lot of top people. There was police officers, serving senior police officers.

"There were all sorts of people to be honest, business people, directors of businesses."

Mr Gregory believes the Waterhouse Inquiry which investigated the allegations in the late 1990s was a "cover-up".

He said: "We gave evidence, told them what we knew and we named names. Every name that we named that weren't staff workers or care workers from Bryn Estyn they didn't want to know.

"If it happened off-site they didn't want to know. So all names, especially senior names were all kept off."

"When people tried to mention the names ... and all the rest of it, Waterhouse himself told them they must stick to the statements and obviously there was nothing on the statements because it had all been wiped off so then we knew that it was another cover-up."

Mr Gregory added: "But if they'd have investigated those names at the time then they'd have probably stopped a lot more child abuse by finding the paedophile gang.

"They were bringing people in late at night - turned up in cars and sometimes in a minibus - and they were taking kids at random from beds, taking them up to a private flat that was in Bryn Estyn where they would be abused.

"And we just used to hide under the sheets and just hope to God it wasn't you. And then we'd hear kids coming back crying their eyes out."

He continued: "I know they were taking kids out into Wrexham town centre. They used to say the good boys are going out for a ride ... Rooms were booked and people were raped, children were raped and sexually abused."

The Home Secretary Theresa May has set out plans for two fresh inquiries into allegations of abuse in children's homes in North Wales in the 1970s and 1980s.

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Americans Vote In Tightest Election For Years

By Greg Milam, US Correspondent

Barack Obama looks on course to secure a second term in the White House as Americans cast their votes following the most expensive election campaign in history.

The president appears to have the narrowest of leads over rival Mitt Romney in a number of critical swing states.

The Republican candidate and his wife Ann voted in Belmont, Massachusetts, before he headed to Cleveland in Ohio and Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania for some last-minute campaigning.

Asked who he voted for, Mr Romney said: "I think you know," adding he felt "very, very good" about his election prospects.

If elected, he would be the first Mormon to become US president.

Mitt and Ann Romney cast their votes in Belmont, Massachusetts

Mr Obama, who voted earlier in the campaign, is spending the day in his home town of Chicago. He has recorded a number of television and radio interviews to be broadcast today.

His vice-president Joe Biden cast his ballot in Greenville, Delaware, saying: "It's always a kick."

When asked if he thought it was the last time he would vote for himself, he told reporters: "No, I don't think so."

US vice-president Joe Biden votes in Delaware

Mr Biden shook hands with and hugged other voters as he waited. He urged Americans to vote "even if you have to stand in line".

In a possible sign of a tight race ahead, the first ballots on election day saw both candidates receive five votes each in the tiny town of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire.

The president wrapped up his campaign with a rally in Iowa, the state where his 2008 campaign sparked into life, calling on Americans to give him a second chance.

"I came back to ask you to help us finish what we started because this is where our movement for change began, right here," he said.

"After all we've fought through together, we cannot give up on change now. We know what real change looks like."

:: Watch full coverage on Sky News as the results come in from 2230

The two candidates have criss-crossed a handful of swing states in recent days as they try to energise supporters and secure every last vote. Both have sounded weary and hoarse at times.

The latest 'poll of polls' by RealClearPolitics puts Mr Obama on 48.8% and Mr Romney on 48.1%.

In swing states, Mr Obama has a three-percentage point lead in Ohio and was ahead by slimmer margins in Virginia and Colorado. Mr Romney led in Florida.

Voting at the Boston Public Library

The other states to watch include Iowa, Wisconsin, Nevada and Pennsylvania, where Mr Romney has poured money into a late run.

The electoral college system and the state polls suggest Mr Obama could be headed toward re-election partly due to his lead in Ohio, according to Ipsos pollster Julia Clark.

A victory in US presidential elections relies not on a popular vote count but reaching 270 electoral college votes. They are allocated to each state based on the size of its population.

Ms Clark said: "Obama only needs a couple of these swing states and the data suggests that he'll win one or two of them."

Mr Obama and Mr Romney picked up five votes each in Dixville Notch

But Mr Romney's advisers have dismissed those polls and believe they have the momentum.

At a rally in New Hampshire on Monday night, Mr Romney said: "Tomorrow is a moment to look into the future and imagine what we can do, to put that past four years behind us and build a new future.

"Walk with me. Tomorrow, we begin a new tomorrow."

The economy has been the key issue in the campaign and both candidates have been driving grassroots efforts to mobilise support.

Barack Obama's final rally in Iowa

Mr Romney told them: "We have one job left, and that's to make sure that on election day, we make certain that everybody that's qualified to vote gets out to vote."

In the last few days, Mr Obama has been accompanied by stars including Bruce Springsteen and Jay-Z and with appearances from former president Bill Clinton.

Both campaigns have victory rallies lined up, in Chicago and at Mr Romney's HQ in Boston. The candidates will address the nation once the results are known.

There have already been some allegations of irregularities at polling stations and if the numbers are close, recounts and absentee ballots could mean it is days before the result is known.

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Syria: Assad Could Leave, Says David Cameron

David Cameron has suggested that Syria's president Bashar al Assad could be allowed safe passage out of the country if it would guarantee an end to the nation's civil war.

In an interview with Sky News Arabia, the Prime Minister said the international community is not doing enough to stop the fighting and a "political road map" was needed to see Mr Assad leave.

Speaking in Abu Dhabi on the second day of a three-day tour of the Gulf and Middle East, he added that he was committed to work with the opposition both within and outside the country to help bring about a transition.

"I am certainly not offering (Assad) an exit plan to Britain, but if he wants to leave, he could leave, that could be arranged," Mr Cameron said.

Activists say that since Syria's unrest began in March 2011, more than 36,000 people have been killed.

Mr Cameron is on a tour of the Middle East

The conflict is now stuck in a military stalemate, which rebel fighters blame on a lack of strategic weapons, such as anti-aircraft missiles.

Appearing on Al Arabiya television about Mr Assad, Mr Cameron continued: "Of course, I would favour him facing the full force of international law and justice for what he's done."

The Prime Minister has previously called the failure of world powers to halt the Assad regime's assault on its opponents a "terrible stain" on the reputation of the deadlocked United Nations.

Syria's allies Russia and China have repeatedly blocked attempts to approve harsher sanctions in the Security Council.

Meanwhile, fighting continues a day after nearly 250 people died in the country's worst violence in weeks and rebels launched one of their deadliest attacks yet.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 247 people were killed on Monday, including 93 soldiers and pro-regime fighters, in the deadliest day in Syria since an attempt to impose a ceasefire for the October Eid al Adha Muslim holiday collapsed.

Another car bomb struck early on Tuesday, causing injuries and significant damage in the city of Mudamiya near the capital, the Observatory said.

The regime also renewed a campaign of air strikes pounding rebel positions, with fighter jets dropping at least two bombs in the heart of the town of Douma, eight miles northeast of the capital.

Syrian state television has also reported that Mohammad al Laham, brother of parliament speaker Jihad al Laham, was "assassinated by terrorists" in Damascus.

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Wales Abuse: Crime Agency Boss Heads Inquiry

The National Crime Agency (NCA) is to investigate fresh allegations of abuse in children's homes in North Wales amid claims that a senior Tory was among the perpetrators.

The Home Secretary said the director general of the NCA, Keith Bristow, would review the original police handling of the case - which dates back to the 1970s and 1980s - as well as looking at the latest allegations by one of the victims.

"The Government is treating these allegations with the utmost seriousness," Theresa May told MPs in a Commons statement.

"Child abuse is a hateful, abhorrent and disgusting crime and we must not allow these allegations to go unanswered."

Mrs May said she would also consider Labour calls for a wider, over-arching inquiry into child abuse - including the allegations involving the late DJ and BBC presenter Sir Jimmy Savile - if the evidence was shown to justify it.

The abuse claims centre on the Bryn Estyn boys home in Wrexham

Labour backbencher Tom Watson, who has raised claims of a former Cabinet minister allegedly involved in child abuse, dismissed the latest moves as simply "the next stage of a cover-up".

The announcement comes after David Cameron said he would be appointing a senior figure to review the original public inquiry, led by retired High Court judge Sir Ronald Waterhouse, into abuse at the Bryn Estyn children's home.

The investigations followed renewed allegations last week by one of the victims, Steve Messham, who said the inquiry examined only a fraction of the claims of abuse.

He told BBC2's Newsnight that he was taken out of the home and "sold" to men for sexual abuse at a nearby hotel and that a senior Tory from the time was among the abusers.

Mr Messham has been meeting with Welsh Secretary David Jones in Whitehall to discuss his allegations.

Alleged victim Keith Gregory says there was a "cover-up" of serious abuse

In her statement, Mrs May warned MPs not to use parliamentary privilege to try to name the alleged suspect as it could jeopardise the prospect of any future criminal trial.

Mr Bristow will lead a team of officers drawn from the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (Soca), the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) and "other investigative assets as necessary".

He will produce an initial report by next April.

Mrs May said HM Inspectorate of Constabulary, which is drawing together details of allegations made to police forces around the country against Savile, would be able to take into account any lessons that emerge during his inquiry.

Tory former children's minister Tim Loughton said he had predicted the Savile allegations would be the "tip of the iceberg".

He said: "We should not be surprised now child abuse has raised its head within a political spectrum as well.

"Is it not now time, rather than wake up every week to see a new institution involved in this mire, that we have an overreaching, robust public inquiry into the whole failings of child protection in various institutions throughout the latter part of the 20th century, be it the BBC, the health service, the police, the church and so on?"

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Jail For Paedophile Who Kidnapped Young Boy

By David Crabtree, Midlands Correspondent

A predatory paedophile who kidnapped, tied up, sexually assaulted and threatened to kill a ten-year-old boy has been jailed indefinitely.

Michael Jackson, 50, who changed his name by deed poll from Albert English to that of the pop singer, also admitted abducting a girl of 11.

The boy had been on his way back from shops in the Oldbury area of the West Midlands in November last year when he vanished.

He was held captive at Jackson's ground floor flat for around three hours.

In that time the boy was tied up with tape and rope, gagged, thrust into a cupboard with a pillow case over his head and sexually assaulted.

Holding a knife Jackson told the boy: "It's time to die if you make a noise."

He also told the terrified youngster his father would be murdered and he would never see his mother again.

After bundling the boy into an airing cupboard Jackson went out to play computer games with friends to "build up an alibi".

The boy was later spotted at the window of Jackson's flat by a passer-by

The boy managed to free himself from some of the bindings and got out of the cupboard. He later told police that it was "scary, scary, scary".

He found a Stanley knife, pliers and a hammer in the flat and thought they were the tools he was going to be killed with. He armed himself with the hammer should Jackson come back.

A woman spotted the boy at the window of the flat and raised the alarm. Police were called and the youngster jumped from the window into the arms of a police officer. Jackson was arrested a short time later.

Jackson admitted a total of five charges relating to the boy's abduction and that of an 11-year-old girl a few weeks earlier. She was also taped and tied up but was released physically unharmed.

Passing sentence, Judge Walsh stressed it was likely to be "very many years, if ever" before Jackson was judged to be safe to be freed from prison.

"I am satisfied that had (the 10-year-old boy) not escaped, he would have been subjected to further serious sexual abuse or worse.

"He was, fortuitously, able to escape from the cupboard. When he entered the bedroom, he saw a knife, pliers and a hammer - articles he believed would be used to kill him.

"It is simply impossible to imagine the sheer terror experienced by that young child as a result of your actions."

In the days after the boy's abduction, hundreds of people held demonstrations in the area calling for action to protect children from paedophiles.

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Savile's Freeman Honour Set To Be Revoked

Jimmy Savile's name is set to be wiped from Scarborough's list of Freemen of the Borough.

Councillors will debate a motion to take his name from the roll of honour as a gesture of support to the 300 people he allegedly abused over six decades.

The disgraced BBC star was awarded the accolade in 2005 to celebrate his links with the North Yorkshire resort, where he owned a second home and was buried overlooking the sea a year ago.

Councillor Tom Fox, who proposed the motion, said: "This council wishes to send its heartfelt support to, and acknowledge the courage of, those who have come forward having suffered horrendous abuse at the hands of the alleged serial predatory sexual offender Sir Jimmy Savile.

"In addition, this council, in further acknowledgment of the serious predatory sexual allegations spanning over six decades, agrees that if the council had been aware of such revelations at the time of Sir Jimmy Savile's nomination for honorary freeman of the borough of Scarborough, the council would have refused it.

Savile's family have removed his headstone from a Scarborough cemetery

"It is therefore proposed that his name be removed forthwith from the honour board for freemen of the borough pending the final report from the Metropolitan Police, when this council will make a permanent decision in relation to the matters referred to in this motion."

Historically, anyone made a freeman was exempt from tolls and given special privileges.

It is still awarded to "persons of distinction and any persons who have rendered eminent services to the borough".

Scarborough has granted freeman status to 20 individuals and groups since the local government reshuffle of 1974, including playwright Sir Alan Ayckbourn, retired boxer Paul Ingle and the Yorkshire Regiment.

The motion to remove Savile's name from the honour board will be considered at a full council meeting later.

Savile's ornate triple headstone in Scarborough's Woodlands Cemetery was knocked down and sent to landfill last month at the request of his family.

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Obama And Romney In Final White House Push

Who Will Win The Presidency?

Updated: 11:01am UK, Monday 05 November 2012

By Adam Boulton, Political Editor

In predicting who is going to be the next US president, all we have to go on are the opinion polls - the rest comes down to hunches and conscious or unconscious prejudice.

What's more, opinion polls in America are particularly unreliable. Polling just a few thousand people in a country where around 140 million are expected to vote is a risky business.

In many polls the margin of error, typically plus or minus 3%, is much bigger than the arithmetical 'lead' enjoyed by the top candidate.

There are also differences in the representative sample used by the pollsters. For example, that venerable organisation Gallup seems consistently to favour the Republicans by as much as 6% more than its rivals in national opinion polls.

As things stand, national opinion polls are mostly a dead heat, when a margin of error is allowed for.

Mr Obama's popularity declined after his poor performance in the debate on October 3 and he has not recovered his big lead since then. But Mr Romney had no "momentum" by the beginning of November.

At the weekend, the RealClearPolitics (RCP) National Poll Average stood at 47.5% for Mr Obama and 47.3% for Mr Romney.

Mr Obama is clearly not on course to do as well as he did in 2008 against John McCain when he polled 52.9% of votes cast, compared to 45.7% for the Republican.

Indeed conventional wisdom has now placed at least two of the states he won then - Indiana and North Carolina - firmly in the Republican column.

National opinion polls reflect the popular vote across the country, and winning that is not how you get to be president. You win the election by winning the vote state by state, thus stacking up the majority of the 538 electoral college votes.

It's perfectly possible to win the popular vote and lose the electoral college. That's what Al Gore did against George W Bush in 2000. And it's what some Republicans fear Mr Romney may do this time.

So to work out who is going to sleep in the White House next January, you need to follow the state polls.

Working from this data, America's leading analysts have come up with different snapshots of the state of the electoral race.

With 270 college votes needed to win, RCP allocates 201 to Mr Obama, 191 to Mr Romney and 146 votes in 11 states to play for.

Calling states on a solid and leaning basis, the Washington Post gives Mr Obama 243 electoral votes, Mr Romney 181, with 89 up for grabs in the toss up states - Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Wisconsin, Colorado, Iowa and New Hampshire.

Nate Silver at the New York Times' controversial FiveThirtyEight blog makes a different probability-based analysis of the same polling data. 

He says there is now an 85.1% chance of Mr Obama being re-elected compared to just 14.9% that Mr Romney will become the 45th POTUS.  He calculates final electoral vote share at 306.9 for Mr Obama compared to 231.1 for Mr Romney.

You get a similar result if you apply the latest state polls to the toss-up states in the Washington Post and RCP models. With two days to go these state polls do not point to a dead heat - they suggest that Mr Obama is going to be re-elected.

In the latest polls from most of the swing states - Wisconsin, Colorado, Iowa, New Hampshire, Virginia and above all Ohio - the President is ahead, not by much but consistently. He has also edged ahead in Florida, where he held his biggest rally on Sunday.

The Romney campaign shifted its focus to Pennsylvania at the weekend, in an attempt to suggest that more states than the usual suspects may be in play. But here and in Minnesota and Michigan, which the Republicans are also citing, the latest polls are also against them.

David Axelrod, Mr Obama's campaign chief, has promised to shave off his moustache if the President loses any of these three.

So why is there such confidence among Republicans that their man will win? Basically they say the opinion polls are wrong - and they point to surveys of early voting which show that Mr Obama's support amongst key voters is well down on 2008.

This argument, best articulated by George W Bush's old aide Karl Rove in the Wall St Journal, says the pollsters are over-representing democrats in their samples. On the ground they say Democrats are de-motivated to vote, while Republicans are fired up, and independents are breaking their way.

No wonder so many pundits are sitting on the fence, pointing out that this is a very close race according to the polls - with Mr Obama's edge in most circumstances in the margins of error.

Those who are making a guess, have to fall back on hunches and rules of thumb.

There are plenty of personal bellwethers to choose from.

No president since Franklin D Roosevelt has ever been re-elected with unemployment this high (although at 7.9% it is only a tenth of a per cent above the level where they have been returned).

At the start of the campaign, 25% of the electorate said the would never vote for a Mormon.

"As goes Ohio, so goes the nation" is pretty good but not infallible, but it is the case that no Republican has ever won without carrying what pundits insist on calling the Buckeye [i.e. Conker] State.

Then there are the lessons from recent history.

Incumbent presidents generally have some squatter's advantage. In modern times the only two incumbent presidents denied re-election have been George Bush senior and Jimmy Carter. But both had stronger negatives against them than Mr Obama.

Mr Bush's 1988 election pledge "read my lips no new taxes" was a demonstrable lie by 1992, while in 1980 Mr Carter was humiliated by American hostages held in Iran and a disastrous military mission to rescue them.

In contrast, Mr Obama presided over the killing of Osama bin Laden, economic indicators are at last moving in the right direction, and he's enjoyed high approval and endorsement in the past week for his handling of Hurricane Sandy.

It's also the case that the more charismatic candidate tends to win the presidency. Mr Carter outshone Gerald Ford but was put in the shade by Ronald 'Morning in America' Reagan; the reserved George Walker Bush was no match for 'Slick Willy' Clinton.

This year, by common consent, Mr Obama has the star power although Mr Romney is making the best of his buttoned-up big businessman demeanour.

Fifty-one-year-old Mr Obama is playing the man of the people: most often open-necked, shouting till he is hoarse and allowing himself the occasional blunt epithet such as "bull****er" about his opponent.

A well-preserved 65-year-old Mr Romney presents more formally as a president in waiting, he's even had his campaign plane painted to look like Air Force One. He's less inclined to dive into the crowd and typically delivers more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger pep talks about the state of Mr Obama's nation. A bit like the harangues most managers subject their employees to these days.

There is also a clear choice between the two men's visions of America - although both claim they are the man to unite the country across the political divide.

Arguing "we are all in this together" Mr Obama argues that government has a role in directing the country, the rich he says, need to contribute more.

Mr Romney champions the private sector, volunteers and individuals. He argues that lower taxes, even for the better off, will benefit all.

So who do I think will win?

I think it's unlikely that all the polls are as wrong as they would have to be for a Republican victory.

I note that the Republicans are under-performing in their ambitions for the US Congress - unlikely to take control of the Senate and set to lose a few seats in the House.

It also seems to me that the Republican Party is a house divided against itself. With powerful voices on the right such as the Tea Party pulling it a long way from the centrist ground which saw Mr Nixon, Mr Reagan and even the Bushes first elected. If Mr Romney is elected, I suspect that the internal rows are only just beginning. Swing voters don't like divided parties.

Shifts in the US population do not favour Republicans - if this was a 'whites only' election Mr Romney would be home and dry. But as the Republican Senator Linsey Graham quipped this summer: "We are not generating enough angry white guys to stay in business for the long term."

Disappointment yes, almost everywhere, but I don't detect widespread anger and contempt for Mr Obama. The mood seems more about pressing on in hard times. A mood which may well have been strengthened by the travails of Hurricane Sandy in this closing week.

So my guess is that the President will be re-elected taking Ohio and probably Florida. But it is only a guess, America has two credible leaders to take it forward.

But most of the real votes have not been cast yet in spite of early polling, and they won't be until Tuesday.

Paddy Power is already paying out on an Obama victory. If you've got a bet on, my advice is to get down to the bookies ASAP.

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Glasgow Police Officer Dies In Shooting

A police officer has died in a shooting at a Glasgow police station.

A statement from Strathclyde Police confirmed that the officer had been killed at the Baird Street Police Station today.

Sky News understands no-one else is being sought in connection with the incident.

"A full investigation into the circumstances is currently underway and a report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal," a spokeswoman said.

"As in accordance with ACPOS guidelines, officers from an independent force (Lothian and Borders Police) have been appointed to oversee the investigation."

More follows...

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Cosy Texts Between PM And Brooks Revealed

Text messages exchanged by David Cameron and former News International boss Rebekah Brooks are likely to cause fresh embarrassment for the Prime Minister.

In one message, Mr Cameron thanked Mrs Brooks for letting him ride one of her horses, joking it was "fast, unpredictable and hard to control but fun".

In another, the journalist, who faces trial in connection with the phone-hacking scandal, praised Mr Cameron's speech to the Conservative Party conference, saying: "I cried twice."

Both of the messages, which were disclosed by The Mail On Sunday, were sent in October 2009, shortly after Mrs Brooks left her job as editor of The Sun and became chief executive of News International, which owns the paper.

The messages are apparently part of a cache of texts and emails handed to Lord Justice Leveson's inquiry into press standards.

Very few have so far been made public.

The leak sheds further light on the close relationship between Mr Cameron and Mrs Brooks, who live near each other in Oxfordshire.

Her husband, the racehorse trainer Charlie Brooks, was at Eton with the Prime Minister.

Mrs Brooks told the Leveson Inquiry earlier this year that Mr Cameron signed some of his missives to her 'LOL' - mistakenly thinking it meant 'Lots Of Love' rather than 'Laugh Out Loud'.

Questions about Mr Cameron's close links with Rupert Murdoch's media empire, and Mrs Brooks in particular, came to the fore after the phone-hacking row erupted.

Mrs Brooks at the Leveson Inquiry

In her Leveson evidence, Mrs Brooks said, at the height of the scandal in 2010, he sent a message through an intermediary urging her to "keep your head up" and expressed his regret he could not be more loyal in public.

It also emerged previously that the Conservative leader rode a police horse, Raisa, which had been lent to Mrs Brooks by the Metropolitan Police.

Lord Justice Leveson is believed to have received a large amount of correspondence from the Prime Minister, Mrs Brooks and former Downing Street communications chief Andy Coulson.

However, the inquiry's lead counsel, Robert Jay QC, has indicated that only "relevant" documents will be released.

Labour frontbencher Chris Bryant has challenged Mr Cameron to publish all the material himself, suggesting he was delaying the process because it was "too salacious and embarrassing".

Mrs Brooks and Mr Coulson, an ex-editor of the News Of The World, are among those facing trial for conspiracy to access voicemails.

In a separate case, Mrs Brooks and her husband are among a group charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "The Prime Minister has always been happy to comply with whatever Lord Justice Leveson has asked of him."

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US Presidential Race Goes Down To The Wire

The US presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have entered the last two days before voting, with polls still indicating no clear winner.

After an intensive Saturday criss-crossing key battleground states, the American president is targeting Democrats in Colorado, Florida, Ohio and New Hampshire on Sunday, urging them to vote.

Meanwhile, Republican candidate Mitt Romney has decided to intensify efforts in Iowa, Ohio and then in Democrat-leaning Pennsylvania.

Both campaigns have predicted victory for Tuesday's election but the most recent poll by the Washington Post and ABC News puts the candidates even at 48% of the vote.

Mr Obama has an apparent edge in some key battleground states, including Ohio, while Mr Romney's campaign is projecting momentum, and banking on late-breaking voters to propel him to victory in the close race.

Pop singer Katy Perry was thanked by Mr Obama for her campaigning

The Republican hopeful plans to cut away briefly from the nine key battleground states that have dominated the candidates' travel itineraries.

Mr Romney, along with running mate Paul Ryan, plan an early evening rally in Morrisville, Pennsylvania in an attempt to woo disillusioned Democrats.

The key battlegrounds states in the election have been Ohio, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, Colorado, Nevada, Wisconsin, Iowa and New Hampshire.

After rules regulating campaign funding were eased for this election, the two political parties ploughed huge amounts into primarily negative advertising against the opposition.

Americans in the key states have been hit by a blizzard of campaign ads.

The two political parties and their allied independent groups aired more than a million ads between June and the end of October, according to the Wesleyan University Media Project.

Mr Romney has continued to campaign in key areas

The advertising in 10 strategic states has cost more than $1bn (£620m).

Never before has so much money been spent on so many commercials aimed at so few voters.

Would-be voters have been bombarded with some 40% more television advertising than the number that ran in the same period in 2008 when Mr Obama defeated Republican John McCain.

But both candidates have appeared to become more fatigued in the frenzied final weekend of campaigning.

Mr Obama apologised to supporters for a hoarse voice at one speech on Saturday.

His apology came as former Democrat president Bill Clinton suffered from a similar problem and told supporters in Virginia he had "given my voice in the service of my president".

Ann Romney has been on the weekend trail with her husband

Mr Obama's strategy has included appeals to the industrial Midwest, where jobs have been saved after the federal government invested large amounts in the wake of the financial meltdown.

His Republican challenger trails the president in some polls in battleground states but retains a narrow and plausible path to the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency

Mr Romney's camp also argues that the Republican may not even be behind the incumbent.

They argue state polls are based on unrealistic assumptions of the size of the Democratic slice of the electorate and underplay Republican enthusiasm.

Mr Romney told crowds in Colorado Springs that the vote is "a moment to look into the future, and imagine what we can do to put the past four years behind us".

Mr Obama has stirred up support from cheering fans

"The door to a brighter future is there."

But both sides realise with just two days to go the result may now be beyond their control.

"The power is not with us anymore, the planning, everything we do, it doesn't matter," Mr Obama told supporters in Virginia.

"It's all up to you, it's up to the volunteers - that's how democracy is supposed to be."

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British Soldier Stabbed To Death In Cyprus

A British soldier has been stabbed to death during a fight with UK tourists in a Cyprus nightclub, police have said.

Cypriot police said four off-duty soldiers stationed on the island got involved in an altercation with three tourists in the early hours of Sunday morning.

One of the tourists then allegedly drew a switch blade knife and stabbed the teenage soldier, according to police spokesman Georgios Economou.

He said: "Today at around 3.30am while a group of British soldiers from Dhekelia garrison were enjoying themselves at a club in Ayia Napa they had a confrontation with three of their compatriots.

"During the confrontation one of the three drew what is believed to be a knife injuring the soldier in the chest."

He was pronounced dead on arrival at Famagusta General Hospital in nearby Paralimni.

The three tourists, all British citizens, have been detained for questioning, police said.

Connie Pierce, a British military spokeswoman, said the incident took place in a part of Ayia Napa that is off limits to British soldiers because of past trouble there.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "It is with great sadness that the MoD must confirm that a soldier from 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers has died in an incident in Cyprus.

"An investigation is being conducted by Cyprus police and it would be inappropriate to comment any further. The family has been informed and our thoughts are with them."

Around 3,000 British military personnel are stationed in Cyprus at bases retained after the former British colony gained independence in 1960.

In 2008 nine British soldiers went on trial accused of trashing a pub and beating up its owner during a mass bar brawl on the island.

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Arrest Over Callum Hilton Hit-And-Run In Bury

A man has been arrested over the hit-and-run death of a 16-year-old boy in Bury, Greater Manchester Police has said.

Police said the teenage victim Callum Hilton was thrown about 20ft when he was struck by a car as he went looking for directions to a party.

The boy, who was out with friends, was crossing Stand Lane in Radcliffe when he was hit by the silver or white Peugeot which did not stop, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said.

He sustained a serious head injury and was taken to hospital where he later died with his family at his bedside.

Speaking shortly before news of the arrest emerged, Detective Inspector Amber Waywell of Greater Manchester Police said the youngster's family were "going through hell".

Signs highlight the road's 30mph speed limit

The officer added: "Callum's mother and grandfather just want to know what happened to him. It's just awful. I can't imagine what his family, his mother, will be going through.

"A young boy goes out on a Saturday evening and doesn't come home. She must be besides herself with grief and we are trying to support her as best we can."

Callum was heading to a party which had been publicised on Facebook with two friends and his cousin.

The boys, three aged 16 and one aged 18, were all from the Middleton and Heywood areas of Greater Manchester.

The victim suffered head injuries in the incident in Radcliffe, near Bury

"We don't know exactly what address they were going to," the officer said.

"The reason they were crossing the road was because they needed to get directions and they saw the hotel on the opposite side of the road.

"From viewing the CCTV footage Callum and his cousin had made it half-way across the road and the other two were waiting to cross.

"His cousin was slightly ahead so was narrowly missed and Callum was struck by the vehicle."

She added: "It is a busy road, it's a fast road, it's a slope.

A man who lives close to the scene and witnessed the aftermath described how a neighbour, a nurse, and a passer-by battled to save the boy as he lay dying in the road.

A girl visits the scene of the hit-and-run, where flowers have been laid

He said: "As I was coming back home, the boy was already on the floor and there were two people offering first aid.

"One was a neighbour, a nurse who lives further up the hill and one was a guy who was driving past.

"With the boy were three friends, one was apparently his cousin but I don't know any of them.

"It was heartbreaking to watch. The lad was in a very, very bad way. The frustration of standing there as two people try to save a young kid's life was heartbreaking."

He said cars were "always" speeding up and down the road, a hill leading into Radcliffe town centre.

A car later found near Bury town centre with front end damage was examined by police specialists but is thought "unlikely" to have been involved.

More than 800 people have joined tribute groups to the 16-year-old on Facebook, including one called "Justice For Callum Hilton".

Shannon Howarth wrote on Facebook: "RIP Callum, I'll always remember you as my little pal in primary school, definitely didn't deserve to go at such a young age!!! Sleep well, you'll never be forgotten."

The tragedy happened on a busy main road with regular 30mph speed limit warning signs.

Accident signs have been placed near the spot where the teenager was killed to appeal for witnesses.

Next to a lamppost with a flashing "slow down/30mph" sign, a bunch of flowers had been left in memory of the victim.

The card read "Callum xxx".

Anyone with information should call GMP on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

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