Elizabeth Kinston: Body Found In GP Search

A woman's body found in grassland is believed to be that of missing GP Elizabeth Kinston - in what police said was a "tragic conclusion" to their investigation.

The 37-year-old mother, who had been suffering from postnatal depression, was last seen on November 1 after leaving her home in Beeston, Nottinghamshire.

The body was discovered near Enterprise Way in the Dunkirk area of Nottingham on Thursday afternoon by officers searching for her.

A post-mortem examination has taken place but the results are expected to take several weeks.

Police released CCTV images in an attempt to trace her

The death is not being treated as suspicious at this time, a police spokesman said.

The discovery came after emotional appeals were made by Mrs Kinston's husband David and her sister Charlotte for her to return home.

Police also released CCTV images of Mrs Kinston's movements on the day she went missing in an attempt to trace the missing doctor.

The 37-year-old woman had been on maternity leave after her second child was born in January.

Police have said she was known to have been battling with postnatal depression since the birth.

Detective Inspector Kev Broadhead, from Nottinghamshire Police, said: "Formal identification has yet to be confirmed, but at this stage we do believe we have found Elizabeth.

The 37-year-old woman had been on maternity leave since January

"It's a tragic conclusion to the inquiry and one we were all desperately hoping we would not have to face.

"On behalf of the force and of Elizabeth's family I would like to thank the hundreds, if not thousands, of people who helped in the search for Elizabeth, whether by sharing appeals on social media, distributing posters or getting out on the streets to search.

"It's been an unprecedented response and something I know her family would like to give heartfelt thanks for.

"It has given them incredible strength through these difficult days.

"David's priority will be his two little girls and getting them through this. We are supporting them during this difficult time."

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Sri Lanka President: 'We Have Nothing To Hide'

Sri Lanka's leader has said his government is ready to investigate any allegations of war crimes and human rights abuses against his forces.

It comes after Prime Minister David Cameron called on President Mahinda Rajapaksa to conduct an independent inquiry by March into claims of war crimes - a deadline set by UN human rights chief Navi Pillay.

The PM said he would press for an international investigation if the regime fails to hold a credible probe by then.

The UN and rights groups say as many as 40,000 civilians may have been killed in the final stages of the 25-year civil war against the rebel Tamil Tigers in May 2009.

But Mr Rajapaksa has denied any civilians were killed.

And he has blocked all calls for an independent probe into claims of war crimes committed by government forces against the Tamil population in the northern Jaffna region.

He told reporters there had already been a series of measures including a commission looking into missing people.

The PM's visit is the first by a foreign leader to the region since 1948

He said: "We will take our time and we will investigate into nearly 30 years of war."

He added: "If there are any allegations we are ready to inquire into it. We have nothing to hide. It's a free country. We need time to settle these things."

Mr Cameron is pressing the regime to do more to improve conditions for the Tamil minority and he met Mr Rajapaksa on Friday to discuss the human rights issue.

During his trip to Sri Lanka, Mr Cameron went to the war-scarred north of the island - the first visit by a foreign leader to the region since 1948.

He met families still unable to return to their homes after spending 20 years in refugee camps and was mobbed by protesters who claim relatives were murdered by the state.

The PM insisted he had given a "fair reflection" of the need for improved human rights after cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan suggested he had been given a false picture of his country.

David Cameron pits his batting skills against Muttiah Muralitharan

The spin bowling great, who is a Tamil, said Mr Cameron had been "misled" about the latest situation in the north.

Mr Muralitharan said: "I'm a sportsman and we don't think about politics. My opinion is, there were problems in the last 30 years in those areas.

"Nobody could move there. In wartime I went with the UN, I saw the place, how it was. Now I regularly go and I see the place and it is about a 1,000% improvement in facilities."

Mr Cameron said: "The Sri Lankan government needs to go further and faster on human rights and reconciliation.

"I accept it takes time but I think the important thing is to get on the right track. This issue is not going to go away, it's an issue of international concern."

In response to Mr Cameron's comments, a senior Sri Lankan minister reaffirmed that the country's government would "definitely" not allow it.

Economic development minister Basil Rajapaksa, who is the president's brother, said: "Why should we have an internal inquiry? We will object to it ... Definitely we are not going to allow it."

Mr Cameron acquitted himself well when he pitted his batting skills against some "Murali" deliveries at a cricket ground in Colombo.

They were there to talk about the sportsman's initiative to bring together youngsters from Tamil and other communities through cricket as part of post-war reconciliation efforts.

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Typhoon Haiyan: Cameron Pledges Extra £30m

The UK Government is to give an extra £30m in aid to help the relief effort after the devastating typhoon in the Philippines.

Prime Minister David Cameron said it was clear more aid was needed after "watching appalling scenes of mass destruction".

A man tries to repair his roof in a village south of Tacloban

During a news conference in Sri Lanka ahead of the Commonwealth summit, Mr Cameron said: "Today I can announce we are providing another £30m to support the UN and the Red Cross emergency appeals and we are also supplying an RAF C-130 Hercules aircraft to help ensure aid workers can move between the worst affected areas and get aid to those who need it."

It brings the total amount of aid donated by the Government to £50m.

Donations by the British public to the Disasters Emergency Committee's typhoon appeal have reached £33m.

The RAF C17 aircraft prepares to unload in Cebu Province

Mr Cameron's pledge comes on the day another RAF cargo plane carrying heavy duty vehicles and medical supplies arrived in the Philippines as part of Britain's emergency response.

The huge C17 transport plane, carrying two JCB diggers, two Land Rovers and a forklift truck emblazoned with stickers reading "UK aid from the British people", landed in Cebu province on Saturday morning.

Sky's Defence Correspondent Alistair Bunkall, who was onboard the plane, said: "The flight stopped off en route in the Middle East and Singapore and needed three flight crews to make the journey.

A Land Rover hits the tarmac at Cebu airport

"It will now return to the Philippines with more aid in the next few days."

UK ambassador to the Philippines Asif Ahmad told Sky News: "The C17 load is being handed over to the UN immediately so it can be taken to where the need is most.

The devastated town of Tanuan, south of Tacloban

"I've just been talking to the commander here of the (air) base, who is facilitating the movements, and his reaction on hearing of the Prime Minister's commitment is, 'You bring tears to my eyes every time I speak to you, tears of joy'."

Squadron Leader David Blakemore, who flew the plane from Singapore added: "Hopefully there will be a few more missions and we'll be able to support the Philippine people over the coming weeks with the aid effort."

A 12-strong team of British doctors, surgeons and paramedics are already in the devastated country helping to treat survivors.

Sunlight catches a religious monument in the demolished town of Tanauan

Mr Cameron said: "A week after Typhoon Haiyan hit, the scale of the disaster is becoming clearer every day - over 3,600 dead, nearly 12 million affected.

"They are going to need sustained help from the international community as they start to rebuild their lives.

"I'm proud of the fact that the UK has taken the lead in international relief with rapid response of warships, aircraft and equipment."

Authorities in the Philippines have put the official death toll at 3,633, with 1,179 people missing and nearly 12,500 injured.

Mr Bembridge with his partner and daughter. Pic: Channel 4 News

The UN has put the number of dead at 4,460 and said that 2.5 million people still "urgently" required food assistance.

At least 600,000 people have been displaced with many homeless, and large numbers of survivors are struggling without food, water and shelter.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Secretary has confirmed a number of British nationals remain unaccounted for in the Philippines.

Among those feared dead is Colin Bembridge, 61, was staying with his Filipino partner Maybelle, 35, and their three-year-old daughter Victoria near Tacloban when the storm struck.

Residents talk near a fire in a central area of Tacloban City

The Philippines government has defended its efforts to deliver aid, with interior secretary Mar Roxas saying: "In a situation like this, nothing is fast enough."

Workers in Tacloban have been burying scores of unidentified bodies in a mass grave as desperately needed aid begins to arrive.

Charity organisation Save the Children said three lorries carrying household and family hygiene kits will set off in convoy from Manila to reach Tacloban and will benefit 5,000 people.

Additional fuel, which has been in very short supply in the area, will also arrive and enable further distributions to take place over the coming days.

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Body Found In Well: Seven Held In Murder Probe

Seven men have been arrested on suspicion of murder after a body was found in a well 7ft below ground in several feet of water.

Police were called to the scene - in the front garden of a large house in Warlingham, Surrey - on Friday afternoon.

The body of the white adult was discovered by two gardeners who were doing clearing work at the property, which is in an acre of grounds in an affluent area.

It has now been removed from the well by specialist officers.

Earlier, detective Chief Inspector Cliff Lyons said: "The body presents a number of logistical challenges.

"The well is 2ft in diameter, it is 7ft deep to the water line, and the water is approximately 4ft deep.

"We need a police marine diving team, with breathing apparatus, and we need to recover the body intact to preserve forensic evidence.

Officers from the Underwater and Confined Space Search Team

DCI Lyons told Sky News: "It is clear to me the body has been placed in the well as opposed to falling in the well and therefore it is a murder investigation."

He added: "It is not possible to ascertain with accuracy the gender of the body but, judging by the size, it is most likely to be an adult, not a child. The person is white.

"It's not been there for an extended period of time, it will be a matter of weeks at the most."

He appealed for anyone who had concerns about a person who has gone missing, especially if they had connections to that area, to come forward.

Anyone with information is urged to call police on 020 8721 4961 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

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Sun Set To 'Flip Upside Down' Within Weeks

The Sun's magnetic field is expected to flip upside down within weeks as its north and south poles swap sides.

The phenomenon, which will send "ripple effects" throughout the solar system, happens once every 11 years as the solar cycle reaches its peak.

It will be observed throughout the heliosphere - the vast region of space affected by the Sun's magnetic field, which extends billions of miles beyond Pluto.

The swap could cause intergalactic weather events such as geomagnetic storms, which can cause radio blackouts and interfere with satellites.

The heightened solar activity it coincides with is also expected to give stargazers a better glimpse of the aurora borealis, or Northern Lights.

Todd Hoeksema, a scientist at Stanford University's Wilcox Solar Observatory, said the polar reversal takes place as the Sun's magnetic field moves north or south from the equator, eroding the existing pole as it does so.

"It's kind of like a tide coming in or going out," he said. "Each little wave brings a little more water in, and eventually you get to the full reversal."

Latest measurements show the Sun technically has two south poles, caused by its two hemispheres being out of sync.

Phil Scherrer, who works with Mr Hoeksema at the observatory, said: "The north pole has already changed sign, while the south pole is racing to catch up.

"Soon, however, both poles will be reversed, and the second half of solar max will be under way."

Mr Hoeksema said in early August that a "complete field reversal" looked like being "no more than three to four months away".

Instruments at the solar observatory near San Francisco have been staring at the Sun for nearly 40 years and record its magnetic field every day.

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Gibraltar: Spain Did Break Law, UK Insists

By Sophy Ridge, Political Correspondent

The Government has insisted Spain is breaking the law with its Gibraltar border checks despite a European Commission finding the country has not acted unlawfully.

Travellers faced delays of several hours over the summer following a war of words between Spain and the UK.

David Cameron asked the commission to investigate the lengthy queues after a diplomatic row over an artificial reef sunk off Gibraltar.

The Prime Minister claimed the checks were "politically motivated" and potentially in breach of EU law on free movement of people.

However, after a fact-finding mission in September, the European Commission has written to Spain and the UK to say the checks did not break the law and urged the two countries to work together.

Delays at the border

The Foreign Office has issued a robust response to the commission's findings saying that while it may not have discovered evidence, it did not mean that Spain was not breaking the law.

A spokesman said: "The fact that the commission has not found evidence that EU law has been infringed is not the same as concluding that Spain has not acted unlawfully.

"Border operated significantly more smoothly than normal during commission visit.

"We remain confident that the Spanish government has acted - and continues to act - unlawfully, through introducing disproportionate and politically motivated checks at the Gibraltar-Spain border. 

A Spanish diver inspects the artificial reef at the centre of the row

"Commission is clearly concerned by the situation, as they: have made recommendations to Spain to improve border functioning; have committed to remain engaged and review in six months; are reserving the right to reconsider; and have explicitly opened up the possibility of another visit in their letter."

A press release from the commission stated: "The commission has not found evidence to conclude that the checks on persons and goods as operated by the Spanish authorities at the crossing point of La Linea de la Concepcion have infringed the relevant provisions of union law.

"The management of this crossing point is nevertheless challenging, in view of the heavy traffic volumes in a relatively confined space and the increase in tobacco smuggling into Spain.

"The commission believes that the authorities on both sides could take further measures to better address these challenges, and is addressing three recommendations to both member states."

The recommendations include optimising the physical space at the border, increasing the use of targeted checks and developing the exchange of information between the two countries.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage tweeted: "Commission statement on Gibraltar a complete whitewash."

The tightened checks came after a dispute this summer over an artificial underwater reef.

Gibraltar's government dropped 74 concrete blocks into an area of the sea regularly used by Spanish fishing boats.

The Spanish saw this as an act of provocation, leading to a diplomatic row.

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Plane Crash: Two Die In North Wales Accident

A man and a woman have died after a light aircraft crashed near a runway in North Wales.

Police were alerted to the incident involving the twin-engine aircraft near manufacturers Airbus UK, in  Broughton, at around 1.10pm.

A police spokesman said: "The man was pronounced dead at the scene and the woman was taken to the Countess of Chester Hospital where she later died.

"Police are currently at the scene and the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) has been informed. A full investigation will be undertaken to establish the full circumstances of the incident."

A spokesman for Airbus said the crash at the Hawarden airfield did not involve one of its aircraft.

More follows...

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Toronto Mayor Ford Stripped Of Some Powers

Toronto's City Council votes overwhelmingly to strip Mayor Rob Ford of some of his powers.

It is the latest attempt to corner the leader who has rebuffed huge pressure to resign over his drinking and drug habits and erratic behaviour.

The motion was approved in a 39-3 vote Friday.

It suspends Mr Ford's authority to appoint and dismiss the deputy mayor and his executive committee, which runs the budget process.

Mr Ford vowed to fight it in court.

More follows...

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Typhoon Haiyan Survivors' Fear And Desperation

Gunshots have reportedly forced the delay of a mass burial of victims of the huge typhoon that smashed into the Philippines.

The mayor of Tacloban, the provincial capital of Leyte province where 16ft waves flattened nearly everything in their path, made the claim on Wednesday.

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

The UN estimates 10,000 people may have died in Tacloban alone

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

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

Jonathan Salayco said he was attacked by two men he did not know late on Tuesday, who then disappeared without a trace.

Soldiers carry young children on to evacuation flights at Tacloban airport

Red Cross nurse Mina Joset said: "He was still holding his toy car.

"For a boy like him, this is a serious injury."

Five days after Typhoon Haiyan, known locally as Yolanda, ripped apart entire coastal communities, the situation in Tacloban is becoming ever more dire with essential supplies low and increasingly desperate survivors jostling for aid.

An injured typhoon survivor is carried by members of the military

Eight people were crushed to death after a huge crowd of typhoon survivors rushed a government rice warehouse, causing a wall to collapse.

The incident in Alangalang town, 10 miles from Tacloban, underlined the increasing sense of fear and desperation setting in among those battling to survive the aftermath of the typhoon.

Sky News Asia Correspondent Mark Stone said: "Those who survived desperately need help. There is nothing like enough supplies or aid here and there is a depressing lack of co-ordination."

The remains of an orphanage

The international relief effort is building momentum with many countries pledging help. 

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

Supplies of rice are loaded on to a truck, but food remains scarce

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

Britain's Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal has reached £13m just 24 hours after it was launched, it was announced on Wednesday.

The US and the UK are sending warships carrying thousands of sailors to the Philippines.

Britain's first flight delivering urgently needed humanitarian aid has arrived, the Government has said.

A chartered Boeing 777 carrying 8,836 shelter kits from UK Government stores in Dubai landed in Cebu City and was met by Department for International Development (DFID) humanitarian workers.

Tacloban's infrastructure was devastated by the typhoon's impact

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

The latest official government death toll stands at 1,798, although authorities have said they have not come close to accurately assessing the number of bodies lying amid the rubble or swept out to sea.

The UN estimates 10,000 people may have died in Tacloban alone.

A school in Cebu was reduced to rubble

Health Secretary Enrique Ona admitted authorities were struggling to deal with the sheer numbers of the dead.

He told radio station DZMM they had delayed the retrieval of bodies because "we ran out of body bags".

He said: "We hope to speed it up when we get more body bags."

The UN estimates more than 11.3 million people have been affected with 673,000 made homeless, since Haiyan smashed into the nation's central islands on Friday.

Haiyan's sustained winds when it hit Samar island, where it first made landfall, reached 195 miles an hour, making it the strongest typhoon in the world this year and one of the most powerful ever recorded.

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Spy In Bag: MI6 Man Probably Locked Himself In

Spy Death: The Evidence Behind The Theories

Updated: 11:31am UK, Wednesday 13 November 2013

Three general theories have been put forward to explain the death of MI6 spy Gareth Williams, with evidence to support each one.

:: Suicide

The theory that Mr Williams' chose to take his own life is perhaps the most prosaic explanation for his death and the inquest has heard evidence that suggested he was unhappy with his work.

He had passed an exam to become fully operational with MI6 just months before his death but his sister said he disliked office culture and the rat race - and had spoken of friction among colleagues.

One common theme throughout the inquest has been Mr Williams' prodigious intelligence, which saw him secure a first-class mathematics degree at the age of 17 before his eventual fast-tracking through the ranks at GCHQ.

Correlations have often been drawn between depression and the high levels of perfectionism evident in Mr Williams - an impression his intense fitness regime and pristinely tidy flat did little to dispel.

Irrespective of his state of mind, however, no-one has been able to fully explain how he would have been able to lock the bag his body was found in from the outside.

Stephen Gale, his boss at GCHQ's Cheltenham base, said Mr Williams stunned fellow intelligence specialists with his codebreaking talents when he landed his first job at 21.

"He was considered something of a prodigy and it was quite remarkable that he had achieved those levels of qualifications at such a young age," he said.

It could be argued that such outstanding achievement at such an early age could lead to the kind of listlessness later in life that can eventually develop into suicidal thoughts.

But Mr Williams' reputation as a "world-class" codebreaker may also give rise to the more outlandish theory that he took his own life while deliberately leaving an apparently inextricable riddle.

:: Accident

Mr Williams' interest in women's clothing - on which receipts showed he spent around £20,000 during 2008 and 2009 - has been among the most prominently-reported details of the case.

His curiosity with drag queen culture has also been a focus for the media, as has his apparent interest in bondage footage.

The inquest heard that in 2007, Mr Williams' landlord and landlady had to rescue him in the middle of the night after he apparently tied his wrists to the headboard of his bed to see if he could "get free".

Such revelations could contribute to a theory that Mr Williams' death was an accident, even the result of a sex game gone-wrong.

However, close friends say he never mentioned cross-dressing and he is only known to have been to see a drag act once.

Detective Constable Simon Warren also moved to quell speculation around the 31-year-old's private life, saying his interest in bondage footage on his computer was "an isolated (incident) among a sea of other data".

And it is not entirely inconceivable that a third party may have manufactured an image of someone with flamboyant personal habits in order to distract from a more sinister truth.

Indeed, this possibility was acknowledged by the coroner in her summing up, when she questioned whether leaks to the media about Mr Williams' cross dressing were attempts to manipulate evidence.

She pointed out that most of the women's clothes found would have been too small for him and said the lack of female underwear was "inconsistent".

Mr Williams was described as a cautious risk assessor by his sister, which the coroner said did not "square" with the suggestion of an interest in bondage.

:: Murder

Despite having no suspects, the police have said from the outset that they believe a third party was involved in Mr Williams' death.

Found naked, curled up in a padlocked North Face holdall in the bath of his flat in Pimlico, central London, bag experts have said that even renowned escapologist Harry Houdini would have struggled to lock himself in the bag.

One even tried and failed to carry out the task more than 300 times before saying they were "unbelievable scenarios".

Lawyers for his family have suggested "dark arts" of the secret services were responsible.

The recent emergence of the news that MI6 failed to hand over nine computer memory sticks from Mr Williams' office to Scotland Yard has done little to confound such claims.

Conspiracy theories are fuelled by the fact that the force's counter-terror SO15 branch, which has specialist security clearance and acted as a conduit between MI6 and the investigation team, only took three items from Mr Williams' office - his phone, some notes and a copy of his birth certificate.

Detective Superintendent Michael Broster, who was the main liaison from SO15, said: "I have seen no information or evidence that someone is involved. I am not saying that a member of SIS is not involved. I don't know."

Poisoning and asphyxiation are the "foremost contenders" in causing Mr Williams' death, pathologists said.

But experts believe there would have been signs of damage to his fingers and hands if he had struggled to get out of the bag within the three minutes it would have taken to suffocate.

The fact that Mr Williams was dead for up to 10 days before his post-mortem examination meant many poisons and/or bruise marks could have disappeared from his body.

Another matter to have attracted suspicion is MI6's failure to report his absence for more than a week after his disappearance.

Forensic experts hope ongoing DNA tests on a green towel discovered in his kitchen may still yield a breakthrough.

But given the assumed capabilities of MI6, the fact that no physical evidence has yet been found to establish the involvement of a third party is unlikely to halt speculation that secret service agents were to blame.

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Nasa Video: Mars' Evolution From Watery World

Nasa has released a video revealing what Mars may have looked like as a young planet billions of years ago.

It appears to have had a thick atmosphere that was warm enough to support oceans of liquid water - a crucial ingredient for life.

The animation, created by Nasa's Conceptual Image Lab, shows how the surface of Mars might have developed over four billion years.

The artist's concept is based on evidence that Mars was once very different.

It shows vast Martian lakes surrounded by mountain ranges, beneath Earth-like blue skies and rapidly moving clouds.

The shift from a warm and wet climate to a cold and dry one is shown as the animation progresses.

Nasa's Curiosity rover has been exploring Mars since 2011

The lakes dry up and transform into a rocky landscape with canyons, volcanoes and craters.

The atmosphere gradually turns to the dusty pink and tan hues seen on Mars today.

Nasa scientist Dr Pan Conrad told Sky News: "We think that the when Mars was created it was a lot wetter and warmer than it is today.

"It probably lost much of its atmosphere over time and that's how it came to be such a desert and cold place."

Red dust - from the iron in its soil - now covers almost all of the surface of the Red Planet, which has an average temperature of -27C (-80F).

Nasa's Curiosity rover has been exploring the surface of the planet since August 2011 and has made several discoveries to support the theory that Mars was once able to support life.

These include pebbles providing evidence that a stream once flowed on the planet, and more recently, Martian dust, dirt and soil suggesting a "substantial" amount of water on Mars.

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McCririck Loses C4 Age Discrimination Case

Racing pundit John McCririck has lost his age discrimination employment tribunal case against Channel 4.

The 73-year-old had claimed he was dismissed by "anonymous suits and skirts" at the broadcaster because of his age, as part of a drive to hire younger faces.

But a Central London Employment Tribunal panel ruled against him.

In its judgment, the panel said: "All the evidence is that Mr McCririck's pantomime persona, as demonstrated on the celebrity television appearances, and his persona when appearing on Channel 4 Racing, together with his self-described bigoted and male chauvinist views were clearly unpalatable to a wider potential audience.

"The tribunal is satisfied that the respondent had the legitimate aim of attracting a wider audience to horseracing."

The colourful pundit, famed for his deerstalker, tic-tac gestures and gold jewellery, took his former employer and TV production company IMG Media Limited to the tribunal, alleging his sacking last year was motivated by age discrimination.

Both firms denied discrimination in the £3m case.

McCririck said: "This is an historic setback for all employees in their 30s to their 70s.

"After such a landmark judicial verdict, my failed legal action ensures that anonymous suits and skirts, who control the media, numerous other businesses and the public sector, will now enjoy complete freedom to replace older employees whatever their unimpaired ability and merit.

"I have let them all down along with my wife, the Booby, my legal team, friends, colleagues and countless members of the public who supported me throughout. My grateful thanks and apologies to every one of them.

"Former Labour home secretary David Blunkett MP said in August: 'The way TV executives worship the cult of youth seems to be an unstoppable fetish'. It is now.

"With my legal team we are now out of contact while studying the judgment in detail"

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Phone Hacking: Parlour Worker 'Warned Rooney'

Wayne Rooney was told to "pull his hat down" and leave a massage parlour to avoid ruining his career, jurors in the phone-hacking trial have heard.

Details of the footballer's alleged visits to the Liverpool parlour emerged as the Old Bailey was shown newspaper reports about his "suggested use of prostitutes" in 2004.

Notes made by private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who has admitted phone hacking for the News Of The World, showed the England international was among the celebrities he targeted, the court was told.

Kate Middleton, Delia Smith and Angelina Jolie featured in Mulcaire's notes

The Duchess of Cambridge appeared on Mulcaire's "target evaluation" list, while the personal details of actress Angelina Jolie, chef Delia Smith and model Abi Titmuss featured in his notebooks, prosecutors said.

The jury heard that pages from the notebooks contained information about Rooney's mother and a beauty consultant at Harrods called Laura Rooney, who is not related to the footballer.

Patricia Tierney, a receptionist at the massage parlour who was wrongly reported as having taken money for sex with Rooney, told the court that the Manchester United star had visited the property "with a number of other males".

Mulcaire has admitted phone-hacking charges

When he returned on his own, she said, she "pushed him into a room" and told him to "pull his hat down and get out before he was destroyed and his career was over".

The story about Rooney first appeared in the Daily Mirror and was later chased by The Sun.

Former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, 45, of Churchill, Oxfordshire, and ex-News Of The World editor and spin doctor Andy Coulson, also 45, from Charing, Kent, are among those on trial at the Old Bailey.

Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks are among those on trial

They both deny conspiring with others to hack phones between October 3, 2000, and August 9, 2006.

The trial continues.

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Energy Firms In Ed Davey 'Punch And Judy' Jibe

Ed Davey has been accused of dishing out "tit for tat Punch and Judy insults" by the energy industry after comparing firms to bankers who caused the financial crisis.

The Energy Secretary used a speech to the Energy UK conference to tell the energy firms that they had hit their Fred the Shred moment, referring to Fred Goodwin, the ex-banking boss who presided over the collapse of RBS.

He warned the companies over spiralling energy prices saying that customers were not "cash cows to be squeezed in the pursuit of a higher return for shareholders".

Energy Secretary Ed Davey

He said: "Trust between those who supply energy and those who use it is breaking down. It is so difficult for people to work out what exactly they are paying for that they fear the big energy companies are taking them for a ride when bills go up."

Energy UK responded saying: "The energy industry is already working hard to ensure everyone can keep the lights on and stay warm this winter. The best way to do this is for everyone to work together which is why this tit for tat Punch and Judy show of insults is so unproductive.

"The energy industry is vital to the UK. It is a major employer, a serious investor and a significant taxpayer.

"As analysis from UBS shows about 95% of rising energy costs are out of the hands of the energy companies and can be attributed to government policies and other network, social and environmental costs."

The war of words came as EDF became the fifth of the Big Six energy firms to announce a price increase.

However, the 3.9% rise it announced was significantly lower than that of the other four firms, who have announced average price rises of 9.1%.

EDF said it would was not passing on the rising cost of the Government's green schemes, which it claims would have added an extra £50 to the average household bill.

The move will put pressure on David Cameron to come good on his pledge to roll back green energy levies - the charges on a customer's bill used to pay for environmentally friendly energy production schemes.

Mr Davey welcomed the announcement telling Sky News: "EDF has thrown down the competition gauntlet and I think that's good to help people get better deals on their energy prices."

However, also speaking on Sky News, Caroline Flint, the shadow energy secretary, said: "What EDF have said is that they will only increase their prices to the amount they have announced if the Government gets rid of its obligations to support people with insulation and also renewables.

"They bring into question the way in which their five other compatriots within the Big Six have been using wholesale prices to justify price increases."

The sixth energy firm, E.ON, is reportedly poised to increase its prices by 6.6%.

The row over energy prices escalated as an industry analyst warned that gas prices could soar this winter if the national supply runs short during another cold snap

Peter Hughes told Sky News that a "perfect storm" last March of extreme weather and the shutdown of two major pipelines caused prices to double.

He added that could happen again because the Government has refused to support the storage of more gas.

Sky's Nick Martin, on a gas platform in the North Sea, said: "North Sea gas won't last forever, the harder-to-reach wells cost tens of millions of pounds to drill.

"Somewhere in the middle of this complex equation, the customer still expects value for money." 

:: Watch a day of special coverage on energy costs all day on Sky News - on Sky 501, Virgin Media 602, Freesat 202, Freeview 82, Skynews.com and Sky News for iPad.

There will also be a special programme on the energy industry on Jeff Randall Live this evening at 7pm.

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Typhoon Survivors Expect Long Wait For Help

By Stuart Ramsay, Chief Correspondent, in Cebu

For hour after hour, driving into the heart of typhoon-stricken northern Cebu, it was the same picture.

Hundreds of families, picking through the remains of their destroyed homes, hoping to find some treasured keepsakes; and children lining the roadside, for mile after mile, pleading for water, food and money.

It has been four days since Typhoon Haiyan - or Yolanda as it is known in the Philippines - swept across the centre of the country, destroying homes and livelihoods in its path.

So far, in northern Cebu at least, very little aid has reached those who need it most.

Stephen was born a month early during the storm

Supplies of water and rice are trickling through from independent charities but as we drove north, the scene of destruction worsening the further we went, there was no evidence of any food convoys and no airstrips are operational in the area.

Thankfully there was no storm surge in northern Cebu, but the winds struck with a savagery which stunned residents well used to typhoons, believed to have been in the region of 250 miles per hour.

Bonifacio Reviero said: "We hid in the house with our grandchildren but we could hear the telephone and electricity poles snapping like twigs outside, and branches smashing into the roof. It lasted hours.

"When it was over, the roof was gone and the house was ringed by huge trees, which had crashed down but not on us. I don't know how we were so lucky."

One village lost 12 fishermen when four boats capsized in the storm.

In the hills, miles of banana trees have been uprooted or ripped in half. The coconut trees stand bare and broken. There will be no harvest here for a very long time.

Bonifacio Reviero sits outside what remains of his home

More than 90% of the homes in northern Cebu, an area hundreds of miles square, have sustained considerable damage; many pancaked, storey on storey. 

No one expects help to come any time soon, hence the pleading with passing motorists for money, to buy new building materials as soon as possible. The remnants of their old walls and roofs are spread across the nearby fields.

The injured line the walls of the only medical facility in Bogo City, many of them young children.

In one jam-packed ward of the tiny Severo Verallo Memorial District Hospital the very youngest patients lie four to a bed. Since Saturday the hospital has delivered 40 newborns.

Curled up around them on the beds are their hollow-eyed parents, who know they should be celebrating one of the happiest moments of their lives but are unable to amid the chaos and destruction outside; worries about injured relatives, and the knowledge for many that they have no home to take them to. 

Two-day-old Stephen's mother, Maria Janairo, who went into labour a month early during the storm, said it would be a very strange feeling when so many children in the town were celebrating their birthday together every year.

"On the one hand I will be happy that we survived for them to be born, but on the other it will be a haunting reminder of everything we lost."

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

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

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Typhoon Haiyan: Appeal For £190m In Aid

Aid agencies have launched a joint emergency appeal to get food, water and shelter to victims of the devastating Philippines typhoon.

The United Nations estimates that $301m (£190m) will be needed in aid.

"We've just launched an action plan focusing on the areas of food, health, sanitation, shelter, debris removal and also protection of the most vulnerable with the government and I very much hope our donors will be generous," humanitarian chief Valerie Amos told reporters in the capital Manila.

"That plan is for $301m."

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), made up of 14 aid charities, said its members were already responding to the crisis but the scale of the destruction meant there was "huge unmet need".

People wait to be evacuated from Tacloban

A "huge injection" of funds is needed to get aid through to victims after the typhoon, known locally as Yolanda, made roads impassable and put airports out of action, the DEC said.

Although the official death toll stands at 1,774, around 10,000 people are thought to have been killed in the city of Tacloban alone.

The UN said 673,000 people have lost their homes while a further 11.3 million could be affected after the typhoon, said to be the strongest ever to make landfall, hit the southeast Asian nation.

Police stand next to body bags near Tacloban

Sky's chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay is in Hagnaya in Cebu where he said people are begging on the streets because supplies from NGOs have not yet reached them.

He said nearly 100% of the buildings in the town have been damaged.

"There's concern that there is another weather front likely to hit the area with a lot of rain forecast in the next couple of days."

Authorities said they had evacuated 800,000 people ahead of the typhoon, but many evacuation centres proved to be no protection against the wind and rising water.

Homes on a hillside in Tacloban have been obliterated by the storm surge

The Philippine National Red Cross, responsible for warning the region and giving advice, said people were not prepared for a storm surge.

Although weakened, the typhoon, has also killed eight people and devastated farmland since making landfall in southern China. 

DEC chief executive Saleh Saeed said: "The destruction in Tacloban city, on the east coast, is said to be reminiscent of the Boxing Day tsunami.

"There is currently no food, water or electricity. We can only imagine how much worse the situation will be for families living in towns and remote villages.

People in the devout Philippines still try to use a badly flooded church

"DEC members are doing all they can to get aid through but they need a huge injection of funds in order to do so.

"The priorities are getting food, water and shelter to people in desperate need."

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

Stone said he had travelled to the island with people who did not know if their family members were alive or not: "There's no mobile phone network here, no way of communicating."

The DEC includes the British Red Cross, Christian Aid, Oxfam and Save the Children.

All of its members will support the appeal and 13 of the 14 are responding either directly or through partner organisations.

The UK is deploying a Royal Navy warship, HMS Daring, and donating £10m of humanitarian assistance in aid for the victims, Prime Minister David Cameron said.

The ship carries equipment to make drinking water from seawater.

Britain will also deploy RAF military transport aircraft in aid of recovery efforts, earmarking at least one C-17 cargo plane to move humanitarian aid and large equipment.

And a 12-strong team of British surgeons and paramedics is being sent to help with the aid effort.

Typhoon Haiyan has made landfall in southwest China, killing eight people

Meanwhile, Australia announced assistance of £5.8m and the US government has pledged $20m in immediate aid and has ordered the aircraft carrier USS George Washington to the sail to the Philippines.

Japan said it will fly a relief team over to the ravaged country and Taiwan is sending £125,000 in aid.

The United Nations World Food Programme has also allocated $2m (£1.25m) and Unicef is sending emergency supplies.

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

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

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Typhoon Haiyan: Briton Helps Families To Safety

By Sunita Patel-Carstairs, Online Producer

A British man caught up in Typhoon Haiyan has told his family he kicked down doors in his battered hotel to help children and adults escape to safety.

Jonathan Fitzpatrick and four work colleagues initially barricaded themselves in a room when the powerful storm struck the Philippines on Thursday.

They then braved the powerful winds to help others, including families, break out of their rooms and take shelter in a stairwell at the Ormoc Villa Hotel in the city of Ormoc.

The typhoon is believed to have claimed the lives of 10,000 people

Mr Fitzpatrick, who travelled out to the islands in October to work, had lost his mobile phone a fortnight ago, but managed to contact his family via Skype when the typhoon struck.

"It was a frightening experience for him - and for us," his mother Julie told Sky News.

"We knew it was a serious typhoon that was headed their way so we didn't know what to expect."

Super Typhoon Haiyan is one of the worst storms on record

The call was cut off and Mr Fitzpatrick's family did not hear from him again until Saturday morning, when the 23-year-old engineer from Walsall managed to get hold of a phone and sent a text message to his mother and girlfriend to let them know he was safe.

As the typhoon ripped through the Philippines, killing thousands of people, his sister Rachel tweeted: "My brother is in Ormoc Villa hotel, next door to Ormoc Red Cross. His name is Jonathan Fitzpatrick. Please help us find him."

Mrs Fitzpatrick played down her son's heroics and insisted he did what anyone else would have done in his position.

"Jonathan has walked away from it. There are a lot of people who haven't," she said.

"He was not a hero, just working on his human instinct. In his eyes he has not done anything heroic, he has done normal things.

"The real heroes are the people out there sorting out this mess now, providing care, food and water."

After the strong winds subsided, Mr Fitzpatrick and his workmates managed to get a ferry to Cebu where they were said to be waiting for arrangements to be made to get them home.

Mrs Fitzpatrick added: "We've been through a terrible experience and are glad he has survived and come out of it safely."

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'Burglar' Suffocated In Derby Office Chimney

A suspected burglar died after he got stuck in the chimney of a solicitor's office and was unable to breathe, an inquest has heard.

The badly decomposed body of Kevin Gough, 43, was discovered by police at Moody & Woolley Solicitors in St Mary's Gate, Derby, on May 1.

The alarm was raised after staff and builders working on the property had noticed a bad smell and a pest control company was contacted, an inquest at Derby and South Derbyshire Coroner's Court heard.

The chimney breast and fireplace had been completely bricked up from the inside.

The inquest heard Mr Gough would have lost consciousness quickly

A post-mortem examination found Mr Gough had brick marks across his back and chest due to the confined space, which would not allow his chest to expand.

His T-shirt had drawn up around his neck and another item of clothing had blocked the top of the chimney.

Mr Gough was identified by his fingerprints. The cause of death was found to have been postural asphyxiation.

It was unclear why he had gone into the chimney, but coroner Dr Robert Hunter said he was satisfied Mr Gough had made his way there of his own volition and no one else was involved.

Detective Constable Tom Bentley told the inquest Mr Gough was wanted in connection with a burglary at a business on The Strand in the city.

He was arrested on March 13 because he was found with prescribed medication not in his own name and was last seen alive two days later at the Padley Centre, an organisation that helps homeless people.

Dr Hunter said: "There would have been a rapid loss of consciousness and death within a manner of minutes.

"This would be why he did not call for help and the people working within the building had not heard him."

He added that Mr Gough would have realised there was no way out when he got to the bottom. He recorded a verdict of misadventure.

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Typhoon Haiyan Devastation: New Storm On Way

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

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

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

Hundreds of thousands have been left homeless Pic: Save The Children

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

At least 10,000 people are thought to have been killed by the typhoon, officials believe.

Corpses hung from trees in the city and were scattered in the streets. Many were buried in flattened buildings.

Looters break a shop's gates to make it easier to get food supplies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Survivors make their way through the rubble of destroyed buildings

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

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

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

The aid effort could be hampered by an approaching storm

In the Philippines millions of people are said to have been directly affected by the typhoon's path and the death toll is expected to rise further as rescuers reach cut-off areas.

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

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

The winds felled trees and homes across swathes of the country

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

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

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

Survivors now face the prospect of rebuilding their lives

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

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

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

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

:: Sky News will run a special live programme on the story of the typhoon at 7pm tonight.

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