Cameron: Meriam Death Sentence Is 'Barbaric'

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

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

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

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

Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg have also condemned Ms Ibrahim's sentence

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

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

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

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

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

Husband Daniel Wani with his newborn baby in prison

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

Foreign Office Minister Mark Simmonds told Sky News Britain is doing everything it can to pressure the Sudanese government to lift Ms Ibrahim's sentence.

He said: "We are putting intense pressure on the Sudanese government to do everything that they can to ensure her release.

"Hopefully the international outrage will push the Sudanese authorities into a situation where they feel they have to release Meriam."

He said her sentencing was unconstitutional under Sudanese law and in violation of the country's commitment to treaties that relate to human rights and freedom of religion.

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

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

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

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Explosions Carried Out On Suspicious Car

A bomb disposal team has carried out a number of controlled explosions on a suspicious car in a Bristol street.

Police were called to Cassell Road, in the Fishponds area of the city, around 4am.

Officers said the car smelt strongly of fuel and could be linked to "an ongoing dispute".

A 200-metre cordon has been set up and around 460 homes evacuated, with many residents moved to a rest centre set up at a nearby school.

A spokesman for Avon and Somerset Police said: "The Explosive Ordnance Disposal team was called to the scene and carried out several controlled explosions on the vehicle.

Bomb disposal experts

"This is a normal operational response to incidents of this nature."

Completing their search of the vehicle, police said there was no indication of explosives being found inside the car.

However, there remains a large police presence while officers continue their investigations.

Cassell Road was sealed off by police

It means residents have been unable to return to their homes.

Chief Superintendent Geoff Spicer said: "At this stage we believe this is an isolated incident and could be linked to an ongoing dispute and we are progressing with lines of enquiry."

He added: "We are hoping to get all the affected residents back into their homes as soon as possible and I would like to reiterate my sincere thanks and gratitude to residents for their support and assistance.

"I am heartened by the local community's response and I have seen residents, local businesses and the local school all helping each other out.

"As the investigation is continuing, I would encourage anyone who saw or heard anything suspicious in the Cassell Road area yesterday (Friday) evening, or the early hours of this morning, to come forward."

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'Real Action' Needed In Hunt For Missing Briton

The brother of a British man who disappeared while trekking on a paradise island off Malaysia has urged the Government to appeal to local authorities to step up search efforts.

Gareth David Huntley disappeared on Tuesday after attempting to find a waterfall in the jungles of Tioman Island, off the peninsula's east coast.

He told friends at a charity project he had been working with he would return by 2pm that day but he has not been seen since.

A group of volunteers and local people have been into the jungle to search for the 34-year-old but have not found him.

Gareth with his girlfriend Kit

Mark Huntley said "real action" is needed to find his brother.

He said: "We need real boots on the ground in Malaysia. We need real pressure from William Hague at the Foreign Office. So far we haven't heard a word from him or David Cameron.

"Gareth's been missing now for five days and he's alone in the jungle. This was a man working out there as a wildlife volunteer - he deserves our assistance.

"This situation of delayed searches is all too familiar. We call on David Cameron to make just one phone call to the Malaysian authorities and kindly request they step up the search."

Mr Huntley had been volunteering at a Turtle sanctuary

Mr Huntley's mother Janet Southwell, who is on her way to the region, told Sky News the police response has been "incredibly slow" and her son's disappearance is "totally out of character".

"He just would not do it, he knows there are too many people who care and love him," she said.

She has written an open letter to the Prime Minister urging him to "do the right thing" and "make one phone call to the Malaysian leader to insist that they deploy real help to find Gareth before time runs out".

Twenty Malaysian police officers and a search dog are now involved in the search.

One of his friends who is in the area and doing what he can to help is Kyle Neo Kai Fu, who told Sky News he is certain his friend is alive.

"He knows a lot of things about self-sustainability," he said. "I think he's a survivor."

Survival expert Ken Hames told Sky News there are "lots of hazards" in the jungle apart from heavy rain.

"You've got deadfall from trees that have rotted, you've got hornets … quite a lot of things to contend with."

A file picture of a beach on Tioman Island

According to one of the accountant's close friends, Malaysian authorities have so far failed to conduct a thorough search.

Sophie Wilson told Sky News: "Nothing has come from the authorities. As far as we're aware, the police were informed and haven't been doing anything. They've been incredibly lethargic.

"They've said they're performing a search but all evidence on the ground suggests they're just not taking this seriously."

Kyle Neo Kai Fu and Gareth Huntley

Mr Huntley, from east London, had been working as a volunteer at the Juara Turtle Project, a conservation charity on Tioman Island.

One of the other volunteers, Charles Fisher, said police were informed the day after he went missing but did not actively begin searching.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said the local embassy was aware Mr Huntley was missing and was offering support.

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Body Found In Search For Missing Dorset Nurse

Police investigating the disappearance of a nurse who went missing from the hospital where she works have found a body in the boot of a car.

Detectives "strongly believe" the body is that of 44-year-old Rui Li, who was last seen leaving Poole Hospital in Dorset at around 6pm on May 23.

Two men, a father and son aged 60 and 26, are being questioned on suspicion of murdering Ms Li, from Boscombe in Bournemouth.

The body was found "concealed within a silver Fiat Punto" along Verwood Crescent in north Bournemouth, a spokesman for Dorset Police said.

The street in Bournemouth where the body was found

Detective Inspector Marcus Hester told Sky News they believe the car was left there sometime on Wednesday morning and Ms Li's body has been moved a number of times since she died, which was either on the Friday she went missing or the next day.

He added: "This is the start of a long investigation and we need a lot of detail. We know that Rui Li worked as a nurse at Poole General Hospital and she left that work at 6pm last Friday.

"What we don't have is a lot of information about her private life, her friends and her family or anybody that generally knew her through work.

"Therefore I'm appealing for them to come forward so we can build a full picture as to her life."

Rui Li's car was seen on CCTV leaving Poole Hospital on May 23

Specialist officers are forensically examining the vehicle and the surrounding area, which is some four miles from Ms Li's home in Burnham Drive.

Experts have already examined Ms Li's house.

Her distinctive Porsche Boxter, with the personalised number plate L1 RUI, was found outside a property in Wolverton Road.

Several vehicles have been seized.

A Ford Connect van which police wish to trace as part of their inquiries

In a statement released by police earlier this week, her 18-year-old daughter Lu Yao appealed for information about her mother's whereabouts and urged her to get in touch, even if she "just wanted to get away".

"My mum is a very conscientious and caring nurse and never lets anyone down, Miss Yao said.

"She is a very loving mum, supporting me with my studies from when I came to the UK from China.

"She prides herself on her timekeeping and my mum has never gone missing before.

Ms Li worked as a nurse at Poole Hospital

"This is completely out of character and I'm very worried. I really miss her and I just want her home."

Ms Li moved to the UK from China a decade ago and started working at the hospital in 2009.

Her next of kin has been informed.

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MH370 Families Angry Pings 'Not From Jet'

Families of passengers on board the missing flight say they have been left feeling "helpless" and "angry" after the spokesperson said there is agreement acoustic pings came from a source unrelated to flight MH370.

A US Navy official has claimed underwater signals detected in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane came from a search boat or the ping detector itself.

Sarah Bajc's boyfriend Philip Wood was one of the passengers on board the missing plane. She told Sky News: "We are no further along than we were on March 8. Every single, solitary lead has proven to be false.

Azharuddin Abdul Rahman addresses reporters in Kuala Lumpur

"There is no evidence, not a shred of wreckage, nothing. From a logic perspective we must come to the conclusion that there has got to be another answer.

"From the beginning the Malaysian authorities chose to take on this investigation themselves. Whether we're where we are because they're grossly incompetent or because they're part of some intentional set of actions to lead people astray to cover up what really happened, I don't know.

"But it has to be one of the two. There is no other alternative."

Steve Wang, whose 57-year-old mother was on board the fated flight said: "We all feel quite helpless; we don't know who to turn to now."

Relative Steven Wang has asked for more technical data to be released

"When (Australian Prime Minister) Tony Abbott told the world about the conclusion of the location of the search operation, he was really certain. Now it's not the case at all. 

"What evidence brought him to this conclusion is the question we've been asking all along. What has Boeing done to support this initial conclusion in associate with the detection of the pulse signal? Was it Boeing's conclusion or Australia's?"

Mr Wang, who still has his mother's final voice message she left him just before she boarded the plane, told Sky News that more flight data should be released so it can be independently analysed.

"We ask them to release all the evidence so it can be analysed by more people, not just by Inmarsat or the expert team from Malaysia."

Ocean Shield has now left the search area of 850 sq km (340 sq miles)

Michael Dean, the US Navy's deputy director of ocean engineering said that if the pings came from the plane's black box or voice recorders they would have been found by now.

"Our best theory at this point is that (the pings were) likely some sound produced by the ship... or within the electronics of the towed pinger locator," he told CNN.

"Always your fear any time you put electronic equipment in the water is that if any water gets in and grounds or shorts something out, that you could start producing sound."

The pinger locator was towed by the Australian ship Ocean Shield to listen for underwater signals in the southern Indian Ocean in an area where satellite data indicated the plane went down.

The Bluefin-21 submersible which could have emitted the pings

A series of signals it picked up prompted Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to say he was "very confident" they were from the black box of the plane that vanished en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur with 239 people on board.

But Australia's Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has confirmed that Ocean Shield has now left an area of 850 sq km (340 sq miles) that was being scoured for the passenger jet that disappeared without trace on March 8.

A statement released by Australia's Joint Agency Coordination Centre said: "The ATSB has advised that the search in the vicinity of the acoustic detections can now be considered complete and in its professional judgement, the area can now be discounted as the final resting place of MH370."

Satellite data of the plane's last known movements was recently released

The news will add to the agony of the families of the 239 people who were on the flight and who have campaigned tirelessly for authorities not to give up the search.

Some 47 pages of raw satellite data tracking the last known movements of MH370 were released a few days ago following calls from the families for the information to be made public so it could be verified by independent experts.

Despite today's statement, a US Navy spokesman said Mr Dean's comments were "speculative and premature".

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Hillsborough Jury Shown 1981 Crush Footage

By Becky Johnson, Sky News Correspondent

Footage of a near-fatal crush at the Hillsborough stadium years before the 1989 disaster has been shown at the inquests into the deaths of 96 football fans.

The jury was told 38 fans were injured during a similar crush at the 1981 FA Cup semi-final between Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

On that occasion, the Tottenham fans were allocated the Leppings Lane terrace at the stadium, the same stand allocated to Liverpool fans in 1989.

The jury was told that in 1981, there was congestion at the Leppings Lane turnstiles, resulting in a gate being opened to allow fans into the ground.

The FA stopped staging semi-finals at Hillsborough for six years

The inquest heard the crush occurred as the crowd on the terraces surged forward when Spurs scored four minutes into the match.

The game was televised and the footage shown to the court included clips where stands can be seen behind the action on the pitch.

Six minutes into the game, fans are filmed climbing over the fence between the crowded stands and the pitch and sitting down behind the goal.

By the 11th minute, dozens of fans were sitting on the pitch with more still climbing the fence.

Fans are seen sitting on the edge of the pitch following the crush

Two minutes later, St John Ambulance workers are seen carrying a stretcher along the sideline to help a spectator.

Half an hour into the game, so many fans had managed to escape the crush on the terraces they were lining the pitch behind the western goal and in front of the south stand.

At half-time, spectators ran across the pitch.

The jury was told perimeter fences were opened, allowing between 100 and 250 fans to leave the crowded terrace.

The inquest heard that following the near-tragedy, Hillsborough was not used for FA Cup semi-finals until 1987.

The jury was told that after 1981, consideration was given to whether the capacity for the stand, stated on the ground's safety certificate as 10,100, was too high.

Eight years later in a crush on the same terrace, after the same gate was opened to relieve congestion at the Leppings Lane turnstiles, 96 Liverpool fans died.

The inquests continue.

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'Canoe Man' Ordered To Pay Back Pension Cash

A man convicted of conning insurance companies out of hundreds of thousands of pounds by faking his own death has been ordered to hand over £40,000 from two pensions that have now matured.

John Darwin, who was reported missing in a canoe in the North Sea in March 2002, was given the order during a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing at Teesside Crown Court, the same court where the 63-year-old was jailed for fraud in 2008.

The pensions were earned from his time as a teacher and a prison officer.

A judge previously ordered a repayment of £679,073 but Darwin, who is now unemployed, living in Seaton Carew, near Hartlepool, and claiming benefits, has so far only repaid £122.

Darwin's ex-wife Anne has repaid more than £500,000

After the hearing, prosecutor Jolyon Perks said Darwin might face further applications should he come into more money in the future.

"We believe it sends a strong signal to those who seek to benefit from their criminal conduct that these orders have teeth," he said.

"They will be pursued and they will be rigorously enforced.

"The Proceeds of Crime Act is intended to be draconian."

Darwin's wife, Anne, from whom he is now divorced, has repaid more than £500,000 under a separate Proceeds of Crime order.

The couple's sons Mark and Anthony thought their father was dead

She had collected a similar amount in life insurance cash paid out over her husband's alleged death while he hid in their home.

The couple's two sons were left believing their father had died.

He was reunited with them after walking into a police station in London in December 2007 and claiming he had no recollection of what had happened.

His wife, who had run away with him to Panama, pretended she, too, was amazed at his reappearance until a photograph turned up of them posing together after his supposed death.

She was later jailed for more than six years for fraud and money laundering.

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India: Gang-Raped Sisters' Bodies Hung From Tree

Two police officers suspected of gang-raping and killing teenage sisters before hanging their bodies from a mango tree have been arrested in India.

A third man was also held, according to reports, after the discovery of two bodies renewed public outrage over sexual violence in the country.

Villagers in Katra found the bodies hours after the girls, aged 14 and 15, disappeared from fields they used because their homes had no toilet.

Hundreds of people spent Wednesday in silent protest over alleged police inaction in the case.

Indian TV channels filmed villagers sitting under the girls' hanging bodies, preventing authorities from removing them until the suspects were arrested.

Police responded by making three arrests - and four more suspects are being sought.

Police officers at the scene of the hanging

Autopsies confirmed the girls were gang-raped and strangled before being hanged, police Superintendent Atul Saxena reportedly told AP.

A police station chief has been suspended, according to the news agency, after allegedly ignoring a complaint the girls were missing.

India tightened its rape laws last year - introducing the death penalty for gang rape - following the fatal gang rape of a 23-year-old woman on a moving bus in New Delhi.

The case sparked nationwide protests.

A rape is committed every 22 minutes in India, a nation of 1.2 billion people - and activists say many more cases go unreported because of a culture of tolerance.

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Lib Dem Peer Oakeshott Resigns Over Poll Leak

Lord Oakeshott's Statement

Updated: 12:43pm UK, Wednesday 28 May 2014

In his resignation statement, Lord Oakeshott said Nick Clegg has led the Liberal Democrats to a position where the party has "no roots, no principles and no values". Here is the statement in full:

I am today taking leave of absence from the House of Lords and resigning as a member of the Liberal Democrats.

I am sure the Party is heading for disaster if it keeps Nick Clegg; and I must not get in the way of the many brave Liberal Democrats fighting for change.

I leave, with a heavy heart, the party I helped to found with such high hopes with Roy Jenkins, Bill Rodgers, Shirley Williams and David Owen at Limehouse in 1981.

We then, like most Liberal Democrats now, wanted a radical progressive party, not a "split the difference" Centre Party, with, in Shirley's memorable words, no roots, no principles and no values.

But that is where Nick Clegg has led us.

I am sorry I have so upset and embarrassed my old friend Vince Cable and that we were not able to talk before he issued yesterday's statement from China. This is the background:

Several months ago a close colleague, concerned about voting intentions in Twickenham, asked me if I would arrange and pay for a poll to show us Vince's current position and how best to get him re-elected.

I was happy to help, and Vince amended and approved the questionnaire, but at his request I excluded a question on voting intentions with a change of leader.

Although Vince had excellent ratings, both as a Minister and a local MP, he was slightly behind the Conservatives in this poll, as the full details on the ICM website show.

That poll worried me so much that I commissioned four more in different types of constituency all over the country and added back the change of leadership question.

The results were in the Guardian yesterday and on the ICM website. Several weeks ago, I told Vince the results of those four polls too.

The combined message of these five professional and reputable ICM constituency polls, Nick Clegg's dire approval ratings year after year in all national polls, and Thursday's appalling council and European election results is crystal clear: we must change the leader to give Liberal Democrat MPs their best chance to win in 2015.

On Thursday I also commissioned one more ICM poll, in Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey; the results should also be on the ICM website tonight.

A few stout-hearted M.P.s and peers and hundreds, maybe soon thousands, of candidates, councillors and Lib Dem members all over Britain are now fighting constituency by constituency for a leadership election.

I have tried to give them the evidence they need to make the change.

I pray that they win, and that the right man, or preferably, woman is now elected to save the Party.

When Charles Kennedy rang to make me a peer, from a panel elected by the party, fourteen years ago he said he wanted me to shake up the Lords.

I've tried - my bills to ban non-dom peers are now law - but my efforts to expose and end cash for peerages in all parties, including our own, and help get the Lords elected have failed.

I am very sorry to leave my many old, close comrades-in-arms on the Liberal Democrat benches all over Britain, and good friends and fellow campaigners across the House.

But the unreformed Lords is now a bloated balloon and at 67 it's time to concentrate on running my business and my charity.

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Clegg Poll: Vince Cable Must Address Claims

Lord Oakeshott's Statement

Updated: 12:43pm UK, Wednesday 28 May 2014

In his resignation statement, Lord Oakeshott said Nick Clegg has led the Liberal Democrats to a position where the party has "no roots, no principles and no values". Here is the statement in full:

I am today taking leave of absence from the House of Lords and resigning as a member of the Liberal Democrats.

I am sure the Party is heading for disaster if it keeps Nick Clegg; and I must not get in the way of the many brave Liberal Democrats fighting for change.

I leave, with a heavy heart, the party I helped to found with such high hopes with Roy Jenkins, Bill Rodgers, Shirley Williams and David Owen at Limehouse in 1981.

We then, like most Liberal Democrats now, wanted a radical progressive party, not a "split the difference" Centre Party, with, in Shirley's memorable words, no roots, no principles and no values.

But that is where Nick Clegg has led us.

I am sorry I have so upset and embarrassed my old friend Vince Cable and that we were not able to talk before he issued yesterday's statement from China. This is the background:

Several months ago a close colleague, concerned about voting intentions in Twickenham, asked me if I would arrange and pay for a poll to show us Vince's current position and how best to get him re-elected.

I was happy to help, and Vince amended and approved the questionnaire, but at his request I excluded a question on voting intentions with a change of leader.

Although Vince had excellent ratings, both as a Minister and a local MP, he was slightly behind the Conservatives in this poll, as the full details on the ICM website show.

That poll worried me so much that I commissioned four more in different types of constituency all over the country and added back the change of leadership question.

The results were in the Guardian yesterday and on the ICM website. Several weeks ago, I told Vince the results of those four polls too.

The combined message of these five professional and reputable ICM constituency polls, Nick Clegg's dire approval ratings year after year in all national polls, and Thursday's appalling council and European election results is crystal clear: we must change the leader to give Liberal Democrat MPs their best chance to win in 2015.

On Thursday I also commissioned one more ICM poll, in Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey; the results should also be on the ICM website tonight.

A few stout-hearted M.P.s and peers and hundreds, maybe soon thousands, of candidates, councillors and Lib Dem members all over Britain are now fighting constituency by constituency for a leadership election.

I have tried to give them the evidence they need to make the change.

I pray that they win, and that the right man, or preferably, woman is now elected to save the Party.

When Charles Kennedy rang to make me a peer, from a panel elected by the party, fourteen years ago he said he wanted me to shake up the Lords.

I've tried - my bills to ban non-dom peers are now law - but my efforts to expose and end cash for peerages in all parties, including our own, and help get the Lords elected have failed.

I am very sorry to leave my many old, close comrades-in-arms on the Liberal Democrat benches all over Britain, and good friends and fellow campaigners across the House.

But the unreformed Lords is now a bloated balloon and at 67 it's time to concentrate on running my business and my charity.

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Pakistan Pregnant Woman Stoned To Death

A Pakistani man whose pregnant wife was stoned to death by relatives claims police watched on as she was beaten with bricks.

Farzana Iqbal, who was three months pregnant, was attacked for marrying against her family's wishes.

A mob of around 30 people that included her brother, father and spurned husband attacked her outside Lahore High Court, police told AFP.

The 25-year-old, who was also called Farzana Parveen, was attending court to defend her new husband, Mohammad Iqbal.

Mr Iqbal was a widower with five children when he began seeing the woman

He was accused by the family of kidnapping and forcing marriage upon her.

Speaking to AFP from his home village of Jaranwala, where he had gone to bury his wife, Mr Iqbal said: "The most painful thing is that nobody came forward to save my wife, the police were there and hundreds of lawyers were there along with ordinary men, but they all just watched like spectators."

Police in Pakistan have told Sky News they are investigating the allegation.

Mrs Iqbal's father, Mohammad Azeem, has been charged with murder and the others are being sought, according to AP.

"The brother first opened fire with a gun but missed. She tried to run away but fell down," senior investigator Rana Akhtar told AFP.

Mr Iqbal said the couple had survived a previous attack when the case began

"The relatives caught her and then beat her to death with bricks."

Mr Iqbal was a widower with five children when he began seeing the victim.

"We were in love," he said.

"We demand justice. We were being threatened since we got married."

Lahore High Court

Mr Iqbal said they had survived a previous attack during the first hearing of the case on May 12.

"On Tuesday as we were going to court from our lawyer's office almost 30 people attacked us, including her father, brothers and cousins," he said.

A group of 10 or so people accompanying the couple were overwhelmed by the attack and fled, Mr Iqbal added.

Some 869 women died in so-called "honour killings" last year, according to the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

"Such crimes persisted because of the impunity enjoyed by the killers," the commission said in a report, which noted that Pakistan's blood-money laws allow kin to forgive perpetrators.

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Obama Proposes $5bn Anti-Terrorism Fund

President Barack Obama has unveiled a $5bn (£3bn) fund to help countries tackle extremists, in a speech outlining his foreign policy doctrine.

Speaking at the Military Academy in West Point, New York, the US President said the planned US withdrawal from Afghanistan would enable it to focus on emerging threats from the Middle East and North Africa to South Asia. 

He said he would ask Congress to support the establishment of a Counterterrorism Partnerships Fund to tackle such threats.

Standing by his decision not to intervene militarily in Syria's civil war, Mr Obama said he aimed to bolster US support for moderate Syrian rebels.

Mr Obama spoke during a graduation ceremony at West Point

"I will work with Congress to ramp up support for those in the Syrian opposition who offer the best alternative to terrorists and a brutal dictator," he said.

Mr Obama laid out his argument that modern foreign policy should be rooted in diplomacy rather than intervention.

"Here's my bottom line," he said, "America must always lead on the world stage.

"If we don't, no one else will. The military that you have joined is, and always will be, the backbone of that leadership.

"But US military action cannot be the only - or even primary - component of our leadership in every instance.

"Just because we have the best hammer does not mean that every problem is a nail." 

Mr Obama defended his approach to the Ukraine crisis

He said that the main threat to the US remains extremists.

"For the foreseeable future," he said, "the most direct threat to America at home and abroad remains terrorism.

"But a strategy that involves invading every country that harbours terrorist networks is naive and unsustainable."

He also continued to defend his use of drone strikes in countries like Yemen and Somalia, but called for increased transparency on such covert operations.

Republicans have criticised Mr Obama's plan, announced on Tuesday, for the US to keep 9,800 troops in Afghanistan after the war there formally ends later this year.

But he said on Wednesday the US had made much headway in Afghanistan against al Qaeda, and "sustaining this progress depends on the ability of Afghans to do the job". 

He also defended his approach to the Ukraine crisis, of seeking to build a multilateral consensus against Russia.

"This isn't the Cold War," he said. "Our ability to shape world opinion helped isolate Russia right away. Because of American leadership, the world immediately condemned Russian actions."

Mr Obama also said he would continue to press for the closure of Guantanamo Bay, and place new restrictions how America gathers intelligence, amid the fallout from the NSA leaks.

"I believe in American exceptionalism with every fibre of my being," said the President. "But what makes us exceptional is not our ability to flout international norms and the rule of law."

Sky News' Hannah Thomas-Peter, who is at the West Point speech, said it outlined how the President views the future of US foreign policy in the aftermath of conflicts in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Critics have said America has lost face and influence in its dealings with Syria's leader Bashar al Assad, who remains in power despite crossing Mr Obama's self-proclaimed "red line" and using chemical weapons on his own people.

Opponents are also unhappy about Russian intervention in Ukraine, and China's threats to its neighbours in the South China Sea.

Republicans in particular, feel that under Mr Obama's stewardship America is becoming increasingly disengaged and is losing the capacity to influence global events.

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Harris 'Had Sexual Affair' With Complainant

By Nick Pisa, Sky News Reporter

Entertainer Rolf Harris has admitted in court that he is a "touchy feely sort of person" but denied ever indecently assaulting women.

Harris, 84, was giving evidence at his trial where he is accused of targeting four victims including a friend of his daughter Bindi.

Dressed in a dark pin-striped suit and tie he was specifically asked about the allegation involving his daughter's friend during a family holiday in 1978.

Southwark Crown Court heard the woman was 13 when Harris allegedly assaulted her in a Hawaii hotel room after she took a shower, and on a beach.

She has told the court she was assaulted by Harris in Australia later on the same holiday, claiming he touched her as she lay in bed next to a sleeping Bindi.

Harris said: "I have no recollection of that," adding it "never happened".

The entertainer denies 12 counts of indecent assault

His defence barrister Sonia Woodley asked him if he had ever hugged the woman to which he replied: "Yes, I have hugged her. I'm a touchy feely sort of person. I normally hug anyone that I get on on with."

When asked by Ms Woodley if he had ever done it in a sexual way he replied: "No," before going on to deny assaulting the woman after she stepped out of the shower.

Harris said his relationship with the alleged victim "changed slowly" and "became physical" when she turned 18 years old.

Harris admitted he felt "highly embarrassed" by it as well as having a "guilty feeling".

He recalled going into the spare room of his house in Bray to take the alleged victim a cup of tea when she "kicked off the duvet to reveal her bare legs".

The court heard about his professional career and portrait of the Queen

He added: "She grabbed my elbow and seemed to indicate she wanted me to sit on the bed, which I did. It seemed to me she was being very flirtatious. 

"It was very flattering, this young lady showing an interest in me."

Harris, who was 53 at the time, said he "touched the outside of her leg" before leaving the room.

He added: "This is all highly embarrassing. I was a married man, she was much younger. I shouldn't have been doing it."

When asked by Ms Woodley if he thought the victim was a "willing participant" he replied "Yes."

He went on to say that a "sexual chemistry" developed between the pair.

Harris insisted she was "willing" and added: "It was illicit, I had a guilty feeling. I was a married man, it was...she was Bindi's friend."

Harris also said the couple had oral sex in a secluded wood near his home and again said the woman had "started it" adding "she instigated the whole thing". 

Harris denies 12 counts of assaulting four women aged between seven or eight and 19 years old between 1968 and 1986.

Earlier he told the court about his showbusiness and singing career, at one point briefly singing his hit song Jake The Peg.

There was laughter in court as he imitated the noise of his trademark "wobble board" and moved his arms to show the technique.

Ms Woodley told the jury Harris had two paintings exhibited at the Royal Academy and had painted a portrait of the Queen.

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US To Keep Nearly 10,000 Troops In Afghanistan

Barack Obama will seek to keep 9,800 US troops in Afghanistan after the war formally ends later this year, senior administration officials have said.

The president is expected to announce the post-war plans during a foreign policy speech on Wednesday at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

The proposal calls for nearly all of the remaining US forces to be out by the end of 2016, as Mr Obama finishes his second term, officials said.

The two-year plan is contingent on the Afghan government signing a bilateral security agreement with the US.

Outgoing Afghan President Hamid Karzai has refused to sign the agreement, but US officials are confident that either of the candidates seeking to replace him will approve the pact.

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Nick Clegg: 'It Has Been A Massive Set-Back'

Nick Clegg has insisted he will not stand aside despite an opinion poll suggesting he could lose his Sheffield Hallam seat at the General Election.

The Deputy Prime Minister said he had failed to make his case on Europe and that he accepted the voters' verdict at the ballot box in last week's local and European elections.

However, he refused to pull out of the coalition, refused to step aside and said he would continue to make the case for Britain's role as part of the European Union.

Speaking after his first public event since the elections, Mr Clegg said he would welcome an in-out referendum on Britain's membership of the EU but only if there was a transfer of powers to Brussels.

Vince Cable claimed there was 'no leadership issue'

He said stepping down ahead of the 2015 vote was not the right thing to do and that the Liberal Democrats were about to "be vindicated in terms of delivering the economic recovery that we came into Government to deliver".

He added: "I admit it has been a massive set back for us last week but we were right to stick to our values and right to seek to make that case because no one else was doing it and no one else is doing it in British politics."

The ICM poll, which was commissioned by a party supporter, puts the Liberal Democrats behind both Labour (20%) and the Conservatives (16%) on 15% were the General Election to be held tomorrow in Mr Clegg's Sheffield Hallam constituency.

It comes as local party activists are meeting in an attempt to try to oust Mr Clegg and trigger a leadership contest - they would need the backing of 75 local parties for this to happen.

The ICM poll

David Cameron's spokesman said on Tuesday morning that the Prime Minister backed his deputy. He said: "This is a strong coalition pursuing it's long term economic plan.

"The Prime Minister is committed to the coalition and securing the economic recovery. The Prime Minister is intent on working with coalition and with the Deputy Prime Minister to securing the economy recovery."

Mr Clegg has also won backing and support from the former prime minister Tony Blair.

Mr Blair told the Radio 4 Today Programme on Tuesday morning: "To be fair to Nick Clegg - and I don't want to damage him by saying this - I think over the past few years he has shown quite a lot of leadership and courage."

Mr Clegg has won backing from Tony Blair

The poll of four Lib Dem seats suggested the party would also lose Cambridge, Redcar and Wells. It also suggested the party could do better under Business Secretary Vince Cable or Danny Alexander, but neither would offer enough of a boost to save any of the four seats.

A Liberal Democrat spokesman tweeted the poll had "clearly been commissioned and leaked for political purposes."

"It bears no relation to the result on Thursday night. Lib Dems secured 38.7% of the vote across Sheffield Hallam, Lab 23.6%, Tories 10.7%."

Lib Dem MP John Pugh told Sky News he would prefer to see Mr Cable lead the party because he was more popular with voters.

But the Business Secretary pledged his loyalty during a visit to China, saying: "There is no leadership issue. Now is not the time for infighting and introspection. The party must hold its nerve."

More than 300 Lib Dems, including councillors and candidates, have called on Mr Clegg to step down for the sake of his party.

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Scotland World Cup Friendly: Match-Fixing Probe

Officers are investigating match-fixing claims over the upcoming World Cup friendly between Nigeria and Scotland, Sky sources say.

The game is due to be played on Wednesday night at Fulham's Craven Cottage ground in London.

The allegations are being investigated by the National Crime Agency.

The game between Scotland and World Cup-bound Nigeria is part of a string of warm-up matches ahead of the tournament in Brazil next month.

There is no suggestion that the game at Craven Cottage will be scrapped.

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Nigel Farage: 'My Dream Has Become Reality'

Farage Uses Victory To Call For Referendum

Updated: 6:11am UK, Monday 26 May 2014

By Jon Craig, Chief Political Correspondent

When he arrived at the Southampton Guildhall for the South East region count, Nigel Farage was mobbed like a rock star by TV crews from all over Europe.

By the time their leader delivered his victory speech, UKIP had already made major gains all over the country from the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

A jubilant Mr Farage told Sky News he wanted an in/out referendum on Britain's EU membership "next week", though at least he admitted that wasn't going to happen.

With most of the results in, UKIP's share nationally is about 27.5%, with Labour just ahead of the Conservatives on 25% to the Tories' 24%.

In another humiliation for Nick Clegg after the drubbing in the local elections, the Lib Dems were pushed into fifth place by the Greens, on just 7% to the Greens' 8%.

At one point during the night it looked as if the Lib Dems might be wiped out altogether, until a Green Party official at the Southampton count graciously told me their rivals for fourth place had kept one of their MEPs in the South East.

Catherine Bearder turned out to be the Lib Dems' sole survivor in the European Parliament. When I interviewed her immediately after the South East declaration she seemed shell-shocked.

She put the Lib Dems' disastrous performance down to people not understanding how the EU works. I suggested to her that they do - and they don't like it.

Shortly before the South East result was declared, I interviewed Daniel Hannan, the leading Tory MEP in the region. He called for a pact between the Conservatives and Europe.

What does David Cameron do now? He's planning yet another Immigration Bill in the Queen's Speech next week. But will that make any difference? It looks just like a gesture.

More concessions to Eurosceptic Tory MPs? An earlier referendum than the one the Prime Minister is proposing in 2017?

The PM is expected to shuffle his Cabinet and the lower Government ranks after the Newark by-election. Will that do any good? Almost certainly not.

The Conservatives will be relieved, once again, that Labour didn't do better in the European elections.

The grumbles that Mr Miliband is another loser like Neil Kinnock and is on course to lose in 2015 will grow louder inside the shadow Cabinet and on the Labour back benches.

These results do point to Labour falling short next year, as it did in 1987 and 1992 under Mr Kinnock.

The leader facing the most immediate leadership crisis is Mr Clegg, though. It seems very few voters - and a dwindling band of his MPs and activists "agree with Nick" these days.

Mr Cameron is almost certainly safe as Tory leader until after next year's general election.

But suddenly, MPs in all three parties are bickering and indulging in leadership speculation once again.

Rock star? UKIP may not be a new entry in the charts any more. But it has shot to Number One this weekend.

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Far-Right National Front Win In France

By Robert Nisbet, Europe Correspondent

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Eurosceptic parties were expected to win about 143 seats.

Marine Le Pen celebrates winning France's Euro election

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Saw-Wielding Man Attacks Girl Group In Japan

Two teenage members of a Japanese girl group have been attacked by a saw-wielding man at a meet-the-fans event.

Rina Kawaei, 19, and Anna Iriyama, 18, suffered broken bones in their right hands and cuts on their arms and heads from the 50cm (20 inch) saw.

The attack in Iwate, in northern Japan, came after a small concert on Sunday afternoon as fans were queuing to shake hands with the members of AKB48 inside booths, according to reports.

Kawaei and Iriyama were in the same booth when a man suddenly brandished the saw, the Yomiuri daily reported.

Rina Kawaei, centre, with other members of the group. Pic: Reuters/Kyodo

Fans quoted in Japanese media said they heard a shriek, apparently from one of the women, saying "stop it!"

Staff and security guards quickly jumped on the attacker and held him until police arrived, according to reports.

A male member of staff suffered a cut to his hand.

A fan described how Kawaei was covered in blood when she was taken away to an ambulance.

A statement from the band's management said both girls are expected to be released from hospital on Tuesday.

The attack happened at a fan event. Pic: Reuters/Kyodo

Police said a 24-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

A detective with Iwate prefectural police told the AFP news agency: "We have started questioning the suspect this morning to know details, including his motive."

AKB48 is a hugely popular song and dance group that has a rotating cast of more than 90 members known in Japan as "idols".

Some fans have questioned why their idols were not better protected.

One wrote on an internet forum: "I pray that the three people will be in good health again soon ... and the two group members will show us soon they are in good shape.

Pedestrians walk past the AKB48 theatre in Tokyo

"I also hope for a strengthening of security checks such as by introducing a metal detector."

Speaking from the group's theatre in the Tokyo district of Akihabara, from which the group gets its name, a 17-year-old told Yomiuri: "I'm very worried about my favourite member who was hurt.

"I don't understand why anyone would do such a thing."

Violent crime is rare in Japan, where carrying a blade without a reason, including scissors, a box-cutter or a survival knife, is banned.

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Nick Clegg Defiant After Elections Disaster

By Anushka Asthana, Political Correspondent

Nick Clegg has given an emotional interview in which he insisted it had not crossed his mind to resign after devastating local and European election results.

The Liberal Democrat leader said the results in which his party lost over 300 councillors and all but one of its 11 MEPs was "gutting, heartbreaking" and a "huge setback".

But he argued he was not going to wash his hands and walk away just because the "going gets really tough".

He said: "At the point when our big decisions, our big judgments are being vindicated, we are not going to buckle.

"We are not going to lose our nerve. And we are not going to walk away."

It came after the Lib Dem MP John Pugh admitted to Sky News he would prefer to see Business Secretary Vince Cable lead the party because he was more popular with voters.

And more than 300 Lib Dems, including councillors and candidates, called on Mr Clegg to step down for the sake of his party.

Nigel Farage's UKIP performed well in the elections

They said he deserved praise for taking the Lib Dems into Government but argued that voters simply would not give him a fair hearing.

Mr Clegg, who looked exhausted during the interview, said: "It didn't work but it was right that we stood up for the values we believe in.

"I'm immensely proud to lead the most united, resilient and toughest party in British politics.

"We made a big commitment to the British people in 2010 to step up to the plate, to form a government, to reform and repair the damaged British economy and to deliver policy after policy after policy that the Liberal Democrats have been campaigning on for generations.

"That is what we must continue to do. We must finish the job."

He said it was right to ask searching questions in the "wake of such a bad set of election results".

But the right response was to repeatedly argue that the Lib Dems were the only party that would both tackle the economic situation but do it in a fair way.

Responding to the accusation he has a bunker mentality, he replied: "No, not at all", adding: "I'm never going to put myself ahead of the Liberal Democrats."

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Elliot Rodger Shooting: Family 'In Shock'

Elliott Rodger's filmmaker father is "absolutely broken" after his son killed six people in a knife and gun rampage.

The sister of Hunger Games assistant director Peter Rodger told Sky News his family are "in total shock" and called for changes to US gun laws in the wake of the atrocity in California.

Speaking from her home in Cazals, France, Jenni Rodger said: "I can't imagine how awful this must be for the families of those killed. My heart goes out to them.

"I don't know how on earth a sick, disturbed young man was able to get hold of a gun.

The 22-year-old pictured recently with his filmmaker father Peter

"He was always a disturbed child. I don't know how he was allowed to get a gun. Something has to be done about gun laws in America."

She added: "Pete is absolutely broken. He is such a sensitive being. I can't see how he'll ever recover from this."

CCTV footage has also been released showing shoppers scattering as Rodger fired bullets into a deli during the shooting spree.

The 22-year-old "repeatedly stabbed" three men to death in his apartment before taking to the streets in his BMW, police said.

Thousands of people in Isla Vista held a candlelit vigil on Saturday

British-born Rodger had three semi-automatic handguns and 400 rounds of ammunition with him when he died, officers confirmed. The two Sig Sauers and a Glock were legally bought from licensed firearms dealers and registered in his name.

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

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

Police are investigating 10 locations and multiple crime scenes

Unable to gain access, police said he then shot three young women outside the building, killing Veronika Weiss, 19, and Katie Cooper, 22.

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

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

Rodger's family said the attacker had been receiving psychiatric care.

Rodger used three handguns, two Sig Sauers and a Glock

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rodger went to the 2012 Hunger Games premiere with his father Peter

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

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

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

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

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

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'Clegg Must Go Now' Say Senior Lib Dems

A petition calling for Nick Clegg's resignation as the leader of the Liberal Democrats has gathered steam, with hundreds of party members calling for him to step down.

The Deputy Prime Minister has insisted he will not quit despite more than 250 of the party's councillors losing their seats in local elections in England.

The Liberal Democrats are at risk of losing every one of their 11 MEPs when European election results are declared on Monday.

Former Lib Dem MP Lembit Opik told Sky News that based on this week's local election drubbing, Mr Clegg had to quit.

"We lost roughly 40% of the councillors who were defending their seats ... Nick Clegg, whatever he thinks of himself, in the collective interests he has to go," he said.

But despite the poor local election results, Lib Dem Party President Tim Farron has backed his embattled leader.

Asked by Sky's Dermot Murnaghan whether Mr Clegg was the right person to lead the Liberal Democrats into the 2015 General Election, Mr Farron replied: "Yes, of course."

"Nick Clegg should undoubtedly stay and the Liberal Democrats should stay the course in government," he said.

"It's important we stand together as a party, behind Nick Clegg's leadership, and go forward for 2015."

The former Lib Dem leader Lord Ashdown also spoke out in support of Mr Clegg, labelling calls for him to step down "silly".

But Mr Clegg has insisted he will 'absolutely not' resign

"It's frankly one of the silliest ideas I've ever heard that we should waste summer in an unnecessary and divisive leadership campaign," he told Sky News.

"We should get out on the streets with the message Nick has given us and campaign for the general election."

MP John Pugh, who described the local election defeats as "abysmal", said the party's "high command" was in danger of seeming like "Generals at the Somme".

Jackie Porter, who is set to fight the Tory-held target seat of Winchester in next May's general election, said the party was "not going forward with a clear strategy".

The county councillor said the party's achievements were overshadowed because Mr Clegg "allowed himself to be portrayed as just another pea out of the same pod" as David Cameron and Ed Miliband.

In order to win back support, the party needed to demonstrate it was different, she suggested.

More than 200 grassroots members have signed up to the online LibDems4Change campaign which has published an open letter to Mr Clegg.

It says: "We consider it vital that at the 2015 General Election the Party should be led by someone who will receive a fair hearing about our achievements and ambitions for the future.

"It is clear to us that this person is not you, as the loss of so many of our hard-working councillors highlights.

"You have fulfilled a range of objectives in Government, but we now believe that progress will be best achieved under a new leader.

"We therefore ask that you stand down, allowing the membership to select your successor this summer."

Under existing rules, if Mr Clegg refuses to quit, a leadership contest would be triggered if 75 local party associations formally demand one or a majority of the parliamentary party approves a no confidence motion.

Mr Clegg said on Saturday he would "absolutely not" resign, and insisted the Lib Dems were still succeeding where they focused on their achievements in coalition.

He blamed a wider "anti-politics mood" but his party has seen its opinion poll ratings at consistently low levels since joining the Conservative-led coalition.

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Elliot Rodger Mass Killing Victims Named

Family and friends have been paying tribute to the victims of Friday's mass shooting in a California beachfront community.

Hollywood filmmaker's son Elliot Rodger stabbed three men to death in his apartment before killing three more victims as he targeted the town of Isla Vista's Alpha Phi sorority and fired indiscriminately at groups of people socialising.

Veronika Weiss, 19 and Katie Cooper, 22 - sisters at UCSB's Delta Delta Delta sorority - were shot dead near their college campus, while Christopher Michael Martinez, 20, was killed when Rodger fired into a busy deli.             

Katie Cooper (top) posted photos of holidays with friends on Facebook

Thousands of mourners gathered for a vigil in Isla Vista at University of California, Santa Barbara on Saturday evening.

The students and community members sang Amazing Grace and converged at a local park.

Sorority friends paid tribute to murdered student Veronika Weiss

In his disturbing 141-page manifesto, My Twisted World, and in YouTube videos, Rodger had vented his rage at the women who had spurned him.

But the father of Veronika Weiss told the New York Daily News his daughter would not have shunned the loner.

Two mourners kneel before a vigil to the victims

"My daughter would probably have been a friend to him because of the way she was," he was quoted as telling the newspaper.

"She was always drawn to the ones with the broken wings. She was the opposite of what he thought he was shooting.

The shooting has stunned the student town

"She was the kind who would have reached out to him. She reached out to the kids who weren't the most popular or the cutest."

Richard Martinez, Christopher's father, fought back tears as he paid tribute to his son. 

"When will this insanity stop?" he asked in an emotional speech.

"Our family has a message for every parent out there: you don't think it'll happen to your child until it does.

"Chris was a really great kid, ask anyone who knew him. His death has left our family lost and broken."

He also lambasted politicians and the National Rifle Association (NRA), a powerful gun lobby which staunchly opposes gun control.

Thousands turned out for Saturday's candlelit vigil in Isla Vista

"Why did Chris die? Chris died because of craven, irresponsible politicians and the NRA," Mr Martinez said.

"They talk about gun rights. What about Chris's right to live? When will this insanity stop?"

Chad Scott, a teacher at Ms Weiss' former school Westlake High, wrote on Twitter: "My heart goes out to the family of Veronika Weiss. Veronika was a Westlake graduate killed in yesterday's UCSB shooting. Rest in peace."

Bree Casas posted a picture on Facebook of the two women together and said: "I couldn't have asked for better sisters in my life."

The crowds converged in silence at a local park

Mr Martinez's friend Spencer Baker said on Twitter: "Tonight we remember our fellow Gauchos, and most importantly our dear friend, Chris Martinez. Rest easy, man."

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