India's Narendra Modi Celebrates Election Triumph

India's incoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been greeted by thousands of jubilant supporters as he arrived in Delhi to take part in a victory parade after his historic win.

Mr Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was swept to power by the most resounding election result in three decades.

Some 551 million people took part in the national ballot - more than the population of the US, the UK, Germany and Canada combined.

Mr Modi, a Hindu Nationalist has pledged to take India forward after ousting the ruling Congress party from power.

Mr Modi received an enthusiastic welcome at his party's Delhi headquarters

Barack Obama has already invited the new Indian PM elect to visit Washington.

Arriving at the airport in Dehli, Mr Modi smiled and gave victory signs. He also received an enthusiastic welcome at his party's headquarters.

He is due to meet senior members of his party to discuss forming a new government.

After securing enough seats to become the first majority government India has elected in 30 years, Mr Modi tweeted on Friday: "India has won. Good days are coming."

Narendra Modi declared his victory on Twitter

He later told crowds: "The heat of the election is over and the people have given their verdict which says that we need to take India forward to fulfil the dreams of India's 1.2 billion people.

"There are no enemies in democracy, there is only opposition. I will take your love and convert it into progress before I return."

The election result is the worst ever for the Gandhi dynasty and follows what the BJP describe as a "people's revolution".

Mr Modi oversaw a modern campaign which utilised everything from holograms to WhatsApp.

The stock market responded to his win by leaping 6%, sending the rupee to an 11-month high.

Narendra Modi is blessed by mother, Hira Ba, on the day of his victory

Mr Modi has been the top official in Gujarat state for a decade.

The 63-year-old is the son of a tea seller and has played on his humble roots during the election campaign, with references to his mother riding a rickshaw to cast her ballot.

His victory comes despite controversy over links to the paramilitary Hindu nationalist group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) - which some describe as neo-fascist.

As chief minister of Gujarat, Mr Modi was criticised for failing to apologise for religious riots in 2002 in which at least 1,000 people died - mostly Muslims.

He has denied any role in the violence and the Supreme Court declared he had no case to answer.

However, suspicions prompted the US to deny him a visa in 2005, while Britain maintained a diplomatic boycott on Mr Modi until 2012.

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Party Time In India But Modi Must Reach Out

By Neville Lazarus, India Producer, in Delhi

It's a resounding victory and they are celebrating.

Supporters of the Bharitiya Janata Party have been partying since morning when counting began.

Young and old, first-time voters and veterans, they all converged on the BJP headquarters in Delhi.

Rishi, 24, who is studying to be a chartered accountant, believes Narendra Modi is the only one who can get India back on track.

No one but him can bring about that change, he says.

The right-wing BJP won more than 50% of the vote - a feat not seen for 30 years.

It will now form a new government with Mr Modi as prime minister.

BJP supporters celebrate outside the party's building in Ahmedabad

With victory in sight earlier in the day, Mr Modi met his mother and accepted her blessings.

A self-proclaimed recluse and introvert, he is rarely seen with family.

Right from the start, Mr Modi set the campaign agenda.

He covered a distance of nearly 200,000 miles across the country, addressing 477 rallies and attending over 5,000 events.

He has been the first politician to use a 3D hologram of himself, reaching 14 million people at 1,350 locations.

His Twitter account boasts 3.9 million followers, while his YouTube videos have been played 13 million times.

Ashok Kumar, who came to celebrate the victory, told Sky News: "Modi has delivered the second independence - the first being when India gained freedom from the British in 1947.

Indian women celebrate Mr Modi's election victory

"He has brought the second one after a terrible 10-year rule of the Congress party."

Sonia Gandhi, the head of the Congress party, and her 43-year-old son - vice president Rahul Gandhi, who led the election campaign - have taken moral responsibility for the defeat, telling reporters the mandate was clearly not theirs.

Chants of "Modi! Modi!" resound everywhere in Delhi.

Even senior leaders L.K. Advani and Rajnath Singh spoke of the Modi 'effect'.

His party seems to have been relegated to the background.

However, Mr Modi is seen by many as a polarising figure in the Indian political landscape.

He was at the helm of affairs during the Gujarat riots in 2002.

Mr Modi has pledged to work for the good of all Indians

Over 1,000 people died, many of them Muslims, and 100,000 were left homeless.

No courts have indicted him and investigations have left him in the clear but his role in the riots is still furiously debated.

Britain refused to deal with Mr Modi for a decade and only in October 2012 was the diplomatic boycott finally lifted.

Throughout his campaign, Mr Modi stayed away from religious rhetoric, concentrating instead on development and good governance, of which he has a proven record in Gujarat.

But India is a secular country with many minority and linguistic communities.

Mr Modi will have to reach out to all to be accepted as a national leader.

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Nigeria: Police Not Equipped To Fight Boko Haram

Police in Chibok have said they are not equipped to deal with another Islamist attack like the one which resulted in the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls.

Sky's Special Correspondent Alex Crawford, who is in Chibok, said that despite an increased security presence, police felt under-equipped to serve as any sort of meaningful deterrent against further attacks.

One officer told her he felt unable to enter into a combat situation with the militants, many of whom are armed with heavy machine-guns and rocket-propelled grenades. 

It has been over a month since more than 200 girls were seized by the militants.

Residents in Chibok, in Nigeria's northern Borno state, say they are in constant fear of further attacks, with abductions and killings taking place in the region on a regular basis.

The girls appeared in a video released by Boko Haram last week

Nigerian authorities are accused of being powerless in the face of the Islamist threat and too slow to respond to the schoolgirls' abduction. 

Frustration with the government rose further on Friday when President Goodluck Jonathan cancelled a visit to the region.

It was reported that his security team had advised him against a visit to Chibok on the basis that it was too dangerous. 

Crawford said the families of the missing girls were "very upset and very angry" at the president's last-minute decision to pull out. 

Parents have criticised the government's handling of the abduction

She said: "As one father of an abducted girl told me: 'If it's not safe enough for the president of Nigeria to come to Chibok, how on earth does he feel about us residents of Chibok living here?'."

The president instead flew directly from the capital Abuja to Paris, where he is due to take part in a summit with the leaders of Nigeria's neighbouring states later today.

Representatives from Cameroon, Niger, Chad and Benin will all take part in the half-day meeting aimed at forging a joint strategy to overcome the militants. 

Ahead of the summit, one French diplomat said: "Boko Haram represents a risk to the stability of every state in the region, and the leaders of these countries have to be aware of that."

The Nigerian president is seeking a regional strategy to tackle Boko Haram

British Foreign Secretary William Hague and US Secretary of State John Kerry are also scheduled to attend the meeting hosted by French President Francois Hollande.

Britain, the US and France are all taking part in the search for the missing schoolgirls.

Nothing was seen of the girls until last week when Boko Haram released a video appearing to show a group of about 100 of them who the group said had converted to Islam.

Boko Haram's leader Abubakar Shekau said the girls would not be released until detained militants of the group were freed from prison.

The Nigerian government has reportedly ruled out negotiations on a prisoner swap.

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Fifa President: Qatar World Cup A 'Mistake'

FA Boss Warning Over Qatar 2022

Updated: 3:36pm UK, Saturday 10 August 2013

Fifa "probably made a mistake" in awarding the World Cup to Qatar for the summer of 2022, according to the FA's new chairman.

Greg Dyke has said staging the tournament in the Middle East country during some of the hottest weeks of the year, when temperatures can reach 50C (122F), would be "impossible".

But Qatar said in a statement that it was the right decision to award it the Finals, and it was ready to stage the event in either summer or winter.

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Dyke said he had serious concerns for the safety of football players and supporters if the event was not moved to the winter or taken away from Qatar completely.

He said: "I have a lot of sympathy with the Qataris. They bid for it and they got it. I think the Fifa executive probably made a mistake at that time - we have to live with that.

"The question now is, how do we solve this problem?"

It is the first time the FA has taken a formal position on the controversial issue. Mr Dyke believes a winter World Cup is more likely than Qatar losing the tournament completely.

His predecessor David Bernstein said in June that any plans to move the World Cup to the winter were "fundamentally flawed".

The FA's position could lead to some differences with the Premier League, whose chief executive Richard Scudamore strongly opposes any move to change the World Cup to the winter because it would disrupt domestic club competitions.

Fifa's president, Sepp Blatter, has said there is still enough time to switch the tournament to the winter months, when temperatures are significantly cooler but can still reach 30C (86F).

Mr Dyke said: "I don't know how many people have been to Qatar in June. I have. The one thing I can tell you is you can't play a football tournament in Qatar in June.

"Even if all the stadia are air-conditioned - which seems a bit strange in terms of the green policy - it would be impossible for the fans just to go out there, wander around in that sort of heat.

"The FA's position will be you can't play it in summer in Qatar.

"Fifa therefore has two choices; you either move it in time or to another location.

"I suspect that either ends up in some sort of litigation, but then someone should have worked that out in 2010 when it was awarded."

The Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee later released a statement saying: "It was the right decision to award the World Cup to the Middle East for the first time in 2022.

"Football is the most popular sport in the Middle East and the people of our region deserve the opportunity to have history made in their part of the world.

"We are committed to delivering on the promises we made in our successful bid.

"We are ready to host in summer or winter. We have always maintained that this issue requires the agreement of the international football community.

"A decision to alter the dates of the 2022 FIFA World Cup would not affect our infrastructure planning."

The final decision on the fate of Qatar's World Cup rests with Fifa, whose executive committee will discuss the matter at its next meeting, in early October.

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Turkey's PM Accused Of Punching Protester

Turkey's Prime Minister has been accused of punching a demonstrator, as fresh images sparked new claims of violence against protesters angry over the government's handling of the Soma mine disaster.

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

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

And Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) deputy Lutfu Turkkan claimed he had spoken to a man who Mr Erdogan allegedly punched, saying his name was Taner Kuruca.

Mr Turkkan wrote on his Twitter page: "I spoke to Kuruca. The man said he was shopping at the store when Erdogan attacked him, thinking that he was a protester.

Mr Erdogan's bodyguards appear to be punching one protester

"He said that he was also beaten by Erdogan's bodyguards. Kuruca told me the only thing that he clearly remembers was that Erdogan assaulted him."

Other reports said eyewitnesses had suggested a man chanting slogans critical of Mr Erdogan was pursued into the store by the PM, who grabbed the man and punched him two or three times.

The allegations come as the Turkish government said the death toll was unlikely to exceed 302, although critics have previously cast doubt on official accounts following the disaster.

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

Turkey's Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said a maximum of 18 people were still inside the mine.

A total of 284 people are known to have died, with more bodies expected to be pulled from the mine in the coming hours.

The operator of the mine said there was no negligence on the part of the company and that it still did not know the exact cause of the accident.

Akin Celik, the plant manager of the mine, run by Soma Holding, said: "We still do not know how the accident happened. There is no negligence of ours in this incident. We all worked heart and soul."

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

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

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

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

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

Protesters have accused Mr Erdogan of ignoring safety concerns

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

"These types of things in mines happen all the time," he said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The last survivor was pulled from the mine on Wednesday. 

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

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New Indian Prime Minister Modi Hails Victory

Opposition candidate Narendra Modi declared the "good days are coming" after sweeping to power in historic elections in India.

Though the final results have yet to be confirmed, Mr Modi took to Twitter to declare victory for his Hindu Bharitya Janata Party (BJP).

He tweeted: "India has won. Good days are coming."

Outgoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called Mr Modi to congratulate him.

India's Election Commission says that for the first time in 30 years a party appears to have enough seats to form a majority government in what is the world's second most populous country.

The BJP currently has 272 seats - meaning they won't need to form a coalition in the lower house of parliament.

Narendra Modi declares victory on Twitter

The result ends 10 years of Congress Party rule and follows what the BJP describe as a "people's revolution".

"This is the beginning of change, a people's revolution and the start of a new era," senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar told AFP.

Sky's Neville Lazarus is outside the BJP headquarters in New Delhi and described the celebrations as "euphoric".

"They were expecting the number of seats to be high, but not this high," he said. "It's a vindication of Narendra Modi and his campaign.

"There is a mood of change in this country because the Congress Party has been reeling from the economic slowdown and corruption charges."

Narendra Modi is blessed by mother, Hira Ba, on the day of his victory

Mr Modi has been the top official in Gujarat state for a decade.

The 63-year-old is the son of a tea seller and has played on his humble roots during the election campaign, with references to his mother riding a rickshaw to cast her ballot.

His apparent victory comes despite controversy over links to the paramilitary Hindu nationalist group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) - which some describe as neo-fascist.

As chief minister of Gujarat, Mr Modi was criticised for failing to apologise for religious riots in 2002 in which at least 1,000 people died - mostly Muslims.

Celebrations outside a counting centre in Siliguri

He has denied any role in the violence and the Supreme Court declared he had no case to answer.

However, suspicions prompted the United States to deny him a visa in 2005, while Britain maintained a diplomatic boycott on Mr Modi until 2012.

More follows...

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Museum's Harrowing Reminder Of 9/11 Attacks

Final voicemails of victims and images of people falling from the Twin Towers are among the harrowing symbols of the September 11 attacks being unveiled at a new museum in Ground Zero.

Tens of thousands of artefacts, photographs, videos and recordings will be on show as the venue opens its doors to survivors of the attacks, victims' families and first responders.

President Barack Obama will attend the dedication ceremony before the museum opens to general public on May 21.

On entering the museum, visitors will see rusted tops of two of the World Trade Center's trident-shaped columns.

They will then walk through a dark corridor where recordings of voices of people remembering the day will be played before being led to a structure covered with the numbers of police precincts and firehouses and other messages.

A staircase used by hundreds to escape the burning towers is also on show with other artefacts including a mangled piece of the antenna from the top of the trade center and a fire engine with its cab shorn off.

Visitors will then be shown fragments of planes, a teddy bear left at the impromptu memorials that arose after the attacks, while the sounds of emergency radio transmissions and office workers calling loved ones will be played.

Museum President Joe Daniels said: "You won't walk out of this museum without a feeling that you understand humanity in a deeper way.

"And for a museum, if we can achieve that objective, we've done our job."

Before its completion the project suffered construction problems, financial arguments and disputes over the best way to honour the nearly 3,000 people killed in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

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South Korea Ferry Captain Charged Over Deaths

The captain of the South Korean ferry that capsized killing more than 280 passengers has been charged with manslaughter.

Two officers and a chief engineer have been charged with the same offence. If convicted all four could face the death penalty.

"The captain, a first officer and second officer and the chief engineer escaped before the passengers, leading to grave casualties," prosecutor Ahn Sang-don, who is leading the investigation, said.

They are accused of leaving the ship as it was sinking while telling passengers, mostly high school students, to stay where they were.

Ferry captain Lee Joon-seok

Prosecutors have also charged 11 other surviving crew members of the Sewol with negligence and abandoning passengers in need.

The charges were filed at Gwangju District Court where an official said a trial date will be decided in a few days. All 15 defendants are expected to be tried together.

Mr Ahn said the Sewol's stability had been compromised after it had been altered to increase capacity and it had been overloaded before it set sail on April 16.

It also had insufficient water in the ballast tanks used to keep it steady.  

Relatives of the victims pay tribute at a memorial wall

Strong currents where the disaster happened made the vessel less responsive and prompted the crew to make a turn of 15 degrees, sharper than advisable, causing the ferry to list rapidly and then sink, Mr Ahn said.

He added: "The captain should have been in command of the navigation, but left that to a third officer, and that is gross negligence."

Captain Lee Joon-seok told passengers to stay in their cabins and it was about half an hour before an evacuation order was issued. It is not clear whether that order was ever conveyed to passengers.

After his arrest, Lee told reporters he withheld the evacuation order because rescuers had yet to arrive and he feared for the safety of passengers in the water.

Lee Joon-seok escaping the ferry with many of the passengers still onboard

A coastguard spokesman said a further five bodies were recovered on Wednesday, bringing the total to 284. Twenty people are still missing.

Only 172 people including 22 of the ship's 29 crew members survived, with the rest presumed to have drowned.

Most of the victims were students and teachers from a school near Seoul on a day trip to the southern tourist island of Jeju.

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Anti-China Protests Leave 21 Dead In Vietnam

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent in Beijing

Twenty-one people have been killed in Vietnam as anti-Chinese protests spread to various parts of the country.

According to doctors at a hospital in the central province of Ha Tinh, five Vietnamese factory workers and 16 people described as Chinese died in rioting at a steel plant.

"There were about a hundred people sent to the hospital last night. Many were Chinese. More are being sent to the hospital this morning," the doctor at Ha Tinh General Hospital told Reuters.

The violence follows a day of clashes on Wednesday in which factories displaying Chinese writing were looted and set alight.

The Vietnamese government has appeared to back some of the protests

Most of the violence was directed at Taiwanese nationals mistakenly identified as Chinese.

The protests, directed at anything with a perceived link to China, are the consequence of a decision by Beijing to place a mobile oil drilling rig in waters off Vietnam claimed by both countries.

At the weekend, anti-Chinese rallies in the capital Hanoi appeared to have the backing of the Vietnamese government, keen to rally public support against China.

However, the violence seems to have gone beyond the control of the government and 600 people are said to have been arrested.

Factories displaying Chinese writing have been set alight

Hundreds of Chinese have reportedly fled over the border from Vietnam to Cambodia to escape the violence, according to local police.

In Beijing, the Chinese government expressed significant anger at the violence, in language which signals a dramatic breakdown in China's relations with Vietnam.

"(There is) a direct link with the Vietnamese side's indulgence and connivance in recent days with some domestic anti-China forces and lawbreakers", foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.

The United States, an ally of Vietnam, has called for restraint on both sides, but US Secretary of State John Kerry has signalled his position on the matter, calling China's moves in the South China Sea "provocative" and "aggressive".

Six hundred people are said to have been arrested so far

The giant mobile oil rig, CNOOC 981, was moved into position about 100 nautical miles off the Vietnamese east coast and a similar distance south of the Chinese island of Hainan.

The rig is close to the Paracel Islands claimed by both Vietnam and China but controlled by China. The two countries fought a war over them in 1974.

The dispute is one of many in the South and East China seas where China, Japan, South Korea, The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei all have competing claims to vast stretches of water and uninhabited islands.

The tensions are high throughout the region partly because China's growing economic and military clout is giving Beijing the confidence and ability to reassert historic claims.

Tensions are high because of disputes over uninhabited islands

In a related development, the Philippines has accused China of reclaiming land on a reef which forms part of the Spratly Islands in order to build an airstrip.

There have been various examples in recent years of countries in the region 'militarising' uninhabited islands with deep harbours and airstrips.

Satellite images of some of the islands in the disputed waters, seen by Sky News, show that all the countries have invested significant time, effort and funds in building up their defensive measures.

In China's case, deep harbours and airstrips on islands they claim allow its military to operate many hundreds of miles from the Chinese mainland.

Given vital shipping lanes pass through the region and it contains huge reserves of oil and natural gas, the international implications are high.

Regional peace and economic stability are at stake.

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British GSK Executive Accused Of China Bribery

By Mark Stone, China Correspondent, In Beijing

The British former head of GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) China unit has been accused of bribery.

Chinese investigators claim Mark Reilly ordered his salespeople to bribe doctors and hospital officials to use the drug company's products.

A statement released by police in the central city of Changsha said that resulted in "illegal revenue" of more than £100m.

Mr Reilly and two Chinese executives have also been accused of bribing government officials in Beijing and Shanghai.

A Ministry of Public Security official told a news conference in Beijing that GSK departments "offered bribes to hospitals and doctors as well as personnel to boost their sales".

GSK responded to the developments with a short statement: "We take the allegations that have been raised very seriously.

"They are deeply concerning to us and contrary to the values of GSK.

"We want to reach a resolution that will enable the company to continue to make an important contribution to the health and welfare of China and its citizens."

Mr Reilly, who left China in July last year only to return in September to assist the investigation, has since been prevented from leaving the country.

A spokesman from the Chinese Public Security Bureau told Sky News that he remained in China but would not be drawn on whether Mr Reilly would now be arrested.

The British Embassy in Beijing, which has been across the allegations against GSK since they first emerged, referred all questions to GSK.

"We are aware of recent developments in the case but cannot comment whilst it is still ongoing.  We are in close contact with GSK". an embassy spokesman said.

China is a key growth market for large drug-makers, which are counting on the country's swelling middle class to offset declining sales in Western countries.

Before the scandal, GSK's China sales had risen 14% year-on-year in the three months to end-June, but revenue in the country plunged 61% in the third quarter and 29% in the final quarter of 2013.

The crackdown reflects a growing determination by Chinese authorities to stamp out corporate bribery and corruption, which can drive up prices for consumers.

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Oscar Pistorius To Undergo Psychiatric Tests

Oscar Pistorius must undergo psychiatric tests the judge in his murder trial has ruled.

The move is likely to lead to significant delays, but Judge Thokozile Masipa said the case was not about convenience but justice.

She said Pistorius could be evaluated as an out-patient, indicating he would not have to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

Further details about the referral are likely to come out when the order is officially made on Tuesday.

Pistorius denies murdering Reeva Steenkamp in a premeditated attack

The prosecution made the application for an assessment after defence evidence from a forensic psychiatrist, who said the defendant had generalised anxiety disorder.

But the defence argued there was no need for psychiatric observation and the application had "no merit".

The prosecution has already claimed the decision to call Dr Merryl Vorster so late in the trial - after Pistorius himself had given evidence - may be a "fallback option" for the defence in the event of a guilty verdict.

Sending the 27-year-old for mental health tests at this stage could eliminate the possibility of an appeal by the defence on the grounds that Pistorius' mental health had not been fully and adequately assessed.

If Pistorius were found to be suffering from a mental illness, he could be held not criminally responsible for his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp's death and found not guilty by reason of "mental illness or intellectual disability".

In her evidence, Dr Vorster said Pistorius had GAD and was a "distrusting and guarded" person who is "hyper-vigilant" about security.

But she also said he was able to able "to function at a high-level", and did socialise.

Pistorius is accused of killing Ms Steenkamp in a premeditated attack at his home in Pretoria, South Africa, on Valentine's Day last year.

He denies the charge and claims he shot his partner after mistaking her for an intruder.

The trial was adjourned until May 20.

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Turkey Mine Blast: 205 Dead And Toll May Rise

At least 205 miners have been killed and hundreds are still missing after an underground explosion and fire in western Turkey.

The country's energy minister Taner Yildiz said 787 workers were in the mine at the time of the blast, which is thought to have been caused by an electrical fault.

He said 363 miners have been rescued, at least 80 of whom were injured.

Hundreds are still trapped in shafts and tunnels and are thought to be 1.2 miles (2km) below the surface and 2.5 miles (4km) from the mine entrance.

Many of the miners were coughing and covered in dust as they were rescued

The blast in Soma, some 155 miles (250km) south of Istanbul, is rapidly becoming the deadliest mining disaster in Turkish history.

Mr Yildiz said rescue efforts are now "reaching a critical stage," with hopes fading for those still trapped.

He said a fire is still burning inside the mine, hindering rescue efforts.

Dozens of miners have been rescued or made their own way out

High levels of carbon monoxide have reportedly forced rescue teams to halt the operation on a number of occasions.

The poisonous gas is thought to have been responsible for the majority of fatalities. 

Fresh air is being pumped into the pit to help any survivors who may be struggling to breathe.

TV pictures showed rescued miners coughing and spluttering as they were pulled out alive, their faces coated with black dust.

Worried relatives rush to the mine complex in the town of Soma

Relatives waited anxiously at the entrance to the mine, cheering and applauding each successful rescue.

But according to journalist Dorian Jones, fear has already turned to anger among the relatives of many of those lost.

He told Sky News previous accidents have been reported at the mine and the safety record of operator Soma Komur has been called into question.

Mr Jones said one miner had told him he felt like a "lamb to the slaughter" every time he went to work.

The explosion happened in Turkey's western Manisa province

Miner Oktay Berrin told news agency AFP workers were not protected underground.

In a statement, the mine's owners, Soma Komur, described the explosion as a "tragic accident" which happened "despite maximum safety measures and inspections".

According to Turkey's ministry of labour, the pit was last inspected on March 17 and was found to be compliant with safety regulations.

The accident happened when a power distribution unit exploded about 1.2 miles (2km) beneath the surface, according to Nurettin Akcul, head of the Turkish Mineworkers' Union.

It is thought it happened during a change of shifts, leading to confusion over the exact number of workers still inside.

The country's worst mining disaster was in 1992, when a gas explosion killed 270 workers near the Black Sea port of Zonguldak.

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has postponed a one-day visit to Albania and is heading to the scene.

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Schoolgirl Kidnap: Nigeria 'Won't Pay Ransom'

How To Tackle Nigeria's Growing Insurgency?

Updated: 1:09pm UK, Friday 09 May 2014

By Sam Kiley, Foreign Affairs Editor

American "experts" have arrived. British "advisers" are on their way - phew. It may only be a matter of time before Nigeria's missing girls are found and rescued.

Baloney.

Boko Haram is not a new problem. It's been violently opposing Nigeria's governments since 2009, leaving 4,000 dead, laying waste to villages, and not long ago killing 58 schoolboys in their classrooms.

It's had links to al Qaeda in the Islamic Mahgreb (AQIM).

It kidnapped a French family in the Cameroons, and is reported to have netted $3m (£1.78m) for their safe release.

The militant Islamist group has achieved international notoriety over the abduction of the girls, all aged between 12 and 15  - but only after releasing a video threat to sell them into slavery.

But it has been closely monitored by Western security agencies for some time.

In 2012, British special forces troops were at the sharp end of a failed rescue operation in Sokoto aimed at releasing Chris McManus, a British engineer and his Italian colleague.

They had been held by Boko Haram for over a year. It was thought they were about to be moved or sold to an al Qaeda group operating in the lawless Sahel.

The connections to al Qaeda, which intelligence sources say extends all the way to Somalia but is more tightly entwined with AQIM, have meant that Boko Haram has been of considerable interest to the West.

This has been mostly manifest in sharing intelligence with and getting information from Nigerian agencies about the threat that the movement might pose beyond Nigeria's borders.

Dealing with the growing domestic insurgency has been seen as a strictly Nigerian matter.

Very often Western commentators will see the involvement of Western troops or spooks as a panacea to turmoil in a Third World nation.

They are not.

It took the British army half a decade to get to grips with the complex tribal structures that dominate Helmand in Afghanistan, where the UK sent some 10,000 troops.

American forces never got to grips with the complex world of Somalia's clan structures after its UN/US intervention there in 1991.

And Western allies have left chaos in their wake after their invasion of Iraq.

Foreign experts can, however, help with technical intelligence surveillance, planning, and perhaps even offering troops for a final assault on a complex target.

But all other matters must remain domestic issues because only locals can fully understand the complexities of the social landscape they live in.

There may, ultimately, be a useful military option involving a strike at the leadership of Boko Haram that the West can help with.

But Nigerians know that finding a solution to a growing insurgency involves far more complex issues.

Nigeria's economically-neglected north will need a greater share of the nation's annual oil revenues of $50bn (£29.8bn) if it's going to reverse the growing north-south schism that has always threatened the coherence of the former British colony.

Locally, Boko Haram's foot soldiers will need to be lured out of the bush with offers of amnesty and employment. Surviving leaders may need to be given a role.

But, of course, this "proves" the argument that politics in Nigeria can only be advanced through the barrel of a gun - the nation has suffered at least eight military coups since independence from Britain in 1960 and is now taking nervous steps along a democratic pathway.

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Oscar Pistorius Trial: Athlete Back In Court

A weapons expert who carried out various tests after Oscar Pistorius shot dead his girlfriend is facing further scrutiny in court, as the athlete's legal team prepares to wrap up its defence.

Thomas Wolmarans is back on the stand in Pretoria, South Africa, where the Paralympian's murder trial has entered its 30th day.

Defence lawyer Barry Roux has only a limited number of witnesses left to call and is expected to close his case this week.

Judge Thokozile Masipa will retire to consider her verdict once prosecutor Gerrie Nel has completed his arguments.

Thomas Wolmarans faced tough questioning from Gerrie Nel on Friday

On Friday, Mr Wolmarans recreated the moment Ms Steenkamp was shot dead by playing the part of the former model in a courtroom reconstruction.

He entered a mocked-up version of Pistorius' bathroom and mimicked the movements he believes the athlete's partner made when the bullets struck her body on Valentine's Day last year.

Earlier in the day, Judge Masipa and lawyers huddled around the door as a court official used a spray to reveal a laser beam set up by prosecutors to show the trajectory taken by one of the bullets.

Pistorius, 27, denies a charge of premeditated murder, claiming he mistook Ms Steenkamp for an intruder.

The trial continues.

More follows...

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Ukraine Independence Vote Gets Russia Backing

Russia says the the outcome of an independence referendum in eastern Ukraine should be implemented "in a civilised manner without violence".

Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine have claimed victory in a contentious poll which could see two regions break away

Voters in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk cast ballots on Sunday on whether to declare their areas independent, but with links to Moscow.

The unofficial poll has been condemned by a host of countries, including Britain, and dismissed as a "criminal farce" by the government in Kiev.

But the Kremlin said it "respects the will of people" and condemned the use of force against civilians after at least one person was reportedly killed by Ukrainian forces.

Mariupol has been at the centre of eastern Ukraine violence

More than three million ballot papers are said to have been distributed across the two regions, with organisers claiming to have spent just £980 on the entire ballot.

Roman Lyagin, election chief in Donetsk, said early results showed almost 90% of voters in the region were in favour of sovereignty.

In Luhansk, no immediate preliminary results have yet been released.

In Mariupol, the scene of fierce fighting in recent days, there were just eight polling stations for half a million people.

As the makeshift polling stations closed on Sunday night, at least one person in the town of Krasnoarmeisk was reported to have been shot dead by Ukrainian government forces.

Reports said the troops had tried to stop people voting.

Witnesses claimed heavily armed men in balaclavas started shooting at the crowd as the tense standoff escalated.

People queued up to vote on the future of Donetsk and Luhansk

On the edge of Slavyansk, fighting broke out around a television tower shortly before people began making their way through barricades of felled trees and tyres for the vote. One serviceman was wounded.

Slavyansk's self-proclaimed mayor Vyacheslav Ponomaryov said turnout was 80% and the result "was not in doubt".

Asked if he knew what would follow, the former businessman said: "Of course we know. Work starts on the establishment ... of the Donetsk People's Republic."

Western leaders have threatened more sanctions in the key areas of energy, financial services and engineering if Moscow continues what they regard as efforts to destabilise Ukraine.

The EU may announce as early as today measures endorsing a widening of the legal criteria for imposing sanctions on Russia, with the goal of making it easier to freeze the assets of companies involved in the Ukraine crisis.

Using the new expanded criteria, EU officials have prepared a list of 14 people and two Crimean companies active in the energy sector that ministers are likely to add to the EU sanctions list today, diplomats say.

The identities of the people and firms are being kept confidential for now.

The EU has previously imposed asset freezes and visa bans on 48 Russians and Ukrainians over Moscow's annexation of Crimea but it would be the first time the bloc has targeted companies.

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Ukraine Referendum Will Add Fuel To the Fire

The polling stations are ready and we're told three million ballot papers have been printed, enough for every eligible voter in the region of Donetsk.

But what is still far from clear is what they are being asked to vote for.

The question seems to be deliberately vague: do you support the act of state sovereignty of the Donetsk People's Republic?  Yes or No?

That could be taken to mean greater autonomy, or some form of autonomous region, but still within Ukraine - or they could find they have voted for the creation of an independent state that could then seek to join the Russian Federation, a la Crimea.

Then there is the question of legality.

The referendum has no basis in law as there is no provision for local referenda on the statute in Ukraine.

There also seems to be no independent oversight and the poll will be policed by the separatists themselves - hardly the ideal conditions for a free and fair vote.

The organisers do not have access to up-to-date voting lists - those are held by the Ukrainian state security service - so they are relying on data from the 2012 parliamentary elections.

The vote is not being independently monitored

The ballot papers, at least those that we have seen so far, appear to have been printed on an ordinary printer, with no watermarks or other features to guard against, say, photocopying.

But that  is unlikely to be at the top of the list of complaints, when the votes are also going to be collected and counted by "People's Republic" volunteers.

None of which is to deny that there may well be a genuine number of voters going to the ballot box on Sunday to vote "yes", at the very least to express their dissatisfaction with the government in Kiev.

The latest poll shows that while a strong majority (70%) in the east still want to live in a united Ukraine, around two-thirds (67%) disapprove of the current national government.

But I strongly suspect we will be in roughly the same position after this referendum as we are now - the Ukrainian authorities and politicians in the West will say that this was an illegal poll, carried out under the threat of intimidation, and with no means of independent verification.

The People's Republic will say, assuming the vote goes their way, that the people have spoken, that they have a democratic mandate, that this is a genuine popular uprising of ordinary citizens demanding their rights.

What is clear is that this referendum is unlikely to resolve what seems to be a deteriorating security situation in the east of this country - it is difficult to see it will do anything other than add more fuel to the fire.

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Nigeria Kidnapping: Militants 'Have Laid Traps'

The militants who have kidnapped almost 300 schoolgirls in Nigeria are likely to have laid booby traps and landmines to stop them being found, Sky News has been told.

A former member of Nigerian military added that starving members of Boko Haram could be a way of rescuing the girls, who were taken from Chibok in the northern state of Borno on April 14.

Former air commodore Darlington Abdullahi said: "They may have made land mines, one cannot rule that out.

Boko Haram have threatened to sell the girls 'on the market'

"One thing for sure is, even as they go along abducting children, they will also go after food; grabbing food from various angles.

"That is why it's important that if the military from various countries close up on them that means the issue of starvation might come in and might even force them to find exit ways and most likely abandon the girls that are still with them within the forest."

Intelligence sources have previously told Sky News they believe they know where some of the schoolgirls are.

Parents of some of the kidnapped girls

The sources believe they have been split into at least four different groups.

Sky News also understands British and American officials are using advanced eavesdropping equipment to scan the Sambisa forest where the schoolgirls are thought to be.

The militants are believed to have blown up an important bridge near where the girls were first seized, complicating efforts to find them.

The burnt out school from where the girls were taken

Fleeing residents said the bridge between the states of Adamawa and Borno was destroyed on Friday.

The wife and two children of a retired police officer were also abducted, they said.

A team of French experts arrived in the country on Saturday, as international efforts to find the schoolgirls are ramped up.

Borno state in the north borders Cameroon

This follows on from British and American personnel arriving earlier in the week.

As international help continues to arrive, the Nigerian military has had tip-offs that Boko Haram could be planning another attack on the market in the capital Abuja.

The militant group has killed more than 1,500 people this year and has been waging an insurgency in the country for the last five years.

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Eastern Ukraine Regions Vote On Self-Rule

Ukraine Referendum Will Add Fuel To the Fire

Updated: 7:31pm UK, Saturday 10 May 2014

By Katie Stallard, Sky News Moscow Correspondent

The polling stations are ready and we're told three million ballot papers have been printed, enough for every eligible voter in the region of Donetsk.

But what is still far from clear is what they are being asked to vote for.

The question seems to be deliberately vague: do you support the act of state sovereignty of the Donetsk People's Republic?  Yes or No?

That could be taken to mean greater autonomy, or some form of autonomous region, but still within Ukraine - or they could find they have voted for the creation of an independent state that could then seek to join the Russian Federation, a la Crimea.

Then there is the question of legality.

The referendum has no basis in law as there is no provision for local referenda on the statute in Ukraine.

There also seems to be no independent oversight and the poll will be policed by the separatists themselves - hardly the ideal conditions for a free and fair vote.

The organisers do not have access to up-to-date voting lists - those are held by the Ukrainian state security service - so they are relying on data from the 2012 parliamentary elections.

The ballot papers, at least those that we have seen so far, appear to have been printed on an ordinary printer, with no watermarks or other features to guard against, say, photocopying.

But that  is unlikely to be at the top of the list of complaints, when the votes are also going to be collected and counted by "People's Republic" volunteers.

None of which is to deny that there may well be a genuine number of voters going to the ballot box on Sunday to vote "yes", at the very least to express their dissatisfaction with the government in Kiev.

The latest poll shows that while a strong majority (70%) in the east still want to live in a united Ukraine, around two-thirds (67%) disapprove of the current national government.

But I strongly suspect we will be in roughly the same position after this referendum as we are now - the Ukrainian authorities and politicians in the West will say that this was an illegal poll, carried out under the threat of intimidation, and with no means of independent verification.

The People's Republic will say, assuming the vote goes their way, that the people have spoken, that they have a democratic mandate, that this is a genuine popular uprising of ordinary citizens demanding their rights.

What is clear is that this referendum is unlikely to resolve what seems to be a deteriorating security situation in the east of this country - it is difficult to see it will do anything other than add more fuel to the fire.

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