HMS Bounty Sinks: Rescued Crew Member Dies

A woman rescued from the Atlantic Ocean hours after the HMS Bounty was caught by Hurricane Sandy has died.

Claudene Christian, 42, was pulled from the water on Monday - hours after the historic ship went down in the storm off the coast of North Carolina - but was unresponsive.

Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class David Weydert said Ms Christian, who lived and sailed on the ship, was taken to hospital in a critical condition but was later pronounced dead.

The Coast Guard is still searching for the ship's captain, Robin Walbridge, 63.

The famous HMS Bounty was hit by 18ft waves

Ms Christian, a keen sailor, said on Twitter that she joined the ship's crew in May and a series of posts described how much she was enjoying her life on the sea.

On June 7, she wrote: "So I had a tough day, lost in the sails. But it was sunny warm and I am on a TALL SHIP AT SEA. It's a "Bountyful" life."

Fourteen other crew members were rescued from the stricken vessel, which was about 160 miles from the hurricane's centre.

The captain ordered his crew to abandon ship at about 5am on Monday after the vessel lost power and started to take on water.

Sixteen people were on board the ship when it sank

Coast guards said the crew had put on cold water survival suits and life-jackets before launching in two 25-man lifeboats with canopies.

The suits are designed to protect people from the cold waters for up to 15 hours.

Rescuers faced 40mph winds and 18ft waves at the scene, which is 90 miles southeast of Hatteras in North Carolina.

The rescued crew were flown to Air Station Elizabeth City for treatment.

Coast Guard Sector North Carolina received a call from the owner of the 180ft, three-mast ship, saying she had lost communication with the vessel's crew late on Sunday evening.

The rescued crew were flown to Air Station Elizabeth City for treatment

It regained contact with the ship after receiving a signal from the emergency position indicating beacon registered to the Bounty.

HMS Bounty was built for the 1962 movie Mutiny On The Bounty with Marlon Brando and also appeared in Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

The original Bounty was known for the mutiny that took place in Tahiti in 1789.

People could apply to work on the ship, which was built in 1960 and restored in 2001.

The HMS Bounty Organisation said on its website that it was "dedicated to keeping the ship sailing and using her as a vehicle for teaching the nearly lost arts of square rigged sailing and seamanship."

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'World War Two' Bomb Find Shuts Japan Airport

A major airport in northern Japan has been closed after an unexploded bomb, believed to be from World War Two, was found.

Flights in and out of Sendai airport were cancelled after the 250kg (550lb) device was uncovered during construction near a runway.

It was identified as American-made and is believed to be a dud from World War II.

Local police official Hiroshi Ouchi said a military bomb squad was called and evacuations were being considered.

Japanese cities were bombed heavily during World War II, and finding duds is not unusual.

The rusty condition of the bombs can make them prone to detonate when moved.

The Sendai airport was closed for months due to damage from last year's tsunami.

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Superstorm Sandy Batters US Eastern Coast

Superstorm Sandy has battered parts of the eastern United States and Canada, flooding major cities and killing at least 13 people.

The National Hurricane Centre, which reclassified the storm as "post-tropical", said torrential rains and wind made landfall along the New Jersey coast near Atlantic City at around 8pm EDT (12am UK time).

It brought gusts of more than 85mph (135kph) and a record-breaking 13ft surge of seawater in Manhattan, submerging seven subway tunnels and many roads.

At Breezy Point in the New York borough of Queens, 190 firefighters are tackling a huge fire that has destroyed more than 50 homes.

An explosion rocks a flooded New York power plant

New York University hospital was forced to move patients to other hospitals after it lost power and its back-up generator broke down. Among them were 20 babies from neonatal intensive care - some on respirators operating on battery power.

Firefighters said one man had been killed by a falling tree, while two people were also killed when a tree fell onto a vehicle in New Jersey.

Some 670,000 New York homes have been left without power by the storm, with electricity knocked out to more than six million Americans. Amateur footage captured a large explosion at a power station near East 14th Street.

A total of 12 people were reported dead by local officials in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, West Virginia and North Carolina, while in Toronto, Canadian police said a woman died after being hit by flying debris.

Rain caused by Sandy could last for days

New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg said the worst of the storm had passed and officials expected the tidal surge to recede by Wednesday.

But thousands of flights have been cancelled at airports in cities up and down the coast, causing widespread travel chaos.

British Airways axed all of its flights to and from New York, Newark, Baltimore, Washington DC, Boston and Philadelphia, and 11 of today's return flights to and from the East Coast have been cancelled.

It had been feared the surge of seawater could damage the underground electrical and communications lines in lower Manhattan that are vital to the nation's financial centre.

Cars in Manhattan were submerged by floodwater

The New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq suspended trading for a weather event for the first time since Hurricane Gloria in 1985.

Sandy killed 69 people in the Caribbean, where many islands were left devastated by the extreme weather conditions.

Haiti was worst-hit, with 52 confirmed dead and many more still missing. Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe described the storm as a "disaster of major proportions".

Residents of Cuba's second-largest city of Santiago were left without power and running water for four days.

The collapsed front wall of an apartment building in New York

After battering the Caribbean, Sandy then made its way up the Atlantic. As it made its way toward land, it converged with a cold-weather system that turned into a hybrid consisting not only of rain, high wind and snow.

Subways, buses, trains and schools were closed across a region of more than 50 million people from Washington to Boston.

Earlier, a US sailor on board a replica of the HMS Bounty was recovered from the sea in an "unresponsive" condition and later died. The captain was missing, feared dead after the tall ship went down off the Carolinas.

President Barack Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney suspended their campaigning with just over a week to go before election day.

At the White House, Mr Obama had made a direct appeal to those at risk. "Please listen to what your state and local officials are saying," he said.

"When they tell you to evacuate, you need to evacuate. Don't delay, don't pause, don't question the instructions that are being given, because this is a powerful storm."

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Syria: Rebel Fighters Are Becoming Radicalised

By Alex Crawford, Sky News Special Correspondent

Sky has seen new evidence that the Syrian uprising is becoming more and more radicalised and being fought by Islamic fundamentalists and extremists.

The Syrian rebels have all but given up on military intervention by the West but after 18 months of grinding battle and a feeling they have been abandoned by the international community, they are making their own bombs and weapons and becoming much more self-sufficient.

There are some weapons and arms being smuggled across the borders from sympathetic Muslim neighbours.

We saw brand new rocket propelled grenade launchers with their rockets still in their plastic wrappers which had been smuggled across the Turkish border and an anti-aircraft gun which the rebels told us had come from Iraq.

But although that means that the rebels have many more weapons than they have had before, it is still small fry in comparison to the heavy weaponry, tanks and artillery employed by the regime.

What is increasingly obvious is the number of Jihad (holy war) flags and Jihad paraphernalia worn and used by the rebel fighters. The black headbands worn by many of the fighters are a symbol of Islamic fundamentalism - used by extremist groups and usually anti-Western.

The common refrain from many of the rebel fighters is that they have been forgotten by the outside world.

A cache of weapons seized by rebel fighters

A number of commanders told us they were disappointed, angry and frustrated by the lack of help from the international community.

One said: "All we get is words, not actions."

I asked him how many fighters were from outside Syria. He replied: "Most of the fighters are Syrians. I would say 90% of the fighters are Syrian. Only a few hundred in the whole of Syria are from outside the country and most of them are from sympathetic countries."

We met a Libyan medic and former rebel in his own country who said he had come to help the rebels in Syria as a fellow Muslim.

He said: "We know what it is like to suffer. I have come to help in the hospital but if I had to pick up a gun and shoot Assad soldiers, of course I would.

"The real problem here is not foreign fighters, not Al Qaeda or any other group but the regime which has done far more damage than any other group."

The rebels have been making significant gains in the north, crushing regime bases and the Assad army has been losing men as well as arms.

But the frustration by the rebels and the inaction by the international community is driving the rebels towards religious extremism.

If Assad falls, the West's lack of help may have lost them a potential ally in the Middle East and even worse, may have created an angry and resentful new enemy.

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Ukraine Election: Leader's Party Claims Victory

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich's party has claimed victory in a parliamentary vote tainted by the jailing of the country's top opposition leader.

With former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko in jail and widespread fears of election fraud, the West is paying close attention to the vote in the strategic ex-Soviet state.

Ukraine lies between Russia and the European Union, and serves as a key conduit for transit of Russian energy supplies to many EU countries.

An election deemed undemocratic by international observers could freeze Kiev's ties with the West and push Ukraine toward Moscow.

An exit poll conducted by three leading polling agencies showed the Party of Regions ahead with some 28.1% of the vote.

Tymoshenko's Fatherland party is poised to get about 25% of the proportional vote.

Meanwhile, Udar (Punch), led by world boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, is set to get around 15%, according to the survey. 

The anti-government nationalist Svoboda (Freedom) party and the Communists, Yanukovich's traditional allies, both look set to get about 12%.

And even though the three opposition parties have more proportional votes than the Regions and the Communists combined, Yanukovich candidates are likely to win enough individual races to form a majority in parliament.

Official results were slow to trickle in.

With the votes at less than 1% of all polling stations counted, Yanukovich's Party got 50%.

Tymoshenko's and Klitschko's parties got about 15% each, Svoboda got 7% and the Communists 5%, according to election officials.

"We believe that this is an undisputable victory of the Party of Regions," Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said shortly after polls closed.

"Above all, it shows the people's trust to the (policy) course that is being pursued."

It remains to be seen whether Tymoshenko's group, Klitschko's party and Svoboda can forge a strong alliance and challenge Yanukovich.

The election has been tainted by Tymoshenko's jailing on charges of abuse of office.

It has also been compromised by the creation of fake opposition parties and campaigns by politically unskilled celebrities.

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Hurricane Sandy: NY Braces For Superstorm

Rain and wind from Hurricane Sandy has started lashing the northeast of the US, as forecasters warn that New York could bear the brunt of the one-of-a-kind superstorm.

Sandy is on a collision course with two other weather systems leading to fears it could develop into one of the worst storms on record in the US.

The superstorm is threatening up to 50 million people on the heavily populated East Coast, and forecasters say it could wreak havoc over 800 miles (1,300 kilometres) from the Atlantic coast to the Great Lakes.

Sandy, a Category 1 hurricane, is currently about 470 miles (756 kilometres) south east of New York City. It is expected to make its way inland tonight, hitting Atlantic City in New Jersey before crossing through Pennsylvania.

Sandy is a category 1 hurricane

Hundreds of thousands of people have already evacuated coastal areas, but much focus remains on New York.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has ordered the evacuation of 375,000 people in low-lying areas of lower Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.

"If you don't evacuate, you are not only endangering your life, you are also endangering the lives of the first responders who are going in to rescue you," he said.

Sandbags have been used to thwart flooding in low-lying areas

"This is a serious and dangerous storm."

Authorities are warning that New York could get hit with an 11-foot (3.3-metre) wall of water that could swamp parts of lower Manhattan, flood subway tunnels and cripple the network of electrical and communications lines that are vital to the nation's financial centre.

New York called off school Monday for the city's 1.1 million students and suspended all train, bus and subway services on Sunday night because of the risk of flooding.

Key evacuation areas affecting New York City and adjoining areas

Nearly the entire coastline of Staten Island has been evacuated. Parts of lower Manhattan, like Battery Park and Ground Zero, have also been evacuated amid the threat of flooding.

The New York Stock Exchange announced it will close its trading floor Monday but continue to trade electronically.

A state of emergency has already been declared in nine states - including New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts.

US President Barack Obama promised the government would "respond big and respond fast" after the storm hits.

Police officers monitor Times Square subway station

"My message to the governors as well as to the mayors is anything they need, we will be there, and we will cut through red tape. We are not going to get bogged down with a lot of rules," he said.

Federal Emergency management administrator Craig Fugate warned that the "time for preparing and talking is about over."

"People need to be acting now," he said.

Airlines have cancelled more than 7,600 flights, with British Airways, Virgin and American Airlines halting all departures to the United States.

From Heathrow, 28 flights have been cancelled to New York, Washington and Boston.

The projected storm track passes over New York

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First Tsunami Waves Hit Hawaii After Earthquake

A 7.7 magnitude earthquake has struck off the west coast of Canada, triggering a tsunami in Hawaii.

The quake happened at just after 8pm local time about 96 miles (155km) south of Masset in the Haida Gwaii region, formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands.

Following a tsunami warning, the first waves of around one metre hit Hawaii but large-scale damage is not expected.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said an estimated 100,000 to 150,000 people who live in Hawaii's coastal zones had been urged to move to higher ground.

The US Geological Survey said the earthquake was followed by a 5.8 magnitude aftershock several minutes later.

Lenore Lawrence, a resident of Queen Charlotte City on the Haida Gwaii, said the quake was "definitely scary". She said the shaking lasted more than a minute. While several things fell off her mantle and broke, she said damage in her home was minimal.

Lucy Jones, a USGS seismologist, said: "This isn't that big of an earthquake on tsunami scales. The really big tsunamis are usually up in the high 8s and 9s."

Tremors were felt across a wide area in British Columbia, both on its Pacific islands and on the mainland.

Residents in parts of British Columbia were evacuated but the province seemed to escape the biggest quake in Canada since 1949 largely unscathed.

"It looks like the damage and the risk are at a very low level. We're certainly grateful," said Shirley Bond, British Columbia's minister responsible for emergency management.

Officials downgraded a tsunami warning to an advisory for southern Alaska and British Columbia. They also issued an advisory for areas of northern California and southern Oregon.

The first wave of the small tsunami, about four inches hit the southeast Alaska coastal community of Craig.

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Syria: Rebel Fighters Are Becoming Radicalised

By Alex Crawford, Sky News Special Correspondent

Sky has seen new evidence that the Syrian uprising is becoming more and more radicalised and being fought by Islamic fundamentalists and extremists.

The Syrian rebels have all but given up on military intervention by the West but after 18 months of grinding battle and a feeling they have been abandoned by the international community, they are making their own bombs and weapons and becoming much more self-sufficient.

There are some weapons and arms being smuggled across the borders from sympathetic Muslim neighbours.

We saw brand new rocket propelled grenade launchers with their rockets still in their plastic wrappers which had been smuggled across the Turkish border and an anti-aircraft gun which the rebels told us had come from Iraq.

But although that means that the rebels have many more weapons than they have had before, it is still small fry in comparison to the heavy weaponry, tanks and artillery employed by the regime.

What is increasingly obvious is the number of Jihad (holy war) flags and Jihad paraphernalia worn and used by the rebel fighters. The black headbands worn by many of the fighters are a symbol of Islamic fundamentalism - used by extremist groups and usually anti-Western.

The common refrain from many of the rebel fighters is that they have been forgotten by the outside world.

A cache of weapons seized by rebel fighters

A number of commanders told us they were disappointed, angry and frustrated by the lack of help from the international community.

One said: "All we get is words, not actions."

I asked him how many fighters were from outside Syria. He replied: "Most of the fighters are Syrians. I would say 90% of the fighters are Syrian. Only a few hundred in the whole of Syria are from outside the country and most of them are from sympathetic countries."

We met a Libyan medic and former rebel in his own country who said he had come to help the rebels in Syria as a fellow Muslim.

He said: "We know what it is like to suffer. I have come to help in the hospital but if I had to pick up a gun and shoot Assad soldiers, of course I would.

"The real problem here is not foreign fighters, not Al Qaeda or any other group but the regime which has done far more damage than any other group."

The rebels have been making significant gains in the north, crushing regime bases and the Assad army has been losing men as well as arms.

But the frustration by the rebels and the inaction by the international community is driving the rebels towards religious extremism.

If Assad falls, the West's lack of help may have lost them a potential ally in the Middle East and even worse, may have created an angry and resentful new enemy.

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Afghanistan Suicide Bomber Kills Worshippers

A suicide bomber has attacked a mosque in Afghanistan as people gathered to celebrate the Eid al Adha holiday.

Between 36 and 41 people, including at least five children, died in the attack in the town of Maymana, capital of northern Faryab province.

Top provincial officials, including the governor and the police chief, were inside the building when the bomber set off his explosives outside the packed Eid Gah mosque.

The officials were not hurt, but the dead included police officers, soldiers, intelligence agents and civilians. Dozens were wounded.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but suicide bombings are a favourite weapon of Taliban Islamists trying to topple the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

One eyewitness, Sayed Moqeed, described the bomber as appearing to be in his early teens.

"Suddenly I heard a very big explosion," he said. "Everywhere were pieces of bodies, hands and limbs. The suicide attacker was in police uniform, he looked to be around 14 or 15 years old."

Deputy Governor Abdul Satar Barez said: "The targets of the bomber were all the officials inside the mosque."

It appeared to be the deadliest suicide attack in recent months.

On September 4, 25 civilians were killed and more than 35 wounded in Nanghar province, and on September 1, 12 people were killed and 47 wounded in a suicide attack in Wardak province.

Mr Karzai strongly condemned the attack, saying that those who carried it out were "enemies of Islam and humanity."

The attack came as Mr Karzai was urging Taliban insurgents "to stop killing other Afghans".

In his Eid al Adha message to the nation, Mr Karzai called on the insurgents to "stop the destruction of our mosques, hospitals and schools".

The United Nations says that Taliban attacks account for the vast majority of civilian casualties in the 11-year war. The insurgents routinely deny that they are responsible for attacks on civilians, saying they target only foreign troops or members of the Afghan security forces.

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Syria: Deadly Car Bomb Attack In Capital

At least five people have been killed and 32 wounded in a car bombing in southern Damascus, according to Syrian state television.

The blast in the capital comes on the first day of a ceasefire brokered by UN and Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi.

The regime and the main rebel force, the Free Syrian Army, had both agreed to temporarily lay down their arms.

"The explosion of a booby-trapped car outside the Omar bin Khattab mosque in the Daf Shawk district killed and wounded dozens of people," the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The attack comes hours after three people were reported to have been killed by tank and sniper fire in the Damascus suburb of Harasta, which was apparently targeted in a violation of the temporary truce agreed to mark the four-day Muslim holiday of Eid al Adha.

The Syrian army said it had been responding to attacks by armed rebels that were in violation of the ceasefire.

"Armed terrorist groups attacked military positions, thereby clearly violating the halt to military operations agreed by the army command.

"Our valiant armed forces are responding to these violations and pursuing these groups," the military said in a statement, adding that rebel attacks had taken place against its positions in Deir Ezzor, Daraa, Idlib and in the Damascus region.

The Syrian army had said it would cease military operations from Friday to Monday for the Eid al Adha holiday, but warned it would react if "armed terrorist groups" carry out attacks or reinforce their positions, or if fighters cross into the country.

President Assad pictured at a prayer service on Friday

Rebels in a northern town close to the Turkish border also reported one of their fighters was shot dead by a sniper, and a Reuters journalist in the town heard what sounded like four rounds of tank fire.

In a statement read on state television after the truce deal, the Syrian army said it would still respond to gunfire or roadside bombs and keep rebels from bolstering their positions or getting supplies.

A Free Syrian Army commander also said rebels would retaliate if they were attacked.

On Friday morning, Syrian state television showed President Bashar al Assad attending morning prayers for the start of Eid at a mosque in Damascus.

He was pictured smiling and looking relaxed as he spoke to other worshippers, in his first television appearance for more than a month.

During prayers, Imam Walid Abdel Haq called on Syrians to "stop quarrelling because you are all brothers".

"Do you not see what has been happening for two years in the country, the destruction and death? Stop this," he said.

Protests were reported to have taken place in Raqa in the north east, where security forces fired tear gas, and in the southern Deraa province, where three people were injured as police fired live rounds to disperse demonstrators.

Activists said protests also took place in Damascus and Aleppo.

In the Idlib village of Al Habit protesters chanted against Mr Assad, saying: "Traitor, give up, you have destroyed Syria."

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