Weather: Storm Alerts As UK Set For 'Hurricane'

Forecasters are increasingly confident a storm packing hurricane-speed gusts of more than 80mph will hit Britain.

A Met office image shows a forecast for the storm on Monday

Severe weather alerts are in place for England and Wales, with an amber warning, meaning "be prepared", in place for southern counties.

The storm, which is moving across the Atlantic Ocean, would need to buffet the UK with sustained winds for it to be scientifically classed as a hurricane.

Forecasts show how the storm might develop and move towards the UK

Met Office spokeswoman Nicola Maxey said the storm could cause structural damage, trees and power cables to come down and transport problems on Monday morning

"We have been tracking the probable course of the storm and we are tracking it further north than we had thought earlier," she said.

The Met Office website shows amber and yellow alerts for Monday

"We have also revised the speed for gusts of wind up to 70 to 80mph inland, with the possibility of speeds in excess of 80mph in exposed coastal areas."

Atlantic storms of this type usually develop further west across the ocean, losing strength by the time they reach the UK and Ireland.

This one is unusual in that it is expected to appear much closer to land, potentially moving across the country while it is in its most powerful phase.

Some have compared its potential to the Great Storm of 1987 and record-breaking gales in south Wales in 1989.

Sky weather presenter Jo Wheeler said: "Late October is notorious for strong storms, with a wind gust of 124mph recorded in the Vale of Glamorgan in 1989.

"Should this storm achieve its potential, it is likely to bring down trees and cause damage to roads and buildings, possibly causing major transport disruption and power cuts."

The storm's trajectory is unclear but there are fears it may wreak havoc in England and Wales if it hits land.

If it does, it is likely to batter Wales and the South West before sweeping east and touching most of the country.

However, there is a chance it could miss land completely, sweeping instead through the English Channel.

The storm is expected to strike two weeks later than the Great Storm of 1987, which left a trail of destruction on October 15 and 16.

There are already fears the storm may compare to the Great Storm of 1987

Forecasters famously failed to predict its severity before it flattened trees, knocked out power and left 22 people dead in England and France.

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Savile's Chauffeur Charged With Sex Offences

Jimmy Savile's former chauffeur, who once shared a flat with the disgraced broadcaster, has been charged with a string of historic sex offences.

Ray Teret, 72, has been charged with 32 offences relating to 15 alleged victims who claimed they were sexually abused between 1962 and 1996.

Most of the alleged offences are said to have taken place in the Greater Manchester area.

Teret, from Altrincham, is charged with 15 counts of rape of a female under 16, one count of rape, one count of attempted rape of a female under 16, six counts of indecent assault of a female under 16, three counts of indecent assault of a female under 14, one count of gross indecency with a child under 13 and two counts of conspiracy to rape a girl under 16.

Ray Teret is also a former DJ

The former DJ is also charged with one count of possession of extreme pornography, one count of possession of prohibited images and one count of possession of an indecent image of a child.

Teret, who was initially arrested and bailed last November with another man on suspicion of historic rape allegations, is due to appear before magistrates in Manchester on Saturday.

Police previously said the accusations against him were not linked to the national inquiry into Savile.

DCI Graham Brock, of Greater Manchester Police, said: "This has been a complex investigation that was originally launched in October 2012 when an initial complaint was made to Greater Manchester Police.

"Since that time, we have carried out extensive and wide-ranging inquiries and interviewed a number of people as part of that investigation.

TV presenter Jimmy Savile

"It is now very important that we make no further comment and allow the correct legal process to take its course unimpeded and without prejudice.

"We will continue to support all those women who have come forward and offer them whatever welfare they need through the use of specially-trained officers."

Two other men have also been charged following the investigation into Teret.

William Harper, 65, from Stretford, is charged with charged with conspiracy to rape a girl under 16 and attempt rape of a girl under 16.

Alan Ledger, 62, from Altrincham, is accused of indecently assaulting a girl under 16 and aiding and abetting the rape of a girl under 16.

Both men will appear at Manchester City Magistrates' Court on October 30.

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Police 'Find First 3D Gun-Printing Factory'

By Nick Martin, North of England Correspondent

Police have discovered a 3D printer which they believe criminals were using to try to make a gun, Sky News can reveal.

In what is believed to be the first case of its kind, officers in Manchester on Thursday seized a printer and other components potentially used in the manufacture of firearms during a raid.

As part of an operation to target organised crime gangs in the city, police found a trigger and a magazine they believe is capable of holding bullets, both of which are thought to have been made using the printer.

Officers believe the raid – in the Bagley area of the city – could have uncovered what could be Britain's first 3D gun factory.

Earlier this year concerns were raised that the printers, which construct everyday solid items using very thin layers of plastic, could be used to make a gun, which contained no metal parts and could therefore evade detection by security scanners at airports and other potential criminal targets.

The plastic magazine police believe is capable of holding bullets

In a statement to Sky News, Detective Inspector Chris Mossop, of Greater Manchester Police, said: "If what we have seized is proven to be viable components capable of constructing a genuine firearm, then it demonstrates that organised crime groups are acquiring technology that can be bought on the high street to produce the next generation of weapons.

"In theory, the technology essentially allows offenders to produce their own guns in the privacy of their own home, which they can then supply to the criminal gangs who are causing such misery in our communities.

"Because they are also plastic and can avoid X-ray detection, it makes them easy to conceal and smuggle."

The chief constable of Greater Manchester, Sir Peter Fahy, told Sky News that 3D guns were "a new phenomenon".

He said: "We will really need to look at this new development. Certainly we feel that we are having success - and the important thing is not to be defeatist about this. It is not to think that we'll never win, that these people are cleverer than us.

"They are not, they are just more violent than us."

In May a US defence company successfully fired the first ever gun made with 3D printer technology and announced plans to distribute the blueprints online.

The 3D printer in what could be a factory for a "new generation of weapons"

At the time it was warned that criminals may try to use the devices to do something similar.

The firm, Defense Distributed, spent a year trying to assemble a working model. It succeeded using separate printed plastic components and a metal firing pin.

The cost of 3D printers has fallen dramatically in recent months. They can now be bought for less than £1,000.

In a statement Greater Manchester Police said: "Component parts for what could be the UK's first ever 3D gun have been seized by Greater Manchester Police.

"During the searches, officers found a 3D printer and what is suspected might be a plastic clip and a 3D trigger which could be fitted together to make a viable 3D gun.

"It they are found to be viable components for a 3D gun, it would be the first ever seizure of this kind in the UK. The parts are now being forensically examined by firearms specialists to establish if they could construct a genuine device.

"A man has been arrested on suspicion of making gunpowder and remains in custody for questioning."

Sir Peter: "These people are not cleverer that us, just more violent."

The raid came as part of what police describe as the largest operation to tackle organised criminal gangs in Manchester's history.

In the past week more than 50 suspected members of criminal gangs have been arrested for a variety of offences including drugs, firearms and money laundering.

As well as the 3D printer, seizures included £330,000 worth of drugs, £25,000 in cash along with weapons such as high-powered air rifles, a BB gun, a Taser, a baton and seven high powered cars.

Up to 50 tonnes of counterfeit goods worth at least £2m - including fake trainers, watches and clothing - were also recovered.

Detective Chief Superintendent Rebekah Sutcliffe, who heads Challenger for Greater Manchester Police, said: "Organised crime groups have a corrosive and insidious effect on our communities. These sorts of people mistakenly believe they 'own their turf' and use violence and intimidation to make people's lives a misery.

"However, this week we have brought the fight to these gangs and through Challenger we are now declaring war on these criminal networks who for too long have been bullying communities and enjoying a lavish lifestyle."

There are currently more than 160 known organised criminal gangs in Greater Manchester, costing the local economy between £850m and £1.7bn each year.

However, it is thought there may be up to 500 of these networks in operation.

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US Spies 'Tapped Calls Of 35 World Leaders'

The US spy agency monitored the telephone calls of 35 world leaders, according to the latest leaked documents from the whistleblower, Edward Snowden.

A confidential memo shows the National Security Agency obtained the numbers from one senior official in another government department, who passed on contacts for some 200 people.

According to the report in The Guardian newspaper, the agency encouraged senior officials in departments such as the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon to share "Rolodexes" filled with numbers for foreign politicians.

The disclosure follows allegations that the US tapped the mobile telephone of German chancellor Angela Merkel.

The German leader warned the US on Thursday that eavesdropping on allies was unacceptable, saying: "Spying on friends, that's just not done."

The German Chancellor made her comments as she was heading into a European Union summit in Brussels where the growing spy scandal had been catapulted to the top of the agenda.

Angela Merkel with Francois Hollande at Thursday's EU summit

Ms Merkel had already told Barack Obama during a heated telephone conversation that if suggestions the US had bugged her phone were true, it would be unacceptable and a "serious breach of trust".

Despite initial assurances that the US was not and would not listen to Ms Merkel's phone, the White House on Thursday refused to be drawn over allegations, leaving widespread speculation over whether the US had tapped her phone in the past.

Press secretary Jay Carney said the White House is "not going to get into specific allegations that have been made in public reports".

Speaking at the EU summit, Ms Merkel, who is so attached to her mobile phone that she bought 10,000 specially encrypted handsets for her and her staff, said: "We need trust among allies and partners. Such trust now has to be built anew. This is what we have to think about.

Angela Merkel made her feelings clear to Barack Obama in a phone call

"The United States of America and Europe face common challenges. We are allies but such an alliance can only be built on trust. That's why I repeat again: spying among friends, that cannot be."

The latest Guardian revelations will heighten the tensions between the US and key European allies, whose leaders, speaking at the 28-nation summit meeting, echoed Ms Merkel's words.

French President Francois Hollande said: "What is at stake is preserving our relations with the United States. They should not be changed because of what has happened. But trust has to be restored and reinforced."

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt called it "completely unacceptable" for a country to eavesdrop on an allied leader.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that if reports that Ms Merkel's cellphone was tapped were true, "it is exceptionally serious".

Italian Premier Enrico Letta said: "It is not in the least bit conceivable that activity of this type could be acceptable."

The latest NSA memo is dated October 2006, and was issued to staff in the agency's Signals Intelligence Directorate (SID).

The latest disclosures come from documents leaked by Edward Snowden

It describes how US officials who mixed with world leaders and politicians could help agency surveillance.

It notes: "In one recent case a US official provided NSA with 200 phone numbers to 35 world leaders.

"Despite the fact that the majority is probably available via open source, the IPCs (intelligence production centres) have noted 43 previously unknown phone numbers. These numbers plus several others have been tasked."

The document also describes how the numbers provided the NSA leads to further telephone numbers which were also "tasked", but admits that the surveillance had produced "little reportable intelligence".

Earlier, The Daily Telegraph reported that the US had denied ever spying on Prime Minister David Cameron.

Caitlin Hayden, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said: "We do not monitor PM Cameron's communications."

Asked if the US had ever spied on Mr Cameron in the past, she replied: "No."

The Prime Minister's official spokesman refused to comment, saying: "I'm not going to comment on matters of security or intelligence."

Britain and the US - along with Canada, Australia and New Zealand - are members of the so-called "Five Eyes" group, who share signals intelligence and are supposed not to spy on each other.

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Madeleine McCann: Portugal Cops May Open Case

The Portuguese police are to request that the Madeleine McCann investigation be reopened, according to local media.

Police in Oporto have been reviewing the case and have identified a number of issues they wish to clarify, an unnamed police source was quoted as saying. 

The move to re-examine the case in Portugal comes after a fresh appeal for information was aired across Europe.

The original Portuguese police investigation, which was heavily criticised in the British media, ended in 2008.  

Police received more than 2,400 phone calls from the public following the broadcast of a reconstruction of events leading up to three-year-old's disappearance in 2007.

E-fits of man police want to speak to about Madeleine's disappearance

A spokesman for the McCanns reportedly said the change of heart may be partly due to publicity surrounding the case after the appeal the recent discovery of an abducted blonde girl, Maria, who was found living with a Roma family in Greece.

"Kate and Gerry don't want to get their hopes up too much. But if the Portuguese do resume their investigation it would be a significant development and an important step forward," the Daily Mirror reported the spokesman as saying.

British police say their review of the case suggests it was a premeditated abduction, with their focus turning towards a man seen carrying a child at about the same time Madeleine was found to be missing from the family's holiday apartment.

Detectives have released two e-fit images of a man they want to speak to in connection with the case based on the accounts of two witnesses.

Both described seeing him in Praia da Luz on the evening of May 3.

Four other e-fits based on witness accounts of men seen in the area, some of whom may have been working as "charity collectors" who may or may not be genuine were also released.

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Marikana Massacre: 'Damning' Evidence Emerges

By Alex Crawford, Special Correspondent

The Marikana Miners Support group has called for South African police to be prosecuted after apparently unearthing new evidence which disputes the authorities' version of what happened on the day more than thirty striking miners were shot dead by police.

The evidence was uncovered by a film-maker - who is also a member of the campaign group - while he was doing research for a documentary on the incident at the Lonmin mine in August 2012.

It appears to throw more doubt on the police claim that they acted in self-defence when they opened fire on striking miners.

As well as the 34 miners killed, nearly 80 others were left wounded.

The footage has been submitted to the Commission of Inquiry which is continuing into just what went wrong at Marikana.

The film-maker Rehad Desai called it 'damning' evidence which showed - in his opinion - that the police had not only engineered the situation which led to the miners being shot but had then lied repeatedly to the South African public and the inquiry to cover up their actions.

New video shows a miners' leader (circled) who was shot dead minutes later

The footage is shot from what Mr Desai called a 'fourth' angle that was mostly unseen and unexamined.

It depicts a large group of the miners being led away from the hillock (or koppie as it is known in South Africa) where they had been demonstrating.

They are filmed walking slowly, apparently passively and quietly away as they are shepherded by their leaders towards the informal settlement where many of them lived.

The pictures, which are in sequential order of being filmed and apparently have a time code embedded on them which indicates the time of day when recorded, then show increased activity among the police.

They are seen moving armoured police vehicles to block the miners' path and forming a barrier between them and the informal settlement.

The footage shows police with guns drawn, apparently before trouble started

The miners are coralled down a relatively narrow path alongside police vehicles and in the direction of a waiting line of armed police.

As they pass a row of police trucks, one policeman can be seen to the left of the picture shooting birdshot into the crowd of passing miners.

Other police then follow suit. The miners who are already cowering with some crouching over, then start to panic.

One can be seen turning towards the police who are side-on to the crowd and firing his handgun directly at the police.

There is some smoke seen which is thought to be tear gas and causes the miners to start running away  - from the gas and the shooting coming at them from the side.

Film-maker Rehad Desai says the new evidence is 'damning

Instead they run directly towards the line-up of police and within seconds, you can hear a cacophony of noise as the police open fire with live ammunition.

The latest allegations follow a statement by the Commission a few weeks ago that it had managed to obtain documents which the police had previously said did not exist.

The Commission also managed to get access to police computer hard drives.

At the time, it issued a statement saying: "We have obtained documents which in our opinion demonstrate that the (police) version of the events at Marikana...is in material respects not the truth."

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Syria: Capsized Refugee Rescue Caught On Film

By Stuart Ramsay, Chief Correspondent

Illegal immigrants are dying in the Mediterranean in record numbers because criminal gangs know that rich northern European countries like the UK are too scared to address the issue of international migration because of domestic politics.

As European leaders meet this week to discuss demands for help from font line countries like Malta, Sky News has obtained exclusive pictures of the moment hundreds of Syrians, fleeing their war-torn country, are left swimming for their lives over a hundred miles from shore, waiting for help.

Hundreds of refugees were tipped into the sea when their boat sank

Mediterranean countries say the whole European Union has to do more and must ignore local politics to help genuine refugees.

There is nothing more scary that being in heavy waters in a rubber dinghy when you are fleeing a war torn country and you are already completely exhausted.

For refugees and illegal migrants that is normal. Life is basically terrible.

Malta, Spain and Italy are trying to deal with this daily problem.

Survivors scrambled onto life rafts throw to them by the Maltese navy

The system isn't perfect and to be frank they are not being as vigilante as they could be because they can't really cope with what is going on.

This is a huge international problem that has been going on for years - but nobody so far has done anything significant to stop it.

Sky News obtained a remarkable series of videos from the Maltese government that show for the first time an entire rescue.

The migrant's boat has been shot at by Libyan gunmen who are traffickers and haven't been paid off.

Young children were among those pulled from the water

Within hours the boat either capsizes or sinks but the Syrian migrants are dumped into the sea.

By chance a Maltese spotter plane sees them and a rescue mission, lasting more than 20 hours, begins.

This man doesn't know whether his two children survived or drowned

The spotter plane drops a life raft that gives the survivors a point to aim for. They swim in their dozens to try to find something to hold onto.

It will take over an hour of treading water before the rescue boats arrive. Many people die in this time gap.

Patrol boats and launch vessels pick the survivors from the sea. This is a joint venture between the Maltese and the Italian navy.

Men, women and children are transferred from the rubber boats to the safety of the patrol vessels.

Among them, a little girl and her father clutching to one another survived. Her twin sister has died; her mother, his pregnant wife, perished trying to save the girl.

They know nothing of this as they stand on the rescue ship deck being dried. As with all these disasters many families are split forever in the rescue.

On shore the Syrian migrants wait in a detention centre for news of family members who have simply disappeared. A man cries in anguish and writes on a shoe box, "Where are my two children?"

A translator says he doesn't know if they are dead or not.

He just needs to know. One way or the other.

A doctor represents the people in an emotional appeal for more information. But I speak to him quietly alone. I ask why a paediatrician is here, risking this dreadful trip.

"We have no choice, Stuart, you know that. It is too dangerous in Syria so I decided to take my family to somewhere safe.

"But this has been terrible. Worse than I ever imagined," he told me.

I asked if he would do it again.

"Yes," he said. "There is no choice."

These aren't work-shy foreigners looking for benefits. These are refugees.

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Maria: Interpol To Help Greece With DNA Check

Greek authorities have asked Interpol to help them identify a blond girl found in a Roma settlement by sharing her DNA profile with member countries.

The police agency has said it will make its international DNA database available to any one of its 190 member countries which has been given the profile of someone claiming to be a blood relative of the child, believed to be about four years old.

Member countries are also being urged to check Maria's DNA profile against their own DNA files as Greek authorities investigate whether the girl may have been abducted.

Interpol's Yellow Notice appeal to help identify Maria

Countries who do not have a national DNA database are being encouraged to add all their DNA records to Interpol's records.

The parents of Lisa Irwin, who went missing in Kansas in October 2011 have contacted Greek authorities in the hope that the girl known as Maria could be their daughter.

An official request has been made through the FBI and Interpol to the Greek authorities for Lisa's DNA profile to be compared with Maria's DNA, though Lisa would be three years old in November and Greek police believe Maria is five or six years old.

Interpol has also circulated an official Yellow Notice. The briefings are used to help locate missing persons, particularly children or others unable to identify themselves.

At the request of Greek authorities, Blue Notices have also been issued for Christos Salis and Eleftheria Dimopoulou, the Roma couple who were looking after Maria and who have now been charged with her abduction.

Eleftheria Dimopoulou and Christos Salis have been charged with abduction

Blue Notices are issued to collect additional information about a person's identity, location or activities.

Meanwhile, a blonde girl thought to be seven years old and living with a Roma family in Ireland has been taken into care after a tip off from a member of the public.

The girl, who also has blue eyes, was discovered after officers were called to a house in the Dublin suburb of Tallaght on Monday afternoon.

Concerns were raised after the member of the public saw the blonde girl being looked after by the Roma family. The couple looking after the girl were unable to prove her identity.

A baby who went missing in Kansas is being linked to the young girl allegedly abducted by a Roma family in Greece.

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Father And Gran Held Over Child Kidnap Probe

A father and grandmother of a toddler and baby have been arrested on suspicion of kidnap and attempted child abduction.

Saleem Tahir, 40, and 67-year-old Denise Smith-Sellars, both from Nottingham, are in custody and being questioned by detectives.

It follows a police hunt and appeal for the children, who were taken from a hotel room in Stoke-on-Trent on Friday.

They were found safe and well in a guest house near Derby town centre at around 7pm on Monday.

The youngsters are being supported by specially trained officers before they are reunited with their mother and wider family, police in Staffordshire said.

A spokesman said: "Staffordshire Police would like to take this opportunity to thank the public, the media and colleagues from a number of forces in the region for their assistance and support."

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Maria: Roma Couple Charged With Abduction

A Roma couple have been formally charged with abducting a mystery blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl in Greece.

The pair, named in local papers as Hristos Salis, 39, and Eleftheria Dimopoulou, 40, were escorted into the back of a courthouse in Larissa from a police van.

Their friends and family waited at the front of the building, with reporters and TV satellite crews, as a dozen police officers stood guard. No press were allowed into the court.

The couple told the investigative magistrate the girl's biological mother gave the little girl to them as a baby because she could not look after her.

They deny charges of abduction and procuring false documents relating to the girl's birth certificate.

One of their lawyers, Constantinos Katsavos, told reporters outside court: "It was an adoption that was not exactly legal but took place with the mother's consent." 

The pair were taken by police van into the back of the courthouse

The court will decide whether the pair will be kept in custody pending trial or released on bail.

The mystery girl, known as Maria, was discovered living in a Roma camp near the Greek town of Farsala on Wednesday after a raid by police looking for drugs and weapons.

British police say there is no link between her case and that of missing boy Ben Needham, who was 21 months old when he vanished on the Greek island of Kos in 1991.

A prosecutor who accompanied police on the raid thought it odd that Maria did not look like her darker-skinned "parents".

DNA tests later confirmed the couple are not her biological parents.

The couple appeared at a court in Larissa

The pair claim they were given the child by a Bulgarian woman who was unable to look after her, two weeks after she was born on January 31, 2009.

Greek authorities have put out a worldwide appeal to help identify the youngster and find her real family.

Maria, who utters just a few words in Greek and Roma dialect, is being cared for in Athens by the Greek charity Smile Of The Child and is said to be "doing well".

Charity spokesman Panagiotis Pardalis told Sky News that Maria is still in hospital and waiting for medical examinations to be completed.

"She is talking to hospital staff and seems happy, and is playing with staff and showing normal child behaviour," he said.

Maria seen in a family video as a toddler

The Roma couple claim Maria is four years old, although medical and dental tests have confirmed she is a year or two older than that.

The little girl, dubbed the "blonde angel" by Greek media, will be transferred to one of the charity's homes when she leaves hospital.

The charity has been inundated with more than 8,000 calls about the girl from around the world, including from people in the US, Scandinavia, Australia and South Africa.

Some of the calls had specific details and have been forwarded to police.

Neighbours in Farsala's ramshackle Roma camp said Maria's real father had come to look for her soon after she was taken away by police.

Maria was found in a Roma camp in Farsala

Babis Dimitriou, chairman of the local Roma community, told The Daily Telegraph: "There was a Bulgarian husband and wife who were working around Greece in temporary jobs, who used to stay here sometimes.

"At one point they left the girl to be raised by the family here in the village.

"The family raised the child as if it was their own, although her father would come back every now and then to see her. The last time he visited was only five days ago, after the arrests had been made.

"All the other Roma here were telling the Bulgarian man to explain to the police that the girl was his, but he has now disappeared."

His account was backed by other residents, the paper reported.

The Roma community in Farsala is said to be anxious about the worldwide media attention the case is attracting.

In a country already devastated by economic crisis, the Roma in the camp make a living selling fruit, carpets, blankets, baskets and shoes at local markets.

They are already considered by some to be social outcasts, thieves and beggars, and they are now worried they will be stigmatised as kidnappers and child traffickers.

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Kenya: Troops 'Loot' Westgate Centre On CCTV

CCTV footage has emerged showing Kenyan troops appearing to loot goods as they cleared out the Westgate shopping mall after last month's terrorist attacks.

The footage, taken on security cameras in the complex, seems to show soldiers taking boxes of mobile phones from a shop where a body lies on the ground.

Kenyan forces took four days to make safe the Westgate centre in Nairobi after it was attacked by Al Shabaab militants on September 22.

Soldiers from the Kenyan Defence Force (KDF) were initially praised by the Kenyan public for the operation in which several members of the security services were shot.

But now, since the CCTV was broadcast by a local TV station, the public in Nairobi has reacted with outrage.

Kenya's biggest selling newspaper The Nation ran an article under the headline: "Shame of soldiers looting Westgate" under the caption "caught on camera".

Gunmen from the al Qaeda-linked Al Shabaab group massacred at least 67 people when they raided the upmarket Westgate mall.

Grenades were hurled at shoppers and bullets sprayed at members of the public, including children, as a punishment for Kenya sending troops to Somalia.

The closed-circuit television footage shows soldiers taking what appears to be unpacked mobile phone boxes from a phone store while others are in a mobile money transfer shop.

A couple of metres from the shop, a pool of spattered blood identifies the spot where a wounded man, crawling on the floor, was shot five times.

A parliamentary committee set up to probe the four-day siege found that the KDF "never participated in looting".

Despite this, Kenya's press have criticised the KDF which, until now, has been considered one of Kenya's most professional institutions.

It has led to a deep sense of uneasiness among the Nairobi public.

University of Nairobi student Ndeva Vitalis said parliamentary committee's findings were a lie.

"CCTV is the truth," he said.

One doctor, who asked not to be named, told Reuters: "The CCTV footage made me lose faith in KDF, who we all strongly supported after they crushed Al Shabaab in Somalia.

"Now there is some sort of a cover up taking place."

Emmanuel Chirchir, a spokesman for the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), said on Sunday that a news conference organised for Wednesday would deal with looting allegations.

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'Strike Price' Agreed For New UK Nuclear Plant

A deal to build Britain's first nuclear power plant in a generation is expected to be announced today.

The Government has been negotiating with French-owned EDF Energy for more than a year over two new plants which will be built at Hinkley Point in Somerset.

But ministers are now understood to have agreed on the crucial 'strike price' which will give EDF a guaranteed rate for producing low-carbon electricity, raising concerns that this will hike up energy bills.

If wholesale prices drop below the strike price, investors who financed the project will be compensated. If prices rise above that level, EDF will pay the difference back to consumers.

The 'strike price' gives EDF a guaranteed rate for producing electricity

The two reactors proposed for Hinkley are a key part of the coalition's drive to shift the UK away from fossil fuels towards low-carbon power.

Energy policy has shot up the agenda since the party conference season, when Labour leader Ed Miliband pledged to freeze retail prices for 20 months.

Chancellor George Osborne removed another obstacle last week when he announced that Chinese firms will be allowed to invest in civil nuclear projects in the UK - even potentially taking a majority stake.

The funding agreement will almost certainly mean that the new reactor at Hinkley will be a mirror image of the Taishan plant in China.

Ed Miliband and George Osborne weighed into the energy debate last week

During a visit to the Taishan plant last week, Mr Osborne said: "It is an important potential part of the Government's plan for developing the next generation of nuclear power in Britain.

"It means the potential of more investment and jobs in Britain, and lower long-term energy costs for consumers".

But anti-nuclear activists living near the site say they have been misled by the decision process to site the plant at Hinkley.

Anti-nuclear campaigner, Theo Simon

Campaigner Theo Simon told Sky News: "We were told it would mean lower energy bills but actually the announcement of the strike price is really the last nail in the coffin of this project.

"We were told that it would provide cheap energy; we were told it would help us to bridge the energy gap in the early 2000s, and now it seems it wont be built 2025 and we will all be paying for the profits of EDF and Chinese nuclear corporations for the next 40 years."

The issue of prices has become even more controversial with the Big Six power firms unveiling hikes of more than 9% in electricity and gas prices.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has raised concerns about the increases, telling Sky News' Murnaghan programme that the energy firms needed to justify prices increases.

"Clearly the companies need to justify the bill increases that they are now announcing," he said.

"It cannot be right that people who are really struggling - many, many people still struggling to pay their weekly, their monthly bills, where electricity and gas bills for this winter are a looming worry.

"It can't be right that those bills are increased for those households in our country and yet it is all rather opaque about what drives these increases."

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Mystery Blonde Girl 'Was Well Looked After'

A relative of a Roma Gypsy couple accused of abducting a girl found in their care said the child was given to them and that she was well looked after.

The youngster, known as Maria and aged about four, was found living in squalid conditions in a Roma camp near the central Greek town of Farsala on Wednesday.

She was with people who were pretending to be her parents, but DNA tests later proved they were not.

Kostas said the child was very loved

The couple, a 39-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman, were arrested and charged with abducting a minor.

But a man calling himself Kostas, the brother of the 39-year-old male, said Maria was very loved and cared for.

"We got this girl in a very nice way. We raised her. We got her. She was given to us and we raised her," he said.

"She had problems with her eyes. We took her to the doctor, we took her everywhere.

"We didn't take her to sell her. We loved her so much, with so much passion."

A Roma woman walks next to the house where the girl lived

Giorgos Tsakiris, the general secretary of the Roma association in Farsala, said the girl had a good life with the people who were raising her.

"I can tell you better than her other siblings, the biological ones," Mr Tsakiris said.

"She spent her days very well and that is why the little girl loves them and what they say about abductions is not true."

The girl is being looked after by The Smile of the Child charity

An international search is now under way to find Maria's real family.

Authorities say they have received enquiries from all over the world, including the UK.

The girl, who is now being looked after by The Smile of the Child charity, was found when police raided the camp in search of drugs and weapons.

A police officer became suspicious when he noticed Maria bore no likeness to her supposed family.

Members of the Roma community where the girl was found living

Further investigations into the couple raised even more suspicions.

Authorities allege the mother claimed to have given birth to six children in less than 10 months, while 10 of the 14 children the couple registered as their own are unaccounted for.

Maria's discovery has given hope to the family of Ben Needham, a British boy who disappeared from outside his grandparent's farmhouse on the Greek island of Kos in 1991.

Ben's sister Leighanna, 20, told Sky News: "Obviously, it's been a strong belief of myself and all my family that Ben was taken by gypsies for child trafficking or illegal adoptions and this case just shows that they can be found.

A poster released in the search for Maria's real parents

She added: "I believe that the camp the little girl was found in was looked at (during the investigation into her brother's disappearance).

"But 22 years ago, the Greek police were scared of the gypsies and pretty much point-blank refused to go into the camps ... so our inquiries into these camps never fully got covered."

Ben Needham disappeared in Greece

Ms Needham said the same technology could help find her long-lost brother.

"I think that would be a brilliant thing to get our DNA out there, even if it's not actually Ben but any siblings or any children maybe of Ben (that are found) then that could hopefully lead us to him," she said.

Maria's discovery has also buoyed the hopes of missing Madeleine McCann's parents.

Clarence Mitchell, a spokesman for her parents Kate and Gerry McCann, said: "They have always maintained that until there is evidence to prove otherwise missing children can still be out there waiting to be found."

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Energy Bills: Welby Slams 'Severe' Price Rises

The Archbishop of Canterbury has launched a stinging attack on Britain's energy firms, warning the latest round of price hikes seem to be "inexplicable".

Justin Welby insisted the so-called Big Six energy companies had an obligation to behave morally rather than to simply maximise profit.

His intervention, published in an interview with the Mail on Sunday, came after British Gas followed in the footsteps of SSE by announcing a 9.2% increase in prices.

The head of the Church of England, himself a former oil executive, said he understood the anger the rises had generated.

"The impact on people, particularly on low incomes, is going to be really severe in this, and the companies have to justify fully what they are doing," Mr Welby said.

Last week British Gas announced a 9.2% increase in prices

"I do understand when people feel that this is inexplicable, and I can understand people being angry about it, because having spent years on a low income as a clergyman I know what it is like when your household budget is blown apart by a significant extra fuel bill and your anxiety levels become very high. That is the reality of it."

The Archbishop urged firms to be "conscious of their social obligations", saying they had to "behave with generosity and not merely to maximise opportunity".

"They have control because they sell something everyone has to buy. We have no choice about buying it. With that amount of power comes huge responsibility to serve society," he said.

"It is not like some other sectors of business where people can walk away from you if they don't want to buy your product and you are entitled to seek to maximise your profit.

"The social licence to operate of the energy companies is something they have to take very, very seriously indeed."

Electricity prices are rising faster than those for gas

But the Church Of England owns a significant number of shares in energy companies.

Sky's Chief Political Correspondent Jon Craig said: "Justin Welby has now joined in this increasingly politically charged debate about energy prices - the only embarrassment really for the Church of England really is that it owns more than £7m of shares in Centrica and about £6bn of shares in SSE.

Craig added: "The remarks have been welcomed already by the Labour Party - but they will infuriate government ministers, the Prime Minister and the Energy Secretary."

An ongoing bitter political spat over energy has seen Labour leader Ed Miliband attempt to seize the initiative by pledging a 20-month-long price freeze.

But Prime Minister David Cameron has dismissed the idea as a "con", and encouraged consumers to switch suppliers to keep bills down.

But polls have suggested that Labour's promise is popular with voters, putting pressure on the coalition to respond.

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