First Gay Weddings: PM Hails 'Equal Marriage'

Prime Minister David Cameron has hailed the first gay weddings in England and Wales as sending a "powerful message" about equality in the UK.

The law changed at midnight, with a number of gay couples vying to claim the title of being among the first to be married as ceremonies took place across England and Wales.

Despite facing opposition from some in the Conservative Party about his backing for the change, Mr Cameron said the reform was necessary because "when people's love is divided by law, it is that law that needs to change".

Writing in Pink News, he said: "This weekend is an important moment for our country" because "we will at last have equal marriage in our country".

"The introduction of same-sex civil marriage says something about the sort of country we are," he added.

"It says we are a country that will continue to honour its proud traditions of respect, tolerance and equal worth. It also sends a powerful message to young people growing up who are uncertain about their sexuality.

The Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Act was passed in July

"It clearly says 'you are equal' whether straight or gay. That is so important in trying to create an environment where people are no longer bullied because of their sexuality - and where they can realise their potential, whether as a great mathematician like Alan Turing, a star of stage and screen like Sir Ian McKellen or a wonderful journalist and presenter like Clare Balding."

Among the first couples set to take advantage of the legalisation were actor Andrew Wale, 49, and guesthouse owner Neil Allard, 48, who wed at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton just after midnight.

Following the ceremony in which the couple wore matching suits, Mr Wale told Sky News: "It's a wonderful feeling, it was much more emotional than I thought it was going to be and I'm just kind of happy and buzzing."

Mr Allard added: "It's exciting, it's a new step forward and it's all about love."

Andrew Wale (L) and Neil Allard said their vows in Brighton

Peter McGraith and David Cabreza, who have been together for 17 years, tied the knot at Islington Town Hall, north London, just moments after midnight struck.

Ahead of their ceremony, Mr McGraith said: "We are thrilled to be getting married. It is a mark of significant social progress in the UK that the legal distinction between gay and straight relationships has been removed.

"Very few countries afford their gay and lesbian citizens equal marriage rights and we believe that this change in law will bring hope and strength to gay men and lesbians in Nigeria, Uganda, Russia, India and elsewhere, who lack basic equality and are being criminalised for their sexual orientation."

After watching the ceremony, campaigner Peter Tatchell told Sky News there was still more to be done.

"We need to keep up the battle to insure that all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people in this country and around the world have equal human rights," he said.

Mr McGraith (L) and Mr Cabreza were wed just moments after midnight

Broadcaster Sandi Toksvig and her civil partner Debbie Toksvig renewed their vows at a public event at the Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank in London.

Same-sex couples wishing to marry had initially thought they would have to wait until the summer after the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Act was passed last July.

However, they were allowed to register their intention to marry from March 13, with March 29 the first day they could get hitched.

Unlike civil partnerships, same-sex marriages will give the same legal recognition as marriage across a range of areas including pensions, inheritance, child maintenance and immigration rights.

While the change will not be enforced upon religious organisations, they will be able to opt in.

Andrea Williams from Christian Concern told Sky News the reforms had gone too far.

"We have moved all the goal posts, suddenly we don't actually know what things mean, marriage once clearly meant something; a man and a woman in an exclusive promise, in a union that is life long, for the good of children," she said.

However, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has said that the Church of England would drop its opposition now the new law has come into force.

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Missing Plane: Man At Centre Of MH370 Storm

Learning Lessons From Missing Flight MH370

Updated: 9:23am UK, Saturday 29 March 2014

By Ian Woods, Senior Correspondent

The small consolation that should come with every airline crash is that the knowledge gained from the tragedy should help prevent it happening again.

But if that were true, we might already know more about what happened to flight MH370.

After the Air France accident of 2009, in which 228 people died when their flight from Brazil plunged into the Atlantic, 120 representatives of the international aviation industry got together to recommend ways to make it easier to find aircraft which crash into the sea. 

None has been implemented.

They suggested that the flight data recorders - the black boxes - should have larger batteries so they would carry on transmitting a beacon for 90 rather than 30 days. 

But bigger batteries mean extra weight and extra cost for the airlines to install them.

They also suggested the recorders should be designed to break away and float to the surface, rather than sink to the sea floor along with the rest of the fuselage.

And that the frequency of the transmission should be altered to boost how far away it can be heard, beyond its current 2,000 metre maximum.

Salvage expert David Mearns, from Blue Water Recoveries, told Sky News: "If you reduce that frequency, the lower the frequency, the greater the range. 

"You go from 37.5khz , to say, 8.8khz as recommended, I think that would increase the range to over 10,000 metres.

"So that's a five times increase in your detectable range and that would help the teams out there now looking for these black boxes."

As for why the recommendations weren't acted upon? 

"It's a very big industry. It's an international industry," said Mr Mears.

"It takes a lot of time for these things to work themselves through the regulations; how they would operate, how the pilots would be trained to use them; they have to be implemented on the aircraft, so it takes years for these things to be done."

In an age when we can all track most passenger aircraft on our smartphones and computers, how can a plane still go missing? 

Most, but not all, areas of the world are now covered by the Acars ADS-B system, allowing them to be constantly tracked. Although smaller, older aircraft are not equipped.

There are new regulations being introduced around the world compelling airlines to fit them in all passenger aircraft. 

But in some places the deadline is 2020.  

Mikael Robertsson, the founder of Flightradar24.com, told Sky: "Maybe authorities in these countries don't want to rush or I guess it costs quite a lot of money for airlines to upgrade their equipment on board."

In any case, it appears the system on MH370 was switched off. 

One current 777 pilot told Sky he could not think of a good reason why he would do such a thing. 

And with so many flights criss-crossing vast expanses of water, knowing the plane's last position is crucial to a swift recovery. 

Mr Robertsson said: "I think this is something that should be discussed: How much pilots should be able to turn off, and how easy it should be to turn some systems off?"

The backgrounds of the pilots have been scrutinised to assess the likelihood of criminal or suicidal behaviour. 

Professor Robert Bor is a clinical psychologist who has studied those who fly, and was specifically asked to review an incident involving an American Jet Blue pilot who had a psychotic episode while flying from New York to Las Vegas.

Captain Clayton Osbon left the cockpit and screamed at passengers before being subdued by some of those on board. 

His co-pilot landed the plane safely in Texas. 

Prof Bor and others concluded there were no warning signs beforehand which could have prevented the incident.     

"Every year an airline pilot will have at least two formal medical checks which address not just their physical health but their mental health. Every time they are doing the job they are scrutinised by people."

Pilot suicide is not unheard of, and is considered the most likely explanation for the crash of an Indonesian SilkAir flight in 1997. 

The pilot was heavily in debt - 104 passengers and crew were killed.

Airlines may also be studying how Malaysia Airlines has handled the disaster from a public relations perspective. 

The families of the passengers have gone from grieving to protesting, angry at being kept waiting for news, furious about misinformation, and the final indignity - some of them were told the plane had crashed by text message. 

Crisis management expert Raine Marcus told Sky News: "The communications with the families didn't inspire trust from the beginning.

"If you don't build up trust and goodwill right from the beginning, that has a direct impact afterwards on communications with the families and also directly on your business."

In the months and years ahead, as details emerge of what happened to MH370, there will undoubtedly be calls for lessons to be learned.

And in the meantime millions of us will continue to fly, hoping that our flight will not be one of the very rare ones, which does not have a safe landing.

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United Boss Moyes Faces Plane Banner Protest

By Paul Kelso, Sports Correspondent

Supporter discontent over Manchester United's slide into mediocrity has taken to the skies over Old Trafford on Saturday, with two planes carrying competing messages due to fly over the ground before the lunchtime kick-off against Aston Villa.

Fans demanding manager David Moyes be sacked following United's disappointing season paid £840 for a plane carrying a banner reading: "Wrong One - Moyes Out".

The message is a response to a banner inside Old Trafford on the Stretford End that reads "The Chosen One", a reference to the fact Sir Alex Ferguson personally selected Moyes as his successor.

The anti-Moyes message has aggrieved a number of fans, with one anonymous supporter paying for a rival banner carrying an as-yet undisclosed message.

The banner has been mocked by rival fans as United struggle post-Ferguson

Jeers could also be heard inside the stadium as the "Moyes Out" banner flew overheard shortly before kick-off.

Asked about the banner before the match, Moyes said: "You just have to remain focused on the game - and that's what we have done.

"It is going to happen but I think, for the people who have spent money on the plane, it would have been better served by putting it into Darren Fletcher's colitis charity instead."

Moyes is struggling to gain the confidence of fans after a season that has set records for relative failure.

United are already guaranteed their lowest points total in the Premier League era, with automatic qualification for the Champions League looking highly unlikely.

Sir Alex Ferguson picked David Moyes as his successor at Old Trafford

They went out of the FA Cup in the third round for only the second time in 27 years and lost in the semi-final of the League Cup.

They are still in the Champions League, with a quarter-final against Bayern Munich at Old Trafford on Tuesday.

The manner and result of that tie may yet settle Moyes' fate.

The club's American owners, the Glazer family, will give him every chance to show he is up to the job.

But with every limp performance their confidence in him, and willingness to let him spend £200m on rebuilding the squad, can only be dented.

The response of supporters to the aerial duel overhead on Saturday will be watched closely by the owners.

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Missing Plane Hunt: Multiple Objects Spotted

Learning Lessons From Missing Flight MH370

Updated: 9:23am UK, Saturday 29 March 2014

By Ian Woods, Senior Correspondent

The small consolation that should come with every airline crash is that the knowledge gained from the tragedy should help prevent it happening again.

But if that were true, we might already know more about what happened to flight MH370.

After the Air France accident of 2009, in which 228 people died when their flight from Brazil plunged into the Atlantic, 120 representatives of the international aviation industry got together to recommend ways to make it easier to find aircraft which crash into the sea. 

None has been implemented.

They suggested that the flight data recorders - the black boxes - should have larger batteries so they would carry on transmitting a beacon for 90 rather than 30 days. 

But bigger batteries mean extra weight and extra cost for the airlines to install them.

They also suggested the recorders should be designed to break away and float to the surface, rather than sink to the sea floor along with the rest of the fuselage.

And that the frequency of the transmission should be altered to boost how far away it can be heard, beyond its current 2,000 metre maximum.

Salvage expert David Mearns, from Blue Water Recoveries, told Sky News: "If you reduce that frequency, the lower the frequency, the greater the range. 

"You go from 37.5khz , to say, 8.8khz as recommended, I think that would increase the range to over 10,000 metres.

"So that's a five times increase in your detectable range and that would help the teams out there now looking for these black boxes."

As for why the recommendations weren't acted upon? 

"It's a very big industry. It's an international industry," said Mr Mears.

"It takes a lot of time for these things to work themselves through the regulations; how they would operate, how the pilots would be trained to use them; they have to be implemented on the aircraft, so it takes years for these things to be done."

In an age when we can all track most passenger aircraft on our smartphones and computers, how can a plane still go missing? 

Most, but not all, areas of the world are now covered by the Acars ADS-B system, allowing them to be constantly tracked. Although smaller, older aircraft are not equipped.

There are new regulations being introduced around the world compelling airlines to fit them in all passenger aircraft. 

But in some places the deadline is 2020.  

Mikael Robertsson, the founder of Flightradar24.com, told Sky: "Maybe authorities in these countries don't want to rush or I guess it costs quite a lot of money for airlines to upgrade their equipment on board."

In any case, it appears the system on MH370 was switched off. 

One current 777 pilot told Sky he could not think of a good reason why he would do such a thing. 

And with so many flights criss-crossing vast expanses of water, knowing the plane's last position is crucial to a swift recovery. 

Mr Robertsson said: "I think this is something that should be discussed: How much pilots should be able to turn off, and how easy it should be to turn some systems off?"

The backgrounds of the pilots have been scrutinised to assess the likelihood of criminal or suicidal behaviour. 

Professor Robert Bor is a clinical psychologist who has studied those who fly, and was specifically asked to review an incident involving an American Jet Blue pilot who had a psychotic episode while flying from New York to Las Vegas.

Captain Clayton Osbon left the cockpit and screamed at passengers before being subdued by some of those on board. 

His co-pilot landed the plane safely in Texas. 

Prof Bor and others concluded there were no warning signs beforehand which could have prevented the incident.     

"Every year an airline pilot will have at least two formal medical checks which address not just their physical health but their mental health. Every time they are doing the job they are scrutinised by people."

Pilot suicide is not unheard of, and is considered the most likely explanation for the crash of an Indonesian SilkAir flight in 1997. 

The pilot was heavily in debt - 104 passengers and crew were killed.

Airlines may also be studying how Malaysia Airlines has handled the disaster from a public relations perspective. 

The families of the passengers have gone from grieving to protesting, angry at being kept waiting for news, furious about misinformation, and the final indignity - some of them were told the plane had crashed by text message. 

Crisis management expert Raine Marcus told Sky News: "The communications with the families didn't inspire trust from the beginning.

"If you don't build up trust and goodwill right from the beginning, that has a direct impact afterwards on communications with the families and also directly on your business."

In the months and years ahead, as details emerge of what happened to MH370, there will undoubtedly be calls for lessons to be learned.

And in the meantime millions of us will continue to fly, hoping that our flight will not be one of the very rare ones, which does not have a safe landing.

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Newlywed Who Pushed Husband Off Cliff Jailed

A bride who had doubts about her eight-day-old marriage and then killed her husband by pushing him off a cliff has been jailed for 30 years.

The judge in Missoula, Montana, told Jordan Graham she showed no remorse and "did not have the human capacity to feel the wrongfulness of what she'd done".

Graham, 22, said on the day her husband Cody Johnson died last July, the couple had driven to Glacier National Park and then walked to the cliff face.

She then told him she was not happy and "wasn't sure we should be married".

Mr Johnson, 25, then responded by grabbing her hand, she claimed, adding she thought he was going to pull her.

"I told him to let go and I pushed his hand off," Graham said.

She said she "just pushed his hand off and just pushed away", with one hand on his arm and one on his back.

Graham pictured at an earlier court hearing

The defendant had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder but then tried to withdraw her plea last December.

She claimed prosecutors were going back on an agreement by seeking a life sentence.

But US District Judge Donald Molloy denied the request. He sentenced Graham to 30 years in prison with no chance for early parole, followed by five years of supervised release.

Graham broke down in tears before sentencing as she began her address to the judge, saying she still loved the husband she killed.

"A day doesn't go by I don't think about what happened and why I didn't make different decisions," she said.

"It was a moment of complete shock and panic. I have no other explanation."

She also apologised to Mr Johnson's mother as well as her own family. But the judge indicated he had continuing doubts about her honesty.

"There's only one person in this room that knows what happened, and I don't think she's been entirely truthful about what happened," Judge Molloy said.

Graham had initially told investigators her husband left their house with unknown friends and showed police a fabricated email from a 'friend' saying he was dead and search should be called off.

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Missing Flight: BA Sorry For Indian Ocean Ad

British Airways has said sorry for an advert urging people to escape the commute and "discover the Indian Ocean" amid the missing plane mystery.

The ill-timed advert was spotted on an escalator at a London underground station and posted on Twitter, quickly going viral.

The picture of the advert - taken by Alan Milford - has now been viewed more than one million times.

Alan Milford's initial tweet BA responded after the picture went viral

The text "Escape the commute and discover the Indian Ocean" is overlaid on a picture which appears to have been taken underwater.

After spotting the advert, Mr Milford, 29, tweeted: "Unfortunate advertising from BA up the escalators at Euston."

The advert ran on a video screen at the tube and rail station as the hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 continues.

There were 239 people on board the plane which is feared to have crashed somewhere in the vast Indian Ocean.

Map shows the search area in the Indian Ocean

The plane took off from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia early on March 8 and had been expected to make a six-hour trip to Beijing in China.

BA has tweeted an apology, explaining the advert "contained pre-scheduled content that we recognise is inappropriate at this time".

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Max Clifford: 'My Accusers Are Fantasists'

PR guru Max Clifford has said the women who accused him of indecently assaulting them were trying to ''cash in''.

At the start of his cross-examination, Clifford said the seven women who have made allegations against him were ''fantasists and opportunists'' who had '"told a pack of lies".

In a series of angry exchanges with prosecutor Rosina Cottage QC, he said the women had come forward after reading about the initial claims when he was first arrested.

Clifford told Southwark Crown Court: ''They saw opportunities and all took them.''

When asked why the women would have made up the claims, he said: "I don't know, I don't know them. All I know is that it's untrue.

"They saw an opportunity for compensation, opportunity to make something out of this in the current climate.

"That would be one of the main considerations," adding that "a lot of girls have come to my office these last 30, 40 years primarily for that reason."

He went on: "Compensation would have been the main thing - possibly they were fantasists, possibly they didn't like me, they see an opportunity, I don't know.

"What they are suggesting is totally untrue."

Max Clifford arrives at court on Friday

Ms Cottage referred several times to a copy of Clifford's biography which was on her desk and marked in several places with pink tabs.

Clifford said the last 15 months had been "very, very damaging for him and his family" and repeated several times the allegations were "totally untrue, all rubbish and nonsense".

Ms Cottage also suggested that Clifford had "destroyed or hidden" diaries from 1977-1978 and 1985 which would have been crucial to the case against him.

He said: "That's total lies and rubbish - I wouldn't have a clue where they were."

Diaries for subsequent years were recovered just before the start of the trial.

The prosecution claimed pictures which would have been useful to the case were not disclosed until after witnesses had testified.

The tense exchanges continued and at one point, when Ms Cottage said she would ''move on'', Clifford replied: "Thank goodness for that."

The trial has attracted significant media attention

The prosecution asked: "Do you think levity is appropriate?"

Clifford replied: "You keep asking me the same questions."

Clifford also told the court he had never told his wife of 40 years of his numerous affairs.

He told the court he "didn't think she would appreciate it" - prompting laughter in the public gallery.

He denied suggestions that his daughter Louise had lied for him to protect him.

He angrily told Ms Cottage that he had a ''wonderful relationship with my daughter based on love and devotion'.'

Questioned about ''legendary sex parties'' that were mentioned in his book, Clifford said they were ''good honest filth''.

He said he attended several with screen siren Diana Dors.

When asked where the women came from for the parties he said: "The girls found me, they called and said 'can I come and can I bring my sister, mother and aunt?'"

He insisted that there were "no drugs" at the parties and "none of the women were ever forced to do anything they didn't want to - they were old enough to know what they were doing".

Clifford agreed the girls were "beautiful and randy" but he denied prosecution suggestions that he "groomed them" or offered them contracts in return for sex.

He also revealed that as a teenage reporter living in Morden in the early 1960s he put on blue movie nights in a room above The Crown pub.

Clifford said: "The films were supplied to me by the police, it was a way of making extra money. They were every two or three months."

The 70-year-old from Hersham, Surrey, denies 11 counts of indecent assault between 1966 and 1984 on seven girls and women.

The trial continues.

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Missing Plane: Objects Seen In New Search Area

Australian authorities have said five planes involved in the search for the missing flight MH370 have spotted objects in a new search area in the Indian Ocean.

A tweet from the Australian Marine Safety Authority (AMSA) said a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3 Orion aircraft first spotted the objects on Friday.

The sightings, which included multiple objects of "various colours", will need to be confirmed by personnel on board ships involved in the search, which expected to take place on Saturday when the Chinese Maritime Administration patrol ship Haixun 01 moves into the area.

It comes after the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane shifted due to data suggesting it was travelling faster than previously thought.

Analysis of radar information from before contact with flight MH370 was lost indicated the plane was burning up fuel more quickly and may not have travelled as far south over the Indian Ocean.

A New Zealand Orion aircraft spotted debris in the new search area

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau described the data, which came from analysis by Boeing, as the "most credible lead to where debris may be located".

Search teams have been relocated to scour an area 685 miles northeast of the zone they had been operating in.

Some 10 aircraft, including nine military planes, are involved, and six ships are being sent to the region.

Experts will also trawl through satellite images of the new search zone to identify any possible crash sites.

During a news conference on Friday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian authorities said the search in the Indian Ocean could shift to a deep sea search and salvage if no sign of the missing plane was discovered before the 30-day life of its black box battery.

The search is now nearly three weeks old and the operation has had to be called off twice due to bad weather.

Acting transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the new search area "could still be consistent with the potential objects identified by various satellite images" because of ocean drift.

Professor Chris Bellamy, a maritime security expert at the University of Greenwich, said it was not surprising that the search area continues to change.

He told Sky News: "In that time (since satellite images), with a current of approximately three knots the debris could have drifted that distance.

"We may be talking about a load of debris floating in the area that they have been searching just before they moved the area and an impact in the new area.

Search teams are using 10 planes in an attempt to find missing flight MH370

"It doesn't totally surprise me that it's taken them so long to refine the search and decide that the plane probably went in further north."

The development comes after images from a Thai satellite showed 300 objects ranging from two to 15 metres in size scattered in the sea about 1,700 miles southwest of Perth.

A French satellite spotted more than 120 objects floating in the ocean, while Japan is also reported to have captured aerial images of 10 items.

It is not known whether any of the objects are from the missing Boeing 777, which disappeared on March 8 as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

The plane is thought to have crashed with the loss of all 239 people on board after flying thousands of miles off course.

Prayers and messages of support left on a wall at Kuala Lumpur airport

Distraught relatives of the 150 Chinese passengers on board the plane continue to voice their anger and frustration at the speed of the investigation.

Some Chinese insurance companies have started paying compensation to the families, according to the state news agency.

Meanwhile, Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, chief executive of Malaysia Airlines, has been asked about the psychological testing of pilots employed by the airline.

He said: "They do psychological tests when they take new pilots on. That is something we check yearly and six-monthly, depending on how old they are, through an interview with aviation doctors."

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