Written By Unknown on Senin, 09 Februari 2015 | 20.49
Footage has been revealed of an armed man trying to escape a high-speed police chase by hijacking a car on a busy motorway.
Two men had been tracked by police from Queensland, Australia, on a 93-mile (150km) police chase from near Brisbane through to New South Wales.
Police halted the blue Mitsubishi Lancer with road spikes at Tweed Heads before one of the men fired his semi-automatic handgun at police.
He then tried to shoot at a passing car, forcing it to stop suddenly and the car behind it to plough into its back, sending belongings across the busy Pacific Motorway.
Both drivers appeared unhurt.
Apparently trying to hijack another car, the 32-year-old pointed his gun at another vehicle, which struck him, knocking the gun from his hand.
Lying by the roadside, the man was then arrested by police, who had been following the pair while dodging bullets.
The other man, aged 20, was also arrested by police.
New South Wales Police said the men have been charged with intent to murder, discharging a firearm to avoid arrest, attempted car-jacking and Skye's law.
Skye's law is aimed at greater punishment for people who lead police on dangerous high-speed chases and is named after 19-month-old Skye Sassine, who was killed when two alleged thieves crashed into her parents' car in Sydney.
Vladimir Putin will not be spoken to in the language of ultimatums, a Russian radio station has quoted the Kremlin as saying.
Reports suggest German Chancellor Angela Merkel had given him until Wednesday to agree a peace plan over Ukraine or face new sanctions.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Govorit Moskva radio: "Nobody has ever talked to the president in the tone of an ultimatum - and could not do so even if they wanted to."
The leaders of Ukraine, Germany, France and Russia are preparing for a summit in the Belarussian capital of Minsk on Wednesday, aiming to end the 10-month conflict in eastern Ukraine, which has killed more than 5,000 people.
Putin hosted Merkel and the French leader Francois Hollande for talks in the Kremlin on Friday and the Wall Street Journal had reported that Merkel had given Putin until Wednesday to agree to a Franco-German peace plan.
Video:Hammond: Putin Acting Like 'Tyrant'
Merkel is to meet US president Barack Obama to discuss the peace initiative as the White House considers supplying weapons to Kiev.
Meanwhile, the European Union has approved new visa bans and asset freezes on more Ukrainian separatists and Russians but has suspended the new sanctions until 16 February to give peace talks a chance, according to French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.
He said: "The principle of the sanctions will be kept but their implementation will depend on the situation on the ground.
Hooded gunmen have fired on police in the French city of Marseille where the Prime Minister Manuel Valls had been due to visit.
An armed gang of up to 10 people targeted a police car with Kalashnikov rifles on the notorious La Castellane housing estate on Monday morning.
Some 7,000 residents in the area were put lockdown and ordered not to go outside.
A creche was also evacuated as police special forces were sent into the sealed-off estate, which is plagued by drug gangs and violence.
A helicopter circled overhead.
France has been on high alert in the wake of recent terror attacks that have hat left 20 people dead, including the gunmen.
The attack on police happened in the southern French city of Marseille
However, it has been suggested the shooting in Marseille is drug-related.
Local politician Samia Ghali tweeted that La Castellane is in a "state of siege", adding it is was her "worst nightmare".
Video:Gunmen Fire At Police In Marseille
She later told BFMTV: "It's got everything - prostitution, drugs trafficking, violence.
"It's a dangerous cocktail and we saw evidence of that today."
French journalist Stefan De Vries told Sky News: "The area is sealed now and heavily armed squad teams are in the area.
"There is a very high murder rate but almost all the murders are gang-related. Very few victims are civilians."
Sky's Foreign Editor Sam Kiley said: "The gap between organised crime and terrorists is quite blurred because of the access to weapons."
Mr Valls had been due in the city to hail the "excellent" results of a crime crackdown in France's second largest city.
The shooting in Marseille comes as a senior French official said the country was stepping up its efforts to combat extremism.
In response to the threat posed by returning jihadists, Elisabeth Guigou, president of the French National Assembly's Committee on Foreign Affairs, said France is ramping up security.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, she said the measures included reinforcing border inspection and setting up hotlines.
"We estimate that about 1,300 French people or residents in France have been concerned by going back and forth to Syria or to Iraq, so that's quite a lot of people to keep an eye on," said Ms Guigou.
HSBC's Swiss banking arm helped wealthy customers avoid tax and hide millions of dollars, according to a report by a network of investigative journalists.
The British banking giant provided accounts to international criminals, corrupt businessmen, politicians and celebrities, secret files analysed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) show.
The documents have led to criminal investigations in several countries and attempts to get the money back after being stolen by an IT worker in 2007 and passed to authorities in France.
Details of the 30,000 accounts, which hold nearly £78bn of assets, are coming to light after the files were obtained by the French newspaper Le Monde and analysed by the ICIJ.
Lord Green, HSBC boss during the period, later joined the Government
The files are reported to include evidence that the bank colluded with some clients to hide accounts from tax authorities in their home countries.
While holding a secret bank account is not illegal, they have been used by some to deliberately conceal assets to dodge tax, which is against the law.
Video:Miliband: HSBC Tax Claims 'Serious'
"HSBC profited from doing business with arms dealers who channelled mortar bombs to child soldiers in Africa, bag men for Third World dictators, traffickers in blood diamonds and other international outlaws," the ICIJ reported.
According to the files, the bank's clients included former and current politicians from Britain, Russia, India and a number of African countries.
Those named in the files include people sanctioned by the US, such as Turkish businessman Selim Alguadis and Gennady Timchenko, an associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin who was the subject of sanctions over the Ukraine crisis.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) was passed the data - known as the Lagarde List - in 2010 and has since then clawed back £135m from some of the 3,600 Britons identified as potentially avoiding tax.
But some MPs have complained about HMRC's perceived slow progress and the fact that only one evader has been prosecuted to date.
Video:Green 'Cleared Up The Mess At HSBC'
The revelations have sparked a blame game between the Conservatives and Labour over the failure to tackle the problem of hidden accounts and tax evasion.
Ed Miliband said there were questions over the appointment of Lord Green, who ran the bank during the period and was appointed as a trade minister in 2010.
He said: "I think this is a very serious situation and the Government has some serious questions to answer.
"We need to know why HMRC apparently did not act, apart from at the margins, on the information that they seem to have been given about what was going on.
"We need to know from the Government why they appointed Stephen Green of HSBC as a trade minister well after this information was passed to HMRC.
Video:Hodge 'Astonished' By Lord Green
"I would like to see the Government explain what they did.
"We cannot have a country where tax avoidance is allowed to carry on and where government just turns a blind eye."
Commons Public Accounts Committee chair Margaret Hodge said she was "astonished" that Lord Green was not answering questions about the files and suggested he or current HSBC bosses could be called to face her committee on Wednesday.
City Minister David Gauke told Sky News he "was not aware of any evidence" that Lord Green had been involved in any improper activity.
Mr Gauke called on Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls, who was City Minister in the years up to 2007, to make an urgent statement in the Commons about what he knew about the claims and why the Labour government allowed large-scale tax avoidance and evasion to take place.
Video:HSBC 'Helped Clients Dodge Tax'
Mr Balls said: "Nobody will fall for yet more desperate distraction tactics from George Osborne and the Tories when it is clear that this information was first given to the government in 2010."
The bank said in a statement that since the period in question, it had "implemented numerous initiatives designed to prevent its banking services being used to evade taxes or launder money".
"Although there are numerous legitimate reasons to have a Swiss bank account, in some cases individuals took advantage of bank secrecy to hold undeclared accounts," the statement continued.
"This resulted in private banks, including HSBC's Swiss private bank, having a number of clients that may not have fully met their applicable tax obligations.
"We have taken significant steps over the past several years to implement reforms and exit clients who did not meet strict new HSBC standards, including those where we had concerns in relation to tax compliance," it added.
Video:Govt 'Asleep At Wheel' On Evasion
"We are fully committed to the exchange of information with relevant authorities and are actively pursuing measures that ensure clients are tax transparent, even in advance of a regulatory or legal requirement to do so.
"We are also co-operating with relevant authorities investigating these matters and we acknowledge and are accountable for past control failures."
HMRC said in a statement: "We have systematically worked through all the Lagarde data.
"As a result tax, interest and penalties have now been paid by those who hid their assets in Switzerland to get out of paying tax.
"The decision to prosecute is made by the Crown Prosecution Service based on the facts."
Written By Unknown on Minggu, 08 Februari 2015 | 20.48
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has accused Vladimir Putin of acting like a "mid-20th century tyrant" over Ukraine.
Mr Hammond also told Sky's Murnaghan programme that UK's bar on supplying weapons to Kiev would be "kept under review".
"Britain's position is that at the moment we do not think that supplying arms is the right thing to do but obviously if the situation on the ground changes we'll keep that position under review," he said.
And he insisted Western sanctions were having an impact.
Mr Hammond said: "When coupled with the catastrophic effect on the Russian economy of the decline in the oil price they are putting pressure on the Kremlin.
Video:Pro-Russian Rebels Launch Rockets
"Putin is toughing this out but we all know in the end the economic facts cannot be ignored.
"If your economy is cratering you cannot support the kind of foreign adventures Putin is undertaking.
"He will have to trim his behaviour to reflect the decline in the Russian economy."
The Foreign Secretary branded Moscow's annexation of Crimea illegal and said it must be reversed.
Video:Kerry: 'No Split' Over Ukraine
He said: "This man has sent troops across an international border and occupied another country's territory in the 21st century acting like some mid-20th century tyrant. Civilised nations do not behave like that.
"We do not see any reason to tolerate this kind of outrageous and outdated behaviour from the Kremlin."
Meanwhile, the leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine are due to hold a summit in Minsk on Wednesday in a bid to halt the bloody conflict, which has claimed the lives of more than 5,000 people since April.
The meeting follows a phone call between Mr Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko on Sunday.
Video:'Last Chance' For Peace In Ukraine
Mr Poroshenko's office said in a statement the leaders expected the Minsk meeting would lead to a "swift and unconditional ceasefire".
But Mr Putin indicated the summit was provisional on agreement being reached beforehand on a number of issues that had been discussed "intensely".
Mrs Merkel and Mr Hollande are leading diplomatic efforts to end the crisis.
At the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Mrs Merkel said the bid to end the fighting was "uncertain but worth trying", while Mr Hollande also warned it was "one of the last chances for peace".
Video:Putin in 'Constructive' Discussions
And US Secretary of State John Kerry has insisted there is no split with Europe over handling the crisis.
US President Barack Obama is considering sending arms to the Ukraine government, which has been rejected by the German Chancellor, who argued it would not help the situation.
Mrs Merkel's opposition to arming Ukraine has led to a sharp rebuke from hawks in Washington, who have accused Berlin of turning its back on an ally.
Republican US Senator John McCain said: "The Ukrainians are being slaughtered and we're sending them blankets and meals. Blankets don't do well against Russian tanks."
Video:Humanitarian Crisis In Ukraine
The Franco-German diplomatic push comes against an escalation in violence between the separatists and Ukrainian forces in the east of the country.
In the latest fighting, the Ukrainian military said the pro-Russian separatists had increased shelling of government forces and appeared to be amassing for new offensives on the key railway town of Debaltseve and the coastal city of Mariupol.
Footage has also emerged of rebels firing rockets at Ukrainian army positions near Popasna in the eastern province of Luhansk.
Police have opened a criminal probe into the boyfriend of Whitney Houston's daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown, according to US media reports.
News channel CNN and showbiz website TMZ have claimed that an investigation has been launched into Nick Gordon, who reportedly said that he found Brown non-responsive in the bathtub of their home near Atlanta, Georgia.
The incident appeared to have eerie echoes of Houston's fatal accidental drowning almost three years ago.
Unconfirmed news reports said that Ms Brown, 21, who is in a hospital in Atlanta in a medically induced coma, sustained unexplained injuries prior to the incident on 31 January.
Bobbi Kristina's mother Whitney Houston died almost three years ago
TMZ reported that it was told by multiple sources that police are looking into a "possible altercation" more than an hour before Ms Brown was found.
Despite the couple presenting themselves in public as husband and wife, recent news reports said there are no official documents to show they were ever legally married.
Gordon spent years being raised by Houston in her home and grew up alongside Ms Brown although he was never formally adopted by the singer.
The property where Bobbi Kristina was found
He and Ms Brown revealed their romantic relationship after her mother's death.
Houston died in February 2012 when she was found in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles on the eve of the Grammy Awards show.
Coroners concluded that the singer died by accidental drowning, with cocaine use and heart disease as contributing factors.
People magazine and other media reported that Ms Brown's grandmother, gospel singer Cissy Houston, arrived in Atlanta this weekend to be at the hospital.
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Video:Prince Voices Fears Over Extremism
The Prince of Wales has voiced concern over the "alarming" radicalisation of young people in the UK.
In a radio interview Prince Charles said the extent to which young people are becoming radicalised is one of the "greatest worries".
He said it was particularly concerning "in a country like ours where you know the values we hold dear".
"You think that the people who have come here, born here, go to school here, would abide by those values and outlooks," the Prince told BBC Radio 2's The Sunday Hour.
His comments came as he kicked off a six-day tour of the Middle East.
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Gallery: Prince Charles Meets Syrian Refugees Who Fled To Jordan
Prince Charles met Syrian refugees during his trip to Jordan on the first day of his Middle East tour
His first official engagement was to meet Syrian refugees who were displaced during the troubles. Continue for more images
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The Prince of Wales landed in Jordan late on Saturday, where he is due to hold talks with King Abdullah II.
Jordan has carried out three consecutive days of airstrikes on Islamic State targets after the terrorist group released a video showing 26-year-old Jordanian pilot Moaz al Kasabeh being burned to death.
Prince Charles said preventing the radicalisation of Muslim youth was a "great challenge" and something that could not be swept "under the carpet".
Video:Sept 2014: British Jihadis Report
He expressed particular concern over the threat posed by young Muslims coming into contact with extremists online, describing it as "frightening".
"I can see I suppose to a certain extent, some aspect of this radicalisation is a search for adventure and excitement at a particular age," he said, adding that he had tried to create alternative paths for young people through his work with The Princes Trust charity.
The Prince's tour will also see him travel to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Video:Jordan Air Force Hits IS Targets
His first official stop in Jordan was a Syrian refugee camp to see how thousands displaced from their homeland are rebuilding their lives.
The Prince was joined by International Development Secretary Justine Greening.
Video:Young Muslims Deterred By Beheading
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Prince Charles: UK Youth Extremism 'Alarming'
We use cookies to give you the best experience. If you do nothing we'll assume that it's ok.
Video:Prince Voices Fears Over Extremism
The Prince of Wales has voiced concern over the "alarming" radicalisation of young people in the UK.
In a radio interview Prince Charles said the extent to which young people are becoming radicalised is one of the "greatest worries".
He said it was particularly concerning "in a country like ours where you know the values we hold dear".
"You think that the people who have come here, born here, go to school here, would abide by those values and outlooks," the Prince told BBC Radio 2's The Sunday Hour.
His comments came as he kicked off a six-day tour of the Middle East.
1/13
Gallery: Prince Charles Meets Syrian Refugees Who Fled To Jordan
Prince Charles met Syrian refugees during his trip to Jordan on the first day of his Middle East tour
His first official engagement was to meet Syrian refugees who were displaced during the troubles. Continue for more images
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The Prince of Wales landed in Jordan late on Saturday, where he is due to hold talks with King Abdullah II.
Jordan has carried out three consecutive days of airstrikes on Islamic State targets after the terrorist group released a video showing 26-year-old Jordanian pilot Moaz al Kasabeh being burned to death.
Prince Charles said preventing the radicalisation of Muslim youth was a "great challenge" and something that could not be swept "under the carpet".
Video:Sept 2014: British Jihadis Report
He expressed particular concern over the threat posed by young Muslims coming into contact with extremists online, describing it as "frightening".
"I can see I suppose to a certain extent, some aspect of this radicalisation is a search for adventure and excitement at a particular age," he said, adding that he had tried to create alternative paths for young people through his work with The Princes Trust charity.
The Prince's tour will also see him travel to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Video:Jordan Air Force Hits IS Targets
His first official stop in Jordan was a Syrian refugee camp to see how thousands displaced from their homeland are rebuilding their lives.
The Prince was joined by International Development Secretary Justine Greening.
Thousands of patient deaths are to be investigated to see whether they could have been avoided in a new drive to make the NHS safer.
For the first time anywhere in the world the medical notes of around 2,000 patients who have died in England will be analysed by experts every year.
The data will be used to give the most comprehensive ever estimate of avoidable mortality in hospitals around the country.
Every hospital chairman will have to write to the Health Secretary annually setting out their plan for eradicating unnecessary deaths.
Jeremy Hunt said: "I'm determined to go even further in rooting out poor care.
Video:NHS Shake-Up 'Disastrous'
"I want all hospital boards to have a laser-like focus on eradicating avoidable deaths in their organisation; even one life lost to poor care or safety error is too many."
The announcement comes as a new analysis revealed that 11 hospital trusts put under 'special measures' 18 months ago because of their high death rates have dramatically improved their care.
Extra staff, management changes and mentoring by more successful NHS organisations cut death rates at the 11 hospitals by more than 9% - three times more than the national average.
Health analysis company Dr Foster, which carried out the research, estimated that at least 450 lives have been saved as a result.
Roger Taylor, who led the research, said: "We were not expecting to find such a strong result.
"It is remarkable to see this intervention has produced a real change and improvement for patients.
"It has saved lives and produced better care."
A further eight hospital trusts have since been put into special measures, bringing the total to 19.
The Department of Health said the trusts have employed an extra 1,800 nurses and 110 doctors. Almost 130 senior managers have been replaced.
Mr Hunt will this week publish a report on the culture change in the NHS in the two years since the inquiry into the Mid-Staffs hospital scandal.
He is expected to announce new measures to support staff to speak up about poor or unsafe care.
Shadow health minister Andrew Gwynne says the review is not ambitious enough.
He added: "Labour is looking at whether we can go further and have a mandatory review of case notes for every death in hospital - not just for a sample of cases as Jeremy Hunt proposes.
"But as well as initiatives to measure avoidable harm, we need action to prevent it from happening in the first place. The sad truth is that by turning the NHS upside down with a damaging reorganisation and causing a crisis in A&E, the Tory-led Government is making care problems more likely, not less."
Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 07 Februari 2015 | 20.49
The family of US hostage Kayla Jean Mueller say they are hopeful she is still alive, despite Islamic State claims that she was killed in a Jordanian airstrike.
In a statement released by a family representative, Ms Mueller's parents Marsha and Carl Mueller made a personal appeal to IS.
"You told us that you treated Kayla as your guest, as your guest her safety and well-being remains your responsibility," they said, addressing "those in positions of responsibility for holding Kayla".
Ms Mueller disappeared in August 2013. Pic: The Daily Courier
The statement asked IS to contact the family privately.
According to the Site Intelligence Group, which monitors extremists, IS said the 26-year-old aid worker died on Friday after Jordanian warplanes struck the building where she was being held.
Video:Local Support For Mueller Family
The terrorist group said no IS fighters died in the raids in their de facto capital of Raqqa, Syria.
It released images showing a damaged building it said had been targeted in airstrikes, but no photos to back their claims Ms Mueller had been killed.
The White House, State Department and Pentagon have said they can't confirm the unsubstantiated report.
"We are obviously deeply concerned by these reports," said Bernadette Meehan, spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, in a statement.
Video:IS: 'Airstrike Kills US Hostage'
"We have not at this time seen any evidence that corroborates ISIL's claim."
Jordan has also dismissed the IS claim as "criminal propaganda" and an "old and sick trick", but said its jets did carry out a second consecutive day of strikes on IS sites on Friday.
It has stepped up its operations against IS since the militants burned to death a captured Jordanian pilot.
Ms Mueller, of Prescott, Arizona, disappeared in August 2013 in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.
Video:Jordan 'Unwavering' Against IS
A media blackout on her abduction was recently broken by President Barack Obama, when he confirmed IS still had at least one US hostage.
He said the US was "deploying all the assets that we can" to find Ms Mueller.
Her name had not been made public due to fears for her safety.
The group has already executed three American hostages: James Foley, Peter Kassig and Steven Sotloff.
Video:Jordan Air Force Hits IS Targets
Two British hostages, David Haines and Alan Henning, and two Japanese hostages, Kenjo Goto and Haruna Yukawa, have also been killed.
British reporter John Cantlie is still being held captive.
In Luhansk, one of the areas to suffer most in the conflict, there is a growing humanitarian crisis as food and medical shortages render the population powerless.
The streets of central Luhansk are punctuated by shell damage. Shop after shop has closed down.
There has been periodic fighting nearby, but people have been living like this for eight months now.
Beyond the immediate conflict, is a growing humanitarian crisis.
Pensions here haven't been paid since September, so many people are now dependent on public canteens.
In one centre we visited staff were giving out a daily meal of soup, fruit juice, and two pieces of bread, but increasingly they find they are having to turn people away.
There is not enough food for all those who visit the public canteens
Social worker Igor Chaika said: "There are really a lot of people coming here, but we can only make 100 litres, which is 300 portions.
"We can't make more, some people are obviously upset by that - there is not enough for everyone."
Video:Ukraine's AIDS Crisis
Some of those left homeless by the conflict are living in university dorms.
We met a mother who had fled the shelling with her six-year-old son last summer. She said he still wakes up in fear at night.
Anna Kuznetsova told us: "He wakes up crying, and dresses himself up. He got used to doing that.
"A psychologist comes into the kindergarten, but he is afraid - as soon as it's loud he is afraid."
The water is off for most of the day, when it comes back on there's a long queue to fill up containers, and the water pressure is weak.
On the floor above, 77-year-old Nina Nikolayevna showed us where she is living.
She had her own flat this time last year, but now she's sharing a room with two other elderly ladies.
Video:The True Face Of War In Ukraine
She said Doctors Without Borders had given them blankets and sheets, but they had seen no other humanitarian aid.
"We go to the social canteen, it starts at 11 and they feed us once, but you know what kind of food it is there," Ms Nikolayevna explained.
"They don't give us anything on Sunday, there's nothing."
One of her roommates, 64-year-old Nina Shershen, added: "No one helps us, we are people as well.
"It's not we who created this war, it is them who came here and destroyed everything - how can we live like this?"
At the city's cancer hospital, the head doctor, Dr Alexander Torba, showed us where their buildings had been shelled.
As a result, one of their nurses was killed last year.
Video:Report: Ukraine's HIV Crisis
Staff are now working without salaries and they have no running water, but their biggest concern is chemotherapy drugs.
Dr Torba says they have around one week's supply left: "The big problem is with the anti-tumour medicines. There is not enough in the pharmacies and it's expensive. People don't have money to buy it."
Irina Timachuk, 54, has stage one ovarian cancer and needs to start her next chemotherapy cycle in 20 days.
She said: "We need treatment and we want to live. We are not old yet; my life is not over yet. I want to live, that's it. If I don't receive treatment it's over."
Valentina Gukosen, 51, who has stage three ovarian cancer, added: "I want to ask for help. I want to live. I'm not that old, but what shall I do?"
