Costa Concordia Captain Expects To Learn Fate

By Jonathan Samuels in Grosseto

The captain of the stricken Costa Concordia has told his trial "a part of me died" on the night of the disaster - as judges retire to consider their verdicts.

Francesco Schettino wept in court as he addressed three judges who could decide his fate at 6pm this evening (7pm local time).

He claimed the blame for the disaster that killed 32 people lay with his employer Costa Cruises and said the media had portrayed him unfairly.

He said: "In this court a lot of words have been said to destroy my dignity. I have spent the last three years in a media meat grinder.

Schettino arrived at court in Grosseto just after 10am local time

"It is difficult to call what I have been living through a life.

"All the responsibility has been loaded on to me with no respect for the truth or for the memory of the victims.

Video: Time Lapse: Concordia Under Tow

"I want to say that on 16 January a part of me died."

He was unable to finish his statement, breaking into loud sobs before declaring "basta" (enough) and slumping back into his seat.

Schettino is charged with manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and leaving the liner ahead of some of the passengers when it hit rocks and capsized off the island of Giglio in 2012.

The trial has heard there is a "tsunami" of evidence against the cruise ship's former commander, as prosecutors called for him to be sent to prison for 26 years.

Ian Donoff and his wife were among the 37 British passengers and crew on board during the chaotic and delayed night time evacuation.

Mr Donoff told Sky News: "We said our prayers together and we said it was so unfair that we were married only 11 days and this would be happening to us.

Video: Chilling Video Of Sunken Liner

"Everything passes through your mind and I said 'I don't think we're going to get out of here'."

Lawyers spent Wednesday morning summing up the case in court in Grosseto, Tuscany, where the trial began in July 2013.

Lead defence lawyer Domenico Pepe said his client was "the victim of a legal and media circus", who had suffered a lot of pain since the disaster.

On Tuesday, prosecutor Stefano Pizza called the captain's conduct "reprehensible" and said: "It was a Titanic affair that merits adequate punishment."

He said: "There is a tsunami of evidence against Francesco Schettino but he has admitted to nothing.

"It would be easier for a lawyer to fly than to defend Schettino."

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1. Gallery: Italian Cruise Ship Runs Aground Off West Coast Of Italy

   Rescuers on inflatable boats are seen next to the Costa Concordia cruise ship that ran aground off the west coast of Italy

The cruise ship suffered a lengthy underwater gash after hitting a submerged rock and foundered just yards from shore on the island of Giglio

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American Sniper's Alleged Killer On Trial

By Greg Milam, US Correspondent, Stephenville

A former US Marine goes on trial in Texas today charged with killing the real life American Sniper.

Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, credited as the most deadly sniper in US military history, was shot dead at a gun range in February 2013.

His friend Chad Littlefield was also shot dead during the attack.

The two men had taken former Marine corporal Eddie Ray Routh to the range as part of his treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Routh does not deny shooting the men, but is expected to plead not guilty to murder by reason of insanity.

The movie adaptation of Kyle's autobiography American Sniper is now the highest-grossing war movie of all time.

Both the film and Bradley Cooper, who plays Kyle, have been nominated for Oscars.

The movie has attracted controversy with claims it glorifies violence in its telling of Kyle's 160 confirmed "kills" during four tours in Iraq.

But in Kyle's home town of Midlothian, where his widow Taya and two children still live, they dismiss the criticism.

Dennis DeWeerde, who runs the barbecue restaurant where Kyle regularly ate Sunday lunch, told Sky News: "Chris truly was a hero and you could sit and talk to him about things that happened overseas and he really was genuine in saying he was more worried about the people he didn't save.

Eddie Ray Routh is expected to plead not guilty to murder

"I don't know how else to describe him but for what he was, a true American hero."

The trial will take place in the small town of Stephenville.

Until now the town was most famous for being the "Cowboy Capital of the World".

Stephenville has been swamped by media from around the world who are covering the trial.

The jury has been told to ignore the film - currently playing at the town's cinema, four miles from the court - and focus on the evidence.

Several potential jurors were released after saying they had already made up their minds.

Routh's lawyers had asked for a delay in proceedings, or for the trial to be moved, because of the attention surrounding the movie.

And military veterans' organisations have questioned their use of PTSD as his defence.

Cliff Sosamon, president of the North Texas Military Association, said: "Just because you have post-traumatic stress, it doesn't give you the right or the excuse to do those kind of things.

"If that was the case you'd have veterans running wild all over the place, and that's not the case at all."

The trial is expected to last two weeks.

Prosecutors have decided not to seek the death penalty so, if found guilty, Routh would face life in prison.

If he is found not guilty by reason of insanity, he would most likely be sent to a psychiatric hospital.

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Three Held In Anti-Terror Operations

A man and two women have been arrested on suspicion of terror-related offences.

The man, aged 31, is being held on suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism and his arrest comes as police search five addresses on Merseyside..

Officers from the North West Counter Terrorism Unit and Merseyside Police raided the houses after "intelligence received" from law-enforcement agencies.

Police said the searches were expected to take many hours or even days.

Detective Chief Superintendent Tony Mole from the North West Counter Terrorism Unit, said: "It is our intention to carry out a thorough, professional investigation to determine the circumstances and details of the activity reported.

"We are taking all measures necessary to ensure public safety, which is our primary concern.

"Members of the public will see a lot of police activity at a number of addresses in the coming hours and possibly days.

"However, it is absolutely vital to stress - and, I hope, at the same time, reassure the public - that there is no current threat or evidence of an imminent attack."

Anyone with concerns about suspicious activity should contact local police or the confidential Anti-Terrorist Hotline on 0800 789321.

Meanwhile, officers from the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit have arrested two women from Walsall in connection with Syria-related offences.

One, aged 23, was held on suspicion of preparing for acts of terrorism and the other, aged 33, is accused of failing to disclose information.

The arrests are the latest of about a dozen since the UK raised its international terrorism threat level to "severe" in August.

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Report: NHS Whistleblowers Considered Suicide

NHS staff who raised the the alarm over poor patient care were driven to the brink of suicide, a major review into the treatment of whistleblowers has found.

The report's author, Sir Robert Francis QC, said he repeatedly heard horrific stories of workers' lives being destroyed because workers had tried to to the right thing for people in their care.

He said the health service must undergo a "major change of culture", warning that: "Failure to speak up can cost lives."

Action has been urged at "every level of the NHS" to make staff raising their concerns the norm.

Sir Robert's proposals include:

:: Action at every level of the NHS to make raising concerns part of every member of staff's normal working life

:: Freedom to Speak Up Guardian in every NHS Trust - a named person to give independent support to whistleblowers and hold board to account if it fails to focus on the patient safety issue.

:: A National Independent Officer to support the Guardians an intervene when cases go wrong.

:: A support scheme to help good NHS staff who are without work after raising concerns to get another job.

:: Sets out 20 Principles and Actions which aim to create the right conditions for staff to speak up. 

Some 600 staff spoke to the review team, with another 19,000 responding to an online survey.

Many staff said they did not speak up because they felt their concerns would not be listened to, while others feared victimisation.

The report said student nurses and doctors believed the problem to be "endemic" within the health service.

Sir Robert wrote: "I heard shocking accounts of the way some people have been treated when they have been brave enough to speak up.

"I witnessed at first hand their distress and the strain on them and, in some cases, their families.

"I heard about the pressures it can place on other members of a team, on managers, and in some cases the person about whom a concern is raised.

"Though rare, I was told of suicidal thoughts and even suicide attempts."

Sir Robert wrote: "The genuine pain and distress felt by contributors in having to relive their experiences was every bit as serious as the suffering I witnessed by patients and families who gave evidence to the Mid Staffordshire inquiries."

Announcing the raft of measures, Sir Robert stressed that a change in culture was more important than regulation in bringing about the much-needed change.

"What I heard during the course of the review from staff, employers, regulators and unions and others leaves me in no doubt that there's a serious problem in the National Health Service," he told reporters.

"Taking into account all the evidence obtained by the review, I have come to the conclusion there must be a change of culture.

"No amount of legal or regulatory change will make it easier for staff to raise issues that worry them unless there is a culture which encourages and supports them to do so."

He added: "Too often, honestly-expressed anxieties have met with hostility and breakdown of working relationships.

"Worse still, some people suffer life-changing events, they lose their jobs, their careers and even their health."

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt ordered the review last June after Sir Robert led two inquiries into failures at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, which the QC said had shown the "appalling consequences for patients when there is a 'closed ranks' culture".

Mr Hunt said he was accepting all Sir Robert's proposals "in principle".

He told MPs: "The message must go out today that we are calling time on bullying, intimidation and victimisation which have no place in the NHS."

The Government would also fast-track a new law protect whistleblowers against discrimination.

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PM Hails Business As 'Country's Job Engine'

David Cameron has hailed business as "the country's job engine" as he unveiled plans to help expanding firms through the financial "valley of death".

The Prime Minister said a Tory Government would launch a financing scheme to help the country's 500 fastest growing companies.

A pilot scheme will be launched at the Budget before the election using £100m from the British Investment Bank, he said.

Mr Cameron made the pledge during a speech to the British Chambers of Commerce annual conference where he outlined a series of steps taken by the Government, which he said had helped support business.

And he warned companies had reason "to fear the alternative" in a sideswipe at the opposition.

He claimed a Labour government would mean "more borrowing, more debt, higher interest rates, a loss of confidence in Britain".

In an apparent move to spike opposition accusations of a "cost of living crisis", Mr Cameron also called on business leaders to pass the benefits of economic growth and low oil prices to staff.

He said economic success should be reflected in the contents of workers' pay packets.

"Put simply - it's time Britain had a pay rise," the PM told the conference.

But unions have dismissed his call as "pre-election mood music".

However, Mr Cameron rejected criticism that he was pressing for private firms to increase wages while holding pay down for public sector workers.

He said: "Within the public sector we have actually seen quite a lot of pay increases through progression, through people taking on new skills and talking on new tasks.

"And we have seen that take place, for instance in the NHS, so that people have had pay rises, in many cases year on year."

More follows...

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Topless Protesters Climb On Strauss-Kahn's Car

Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been confronted by topless protesters outside a courthouse in France before taking the stand at his "aggravated pimping" trial.

The economist was ambushed as his car approached the building, with Femen activists climbing on to the roof and shouting insults.

Many of the women had "guilty" scrawled on their half-naked bodies, amid allegations that Strauss-Kahn was involved in a prostitution ring.

Police attempted to cover up the women after they were handcuffed

Police handcuffed the demonstrators and forcibly removed them from the scene, throwing coats over the women's exposed chests.

Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, faces 10 years behind bars and a £1.1m fine if he is found guilty of organising prostitutes to attend sex parties with him in luxury hotels around the world.

The activists are part of the provocative Femen group

In court, the 65-year-old denied any wrongdoing and insisted that his attendance at sex parties was rare.

The one-time presidential hopeful is expected to say that engaging in orgies with consenting adults is within his rights, and that he was unaware that the women giving him attention were prostitutes.

Strauss-Kahn denies any wrongdoing

In 2011, a maid accused Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault at a luxury hotel in New York. That case was eventually settled in a civil suit.

His lawyer, Henri Leclerc, said at the time: "In these circumstances one isn't always clothed, and I challenge you to tell the difference between a prostitute naked and any other woman naked."

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Lung Cancer 'Breathalyser' To Go On Trial

By Tom Cheshire, Technology Correspondent

A "breathalyser" that can diagnose lung cancer will be used in two NHS hospitals this summer as part of a £1m clinical trial.

The device was originally invented by engineer Billy Boyle to detect explosives in airports and on the battlefield, but he refocused on medical applications after his wife Kate Gross, then 34, was diagnosed with colon cancer in October 2012.

Mrs Gross, who after leaving Oxford University had become a high-flying civil servant, advising prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, was given a 5% chance of survival.

The LuCID (lung cancer indicator detection) project by Owlstone, the company founded by Mr Boyle, analyses the chemicals present in a person's breath.

Diseases like lung cancer produce miniscule but unique chemical traces.

Video: Inventor On His Wife's Loss

This can indicate illness long before symptoms become obvious - when survival rates are much higher.

The survival rate for Stage 1 lung cancer is 75%; Stage 4 is just 5%.

Mr Boyle told Sky News: "The great thing is the technology exists today.

"We already have the microchip, we're working on small handheld devices in (a) GP's office.

"It's important to get the clinical evidence first. But we think we can have systems available, proven, within the next two years.

"And our goal is to save the NHS £245m - but more importantly to save 10,000 lives."

After two years with cancer, Kate died early on Christmas Day, aged 36.

Mr Boyle said: "Me and my wife talked about different applications of Owlstone's technology.

"We spent many years sitting in cancer wards in Addenbroke's in Cambridge and down in London and you see a lot of people there.

Video: Breathalyser That Can Detect Cancer

"And they're there because the disease is detected too late.

"So early detection means that you will have fewer people sitting in those waiting rooms.

"Because of the experience of my wife and my family, we saw the devastation that cancer brings to families, in the various hospitals that we've been.

"You develop technologies for a reason.

"Sometimes it's for monetary gain. Other times it's to make a difference. And I think we have a real opportunity to try and improve the lives of patients."

Owlstone's technology can be applied to other diseases too, including bowel cancer, tuberculosis and asthma.

Dr Jonathan Bennett, a consultant respiratory physician at Glenfield Hospital in Leicester, told Sky News: "If successful, this test could be delivered locally - for example at GP surgeries and pharmacies for people assessed at being high risk."

"We are looking forward to answering this question with this innovative study."

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Girl, 4, Among Deadly Bath Truck Crash Victims

Police are investigating the cause of a collision involving a tipper truck that left four people dead, including a four-year-old girl.

The 32-tonne truck, which was carrying aggregate, crashed into cars and pedestrians as it travelled down a steep hill in Upper Weston in Bath, Somerset, just after 4pm on Monday.

Mitzi Rosanna Steady, who was walking with her grandmother, died at the scene.

Three men from South Wales, aged 59, 52 and 34, were also killed when the truck overturned and smashed into their car at the bottom of the hill. 

Eyewitness accounts given to police suggest the driver of the truck had been trying to avoid an accident.

Video: Witness: 'It Sounded Horrendous'

The area was busy with parents collecting children from school, and police have asked Weston All Saints Primary School to remain closed today due to the incident.

The young girl's grandmother was airlifted to Southmead Hospital in Bristol in a critical condition from a primary school playing field.

Another three patients, two men and one woman, suffered minor injuries and were taken to the Royal United Hospital in Bath.

One of the men - a HGV driver - and the woman remain in hospital with minor injuries, while the second man was discharged overnight.

A makeshift facility at the school was set up to treat several "walking wounded" with less serious injuries.

Video: Bath Truck Crash Victims Remembered

A detailed examination of the scene has begun, and motorists have been told to avoid the Lansdown Lane area between the High Street and Deanhill Lane, which will remain closed.

Avon and Somerset Police Chief Inspector Norman Pascal said: "This is a tragic incident in which three men and a young girl have lost their lives and we're carrying out a full and meticulous investigation to find out what happened.

"The tipper truck has been recovered and will undergo a full examination and our investigators will be carrying out further inquiries at the scene today.

"We have specially trained family liaison officers supporting the victims' families to make sure they have all the help they need and are being kept updated on the progress of our investigation."

Liberal Democrat MP Don Foster said the council had imposed a 20mph speed limit on parts of the road to improve safety.

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1. Gallery: Runaway Truck Hits Cars And Pedestrians

   The tipper truck - carrying gravel - turned over in the accident

Lansdown Lane in Upper Weston was closed over the accident

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Gunman Knocked Down In Attempted Car-Jacking

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.

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Kremlin: Don't Issue Ultimatums To Putin

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.

Video: Putin Promises Economic Recovery

"We will assess the situation again next Monday."

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