Acts Of Remembrance Around UK For War Dead

The UK has stopped to remember its war dead on Armistice Day, pausing for the traditional two-minute silence at events across the country.

Acts of remembrance included a service at the national Armed Forces Memorial in Staffordshire, with Dorothy Ellis, the last surviving First World War widow, among the guests at the outdoor event.

Senior representatives of the Government and the armed forces also attended the service at the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas, near Burton-on-Trent.

Dorothy Ellis (L) looks on as wreaths are laid at the Armed Forces Memorial

The Portland stone memorial bears the names of more than 16,000 fallen service personnel.

Designed to complement the Cenotaph in London, which commemorates the victims of the First and Second World Wars, it honours those who have died in the line of duty since 1948.

It is designed so a shaft of sunlight shines onto its central sculpture to mark the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, in remembrance of the end of the First World War.

An event was held to mark Armistice Day in London's Trafalgar Square

Events held in London included one at the Lloyd's of London market in the City attended by the Chelsea Pensioners, and another in Trafalgar Square, featuring musical performances and readings.

Also at 11am, the funeral service took place of Harold Percival, a wartime airman who died in October aged 99 with no close family or friends.

Following an internet campaign, hundreds of people attended the service at Lytham Park Crematorium in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire.

The funeral of Harold Percival was held in Lancashire

The Archbishop of Canterbury, The Most Rev Justin Welby, visited the Cenotaph in Whitehall, as well as the Ministry of Defence, where he was updated on military operations.

"At this time of year it's essential that we remember and give thanks for all those who gave their lives for the sake of freedom in the two World Wars, and also remember those who still risk their lives as servicemen and women in our Armed Forces," he said.

"It's a time to recommit ourselves to the cause of peace and to seek to play our own small part as agents of reconciliation."

Big Ben strikes the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month

The Duke of Edinburgh travelled to Belgium to honour troops who fell at some of the First World War's deadliest battles.

The 92-year-old took part in the Last Post ceremony in Ypres, where he collected soil from Flanders Fields for a memorial garden at Wellington Barracks in London.

In neighbouring France, President Hollande was jeered by protesters as he laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier in Paris during a ceremony marking the end of World War One.

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Typhoon Haiyan Devastation: New Storm On Way

Rescuers are struggling to get desperately needed aid to areas of the Philippines devastated by Typhoon Haiyan - as a new storm approaches.

Aid workers are being held back by blocked roads and damaged airports as they try to deliver tents, food and medicines to the worst affected areas.

Troops have been sent to the city of Tacloban to restore law and order after reports of looting, with Philippines President Benigno Aquino declaring a state of calamity and considering whether martial law is necessary.

Hundreds of thousands have been left homeless Pic: Save The Children

Looters have reportedly broken into supermarkets, while a Red Cross aid convoy was raided. Consumer goods such as televisions and washing machines have also been stolen.

At least 10,000 people are thought to have been killed by the typhoon, officials believe.

Corpses hung from trees in the city and were scattered in the streets. Many were buried in flattened buildings.

Looters break a shop's butter to make it easier to get food supplies

One UN official said he was told there had been a three-metre (10ft) water surge through the city.

A further 300 are confirmed dead with 2,000 missing on the neighbouring island of Samar.

Water has been cut off in many areas, making the relief effort more difficult.

A woman mourns next to the body of her husband and others

Threatening to further hamper relief efforts is a new storm approaching the southern and central Philippines.

Government weather forecasters said the tropical depression could bring fresh floods to typhoon-affected areas.

The depression is expected to hit land on the southern island of Mindanao late Tuesday and then move across the central islands of Bohol, Cebu, Negros and Panay, which all suffered typhoon damage, forecaster Connie Dadivas said.

It could bring "moderate to heavy" rains, or about five to 15 millimetres (0.2 to 0.6 inches) per hour, he said.

Sky's Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay, in Manila, said: "The relief operation is only just getting going, it's fairly piecemeal at the moment.

"They really don't have the volume of aircraft they need to either get aircraft in or people out in sufficient quantities to try and control what has become, day-by-day, a more difficult situation."

Survivors make their way through the rubble of destroyed buildings

At least six people have also been killed in Vietnam after the typhoon made landfall near the Chinese border.

Some 600,000 people were evacuated from at-risk areas in the north of the country before Haiyan - downgraded to a weaker Category One storm - battered the coast with 98mph (157kmph) winds.

All schools in the capital Hanoi were closed on Monday, and extra police were dispatched to redirect traffic in flood-prone areas.

The aid effort could be hampered by an approaching storm

In the Philippines millions of people are said to have been directly affected by the typhoon's path and the death toll is expected to rise further as rescuers reach cut-off areas.

"This area has been totally ravaged", said Sebastien Sujobert, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Tacloban.

"Many lives were lost, a huge number of people are missing, and basic services such as drinking water and electricity have been cut off."

The winds felled trees and homes across swathes of the country

Haiyan hit the east coast of the Philippines on Friday and smashed through its central islands, with winds of 147mph (235 kmph) and a storm surge of 20ft (six metres).

Video from Eastern Samar province's Guiuan township - the first area where the typhoon made landfall - also showed a trail of devastation. Many houses were flattened and roads were strewn with debris and uprooted trees. 

Witnesses reported seeing looting and violence with President Aquino admitting it was a major concern.

Survivors now face the prospect of rebuilding their lives

Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Zagala told AFP news agency that 100 soldiers had been sent to help police restore law and order in Tacloban.

The United Nations said it was sending supplies but access to the worst hit areas was a challenge.

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has directed the military's Pacific Command to deploy ships and aircraft to support search-and-rescue operations and airlift emergency supplies.

The European Commission has released €3m (£2.5m) in emergency funds, while the UK is providing £6m in aid and Prime Minister David Cameron has telephoned President Aquino to offer his support.

:: Sky News will run a special live programme on the story of the typhoon at 7pm tonight.

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'Burglar' Suffocated In Derby Office Chimney

A suspected burglar died after he got stuck in the chimney of a solicitor's office and was unable to breathe, an inquest has heard.

The body of Kevin Gough, 43, was discovered at Moody & Woolley Solicitors in St Mary's Gate, Derby, on May 1.

An inquest at Derby and South Derbyshire Coroner's Court heard staff and builders working on the property had noticed a bad smell and a pest control company had been contacted.

Police were called and officers found Mr Gough's badly decomposed body stuck inside the chimney.

The inquest heard Mr Gough would have been lost consciousness quickly

The chimney breast and fireplace had been completely bricked up from the inside.

Mr Gough was identified by his fingerprints. His cause of death was found to have been caused by postural asphyxiation.

It was unclear why he had gone into the chimney, but coroner Dr Robert Hunter said he was satisfied he had made his way there of his own volition and no one else was involved.

Detective Constable Tom Bentley told the inquest Mr Gough was wanted in connection with a burglary at a business on The Strand in Derby.

He was arrested on March 13 because he was found to be in possession of prescribed meditation not in his own name and was last seen alive two days later at the Padley Centre, an organisation that helps homeless people.

A post-mortem found he had brick marks across his back and chest due to the confined space, which would not allow his chest to expand. His t-shirt had drawn up around his neck and another item of clothing had blocked the top of the chimney.

Dr Hunter said: "There would have been a rapid loss of consciousness and death within a manner of minutes.

"This would be why he did not call for help and the people working within the building had not heard him."

He added that Mr Gough would have realised there was no way out when he got to the bottom. He recorded a verdict of misadventure.

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Typhoon Haiyan: Locals 'Were Not Worried'

Local people were "nonchalant" in the hours before Typhoon Haiyan hit Taclaban, a storm chaser in the Philippines has said.

Josh Morgerman said his impression was that people "were not worried" about the typhoon, which went on to kill thousands of people as it tore across the Philippines.

The professional storm chaser spoke of the moment fierce winds of up to 147mph (235kmph) hit the city as pictures emerged of the enormous scale of the damage.

Before: The built-up coastline at Anibong After: A scene of devastation

"On Friday morning, as the centre of the typhoon approached, it just went crazy and the wind got really violent," he said.

"We were in a thick concrete building that was trembling from the force of flying debris hitting it. All the windows were exploding and everything, glass flying everywhere.

Before: The Anibong area of Tacloban seen before the typhoon After: Cargo ships are seen washed ashore after the storm passed

"Then the deadly thing happened, which is that the storm surge just swept into the city and the entire downtown area was under water."

Mr Morgerman said the first floor of his hotel was under water, and he entered "rescue mode" to help those who were in danger of drowning.

"It was a small typhoon and it moved very quickly but it was extremely severe and it did its work quickly," he added.

Before: Eastern Samar province's Guiuan township before the storm After: An aerial photograph shows the devastation in Guiuan after the storm

Once the storm had passed, the shoreline and streets were unrecognisable.

"It was just piles of rubble and you couldn't even tell what had been there," Mr Morgerman added.

Before: Guiuan township After: Homes appear completely destroyed

"There were just dead bodies in the street. People just seemed shell-shocked - almost like zombies - walking around and trying to understand what happened."

:: Sky News will run a special live programme on the story of the typhoon at 7pm tonight.

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Super Typhoon Haiyan: '10,000 Could Be Dead'

At least 10,000 people are thought to have been killed in the Philippine city of Tacloban by Typhoon Haiyan, officials believe.

A further 300 are confirmed dead with 2,000 missing in the neighbouring island of Samar.

Up to 4.3million people are said to have been directly affected by the typhoon's path and the death toll is expected to rise further as rescuers reach cut off areas.

If the death toll estimate by government officials is confirmed, it would be the deadliest natural catastrophe on record in the Philippines.

Coffins are left on a street

Up to 70-80% of homes have been destroyed in Tacloban and other areas in the typhoon's path, according to Justin Morgan of Oxfam.

Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas said: "From a helicopter, you can see the extent of devastation. From the shore and moving a kilometre inland, there are no structures standing. It was like a tsunami.

"I don't know how to describe what I saw. It's horrific."

Most of the dead are understood to have drowned or were crushed by collapsed buildings. Many corpses hung on tree branches, buildings and in the roads.

A fishing boat was picked up and deposited atop a sea of housing debris

"On the way to the airport we saw many bodies along the street," said Philippine-born Australian Mila Ward, 53, who was waiting at the Tacloban airport to catch a military flight back to Manila.

"They were covered with just anything - tarpaulin, roofing sheets, cardboards," she said. Asked how many, she said, "Well over 100 where we passed."

But the destruction extended well beyond Tacloban, a city of 200,000. Officials are yet to make contact with Guiuan, a town of 40,000 that was first hit by the typhoon.

A woman mourns next to the dead body of her husband and other corpses

Baco, a city of 35,000 people in Oriental Mindoro province, was 80 percent under water, the UN said.

The Philippines has limited resources on its own to deal with a disaster of this magnitude, say experts.

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has directed the military's Pacific Command to deploy ships and aircraft to support search-and-rescue operations and airlift emergency supplies.

A boy carries away supplies he has collected from rescue workers

But the command is headquartered in Hawaii, with one carrier group currently in port in Hong Kong, so it is thought it will be some days before it reaches the affected area.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told Philippine president Benigno Aquino: "We stand ready to contribute with urgent relief and assistance if so required in this hour of need."

Haiyan was one of the strongest tropical storms ever to have made landfall, lashing the Philippines with wind gusts of 275kph (170mph) and whipping up a storm surge which swallowed coastal towns and villages.

Residents beside a road littered with debris

Although the cyclone has weakened, there are fears that many could be affected when it next makes landfall in Vietnam later today.

Nearly a million people were evacuated from central provinces before the path of Haiyan turned further north.

It is now expected to be a category one typhoon, with winds gusting up to 95mph when it reaches the tourist area of Halong Bay, not far from the capital Hanoi, at about 8pm on Sunday.

A pregnant woman cooks a meal inside a building overlooking Tacloban

The typhoon is also expected to pass very close to the Chinese island of Hainan.

Tacloban, a city of 220,000 people south of Manila, bore the brunt of Haiyan in the Philippines. Bodies have been seen floating in roads covered with debris from fallen trees, tangled power lines and flattened homes.

"The dead are on the streets, they are in their houses, they are under the debris, they are everywhere," said Tecson John Lim, a Tacloban city administrator.

In Vietnam villagers are evacuated in preparation for the arrival of Haiyan

Among those feared dead is an Australian ex-priest Kevin Lee, who moved to the Philippines after blowing the whistle on abuse in the Catholic Church in his home country, it has been reported.

The previous deadliest disaster to hit the Philippines was in 1976, when a tsunami triggered by a magnitude 7.9 earthquake killed between 5,000 and 8,000 people.

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Terror Suspects Face Controversial Mosque Ban

The Home Office is considering banning terror suspects from visiting controversial mosques, Sky sources say.

Suspects subject to Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures (Tpims) would not be allowed to worship at mosques on a Home Office's list, the sources said.

The plan could also clamp down on the amount of time they spent at mosques, the sources said.

The tougher restrictions would form part of a plan to further restrict terror suspects' freedoms after Mohammed Ahmed Mohamed escaped from a London mosque by dressing in a burka earlier this month.

Pressure is mounting on the Government to explain how the al Shabaab-linked suspect managed to escape surveillance despite being the subject of a Tpim.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond told Sky's Murnaghan programme that lessons needed to be learned from the case.

"The security services and the police face a huge challenge monitoring very large numbers of potential threat streams and we are acutely conscious that the terrorist only has to get lucky once - we have to get lucky every time," he said.

"Because of the large numbers of potential threats that we are monitoring and managing, it is inevitable that every now and again that one will slip through the net.

"When that happens we have to learn the lessons, we have to tighten the system."

Home Secretary Theresa May has come under fire since Mohamed fled

Shadow Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper MP, said her Govermment counterpart Theresa May was "belatedly trying to close the stable door that she herself threw open" with the stricter measures.

"This Home Secretary repeatedly ignored warnings that ditching relocations would increase the risk that terror suspects would abscond," she said.

"After losing two out of the ten suspects she's been forced to admit there's a problem. But her hands are tied by her own legislation.

"If Theresa May has finally realised that she did the wrong thing by weakening terror controls, she should apologise. And David Cameron should take over the crucial decisions on terror suspects as its clear the Home Secretary can't be trusted to get it right."

A hunt involving the Metropolitan Police's counter terrorism command, MI5 and the UK Border Force has so far failed to track down Mohamed.

But he is not the first person to breach a Tpim since they were introduced to replace control orders in early 2012.

CCTV of Mohamed leaving the mosque in a burka

Last December, Ibrahim Magag, who is understood to have attended terrorist training camps in Somalia, absconded from a Tpim notice after ripping off his electronic tag. The police search for him is continuing.

Tpims were introduced in place of controversial control orders that individuals could be placed on indefinitely.

The control orders allowed forced relocation, curfews of up to 18 hours a day, electronic tagging and vetting of visitors.

The Coalition moved to the new system after sustained anger of the system, which some said amounted to virtual home arrest.

Tpims saw forced relocation scrapped, the curfews were replaced with a requirement to stay overnight in a house and they would no longer be indefinite and would instead need renewing every two years.

It has been revealed that before Mohamed escaped he had been twice remanded in custody for allegedly breaching controls imposed on him.

The 27-year-old was released from custody despite facing 20 charges for breaking the restrictions Tpim and the earlier control order.

Mohamed is currently seeking damages from the Government in a human rights legal challenge involving allegations of torture.

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Typhoon Survivors Hunt For Food 'Like Zombies'

Survivors of the super typhoon that has devastated several islands in the Philippines have begun scavenging for food and looting shops in order to stay alive, witnesses say.

Shopping centres and grocery stores in hard-hit Tacloban have reportedly been stripped of goods as rescuers' efforts to deliver food and water are hampered by severed roads and communications.

"Tacloban is totally destroyed. Some people are losing their minds from hunger or from losing their families," high school teacher Andrew Pomeda, 36, said as he warned of the increasing desperation of survivors.

"People are becoming violent. They are looting business establishments, the malls, just to find food, rice and milk. I am afraid that in one week, people will be killing from hunger."

Witnesses described how survivors are forming long queues at aid stations, waiting desperately for handouts of rice and water.

"Zombie-like" survivors trudge along roads thick with mud

Some sit and stare, covering their faces with rags to keep out the smell of the dead.

One woman, eight months pregnant, described through tears how her 11 family members vanished in the storm, including two daughters.

"I can't think right now. I am overwhelmed," she said.

During a visit to Tacloban, President Benigno Aquino acknowledged that looting had emerged as a major concern after only 20 out of 390 of the city's police officers turned up for work following the typhoon.

"So we will send about 300 police and soldiers to take their place and bring back peace and order," he said.

Looters take supplies from a shop which has had the gate broken open

"Tonight, an armoured vehicle will arrive and our armed forces will display the strength of the state to put a stop to this looting."

Aid agencies have warned that many of the 480,000 people whose homes have been destroyed by the bludgeoning force of the cyclone face a desperate battle to survive.

"Everything is gone. Our house is like a skeleton and we are running out of food and water. We are looking for food everywhere," said Jenny Chu, a medical student in Leyte.

"Even the delivery vans were looted. People are walking like zombies looking for food. It's like a movie."

Nancy Chang, who was in Tacloblan City on a business trip from China and walked three hours through mud and debris for a military-led evacuation, said: "It's like the end of the world."

Two men drag a corpse towards rescuers

Relief efforts are being hampered by the complete destruction of the airport, where seawaters shattered the glass of the airport tower, levelled the terminal and overturned vehicles.

Military aircraft and helicopters, which are in limited supply in the Philippines, are the only way in and out of the city.

Amid the destuction, extraordinary stories of survival are starting to emerge.

Lieutenant Colonel Fermin Carangan of the Philippine Air Force said he and 41 officers were sheltering in their airport office when "suddenly the sea water and the waves destroyed the walls and I saw my men being swept by waters one by one".

He was swept away from the building and clung to a coconut tree with a seven-year-old boy.

"In the next five hours we were in the sea buffeted by wind and strong rain. I kept on talking to the boy and giving him a pep talk because the boy was telling me he was tired and he wanted to sleep."

Hundreds of people queue for food at a Tacloban airport aid centre

He finally saw land and swam with the boy to a beach strewn with dead bodies.

He said: "I think the boy saved my life because I found strength so that he can survive."

The World Food Programme said it was airlifting 40 tonnes of high-energy biscuits, enough to feed 120,000 people for a day, as well as emergency supplies and telecommunications equipment.

Aid agencies said relief efforts in the Philippines are stretched thin after a 7.2 magnitude quake in central Bohol province last month and another refugee crisis due to conflict in southern Zamboanga province.

The US embassy in Manila has pledged $100,000 towards relief supplies and the Australian government gave A$390,500 but some expressed anger at the slow pace of rescue efforts. 

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Remembrance Day Services Honour Veterans

War Graves 'Have Enormous Power To Engage'

Updated: 1:51am UK, Sunday 10 November 2013

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent, in Burma

Just outside the chaos and the buzz of Burma's largest city, Rangoon, is a place of remarkable peace and tranquility.

Set back from the busy highway linking Rangoon to the Burma's new capital city Naypyidaw is the Taukkyan War Cemetery.

Taukkyan is the final resting place for 6,426 soldiers of the Commonwealth who fought and died in one or other of the two world wars.

The headstones are lined up in perfect uniformity. I spot a Private Jones and a Corporal Johnson.

Their names seem oddly incongruous so far from 'home'. It is a reminder of just how global the two world wars were.

As always at war cemeteries, the ages are sobering. Most of those I pause by in Taukkyan are teenagers.

Around the world there are a staggering 23,000 war cemeteries just like Taukkyan.

You will find them in 153 different countries, they hold the remains and bear the names of 1.7 million individuals and they are all managed and beautifully maintained by an organisation called the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC).

"The CWGC maintains the very fabric upon which remembrance of the war dead is focussed," Peter Francis, from the CWGC, told Sky News.

"Today, the war graves and memorials are perhaps the only physical reminder of the war left. They have an enormous power in my experience to engage the individual in the war and the sacrifices made."

The gravestones that line the fields of Northern France are well-known, but similarly poignant cemeteries can be found in every country where battles of either world war were fought.

From Burma to Libya and from Turkey to Thailand they are all as moving as they are magnificent.

Some are in deserts, some in mountains, some under snow and some lined with palm trees.

Many of the cemeteries are the legacy of an extraordinary pledge made during the two world wars.

These were the days before repatriations of the like we see today. Back then, soldiers were buried where they fell, but admirable efforts were made to record each individual burial location.

When the guns fell silent, as many of the bodies as possible were 'repatriated', not home, but to a central cemetery where they could lie side-by-side.

Mr Francis points out that World War One marked a step-change in how the victims of war were remembered.

"Before the First World War it was unusual to remember the sacrifice of 'ordinary' soldiers," he explained.

"One only has to look around London and see the memorials to Generals, or go to the battlefield at Waterloo (just 100 years before the Great War) to see that there was very little to mark the sacrifice of the soldier. The First World War and the CWGC changed all that.

"It is all too easy, for those of us who have grown up with the two minute silence, the poppy, the war graves, the memorials, to think there was an inevitability about the commemoration of the war dead. That is not the case."

Along with the 6,426 marked graves at Taukkyan is a memorial wall on which are etched the names of a staggering 27,000 others who died during the battles in Burma and who have no known grave.

Burma, now Myanmar, was a battle ground for both wars and has been for many more since.

The upkeep of so many cemeteries, some in countries now the frontline of new wars, is a huge undertaking.

Mr Francis tells me about one cemetery which is a 45 minute boat ride to a remote Scottish Island. Access to another involves a dangerous journey across Libya.

"Every site, every grave is inspected, assessed and maintained by our dedicated workforce - some 1,300 strong worldwide (the vast majority gardeners and stone masons)," he told me.

"Some may stay at one cemetery their entire career, others will move from country to country. Some are even the third generation of their family to work for us - one of the nice things about the organisation is that we do have a sense of 'family'."

While there are cemeteries in unstable counties like Syria, Iraq and Libya, there are challenges even in places like the UK.

"Here in the UK we face a very peculiar challenge," Mr Francis said.

"Most people do not realise that in the UK, the Commission commemorates more than 300,000 Commonwealth servicemen and women who died in the two world wars - their graves and memorials to be found at a staggering 13,000 locations.

"There is little awareness of this. These range from small rural churchyards to large urban civic cemeteries. In essence we have to enter into 13,000 agreements to maintain these sites."

The CWGC, which is well-funded by grants from Commonwealth-member governments, expects that visitor numbers will increase by up to 30% over the next four years.

It has now embarked on a renovation and modernisation programme.

"Our headstone replacement capacity is now at 22,000 headstones a year and we are re-engraving some 19,000 headstones a year in situ - maintaining the very fabric upon which remembrance of the Great War is largely based and keeping alive in stone the names of those who died."

The commission's website now contains an interactive database allowing people to search for a relative who died in a far-away battle.

Initiatives like this help younger people connect to a past with which they no longer have a direct generational link. 

"An increased awareness of, and sense of ownership in, war graves in the UK, will greatly assist the Commission's task of caring and maintaining for these sites, some of which may have been abandoned to nature over the decades," Mr Francis said.

Back at Taukkyan, I watch one of the commission's volunteers, an elderly Burmese man. He rakes away fallen leaves from the pristine grass around the rows of graves.

Two young Burmese boys wander past. I wonder how much they know of their country's troubled history. Hopefully for them, the troubles are history.

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Super Typhoon Haiyan: At Least '1,200 Dead'

An aid agency says it has received reports that 1,200 people have been killed in only two of the six areas of the Philippines hit by Super Typhoon Haiyan.

The country's Red Cross says it has been told there are 1,000 dead in Tacloban and 200 in Samar alone.

The official death toll reached 138 by 1pm on Saturday (UK time) but there are fears many hundreds more could have died as the tropical cyclone smashed through the country with winds gusting up to 170mph.

A man walks amid shattered homes in Tacloban

And there are growing fears for Vietnam which is now in the path of what has been called one of the most powerful recorded cyclones in history.

Gwendolyn Pang, Philippine Red Cross secretary general said: "An estimated more than 1,000 bodies were seen floating in

Tacloban as reported by our Red Cross teams. In Samar, about 200 deaths. Validation is ongoing."

A mother weeps beside the dead body of her son

When asked how many had died in just the coastal town of Palo and its surrounding area, Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla said: "I think hundreds. Palo, Ormoc, Burauen... Carigara, they all looked the same."

Manila-based journalist Mike Cohen told Sky News: "The video images we are seeing are so gruesome we cannot show them. There are bodies piled up upon bodies in several areas.

"This is from Leyte and Samar provinces. We are still not through the other four provinces."

Children play among downed power lines

Dozens, possibly hundreds, of towns and villages are thought to have been inundated with water after storm surges flooded low-lying areas, drowning many in their path.

TV pictures showed cars, trees and rubble from houses strewn across streets after they were picked up by giant waves and carried inland.

One survivor said: "We thought it was a tsunami."

Residents carry the body of a loved one

"Almost all houses were destroyed, many are totally damaged. Only a few are left standing," said Major Rey Balido, a spokesman for the national disaster agency.

A British team of humanitarian experts is due to fly out to the far eastern country to help the UK Government decide what aid to send.

An appeal launched by the British Red Cross has already raised more than £100,000. US Secretary of State John Kerry said that America stood "ready to help".

Soldiers walk outside of Tacloban's shattered airport terminal

About a million people who were evacuated because they were living in the typhoon's path have been returning to find out what is left of their houses.

Hundreds of thousands are said to have lost their homes.

Many of the most heavily damaged areas are still to be contacted because power and telephone lines are down, suggesting the final death toll could be much higher.

Many children became seperated from their parents and were left in tears

Captain John Andrews, deputy director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, said he had spoken to colleagues in some of the affected areas by radio who had told him there were bodies lying in the street.

There were "100-plus dead, lying on the streets, with 100 plus injured" in Tacloban, the airport worker had told him.

Tacloban is the capital of Leyte, a large island of about two million people that suffered a direct hit from Haiyan on Friday morning when the storm was at its strongest.

A map showing the path of the typhoon and affected islands

Leyte Island, about 350miles south of the capital Manila, is one of five islands that was in the path of the super typhoon.

A news team for local television network GMA reported counting at least 20 bodies in a church, 20 more at a pier and a further 11 that had been washed ashore, including one child.

An AFP photographer who reached the city aboard a military plane said large areas of Tacloban had been flattened.

Minnie Portales, a spokesman for the aid agency World Vision, said: "As we wait for early reports from some of the hardest-hit provinces, we fear for the worst. This could be very bad."

At one point before it hit land the super typhoon had been even stronger, with winds gusting up to 235mph, which made it among the most powerful ever.

Meteorologists said that it had slowed to 100mph after passing over the Philippines but could pick up strength again as it sweeps across the South China Sea toward Vietnam.

Hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese have been moved away from coastal areas as authorities prepared for Haiyan to make landfall around 10am Sunday. Millions are thought to be living in its path.

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Iran Nuclear Talks Make 'Very Good Progress'

British Foreign Minister William Hague has said global powers negotiating with Iran over its nuclear programme must "seize the moment" as talks enter an unscheduled third day.

Six world powers - the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany - are working on a deal to cap some of Iran's atomic programme in exchange for limited relief from economic sanctions.

As delegates arrived on Saturday, Mr Hague told reporters: "We are very conscious of the fact that real momentum has built up in these negotiations and there is now real concentration on these negotiations and so we have to do everything we can to seize the moment.

However, he cautioned that it was not clear whether a deal could be reached by the end of the day.

Iran's deputy foreign minister Abbas Araqchi also said that if there was not a deal on Saturday then any remaining issues would have to be carried out over to another date.

"There is greater agreement on some issues and less agreement on other issues," he told the ISNA news agency.

France's Laurent Fabius said the sticking points were a call for Iran to halt operations at its Arak research reactor - a potential producer of bomb-grade plutonium - while the negotiating process continues and questions about Iran's stock of uranium enriched to 20%.

Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (centre) is at the talks

Both issues reflect Western concerns that Iran is enriching uranium for use in atomic weapons rather than in a civilian nuclear energy programme as it claims.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who cut short a Middle East tour to attend the talks in Geneva, Switzerland, had also struck a note of caution after a five-hour meeting drew to a close last night.

"There is not an agreement at this point," Mr Kerry told reporters. "There are still some very important issues on the table that are unresolved."

Earlier on Friday, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov raised hopes after he said the six countries and Iran could agree a "road map" to end the differences over the programme at the talks.

He told reporters he did not wish to prejudge the outcome but said Iran should be allowed to have a peaceful nuclear programme under the watch of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Unlike previous encounters between Iran and Western powers in the past decade, all sides have remained quiet about details of the negotiations, without the criticism and mutual allegations of a lack of seriousness that have been typical of such meetings in the past.

Diplomats involved in the talks say this is a sign of how serious all sides are.

If some sort of agreement is reached, it would be a breakthrough after a decade of negotiations between Iran and the six world powers.

A potential deal could see Tehran freeze its nuclear efforts for as long as six months in exchange for some relief from the sanctions that have battered its economy.

But Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that his country "utterly rejects" a deal being forged, adding that "Israel will do everything it needs to do to defend itself and defend the security of its people".

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