Weather: Storm Alerts As UK Set For 'Hurricane'

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Met Office website shows amber and yellow alerts for Monday

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Savile's Chauffeur Charged With Sex Offences

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

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

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

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

Ray Teret is also a former DJ

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

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

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

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

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

TV presenter Jimmy Savile

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Police 'Find First 3D Gun-Printing Factory'

By Nick Martin, North of England Correspondent

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

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

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

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

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

The plastic magazine police believe is capable of holding bullets

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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NSA Spying: Germany Demands Talks With US

US Spying And The Moral High Ground

Updated: 6:47am UK, Friday 25 October 2013

By Tim Marshall, Foreign Affairs Editor

All nations spy, but not all nations claim they have liberal values and transparent government.

For those that do, it is a little embarrassing to be caught spying on your friends and military allies.

To be caught listening in on the private phone calls of the head of government of an ally is to be embarrassed on a different level.

Hence we see the presence of the US Ambassador to Berlin at the German foreign ministry.

Mr John B Emerson was called in to see foreign minister Guido Westerwelle for a touch of "clarification" on remarks made by the White House on Wednesday night.

This follows a call to Chancellor Angela Merkel's office by the Der Spiegel newspaper.

It asked a question which was probably based on some of Edward Snowden's files, to which it has access: "Has the US been tapping the mobile phone of the Chancellor?"

Der Spiegel says Germany's Federal Intelligence Service had enough information for Mrs Merkel to phone Barack Obama and ask the same question.

The Chancellery was confident enough to make public the call.

Within an hour, White House spokesman Jay Carney came up with an answer: "The  President assured the Chancellor that the United States is not monitoring, and will not monitor, the communications of the Chancellor."

Sadly, at the time of writing, the White House press corps did not appear to have asked the obvious question which arises from such a slippery answer: "OK - is not, and will not monitor, but has it monitored?"

President Obama has now found himself on the receiving end of phone calls from several indignant presidents.

The leaders of Brazil, Mexico, France, and Germany have all made it clear they take a dim view of activities of the American intelligence agencies in their own countries.

Brazil's President, Dilma Rouseff, even went so far as to cancel a state visit to Washington DC.

The US administration is now asking itself how much damage all of this is causing.

Some officials argue that spy storms come and go, but relationships survive.

Others agree about survival but say the relationships will be weakened and that America's standing in the world is damaged in the long term.

It is well known that Russia spies on Britain, which spies on China, which spies on America, which spies on … well, everyone it now appears.

Spying on enemies is obvious, and spying on trade partners is tolerated even if measures are taken to prevent it.

Spying on allies is frowned upon even if most countries do it while taking counter measures.

The French are well known to have been trying to steal everyone's business secrets for decades, and very good they are it too.

The golden rule is: don't get caught and don't embarrass us in public and remember, when it comes to allies, there are limits.

If the French and Americans wanted to know their respective positions ahead of a crucial UN Security Council vote, which was in the balance, they might use a variety of measures to find out.

If some of those measures were, perhaps, questionable and became public, it would be embarrassing but, behind the scenes, both sides would shrug their shoulders.

However, listening into the private calls of a head of government of a key ally is crossing a line - it is personal, a question of trust in a personal relationship, and it is impossible to justify in public.

Therefore, if the claims are true, the Americans have a stark choice.

In their democracy, with its open government, and liberal values, what has the greater value? The information you get from spying on friends at the highest levels or the moral standing you have among those friends and global public opinion?

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Grangemouth Plant Closure U-Turn Is Possible

The owner of the Grangemouth petrochemicals plant says it could reverse Wednesday's decision to close it if "substantive" talks today yield union concessions.

Sources at Ineos were speaking to Sky News ahead of a meeting with Unite which began at 8am but they insisted that any agreement on re-opening the chemical side of the operation at the peace talks would have to be rubber-stamped by a full meeting of Ineos shareholders.

The company had announced that it could not continue to operate the loss-making petrochemicals division - leaving 800 jobs at risk at the plant with many more contractors facing the axe too.

Ineos also confirmed that while it was not planning to close down the oil refinery, which produces 80% of Scotland's fuel supplies, it would remain shut for now pending reassurances from Unite that there would be no strike action.

The union yesterday accused Ineos owner Jim Ratcliffe of deliberately engineering the chemical plant's closure.

It said it had put what it called a "plan to save jobs" to the company yesterday and Unite's Scottish secretary Pat Rafferty added: "The ball is now in the court of Jim Ratcliffe and the respective governments in Edinburgh and Westminster and we await their responses."

Ineos argued it was left with no alternative but to close the petrochemical business, which makes products used in the manufacture of household goods such as plastic packaging.

The firm cited a failure to persuade its staff to accept a survival plan, which included a pay freeze, ending of a final salary pension scheme and other changes to terms and conditions.

Ineos said white-collar workers such as admin staff had backed the plan but workers represented by Unite had rejected it.

Politicians had urged the two sides to resume talks to prevent the closure, while efforts are expected to continue to find a potential buyer in case the peace efforts fail.

More follows...

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Madeleine McCann: Portugal Cops May Open Case

Madeleine: Key Events Timeline

Updated: 9:48am UK, Monday 14 October 2013

Here is a timeline of the key events since Madeleine McCann's disappearance.

2007

:: May 3 - Kate and Gerry McCann leave their three children asleep in their holiday apartment in Praia da Luz while they dine with friends at a nearby tapas restaurant.

Jane Tanner, one of the friends eating with the McCanns, later reports seeing a man carrying a child away earlier that night.

:: May 5 - Portuguese police reveal they believe Madeleine was abducted but is still alive and in Portugal, and say they have a sketch of a suspect.

:: May 14 - Detectives take Anglo-Portuguese man Robert Murat in for questioning and make him an "arguido", or official suspect.

:: May 25 - Detectives release a description of the man reported by Jane Tanner three weeks earlier after pressure from the McCanns, their legal team and the British Government.

:: May 30 - Mr and Mrs McCann meet the Pope in Rome in the first of a series of trips around Europe and beyond to highlight the search for their daughter.

:: August 6 - A Portuguese newspaper reports that British sniffer dogs have found traces of blood on a wall in the McCanns' holiday apartment.

:: August 11 - Exactly 100 days after Madeleine disappeared, investigating officers publicly acknowledge for the first time that she could be dead.

:: September 7 - During further questioning of Mr and Mrs McCann, detectives make them both "arguidos" in their daughter's disappearance.

:: September 9 - The McCanns fly back to England with their two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie.

:: October 2 - Goncalo Amaral, the detective in charge of the inquiry, is removed from the case after criticising the British police in a Portuguese newspaper interview.

:: October 25 - The McCanns release a new artist's impression drawn by an FBI-trained expert showing the man described by Jane Tanner.

2008

:: March 19 - Mr and Mrs McCann accept £550,000 libel damages and front-page apologies from Express Newspapers over allegations they were responsible for Madeleine's death.

:: April 7 - Three Portuguese detectives, led by Paulo Rebelo, fly to Britain to re-interview the seven friends on holiday with the McCanns when Madeleine vanished.

:: July 17 - Mr Murat receives £600,000 in libel damages from four newspaper groups over "seriously defamatory" articles connecting him with the child's disappearance.

:: July 21 - The Portuguese authorities shelve their investigation and lift the "arguido" status of the McCanns and Mr Murat.

:: August 4 - Thousands of pages of evidence from the Portuguese police files in the exhaustive investigation into Madeleine's disappearance are made public.

2009

:: January 13 - Mr McCann returns to Portugal for the first time since coming back to the UK without his daughter.

:: March 24 - The McCanns launch a localised new appeal for information focused on the area in the Algarve where Madeleine disappeared.

:: April 4 - Mr McCann goes back to Portugal to help film a reconstruction of the events on the night his daughter vanished.

:: April 22 - The McCanns fly to the US to record an interview with chat show host Oprah Winfrey to mark two years since Madeleine's disappearance.

:: June 14 - Dying paedophile Raymond Hewlett says he was in the Algarve when Madeleine disappeared and has an alibi - but has no plans to reveal it.

:: August 6 - Detectives say they are hunting a "Victoria Beckham lookalike" with an Australian or New Zealand accent, reportedly seen in Barcelona three days after the little girl went missing.

2010

:: Feb 18 -  Kate and Gerry McCann say they are "pleased and relieved" at a judge's decision to uphold a ban on a book by former detective Goncalo Amaral.

:: Mar 3 -  A newly-released file from Portugese police on possible sightings is called "gold dust" and could lead to a breakthrough, says a spokesman for the McCanns.

:: May 1 - Kate McCann reveals she had thoughts about being "wiped out" in a motorway crash to end the pain of losing Madeleine - but vows never to give up.

:: November 10 - Madeleine's parents launch an online petition to help force a UK and Portuguese joint review of all evidence in the case.

:: November 15 -  The McCanns sign a deal to write a book about their daughter's disappearance.

2011

:: May 13 - The Prime Minister David Cameron asks London's Metropolitan Police to help investigate the case.

:: November 23 - Kate and Gerry McCann appear at the Leveson Inquiry into media ethics.

They tell how media pressure affected their family life and accuse newspaper editors of hampering the search for their missing daughter.

Kate McCann says she felt "violated" when her diary was published without her permission.

:: December 5 - Scotland Yard detectives spend time in Barcelona as part of their re-examination of the case.

2012

:: March 9 - Portuguese police in Oporto launch a review of the original investigation.

:: April 26 - Scotland Yard says Madeleine McCann may still be alive and release an artist's impression of what she may look like as a nine-year-old.

:: July 6 - British detectives examine a claim that the little girl's body is buried near the apartment from where she vanished. It comes after a self-styled investigator sends police radar scans he claims show a burial site.

2013

:: Feb 11 - Gerry McCann calls for politicians to implement the conclusions of the Leveson Inquiry in full, backed by legislation.

:: Feb 13 - Police say the results of DNA tests on a girl in New Zealand who was mistaken for Madeleine reveal that she is not the missing British girl.

:: Feb 21 - Retired solicitor Tony Bennett who published claims that Madeleine McCann's parents caused her death is given a suspended jail sentence.

:: May 2 - Madeleine McCann's parents tell Sky News a police review into their daughter's disappearance is making "excellent progress" as they mark the sixth anniversary since she went missing.

:: May 17 - Scotland Yard say they have identified a number of "people of interest" they want to speak to. It believes it has found enough evidence to reopen the case but the Portuguese authorities are still resistant. 

:: June 15 - The Home Office agrees to fund a full-scale investigation by the Metropolitan Police.

:: October 13 - UK detectives reviewing the case say key details in the timeline of her disappearance have "significantly changed".

:: October 14 - A fresh appeal is launched in a bid to find a suspect detectives say is of "vital importance", with two new separate e-fits - thought to be of the same man seen on the night Madeleine went missing - released by police.

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Syrian Refugee Rescue Caught On Film

By Stuart Ramsay, Chief Correspondent

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The system is not perfect and to be frank they are not being as vigilant as they could be because they cannot really cope with what is going on.

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

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

The migrants' boat has been shot at by Libyan gunmen who are traffickers and have not been paid off.

Young children were among those pulled from the water

Within hours the boat either capsizes or sinks, with Syrian migrants dumped into the sea.

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

This man does not know if his two children survived

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A translator says he does not know if they are dead or not.

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

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

"But this has been terrible. Worse than I ever imagined."

I ask if he would do it again.

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

These are not work-shy foreigners looking for benefits. These are refugees.

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Maria: Interpol To Help Greece With DNA Check

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

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

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

Interpol's Yellow Notice appeal to help identify Maria

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

The youngster, who is now in care, was found when police raided a Roma camp in central Greece a week ago. Christos Salis and Eleftheria Dimopoulou, a couple who claimed they were given Maria by her mother, have been charged with abduction.

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

An official request has been made through the FBI and Interpol to the Greek authorities for Lisa's DNA profile to be compared with Maria's DNA, although Lisa would be only three years old in November - younger than police believe Maria to be.

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

Eleftheria Dimopoulou and Christos Salis have been charged with abduction

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

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

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

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'White Widow' Lewthwaite's Ode To Bin Laden

By Alex Crawford, Special Correspondent

The British terror suspect sought by police following the Nairobi shopping mall massacre wrote a poem in praise of Osama bin Laden in which she warned that al Qaeda is "stronger and fiercer" than ever, Sky News can reveal.

Samantha Lewthwaite - known as the "White Widow" - pledged to continue the fight to bring terror to the West and suggested she was prepared to be a martyr for the Islamic cause.

In the 34-line Ode To Osama, which was found by police on a computer in her Kenyan home, Lewthwaite said her love for the mastermind of the September 11 attacks "is like no other".

She lamented his death in 2011 at the hands of American special forces and called on Muslims to follow his example.

Investigators found an "Ode to Osama" on Lewthwaite's computer

"Us we are left to continue what you started," she wrote.

"To seek the victory until we are martyred. To instill (sic) terror into kuffar (non-Muslims) …Your life an example of how we should be.

"Oh Muslims listen to our beloved sheik's words, Let not his struggle and efforts go unheard, Revive what he started and strive to success, Then maybe we can be raised with the best."

The British suspect rented an apartment overlooking the Junction mall

Lewthwaite was married to July 7 bomber Jermaine Lindsay and lived with him in Buckinghamshire before the 2005 attacks. They had two children together.

Last year it emerged she had left Britain for East Africa and had been linked to the al Qaeda terror group al Shabaab.

Despite her sorrow at bin Laden's death, she warned the West - and US President Barack Obama - that the jihad was not over.

Sky News gained access to a flat directly below the one Lewthwaite rented

"As for our enemies our words will be less," she wrote.

"You picked the wrong army to contest. Al Qaeda are stronger and fiercer than ever. Their (sic) was no victory for you Mr Obama The honour is his on martyred Osama!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

As part of an investigation, Sky News has discovered that Lewthwaite, who is being hunted by Interpol in the aftermath of the Westgate Shopping Mall massacre, lived in a flat in the Kenyan capital overlooking a different shopping centre  for seven months in 2011.

Sky's Alex Crawford spoke to a block supervisor, who recognised Lewthwaite

She used her South African alias Natalie Faye Webb while she rented the apartment with her four children.

Sky News sources who are involved in the hunt for her have said this was one of three addresses she acquired in the capital.

It is the first time she has been specifically placed in the city where last month's attack, which left at least 67 people dead, took place.

Lewthwaite rented the apartment using her known alias, Natalie Faye Webb

Detectives examining the hard drive of a computer left at her house in Mombasa found several self-portraits of Lewthwaite, including one where she posed with two of her children.

They also discovered evidence which led them to an apartment block in Nairobi overlooking the Junction shopping mall, which British and Kenyan intelligence believe was a potential target for the al Shabaab terror group with which Lewthwaite has been linked.

She lived there with her four children and despite having no apparent income paid 60,000 shillings (nearly £500) a month for the three-bedroom flat.

The clean-up at the site of the Westgate mall attacks is ongoing

A man from the apartment block said she used to go shopping at the nearby mall - popular just like Westgate with wealthy expats - for up to four hours at a time.

Police also traced a flash drive back to her which showed the British woman who married a suicide bomber had spent eight years researching chemicals, explosive ingredients and how to make bombs.

One document she downloaded is entitled the Mujahideen explosives handbook.

The examination of her hard drive showed she had also Googled a significant number of dieting and fitness sites, including websites with workout routines to help you lose weight and makeover sites which demonstrated how to have hair like the singer Taylor Swift.

Out of nearly 2,000 files found, a vast number were about health and body image, and she had downloaded documents about getting started in bodybuilding and visited one site about self-defence.

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Energy Regulator Moves To Protect Fixed Rates

The energy regulator has confirmed new rules governing fixed rate energy deals while announcing an £8.5m penalty against Scottish Power over misleading sales techniques.

Ofgem said Scottish Power would pay £7.5m to benefit vulnerable customers and establish a £1m customer compensation fund  for breaching the terms of its market licence between October 2009 and January 2012.

It said Scottish Power provided customers with inaccurate estimations of annual charges and comparisons with their current supplier both on the doorstep and over the phone.

The settlement, the company said, meant that more than 140,000 people on the Warm Home Discount scheme would automatically receive payments of around £50 each.

Scottish Power accepted the failings but said it had now rectified the problems. It stopped door-to-door selling in 2011.

The penalty comes at a sensitive time for the big six energy firms - under fire from customers over inflation-busting increases to bills ahead of winter while politicians scrap over intervention in the market.

To date, three of the firms have announced average rises of between 8 and 11%.

As part of moves to ensure the market acts fairly, Ofgem said new rules were now in force meaning energy suppliers were banned from increasing prices on fixed term tariffs over the course of a contract and banned from automatically rolling householders on to another fixed term offer when their current one ended.

From December 31, firms will have to cut the number of tariffs they offer customer to just four for gas or electricity while from March companies will have to show the cheapest tariff they offer on every customers' bill.

Andrew Wright, Ofgem's chief executive, said: "Ofgem is resetting the energy market in consumers' favour to make it simpler, clear and fairer.

"Today's extra protection for consumers on fixed prices is just one of a range of reforms we are bringing in over the next six months to hold energy companies to higher standards.

"If suppliers fail to deliver, then Ofgem stands ready to take enforcement action to protect consumers.

"In an era of rising prices it is vital that competition works as effectively as possible. Our reforms seek to give consumers the tools they need to find the best energy deal for them and to ensure that suppliers have to treat them fairly.

"Ofgem is going to make it easier for consumers to "vote with their feet" and for new suppliers to enter the market and take on the Big Six.

Now we are looking for energy suppliers to pick up the baton and put their efforts into restoring consumer trust.

"Encouragingly suppliers have shown a willingness to start on this journey by signing up to our reforms and are now acting to implement them."

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Australia Battles Blazes To Stop 'Mega-Fire'

Firefighters are trying to tame an enormous bushfire in southeastern Australia which could merge with other blazes to create a "mega-fire" if weather conditions worsen.

Crews have been battling fires that flared in high winds and searing heat across the state of New South Wales last week, destroying 200 homes and leaving many others damaged.

While dozens of blazes have been contained, 58 were still alight and 14 of them out of control, enveloping Sydney in a thick white smoke haze that prompted warnings for people to stay indoors and avoid exercising.

The main area of concern was near the town of Lithgow, west of Sydney, where a huge fire that has already burned nearly 155 square miles (99,000 acres) was threatening the communities of Bilpin, Bell, Clarence and Dargan.

Tea cups sit on a letterbox at a home destroyed by bushfire

Officials fear intensifying heat and winds this week could push it into another blaze at nearby Mount Victoria in the Blue Mountains and then move towards the populated areas of Katoomba and Leura.

"I don't think I've ever used the word mega-fire," said New South Wales rural fire service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons.

"But the reality is that the modelling indicates that there's every likelihood that in the forecast weather conditions that these two fires, particularly up in the back end of the mountains, will merge at some point."

Lyndon Dunlop with his father among the ruins of his grandparents' home

The Australian military is investigating whether it was responsible for starting the blaze, northwest of Sydney.

The Australian Defence Force said its personnel were carrying out explosive ordnance training in the area on Wednesday, the day the blaze started.

Amid the worst fire disaster in the state for nearly 50 years, New South Wales declared a state of emergency on Sunday, which gives firefighters the power to forcibly evacuate people, with penalties for refusing.

Emergency Services Minister Mike Gallacher said every possible resource was being used, including firefighters being drafted in from interstate and the possibility that the military could also be deployed.

"Everything is being thrown at this, I can assure you," he said.

Sue Dunlop sits in front of her home of 41 years which was destroyed

With hundreds of people evacuated from their homes due to the encroaching flames, police have revealed they are dealing with reports of looting from victims, although the number of incidents is small.

State Premier Barry O'Farrell called looters "scumbags" and vowed to track them down.

"I'm just appalled that at these critical times, when people have been evacuated from homes or whether people have left homes because of fire dangers, that other scumbags in the community would front up and seek to rob them," he said.

Police, meanwhile, said a young boy, reportedly aged 11, was being questioned about deliberately lighting a fire on the New South Wales Central Coast last week that forced hundreds of people to flee their homes and saw the closure of Newcastle airport.

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PM Cheers Somerset Nuclear Power Plant Deal

The Prime Minister has hailed a landmark deal to build Britain's first new nuclear plant in a generation.

The agreement with French-owned EDF Energy will see Hinkley Point C, in Somerset, begin operating in 2023.

David Cameron said: "As part of our plan to help Britain succeed, after months of negotiation, today we have a deal for the first nuclear power station in a generation to be built in Britain.

"This deal means £16bn of investment coming into the country and the creation of 25,000 jobs, which is brilliant news for the South West and for the country as a whole.

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

"As we compete in the tough global race, this underlines the confidence there is in Britain and makes clear that we are very much open for business."

The Government has been negotiating with French-owned EDF Energy for more than a year over two new plants.

But ministers are likely to face criticism over the £92.50 per megawatt hour that will be paid for electricity produced at the Somerset site - around double the current market rate.

The so-called 'strike price' could fall by £3 if another mooted development at Sizewell goes ahead, allowing for efficiencies in development and testing.

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

The contract is due to run for 35 years, with the electric price increasing annually in line with CPI inflation. At full capacity the two reactors could provide up to 7% of the country's energy needs.

It is understood that China General Nuclear Power Group and China National Nuclear Corporation will be investing in the estimated £14bn scheme.

One of the last stumbling blocks to a deal was removed last week when Chancellor George Osborne announced that Chinese firms would be allowed to invest in civil nuclear projects in the UK - even potentially taking a majority stake.

Energy Secretary Ed Davey insisted he had secured "good value" following more than a year of intense negotiations.

The project will cut the UK's carbon emissions by 9 million tonnes a year, and create thousands of jobs.

"We think it would be good value if (the strike price) was a little higher," the Liberal Democrat Cabinet minister said.

Anti-nuclear campaigner, Theo Simon

"I was determined to get them below £90 so I could prove to everybody we had got a good deal...

"What has driven a tougher deal is the fact that I made clear we could walk away from the table. We had other nuclear options."

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Chancellor visited a Chinese nuclear power plant last week

"We were told that it would provide cheap energy; we were told it would help us to bridge the energy gap in the early 2000s, and now it seems it won't be built (until) 2025 and we will all be paying for the profits of EDF and Chinese nuclear corporations for the next 40 years."

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

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

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

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

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

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Mystery Blonde Girl 'Was Well Looked After'

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

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

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

Kostas said the child was very loved

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Members of the Roma community where the girl was found living

Further investigations into the couple raised even more suspicions.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ben Needham disappeared in Greece

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

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

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

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

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Energy Bills: Welby Slams 'Severe' Price Rises

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

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

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

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

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

Last week British Gas announced a 9.2% increase in prices

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

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

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

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

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

Electricity prices are rising faster than those for gas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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