Nigeria: Police Not Equipped To Fight Boko Haram

Police in Chibok have said they are not equipped to deal with another Islamist attack like the one which resulted in the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls.

Sky's Special Correspondent Alex Crawford, who is in Chibok, said that despite an increased security presence, police felt under-equipped to serve as any sort of meaningful deterrent against further attacks.

One officer told her he felt unable to enter into a combat situation with the militants, many of whom are armed with heavy machine-guns and rocket-propelled grenades. 

It has been over a month since more than 200 girls were seized by the militants.

Residents in Chibok, in Nigeria's northern Borno state, say they are in constant fear of further attacks, with abductions and killings taking place in the region on a regular basis.

The girls appeared in a video released by Boko Haram last week

Nigerian authorities are accused of being powerless in the face of the Islamist threat and too slow to respond to the schoolgirls' abduction. 

Frustration with the government rose further on Friday when President Goodluck Jonathan cancelled a visit to the region.

It was reported that his security team had advised him against a visit to Chibok on the basis that it was too dangerous. 

Crawford said the families of the missing girls were "very upset and very angry" at the president's last-minute decision to pull out. 

Parents have criticised the government's handling of the abduction

She said: "As one father of an abducted girl told me: 'If it's not safe enough for the president of Nigeria to come to Chibok, how on earth does he feel about us residents of Chibok living here?'."

The president instead flew directly from the capital Abuja to Paris, where he is due to take part in a summit with the leaders of Nigeria's neighbouring states later today.

Representatives from Cameroon, Niger, Chad and Benin will all take part in the half-day meeting aimed at forging a joint strategy to overcome the militants. 

Ahead of the summit, one French diplomat said: "Boko Haram represents a risk to the stability of every state in the region, and the leaders of these countries have to be aware of that."

The Nigerian president is seeking a regional strategy to tackle Boko Haram

British Foreign Secretary William Hague and US Secretary of State John Kerry are also scheduled to attend the meeting hosted by French President Francois Hollande.

Britain, the US and France are all taking part in the search for the missing schoolgirls.

Nothing was seen of the girls until last week when Boko Haram released a video appearing to show a group of about 100 of them who the group said had converted to Islam.

Boko Haram's leader Abubakar Shekau said the girls would not be released until detained militants of the group were freed from prison.

The Nigerian government has reportedly ruled out negotiations on a prisoner swap.

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Migrants 'Buying Language Test Passes For £500'

The Home Office has launched an investigation into claims migrants who speak no English are able to buy certificates showing they have passed a supposedly "secure" language test.

Secret filming at an exam centre showed the certificates - which are required by anyone wanting to remain in the UK permanently or to apply for British citizenship - were being sold for £500.

Immigration and Security Minister James Brokenshire said in a statement: "The Home Office takes any allegation of fraud extremely seriously and we have already begun a full investigation.

"We will take the strongest possible action against anyone who is found to have abused the rules - including the possibility of criminal prosecutions for fraud.

"This ESOL certificate is just one element of a wide range of evidence required by individuals applying for settlement and citizenship.

"Nobody can gain a UK visa on the strength of this qualification alone."

Following information from a whistleblower, the Daily Mail carried out the undercover investigation into the exam centre at Upton Park, east London, which is run by Learn Pass Succeed (LPS).

Uzwan Ghani, one of the directors of LPS, which has four branches in London, told the paper the problem was confined to the Upton Park branch and that it had suspended tests taken at the centre.

"I'm shocked that this has happened and am very concerned as to how it could have happened," he was quoted as saying.

"We are very thorough when it comes to checking IDs of candidates before they take the test, so I will have to investigate which of the centres the test was taken in and who the assessor was.

"I've been in the business for five years and I've never come across something like this and I would not allow it. It is wrong and ridiculous."

Ofqual, the examinations watchdog, was also said to be aware of the allegations and was seeking further information "as a matter of urgency".

A spokesman said the centre had been suspended by EMD Qualifications and "appropriate action" would be taken.

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Property Boom Leaves Many Unable To Buy

By Ed Conway, Economics Editor

The proportion of English and Welsh homes selling for over £1m has more than doubled during the Great Recession, in the latest evidence of the property market boom.

In London a record 7% of all home sales listed by the Land Registry in the year to March were for £1m or more - a sharp increase from the 3% level when Britain slid into recession in 2008.

Overall, the number of homes sold for £1m or more over the past year has surpassed 10,000 for the first time - with just over 11,000 £1m sales in the year to March.

This compares to around 9,000 at the peak of the pre-crisis boom.

Sky News analysis has also uncovered the affordability gap between different local authorities has reached unprecedented levels, driven up by a combination of high house prices and falling real wages.

Darker areas show the higher house price to earnings ratios in England

The numbers come as the Bank of England prepares to deliver its quarterly Inflation Report, at which it is expected to signal growing consternation about the property boom.

With the economy recovering faster than many had expected and house prices pushing ever higher, the Bank is widely expected to lift interest rates within a year - and may add further checks on housing market lending as early as next month.

Across the country as a whole, some 1.4% of homes sold in the past year went for £1m or over, another record, and more than double the 0.7% at the beginning of 2008.

Analysts said even these Land Registry figures may understate the extent of the £1m-plus property market, since they exclude many properties bought through corporate vehicles.

The vast majority of these sales - 7,692 of the 11,341 properties sold for £1m or over in England and Wales over the past year - were in London.

However, because wages have not kept pace with rising house prices, the capacity of families to afford bricks and mortar has diminished.

Although one closely-watched measure of housing affordability - house prices vs earnings - remains below its pre-crisis peak, it has risen to unprecedented levels in London.

In Kensington & Chelsea, average property prices hit 22 times the average earnings of local residents last year - a doubling in the past decade.

They are also at 20 times earnings in Westminster, and 12 times earnings in inner London as a whole.

By contrast, prices in Burnley remain 2.9 times the average earnings in the local area, down sharply from the 4 times earnings peak reached in 2007.

The statistics, which are derived from Land Registry and Office for National Statistics data, illustrate the scale of differences in house price performance throughout the country.

Although London boroughs dominate the top of the unaffordability rankings, there are exceptions.

For some tenants, the prospect of buying a property is ever less likely

Elmbridge in Surrey is Britain's sixth most unaffordable district, with prices 12.3 times local earnings.

Sitting at ninth and tenth in the rankings are Hackney and Brent, where although absolute prices are lower than many other parts of the capital, local earnings are also comparatively lower.

The upshot is that for many of those renting in such areas, the prospect of buying a property is becoming ever less likely.

The most affordable homes are primarily in Wales and in northern parts of England.

The figures underline the suspicion among economists that although ever less affordable house prices pose a serious social threat, they are not yet widespread enough to prompt a broad-based economic crisis in the UK.

The Bank has warned that, left unchecked, this could yet be a risk.

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Turkey Mine Blast: 201 Dead And Toll May Rise

At least 201 miners have been killed and hundreds are still missing after an underground explosion and fire in western Turkey.

The country's energy minister Taner Yildiz said 787 workers were in the mine at the time of the blast, which is thought to have been caused by an electrical fault.

He said 363 miners have been rescued but hundreds are still trapped in shafts and tunnels, some of which are a mile underground.

The blast in Soma, some 155 miles (250km) south of Istanbul, is one of the worst mining disasters in Turkish history.

Many of the miners were coughing and covered in dust as they were rescued

Mr Yildiz said rescue efforts are now "reaching a critical stage," with hopes fading for those still trapped.

A fire is still said to be burning inside the mine hindering rescue efforts.

High levels of carbon monoxide have reportedly forced rescue teams to halt the operation on a number of occasions.

Dozens of miners have been rescued or made their own way out

Fresh air is being pumped into the pit to help workers who may be struggling to breathe.

TV pictures showed rescued miners coughing and spluttering as they were pulled out alive, their faces coated with black dust.

Relatives waited anxiously at the entrance to the mine, cheering and applauding each successful rescue.

But, according to journalist Dorian Jones, fear has already turned to anger among the relatives of many of those lost.

Worried relatives rush to the mine complex in the town of Soma

He told Sky News previous accidents have been reported at the mine and the safety record of operator Soma Komur has been called into question.

Mr Jones said one miner had told him he felt like a "lamb to the slaughter" every time he went to work.

Miner Oktay Berrin told news agency AFP workers were not protected underground.

In a statement, the mine's owners, Soma Komur, described the explosion as a "tragic accident" which happened "despite maximum safety measures and inspections".

The explosion happened in Turkey's western Manisa province

According to Turkey's ministry of labour, the pit was last inspected on March 17 and was found to be compliant with safety regulations.

The accident happened when a power distribution unit exploded about 1.2 miles (2km) beneath the surface, according to Nurettin Akcul, head of the Turkish Mineworkers' Union.

It is thought it happened during a change of shifts, leading to confusion over the exact number of workers still inside.

The country's worst mining disaster was in 1992, when a gas explosion killed 270 workers near the Black Sea port of Zonguldak.

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has postponed a one-day visit to Albania and is heading to the scene.

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UKIP Set For Comfortable Win In Euro Elections

Cameron: UKIP Guilty Of 'Appalling Remarks'

Updated: 4:26pm UK, Friday 09 May 2014

By Anushka Asthana, Sky Political Correspondent

David Cameron has launched an aggressive attack on UKIP, questioning its "competence" and accusing its candidates and financial backers of making "truly appalling remarks".

In an exclusive interview with Sky News Political Editor Adam Boulton, the Prime Minister intensified his criticism of the Eurosceptic party.

"Look at what some of their candidates have said, and what some of their financial backers have said during this campaign," Mr Cameron said.

"Some truly appalling remarks about rape in marriage or (that) black people should go to Africa."

The PM said the individuals should be "condemned" for the comments.

He said: "It is worth making the point if you can't control your candidates and financial backers it does raise a very real issue about the competence of your party."

The comments represent a marked change in tone by the Conservative leader amid mounting pressure from UKIP, which pollsters say could top the polls at European elections in two weeks.

But the tougher rhetoric could attract criticism from within his own party, with some MPs warning it is imperative to treat UKIP, and its potential voters, with respect.

Mr Cameron has come under attack previously for comments made in 2006 in which he described Mr Farage's party as a bunch of "fruit cakes and loonies and closet racists".

The Prime Minister did not go as far today, but he did reiterate his view that UKIP members have been guilty of unacceptable comments.

He also rejected the suggestion that his position as Prime Minister would become untenable if he were to lose the Scotland referendum this autumn.

"I don't accept that ... It is the future of Scotland on the ballot paper - tragically, I don't have a vote."

Mr Cameron sought to justify his decision to give the people of Scotland a referendum this autumn, pointing out that Labour and the Lib Dems backed the decision in 2011.

He insisted it was the "sensible" and "grown up" option given that the Scots had voted for the SNP and Alex Salmond.

He said: "We live in a democracy. There are three decisions to make - do we stay together as the United Kingdom? Do we stick to the long term economic plan that we have at the next general election? And do we stay in a reformed European Union.

"I don't believe we solve these problems by ducking them. You can't hold people in a United Kingdom or EU against their will. The British people should decide."

He said British support for the EU "has worn wafer thin" because no one consulted the public over treaties such as Maastricht, Lisbon, Nice and Amsterdam.

Asked about the televised leaders' debates, the Prime Minister insisted he was "keen" and that they had been an "important" part of the last election.

But he would not commit himself to the same plan as last time in which three party leaders stood together.

Instead, he hinted that he would like to go head-to-head with Labour leader Ed Miliband.

"We've got to find a format that people are all happy with. There is a good case for saying the potential Prime Minister's should debate," he said.

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Ukraine Separatists Declare Victory In Poll

Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine have claimed victory in a contentious referendum which could see two regions break away.

Voters in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk cast ballots on Sunday on whether to declare their areas independent, but with links to Moscow.

The unofficial poll has been condemned by a host of countries, including Britain, and dismissed as a "criminal farce" by the government in Kiev.

More than three million ballot papers are said to have been distributed across the two regions, with organisers claiming to have spent just £980 on the entire ballot.

Roman Lyagin, election chief in Donetsk, said early results showed almost 90% of voters in the region were in favour of sovereignty.

Mariupol has been at the centre of eastern Ukraine violence

In Luhansk, no immediate preliminary results have yet been released.

In Mariupol, the scene of fierce fighting in recent days, there were just eight polling stations for half a million people.

As the makeshift polling stations closed on Sunday night, at least one person in the town of Krasnoarmeisk was reported to have been shot dead by Ukrainian government forces.

Reports said the troops had tried to stop people voting.

Witnesses claimed heavily armed men in balaclavas started shooting at the crowd as the tense standoff escalated.

On the edge of Slavyansk, fighting broke out around a television tower shortly before people began making their way through barricades of felled trees and tyres for the vote. One serviceman was wounded.

Slavyansk's self-proclaimed mayor Vyacheslav Ponomaryov said turnout was 80% and the result "was not in doubt".

People queued up to vote on the future of Donetsk and Luhansk

Asked if he knew what would follow, the former businessman said: "Of course we know. Work starts on the establishment ... of the Donetsk People's Republic."

Western leaders have threatened more sanctions in the key areas of energy, financial services and engineering if Moscow continues what they regard as efforts to destabilise Ukraine.

The EU may announce as early as today measures endorsing a widening of the legal criteria for imposing sanctions on Russia, with the goal of making it easier to freeze the assets of companies involved in the Ukraine crisis.

Using the new expanded criteria, EU officials have prepared a list of 14 people and two Crimean companies active in the energy sector that ministers are likely to add to the EU sanctions list today, diplomats say.

The identities of the people and firms are being kept confidential for now.

The EU has previously imposed asset freezes and visa bans on 48 Russians and Ukrainians over Moscow's annexation of Crimea but it would be the first time the bloc has targeted companies.

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