'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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Manchester Is 'The Winner Of Immigration'

By Nick Martin, Sky News Correspondent

Britain's cultural make-up can only benefit from immigration, according to academics who say history proves that migration is good for the country.

Language, the arts, fashion, architecture and food are just some of the areas that have been influenced by the scores of nationalities which have arrived in Britain in the last century, according to Dr James Hopkins from Manchester University.

In Manchester, where more than 200 languages are spoken, the cultural fabric of the city is changing constantly.

"We are the winners from immigration, there's no doubt about that," said Dr Hopkins.

"Immigration has built cities like Manchester and migrants have brought skills but much, much more.

"They have brought the foods they love and the types of clothes they wear and they have influenced what we all chose to do in our own lives."

Manchester's Chinatown

There is also evidence that the recent influx of migrants from eastern European nations like Poland and Slovakia is already changing musical tastes.

Matt Ward of Piccadilly Records said: "People are meeting new people all the time and to understand more about where they are from they are turning to the music of that country. This is bringing people together in the more amazing way."

But it is perhaps tastes in food, which have been shaped by traditions and ingredients commonly used overseas, that have changed the most.

The Barbakan Delicatessen

In the Barbakan Delicatessen, founded more than 40 years ago and now one of Britain's oldest delis, they sell 45 different types of bread and attract all types of nationalities.

Owner Stefan Najuch said: "The Poles aren't just eating polish food, the Italians aren't just eating in Italian restaurants - they're all eating across the board.

"This is all because of immigration, it's great and it's great for business."

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