Meteor: Team Of 20,000 Sent To Ural Mountains

A 20,000-strong rescue team has reportedly been sent by the Russian authorities to the Ural Mountains after a meteor struck.

Some 1,100 people were injured after the meteor blazed across the western Siberian sky with a blinding flash and booming shockwave.

The Russian Academy of Sciences said it entered the Earth's atmosphere at 33,000mph (54,000kph) - 15 times the speed of a rifle bullet - and shattered into pieces around 18-32 miles (30-50km) high in the sky.

The meteor lit up the sky

It reportedly exploded with the force of 20 atomic bombs.

Nasa estimated its speed was even faster at 40,000mph, and said it exploded at about 12-15 miles high and left a trail 300 miles long.

The meteor weighed an estimated 7,000 tons and was about the size of a bus, Nasa said.

The meteorite was travelling at up to 40,000mph

Fragments of at least one meteorite were seen falling from the sky in the Chelyabinsk region at around 9am local time on Friday, around 930 miles (1,500km) east of Moscow.

The fall of such a large meteor estimated as weighing dozens of tonnes and the size of a double-decker bus, was extremely rare, while the number of casualties as a consequence of its burning up around a heavily-inhabited area was unprecedented.

"There was panic. People had no idea what was happening," said Sergey Hametov, of Chelyabinsk.

More than 1,000 people have been injured

Many were hurt by flying glass as windows were blown in. Witnesses described feeling a pressure wave and hearing explosions overhead as the object hurtled to Earth.

Lessons had just started at Chelyabinsk schools when the meteor exploded, and officials said 258 children were among those injured. Amateur video showed a teacher speaking to her class as a powerful shock wave hit the room.

Schools were closed for the day and theatre shows cancelled across the region after the shock wave blew out windows amid temperatures as low as minus 18 degrees Celsius (zero degrees Fahrenheit).

There was no immediate word on deaths or anyone struck by rock fragments.

Viktor was injured by a shock wave

Meteors typically cause sonic booms when they enter the atmosphere because they are travelling much faster than the speed of sound.

The defence ministry said it had identified a six-metre crater at a lake in the region and has sent soldiers to the site of the apparent impact of one fragment.

Thousands of rescue workers were dispatched to help the injured and locate those needing help.

Many drivers in Russia have video recorders fitted in their cars in case of accidents or disputes with traffic police. Footage from these uploaded to YouTube show the fireball crashing to the ground.

The meteor explosion appears to be one of the most stunning cosmic events above Russia since the 1908 Tunguska Event, when a massive blast most scientists blame on an asteroid or a comet impact ripped through Siberia.

The crash site of a piece of meteor (Pic: Chelyabinsk MVD)

"I am scratching my head to think of anything in recorded history when that number of people have been indirectly injured by an object like this... it's very, very rare to have human casualties," Robert Massey, deputy executive secretary of Britain's Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), said.

There were reports of traffic in the Urals city of Chelyabinsk grinding to a halt and people seeking shelter in buildings as the fireballs lit up the sky.                

Schools were closed for the day across the region and mobile phone networks were temporarily cut.

The meteor hit Chelyabinsk

The meteor hit hours before the asteroid 2012 DA14 made the closest recorded pass of an asteroid to the Earth, although scientists said the two events were not linked.

Resident Anna Pinkus told Sky News she saw a bright light outside her window and then heard three explosions.

"It was a very loud sound," she said. "After that our windows began to shatter and shiver so it was very terrifying. First we thought it was a plane crash."

Planetary scientist Professor Ian Crawford of Birkbeck University said this was an unusual case as meteorite hits rarely cause any damage.

"Several times a year meteorites are observed to fall on the earth's surface but damage to people or property is very unusual," he said. "There are only several recorded cases of buildings being hit by meteorites."

Describing the course of the meteorite he said: "I think it's very likely that it would have been a larger lump of rock that broke up in the Earth's atmosphere - this is usually what happens.

"The rock comes in from space and hits the Earth's atmosphere. That decelerates it and puts a lot of stress on it. Then it's likely to fragment into lots of pieces."

The office of the local governor said that a meteorite had fallen into a lake outside the town of Chebarkul in the Chelyabinsk region and television images pointed to a six-metre (20-foot) hole in the frozen lake's ice.

However it has yet to be finally confirmed if meteorite fragments made contact with the Earth and there were no reports that any locals had been hurt directly by a falling piece of meteorite.

Chelyabinsk is Russia's industrial heartland, home to many factories and other huge facilities that include a nuclear power plant and the Mayak atomic waste storage and treatment centre.

A spokesman for Rosatom, the Russian nuclear energy state corporation, said that its operations remained unaffected.

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Chancellor Calls For Global Tax Crackdown

George Osborne has renewed his call for international action to tackle so-called "profit shifting" by multinational companies.

The Chancellor revealed the next steps in his fight to reform global tax rules ahead of meeting other finance ministers at the G20 in Moscow.

Calls for an overhaul of tax laws, including the controversial transfer pricing rules that were written almost 100 years ago, will be highlighted at the G20 by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which will present its report published this week.

It comes as companies such as Google, Facebook, Amazon and Starbucks have sparked controversy after it emerged that they all pay minimal tax on large UK revenues.

The Chancellor will announce that Britain will chair a new transfer pricing group which will look at how to reform the system which allows profits to be diverted to a parent companies or to lower tax jurisdictions, via royalty and service payments.

It is one of three groups set up by the OECD to look at the tax issues which will help the group prepare a "plan of action" to be put forward to the G20 in July.

Germany and the US and France also lead the other two groups, which will include looking at how to determine tax jurisdiction, particularly in the context of e-trading.

Mr Osborne said: "Britain has cut its corporation tax rate by more than any other country in the G20 over the past two years, a message to the world that we are open for business that has seen companies return to Britain, and helping to create and secure thousands of jobs and millions in investment.

"But our commitment to the most competitive corporate tax system goes hand in hand with our call for strong international standards to make sure that global companies, like anyone else, pay the taxes they owe.

"That's why the Britain, with Germany and France, asked the OECD to scrutinise the international rules, and we will together welcome their report to the G20 this weekend. The report shows this is an international issue that requires international action.

"It shows the global economy has changed massively over the last decade, but global tax rules have stood still for almost a century, and Britain will lead the international effort to bring them into the 21st century."

In an interview with Sky News, Mr Osborne went on to dismiss newspaper reports that a pre-election RBS share giveaway was under consideration.

Scandal-hit RBS - which is 81% state-owned after a £45bn bailout in 2008 - could be ready for privatisation this year, but at present prices that would mean a huge public loss.

The Liberal Democrats have championed the idea of a share giveaway and it was reported today that Conservative ministers were also now examining the idea of handing it back to taxpayers.

Party sources told the Independent and Daily Mail that Mr Osborne saw continued ownership as politically "untenable" amid Libor-fixing and other scandals and was keen to end the state's role soon.

But the Chancellor said the idea was "premature" and not something the Treasury is currently looking at.

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Coronation Street Actor: Child Sex Charges

One of Coronation Street's longest-serving actors, Michael Le Vell, has been charged with a string of child sex offences.

Le Vell, who plays garage owner Kevin Webster in the ITV soap opera, is accused of 19 child sex offences, including child rape, and sexual activity with a child, Greater Manchester Police said.

Le Vell, 48, a father-of-two whose real name is Michael Turner, will appear in court charged with the offences on February 27.

The actor was initially arrested in connection with the offences in September 2011.

The investigation was dropped three months later when authorities said there would be no further action taken against him as there was not enough evidence against him.

However, following a review of the case by lawyers at the Crown Prosecution Service the decision has been taken that it is in the "public interest" to charge the actor.

Michael Le Vell was first questioned over the child sex allegations in 2011

Speaking after the investigation against him was dropped in 2011, Le Vell said he was "delighted" to have been "completely exonerated", thanked police for their "thorough" investigation and Coronation Street staff and the public for their support.

Le Vell vowed to put the allegations behind him and returned to the show after a short break and is now currently involved in some of the soap's main storylines.

Alison Levitt, QC, principal legal adviser to the Director of Public Prosecutions, reviewed a file of evidence in relation to allegations of sexual offences and looked again at a decision previously made not to prosecute.

Ms Levitt said: "I have very carefully reviewed the evidence in this case and I have concluded that there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to charge Michael Robert Turner with a number of sexual offences.

"I have authorised Greater Manchester Police to charge Mr Turner with 19 offences, including rape of a child."

Le Vell, who split from his wife Janette Beverley last year,  is one of television's most famous faces after playing car mechanic Kevin Webster for the past 30 years in the TV show.

Originally from Manchester, he began his acting career in the Oldham Theatre Workshop after taking an interest in amateur dramatics while at school.

He first joined the soap in 1983 and quickly endeared himself to fans who have followed the trials and tribulations of Kevin, from Brian Tilsley's apprentice mechanic through to his stormy marriage to Sally, played by Sally Dynevor, and fathering two teenage girls as well as a love child from his affair with Molly Dobbs.

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Oscar Pistorius Arrives At Court

Olympic star Oscar Pistorius has arrived at court where he is charged with the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Lawyers for the athlete, who was being held at Boshkop police station in Pretoria, are expected to apply for bail at the hearing.

However, police have said that they will oppose the application.

The body of Miss Steenkamp, a top South African model, was discovered at the athlete's property in the Silver Woods gated community in eastern Pretoria on Thursday morning.

She had been shot four times. A 9mm pistol was found at the scene.

Pistorius spent the night in custody and was subject to blood-alcohol, DNA and other tests, as forensics experts continued to work at the crime scene at his home in an upmarket gated estate.

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Israel Admits 'Prisoner X' Secret Jailing

Israel has admitted for the first time that it secretly jailed an Australian - who apparently killed himself in his prison cell.

The man, who came to be known as "Prisoner X", is believed to have been Ben Zygier, 34, a national of both Israel and Australia who allegedly worked for Israel's intelligence agency Mossad.

Prisoner X had been arrested on serious, but unspecified charges, in 2010.

Israel's justice ministry broke its silence after an Australian Broadcasting Corporation report into the case sparked an outcry over media gagging orders.

"For security reasons the man was held under a false identity although his family was immediately informed of his arrest," a statement said.

The man was found dead in his cell and a judicial inquiry ruled he took his own life, the ministry added, although it did not reveal his identity or the charges against him.

"Following an extensive investigation it was ruled six weeks ago that it was suicide," said the ministry. "The prisoner was held in jail under a warrant issued by a court."

But other details of the case remained under a gagging order, leaving local media obliged to quote foreign reports.

Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr initially said he only became aware of the man's incarceration after his death, but has now admitted the government knew of his detention at the time.

He told a parliamentary committee the information had been gathered through Australian intelligence channels.

"They provided the name of the citizen, in relation to serious offences under Israeli national security legislation," he said, adding that Canberra had sought assurances that he was not being mistreated.

The story first emerged in June 2010 when Israel's Ynet news website briefly ran a report about a prisoner being held in top secret conditions whose identity and alleged crime were not even known to his jailers.

The story was quickly taken offline and a complete media blackout imposed, but it resurfaced on Tuesday through Australia's public broadcaster.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called an urgent meeting with top editors to ask them to withhold publication of information "pertaining to an incident that is very embarrassing to a certain government agency", the Haaretz newspaper said, in a clear allusion to Mossad.

Shortly afterwards, three MPs raised questions over the issue in parliament, effectively sidestepping the censor in a move that forced a slight easing of the reporting restrictions.

While Israel has not revealed the charges, The Australian newspaper suggested he had been detained for treason.

It cited Israeli Army Radio as saying: "Why was he interned? The suspicion is because of treason against Israel."

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Zygier was being investigated by Australia's overseas espionage agency ASIS, which suspected him of using his Australian passport to spy for Israel.

The Herald said he was one of at least three dual Australian-Israeli citizens who emigrated to Israel in the past decade whose cases were probed.

It said that in each case the men used the passports to travel to Iran, Syria and Lebanon - countries that do not allow Israelis to enter.

When the newspaper confronted Zygier in early 2010, he angrily denied he worked for Mossad.

"I have never been to any of those countries that you say I have been to," he said at the time.

"I am not involved in any kind of spying."

Tensions between Australia and Israel were high in 2010 following the alleged assassination of the senior Hamas figure Mahmoud al-Mabhouh by a Mossad team at a Dubai hotel.

The team was said to have used four forged Australian passports, and Canberra expelled the Israeli Mossad station chief over the affair.

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Oscar Pistorius Held 'For Shooting Girlfriend'

Paralympic and Olympic star Oscar Pistorius has allegedly shot dead his girlfriend after mistaking her for an intruder.

A body was discovered at the athlete's home in the Silverwoods country estate in eastern Pretoria, South African police said.

Pistorius reached the 400m semi-finals at the London 2012 Olympics

A journalist in South Africa has told Sky News that Pistorius' girlfriend was allegedly shot as she woke him, trying to surprise him on Valentine's Day.

Pistorius was arrested early Thursday morning following the shooting and is expected in court later.

The 26-year-old is alleged to have shot his 30-year-old girlfriend in the head and arms.

Paramedics were called to his home between 4am and 5am local time.

Police arrived shortly afterwards and a 9mm pistol was recovered from the scene.

"The deceased was shot four times and died on the scene. It is believed that she was the girlfriend of the accused," said police spokesman Katlego Mogale.

South African journalist Kalay Maistry told Sky News: "It is alleged that he thought his girlfriend, who'd come in to try to surprise him for Valentines Day, was an intruder. It's alleged that he shot her at least twice in the arm and head.

"I think what this actually highlights is the level of fear ordinary South Africans have.

"This is a man who has gone to bed, it's an innocent surprise from a girlfriend … and the moment he thinks someone is trying to break in he grabs his gun.

"This has come as a complete surprise for a man who's considered a national hero."

The athlete know as the "Blade Runner" made history in 2012 when he became the first amputee to compete in the Olympics.

He won gold in the 4x400m relay at the Paralympic Games.

The athlete had both legs amputated below the knee before he was aged one, because of a congenital condition, and runs on carbon fibre blades.

Last year Time Magazine named him as one of the world's 100 most influential people.

Silverwoods is understood to be a high security estate with electrified walls, a guarded entrance and regular patrols.

South Africa has some of the world's highest rates of violent crime and some home-owners carry weapons to defend themselves against intruders.

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State Of The Union: Obama's Gun Control Plea

Barack Obama used his State of the Union address to make an emotional plea to lawmakers over gun control.

The President demanded that Congress listened to the voices of the victims of gun crime, many of whom sat to hear him make his speech.

Among them was Gabrielle Giffords, the former Democrat representative who was shot in the head at a mass shooting two years ago in her Arizona district.

The parents of Chicago shooting victim Hadiya Pendleton, who performed at Mr Obama's inaugural parade just days before she was gunned down, were also there.

"Just three weeks ago, she was here, in Washington, with her classmates, performing for her country at my inauguration," Mr Obama said in paying tribute to the 15-year-old.

"And a week later, she was shot and killed in a Chicago park after school, just a mile away from my house."

Hadiya Pendleton: teenager shot dead after performing at the inauguration

Mr Obama also referred to the shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in December that claimed the lives of 20 young schoolchildren and six adults.

He said: "It has been two months since Newtown. I know this is not the first time this country has debated how to reduce gun violence. But this time is different."

Imploring Congress to tighten the country's gun laws, Mr Obama said: "Hadiya's parents, Nate and Cleo, are in this chamber tonight, along with more than two dozen Americans whose lives have been torn apart by gun violence. They deserve a vote.

"Gabby Giffords deserves a vote. The families of Newtown deserve a vote," he said, before turning to a list of other communities devastated in recent mass shootings.

"The families of Aurora deserve a vote," he said, to applause. "The families of Oak Creek, and Tucson, and Blacksburg, and the countless other communities ripped open by gun violence - they deserve a simple vote."

The President also vowed that the war in Afghanistan would end by late 2014 and that another 34,000 American troops would be returning over the next year.

"This drawdown will continue. And by the end of next year, our war in Afghanistan will be over," Mr Obama said in his annual address.

Michelle Obama arrives to hear her husband give his address

He said that al Qaeda was a "shadow of its former self" and no longer posed the kind of threat that needed tens of thousands of US troops to fight abroad.

However, he said that al Qaeda affiliates had appeared elsewhere in the world including Yemen and Somalia and said that in future the US would help those countries to provide their own security to fight terrorism.

Mr Obama also said he would take "firm action" against the "provocations" of North Korea, after the state carried out its third nuclear test.

He said: "The regime in North Korea must know that they will only achieve security and prosperity by meeting their international obligations.

"Provocations of the sort we saw last night will only isolate them further, as we stand by our allies, strengthen our own missile defence and lead the world in taking firm action in response to these threats."

Mr Obama promised to spark economic growth and create jobs.

He told Congress: "A growing economy that creates good, middle-class jobs, that must be the North Star that guides our efforts.

"It is our generation's task, then, to re-ignite the true engine of America's economic growth - a rising, thriving middle class."

He warned against dramatic budget cuts saying that they would cost jobs and threaten the military.

The President greets workers dealing with the aftermath of superstorm Sandy

He said: "That's why Democrats, Republicans, business leaders, and economists have already said that these cuts, known here in Washington as 'the sequester', are a really bad idea."

The President said that the United States and Europe would begin talks on what would be the world's largest free trade zone.

He said: "Tonight, I am announcing that we will launch talks on a comprehensive Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the European Union - because trade that is free and fair across the Atlantic supports millions of good-paying American jobs."

The move answered mounting calls from Europe to pursue a grand trade pact to spur growth on both sides of the Atlantic.

Mr Obama also warned Congress that if they didn't act on climate change, that he would.

He tackled climate sceptics in the rival Republican Party by noting that 12 of the world's hottest years on record took place in the past 15 years.

Mr Obama told them: "We can choose to believe that Superstorm Sandy, and the most severe drought in decades, and the worst wildfires some states have ever seen were all just a freak coincidence.

"Or we can choose to believe in the overwhelming judgement of science, and act before it's too late."

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