Exclusive: Ukraine Firefight Caught On Video

Eurozone Agrees To Extend Greek Bailout

Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 21 Februari 2015 | 18.25

Eurozone finance ministers have agreed to extend Greece's rescue loans - although not by as long as the government wanted.

The deal, which will enable Athens to continue paying its bills, was reached at talks in Brussels which were delayed for four hours as ministers worked on a draft accord.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the eurozone's top official and the Dutch finance minister, said Athens had asked for a six-month extension but this was rejected.

"Four months is the appropriate delay in terms of financing and future challenges," he said.

The agreement was clinched just a week before Greece's €240bn (£178bn) bailout expires, leaving just enough time for some member country parliaments to endorse it.

As part of the deal Greece must provide a list of economic and other reforms based on the current bailout programme by Monday.

This will be reviewed on Tuesday by the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission.

If the three institutions do not believe the proposals go far enough, the list will be revised with a view to it being agreed by the end of April.

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said the deal would mark a new era for Athens and its relations with the European Union.

"Today was a pivotal moment because Greece for five years now has been lonely, isolated in the Eurogroup. Today that isolation has broken," Mr Varoufakis said.

He said Greece had not used any threats or bluff to get the agreement and added it was a small step in a new direction for the country.

Markets reacted positively to the deal, with the Dow and S&P 500 surging to fresh records on Wall Street.

Mr Dijsselbloem said it was a "first step in this process of rebuilding trust" between Greece and its euro partners and allows for a strategy to get the country "back on track."

"Trust leaves quicker than it comes," he said.

Mr Dijsselbloem worked flat out on Friday to secure an agreement as Germany insisted Greece stick with the austerity commitments included in its bailout programme.

The fraught discussions focused on a new package of concessions beyond those contained in the formal request for a loan extension submitted on Thursday.

Greece has ruled out another bailout like the existing one, saying the people who swept the anti-austerity Syriza party to power last month would not tolerate it.

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Gallery: Art War On The Streets Of Athens

Athens has become a Mecca for street artists as anger grows over the impact of Greece's bailout deal with Europe

Wall paintings have sprung up all over the city reflecting the general frustration at rising unemployment and falling living standards

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18.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Police Hunt Fans Over Racist Station Chants

A gang of men, believed to be Chelsea fans, are being hunted by police after being heard shouting racist chants at St Pancras station.

The men were returning from Paris by train on Wednesday, the day after the club played Paris St Germain in the French capital.

The incident happened at the central London station at around 8pm, and was reported by a member of the public who was "disgusted" by their behaviour, the British Transport Police (BTP) said.

It comes after police released images of three men - believed to be Chelsea fans - who they want to speak to in connection with a separate incident on the Paris Metro on Tuesday.

A group of fans were captured on video stopping a black man boarding a train and chanting: "We're racist, we're racist, and that's the way we like it."

Speaking about the incident at St Pancras station, Superintendent Gill Murray of the BTP said: "The men shouted as they walked through the station having alighted from the train a short time earlier.

"If you travelled on the train from Paris or were at the station and have information which can assist our investigation I would urge you to get in touch as a matter of urgency."

Supt Murray continued: "It's clear that unfortunately there is still a minority who think it is acceptable to behave in such an abhorrent manner.

"There is more that needs to be done to publicly condemn this type of behaviour and British Transport Police is actively working with football clubs, the football authorities and other key agencies to tackle this appalling behaviour."

The club has suspended five people from Stamford Bridge, the club's stadium, while it investigates the incident on the Paris Metro.

Chelsea said it has received "substantial information" following an appeal for witnesses and an investigation was ongoing.

The club has reiterated its vow to ban for life anyone proved to have been involved, and is helping police in the UK and France.

Manager Jose Mourinho has said the club is "ashamed" of the supporters, and said he would welcome the victim - Sylla Souleymane - to a future home game.

Paris-born Mr Souleymane, 33, has said he thinks the fans who abused him should be jailed.

18.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Authorities Face Questions Over Missing UK Teens

Three schoolgirls feared to have fled to Syria to join Islamic State were interviewed by police just two months ago, it has been revealed.

The Metropolitan Police said Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16 and a third 15-year-old girl, who has not been named, were questioned in December as part of a "routine inquiry" after one of their classmates, also 15, travelled to the warzone.

According to The Times none of the three were subsequently monitored by counterterrorism police.

It was only when their families raised the alarm that authorities discovered the girls had fled the country, the paper has claimed.

However police said they found "nothing to suggest" the girls were likely to flee.

"There was nothing to suggest at the time that the girls themselves were at risk and indeed their disappearance has come as a great surprise, not least to their own families," the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

The girls were last seen on Tuesday morning as they left their homes in East London, telling their families they would be out for the day.

Instead they met and travelled to Gatwick airport before boarding a Turkish Airlines flight, which landed at Istanbul that evening.

Sky News has uncovered a tweet sent from Shamima Begum's Twitter account two days earlier, asking a friend already in Syria to follow her so they can start messaging privately.

The friend is understood to be a former private school pupil from Glasgow who travelled to Syria to marry a fighter.

Turkish Airlines reportedly did not notify authorities that the girls had boarded the flight to Turkey - a known stop for would-be jihadists travelling to Syria.

Questions have now been raised over how the girls - who attended the Bethnal Green Academy school and were described as "straight-A students" - were able to leave the UK so easily.

Former Metropolitan Police border control officer Chris Hobbs told Sky News that checks for people departing from UK airports made it a "walk in the park for jihadis and girls like this" to leave.

"At the moment you go through security, you get on the plane, you might be checked by a private security guard," he said.

"Unless you're very unlucky you won't pass under the eyes of anyone from UK law enforcement.

"If you're on a watch list then you will ping the system. If you're not on the radar then the odds are you will get on the plane without too many problems."

The number of Westerners who have travelled to Iraq and Syria to join IS is thought to be about 3,000, including as many as 550 women, according to the London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue.

On Friday the head of the Metropolitan Police's counter terror command, Richard Walton, said there was a "good chance" the girls were still in Turkey, but that he was "extremely concerned" for their safety.

"We are concerned about the numbers of girls and young women who have or are intending to travel to the part of Syria that is controlled by the terrorist group calling themselves Islamic State," Mr Walton said.

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Gallery: Schoolgirls May Have Gone To Syria

Scotland Yard are trying to trace three teenage girls from the same East London school who are believed to have run off to Syria

CCTV captured images of the girls at Gatwick Airport

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18.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Tough Talks On Greek Debt As D-Day Looms

Written By Unknown on Jumat, 20 Februari 2015 | 18.25

These could well prove the most important few days in the euro's existence.

In the corridors and meeting rooms of the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels, Greece and its euro counterparts have been charged with discussing how to keep the struggling nation in the single currency.

Their chances of success seem to be flagging.

Quite how we got here is a complicated story - it involves political and economic mistakes, financial jiggery-pokery, many decades of historical animosity and some big personality clashes.

Let's leave that aside for a moment and recall where we stand today.

Briefly: Greece is in dire need of money. The state has a series of debts to repay in March, some to the International Monetary Fund, some to the European Central Bank.

It can't easily raise cash in the open markets (would you really want to lend to Athens right now?) so it will have to find that money elsewhere.

That means borrowing it from its eurozone colleagues. Greece is of course still receiving bailout support from the so-called Troika lenders (the European Commission, ECB and IMF), so the most straightforward thing would be to extend the existing bailout and withdraw some extra cash from it (there's about €7bn of it left, which would be very helpful right now).

However, extending the bailout would also mean extending the conditions attached to it - austerity, privatisations, labour market and pension reforms.

Syriza, the party which leads the new Greek government, adamantly set itself against that in its election campaign. It also said it would refuse to co-operate with the Troika in future.

That leaves it in a sticky place. Its finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, has spent most of the past few weeks attempting to persuade his European counterparts to lend Greece some cash, but to do it as a "bridging loan" rather than as an extension of the "current programme".

That might seem like a mere terminological distinction - and in one sense it is. But underlying the terminology are real differences.

Signing up to the "current programme" again would mean obeying those hated conditions. A "bridging loan" of some sort, on the other hand, could have some discrete conditions of its own. Though some of these might be uncomfortable, they would at least be of Greece's new government's own making.

The problem is that Greece's creditors are reluctant to let the country off all those conditions they set when lending them money.

For one thing, Greece has already been forgiven a chunk of its debts in 2012; the interest rates and maturities of its debts have been stretched out way into the future, making them cheaper to service.

For another, those conditions were not merely there as punishment - they were there to make the economy more healthy in the future.

Raising retirement ages, removing archaic protections on employees, privatising nationalised industries - those are precisely the kinds of Thatcherite reforms many other countries had to go through long ago, and are reaping the rewards of today.

Then there's the politics: German voters are becoming increasingly disenchanted with the idea of funding a poor creditor elsewhere whose own people seem to hate them.

The Spanish government is desperate that Syriza doesn't succeed, for fear of encouraging its people to vote for their own upstart leftist anti-austerity rival party, Podemos. The Irish would be furious if a country was given special treatment they were denied.

These countervailing forces mean getting an agreement, either today or this weekend or in the coming months, will be very difficult. And, as if things couldn't already be more difficult, the process has also been waylaid by some personal histrionics.

The Greek negotiators have been unpredictable in the extreme - openly leaking bundles of documents, flagrantly disregarding the long-established rules of negotiations and publicly criticising their counterparts.

"These people are crazy," said one eurocrat when the talks broke down the last time, on Monday night. "They're totally crazy."

One can only assume yet more craziness to come in the next hours and days. The latest developments, on Thursday, included a letter from the Greek authorities which seemed to offer massive compromises on its position - including an extension of the bailout in some guise, and Troika supervision.

That was then dismissed abruptly by the Germans, who derided it as a "Trojan horse" gambit.

All of which threatens to make today's negotiations particularly awkward.

Meanwhile, hanging over all of this is the question of whether Greece will have money to pay its bills next month, whether it defaults, and, ultimately, whether it can stay in the euro.

18.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

UK Warning As Germany Rejects Greek Loan Plan

The continuing stand-off between the eurozone and Greece over its debt could lead to a "full blown crisis", George Osborne has warned.

The Chancellor made his comments as eurozone finance ministers prepare for crunch talks later on whether to extend the EU loan programme to Greece.

Athens wants more cash for an extra six months but without strict austerity conditions attached.

Mr Osborne said: "What you see now in this stand-off between the eurozone and Greece is the risk of a full blown crisis which would do real damage to the European economy - and is a risk to Britain.

"We need the eurozone to find a common solution and here at home we need to go on working through our economic plan which has kept us safe".

Greece says the EU has "just two choices" when it comes to Athens' request - accept it or reject it.

But Germany has already rejected it, saying it was "no substantial proposal for a solution" and "does not meet the criteria".

A separate German representative was quoted as saying the Greek offer "rather represents a Trojan horse, intending to get bridge financing and in substance putting an end to the current programme".

Portugal, which like Greece took a bailout from its eurozone partners and the International Monetary Fund, was the latest nation to back the German position early on Friday ahead of the emergency meeting in Brussels.

The country's new anti-austerity government is seeking a compromise to break the deadlock with European creditors, especially the euro's paymaster, Germany, as it runs the risk of running out of cash and defaulting on its debts without agreement.

It has ruled out the prospect of any deal under the terms of its previous rescue because of its mandate from the Greek people who swept the anti-austerity Syriza party to power last month.

The details of the Greek request were not made public but the letter pledged to honour all Greek debts and not take unilateral action that would undermine agreed fiscal targets.

The government of Alexis Tsipras blames the conditions attached to its bailout of hampering the country's recovery and leading to a deterioration of living standards.

Unemployment remains at more than 25%.

On Monday, the government rejected a plan to extend its current €240bn (£178bn) bailout deal, describing it as absurd.

Eurozone finance ministers had given Greece until Friday to request an extension of its current austerity and reform programme.

18.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Music Teacher Jailed for Sex Attacks On Girls

By Martin Brunt, Crime Correspondent

A top musician and conductor has been jailed for 11 years for sex assaults on his teenage students.

Philip Pickett used soundproofed music practice rooms to rape and indecently assault pupils who idolised him.

When one victim's parents complained to the prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama, its principal took months to reply, took no action and suggested the girl take lessons elsewhere.

Pickett was allowed to continue his celebrated career as a leading authority on baroque music, touring abroad and playing concerts with some of the world's top performers.

He became a musical director at London's Globe theatre on the South Bank and founded the New London Consort ensemble.

The 64-year-old was finally arrested when one victim reported him to police two years ago in the wake of publicity around the Jimmy Savile scandal.

He denied a string of charges from the 1970s and '80s involving sex attacks against young female students.

Pickett, one of the world's leading woodwind instrumentalists, was convicted of two rapes and two indecent assaults on three pupils. He was cleared of six alleged attacks on four others.

Judge Charles Wide described his crimes as "terrible".

"You were their teacher," he said.

"To a degree they were in awe of you, especially the schoolgirls.

"There is the location of the offences, the practice rooms of the Guildhall School of Music, soundproofed and dark. Even if they had shouted they could not have been heard."

One victim, who was 16 at the time, told the Old Bailey jury that during a music lesson in 1978 he demanded she take off her top "to work on your breathing" and then molested her. At her next lesson he raped her.

She did not report him at the time, but told her mother she did not want any more lessons.

In 1984, another victim told her parents of an assault and they wrote to the school asking for an explanation.

But the then principal John Hosier took months to reply and eventually told them he had received no other complaints, advising their daughter to find lessons at another school.

Mr Hosier, who is now dead, wrote to Pickett saying he was frustrated that the tutor had not contacted him to discuss the allegation, according to documents discovered by the City of London police.

Det Supt Maria Woodall said: "Phillip Pickett used his position of authority as an accomplished professor to abuse young talented women who were vulnerable due to their age and the fact they were pupils of his.

"He knew how difficult it would be for them to report his crimes to the school or to the police.

"His access to young women over such a period of time means there could be more victims who have yet to come forward.

"I would urge these people to contact the City of London Police."

Among former students of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama are Beatles producer Sir George Martin, the flautist Sir James Galway and the opera singer Bryn Terfel.

The school said in a statement: "Although these events took place several decades ago, this does not diminish our utter shock that a professional music teacher could abuse the trust placed in him by the school and its students.

"The Guildhall School wholeheartedly welcomes the verdicts. Justice has been done and our thoughts are with the victims of these dreadful crimes.

"The Guildhall School takes the duty of care of its students extremely seriously. Robust safeguarding procedures are in place at the school to ensure safe learning environments for all students and these measures are regularly reviewed."

Pickett lived with his wife in the pretty Cotswold village of Lyneham near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire.

He tried to delay his sentence so he could attend music festivals abroad.

He was jailed last week, but a reporting ban was imposed until today when the Crown Prosecution Service decided to drop more charges against him.

18.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Victim Says 'Lock Up' Racist Chelsea Fans

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 19 Februari 2015 | 18.25

The man caught on video being abused by Chelsea fans on the Paris Metro says he thinks they should be jailed for their actions.

The 33-year-old, who is only identified as Souleymane S, told Le Parisien newspaper it was not the first time he had been a victim of racism.

The French-Mauritanian was filmed being pushed back as he tried to board a train on the French capital's underground system by a group of Chelsea fans.

Having prevented him from boarding, the men began singing: "We're racist, we're racist, and that's the way we like it."

Chelsea Football Club, whose fans were in France to watch their team play Paris St Germain, condemned the behaviour and said it will support criminal action against them.

Le Parisien said Souleymane did not know he was at the centre of an international scandal until it alerted him to the video.

He told the paper: "I did not know I had been filmed. The fact that I am now talking about it will give me the courage to complain to the police.

"These people, these English fans, must be found, punished and must be locked up. What happened should not go unpunished."

The married father-of-three, who was born in Paris but grew up in the town of Val d'Oise, told the newspaper the whole incident lasted about six or seven minutes.

He said: "I wanted to get into the carriage but a group of English fans blocked me and pushed me away.

"I tried to force my way in several times. In the scramble, I lost my phone.

"They told me things in English but I did not really understand the meaning of their words. I do not speak a word of English.

"I understood that it was Chelsea fans and I made the connection with the PSG match, which took place the same evening.

"I understand also that they were attacking me because of the colour of my skin.

"You know, I live with racism. I was not really surprised by what happened to me even though it was the first time it had happened on the subway."

He said one of the people on the platform told him he was brave to stand up to such people.

At one point, staff from the train company tried to intervene to prevent any fighting, but he said they were more concerned with making sure the trains ran on time.

"No other passengers defended me, but anyway, what could they do?" he added.

"I took the next metro and went back home without telling anyone, not even my wife or kids. What would I have told my kids? That daddy was pushed in the Metro because he's black?"

Police in France said no arrests were made in relation to the match, which ended in a 1-1 draw.

Since the video appeared on websites on Wednesday, the behaviour of the fans has been widely condemned across the French and English media, and by FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

The Metropolitan Police in London have appealed for anyone with information about the incident to come forward.

18.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Exclusive: Ukraine Firefight Caught On Video

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Sky News has obtained exclusive video of a prolonged gun battle between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian government troops close to the besieged eastern town of Debaltseve.

It was shot by a television crew who were with rebel forces and interviewing a prisoner of war when the sound of heavy gunfire erupts nearby.

The rebels are then filmed using assault rifles to shoot through windows before some open fire outside.

At least one fighter attacks the pro-Kiev forces with rocket propelled grenades.

The footage emerged as hundreds of Ukrainian troops pulled out from Debaltseve following battles with pro-Russian forces.

Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko has said his soldiers had left in a "planned and organised withdrawal" from the strategically important area.

A Russian TV station showed separatists hoisting their flag over a building as they seized the railway hub in defiance of a ceasefire brokered by France and Germany.

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Gallery: Ukraine Troops Leave Debaltseve

Pro-Russian separatists take position near the eastern Ukrainian city of Uglegorsk, 6 kms southwest of Debaltseve

Pro-Russian rebels stationed in the eastern Ukrainian city of Gorlivka, Donetsk region, launch missiles from Grad launch vehicles

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Pro-Russian separatists patrol a street in the eastern Ukrainian city of Makeyevka

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Ukrainian troops pulled out of the besieged flashpoint eastern town Debaltseve after it was stormed by pro-Russian rebels in what the EU said was a "clear violation" of an internationally-backed truce

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President Petro Poroshenko said 80% of units had left the town, in order to comply with the current ceasefire

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Some 2,000 pro-government forces have been fighting there but Mr Poroshenko denied claims the troops were encircled, and said they were leaving with weapons and ammunition.

However, some troops were believed to be trapped in the town, which links the two rebel-controlled regions in the east of Ukraine, Donetsk and Luhansk.

Sky's Stuart Ramsay spoke to a Ukrainian commander who said there were still pro-Kiev troops inside but they had put down their weapons.

At least 22 Ukrainian troops have been killed and over 150 were wounded in the fighting in recent days.

A rebel military spokesman, Eduard Basurin, reportedly told Russian television that more than 300 Ukrainian soldiers had surrendered.

Kiev has admitted that soldiers have been taken prisoner, but has not said how many.

Journalists reported seeing dozens of tanks and vehicles carrying haggard soldiers leaving for the nearby town of Artemivsk.

One soldier spoke of heavy government losses, while another said they had not been able to get food or water because of the intense rebel shelling.

President Poroshenko went to the front line at Artemivsk to meet soldiers after he ordered the Debaltseve withdrawal.

Praising Ukrainian forces for "really socking it" to the separatists, he said he was going there "for the great honour of shaking hands with our heroes".

The 10-month conflict has left more than 5,000 people dead, and Ukraine accuses Russia of supporting and arming the rebels, a claim Moscow denies.

On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Ukraine to admit defeat in Debaltseve, saying "the only choice" of the troops was to "leave behind weaponry, lay down arms and surrender."

Separatists have reportedly started to withdraw heavy weapons from areas they control in eastern Ukraine where the ceasefire was holding.

The rebels say the agreement negotiated by Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France last week does not apply to Debaltseve.

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Written By Unknown on Rabu, 18 Februari 2015 | 18.25

Prosecutors in Switzerland have launched an investigation into allegations of money laundering at HSBC's Swiss private banking arm.

It follows a report that the bank turned a blind eye to illegal activities of arms dealers and traders in blood diamonds while helping rich people evade taxes.

Geneva's prosecutors said that the premises of HSBC Private Bank (Switzerland) in the city were being searched.

A statement said: "Following the recent revelations related to the HSBC Private Bank (Switzerland), the public prosecutor announces the opening of a criminal procedure against the bank ... for aggravated money laundering."

The prosecutors said that although the probe was against the bank itself, the direction it would take may be widened to include individuals "suspected of committing or participating in acts of money laundering".

The announcement came just over a week after HSBC Switzerland found itself at the centre of a global scandal following the publication of secret documents.

The cache of files, made public in a French newspaper, claimed HSBC's Swiss private banking arm helped clients in more than 200 countries evade taxes on accounts containing £77bn ($119bn).

The files, which include the details of 30,000 accounts and the names of celebrities, were originally stolen by former HSBC IT worker Herve Falciani in 2007.

The documents were passed to the authorities in France and on to the HMRC which says it has subsequently clawed back £135m from some of the 3,600 Britons identified as potentially avoiding tax.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which analysed the list for the Le Monde newspaper, said accounts were held by arms dealers, dictators' associates, diamond smugglers and other "outlaws".

According to the files, the bank's clients included former and current politicians from Britain, Russia, India and a number of African countries.

Those named in the files include people sanctioned by the US, such as Turkish businessman Selim Alguadis and Gennady Timchenko, an associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin who was the subject of sanctions over the Ukraine crisis.

A statement from HSBC said: "We have co-operated continuously with the Swiss authorities since first becoming aware of the data theft in 2008 and we continue to co-operate."

Last week, the CEO of HSBC's Swiss private bank Franco Morra said it had shut down accounts from clients who "did not meet our high standards" and that the revelations about "historical business practices" were a reminder that the old model of Swiss private banking was no longer acceptable.

18.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Energy: Big Six Profit From Switching Failure

A competition inquiry into the energy market has found suppliers routinely charging loyal customers up to £234 more per year.

The Competition and Markets Authority's (CMA) update on its continuing probe into the sector also contained criticism of the energy regulator's powers - as reported by Sky News on Tuesday evening - saying excessive regulation at Ofgem may be creating barriers to new market entrants.

The key finding in the CMA's updated Issues Statement for consumers concerned the power of switching supplier, with the regulator declaring that long-term customers - many deemed vulnerable - were paying a higher price for failing to move between energy companies.

It said 95% of dual fuel customers of the so-called big six suppliers could have saved an average of between £158 and £234 a year by switching.

It found British Gas, SSE, Scottish Power, E.ON, npower and EDF, earned 12% more from a customer on a standard - instead of fixed - dual fuel tariff.

The report stated: "The evidence that we have seen to date also suggests that the gross margins that the six large energy firms earn are higher for customers on the SVT (Standard Variable Tariff) than for those on non-standard tariffs over the last three years."

While the Issues Statement does not contain any formal conclusions by the CMA, the ongoing designation of industry regulation as a key focus will embarrass Ofgem at a time when its leadership is under intense political pressure.

Labour has vowed to freeze prices for 20 months if it wins the General Election in May, a pledge which sparked fury among big six suppliers.

They recently cut standard gas tariffs by up to 5.1% in response to a 30% dip in wholesale prices but argue raw energy makes up less than 50% of a bill and they have to pay up to three years up front for their supplies.

They point to the growing cost of green levies and network costs.

Crucially for the big six suppliers, the CMA found that their average profit margin across gas and electricity was 3.3%, with gas being the more profitable of the two.

But the report questions whether the market is working for consumers as almost half of households have been with the same supplier for more than 10 years.

This week, the Government launched a campaign with the slogan "Power To Switch", which is designed to encourage consumers to shop around to find cheaper energy deals.

Provisional findings of the CMA's inquiry will be published in May.

It is expected to stop short of recommending that the big six firms split their generation and supply arms - as some critics have demanded - to give greater clarity on profits.

Energy UK, the industry body which speaks for suppliers, said: "The energy industry continues to support the work of the Competition and Markets Authority and has already introduced a range of voluntary measures, moving towards greater openness and transparency.

"Today is the next stage in the process with conclusions expected later this year.

The industry will review today's releases over the coming weeks with a view to engaging further with the investigation. Individual members will be able to contribute to the debate as the rest of the investigation progresses."

18.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ukrainian Troops Withdraw From Key Town

Ukrainian troops have withdrawn from the town of Debaltseve following fierce fighting with pro-Russian rebels, the country's president has said.

Petro Poroshenko said: "This morning the Ukrainian armed forces together with the National Guard completed an operation for a planned and organised withdrawal from Debaltseve.

"As of now we can say that 80 percent of our units have left."

Hundreds, if not thousands, of Ukrainian troops were believed to be trapped in the strategically important town, which links the two rebel-controlled regions in the east of Ukraine, Donetsk and Luhansk.

A pro-Russian rebel official cited by the separatist press service DAN earlier said hundreds of government troops were surrendering to separatist forces there.

But Mr Poroshenko denied claims the pro-government forces were encircled, and said the troops were leaving with weapons and ammunition.

The Ukrainian leader said another two columns were expected to leave Debaltseve, and added he was heading to the front line to meet soldiers who have already left.

"These actions have confounded Russia, which only yesterday demanded that Ukrainian soldiers lay down their arms, raise the white flag and surrender," he said.

"Despite the fierce artillery bombardments, so far we have information that out of 2,000 Ukrainian troops we have 30 injured."

Praising Ukrainian forces for "really socking it" to the separatists, Mr Poroshenko said he was going to the front "for the great honour of shaking hands with our heroes."

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Gallery: Debaltseve Has Become Centre Of Ukraine Conflict

Ukrainian armed forces take up positions near the eastern town of Debaltseve.

A ceasefire came into effect on Sunday, but fighting has continued in Debaltseve, where pro-Russian rebels claim to have surrounded thousands of Ukrainian fighters.

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18.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ukraine: Fierce Battle As Deadline Passes

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 17 Februari 2015 | 18.25

Five Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and 14 wounded in clashes with Russian-backed rebels near the eastern town of Debaltseve.

The fighting is the latest apparent breach of a fragile ceasefire under which both sides were supposed to pull heavy artillery back from the front line today.

Fighting has erupted on the streets inside the town, which until now had been the scene of artillery exchanges between government troops inside and heavily-armed rebels encircling it.

But government and rebel leaders indicated they would withdraw only after the other side does so.

"As soon as the militants cease fire, the Ukrainian side will begin to withdraw heavy weaponry from the frontline," said government military spokesman Anatoliy Stelmakh, who claimed his troops were pounded by the rebels overnight.

Rebel leader Andrei Purgin said the separatists were prepared to discuss withdrawing with the international group monitoring the ceasefire, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Reporting from Ukraine, Sky's Stuart Ramsay said: "Usually these ceasefires completely fall apart within three or four days because the sides are near one another and small arms are involved.

"The OSCE monitors have been trying to get into Debaltseve but so far they've been refused entry by the pro-Russia separatists.

"The rebel leadership have been talking about what they see as a moral responsibility to continue fighting to get to Debaltseve because they say it's inside their territory and not part of the ceasefire plan.

"They want that town because they've been focusing on it and believe they'll be able to get it soon."

The leaders of Ukraine, Russia and Germany discussed the cease-fire in a phone call late last night.

During the call German chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to use his influence on the separatists to ensure that they stop fighting.

18.25 | 0 komentar | Read More

PM: Young Unemployed Will Work For Benefits

Young people out of work or not in education or training for six months will need to do unpaid work to claim benefits under welfare reforms drawn up by the Conservative Party.

The reforms mean people aged between 18 and 21 will have to do 30 hours of community work each week and 10 hours of job-hunting to qualify for benefits.

The work will begin from day one of their claim. It could involve preparing meals for elderly people or working at charities.

Prime Minister David Cameron said the reforms sought to end long-term youth unemployment and help youngsters understand that "welfare is not a one-way street".

The scheme - called the Community Work Programme - extends already-announced Conservative plans to abolish Jobseeker's Allowance, replacing it with a Youth Allowance.

Claimants will be required to undertake an apprenticeship or community work from day one of signing on if they have been out of employment, education or training for six months prior to claiming benefits.

Mr Cameron announced the scheme during a speech in Hove.

He said: "Our welfare reforms are a key part of our long-term economic plan.

"They are not just about saving money. They are about changing lives and making this a country that rewards work and gives everyone the chance of a better future.

"That is why we are taking further steps to help young people make something of their lives. Our goal in the next parliament is effectively to abolish long-term youth unemployment.

"We want to get rid of that well-worn path from the school gate, down to the jobcentre, and on to a life on benefits."

"For those 18 to 21-year-olds who have not been in employment, training or education for six months before they sign on, we are going to take intensive action.

"What these young people need is work experience and the order and discipline of turning up for work each day.

"So a Conservative government would require them to do daily community work from the very start of their claim, as well as searching for work."

A Liberal Democrat spokesman said: "These placements are not designed to help someone into work, more to punish. Just like the Tory plans to axe housing benefit for young people, it's all stick and no carrot.

"Young people should be given help and support into the workplace, help at job centres and the opportunity to get on in life, not just written off as feckless and lazy."

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Two Men Held Over Fatal Tipper Truck Crash

The driver of a tipper truck which struck and killed four people has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.

Philip Potter, 19, from Brinkworth in Wiltshire, was moving sand and gravel in Bath on 9 February when the truck hit and killed Mitzi Rosanna Steady, 4.

Her grandmother was also hit and remains in critical condition in hospital.

The 32-tonne truck allegedly went on to hit a number of other vehicles before overturning on to a Volvo at the bottom of a hill, killing the three men inside.

They were Robert Parker, 59, from Cwmbran, electricity company director and father of two Philip Allen, 52, and recently-married taxi driver Stephen Vaughan, 34, both from Swansea.

Avon and Somerset Police confirmed they had arrested Mr Potter, who is also being held on suspicion of manslaughter by gross negligence for the same incident, and a 28-year-old man.

The 28-year-old was arrested on suspicion of causing manslaughter by gross negligence.

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Egypt Bombs Libya Targets After Beheadings

Written By Unknown on Senin, 16 Februari 2015 | 18.25

Egypt's military says it has bombed targets in Libya, a day after a video purporting to show the beheading of 21 Egyptians was released by Islamic State-inspired combatants.

The attack, in which Libya's air force also took part, focused on camps, training sites and weapons storage areas across the border between the two countries.

A Libyan air force commander told Egyptian state television that 40-50 militants were killed.

Saqer al Joroushi said the strikes by war planes loyal to the official government had been coordinated with Egypt and more would follow.

He said Egyptian and Libyan planes had combined to hit targets in the eastern town of Derna. Libyan planes then attacked the central cities of Sirte and Ben Jawad, he added.

A spokesman for Egypt's Armed Forces General Command said the strikes were "to avenge the bloodshed and to seek retribution from the killers".

"Let those far and near know that Egyptians have a shield that protects them," the statement added.

The strikes come after video emerged showing 21 handcuffed hostages dressed in orange jumpsuits being murdered by militants identified as being from the Tripoli Province of Islamic State.

In the latest issue of the IS online magazine Dabiq, the group had said the same number of Egyptian hostages were being held in Libya.

Security officials say the militants in Libya have established ties with Sinai Province, a group that operates from Egypt's Sinai Province and has pledged allegiance to IS.

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron described the killings as "a cruel and barbaric act", adding: "We will not waver in our fight against terrorists and extremism."

White House spokesman Josh Earnest described the act as "despicable and cowardly".

In the aftermath, Egypt's president, Abdel Fattah al Sisi, threatened to carry out a "suitable" punishment.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said on Monday that "tough intervention" against the militants in Libya is needed or they would threaten world peace.

French President Francois Hollande and Mr al Sisi have urged the UN Security Council to meet and consider new measures to tackle the militants.

In January, the fighters in Libya claimed they had abducted 21 Egyptian Christians.

Egypt's foreign ministry confirmed at the time that 20 Egyptians had been kidnapped in two separate incidents.

Relatives of those kidnapped gathered in Cairo in recent days to call for the hostages to be released.

Egypt's Copts are the largest Christian community in the Middle East and are estimated to account for around 15% of the country's population.

Thousands of Egyptians have headed to Libya to work since the Egyptian uprising in 2011, despite government advice to stay away.

The killings raise the possibility that IS has established a direct affiliate less than 500 miles (800km) from the southern tip of Italy.

One of the fighters in the video makes an apparent reference to this, saying the group now plans to "conquer Rome".

IS already controls around a third of Iraq and Syria in a self-declared caliphate.

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Why Are Egypt's Christians Being Targeted?

Egypt's Copts are the largest Christian community in the Middle East and are estimated to account for around 15% of the country's population.

"Coptic" is used to describe the native Christians living in the country, where Christianity is a large minority religion.

The Coptic Orthodox Church was founded in the first century by Saint Mark the apostle, who wrote the second Gospel of the New Testament.

The church carefully preserves the Orthodox Christian faith and follows the apostles' doctrines.

A video released on Sunday apparently shows 21 Copts being beheaded by Islamic State-inspired combatants.

The footage, which is entitled "A message signed with blood to the nation of the cross", has a scrolling caption in the first few seconds referring to the hostages as "people of the cross, followers of the hostile Egyptian Church".

It makes reference to Egyptian women Camilia Shehata and Wafa Constantine, the wives of Coptic priests whose alleged conversion to Islam caused a sectarian dispute in Egypt five years ago.

Shehata went missing for five days in July 2010 following a domestic argument. Police later found her and escorted her home.

Coptic Christians staged protests when she disappeared, but when Shehata was returned, Islamists took to the streets claiming she had chosen to convert to Islam and was being held by the church against her will.

Wafa Constantine went missing in 2004, reportedly after her husband refused to grant her a divorce.

As reports of her conversion to Islam spread, she was temporarily sequestered at a convent.

After the hostages are beheaded in the video, a scrolling caption reads: "The filthy blood is just some of what awaits you, in revenge for Camilia and her sisters."

Bishop Angaelos, general bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the UK, said the killings had caused "deep feelings of sorrow and pain".

"While it may seem illogical or incomprehensible, we also pray for those who have carried out these horrific crimes, that the value of God's creation and human life may become more evident to them, and in this realisation, that the wider effects of pain brought by this and other acts of brutality may be realised and avoided.

"We pray for an end to the dehumanisation of captives who become mere commodities to be bartered, traded and negotiated with."

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Ukrainian Soldiers Killed Despite Ceasefire

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Four Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in attacks by separatists since a ceasefire came into force, according to reports.

The ceasefire came into force on Sunday morning, but a Kiev military source has reported four deaths since then.

A further 21 Ukrainian soldiers have been wounded, the source added.

Occasional shelling and gunfire has been heard close to the flashpoint town of Debaltseve in the country's east. It is on the frontline between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatists.

The ceasefire agreement was reached following talks in the Belarus capital Minsk led by France and Germany.

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Gallery: Ukraine Truce Hopes To End Months Of Bloodshed

Pro-Russian separatists drive a tank through Donetsk. Most of the frontline has fallen silent, but a Kiev source said four Ukrainian soldiers had been killed since the ceasefire started on Sunday.

Two members of the armed forces from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic stand guard at a checkpoint near the town

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Another member of the Donetsk People's Republic checks on a kettle as the ceasefire holds across large swathes of eastern Ukraine

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Meanwhile, on a road leading to the contested town of Debaltseve - which has continued to see some unrest - two Ukrainian soldiers play football during the ceasefire

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Other members of the Ukrainian armed forces take a cigarette break near Debaltseve.

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But Pro-Russian rebels had indicated they would not observe the truce at Debaltseve where Ukrainian forces have been largely surrounded.

Senior rebel commander Eduard Basurin said: "Of course we can open fire (on Debaltseve). It is our territory."

A statement released by Kiev said the "enemy" was carrying out attacks in the region using Grad rockets.

It said the military had a plan to try to re-take control of Debaltseve.

The 10-month conflict has already claimed more than 5,300 lives.

In a counter claim, separatist military spokesman Eduard Basurin said in a televised news conference on Monday that the government launched an artillery strike overnight on Horlivka, a town under rebel control.

Meanwhile the European Union has published a new list of Ukrainians and Russians targeted by sanctions for undermining Ukraine's independence.

The list includes Russian first deputy defence minister Arkady Bakhin.

Also named on the list of 19 people and nine organisations is Andrei Kartapolov, deputy chief of the general staff of the Russian armed forces.

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