Karen Buckley: Remains Found As Man Held

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 16 April 2015 | 18.25

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A man is to appear in court after remains believed to be those of a missing Irish student were found on a farm.

The discovery was made close to Milngavie, north of Glasgow, by officers searching for 24-year-old Karen Buckley.

Formal identification of the remains has not taken place. Ms Buckley's relatives have been informed.

A 21-year-old man has been arrested and police said they were "following a definite line of enquiry". He is due in court on Friday.

Ms Buckley was last seen in the early hours of Sunday morning after a night out in Glasgow.

The student, from Cork, vanished after spending the night with friends at the city's Sanctuary nightclub.

She told them at around 1am she was going to the toilet but failed to return and left her jacket behind.

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Gallery: Police Search Discover Remains In Search For Missing Student

The search for the missing student shifted to the area around High Craigton Farm, to the north of the city, on Wednesday

The road to the farm was closed off

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Fire service vehicles were later seen heading to the farm. Hours later police revealed that remains had been found

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Ms Buckley spent Saturday night with friends at Glasgow's Sanctuary nightclub but disappeared around 1am

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Police earlier searched near the flat in Dorchester Avenue where the student spent several hours on Sunday before apparently leaving around 4am

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CCTV shows her leaving the club.

The student began an occupational therapy degree at Glasgow Caledonian University in February and was previously a nurse at the Princess Alexandra hospital in Harlow, Essex.

Police she had travelled widely and knew how to take care of herself.

Her parents flew from Ireland to help with the search and told a news conference they were "desperate" for help.

"We just want Karen home safely, we are desperate. She is our only daughter, we love her dearly," said her mother Marian.

Ms Buckley's handbag was found on Tuesday in the city's Dawsholm Park, but on Wednesday the search shifted north of the city.

Dozens of officers began searching a remote country lane between Glasgow and Drymen, cordoning off the road to High Craigton Farm.

Officers also asked residents whether they had seen any bonfires there over the past few days.

Police had previously asked for information about a grey car spotted in the area between 11am and 3pm on Monday.

Hundreds of people have attended a mass at a church close to the Buckley family home in north Cork, and Irish foreign minister Charlie Flanagan said: "All of our thoughts and prayers are with Karen's parents, John and Marian, and with all of her family and friends at this tragic time."

A fundraising page set up by Ms Buckley's former classmates to cover her family's expenses in Scotland has raised more than £3,000.

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Written By Unknown on Rabu, 15 April 2015 | 18.25

Nick Clegg has warned against a coalition that would see Nigel Farage or Alex Salmond walk through the doors of Number 10 as he launched his party's manifesto.

The Liberal Democrat leader said that come 8 May either David Cameron or Ed Miliband would be prime minister but they would not win a majority government and would not hold the "balance of power".

He said it could be Mr Farage, it could be the SNP's Mr Salmond or it could be him and the Liberal Democrats who would provide "an insurance policy against a government lurching off to the extremes".

Mr Clegg said only his party could "add a heart to the Conservatives, and a brain to Labour" and only the Lib Dems could help guarantee the right path between the excessive cuts of the Tories and the excessive borrowing of Mr Miliband's party.

The Lib Dem leader said his party would bring "prosperity for all".

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He warned voters that a Miliband/Salmond coalition would lead to "reckless borrowing" and urged them to keep Mr Salmond out of Westminster by voting in the Lib Dem candidate in Gordon.

And he said: "Imagine for a moment… what will become of our wonderful country in the next five years if Farage gets in."

The Liberal Democrats are expected to win between 20 and 40 seats at the General Election and could again play the role of kingmaker as neither Labour nor the Tories are expected to win a majority.

Unveiling his party manifesto at a trendy art space in Battersea, Mr Clegg set out five deal-breakers for any future coalition cautioning against a lurch to the Left or the Right.

He attempted to persuade voters he could be trusted after the U-turn on tuition fees, which cost the party so much support in the early days of the coalition.

The five pledges on the front of the 160-page manifesto are:

:: Ringfence the education budget from age 2-19

:: Additional £8bn a year funding for NHS by 2020

:: Eliminate deficit by 2017-18

:: Raise the income tax personal allowance to £12,500

:: Green laws including decarbonisation target for electricity

Three of them on the NHS, the deficit and income tax - match promises made in the Conservative manifesto.

Mr Clegg is hoping to persuade voters that his party can be the "proven rock of stability, continuity and conscience".

The Lib Dem leader is keen that people should remember the things the Lib Dems delivered in power - and not the things they could not.

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This includes lifting thousands out of income tax by increasing the personal allowance, a policy the Conservatives have claimed credit for and put at the centre of their 2015 manifesto.

Despite largely being viewed as the scapegoats for unpopular decisions, Mr Clegg, whose manifesto launch was marred by a technical glitch that saw him fall off air during the question session, said that every day in coalition had been worth it because they had helped to make Britain better.

And, like Mr Cameron, he implored voters to be allowed to finish the job.

The Liberal Democrat launch comes on the same day as UKIP's - the other party looking to appeal to the Conservatives in the event of coalition building.

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Nigel Farage: 'We Want Our Country Back'

Nigel Farage has said his is the only party in the General Election with a "credible plan for immigration".

Launching UKIP's Believe In Britain manifesto at a hotel in Thurrock, Essex, the party leader said the only way Britain could regain control of its borders was by leaving the EU.

He said: "We want our country back and then and only then can we actually control our borders."

The party is also promising to reduce net immigration to 50,000 and introduce an Australian-style immigration system, which will see fewer unskilled people entering the country.

He said the reduction would ease pressure on vital services, including schools and doctors' surgeries and added that Britain had to build a new home every seven minutes to cope with the number of people coming to the country.

The UKIP leader also offered a £18bn tax giveaway - saying it was all paid for. Like the Tories, he promised people on the minimum wage should not pay income tax, saying he wanted a "low tax economy", and said the 40p rate should be reduced to 30p.

And he attempted to put the Tories under pressure with a pledge to "substantially" increase defence spending.

UKIP is committed to spending 2% of GDP on the Armed Forces, a move seen as an effort to bolster his party's faltering campaign and prevent the drift back to the Conservatives.

The measures will likely be seen as a clear statement of intent to the Tories over what UKIP will demand if it is to help David Cameron to another five years in power.

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Mr Farage also said UKIP would push for guaranteed civilian jobs for soldiers after 12 years of service and there would be no income tax for those abroad on active service. They would also build a military hospital.

He denied "putting out feelers" for discussions on a coalition with the Tories ahead of 7 May and when asked if removing Mr Cameron would be key to any deal he said: "If I was a Conservative I'd want to get rid of David Cameron."

In an attempt to persuade voters UKIP is a serious proposition, the spending pledges in the party manifesto have been verified by the Centre for Economics and Business Research.

The key red line for any Conservative coalition for Mr Farage's party is a referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union.

UKIP insists there should be one "as soon as possible", however, Mr Cameron has promised a vote only by the end of 2017.

The UKIP leader said the party was "fully committed to the founding principles of the NHS" and promised an additional £3bn of funding per year.

Mr Farage dismissed his party's 2010 manifesto as "486 pages of drivel" and admitted he had not read it before it was published.

However, he said he had "read, absorbed and understood" the 2015 version.

Measures contained in the manifesto include:

:: Scrap HS2 high-speed rail project

:: Leave the European Union

:: Review the Barnett Formula, which decides funding for Scotland

:: Spend more than 2% of GDP on defence by 2020

:: £12bn extra funding for the NHS over five years

:: Abolish inheritance tax

:: 30p income tax rate for higher earners

:: No benefits for migrants for five years

:: Scrap the so-called "bedroom tax"

Mr Farage spoke briefly at the manifesto launch before handing over to Deputy Party Chairman Suzanne Evans, who wrote the manifesto and proceeded to detail the policies contained in it.

UKIP has been criticised for being a spent force, after it surge in the local and European elections last year when Mr Farage said the party could hold the "balance of power" at the General Election.

:: Nigel Farage Profile

However, UKIP could still influence who gets the keys to Number 10 – they have ruled out a coalition with Labour.

The party launched its manifesto an hour after the Lib Dems, also potential kingmakers.

Mr Clegg laid out his red lines with five pledges on the front of his manifesto – three of which are in line with promises made by the Conservatives in their manifesto.

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Karen Buckley: Police Search Park And Flats

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Police searching for Glasgow student Karen Buckley are scouring the area around a flat where she spent the night and a park where her handbag has been found.

Dozens of officers have been deployed to Dawsholm Park following the find - and a helicopter is aiding the search.

The 24-year-old went missing in the early hours of Sunday after leaving the flat of a man named Alexander Pacteau, who she met on a night out and who is not a suspect.

Communal areas outside his flat in Dorchester Avenue have been taped off while officers look for clues.

The man told officers she had left at 4am but the Irish student has not been seen since.

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Gallery: Police Search Park After Handbag Of Missing Student Found

The handbag of missing student Karen Buckley has been found in a Glasgow park

Officers have been searching through undergrowth in Dawsholm Park for clues

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A police helicopter has been deployed to aid the search

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The scale of the search is seen with numerous police officers involved

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It is believed she was planning to walk back to her flat in Hill Street.

Her parents, who have flown from Ireland to help with the search, said it was typical for her not to use taxis.

Ms Buckley spent Saturday night with friends at Glasgow's Sanctuary nightclub on Dumbarton Road.

She told them at around 1am she was going to the toilet, but failed to return and left her jacket behind.

CCTV spotted her leaving the club with the man, who then drove her to his flat.

Detective Superintendent Jim Kerr said: "He believes he was intimate with her at his flat consensually in the early hours of Sunday.

"From what we can see, she does not appear to be under duress, there's no signs of a struggle or reluctance on her part to leave the club."

Police say they are now "gravely concerned" for the student's wellbeing.

The parents of Ms Buckley, who studies occupational therapy and is originally from Cork, said they were "desperate" for the public's help.

"We just want Karen home safely, we are desperate. She is our only daughter, we love her dearly," said her mother, Marian.

"If anybody has any information please come forward, we would dearly appreciate it."

Ms Buckley's father, John, said: "If anybody is holding Karen, if anybody knows anything of her, please return her. Please let's have her back. We love her to bits."

Det Supt Kerr said Ms Buckley was widely travelled and was "aware of how to take care of herself".

Police also want to find out more about a grey car seen on the roads between Milngavie and Drymen, north of Glasgow, between 11am and 3pm on Monday.

Det Supt Kerr said: "The activity of this grey car on the Monday is something that we're a wee bit concerned about.

"This car has been seen at various locations on these roads and I want to know why."

Ms Buckley is between 5ft and 5ft 2in with brown eyes and dark hair which has long black curly extensions in it.

She was last seen wearing a black jumpsuit, red high-heeled shoes and carrying a black handbag.

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Written By Unknown on Selasa, 14 April 2015 | 18.25

David Cameron has announced a future Tory government would give 1.3 million housing association tenants the chance to buy their homes.

:: So what is Right to Buy?

The existing scheme allows council tenants to buy their home at a discount of up to 70% - a maximum of £102,700 in London and £77,000 across the rest of of the country.

:: Full Coverage Of General Election 2015

The Conservatives have made extending this to 1.3 million housing association tenants a centrepiece of their manifesto for the May election.

:: This all seems familiar?

It is indeed. The scheme was trailblazed by Margaret Thatcher on coming to power in 1979 with the Tories hailing it "the biggest step towards a home-owning democracy ever taken" in their 1983 manifesto.

And in extending the scheme to housing tenants, David Cameron is hoping to recapture that aspirational spirit in the face of criticism of the negative tone of the Tory campaign to date.

Unveiling the plan, the PM echoed the words of the Thatcher-era by talking of "building a property-owning democracy for generations".

:: So that's the background, how will it work?

It will be funded by requiring councils to sell off the most expensive properties when they become empty, and replacing them with more affordable social homes.

:: LIVE BLOG: General Election 2015

Around 15,000 houses and flats are expected to become available in this way each year, but the Conservatives stress no one will be forced out of their home.

It has been claimed the sales would raise an estimated £4.5bn which could then be used to build between 80,000 to 170,000 new properties a year.

:: Do I hear a "but" coming here?

You do indeed. The move, unsurprisingly, is not without its critics and has been branded "deeply unfair" by housing associations.

The National Housing Federation warns it would mean using £5.8bn of taxpayers' cash to "gift" up to £100,000 to people already living in good secure homes, on some of the country's cheapest rents.

Meanwhile, the group argues it would do nothing to help the millions in private rented properties desperate to buy, or those forced to live at home with their parents because they cannot afford to rent or buy.

It points out the £5.8bn would be enough to finance 300,000 new shared ownership homes "open to everyone, not just the lucky few".

Political opponents have also waded in with Labour dismissing it as "yet another uncosted, unfunded and unbelievable announcement".

And the Tories' Lib Dem coalition partners claim the scheme would would result in longer waiting lists for homes and fewer social houses.

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Greens Vow To Roll Back NHS Privatisation

The Green Party has pledged to end privatisation in the NHS and re-nationalise the railways in its manifesto.

The party also vowed to ban fracking, stop airport expansion and halt major road schemes, while promising cash for energy efficiency measures and flood defences.

:: Full Coverage Of General Election 2015

Party leader Natalie Bennett told activists at the heart of the manifesto was "a vision for a fair economy".

She said: "That fair economy demands the end to austerity.

"It demands we restore and enhance the essential public services we all but particularly the most vulnerable."

"That fair economy is paid for by the rebalancing that we so desperately need, to see multinational companies and rich individuals paying their fair share in taxes as they are simply not paying now."

And a fair economy meant every worker should be paid a living wage.

"It is really not a radical statement to say that if you work full time you should earn enough money to live on," she said.

"And yet we are the only UK party who is saying the minimum wage should immediately be lifted to a living wage and should reach £10 an hour by 2020."

:: All You Need To Know About Party Manifestos

Ms Bennett also underlined the party's commitment to safeguarding the NHS, and pledged to remove all private operators from the service.

She said: "Behind that is an understanding of what privatisation has really meant for so many of our public services.

"It's meant the cutting of the pay and conditions of workers, it's meant the cutting of the quality of services and it has meant the shovelling of public money into private hands."

Also speaking at the manifesto launch was Caroline Lucas, the party's former leader and the only Green MP in the last parliament, who argued tackling climate change was not "some luxury that is only possible when there are good economic times".

The environment was not something that could be ditched during tough times "like that extra cappuccino on the way to work".

Green Party plans for a free nationwide retro-fit insulation programme would tackle both the "scandal of cold homes" while creating more than 100,000 jobs, she said.

Ms Lucas told the audience the money was there but it came down to political choice.

"It's nonsense to say we can waste billions on new roads or on HS2 but we can't afford to keep people warm in their own homes," she said.

For every £1 spent on energy efficiency measures, £1.27 was returned to the economy, and Ms Lucas insisted it was the only way of reducing energy bills while also helping the environment.

The prospect of a hung parliament and a minority Labour government opened the way for the Greens to realise its manifesto goals.

She said: "That would give us a real opportunity to push Labour on the policies we know the public wants and which are at the heart of our manifesto - whether that's scrapping nuclear weapons or reversing the privatisation in our NHS, whether that's returning local schools to local control or bringing rail back into public ownership."

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Cameron Launches Manifesto For 'Working People'

David Cameron has claimed the Conservatives are the "party of the working people", with pledges on homeownership, £5,000 of free childcare and an income tax-free minimum wage.

As he launched the Tory manifesto, Mr Cameron repeatedly made offers to voters who worked hard and wanted to get on the "good life".

The manifesto set out measures for families from cradle to grave - identifying measures to help people over six stages of their lives.

Mr Cameron opened his speech by saying: "At the heart of this manifesto is a simple proposition. We are the party of working people, offering you security at every stage of your life."

He promised 30 hours of childcare for three and four-year-olds - five hours more than promised in Labour's manifesto yesterday - to help working parents.

He said if the party is returned to power, it will give 1.3m families the chance to buy their housing association home at least a 20% discount.

Speaking at a university technical college in Swindon, Mr Cameron laid out his vision for a "property-owning democracy" echoing the phrases used in Margaret Thatcher's 1983 manifesto.

And he said the Conservatives would introduce a tax-free minimum wage, linking the minimum wage to the income tax personal allowance so the lowest paid would never have to pay tax.

He urged voters not to "waste the last five years" and let "Labour drag us back" to the past, and asked to be allowed to "finish the job".

Mr Cameron promised: "This buccaneering, world-beating, can-do country - we can do it all over again."

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:: All You Need To Know About Party Manifestos

Among other measures included in the manifesto, which has the phrase "strong leadership, a clear economic plan, a better more secure future" on the cover, are:

:: Raising the personal allowance for tax to £12,500

:: Increasing the starting salary for the 40p rate to £50,000

:: No increase in income tax, VAT, National Insurance

:: Raising the inheritance tax threshold for family homes to £1m

:: Seven-day access to GP service

:: An annual £8bn boost for NHS funding

:: Repeal the Hunting Act

:: Increase state pension by at least 2.5% with a triple lock

:: 200,000 starter homes built

:: Committed to four-boat Trident nuclear deterrent

Mr Cameron's repeated pledges on a "good life" available to people in the UK prompted a question on whether the Prime Minister saw himself as the impoverished Tom and Barbara characters from the BBC sit com, played by Felicity Kendal and Richard Briers or the rich Margot and Jerry characters played by Penelope Keith and Paul Eddington.

To fund Right-to-Buy, the Conservatives would force councils to sell their most expensive properties when vacant – estimated to raise £4.5bn a year – and replace the properties sold.

However, the Housing Federation claims the cost to the taxpayer would be £5.8bn and 40 years of failure on house-building means the UK still doesn't have the homes needed.

Since Baroness Thatcher introduced Right-to-Buy in 1980 1.88m council properties have been sold – only 345,000 new social housing properties have been built.

As well as extending Right-to-Buy at a discount to housing association tenants, the party will promise a £1bn fund for building 400,000 new properties on brownfield sites.

Mr Cameron's claim that the Conservatives are the party for workers comes after Labour said it wanted to be seen as the fiscally responsible option for government.

:: Right-To-Buy: Your Questions Answered

:: Labour's Manifesto At A Glance

Conservative activists gathered for the manifesto launch were shown a video called The Note, which focused on the missive left for the coalition by the outgoing Labour Treasury Minister Liam Byrne. It said: "There is no money."

Labour has claimed the Conservatives have failed to explain properly how the measures will be funded.

The Tories say some £1.4bn a year of the funding will come from reducing the tax relief on pensions for those earning more than £150,000. Mr Cameron said their track record showed they could deliver on their pledges.

Labour leader Ed Miliband said the Conservatives were "trying to fund Right-to-Buy on a bounced cheque".

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Hotter Than Spain! UK Set For Deckchair Weather

Written By Unknown on Senin, 13 April 2015 | 18.25

Britain is set to enjoy the hottest weather of the year so far this week - with expected highs of up to 26C making it hotter than parts of Spain.

The highs are likely to be 10C above average for the time of year.

And the good news is set to keep coming for sun seekers.

The Met Office has confirmed that hotter-than-average temperatures are more than twice as likely than below-average conditions until June.

The unusual highs come after snow was recorded in parts of the Pennines on Sunday.

Sky weather presenter Isobel lang said: "We will be wearing shorts and sunscreen this week, with temperatures set to reach around 23C on Tuesday across the South East and perhaps 25C or 26C on Wednesday.

"The warm and strong sunshine will mainly affect England and Wales, with the Midlands, East Anglia and southern England recording the highest temperatures.

"However a front will continue to affect the North West, bringing persistent rain and cooler conditions to much of Scotland and at times Northern Ireland and Cumbria."

Wednesday is likely to be the warmest day of the year so far for much of Britain, with the mercury reaching up to 26C in London and the South East - higher than Alicante (22C) and Madrid (18C).

The same front affecting the North will bring some showers and cooler temperatures to the South later in the week, with drier, warmer weather replacing the gloom elsewhere.

Lang said: "The outlook is for plenty more fine weather although the South may see some patchy rain for a time over the weekend.

"Into next week, high pressure should bring more warmth and sunshine but it may not last all week long with signs of more unsettled conditions spreading in from the West."

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Chess Grandmaster Used Phone In Toilet To Cheat

A chess grandmaster has been thrown out of an international tournament after he made repeated trips to the toilet to allegedly check tactics on a mobile phone he had hidden inside a cubicle.

Gaioz Nigalidze, the current Georgian champion, was expelled from the Dubai Open for using his smartphone in a match against Armenian grandmaster Tigran L Petrosian.

He faces a ban of up to 15 years.

British former world title contender Nigel Short said Nigalidze "should be stripped of his GM (grandmaster) title and banned immediately".

He called for the World Chess Federation (FIDE) to tighten up rules, and questioned on Twitter whether it should introduce "mandatory two-year bans for computer cheats".

Two-time national champion Nigalidze was exposed when Petrosian grew suspicious about his frequent trips to the lavatory during Saturday's sixth-round match.

Tournament officials found Nigalidze had hidden a mobile phone in a cubicle, covered in toilet paper.

The Dubai Chess and Culture Club announced its decision to expel Nigalidze on Sunday morning.

It issued a statement on its Facebook page, along with a picture of Nigalidze's phone and an official game sheet of moves.

"When confronted, Nigalidze denied he owned the device," it said.

"But officials opened the smartphone and found it was logged into a social networking site under Nigalidze's account. They also found his game being analysed in one of the chess applications."

Petrosian told the Daily Telegraph: "Nigalidze would promptly reply to my moves and then literally run to the toilet.

"I noticed that he would always visit the same toilet partition, which was strange, since two other partitions weren't occupied.

"I informed the chief arbiter about my growing suspicions and asked him to keep an eye on Gaioz.

"After my opponent left the very toilet partition yet another time, the arbiters entered it.

"What they found was the mobile phone with headphones; the device was hidden behind the pan and covered with toilet paper."

When questioned about the offence, Nigalidze said: "Not everything is true in what Petrosian said."

It is not the first time a player has been caught cheating at a chess tournament.

In July 2013, Bulgarian player Borislav Ivanov was suspended for four months after officials found most of his moves matched those of the top computer chess programmes.

In 2008, at the Dubai Open, an Iranian player was banned after he was found receiving help via text messages.

Computers became powerful enough to outwit the world's top chess players nearly 20 years ago.

In 1997, Garry Kasparov became the first reigning world chess champion to be beaten by a computer under tournament conditions.

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Miliband: 'I Am Ready' To Lead Better Britain

Ed Miliband has attempted to convince voters he can be trusted with the economy pledging to cut the deficit year on year and saying: "I am ready" to lead the country.

The Labour leader promised to get the Budget back into surplus "as soon as possible" and said that every thing listed in the party's manifesto could be paid for.

The manifesto, launched by Mr Miliband on the set of Coronation Street and titled Britain Can Be Better, promised to "secure the family finances of the working people of Britain".

:: Full Coverage Of General Election 2015

:: All You Need To Know About Party Manifestos

Mr Miliband said the manifesto was not a "shopping list of proposals" as he sought to persuade a sceptical public he could be trusted with the nation's finances by introducing a "triple lock" of responsibility.

He said a Labour Government would: cut the deficit every year, that every measure contained in the manifesto was fully funded and Labour would meet fiscal rules with the national debt falling.

Mr Miliband attempted to capitalise on the Conservatives' refusal to spell out how they would find the extra £8bn of funding for the NHS and said David Cameron's party had proposed £20bn of unfunded commitments.

He said: "Nothing is more dangerous to our NHS than pretending you'll be able to protect it without being able to say where the money's coming from. You can't fund the NHS with an IOU and the Conservative Party need to learn that."

But Mr Miliband made some eye-catching pledges in the 84-page Labour Party Manifesto 2015 including:

:: Wrap around childcare - primary schools forced to provide care from 8am-6pm

:: Raising the minimum wage to £8 an hour

:: Abolishing non-dom rules, abolishing zero-hour contracts

:: £2.5bn Time to Care fund for NHS off back of mansion tax and tobacco firm levy

:: Increase income tax for those earning more than £150,000

:: No increase in income tax, VAT, National Insurance for others

:: Scrap winter fuel allowance for pensioners with an income of more than £42,000 a year

:: Freeze energy prices

:: Tighten tax avoidance rules to yield £7.5bn a year

:: Cut tuition fees to £6,000

:: More powers for the Welsh and Scottish Parliament

:: Extend the vote to 16-year-olds

Mr Miliband said: "The reason we can make these commitments is because we will make sure those with the broadest shoulders bear the greatest burden.

"So we'll reverse David Cameron's tax cut for millionaires to help pay down the deficit, we'll crack down on hedge funds who avoid paying their fair share, we'll stop HMRC operating double standards and we'll do something that no government has done for over 200 years, we'll say enough is enough to the people who live here, work here, send their kids to school here but don't want to pay taxes here and we will abolish the non-dom rule."

Polls show that voters trust Labour less with the economy than the Conservatives and Mr Miliband has struggled to play down forgetting to mention the deficit in his conference speech.

Labour says it will have the current Budget in surplus by the end of the next parliament, however, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have said they will do so by 2017/18.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has said that Labour's plans would leave the deficit at £30bn - it currently stands at £90bn - by 2020.

In an answer to recent criticism that Labour is against big business and wealth-creators, Mr Miliband said Labour was "pro business but not pro business as usual".

He said Labour would champion small and medium sized businesses with a cut in business rates to help them create the jobs, wealth and profits of the future.

And he pledged to keep Britain in the European Union - admitting it did need change but stressing Labour would work to stay within it.

:: Ed Miliband Profile

:: Live Blog: General Election 2015

Mr Miliband also said he would champion the little man against the giant energy firms and painted himself as the man who would stand up for the little people against the powerful interests.

Mr Miliband was speaking inside the building used in the long-running soap as Weatherfield Police Station.

Sky's Political Correspondent Sophy Ridge said the decision to use the set could be seen as a metaphor for "hard-working, or ordinary, families" or could even be a knowing nod to the idea of a "political soap opera".

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British Boy Killed In Alps Ski Fall 'Was Lost'

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 12 April 2015 | 18.25

A British boy who died in a skiing accident while on a family holiday in the French Alps was skiing alone at his own request, according to reports.

The seven-year-old, who has been named in reports as Carwyn Scott-Howell from Brecon in Mid Wales, fell around 160ft from a cliff to his death in the alpine resort of Flaine on Friday.

He had been skiing with his mother, brother and sister but is understood to have asked to ski the day's final descent on his own.

His family became worried after he failed to reach the bottom of the slopes, prompting a search which ended when his body was discovered around three-and-a-half hours later.

The circumstances around the incident are still being investigated by the authorities, with some reports suggesting the boy was instead somehow separated from his family.

There have been reports that the boy was not skiing on his own, and had instead gotten lost from the group he was with.

Michel Ollagnon, an officer with the Bonneville mountain rescue service, said the boy's body was spotted off his expected course by rescuers in a helicopter on Friday evening.

Police chief Patrick Poirot, the head of the mountain rescue division in the nearby town of Annecy, was quoted in the Daily Mirror saying: "Specialists are at the scene to try and determine exactly what happened and understand every element that led to this tragedy.

"Hypothetically we think that, after losing his parents, the little boy didn't know where to go and skied in the wrong direction.

"He's just seven-years-old.

"He left the marked ski slope and probably skied to the top of a cliff.

"He then stopped, removed his skis, walked a little way and then fell.

"He fell 50 metres."

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said they were aware of the death and are providing consular assistance.

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IS Turns Ancient City Of Nimrud Into Dust

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Islamic State militants have continued their spree of destroying ancient cities and treasures across Iraq, this time targeting Nimrud.

The video posted online appears to show the terror group's fighters smashing artefacts in the ancient Assyrian city before blowing up the site.

Militants can be seen ripping large barrels filled with powder in a room where the walls are lined with gypsum slabs, beautifully carved with representations of Assyrian figures.

Nimrud was founded in the 13th century BC and contains one of the most famous archaeological sites in the history of a country often described as the cradle of civilisation.

It was such a special city, in fact, that it was on Unesco's tentative list of world heritage sites.

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Gallery: Images Of The 3,000-Year-Old Assyrian Site

The 3,000-year-old site on the banks of the Tigris river was once the capital of the world's most powerful empire, the Assyrians. European archeologists first excavated the site in the 1840s

Statues, sections of palaces and gold items were unearthed at the site. Some of its best-known monuments include these winged bulls with human faces, known as lamassus

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Many of its artefacts were on display in the Baghdad Museum, but disappeared during the Gulf War in the 1990s. It was presumed they had been looted

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However, after the 2003 Iraq invasion by allied forces, the items were found safe. They had been locked away in a secret vault in the city, submerged in sewage water

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The collection includes hundreds of gold and gem-studded jewellery items

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The explosion sends a huge mushroom into the sky and turns yet another important part of the region's history to dust.

The fighters hack away at statues with sledgehammers and carve them up with angle grinders, claiming that God had "honoured" them by "removing and destroying everything that was held to be equal to him and worshipped without him".

In the jihadists' view, statues, idols and shrines amount to recognising objects of worships other than God and must be destroyed.

A militant speaking at the end of the destruction said: "Whenever we are able in a piece of land to remove the signs of idolatry and spread monotheism, we will do it."

The attacks, which follow similar destruction by IS in Iraq and Syria earlier this year and last year, will be widely criticised.

Abdulamir Hamdani, an archaeologist from Stony Brook University in New York, said of Nimrud: "It's really a very important site in the history of Mesopotamia.

"Many of Assyria's greatest artistic treasures came from this site."

Nimrud is the later Arab name given to a settlement which was originally called Kalhu and was first described in 1820, being plundered by Western explorers and officials over decades.

It was also looted and damaged during the 2003 US invasion.

Most of Nimrud's most valuable artefacts were moved long ago to museums in Mosul, Baghdad, Paris, London and elsewhere but giant "lamassu" statues - winged bulls with human heads - and reliefs were still on site.

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