Obama Aggressive In Final Presidential Debate

Romney Avoids Foreign Policy Blow

Updated: 10:35am UK, Tuesday 23 October 2012

By Dominic Waghorn, US Correspondent

This was always going to be a tough one for Mitt Romney.

The Republican challenger has not distinguished himself on foreign policy. 

And on many foreign issues there is not enough swinging room between him and the President to let him land a punch.

The President probably won on points, but his challenger held his own and made no gaffes. Given his previous form on foreign policy, that's an improvement.

This debate was about foreign policy when the election is not. The economy remains the overriding issue.

It was predictable then that both men would try to bring the debate back to domestic issues.

President Obama was the first, 25 minutes in, stressing that nation building starts at home.

Mr Romney joined in, forcefully making the argument that America will only be respected overseas if it's strong at home. 

Then followed a slew of argument that had nothing to do with foreign policy from healthcare reform to classroom sizes. 

There were cheers in the adjoining "spin room" from journalists when moderator Bob Schieffer tried to return the discussion to foreign affairs even if it was largely in vain.

With the odds stacked against him, Mr Romney was largely avoiding losing.

His most dangerous moment was one of his own creation, a tactical error he could have avoided.

He probably should not have mentioned foreign trips, given how badly his last one went, offending the British, Palestinians and the press travelling with him.

But he brought up the President's visits overseas all the same, accusing him of indulging in an "apology" tour allowing his opponent to come right back at him.

"If you want to talk about trips governor," came back the president. Mr Obama then compared his visit to Israel, which included a tour of the Yad Vashem holocaust museum, to Mitt Romney's which he said was more about attending fundraisers.

Many Americans will not have been watching. This was a big sports night.

In the Tailgaters Sports Bar in Daytona Beach up the coast, most people weren't focused on the debate. The Chicago Bears were playing the Detroit Lions, by coincidence the home town teams of each candidate.

The game was on a much bigger screen than the debate in the bar.

But a few were paying attention to the candidates.

Carl Dephillipe told Sky News the debate had made all the difference to his vote.

"I am a Democrat so I was leaning towards Obama but I hadn't heard anything about his foreign policy till tonight so finally being to sit down tonight to listen to his foreign policy I'll definitely be giving him my vote," he said.

Further down the bar David Daley was also critical of Mr Romney.

"I think he's basically selling the American people a dream. That he's promising a lot of things that he's not going to be able to do," he said. 

For the record, the President's team beat Mr Romney's by 13 to 7.

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Cyprus: Firecracker Injures Footballer

A Colombian footballer and team medical staff were left writhing in pain after a powerful firecracker exploded inches from their faces during a match in Cyprus.

Ricardo Laborde, who plays for Anorthosis Famagusta in the Cypriot first division, was being treated for an injury during the match against rivals Omonia Nicosia on Sunday.

As he lay prone on the pitch with medical staff attending to his injury, the firecracker was thrown from a section of Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium housing the Omonia Niscosia fans.

The device exploded close to the player, leaving several people writhing on the ground clutching their faces or holding their ears.

The player and two medics writhe in pain after the firecracker explodes

Police said investigators were looking through CCTV footage to track down the culprit. So far, no-one has been arrested.

Miraculously, no-one was seriously injured and the game continued after a 10-minute delay for treatment.

Anorthosis, which is currently joint top in the division with AEL Larnaca, also denounced some of its own fans for lighting flares during the game.

The club urged police in a statement on Monday to carry out more checks on fans entering stadiums.

Anorthosis Famagusta went on to win the match 2-0.

It comes after an explosive device was thrown on to the pitch during an Asian Champions League quarter-final between Iranian side Sepahan and Al Ahli of Saudi Arabia in September.

Sepahan midfielder Adel Kolahkaj had picked up the device and thrown it off the pitch, when it then exploded.

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Jimmy Savile: BBC Boss Is Grilled By MPs

Why Child Abuse Goes Unchallenged

Updated: 4:38am UK, Tuesday 23 October 2012

By Peter Saunders, Chief Executive, NAPAC

I founded and am now privileged to work for NAPAC, the National Association for People Abused in Childhood.

We run the UK's only national free phone support line for adult survivors. We receive letters and emails and we run support groups.

We are a small charity but we have helped thousands in the past and we face the mammoth task of trying to help the thousands coming forward as a result of the Jimmy Savile outrage.

An advertising agency has just made us a poster which in a way sums up why the abuse of our children has gone unchallenged for generation after generation.

Abuse is just too painful for many of us to talk about. Children who speak out are often labelled liars or attention seekers. Many will then keep that secret for the rest of their life.

People who witness abuse, or almost see it..."whoops, I didn't see or want to know about that" really hope it will go away and abusers are never going to admit their vile crimes. And why would they? Abusers ensure there are rarely any witnesses. So children are easily silenced.

And as the Savile allegations have shown, many of his own colleagues who "knew" what was going on kept quiet about it and said nothing.

As one major BBC Radio voice said a few weeks ago "nobody messed with Jimmy". If his colleagues recognised and were intimidated by this man, think how impossible it would have been for a child or young person to speak out?

But I think it would be dangerous to blame the BBC or the 'culture' of the day. Abuse and rape have never been acceptable and I think it is dangerous to somehow equate the alleged permissiveness of the 60's and 70's with these crimes.

The Catholic Church tried to blame their on-going crisis of abusing priests on this ("the 60's").  We must not be fooled. Most abuse occurs within families and they rarely want to confront it.

We are a society which has turned a blind eye to the awful things done to children right under our noses - apart from the occasional hysterical outburst when some "monster paedophile" snatches and murders a child.

Mercifully this is extremely rare and children have always been in more danger under their own roof than anywhere else. That's hard for anyone to stomach, surely? But Savile has got a nation stirred.

I think we are at a turning point in history. I strongly believe that society, the majority who have not suffered abuse, are starting to understand the impact of this heinous and life changing crime.

I have lost count of how many journalists I have spoken to since this Savile revelation and I truly believe they are beginning to 'get it'.

Even more so when you mention..."do you have children"? Would you have wanted Savile or any other kind of child abuser getting his (or her) hands on your child? People start to think.

They start to realise that the greatest threat to this country isn't the banks or the energy companies (okay some might argue they are too) but it is people who hurt our children.

They are sowing the seeds for millions of people to grow up feeling worthless, depressed and of course, in the rarest of cases, very capable of hurting others.

When I was starting out on the path to set up this charity 16 years ago, Sky News' were the first broadcaster to give me a voice. This was swiftly followed by the BBC.

We haven't had much of a voice in the intervening years but I trust and hope that we are now all going to work together to put an end to this curse in our midst.

Yesterday I spotted that NSPCC are recruiting a new Chief Executive. I'm going to apply. A past CEO of that huge charity once told me that he really thought it was time a survivor was put in charge! I agree.

I know I won't be offered the job but if I was one of the first things I would do would be to hold a press conference announcing my plans to suggest that NAPAC merge with NSPCC - then we'd see some serious changes to how we treat our kids!

And I would hope Sky would be right there to witness that important little bit of history. Following that event I am confident our children will be a little bit safer.

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BBC Editor 'Steps Aside' Over Savile Scandal

The Newsnight editor who dropped an investigation into claims Sir Jimmy Savile sexually abused people "is stepping aside", the BBC says.

Peter Rippon, who says he dropped the report for editorial reasons, will leave his role with "immediate effect" while an independent review into the BBC's treatment of the Savile crisis is carried out.

The corporation has also published corrections to a blog post by Mr Rippon, which had aimed to explain his decision to drop the programme's investigation into allegations of sexual abuse by the late presenter.

In a statement the BBC described the inaccuracies as "deeply concerning".

It says: "It is apparent from information supplied by the Newsnight editor and programme team - that the explanation in a blog by the editor of his decision to drop the programme's investigation is inaccurate or incomplete in some respects."

It says that while the blog had said that Newsnight had no evidence against the BBC, there were some allegations of abusive conduct on BBC premises.

The blog also claimed that all the women spoken to by the programme had contacted the police and that Newsnight had no new evidence against that would have helped the police. But the BBC now says that in some cases women had not spoken to the police and that the police were not aware of all the allegations.

Questions over how director-general George Entwistle has handled the crisis

The BBC is said to be facing "its worst crisis for 50 years", as a documentary lifts the lid on the extent to which senior managers of the corporation were aware of the Sir Jimmy Savile abuse claims.

A special edition of Panorama reveals fresh evidence about what the BBC knew of Savile's decades of child abuse and its investigation into why Newsnight spiked its probe into the scandal, sparking allegations of a cover-up.

The BBC flagship programme, which airs tonight, examines why corporation chiefs - including the director-general - gave different explanations why Newsnight was dropped and what it was about.

Mr Rippon maintains the piece - which was due to run last December - was pulled for editorial reasons, and not because the potentially damaging revelations coincided with a planned tribute to the star.

But the hour-long documentary will hear from Newsnight producer Meirion Jones and reporter Liz MacKean, who both claim they had interviewed at least four alleged victims of Savile - and confirmed with Surrey Police that officers had investigated sex abuse complaints against the Jim'll Fix It star in 2007.

The journalists say that, when they told bosses the Crown Prosecution Service did not charge Savile because of insufficient evidence, they were told to end the investigation - and the show was withdrawn.

BBC director-general George Entwistle said it would be "inappropriate" for him to comment ahead of the broadcast, as he has not yet seen the programme. He added: "There will be a BBC statement later this morning touching upon some of the issues raised".

The programme also calls into question Mr Entwistle's handling of the crisis in the days after it broke.

Police say they have identified more than 200 potential victims

On October 5, Mr Entwistle wrote an email to all staff saying "the BBC Newsnight programme investigated Surrey Police's enquiry into Jimmy Savile towards the end of 2011".

But Meirion Jones sent an email reply to Mr Entwistle on the same day taking issue with his account.

He wrote: "George - one note - the investigation was into whether Jimmy Savile was a paedophile - I know because it was my investigation. We didn't know that Surrey Police had investigated Jimmy Savile - no-one did - that was what we found when we investigated and interviewed his victims."

The abuse stories about Savile only fully emerged after ITV broadcast a documentary at the start of this month - sparking controversy at the BBC over losing its scoop and leading to the cover-up allegations.

John Whittingdale, chairman of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee, which will take evidence from Mr Entwistle on Tuesday, said they would want to know why he did not seek more information about the Newsnight investigation.

"If you were the director of vision, you were told at the time you were commissioning programmes paying tribute to Jimmy Savile that Newsnight might be about to reveal a bombshell, you wouldn't just have a 10-second conversation.

"You'd say 'Tell me more, I'm about to go public putting out these programmes making out that Jimmy Savile was this saint'," he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

Mr Whittingdale said the most important question was why the Newsnight segment was dropped.

He told Sky News: "Whilst Panorama say there is no evidence the editor was leant on from outside, the explanations originally given look very thin today."

Panorama said it has failed to find evidence of a "BBC cover-up" over the Newsnight decision.

In a statement, the programme said: "Peter Rippon has always maintained the story was pulled for 'editorial reasons' and not because of a potentially embarrassing clash with planned BBC tributes to Savile over Christmas.

"Panorama has found no evidence to contradict that view."

But the corporation's veteran foreign affairs editor John Simpson said of the fallout: "This is the worst crisis that I can remember in my nearly 50 years at the BBC. I don't think the BBC has handled it terribly well.

"I mean I think it's better to just come out right at the start and say we're going to open everything up and then we're going to show everybody everything.

"All we have as an organisation is the trust of the people the people that watch us and listen to us and, if we don't have that, if we start to lose that, that's very dangerous I think for the BBC."

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Rosneft To Buy 50% Stake In TNK-BP From BP

BP agrees to sell its TNK-BP stake to Russian's Rosneft in a multi-billion pound deal.

The state-owned oil giant will pay $17.1bn and shares (£10.6bn) for the 50% stake.

The agreement will also see BP take a 19.75% stake in Roseneft.

It comes after a weekend of talks, and will become one of the most significant alliances ever struck in the energy industry.

More follows...

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Lance Armstrong: UCI Upholds Usada Life Ban

Lance Armstrong has been banned for life and stripped of his seven Tour de France titles over his role in "the most sophisticated doping programme sport has ever seen".

The International cycling union (UCI) said it would uphold the decision taken by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada), which had compiled a damning 1,000-page dossier detailing the allegations.

"Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling," UCI president Pat McQuaid told a press conference.

More follows...

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Tebbit: 'PM Incompetent Over Mitchell Row'

David Cameron has been criticised by Conservative grandee Lord Tebbit following Andrew Mitchell's resignation as chief whip.

He said the Prime Minister had allowed "this dog of a coalition Government" to look incompetent.

Accused of calling police officers "plebs" when they would not let him leave Downing Street on his bicycle through the main gates, Mr Mitchell finally quit his Cabinet post on Friday.

Despite the unequivocal support of Mr Cameron, Mr Mitchell admitted that the ongoing row had made his position untenable.

Writing in The Observer, Lord Tebbit said: "This dog of a coalition Government has let itself be given a bad name and now anybody can beat it.

"It has let itself be called a Government of unfeeling toffs. Past governments have had far more real Tory toffs: prime ministers Alec Douglas-Home and Harold Macmillan, or even in Thatcher's day, Whitelaw, Soames, Hailsham, Carrington, Gowrie, Joseph, Avon, Trenchard and plenty more, without incurring similar abuse."

He added: "The abiding sin of the Government is not that some ministers are rich, but that it seems unable to manage its affairs competently."

Andrew Mitchell resigned on Friday

A Cabinet minister in Margaret Thatcher's government, Lord Tebbit said Mr Cameron needed to impose "some managerial discipline not just on his colleagues but on himself".

Nadine Dorries, Conservative MP for mid-Bedfordshire, also criticised Downing Street's reaction to the situation with Mr Mitchell.

She told Sky's Murnaghan programme: "Unfortunately it's been a catastrophe.

"To some people it's beginning to look that at the end of last week or certainly yesterday we were reaching a bit of a tipping point and it was beginning to look and smell very much like the worst days when John Major and the Back To Basics catastrophe happened.

"I hope that the last week is a bit of a wake up call both to number 10 and the people who work for the PM because we can't continue to have little mini-disasters.

"Someone in Number 10 needs to stop and get a grip."

The criticism comes amid reports that Mr Mitchell decided to step down after younger Tory MPs from the 2010 intake made clear their hostility when Parliament returned this week.

Many were dismayed that the row dragged on for so long and that Mr Mitchell - who did not attend the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham earlier this month - had not been sacked by the PM.

It has been a disastrous week for Mr Cameron following Mr Mitchell's decision to quit and reports George Osborne tried to sit in a first class train carriage with only a standard ticket - claims which have been firmly rejected by the Chancellor.

He will attempt to shore up his authority and move on from recent events in a speech next week in which he will call for a new "tough but intelligent" approach to law and order.

A ComRes opinion poll, carried out for The Independent on Sunday and the Sunday Mirror, revealed Labour are now eight percentage points ahead of the Tories.

The Lib Dems were in a distant third with just 10% of those polled opting for the party.

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Seven Dead In Damascus Car Bomb Blast

At least seven people have been killed after a car bomb exploded near a police station in the Syrian capital of Damascus, according to reports.

An official speaking from the scene said an explosives-rigged taxi blew up 50 metres from the Bab Touma neighborhood's main police station.

The neighbourhood is a popular attraction for shoppers and inhabited mostly by the Christian minority.

Pro-government television said seven people had been killed and 15 wounded.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 10 had died and dozens were wounded, adding that it was unclear if the victims and the wounded were civilians or policemen.

A reporter at the scene said he saw blood stains in the street and on the pavements. He said glass windows of several shops in the area were shattered and at least four cars were completely burnt.

The blast came as President Bashar al Assad opened talks with visiting UN peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who is trying to broker a truce to start during a Muslim holiday this week.

Mr Brahimi told reporters following a closed-door meeting that he had earlier met with unidentified Syrian opposition groups inside and outside the country to consult on his truce plan.

He said he received "promises" but not a "commitment" from them to honour the cease-fire.

"There is a promise to stop fighting," he said, referring to the opposition.

He noted that he "found an overwhelming response" from Mr Assad's opponents to his cease-fire plan and that "all of them have said that it's a good idea which they support."

He declined to reveal Mr Assad's response to his plan, viewed as a preliminary step toward a larger deal.

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Cardiff Hit-And Run: Dad Saw Van Target Child

A father has described the terrifying moment his young family were struck by a van in Cardiff.

Adam Lewis' two-year-old daughter Amelia-May was catapulted from her pram during a 30-minute hit-and-run rampage across the Welsh capital.

Luckily, she escaped with only cuts and bruises, while Mr Lewis' partner Annie Jones, 23, was left with a broken leg, fractured ankle and a puncture wound to her hip.

CCTV footage captured the moment the van targeted the young family

He told Sky News: "I caught the van in my peripheral vision but it was too late, he just sped up and smashed straight into us.

"I got pushed to the side with the wing-mirror and unfortunately my partner and the baby took the brunt of it.

"(Amelia-May) ended up face down on the pavement, and my partner was there holding onto her leg, and it was broken."

Amelia-May was left with cuts, bruises and a grazed face.

Ms Jones is undergoing surgery to have metal pins and rods inserted into her leg to help with the healing process.

CCTV footage taken by a shopkeeper showed the Iveco transit-style van veering across the road and targeting the couple and their child just minutes before the driver goes on to kill mother-of-three Karina Menzies, 32.

Ten others were injured in the crashes on the streets of the Welsh capital.

Ms Menzies, 32, was killed on Friday after being knocked down

"We're just so relieved that we're still all OK," Mr Lewis said. "It's just so overwhelming, such as surreal situation to be put in.

"You don't expect a big white van to come and smack you off the pavement.

"Why somebody would want to do that, I'll never know.

The van went on a hit-and-run rampage across Cardiff

"I'm just hoping there's not going to be any psychological effects with Amelia-May."

Detectives were last night granted a further 36 hours to question a 31-year-old man on suspicion of murder.

Officers are also appealing for information about a mystery car seen driving on the wrong side of the road shortly before the crashes.

Reverend Jan Gould will lead a special church service later

Detective Superintendent Paul Hurley said that the suspect left his vehicle and physically assaulted people between the crashes and also carried a steering wheel lock as a weapon.

According to unconfirmed reports, police are also investigating whether the driver was involved in a domestic incident before the collisions.

A special church service will be held later for the victims at the Church of the Resurrection on Grand Avenue.

Reverend Jan Gould said that while community was in shock local people would stand "shoulder to shoulder" together.

Ms Menzies' brother, Craig Menzies, told Radio 5 Live that she died trying to save the lives of her children.

Describing the moment the van careered towards them, he said: "He went through the traffic, aimed for them and then just hit them head on.

"She just screamed and threw them out of the way as much as she could. He still clipped them but she took it head-on. She saved their lives."

He told the programme it was "a waste of a life".

He added: "She was the world to me. She was my best friend. She was a lively, bubbly person. There's just so many good things you could say about her.

"We'll all be lost without her."

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Two Held After Children Killed In House Fire

Two people have been arrested by police investigating a house fire in which a woman and two children died.

A 20-year-old woman, a boy aged four and a two-year-old girl were pronounced dead by firefighters after the blaze broke out at a property in Maes Y Groes, Prestatyn, on Friday night, a North Wales Police spokeswoman said.

A 23-year-old man and a 15-month-old baby were taken to hospital by ambulance, she added.

Neighbours said the victims lived in a top-floor flat at the property.

Fire crews recovered five people from inside the property

Adele Gordon said: "There were people everywhere. This man came running up the street shouting 'my kids are in there, my kids are in there'.

"People started smashing the windows but the smoke was mad, I've never seen smoke like it. It was thick black smoke bellowing out of the house."

Another neighbour, Mike Foster said: "I can't believe it. I'm just in shock. I didn't even know them but I'm just so upset."

A joint investigation is being carried out by North Wales Fire and Rescue Service and North Wales Police.

A Welsh Ambulance Services spokeswoman said the man and baby were taken to Glan Clwyd Hospital.

The man was later transferred to Whiston Hospital, Merseyside, while the baby was moved to Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool.

Both were said to be in a serious condition.

The spokeswoman described the property as a house that had been converted into flats.

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