Sticking Points Hold Up Iran Nuclear Talks

Negotiators at the Iran nuclear talks inched towards a breakthrough deal on Thursday but will need at least another full day if agreement is to be reached.

Baroness Ashton, lead negotiator for the EU countries, has been locked in talks with the Iranian delegation led by Foreign Minister Mohamed Javad Zarif.

If they succeed it will ease tensions, and fears of war, and give all sides six months to come to a more comprehensive agreement.

Sky News understands that each side has the draft text of what could be a final agreement in front of them.

Some sentences are in brackets, and some words underlined in red. These indicate the wording of issues which are contentious to one side or the other.

It is taking time to work through each one, and some have to be left so they can move on to others.

Scientific and language experts are also in the room ensuring that each side agrees they understand what the other means when using specific terms.

The Iranians want recognition of their "right" to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes and an easing of sanctions.

In return they would be expected to agree not to enrich uranium to more than 3.5% and possibly reduce their stockpiles already enriched to 20%.

There is also the issue of Iran's plutonium reactor which could come on stream next year.

There is another complicating factor meaning the talks can be expected to go on possibly past Friday: Baroness Ashton may be leading the negotiations but it is doubtful the Americans will give her the authority to sign off on a final deal without them seeing the full text and probably having their own face to face talks with the Iranians.

There are indications that the US Secretary of State John Kerry is preparing to fly to Geneva.

If that happens then the foreign ministers from France, the UK, Germany, and possibly Russia, may also fly in.

This is what happened 11 days ago when an agreement looked within reach. However, all sides left empty handed.

It could happen again as there are still several brackets and words underlined in red left in the draft text of the agreement.

There is a feeling here that they are closer than 11 days ago, but that the fundamental sticking points remain to be resolved.

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JFK Anniversary: 'Remarkable Life' Remembered

JFK: Magic Bullet, Fourth Shot And A Pink Dress

Updated: 1:28am UK, Friday 22 November 2013

From the magic bullet theory to the first lady's blood-stained pink dress, we look at some of the crucial findings and iconic moments surrounding John F Kennedy's assassination.

:: OFFICIAL FINDINGS

The Warren Commission, chaired by Chief Justice Earl Warren, concluded after a ten-month inquiry in 1964 that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. The US House Select Committee on Assassinations found in 1978 that Mr Kennedy "was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy", though investigators were unable to identify a second gunman or the extent of the conspiracy.

:: FOURTH SHOT

The Warren Commission said three shots were fired, all from the Texas School Book Depository. But some witnesses reported hearing a shot from the grassy knoll. One witness, Sam Holland, reported seeing a "puff of smoke" from a group of trees on the knoll. However, no physical evidence pointed to another shooter and nobody reported seeing a person with a rifle at the spot. The Select Committee said it was probable that a fourth shot had been fired from the grassy knoll but missed.

:: MAGIC BULLET

This is one of the most controversial theories surrounding the assassination. The Warren Commission asserted that one bullet passed through Mr Kennedy's throat and then struck Texas Governor John Connally's chest and wrist before lodging in his leg. Sceptics believe this trajectory to be improbable and say the bullet should have been more damaged.

:: ABRAHAM ZAPRUDER

A Russian immigrant who, via Brooklyn, had settled in Dallas, Abraham Zapruder was a successful manufacturer of women's clothing. Like many Americans, the 58-year-old was developing a passion for homemade movies and set out to film Mr Kennedy's motorcade with his 8mm camera. His silent, colour film, taken from a pedestal on grassy knoll, lasts 26 seconds and contains 486 frames. It remains the clearest video of the assassination. The original Zapruder film is part of the Kennedy Collection and is in the custody of the Motion Picture Sound and Video staff.

:: AUTOPSY REPORT

Among the facts that have fed conspiracy theories is the charge that the original notes written by one of the two Navy pathologists who performed the autopsy had disappeared. The pathologist, Dr James J Humes, explained that he burned his original set of notes because they were stained with Mr Kennedy's blood and wanted to prevent them from becoming a macabre collector's item. In a 1992 interview with the Journal of the American Medical Association, he said he had burned them in his fireplace "after I had copied verbatim in my own handwriting the entire contents". 

:: QUESTIONING THE FIRST LADY

Justice Warren, who was close to the Kennedys, resisted interviewing Jacqueline Kennedy to protect her from further distress. Bowing to pressure from other commission members, he agreed to the interview, but he did so without informing other relevant members of the commission and for just a few minutes, according to a new book called A Cruel And Shocking Act by Philip Shenon.

:: THE PINK DRESS

Mrs Kennedy's pink dress, a Chanel-like ensemble with navy lapels complete with pink pillbox hat, has become a symbol of both her glamour and of the assassination day's violence. Mrs Kennedy insisted on wearing the suit, stained by her husband's blood, during Lyndon Johnson's swearing-in and on the flight back to Washington. According to William Manchester's book the Death Of A President, to aides urging her to clean up, she responded: "No, let them see what they've done." Now the dress, still stained, is preserved in a vault of the National Archives, out of view according to restrictions imposed by the Kennedy family. The hat is believed to have been lost in the day's confusion.

:: FUNERAL

Three days after the assassination, the US stopped to bid farewell to the murdered president. The state funeral on November 25, 1963, in Washington drew hundreds of foreign dignitaries. Only 50,300,000 American households had televisions in 1963, and it was estimated that 41,553,000 sets were tuned into the funeral. The ceremony included a touching moment that went on to become one of the iconic images of US history: The president's son, John F Kennedy Jr, saluting his father's casket near St Matthew's Cathedral after the funeral mass in Washington. The president was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

:: JIM GARRISON

New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison announced in 1967 that he had "solved the assassination", accusing anti-Communist and anti-Castro extremists in the CIA. In 1969, he brought to trial New Orleans businessman Clay Shaw on charges of conspiring to assassinate Mr Kennedy with the help of Lee Harvey Oswald and others. A jury took less than an hour to find Mr Shaw not guilty in a trial many saw as a farce. To date, Mr Shaw is the  only man to have been prosecuted for the Kennedy assassination.

:: POPULAR CULTURE

Fifty years after the assassination, a majority of Americans believe Mr Kennedy was the victim of a conspiracy - 61 % according to a Gallup poll this month. Numerous books and movies have been made on the Kennedy assassination, many espousing conspiracy theories. In 1991, Oliver Stone's JFK - largely based on Mr Garrison's views - rekindled interest in the conspiracy theories and led to the declassification of thousands of relevant documents. In 2001, the miniseries The Kennedys, starring Greg Kinnear as the president and Katie Holmes as the first lady, chronicled the life of the family.

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Latvia Supermarket Collapse: 21 Killed

Rescue teams are searching among the rubble of a Latvian supermarket which collapsed and killed at least 21 people.

Fire trucks and ambulances remain at the scene of the Maxima shopping centre, and rescue workers are using mechanical cutters to clear debris from the single-storey concrete and glass building.

Among the dead are three firefighters, an official said.

The roof of the supermarket collapsed on Thursday evening when the store was busy with shoppers on their way home from work.

Rescue workers were called to the store, situated in the midst of grey, Soviet-era housing in a suburb of the capital Riga.

The Maxima supermarket in the Latvian capital Riga

Several people were injured by a second collapse caused by the building's weakened structure.

It is unclear how many people remained trapped in the ruined store.

"Twenty-one dead found, searching continues," Latvia's Fire and Rescue Service said in a tweet on Friday.

News agency RIA Novosti quoted Riga's mayor, Nils Usakovs, as saying 70 people are still in the building.

Rescue services said 36 injured people had been rescued and police sniffer dogs were searching for people still trapped.

Rescue workers at the site of the collapsed supermarket

More than 60 soldiers were helping with the rescue effort, the army said on its official Twitter feed.

Latvian TV said three cranes are working to remove concrete blocks from the roof so that rescuers could get to those inside, but firefighters feared another collapse.

Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis told Latvian TV that the rescue work would probably go on for many hours.

"It is clear that there has been a problem with fulfilment of construction requirements," Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskis told Latvian TV by telephone.

The police have launched an investigation into the collapse.

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Algeria's World Cup Celebrations Turn Deadly

At least 12 people have been killed and 240 injured as Algerians celebrated the national football team securing a place in the 2014 World Cup.

The casualties came during nationwide festivities in the wake of Algeria's 1-0 victory over Burkina Faso, which will take the team to Brazil next year on the away goals rule after an earlier 3-2 defeat in Ouagadougou.

All across Algeria people poured into the streets to celebrate the so-called Desert Fighters' qualification for the World Cup finals, with young men driving their cars down the streets and honking their horns.

Five fans were killed when a van slid off the road into a ravine in the mountain town of Bejaia, east of Algiers, while four others died in the southern city of Biskra in a car accident, officials said.

Three more died in other towns, although no further details were provided.

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Paris Shootings: Suspect's DNA Is A Match

DNA collected at one of the scenes of the Paris shootings is a match to a suspect arrested on Wednesday evening.

The man, named by police as Abdelhakim Dekhar, was detained at around 7pm local time (6pm UK time) in a vehicle in an underground  car park in the western suburb of Bois-Colombes.

The office of city prosecutors said the reading of Mr Dekhar's rights had to be postponed because he was not in a position to be questioned.

Several sources close to the investigation said the suspect had been found in a semi-conscious state.

A witness to the arrest told BFM TV: "I don't know if they fired or not to make him stop. He did not move in the ambulance."

Police made the arrest after a tip-off

Police sources told the AFP news agency that the man arrested is the same Abdelhakim Dekhar who was convicted in 1998 for his links to a 'Bonnie-and-Cyde-style' murder spree.

Dekhar was accused of buying a gun used in the 1994 attacks by Florence Rey and her lover Audry Maupin.

Three policemen and a taxi driver were killed in the attacks, in a case that gripped France.

Dekhar protested his innocence at his trial in 1998, claiming he had been recruited by the Algerian secret service to infiltrate the French far-left. Despite that, he was found guilty and sentenced to four years in jail.

Investigators had earlier released CCTV images of the man they were looking for taken in an entrance in the La Defense business area.

They have received hundreds of calls about the case from members of the public.

On Monday, the shooter critically wounded a photographer at the offices of Liberation newspaper.

The suspect was caught on camera in the La Defense area

The photographer was arriving for his first day of freelance work at the newspaper and suffered wounds to his chest and stomach.

After fleeing the newspaper's offices in the east of Paris, the gunman is believed to have crossed over to the western edge of the city, where he fired several shots outside the main office of the Societe Generale bank. No one was hurt.

He then reportedly hijacked a car driven by a priest and forced him to drop him off close to the Champs-Elysees in the centre of the city.

The shootings prompted a manhunt across Paris. The motive for the attacks remains unknown.

The same man is also suspected of previously entering the offices of French TV station BFM carrying a gun.

The attacks led to French police arranging guards at Paris media outlets.

The photographer's assistant, who has not been named, is understood to be awake and off life support.

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Iran Nuclear Talks Are A 'Historic Opportunity'

By Tim Marshall, Foreign Affairs Editor, in Geneva

As negotiators from Iran and six world powers sit down for a second day of talks in Geneva they still face major hurdles if there is to be a breakthrough interim agreement on Tehran's nuclear programme.

Last night a senior American administration official here at the talks agreed progress had been made since the previous round of talks ended without success 10 days ago, but urged caution about the prospects of an agreement by Friday.

Speaking in Istanbul, British Foreign Secretary William Hague was more upbeat.

"The differences that remain between the parties are narrow and I believe that they can be bridged with political will and commitment," he said.

"So this is an historic opportunity to build agreement on how to curb nuclear proliferation in the Middle East and potentially to set our relations with Iran on a different path."

If there is to be an agreement it will require compromises on all sides.

Iran insists on its right to enrich uranium despite numerous UN Resolutions calling on it to halt. The compromise on this could be that Iran stands by its claim, but does not insist other countries recognise that claim.

Another possible compromise could be for Iran to agree to stop enriching to levels close to weapon-grade material, but continue to enrich at lower levels.

The French would have to drop their insistence that Iran reduces its stockpile of uranium already enriched to the high level of 20%.

Perhaps the most difficult issue is Iran's plutonium reactor due to open next year.

It's thought France insists it must not open as that would be another route to a nuclear bomb, but Iran insists on its sovereign right to operate such a plant.

Here the compromise could be for France to agree the facility can open, and Iran to accept limits to what it can do within the facility.

If there is an agreement the US and EU will relax some of the sanctions currently hurting the Iranian economy. About $10bn belonging to Iran which is currently in foreign bank accounts would be unfrozen.

The talks are scheduled over three days ending tomorrow. However, in reality the negotiations have dragged on for 10 years. If there is no breakthrough the voices asking 'what is the point of continuing them' will grow louder.

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Iran Nuclear Talks With West Resume In Geneva

PM's Key Call To Iran President

Updated: 12:02am UK, Wednesday 20 November 2013

David Cameron has become the first British Prime Minister to call an Iranian president in more than a decade.

The Prime Minister spoke to Hassan Rouhani by telephone on Tuesday afternoon ahead of negotiations over Tehran's nuclear ambitions in Geneva this week.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "The two leaders discussed the bilateral relationship between Britain and Iran welcoming the steps taken since President Rouhani took office, including the appointment of non-resident Charges d'Affaires last week.

"They agreed to continue efforts to improve the relationship on a step by step and reciprocal basis.

"On Iran's nuclear programme, both leaders agreed that significant progress had been made in the recent Geneva negotiations and that it was important to seize the opportunity presented by the further round of talks which get under way on Wednesday.

"The Prime Minister underlined the necessity of Iran comprehensively addressing the concerns of the international community about their nuclear programme, including the need for greater transparency."

Dr Rouhani also gave details of the phone call on his Twitter feed, saying they discussed "way to create a positive atmosphere to address concerns on both sides on the nuclear issue".

Three days of high-level talks between representatives from Iran and the P5+1 group of nations earlier this month failed to achieve a breakthrough.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said Iran had been unable to accept a deal "at that particular moment", but Tehran blamed divisions between Western powers.

Some reports suggested France had wanted to place restrictions on the heavy-water reactor being built at Arak.

Iran stresses that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only, and has warned world powers against making "excessive demands" when trying to negotiate a deal.

In September, US president Barack Obama spoke with Mr Rouhani, the first such top-level conversation in more than 30 years.

Mr Obama said it was a "unique opportunity" to make progress with Iran's new leadership.

On the eve of next round of Geneva talks, the President urged Congress against imposing news sanctions on Iran during the negotiations.

He said such measures "would be most effective as a robust response, should Iran not accept the P5+1 proposal, or should Iran fail to follow through on its commitments," according to White House spokesman Jay Carney.

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South Africa Building Site Collapse Traps Dozens

Up to 20 people are believed to be trapped under rubble after a shopping centre under construction in South Africa collapsed, officials have said.

Medical response company Crisis Medical said at least three people died and 42 others had been taken to hospital, some with "massive traumatic injuries".

The collapse happened at a construction site in the town of Tongaat, 40km (25 miles) north of the eastern coastal city of Durban.

Medical official Neil Powell said: "It's a very big construction site, probably about 200m (656ft) long."

He said most of the injuries were "broken bones, multi-fractures and crush injuries ... some are in severe condition, others are mild".

The Emergency Operations Control Centre said the rescue operation is now declared as search and recovery.

Television footage showed police and rescue workers walking over large piles of rubble and twisted metal lying next to a railway track.

It is not known what caused the collapse. Pic: Crisis Medical.

It is not clear what caused the three-storey building to collapse but a deputy mayor in the area said authorities had obtained an injunction a month ago to stop construction at the site.

"There are areas of the law that they did not follow in terms of building of this infrastructure," deputy mayor Nomvuzo Shabalala told broadcaster ENCA.

"We were not aware that they were continuing building."

Chris Botha, a spokesman for the Netcare 911 emergency service, said the second floor of the structure had given way.

"The scene is extremely horrific ... concrete big blocks have fallen on to people," he told broadcaster ENCA from the scene.

"The guys are busy using hydraulic rescue equipment to break through the concrete and get to some of the patients."

Mandy Govender, a police spokeswoman, said sniffer dogs were combing the area for survivors.

 "There's just chunks and chunks of concrete and we don't know what's underneath," she said.

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Egypt: '12 Soldiers' Killed In Car Bomb Attack

At least 12 Egyptian soldiers have been killed and 24 wounded in a car bomb attack in Sinai, according to Sky sources.

Activists deface a monument dedicated to the protesters killed in 2011

The blast happened near the city of El-Arish and was one of the deadliest attacks in the Sinai Peninsula since al Qaeda-inspired militants began stepping up assaults following the army's ousting of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.

The attack came as one person was killed and dozens more injured during clashes between opponents and supporters of Egypt's military-backed regime in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Tuesday.

The memorial is reduced to a lump of concrete covered in graffiti

Police backed by armoured vehicles fired tear gas and shots to drive protesters out the square after they gathered to mark the anniversary of the 2011 demonstrations against the military which took power after President Hosni Mubarak's overthrow.

During those protests more than 40 protesters were killed during fighting with security forces which lasted several days.

Supporters and opponents of the military regime clash in Tahrir Square

Yesterday's rally was aimed against people the protesters felt had "betrayed" the revolution - Mubarak loyalists, the military council that ruled for 17 months after his fall, and the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood which won subsequent elections but was ousted by the military in July.

The military handed power to Islamist president Mr Morsi in June 2012, after he won the country's first free election, but overthrew him a year later following mass protests demanding his resignation.

A mural dedicated to the activists killed during the Egyptian uprising

Mahmoud Hisham, a 21-year-old student, said: "The revolution is still not over.

"In three years we had three systems and three traitors - Mubarak, the military and the Brotherhood."

Some protesters threw rocks and fireworks but left the square shortly after the security forces moved in.

Supporters of Ehypt's military chief General Abdel Fatah al Sisi

Security forces have killed hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood members since Mr Morsi was removed from power.

Thousands have been arrested and the group has been outlawed.

The new military-backed government of General Abdel Fatah al Sisi is pushing ahead with a transition plan aiming for new presidential and parliamentary elections early next year.

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Paris Shootings: Manhunt After Newspaper Attack

A manhunt is under way in Paris after two separate shootings, including one at a newspaper that left a man fighting for his life.

A photographer's assistant was seriously injured at the offices of the Liberation newspaper before another shooting about two hours later outside the headquarters of Societe Generale bank.

In a third incident, a man was taken hostage close to the bank and forced to drive to the Champs-Elysees before being released.

Police said descriptions of the car-jacker matched that of the gunman. Shotgun cartridges found after both attacks also match up.

There are unconfirmed reports that the lone suspect may be carrying grenades.

The hostage was released on the Champs-Elysees

Officers are guarding media offices across Paris and are investigating a link with an incident on Friday when a man with a shotgun threatened journalists at a French news channel.

Police said that CCTV images of the shooter suggested he was the same man who had stormed into the headquarters of BFMTV on Friday.

In that attack the man brandishing a shotgun warned a senior editor: "Next time, I will not miss you."

Police stand guard outside the Liberation newspaper office

The victim at the Liberation newspaper was shot in the chest and arm, according to police union spokesman Christophe Crepin.

The shooter reportedly entered the lobby of the building wearing a bulletproof vest just before 10.15am, fired several shots with a pump-action shotgun and then fled.

Liberation said the 27-year-old victim is in a critical condition at the city's Pitie-Salpetriere hospital.

Liberation journalist Anastasia Vecrin said she saw a man "lying on the ground, holding his stomach and with blood everywhere" as she arrived at work.

"I met two of the reception staff who were completely white and who told me: 'We've just been shot at'," she said.

The second shooting was outside the Societe Generale headquarters

No one was injured at the bank shooting, according to a Societe Generale spokesperson.

Police confirmed three shots were fired outside the building, located in La Defense district, which is about six miles (10km) from the newspaper's office.

Francisco Alvarez, who witnessed the shooting at La Defense, said: "I saw this guy with a cap and a shotgun, a pump-action shotgun, in his hand.

"I don't think he was necessarily targeting anyone, he shot in the air then into a window. 

"The first shot shocked everyone into silence and then the second caused a general panic. Then he ran away down the steps to the street."

France's Interior Minister Manuel Valls speaks to media after the attack

Freelance journalist Peter Allen, who is on the Champs-Elysees, said: "The hunt is on for this man.

"He has been described as between 40 and 45 years old, stout, shaven headed, wearing a cap and jeans.

"Rather disturbing reports say he is actually brandishing hand grenades as well as a shotgun.

"No one has seen him for a while and there are reports that he disappeared down into the Metro system - specifically line one - a hugely popular line full of tourists at all times of the day."

French President Francois Hollande said in a statement he had ordered authorities to "mobilise all means to clarify the circumstances of these acts and arrest the perpetrator or perpetrators".

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Typhoon Haiyan: Video Shows Home Swept Away

Huge waves can be seen crashing into and washing away a house in amateur footage from one of the typhoon-hit areas of the Philippines.

Shot from the top floor of a boarding house in Hernani as a storm surge hit, the video released by an aid organisation shows the home disappear after being completely engulfed by water.

The footage emerged as the United Nations warned that some Philippine islands may have not been reached 10 days since the disaster struck, claiming more than 3,900 lives.

Millions have been displaced by the disaster

Nickson Gensis, from the Plan International development organisation, filmed the video from the building he and five others were staying in a few hundred metres from the sea.

"Five were praying and I was filming," he said.

"Three of our group were male and we all wore trunks so that we could swim if we needed to. We were so scared. But I thought, 'If I die, so be it'.

"It was like a huge tsunami but the water receded quickly afterwards."

With thousands dead and hundreds of thousands of homes destroyed, Philippine president Benigno Aquino visited the town of Palo, just south of worst-hit Tacloban city, where engineers have salvaged generators from a flooded IT park to light up the streets and town hall again.

A survivor surveys the devastation in a part of Tacloban

"One is tempted to despair, but the minute I despair, then everybody, it cascades down and everybody gets hampered in their efforts," he said.

Authorities in the country, the US military and international agencies face a mounting humanitarian crisis, with the number of people displaced by the catastrophe estimated at four million.

Bernard Kerblat, UN High Commissioner for Refugees representative for the Philippines, said the agency was still facing co-ordination problems.

"As of now, personally, I am not so sure that we've reached every single portion of the territory where people are in need of aid," he said.

"And, in fact, I wouldn't be surprised that unfortunately that there might still be, as I'm speaking to you, day 11 of this disaster, there might be still very isolated islands."

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Toronto Mayor Rob Ford Knocks Over Councillor

Toronto's disgraced mayor Rob Ford went down fighting as the city council stripped him of most of his remaining powers, after a heated debate where he knocked over a female councillor.

Mr Ford, who has been under fire for his drug use and drinking, as well as the way he has handled the accusations, has vowed in an interview to give up alcohol and lose weight.

In the latest chapter of the saga in Canada's biggest city and economic hub, Mr Ford was reduced to largely a figurehead following the latest sanctions against him for his admissions of smoking crack cocaine and binge drinking.

The council voted to cut his office budget by 60% and allow mayoral staff to join the deputy mayor.

"This is a coup d'etat," Mr Ford told council, denouncing the motion.

Members of the public chanted from the gallery "Shame! Shame!" at the mayor. But he taunted back at the hecklers, deriding them as "punks."

In chaotic scenes caught on camera, Mr Ford is shown running across the council chamber straight into councillor Pam McConnell, who falls to the ground.

Mr Ford has vowed to take the council to court

Another councillor asked him to apologise and Mr Ford said he was rushing to the defence of his brother, city councillor Doug Ford.

"I picked her up. I ran around because I thought my brother was getting into an altercation," Rob Ford said.

Visibly shaken after being run over, Ms McConnell, a petite woman in her 60s, said she never expected the chaos that broke out.

Mr Ford now effectively has no legislative power as he will no longer chair the executive committee. But he keeps his title and ability to represent Toronto at official functions.

He has vowed to take the council to court and insists he will seek re-election next year, warning councillors that the campaign would rival the 1991 Gulf War.

"This, folks, reminds of when I was watching with my brother when Saddam (Hussein) attacked Kuwait," Mr Ford said.

"And President Bush said, 'I warn you, I warn you, do not (attack Kuwait).' Well, folks, if you think American-style politics is nasty, you guys have just attacked Kuwait."

Councillors turned their backs on Rob Ford in the chamber last week

The latest council motion is the strongest possible measure it can adopt against Mr Ford since it does not have the power to remove a mayor unless there is a criminal conviction.

Doug Ford also brought a motion that was later ruled out of order that would have called a snap mayoral election, something the mayor also has sought.

"This is a modern-day overthrow of an elected official. This is wrong," said the mayor's brother.

In an interview with CBC on Monday after the council action, Rob Ford said he had not had a drop of alcohol in three weeks and vowed to stop drinking completely.

"Finished," he said when asked by host Peter Mansbridge about his drinking.

"I've had a 'come to Jesus moment' if you want to call it that."

Rob Ford's troubles have thrust Toronto into the international spotlight

A new television show featuring the mayor and his brother also debuted on Canada's right-wing Sun News Network.

During the one-hour show, the mayor and his brother took recorded questions from viewers and defended his recent performance as mayor, but revealed nothing new about the scandal.

Rob Ford's troubles began in May when news reports first surface of a video showing him smoking crack.

Outbursts caught on camera and claims he verbally abused his aides and entertained a prostitute have added to the controversy.

Over the weekend, Mr Ford made the rounds of the US media to try to convey his side of the story, to general incredulity, and attended a Canadian football game where fans cheered him on.

He maintained, however: "I'm not an alcoholic, I'm not a drug addict."

Of his critics, he said: "The haters are going to be the haters."

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Russia Plane Crash: Briton Among The Dead

A Boeing 737-500 airliner has crash-landed in the Russian city of Kazan, killing all 50 people on board - including a British national.

The Tatarstan Airlines flight from Moscow was trying to abort its landing in order to make a second approach, when it struck the runway and exploded.

Forty-four passengers and six crew members on board were killed, according to emergency officials.

Among the dead was the son of the leader of the Tatarstan region, Irek Minnikhanov, and the head of Russia's FSB security service in Tatarstan, Alexander Antonov.

The UK Foreign Office confirmed the death of a Briton in the crash.

"We are in touch with local authorities and providing consular assistance to those affected," it said.

The aircraft was making a second attempt to land at Kazan airport

The plane took off from Moscow's Domodedovo airport at 6.25pm local time and crashed just over an hour later.

According to eyewitnesses, the Boeing lost altitude quickly and its fuel tank exploded on impact.

There were high winds and cloudy skies over the airport in central Russia at the time of the crash.

Boeing officials at the Dubai Airshow declined to comment on the crash.

The flight was operated by the regional Tatarstan airline, according to a spokeswoman from Russia's Emergencies Ministry.

Kazan, which is 500 miles east of Moscow, is the capital of the oil-rich region of Tatarstan.

A new runway was built at the airport ahead of the World Student Games, held in the city earlier this year.

A spokesman for state aviation oversight agency Rosaviatsia said authorities would search for the flight recorders.

"The plane touched the ground and burst into flame," Sergei Izvolsky said.

"The cause of the crash as of now is unknown."

Russia and the former Soviet republics combined had one of the world's worst air traffic safety records in 2011, with a total accident rate almost three times the world average, according to the International Air Transport Association.

IATA said last year that global airline safety had improved, but accident rates had risen in Russia and the ex-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States.

In April 2012, at least 31 people were killed when a Russian passenger plane crashed shortly after take-off in Siberia.

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'Black Gold Rush': Brazil Poised For Oil Boom

By Greg Milam, Sky Correspondent in Rio

A former fishing village in Brazil is at the centre of a "black gold rush" which could make it one of the most important energy centres on Earth.

Macae has already grown by 600% in the last decade as a result of a surge of international interest in oil reserves off its coast.

But even that boom could be dwarfed in the next 10 years following the discovery of billions of barrels more under salt layers on the sea bed.

The fish market has been the economic heart of Macae for a century

Brazilian energy giant Petrobras has signed deals worth billions with international oil firms to extract the "pre-salt" oil, a costly and delicate operation that carries no guarantee of success.

The South American country, the fifth-largest in the world, is pinning its hopes on the project to re-ignite an economic miracle that has showed signs of flagging.

And British firms are among those hoping to hit the jackpot.

Barrie Lloyd-Jones has just been appointed UK honorary consul to Macae to help British employers and employees in the city.

The businessman, who has lived in Macae for nearly 30 years, told Sky News: "Brazil is no longer a third world country. It has fantastic opportunities for those that want to come here.

Oil, 100 miles off the coast, has transformed Macae

"The British Government is very interested in sharing this boom with Brazil. We're here to identify and take advantage of the opportunities.

"There are going to be more booms."

The "pre-salt" discovery would be one of them.

UK firm Sonardyne, which makes deep water positioning sensors for the oil industry, has been in Macae for 14 years and is expecting further growth.

The company's offshore development director, Richard Binks, told Sky News: "In the next 10 years, the potential to develop these fields will be adding enormous exploration and production budgets.

Macae is now six times the size it was a decade ago

"I think this place will be unrecognisable in 10 years' time."

But the international enthusiasm for Macae is not matched by locals who feel they are missing out on the windfall.

There have been protests at Petrobras locations.

Gesionildo Borges, who is working with oil companies and local authorities to try to spread the wealth, said it was vital new infrastructure, housing and training allowed local people take some of the new jobs.

If not, he said people would be forced to the edge of town where already crime has increased as a way of making a living.

The Brazilian government has promised that the wealth from the "pre-salt" bonanza will be shared by the whole population.

But, as protests over the cost of staging the World Cup have shown, Brazilians are wary of their government's promises to improve the lives of all.

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US Midwest Hit By Severe Tornadoes: Six Dead

At least six people have been killed after powerful tornadoes carved a path of destruction across the US Midwest.

Entire neighbourhoods were flattened within seconds as the twisters, triggered by a "very dangerous" and fast-moving weather system, touched down in as many as 10 states.

Forecasters warned the extreme weather, which destroyed homes, uprooted trees and flipped cars upside down, could affect more than 50 million people as it pushes east towards Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland and New Jersey.

The devastation left behind by a tornado in Washington, Illinois

According to the National Weather Service, more than 60 tornadoes struck, unleashing 80mph winds and hail stones up to two inches in diameter.

Extensive damage was reported in Illinois, where three people are known to have died, as well as Kentucky, Indiana and Missouri.

At one hospital in Peoria, Illinois, doctors were treating at least 24 casualties, some of whom had head injuries and broken bones.

The storm caused major damage

Anthony Khoury, who saw a twister rip through his home city of Washington, Illinois, told Sky News: "Most of my neighbourhood is completely destroyed, everything has been demolished.

"Families have lost their homes, people don't have anywhere to sleep and the electricity has gone."

Michael Perdun, a fellow Washington resident, said: "I stepped outside and I heard it coming.

A car stands crushed beneath a fallen tree in Pekin, Illnois

"My daughter was already in the basement, so I ran downstairs and grabbed her, crouched in the laundry room.

"All of a sudden I could see daylight up the stairway and my house was gone.

"The whole neighbourhood's gone (and) the wall of my fireplace is all that is left of my house."

Ten states may be affected by the storms (Pic: National Weather Service)

Jeff Leeman, who was in his backyard with his son when a tornado struck Pekin, Illnois, added: "In a matter of seconds ... it was right on top of us.

"We hustled in the house and before we knew it, it was gone. It was that fast."

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Antibiotics Warning: Resistance 'Growing'

By Enda Brady, Sky News Reporter

The world faces "unimaginable setbacks" unless it tackles the growing threat of resistance to antibiotics, according to an international group of experts.

The latest research by the 26-strong group predicts major problems unless governments work together immediately.

Antibiotic resistance happens when bacteria evolve mechanisms to withstand the drugs which are used to fight infection.

"The causes of antibiotic resistance are complex and include human behaviour at many levels of society," said lead author Professor Otto Cars, of Uppsala University in Sweden.

"The consequences affect everybody in the world. Within just a few years, we might be faced with unimaginable setbacks - medically, socially, and economically - unless real and unprecedented global co-ordinated actions to transform the way antibiotics are regulated and developed are taken immediately."

In September, the UK Government announced plans for a five-year strategy to tackle the problem, setting aside £4.5m.

In the UK, research is focusing on how plant chemicals keep insects at bay

Recent decades have seen vast increases in the use of antibiotics across medicine and agriculture, but the scientists argue that without adequate regulatory controls and better patient awareness, the huge global surge in antibiotic resistance will continue.

They say the problem is compounded by a desperate shortage of new drugs to treat multi-drug resistant bacterial infections.

Prof Cars added: "Antibiotic resistance is a complex ecological problem which doesn't just affect people, but is also intimately connected with agriculture and the environment.

"We need to move on from 'blaming and shaming' among the many stakeholders who have all contributed to the problem, towards concrete political action and commitment to address this threat. Consumers and providers of antibiotics alike need to be empowered to tackle antibiotic resistance, as well as ensuring that those in need benefit from affordable, effective antibiotics."

One of the British scientists who helped compile the report said that alarm bells have been ringing - and ignored - for many years.

Prof Laura Piddick says more funding is needed to develop new treatments

"For a long time there has been a sense of crying wolf over this," said Professor Laura Piddock, from the University of Birmingham.

"Science has been telling us about this problem for years. We need more academic research and funding. New treatments have been hampered by a lack of funding. It has always been viewed that this is something that the pharmaceutical industry should do."

At the John Innes Centre in Norwich scientists are going back to nature for the answers, studying how plants like eucalyptus trees producing chemicals to keep insects at bay.

"Plants have a distinct disadvantage in that they can't move out of the way of predators," Tony Maxwell, the centre's head of biological chemistry, told Sky News.

"And they have no end of predators, large and small animals, insects and bacteria. They have to produce a whole array of chemicals to defend themselves. What we are trying to work out is how we can use those chemicals for our own usage in antibiotics."

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Typhoon Haiyan 'A Wake-Up Call' For Climate Change

The devastating typhoon in the Philippines must act as a wake-up call to the impact of climate change, aid agencies have warned.

Members of the Disaster Emergencies Committee (DEC) are warning leaders meeting at the UN climate talks in Warsaw that the disaster offers a glimpse of the future if urgent action is not taken.

Aid agencies including Christian Aid, CAFOD, Care International, Oxfam and Tearfund said ministers meeting in the Poland capital must act urgently because climate change is likely to make such extreme weather events more common in future.

Climate models forecast that typhoons could become more powerful and that weather-related events around the world will be more extreme and frequent, they warned.

Family members carry a relative's coffin through a destroyed chapel

The aid agencies said the governments meeting must deliver more climate finance, drastically cut global emissions and establish a loss and damage mechanism which would obligate developed countries to help those who are at risk of the effects of climate change.

The DEC and other agencies are working to deliver life-saving aid to the millions affected by the typhoon - said to be the strongest ever to make landfall - which saw wind speeds of up to 200 miles an hour flattening swathes of the Asian island nation.

Oxfam's head of advocacy, Max Lawson, said: "This should be a wake-up call for negotiators who have been sleepwalking through a process fraught with delay and indecision.

A damaged fishing boat lies submerged on Bantayan Island

"The images we have seen from the Philippines are a reminder that climate change is not about numbers and process, but a growing reality for poor people who desperately need support to protect themselves and build safer futures."

Delegates from 195 countries are taking part in the annual UN climate talks, which are taking place until November 22.

It comes as delayed emergency supplies continue to flow into the central Philippines on Saturday.

People in a temporary shelter in Tacloban city

More than a week after Typhoon Haiyan killed at least 3,633 people, the UN has doubled its estimate of homeless to nearly two million.

There are still 1,179 people missing, according to national figures.

Philippines President Benigno Aquino is visiting the typhoon-hit areas today. He has faced criticism for a slow response to the disaster and unclear estimates of casualties, especially in the hardest-hit Tacloban area.

A child's teddy bear is hung out to dry

British Prime Minister David Cameron pledged an additional £30m on Saturday for international aid agencies working in the country.

It brings the total amount pledged by the British Government to £50m, on top of £33m in donations from the public.

The Royal Navy warship HMS Daring has arrived this morning to help the aid effort.

Japan will also send 1,180 troops to the island nation, along with US military assistance from the USS George Washington aircraft carrier.

A number of Britons are still missing following the disaster, Foreign Secretary William Hague confirmed on Saturday.

Among those feared dead is Colin Bembridge, 61, from Grimsby, who was staying with his partner Maybelle, 35, and their three-year-old daughter Victoria near Tacloban when the storm hit.

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Mandela's Granddaughter: My Battle Of Survival

By Alex Crawford, Special Correspondent

Nelson Mandela's granddaughter Zoleka has told Sky News how her grandparents inspired her in her battle to beat breast cancer.

Her interview with Sky comes as a leading South African newspaper reported her grandfather could no longer speak because of all the "tubes that are in his mouth to clear (the fluid off) his lungs".

The South African Sunday Independent splashed the news across its front page this morning following an interview with Mandela's second wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. 

The former South African president is considered to be medically stable by doctors although still critical and is being cared for at a 24-hour medical unit set up at his home in Houghton, a suburb of Johannesburg.

Zoleka Mandela's book, When Hope Whispers, was published this week

The newspaper reports that Mr Mandela now communicates using facial gestures.

"He can't actually articulate anything," the newspaper reported Mr Mandela's ex-wife as saying.

The news coincides with the publication of a book by Zoleka Mandela in which she charts her painful journey with breast cancer, but also goes into startling detail about her drink, drug and sex addiction and touches on her childhood sexual abuse.

She stops short of explaining who was responsible for the sex abuse or how it happened.

"That's a story for another book," she told me when we met.

"It's still too painful."

The life of 33-year-old Zoleka has been anything but staid.

Her book, When Hope Whispers, begins with the words: "By the time I was born, on 9 April 1980, my mother (Zindzi Mandela) knew how to strip and assemble an AK-47 in exactly 38 seconds.

"She was 20 years old, trained in guerrilla warfare and already a full-fledged member of Umkhonto we Sizwe (the armed wing of the African National Congress)."

Her family's fight against South Africa's Apartheid laws, which discriminated between different skin colours, dominated their lives and left a personal legacy which they're still coping with.

For Zoleka that meant a descent into drink and drug addiction and multiple sexual partners - but also the loss of two children; one was killed in a car accident, the other died after being born prematurely. And now, it's meant coping with breast cancer.

Zoleka said when she was first diagnosed she refused treatment for three months.

"I think I was in denial," she said.

She feared the chemotherapy and surgery would mean she would be unable to be a healthy mother to her surviving son.

Nelson Mandela can no longer speak, according to a newspaper report

It is a decision she regrets and the aim of the book, she says, is to provide some hope and inspiration to others coping with addictions, loss of children or a potentially terminal disease.

She detailed her chemotherapy in video blogs and pictures too. They show her hair being shorn and a sobbing Zoleka speaking about the pain of being bald. "I feel so ugly," she says.

She was persuaded by her medical team to save her eggs so she could possibly try for a family in the future but talks movingly about how heartbreaking it was for her to come to terms with the fact that with a double bilateral mastectomy, she would never be able to breastfeed again, should she become pregnant.

And she pays tribute to her grandparents. Her grandmother Winnie was by her side through much of her cancer treatment.

"Having the name I have, means there is a certain responsibility that I cant run away from," she said.

"And one of the things I learned from my grandparents is that everyone has the power to make a difference in other people's lives, no matter how difficult their own circumstances, and that's what I'm trying to do."

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