Party Time In India But Modi Must Reach Out

By Neville Lazarus, India Producer, in Delhi

It's a resounding victory and they are celebrating.

Supporters of the Bharitiya Janata Party have been partying since morning when counting began.

Young and old, first-time voters and veterans, they all converged on the BJP headquarters in Delhi.

Rishi, 24, who is studying to be a chartered accountant, believes Narendra Modi is the only one who can get India back on track.

No one but him can bring about that change, he says.

The right-wing BJP won more than 50% of the vote - a feat not seen for 30 years.

It will now form a new government with Mr Modi as prime minister.

BJP supporters celebrate outside the party's building in Ahmedabad

With victory in sight earlier in the day, Mr Modi met his mother and accepted her blessings.

A self-proclaimed recluse and introvert, he is rarely seen with family.

Right from the start, Mr Modi set the campaign agenda.

He covered a distance of nearly 200,000 miles across the country, addressing 477 rallies and attending over 5,000 events.

He has been the first politician to use a 3D hologram of himself, reaching 14 million people at 1,350 locations.

His Twitter account boasts 3.9 million followers, while his YouTube videos have been played 13 million times.

Ashok Kumar, who came to celebrate the victory, told Sky News: "Modi has delivered the second independence - the first being when India gained freedom from the British in 1947.

Indian women celebrate Mr Modi's election victory

"He has brought the second one after a terrible 10-year rule of the Congress party."

Sonia Gandhi, the head of the Congress party, and her 43-year-old son - vice president Rahul Gandhi, who led the election campaign - have taken moral responsibility for the defeat, telling reporters the mandate was clearly not theirs.

Chants of "Modi! Modi!" resound everywhere in Delhi.

Even senior leaders L.K. Advani and Rajnath Singh spoke of the Modi 'effect'.

His party seems to have been relegated to the background.

However, Mr Modi is seen by many as a polarising figure in the Indian political landscape.

He was at the helm of affairs during the Gujarat riots in 2002.

Mr Modi has pledged to work for the good of all Indians

Over 1,000 people died, many of them Muslims, and 100,000 were left homeless.

No courts have indicted him and investigations have left him in the clear but his role in the riots is still furiously debated.

Britain refused to deal with Mr Modi for a decade and only in October 2012 was the diplomatic boycott finally lifted.

Throughout his campaign, Mr Modi stayed away from religious rhetoric, concentrating instead on development and good governance, of which he has a proven record in Gujarat.

But India is a secular country with many minority and linguistic communities.

Mr Modi will have to reach out to all to be accepted as a national leader.

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Nigeria: Police Not Equipped To Fight Boko Haram

Police in Chibok have said they are not equipped to deal with another Islamist attack like the one which resulted in the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls.

Sky's Special Correspondent Alex Crawford, who is in Chibok, said that despite an increased security presence, police felt under-equipped to serve as any sort of meaningful deterrent against further attacks.

One officer told her he felt unable to enter into a combat situation with the militants, many of whom are armed with heavy machine-guns and rocket-propelled grenades. 

It has been over a month since more than 200 girls were seized by the militants.

Residents in Chibok, in Nigeria's northern Borno state, say they are in constant fear of further attacks, with abductions and killings taking place in the region on a regular basis.

The girls appeared in a video released by Boko Haram last week

Nigerian authorities are accused of being powerless in the face of the Islamist threat and too slow to respond to the schoolgirls' abduction. 

Frustration with the government rose further on Friday when President Goodluck Jonathan cancelled a visit to the region.

It was reported that his security team had advised him against a visit to Chibok on the basis that it was too dangerous. 

Crawford said the families of the missing girls were "very upset and very angry" at the president's last-minute decision to pull out. 

Parents have criticised the government's handling of the abduction

She said: "As one father of an abducted girl told me: 'If it's not safe enough for the president of Nigeria to come to Chibok, how on earth does he feel about us residents of Chibok living here?'."

The president instead flew directly from the capital Abuja to Paris, where he is due to take part in a summit with the leaders of Nigeria's neighbouring states later today.

Representatives from Cameroon, Niger, Chad and Benin will all take part in the half-day meeting aimed at forging a joint strategy to overcome the militants. 

Ahead of the summit, one French diplomat said: "Boko Haram represents a risk to the stability of every state in the region, and the leaders of these countries have to be aware of that."

The Nigerian president is seeking a regional strategy to tackle Boko Haram

British Foreign Secretary William Hague and US Secretary of State John Kerry are also scheduled to attend the meeting hosted by French President Francois Hollande.

Britain, the US and France are all taking part in the search for the missing schoolgirls.

Nothing was seen of the girls until last week when Boko Haram released a video appearing to show a group of about 100 of them who the group said had converted to Islam.

Boko Haram's leader Abubakar Shekau said the girls would not be released until detained militants of the group were freed from prison.

The Nigerian government has reportedly ruled out negotiations on a prisoner swap.

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India's Narendra Modi Celebrates Election Triumph

India's incoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi was mobbed by jubilant supporters as he arrived in Delhi to take part in a victory parade after his historic win.

Narendra Modi's BJM party's was swept to power by the most resounding election result in three decades.

Some 551 million people took part in the national ballot - more than the population of the US, the UK, Germany and Canada combined.

Mr Modi, a Hindu Nationalist has pledged to take India forward after ousting the ruling Congress party from power.

Mr Modi received an enthusiastic welcome at his party's Delhi headquarters

Barack Obama has already invited the new Indian PM elect to visit Washington.

Arriving at the airport in Dehli, Mr Modi smiled and gave victory signs. He also received an enthusiastic welcome at his party's headquarters.

After securing enough seats to become the first majority government India has elected in 30 years, Mr Modi tweeted: "India has won. Good days are coming."

He later told crowds: "The heat of the election is over and the people have given their verdict which says that we need to take India forward to fulfil the dreams of India's 1.2 billion people.

Narendra Modi declared his victory on Twitter

"There are no enemies in democracy, there is only opposition. I will take your love and convert it into progress before I return."

The election result is the worst ever for the Gandhi dynasty and follows what the BJP describe as a "people's revolution".

Mr Modi oversaw a modern campaign which utilised everything from holograms to WhatsApp.

The stock market responded to his win by leaping 6%, sending the rupee to an 11-month high.

Mr Modi has been the top official in Gujarat state for a decade.

Narendra Modi is blessed by mother, Hira Ba, on the day of his victory

The 63-year-old is the son of a tea seller and has played on his humble roots during the election campaign, with references to his mother riding a rickshaw to cast her ballot.

His victory comes despite controversy over links to the paramilitary Hindu nationalist group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) - which some describe as neo-fascist.

As chief minister of Gujarat, Mr Modi was criticised for failing to apologise for religious riots in 2002 in which at least 1,000 people died - mostly Muslims.

He has denied any role in the violence and the Supreme Court declared he had no case to answer.

However, suspicions prompted the US to deny him a visa in 2005, while Britain maintained a diplomatic boycott on Mr Modi until 2012.

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British GSK Executive Accused Of China Bribery

By Mark Stone, China Correspondent, In Beijing

The British former head of GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) China unit has been accused of bribery.

Chinese investigators claim Mark Reilly ordered his salespeople to bribe doctors and hospital officials to use the drug company's products.

A statement released by police in the central city of Changsha said that resulted in "illegal revenue" of more than £100m.

Mr Reilly and two Chinese executives have also been accused of bribing government officials in Beijing and Shanghai.

A Ministry of Public Security official told a news conference in Beijing that GSK departments "offered bribes to hospitals and doctors as well as personnel to boost their sales".

A GSK spokesman was not immediately available to comment on the allegations though the company has previously stated its head office had no knowledge of the alleged wrongdoing.

Mr Reilly, who left China in July last year only to return in September to assist the investigation, has since been prevented from leaving the country.

A spokesman from the Chinese Public Security Bureau told Sky News that he remained in China but would not be drawn on whether Mr Reilly would now be arrested.

The British Embassy in Beijing, which has been across the allegations against GSK since they first emerged, referred all questions to GSK.

"We are aware of recent developments in the case but cannot comment whilst it is still ongoing.  We are in close contact with GSK". an embassy spokesman said.

China is a key growth market for large drug-makers, which are counting on the country's swelling middle class to offset declining sales in Western countries.

Before the scandal, GSK's China sales had risen 14% year-on-year in the three months to end-June, but revenue in the country plunged 61% in the third quarter and 29% in the final quarter of 2013.

The crackdown reflects a growing determination by Chinese authorities to stamp out corporate bribery and corruption, which can drive up prices for consumers.

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Turkey Mine Blast: 201 Dead And Toll May Rise

At least 201 miners have been killed and hundreds are still missing after an underground explosion and fire in western Turkey.

The country's energy minister Taner Yildiz said 787 workers were in the mine at the time of the blast, which is thought to have been caused by an electrical fault.

He said 363 miners have been rescued but hundreds are still trapped in shafts and tunnels, some of which are a mile underground.

The blast in Soma, some 155 miles (250km) south of Istanbul, is one of the worst mining disasters in Turkish history.

Many of the miners were coughing and covered in dust as they were rescued

Mr Yildiz said rescue efforts are now "reaching a critical stage," with hopes fading for those still trapped.

A fire is still said to be burning inside the mine hindering rescue efforts.

High levels of carbon monoxide have reportedly forced rescue teams to halt the operation on a number of occasions.

Dozens of miners have been rescued or made their own way out

Fresh air is being pumped into the pit to help workers who may be struggling to breathe.

TV pictures showed rescued miners coughing and spluttering as they were pulled out alive, their faces coated with black dust.

Relatives waited anxiously at the entrance to the mine, cheering and applauding each successful rescue.

But, according to journalist Dorian Jones, fear has already turned to anger among the relatives of many of those lost.

Worried relatives rush to the mine complex in the town of Soma

He told Sky News previous accidents have been reported at the mine and the safety record of operator Soma Komur has been called into question.

Mr Jones said one miner had told him he felt like a "lamb to the slaughter" every time he went to work.

Miner Oktay Berrin told news agency AFP workers were not protected underground.

In a statement, the mine's owners, Soma Komur, described the explosion as a "tragic accident" which happened "despite maximum safety measures and inspections".

The explosion happened in Turkey's western Manisa province

According to Turkey's ministry of labour, the pit was last inspected on March 17 and was found to be compliant with safety regulations.

The accident happened when a power distribution unit exploded about 1.2 miles (2km) beneath the surface, according to Nurettin Akcul, head of the Turkish Mineworkers' Union.

It is thought it happened during a change of shifts, leading to confusion over the exact number of workers still inside.

The country's worst mining disaster was in 1992, when a gas explosion killed 270 workers near the Black Sea port of Zonguldak.

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has postponed a one-day visit to Albania and is heading to the scene.

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Oscar Pistorius To Hear Psychiatric Ruling

Oscar Pistorius has arrived at court in Pretoria where a judge will rule whether the athlete must undergo psychiatric tests.

The prosecution made the application for a referral after defence evidence from a forensic psychiatrist, who said the defendant had generalised anxiety disorder.

But the defence argue there is no need for psychiatric observation, and said the application had "no merit".

If approved the move could delay the trial by at least a month.

The prosecution has already claimed the decision to call Dr Merryl Vorster so late in the trial - after Pistorius himself had given evidence - may be a "fallback option" for the defence in the event of a guilty verdict.

Sending the 27-year-old for mental health tests at this stage could also eliminate the possibility of an appeal by the defence on the grounds that Pistorius' mental health had not been fully and adequately assessed.

If Pistorius were found to be suffering from a mental illness, he could be held not criminally responsible for his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp's death and found not guilty by reason of "mental illness or intellectual disability".

In her evidence, Dr Vorster said Pistorius had GAD and was a "distrusting and guarded" person who is "hyper-vigilant" about security.

But she also said he was able to able "to function at a high-level", and did socialise.

Pistorius is accused of killing Ms Steenkamp in a premeditated attack at his home in Pretoria, South Africa, on Valentine's Day last year.

He denies the charge and claims he shot his partner after mistaking her for an intruder.

More follows...

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Schoolgirl Kidnap: Nigeria 'Won't Pay Ransom'

How To Tackle Nigeria's Growing Insurgency?

Updated: 1:09pm UK, Friday 09 May 2014

By Sam Kiley, Foreign Affairs Editor

American "experts" have arrived. British "advisers" are on their way - phew. It may only be a matter of time before Nigeria's missing girls are found and rescued.

Baloney.

Boko Haram is not a new problem. It's been violently opposing Nigeria's governments since 2009, leaving 4,000 dead, laying waste to villages, and not long ago killing 58 schoolboys in their classrooms.

It's had links to al Qaeda in the Islamic Mahgreb (AQIM).

It kidnapped a French family in the Cameroons, and is reported to have netted $3m (£1.78m) for their safe release.

The militant Islamist group has achieved international notoriety over the abduction of the girls, all aged between 12 and 15  - but only after releasing a video threat to sell them into slavery.

But it has been closely monitored by Western security agencies for some time.

In 2012, British special forces troops were at the sharp end of a failed rescue operation in Sokoto aimed at releasing Chris McManus, a British engineer and his Italian colleague.

They had been held by Boko Haram for over a year. It was thought they were about to be moved or sold to an al Qaeda group operating in the lawless Sahel.

The connections to al Qaeda, which intelligence sources say extends all the way to Somalia but is more tightly entwined with AQIM, have meant that Boko Haram has been of considerable interest to the West.

This has been mostly manifest in sharing intelligence with and getting information from Nigerian agencies about the threat that the movement might pose beyond Nigeria's borders.

Dealing with the growing domestic insurgency has been seen as a strictly Nigerian matter.

Very often Western commentators will see the involvement of Western troops or spooks as a panacea to turmoil in a Third World nation.

They are not.

It took the British army half a decade to get to grips with the complex tribal structures that dominate Helmand in Afghanistan, where the UK sent some 10,000 troops.

American forces never got to grips with the complex world of Somalia's clan structures after its UN/US intervention there in 1991.

And Western allies have left chaos in their wake after their invasion of Iraq.

Foreign experts can, however, help with technical intelligence surveillance, planning, and perhaps even offering troops for a final assault on a complex target.

But all other matters must remain domestic issues because only locals can fully understand the complexities of the social landscape they live in.

There may, ultimately, be a useful military option involving a strike at the leadership of Boko Haram that the West can help with.

But Nigerians know that finding a solution to a growing insurgency involves far more complex issues.

Nigeria's economically-neglected north will need a greater share of the nation's annual oil revenues of $50bn (£29.8bn) if it's going to reverse the growing north-south schism that has always threatened the coherence of the former British colony.

Locally, Boko Haram's foot soldiers will need to be lured out of the bush with offers of amnesty and employment. Surviving leaders may need to be given a role.

But, of course, this "proves" the argument that politics in Nigeria can only be advanced through the barrel of a gun - the nation has suffered at least eight military coups since independence from Britain in 1960 and is now taking nervous steps along a democratic pathway.

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Ukraine Separatists Declare Victory In Poll

Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine have claimed victory in a contentious referendum which could see two regions break away.

Voters in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk cast ballots on Sunday on whether to declare their areas independent, but with links to Moscow.

The unofficial poll has been condemned by a host of countries, including Britain, and dismissed as a "criminal farce" by the government in Kiev.

More than three million ballot papers are said to have been distributed across the two regions, with organisers claiming to have spent just £980 on the entire ballot.

Roman Lyagin, election chief in Donetsk, said early results showed almost 90% of voters in the region were in favour of sovereignty.

Mariupol has been at the centre of eastern Ukraine violence

In Luhansk, no immediate preliminary results have yet been released.

In Mariupol, the scene of fierce fighting in recent days, there were just eight polling stations for half a million people.

As the makeshift polling stations closed on Sunday night, at least one person in the town of Krasnoarmeisk was reported to have been shot dead by Ukrainian government forces.

Reports said the troops had tried to stop people voting.

Witnesses claimed heavily armed men in balaclavas started shooting at the crowd as the tense standoff escalated.

On the edge of Slavyansk, fighting broke out around a television tower shortly before people began making their way through barricades of felled trees and tyres for the vote. One serviceman was wounded.

Slavyansk's self-proclaimed mayor Vyacheslav Ponomaryov said turnout was 80% and the result "was not in doubt".

People queued up to vote on the future of Donetsk and Luhansk

Asked if he knew what would follow, the former businessman said: "Of course we know. Work starts on the establishment ... of the Donetsk People's Republic."

Western leaders have threatened more sanctions in the key areas of energy, financial services and engineering if Moscow continues what they regard as efforts to destabilise Ukraine.

The EU may announce as early as today measures endorsing a widening of the legal criteria for imposing sanctions on Russia, with the goal of making it easier to freeze the assets of companies involved in the Ukraine crisis.

Using the new expanded criteria, EU officials have prepared a list of 14 people and two Crimean companies active in the energy sector that ministers are likely to add to the EU sanctions list today, diplomats say.

The identities of the people and firms are being kept confidential for now.

The EU has previously imposed asset freezes and visa bans on 48 Russians and Ukrainians over Moscow's annexation of Crimea but it would be the first time the bloc has targeted companies.

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Oscar Pistorius Trial: Athlete Back In Court

A weapons expert who carried out various tests after Oscar Pistorius shot dead his girlfriend is facing further scrutiny in court, as the athlete's legal team prepares to wrap up its defence.

Thomas Wolmarans is back on the stand in Pretoria, South Africa, where the Paralympian's murder trial has entered its 30th day.

Defence lawyer Barry Roux has only a limited number of witnesses left to call and is expected to close his case this week.

Judge Thokozile Masipa will retire to consider her verdict once prosecutor Gerrie Nel has completed his arguments.

Thomas Wolmarans faced tough questioning from Gerrie Nel on Friday

On Friday, Mr Wolmarans recreated the moment Ms Steenkamp was shot dead by playing the part of the former model in a reconstruction.

He entered a mocked-up version of Pistorius' bathroom and mimicked the movements he believes the athlete's partner made when the bullets struck her body on Valentine's Day last year.

Earlier in the day, Judge Masipa and lawyers huddled around the door as a court official used a spray to reveal a laser beam set up by prosecutors to show the trajectory taken by one of the bullets.

Pistorius, 27, denies a charge of premeditated murder, claiming he mistook Ms Steenkamp for an intruder.

The trial continues.

More follows...

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Ukraine Referendum Will Add Fuel To the Fire

The polling stations are ready and we're told three million ballot papers have been printed, enough for every eligible voter in the region of Donetsk.

But what is still far from clear is what they are being asked to vote for.

The question seems to be deliberately vague: do you support the act of state sovereignty of the Donetsk People's Republic?  Yes or No?

That could be taken to mean greater autonomy, or some form of autonomous region, but still within Ukraine - or they could find they have voted for the creation of an independent state that could then seek to join the Russian Federation, a la Crimea.

Then there is the question of legality.

The referendum has no basis in law as there is no provision for local referenda on the statute in Ukraine.

There also seems to be no independent oversight and the poll will be policed by the separatists themselves - hardly the ideal conditions for a free and fair vote.

The organisers do not have access to up-to-date voting lists - those are held by the Ukrainian state security service - so they are relying on data from the 2012 parliamentary elections.

The vote is not being independently monitored

The ballot papers, at least those that we have seen so far, appear to have been printed on an ordinary printer, with no watermarks or other features to guard against, say, photocopying.

But that  is unlikely to be at the top of the list of complaints, when the votes are also going to be collected and counted by "People's Republic" volunteers.

None of which is to deny that there may well be a genuine number of voters going to the ballot box on Sunday to vote "yes", at the very least to express their dissatisfaction with the government in Kiev.

The latest poll shows that while a strong majority (70%) in the east still want to live in a united Ukraine, around two-thirds (67%) disapprove of the current national government.

But I strongly suspect we will be in roughly the same position after this referendum as we are now - the Ukrainian authorities and politicians in the West will say that this was an illegal poll, carried out under the threat of intimidation, and with no means of independent verification.

The People's Republic will say, assuming the vote goes their way, that the people have spoken, that they have a democratic mandate, that this is a genuine popular uprising of ordinary citizens demanding their rights.

What is clear is that this referendum is unlikely to resolve what seems to be a deteriorating security situation in the east of this country - it is difficult to see it will do anything other than add more fuel to the fire.

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Eastern Ukraine Regions Vote On Self-Rule

Ukraine Referendum Will Add Fuel To the Fire

Updated: 7:31pm UK, Saturday 10 May 2014

By Katie Stallard, Sky News Moscow Correspondent

The polling stations are ready and we're told three million ballot papers have been printed, enough for every eligible voter in the region of Donetsk.

But what is still far from clear is what they are being asked to vote for.

The question seems to be deliberately vague: do you support the act of state sovereignty of the Donetsk People's Republic?  Yes or No?

That could be taken to mean greater autonomy, or some form of autonomous region, but still within Ukraine - or they could find they have voted for the creation of an independent state that could then seek to join the Russian Federation, a la Crimea.

Then there is the question of legality.

The referendum has no basis in law as there is no provision for local referenda on the statute in Ukraine.

There also seems to be no independent oversight and the poll will be policed by the separatists themselves - hardly the ideal conditions for a free and fair vote.

The organisers do not have access to up-to-date voting lists - those are held by the Ukrainian state security service - so they are relying on data from the 2012 parliamentary elections.

The ballot papers, at least those that we have seen so far, appear to have been printed on an ordinary printer, with no watermarks or other features to guard against, say, photocopying.

But that  is unlikely to be at the top of the list of complaints, when the votes are also going to be collected and counted by "People's Republic" volunteers.

None of which is to deny that there may well be a genuine number of voters going to the ballot box on Sunday to vote "yes", at the very least to express their dissatisfaction with the government in Kiev.

The latest poll shows that while a strong majority (70%) in the east still want to live in a united Ukraine, around two-thirds (67%) disapprove of the current national government.

But I strongly suspect we will be in roughly the same position after this referendum as we are now - the Ukrainian authorities and politicians in the West will say that this was an illegal poll, carried out under the threat of intimidation, and with no means of independent verification.

The People's Republic will say, assuming the vote goes their way, that the people have spoken, that they have a democratic mandate, that this is a genuine popular uprising of ordinary citizens demanding their rights.

What is clear is that this referendum is unlikely to resolve what seems to be a deteriorating security situation in the east of this country - it is difficult to see it will do anything other than add more fuel to the fire.

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Nigeria Kidnapping: Militants 'Have Laid Traps'

The militants who have kidnapped almost 300 schoolgirls in Nigeria are likely to have laid booby traps and landmines to stop them being found, Sky News has been told.

A former member of Nigerian military added that starving members of Boko Haram could be a way of rescuing the girls, who were taken from Chibok in the northern state of Borno on April 14.

Former air commodore Darlington Abdullahi said: "They may have made land mines, one cannot rule that out.

Boko Haram have threatened to sell the girls 'on the market'

"One thing for sure is, even as they go along abducting children, they will also go after food; grabbing food from various angles.

"That is why it's important that if the military from various countries close up on them that means the issue of starvation might come in and might even force them to find exit ways and most likely abandon the girls that are still with them within the forest."

Intelligence sources have previously told Sky News they believe they know where some of the schoolgirls are.

Parents of some of the kidnapped girls

The sources believe they have been split into at least four different groups.

Sky News also understands British and American officials are using advanced eavesdropping equipment to scan the Sambisa forest where the schoolgirls are thought to be.

The militants are believed to have blown up an important bridge near where the girls were first seized, complicating efforts to find them.

The burnt out school from where the girls were taken

Fleeing residents said the bridge between the states of Adamawa and Borno was destroyed on Friday.

The wife and two children of a retired police officer were also abducted, they said.

A team of French experts arrived in the country on Saturday, as international efforts to find the schoolgirls are ramped up.

Borno state in the north borders Cameroon

This follows on from British and American personnel arriving earlier in the week.

As international help continues to arrive, the Nigerian military has had tip-offs that Boko Haram could be planning another attack on the market in the capital Abuja.

The militant group has killed more than 1,500 people this year and has been waging an insurgency in the country for the last five years.

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