Snow Warning As Sub-Zero Temperatures Bite

Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 17 Januari 2015 | 23.17

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Travel disruption looks set to continue as warnings of plummeting temperatures, snow and ice have been issued for large swathes of the UK.

The mercury will drop below freezing across much of the UK later, down to a low of -9C (16F) in the Scottish glens and -5C (23F) in southern England this weekend.

Sky News weather producer Rebecca Yussuf said: "Widespread sharp frosts will form each night over the weekend and early next week, with icy stretches on untreated surfaces.

"There will be further wintry showers, with rain and hail at low levels, sleet and snow over the higher ground.

"The higher ground of Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England can expect a further 2-5 cm (up to two inches), with perhaps a slight covering at lower levels."

Southern England could see sleet and settling snow in places, mainly over the higher ground.

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Gallery: Snow And Ice Hit Parts Of UK

Snow and icy conditions are hitting many parts of the UK - and temperatures are set to plunge well below zero in many areas.

These pictures were taken in Cumbria, one of the areas hit by snowfall

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Northern England and parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland are expected to get up to two inches of snow this weekend

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Southern England could see sleet and settling snow in places, mainly over the higher ground

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Dr Angie Bone, of Public Health England's extreme events team, urged people to help vulnerable relatives and friends keep warm.

"Cold does kill, even in places where the temperatures aren't at their lowest. Most of our advice on keeping warm in cold weather may seem like common sense, but it's important that we make the point that people should think about how cold can affect them.

"Our advice is that when indoors, have plenty of warm food and drinks to stay warm and try to maintain indoor temperatures to at least 18C, particularly if you are not mobile, have long-term illness or are 65 or over."

Age UK urged older people to "take basic precautions" and called on the Government to "commit to improving the energy efficiency of homes across the country" in a bid to end preventable winter deaths.

Heavy snow has already caused disruption on roads, rail and at airports, and police have warned motorists to only to travel if necessary.

In Scotland on Friday, snow up to 5ft deep in parts left drivers stranded overnight on the A9 route to the Highlands.

Trains were cancelled between Perth and Inverness and there were delays at Glasgow Airport.

A van driver died when a tree fell on top of his vehicle in Co Antrim and a three-year-old child and an elderly woman were among three injured when a pallet was blown from a lorry in east Belfast during strong winds.

Winds of 101mph were reported in Great Dunsell, Cumbria - the highest in the UK - while other exposed areas also saw speeds of above 70mph.

The strong winds caused disruption on railways in Kent and Birmingham, and part of Glasgow city centre was closed off after metal sheeting fell from the roof of a hotel.

:: Send your cold snap pictures and video to news@sky.com

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Miliband Attacks 'Five Years Of Failure'

By Darren McCaffrey, Sky Political Reporter

Ed Miliband has launched an attack on the Conservatives' economic record, claiming there has been five years of denial, complacency and failure on living standards.

Responding to the Prime Minister's call on British businesses to pass on the success of recent months in higher wages, the Labour leader said people across the country will have been "choking on their cornflakes".

During a speech at the Fabian Society's annual conference Mr Miliband said: "You can't wipe out five years of failure on living standards with pre-election pleading.

"You can't magic-away people being £1,600 a year worse off by trying to take credit for falling oil prices."

David Cameron has called for companies to act after official figures showed the fall in oil prices in recent months led to a 16-year high in profitability.

Speaking in Washington DC, the Prime Minister said: "Obviously I want to see that companies' success is passed through in terms of people seeing wage increases.

"It has to be done in a way that is affordable, in a way that companies can continue to grow.

"We need to see productivity grow. I also support, as I said in the House of Commons, the companies and organisations that can afford to pay the living wage. It is good. It also helps reduce welfare bills."

But Mr Miliband claimed the Government had consistently "shown a tin ear" over the issue of family living standards.

"They have denied the cost of living crisis," he said. "They have been woefully out of touch with the daily struggles of families. They have rubbished the idea that people are worse off."

The Conservatives hope, with less than four months until the election, that falling inflation driven primarily by falling oil prices would help living standards.

A recent Institute of Policy Research study suggested the average worker was about £5,000 worse off last year compared to 2008.

Labour believe that if they can move the political narrative from macro-economic growth to whether people feel better off, they can regain voters' trust on who is best to run the economy.

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Cameron's Anti-Terror Plan Rings Alarm Bells

David Cameron's had a rough ride on both sides of the Atlantic with his plans to ban encrypted communications.

Reactions included "colossally stupid", "idiotic" and "technologically illiterate" from former White House cyber officials to people in the digital technology industry.

But there is another reason to be worried about the Government's attempt to assume even more anti-terror powers - the potential for their abuse.

Justifying his controversial proposals, the Prime Minister insisted to Sky News: "We don't want to interfere with the privacy and civil liberties of our citizens."

Yet his Government is currently defending the use of existing anti-terror legislation to do just that.

There was outrage earlier this year when British police were revealed to have used laws designed to target terrorists to spy on journalists instead.

Journalists and press freedom advocates warn the secret surveillance is already having a chilling impact on whistle-blowers.

Ordinary people who want to expose wrongdoing to journalists will think twice if they believe the police have placed the press under surveillance.

The first force to be exposed secretly using anti-terror laws to spy on journalists was London's Met.

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act was passed to protect national security and stop terrorists.

The London police used it to spy on Sun political editor Tom Newton Dunn, not to prevent a terrorist outrage, but instead to find his police sources during the Andrew Mitchell "plebgate" affair.

Police were able to view his private mobile phone records without his knowledge because of a piece of legislation that had been justified originally only to protect national security.

Since then the UK Press Gazette has revealed the same law is being used by other police forces to spy on more journalists.

Home Secretary Theresa May has listened to all the outrage and drawn up legislation that will effectively legalise the right of police to continue spying on journalists.

The proposal rides roughshod over the decades-old principle that it is in the public interest for journalists' sources to be protected.

Journalist surveillance need only be approved by a senior police officer, not a judge.

The National Union of Journalists has warned that Theresa May's proposal "denies journalists an opportunity to defend the confidentiality of their sources, and information that deserves to be in the public domain won't see the light of day as a consequence".

The freedom of ordinary citizens and the press to expose and reveal wrongdoing by government and others is a cherished liberty.

In America it is enshrined in the constitution.

Secret police surveillance of the press for minor crimes is common in less free societies.

In Britain it has already begun.

In the light of all that, the Prime Minister's pledge that new anti-terror laws will not interfere with civil liberties and freedoms rings hollow.

Terror Crackdown: What Does Encryption Mean?

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Man In Court Over South Oxfordshire Fires

A man has appeared in court charged over a series of arson attacks in South Oxfordshire.

Andrew Main, 47, of Roke Marsh Farm, Roke, Wallingford, appeared at Oxford Magistrates' Court charged with two counts of arson with intent to endanger life and two counts of arson reckless as to whether life was endangered.

The charges relate to fires in Crowmarsh Gifford and Roke Marsh Farm in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The South Oxfordshire Council offices, a funeral parlour and a thatched cottage were targeted, along with a building at the farm.

Twenty-seven fire crews were sent to the infernos - all reported within less than 10 minutes of each other, just after 3am.

A witness described seeing a burnt-out car in the foyer of the council headquarters, while aerial images show a collapsed section of roof on the charred remains of the building.

An army bomb disposal team was also dispatched amid fears of unexploded gas canisters at one of the sites.

Main, who appeared at the short hearing wearing a plain grey tracksuit, nodded when asked if his personal details were correct.

He was remanded in custody to appear at Oxford Crown Court on January 30.

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Man Shot Friend Dead Testing 'Bulletproof Vest'

A man who shot dead a friend who was wearing what he believed was a bulletproof vest has been jailed.

Lorry driver Ian Catley killed Philip Harper in a Cambridgeshire field last June and later pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Mr Harper had visited a military surplus store the previous day and wanted to test what was described in court as a "protective" vest, although he apparently believed it was bulletproof.

Southwark Crown Court heard he had asked another friend to help him test it out, but he refused.

Defence barrister Mark McDonald said: "(Mr Harper) was very proud of it. He'd gone to the pub that evening wearing that vest and indeed a SWAT cap.

"After a drink or so, he asked more people, and Mr Catley agreed to do a stupid and undoubtedly reckless act."

Prosecutor Martin Mulgrew said the vest actually had a plastic casing that funnelled the shotgun spray into the centre of Mr Harper's chest, slicing an artery.

Despite Catley's desperate attempts to save his friend's life in the Melbourn field before driving him to hospital, Mr Harper could not be saved.

"You shot Mr Harper at a distance of less than 20 feet, causing him catastrophic injuries and immediate death," Judge Jeffrey Pegden QC told Catley.

Catley stared straight ahead in the dock he was sentenced to seven years, while his mother appeared to fight back tears from the public gallery.

The court heard Catley, 40, had nightmares about what he had done.

"Your remorse is complete and genuine," the judge said.

"You recognise the magnitude of your actions and I have no doubt that the effects of killing your good friend will last with you for the rest of your life."

But he said Catley, as a gun licence-holder, had "manifestly breached those obligations and duties".

The judge ordered that his gun be forfeited and destroyed.

Detective Inspector Ian Simmons, of Cambridgeshire Police, said: "This is a particularly sad case, where a foolish incident ended in tragedy."

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Terror Police Arrest Teen At Stansted Airport

An 18-year-old woman has been arrested at Stansted Airport on suspicion of terrorism offences.

Anti-terror officers arrested the teenager when she arrived on a flight at around 4pm on Friday.

Scotland Yard said she has been taken to a central London police station for questioning.

She was arrested on suspicion of the preparation of terrorist acts and membership of a banned organisation.

It is unclear at this stage where the teenager was travelling from.

As part of the investigation, a 21-year-old man was arrested in Hackney on 29 October on suspicion of assisting another to commit acts of terrorism.

He has since been re-bailed to a date in January.

A search at the residential address in Hackney was also carried out.

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'Increasing Concern': Search For Missing Teen

Fears are growing for a student who went missing after a night out with friends in Durham two days ago.

Euan Coulthard, 19, has not been seen since the early hours of Thursday and friends say he has not responded to emails, texts or online messages.

Shopkeepers in Durham have put up posters and fellow students have joined searches for the popular student, who comes from Nottingham.

Police have been searching the banks of the River Wear and mountain rescue experts have also been involved in checks of steep wooded areas.

Mr Coulthard is a member of Durham University's St Mary's College and was out on Wednesday evening, celebrating a friend's 21st birthday at an Italian restaurant.

He went to the Love Shack nightclub and was seen leaving alone. He was last spotted on CCTV crossing Framwellgate Bridge.

Mr Coulthard is 5ft 9ins tall, of average build, with light brown hair. He was wearing black skinny jeans, a denim jacket and a beige patterned shirt.

Chief Inspector Sue Robinson said: "Our concerns are rising but this is still an active missing-from-home investigation.

"For the first two days of the search the river was one metre higher than normal and fast running.

"At the first possible opportunity to enter the water and to search we have. I have every hope that he will be found."

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Death Threats Received At London Mosque

By Hind Hassan, Sky News Reporter

A north London mosque has received death threats and Islamophobic hate mail following last week's Paris attacks.

Some 15 emails and letters have been sent which include hand drawn images depicting the Prophet Mohammed as a devil worshipper.

Mohammed Kozar, the general secretary at Finsbury Park Mosque, told Sky News that despite many messages of support, there has been a spike in abuse.

"Most of them are nasty drawings about our prophet and our books," he said.

"Some of them make death threats against our community, so it's quite frightening for our community and our mosque."

In 10 years the new management has reformed the mosque from a hub for extremist ideology to a focal point in the community for interfaith and peaceful worship.

Despite the huge changes, the mosque's work is often overshadowed by its old links with extremist preacher Abu Hamza, who was sentenced to life in prison earlier this month for supporting terrorist organisations.

Two of the three gunmen involved with the Paris attacks have also been linked with a former member of the mosque.

It is alleged that Djamel Beghal, who attended the mosque in the late 1990s went on to mentor Amedy Coulibaly and Cherif Kouachi.

Mr Kozbar said it was frustrating for worshippers to be associated with old extremists.

"It makes me feel very upset and very angry," he said. "People should realise that changes have taken place here from 2005 until now and the community feels it's not fair to always link the mosque in a such negative way to what's happening elsewhere.

"It's not fair for them after the work they've done here; changing it from a hostile atmosphere to a cohesive atmosphere.

"I can't deny or confirm whether this person (Djamel Beghal) had links to the mosque before 2005 but I can confirm it never happened whilst we were here."

Reda Hassaine went undercover at Finsbury Park Mosque in the late 1990s and early 2000s when he worked as an informer for MI5. He says he vividly remembers seeing Beghal at Finsury Park mosque.

"I remember some scenes where he was sitting on the flour with four, five, six people around him sat in front of a television showing videos of massacres of people in Algeria," he said.

The mosque is now the only one in the country to have received the charity commission-endorsed Visible Quality Award for its work in the community.

But there are fears it is not just Finsbury Park mosque that is experiencing an increase in abuse since Paris attacks.

Fiyaz Mughal, director of Islamophobia watchdog Tell MAMA, says there has been an overall increase in reports of abuse.

"There is a vast amount of online hate around but we've also had street-based incidents reported to us, particularly from mosques.

"We're also having members of the public - particularly visible Muslim women - who are unfortunately coming back to us saying people are saying things to them again around the Charlie Hebdo affair; saying things like 'I'm Charlie - you are not.'

"We've received information from umbrella bodies that work with Muslim charities. They have sent us information around leaflets that have been sent and, again, hate mail that has been sent to Muslim charities.

"So faith institutions as well as Muslim charities are the ones receiving some form of hate mail at the time."

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Europol: Paris-Style Attack Cannot Be Ruled Out

The head of the EU's police agency Europol says there are no guarantees that another Paris-style terror attack can be prevented despite increased security measures.

Rob Wainwright told Sky News that it has become "extremely difficult" to deal with the threat posed by Islamist extremists.

It comes as David Cameron vowed to tackle what he called the "poisonous narrative of Islamist extremism that is turning too many young minds".

He was speaking following two days of talks with US President Barack Obama in Washington where they said a new group would be set up to exchange information and expertise to tackle the terror threat.

There are fears about the spread of terrorism after last week's Paris attacks that left 17 people dead and the arrest of more than two dozen people in anti-terror raids in Belgium, Germany and France.

Belgium has now deployed hundreds of troops to guard locations thought to be at risk including Jewish sites and embassies.

Mr Wainwright said stopping every potential attack was "very difficult" but vowed to "prevail" and said there was a determined action by police to disrupt cells.

He said: "Even in countries like France that have some of the most well-equipped counter-terrorist capabilities in the world, still it is possible for terrorist attacks to take place.

"This means that stopping everything is very difficult. Containing the threat fully is very difficult but I'm sure we will prevail in the same way as societies have prevailed against other forms of terrorism in the past."

The Prime Minister wants to be able to better track suspected terrorists without undermining civil liberties and admitted there was an inability to interrupt their communications.

He pushed for tougher requirements for internet firms to alert authorities to suspicious online exchanges, ban encrypted communications and store data.

A report last year into the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby concluded that Facebook failed to pass on information that could have prevented his death.

Mr Wainwright said the terror threat was "very serious" and a "large-scale problem" across many European countries and there could be thousands of suspects radicalised online and through their experiences in Syria and Iraq.

The PM said dealing with extremism meant combating the threat in those conflict zones but also "dealing with terrorism in our own midst".

He said he had some "important discussions [with Obama] about how we combat the poisonous narrative of Islamist extremism that is turning too many young minds towards this.

"And crucially how to make sure that we are still able legally to intercept the communications of terrorists and stop them before they create mayhem and murder.

"This is controversial. We have to get it right. There's always been an inability in extremism to interrupt the communications of terrorists and to stop them doing what they plan.

"I think it's important we maintain those capabilities in the future."

The Prime Minister's policy proposals have caused concern on both sides of the Atlantic about the prospect of security efforts encroaching on privacy.

The two leaders also agreed to stage cyber "war games" and establish a joint "cyber cell" to boost both countries' resistance to hack attacks.

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Eurostar Cancels All Trains After 'Lorry Fire'

All Eurostar trains have been cancelled for the rest of the day after a reported fire in the Channel Tunnel.

Passengers are facing hours of delays after Eurostar said smoke had been detected in the north tunnel and services were suspended in both directions.

The company, which runs passenger services linking St Pancras in London with Paris and Brussels, said all trains were returning to their original stations and the tunnel was closed.

Car and freight services between Folkestone and Calais, run by Eurotunnel, were also suspended.

Kent Police said there had been a lorry fire at the French end of the tunnel.

However, a spokesman for Eurotunnel said there was not a truck fire but a carbon dioxide alarm had gone off.

The firm tweeted: "Passenger and freight services are currently suspended in both directions.

"CO2 detectors have been activated in one tunnel; we are currently awaiting feedback from teams in Tunnel."

Dozens of services overall are thought to have been cancelled as a result of the closure.

A warning to customers on the Eurostar website said: "We are sorry but we are unable to run any further trains today because Eurotunnel has been closed due to smoke detected in the north tunnel.

"If you were planning to travel today, we advise you to postpone your journey and not to come to the station."

It added on Twitter: "Due to today's suspension of services, tickets can be refunded or rebooked within the next 60 days for travel within six months."

No-one was believed to be hurt in the incident that was being dealt with by French authorities.

A Kent Police spokesman said: "A lorry fire has led to the closure of both bores of the Channel Tunnel.

"The fire was at the French end of the tunnel and is being dealt with by the French authorities. There are no reported injuries.

"However, rail passengers are advised to expect significant delays whilst the vehicle is being recovered and fumes are cleared from the tunnels."

In March, hundreds of Eurostar passengers were delayed after a lightning strike triggered a fire in a building close to the entrance to the tunnel in Kent.

Although there was no damage to the track, four trains in and out of England were affected.

Three eventually reached their destination but the fourth, which had been heading to Paris, was forced to turn back to London.

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