Britain Braced For Second Storm - And Snow

The first widespread snowfall of the year is expected today as a second burst of extreme weather from across the Atlantic sweeps parts of the country, the Met Office has said.

More than 100,000 homes were left without power on Friday as hurricane-force winds bringing gusts of up to 113mph battered the north of Britain, bringing down power lines.

The worst affected areas were across the Highlands, islands, Aberdeenshire and the central belt of Scotland.

There was also major disruption to travel services, with ScotRail forced to temporarily suspend all train services in Scotland over safety reasons.

Ferries were cancelled, roads closed and the Forth Road Bridge was shut for a period after van was blown onto its side.

Waves crash against the sea walls in Blackpool

A gust of 113mph was recorded at Stornoway, the strongest there since records began in 1970.

The ferocious gales have been stirred up by an extra-powerful jet stream triggered by plunging temperatures in the US hitting warmer air in the south.

Video: Latest Sky News Weather Forecast

Gales are expected to return this weekend but are due to peak at around 80mph.

Forecasters said they will be accompanied by snow with yellow "be prepared" weather alerts in place for all of Scotland, the north and Midlands of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Met Office forecaster Alex Burkill said: "As we go through Saturday morning a band of squally rain will move south eastwards and that's going to bring brighter but much colder conditions behind it.

"Some showers are likely to be heavy and may well fall as sleet or snow, particularly in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the north of England and some of the showers could bring significant accumulations, particularly over higher ground. We could widely see 2cm to 4cm of snow, and perhaps 8cm on the highest ground.

"That could cause major disruption to travel so there are yellow warnings in place for affected areas.

Video: Sub-Zero Temperatures Grip US

"As it moves south it will leave colder conditions so after a mild night temperatures will really tumble to 4 or 5C."

Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution said it has restored supplies to 68,000 customers and is working to restore electricity to a further 28,000 customers.

It said its engineers were continuing to reconnect homes today, but staff were "facing a monumental task'' in getting to damaged lines in remote parts.

Scottish Power said around 20,000 customers have been reconnected after losing power, with work ongoing to reach a further 800 properties.

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Search For Pair Missing At Sea Off Brighton

Two men are missing at sea off the coast of Brighton after getting into trouble in severe weather, the Coastguard has said.

They were among four men who had gone into the water in the early hours of this morning.

Two men managed to get back to shore and called the Coastguard just after 1am this morning telling them that two of their companions were missing.

Coastguard and lifeboat teams are looking for the men, but the severe wind is hampering search efforts.

UK Coastguard controller Matt West said: "The unfavourable weather on scene is making the search extremely difficult for those involved.

"The weather is currently South West eight to severe gale force nine with very high waves."

More follows...

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Ched Evans' Oldham Deal Off After Threats

Oldham Athletic's deal to sign convicted rapist Ched Evans is off after staff, sponsors and fans suffered "vile" threats, including death threats, the football club has said.

The League One outfit had come under increasing pressure to turn its back on Evans with tens of thousands of people signing an online petition, local police and politicians voicing their concerns.

And the club's main sponsor ZenOffice threatening to pull out if they signed him.

A club statement said: "The whole issue has divided opinion and the club has been put under unbearable pressure as a result.

"Proceeding could have placed significant financial pressure on the club and continued to be a divisive influence. As a consequence the deal could not go ahead."

Video: 4 Jan - What Do Fans Think?

It went on: "As a club we condemn all crime including rape.

"We deplore and condemn the vile and abusive threats, some including death threats, which have been made to our fans, sponsors and staff whilst this process have been in the public domain."

Sky's sports correspondent Paul Kelso said: "The board of directors has been keen to pursue this deal despite the criticism so this has come as a test of their resolve.

"Evans may have to go further down the football pyramid to get back into the game."

After the deal fell apart, the former Wales international issued an apology "for the effects that night in Rhyl has had on many people, not least the woman concerned".

However, he maintained he had consensual sex with the 19-year-old in a hotel room in 2011.

Video: 21 Nov: U-Turn 'Right Decision'

"Finally, it has been claimed that those using social media in an abusive and vindictive way towards this woman are supporters of mine," he added.

"I wish to make it clear that these people are not my supporters and I condemn their actions entirely and will continue to do so."

The victim has reportedly changed her identity and moved house a number of times after abuse on social media.

Oldham's joint owner Simon Corney had said on Wednesday that there was an "80%" chance of the 26-year-old being signed after talks over several days.

But the deal collapsed amid reports that at least one staff member was told a named relative would be raped if the deal was not stopped.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP), however, said the force was not aware of any threats.

Video: 22 Oct: Evans Wants To Clear Name

Evans has been unable to find a team since being released from prison in October having served half of a five-year sentence.

The Professional Footballers' Association denied it was "driving any deal".

"We fully recognise that this is a delicate and emotive case and entirely respect that there are opposing views," it said in a statement.

He had trained with his previous employers Sheffield United after leaving jail but any hopes of him rejoining them were dashed by fierce opposition from influential figures including Olympic gold medallist Jessica Ennis-Hill.

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Atlantic Jet Stream Brings High Winds To UK

Forecasters are warning of high winds and flooding as an Atlantic jet stream strikes Britain.

The Met Office has issued amber warnings for northern and central Scotland, including Glasgow and Edinburgh.

With winds of more than 100mph expected across the UK, schools have been shut and travel restrictions are in place.

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, wind speeds of between 60mph and 70mph are expected.

The wild weather is caused by an extra-powerful jet stream triggered by low temperatures in the US hitting warmer air.

Forecasters say the 250mph jet stream will bring two "vigorous depressions" to Britain in the coming days.

There are flood warnings in place in central and northern Scotland.

Schools in the Western Isles and Orkney have been closed as a precaution.

Ferry and train timetables have also been reduced because of the high winds.

Forecasters say conditions could rival the weather that battered parts of southern England at the end of 2013, leaving tens of thousands of homes without power.

There are fears of uprooted trees, power cuts and transport chaos from the latest storms. Large waves may also lead to dangerous conditions along coastal areas.

Dublin airport suspended arrivals and departures on Thursday night due to bad weather, with one flight being forced to abort its landing.

Will Lang, chief meteorologist at the Met Office, said: "The winds will be at their strongest through the early hours of Friday and this brings the potential for disruption across Scotland, but there is a chance that strong, gusty winds could persist into the early part of the morning rush-hour as well.

"We'd advise anyone planning to travel during the early part of the morning and into the early rush-hour to be prepared for some transport disruption and check traffic and travel conditions before heading out to ensure you can make your journey safely."

The AA has also warned that drivers faced "potentially hazardous" conditions.

John Seymour, national manager of the AA's severe weather team, said: "Scotland, particularly, is going to take something of a battering and drivers need to be prepared for possible widespread travel disruption and challenging driving conditions across the affected areas.

"If you have no choice but to drive, keep your speed down as sudden gusts can catch you out and there is a risk of debris on the roads."

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British Ebola Nurse 'Stabilised' In Hospital

British nurse Pauline Cafferkey, the first person to test positive for Ebola in the UK, remains in a critical condition but has "stabilised".

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt gave the update as Save the Children said it was urgently reviewing its Ebola safety protocols.

Ms Cafferkey was diagnosed with the deadly virus when she returned to Britain after volunteering with the charity in Kerry Town, Sierra Leone.

She is in an isolation tent at the Royal Free Hospital, in North London, and is being treated with an experimental anti-viral drug.

Pauline Cafferkey was flown from Glasgow to London for treatment

Save the Children is trying to find out whether the 39-year-old contracted the virus while at the Ebola Treatment Centre or in the community, but said it "may never be possible to be 100% sure" how she was infected.

The charity said in a statement: "Save the Children has been conducting a review since Pauline Cafferkey was confirmed as Ebola positive.

Video: Commons Statement On Ebola Nurse

"The Serious Event Review (SER) is looking at how the patient might have contracted Ebola by reviewing training, safety protocols, how protective equipment is used, and working practices.

"The findings of the review will be considered by a panel including independent health experts, which will support Save the Children and make recommendations for any actions if necessary."

Ms Cafferkey was part of a 30-strong team of medical volunteers deployed to Sierra Leone by the UK Government in November and had been there for three weeks before returning home for a break.

In a statement to the Commons, Mr Hunt praised Ms Cafferkey and her colleagues for their "exceptional bravery and compassion they showed in joining the battle against Ebola".

He added: "The work done by Pauline and her colleagues is not just helping to save thousands of lives in Africa, it's protecting the UK from potentially disastrous consequences if the disease spreads beyond the countries where it has currently taken hold."

Video: Ebola: Busting The Myths

He said he had spoken to the doctor leading Ms Cafferkey's care at the Royal Free Hospital.

"As has been reported, Pauline's condition has deteriorated to a critical state although she stabilised yesterday and continues to receive the best possible care," he said.

Mr Hunt also said the UK has tightened steps for dealing with possible Ebola patients - and that the extra measures have been in place since 29 December.

"We have ... strengthened our guidance to ensure that anyone from a high-risk group who feels unwell will be reassessed, advice will be immediately sought from an infectious diseases specialist and the passenger will be referred for testing if appropriate," he told MPs.

"Even if someone isn't displaying symptoms but says they are feeling a bit under the weather, then we would isolate them if they are in the high-risk category."

Video: How Ebola Attacks The Human Body

Ms Cafferkey, who works at Blantyre Health Centre, in South Lanarkshire, first raised concerns about her condition when she returned to Heathrow Airport last Sunday.

Despite undergoing seven temperature checks she was given the all-clear to fly to Glasgow where she lives.

The following morning she was diagnosed with Ebola and placed in isolation at Gartnavel Hospital in Glasgow before being flown to London.

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UK Facing 'Unmanageable Cancer Crisis'

The number of people living with cancer in the UK is set to hit a record 2.5 million this year - creating a "crisis of unmanageable proportions".

The estimate comes from Macmillan Cancer Support, whose analysis puts the figure up by almost half a million from five years ago.

It includes people who have received the all-clear from doctors.

Macmillan chief executive Lynda Thomas wants politicians to commit to ensuring survival rates that match Europe's best ahead of May's General Election.

"While it is great news that more people are surviving cancer or living longer with it, progress is a double-edged sword," Ms Thomas said.

Video: Most Cancers Down To Bad Luck

"As numbers surge, the NHS will soon be unable to cope with the huge increase in demand for health services and the support that organisations like Macmillan provide will become even more urgent and important.

"But we cannot do it alone. As we are threatened by a cancer crisis of unmanageable proportions, all political parties must step up and make a real commitment to supporting people with cancer."

The rising number of people living with cancer is largely due to better detection, as well as a growing and ageing population.

However, there has also been an increase in cancers linked to lifestyle such as kidney, liver and skin.

Video: Doctor: 'Cancer Best Way To Die'

The number of people living with cancer will reach four million by 2030, according to the charity's estimate.

A Department of Health spokesman said: "It is hugely welcome news that over the last five years 500,000 more people are able to live with cancer - part of the fact that cancer survival rates are increasing from relatively poor performance by European standards to their highest ever level in England.

"The NHS is rising to the challenge this presents and is seeing 51% more patients with suspected cancer than 2010, offering cutting-edge drugs through the Cancer Drugs Fund, focusing on high-quality compassionate care as never before, and working to introduce a personalised recovery care package for every patient."

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Osborne To Attack Labour's Spending Plans

By Jon Craig, Chief Political Correspondent

Five Tory Cabinet ministers led by Chancellor George Osborne are to launch an assault on Labour spending plans they claim will be based on costings carried out by the Treasury.

Mr Osborne, Theresa May, William Hague, Nicky Morgan and Sajid Javid will claim Labour's commitments for its first year in office alone total many billions of pounds.

The Conservative attack will coincide with Ed Miliband launching Labour's General Election campaign, claiming the election will be a once in a generation fight about who the country works for.

Ed Miliband will launch Labour's election campaign

"It is a choice between a Tory plan where only a few at the top can succeed and our public services are threatened - or a Labour plan that puts working people first, deals with the deficit and protects our NHS," he will say.

:: Click here for the In The Margins console

Video: In The Margins: 150 Key Seats

The clash will come on what is effectively day one of the general election campaign, in which the Conservatives want the economy to dominate the agenda and Labour the National Health Service.

The Conservatives claim their analysis of Labour spending is based on official HM Treasury Opposition Policy Costings and other reliable sources.

"When we took office four and a half years ago, we were left a note by the Labour Party saying simply: 'there's no money left'," said a Conservative spokesman.

"The mess we were left behind by Labour threatened this country's economic security and the economic security of everyone living here.

"But the evidence we will produce shows that Labour have not demonstrated the fiscal discipline or economic competence that earns an opposition the credibility to form a government.

"The chaos of unfunded spending promises, higher taxes and more borrowing offered by Labour is a risk to economic recovery. Competence or chaos. That is the choice for the British people at the election."

Video: David Cameron's New Year Message

But Labour's Shadow Chief Secretary Chris Leslie has already hit back, saying: "It is David Cameron and George Osborne who have made over £7bn of unfunded tax promises.

"These could only be paid for by another Tory VAT rise, even deeper cuts to public services or both.

"Labour has made no unfunded commitments. In fact the Institute for Fiscal Studies said last month that we had the most cautious approach and, unlike the parties, had promised no net giveaways."

Speaking to a rally in Manchester, Mr Miliband will urge activists and supporters to mobilise for an unprecedented four million doorstep conversations with voters in the next four months.

"We will offer hope, not falsehood," he will say. "We know the depths of our values matter more than the depth of our opponents' pockets. We will win this election, not by buying up thousands of poster sites, but by having millions of conversations."

Attacking the Tories on the economy, the Labour leader will say: "It's the first time since the 1920s that working people will be worse off at the end of a parliament than they were at the beginning.

Video: Ed Miliband's New Year Message

"At a time when education and training are critical to the chances of earning a decent wage, tuition fees have trebled and apprenticeships for young people are falling.

"And think what has happened to our NHS: longer to wait to see your GP, longer to wait in A & E, longer to wait for your operation - an NHS without time to care. The Tories have damaged the NHS in these five years. Give them five more and the NHS, as we know it, just won't be there."

The Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg will attack both the major parties on the economy.

On Ed Balls' claim that Labour is now in the centre ground of politics, he will say: "It's like waking up to find a late night voicemail from an ex saying that they've changed and it will all be different if only you give them one more chance."

And on the Conservatives' boasts about economic recovery, Mr Clegg will say: "It's a con. It's like a mobile phone salesman offering to renew your existing contract and then cutting the amount of calls you can make."

:: Follow Sky News presenters and correspondents from 6am on Monday as we launch our multi-media project In The Margins - examining 150 key marginal constituencies across the country. Watch live on Sky News, skynews.com and our mobile apps - channels Sky 501, Virgin Media 602, Freesat 202, Freeview 132.

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Newborns To Be Tested For Rare Disorders

Newborn babies will be tested for four rare disorders under a programme launched by Public Health England today.

Every child born in England will be offered screening for the life-threatening conditions homocystinuria, maple syrup urine disease, glutaric aciduria type 1 and isovaleric acidaemia.

Each disorder is genetic and can cause learning difficulties, development problems, lifelong disabilities and even death.

The NHS already uses a blood test on babies aged five to eight days to screen for five conditions including cystic fibrosis and sickle cell disease.

The same test is being extended as part of the programme.

The four disorders affect the metabolism.

Affected babies cannot process certain substances in food and without a carefully managed diet can become suddenly and seriously ill.

Early detection is expected to benefit about 30 children in England each year.

Sixteen-month-year-old Phoenix Thompson was diagnosed with glutaric aciduria type 1 in the initiative's pilot programme at Sheffield Children's Hospital.

His mother Michelle Thompson said: "It is unexplainable how important the screening was for us. It means Phoenix can receive the care and treatment he needs.

"It doesn't bear thinking about what would have happened if the condition wasn't picked up early."

Public Health Minister Jane Ellison added: "Expanding the screening has the potential to make a huge difference to the lives of babies born with rare genetic disorders.

"Detecting the disorders early can help prevent babies being severely disabled or even dying, which is absolutely vital for the families affected."

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Second Palace Denial Over Andrew Sex Claims

Buckingham Palace has issued a second denial over a woman's claims she was forced to have underage sex with the Duke of York.

It has branded the allegations "false and without any foundation".

The denial comes after two Sunday newspapers published details of interviews with the woman, who reportedly named Prince Andrew in US court documents.

The palace said on Friday that "any suggestion of impropriety with under-age minors" by him was "categorically untrue".

In the second statement, a spokesman said: "It is emphatically denied that the Duke of York had any form of sexual contact or relationship with (the woman).

"The allegations made are false and without any foundation."

The woman's claim is part of a lawsuit in connection with American billionaire and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein - a former friend of the Duke.

Andrew was photographed with Epstein in New York two years after his release from prison in 2009, and has faced criticism over their friendship.

In an interview in 2011 he denied any sexual contact with any of the young women connected to the banker.

Epstein was jailed for 18 months in 2008

The woman claims that between 1999 and 2002 she "was forced to have sexual relations with this prince when she was a minor" in London, New York and on a private Caribbean island owned by Epstein.

She is believed to have been 17 at the time - underage in US law.

The accusation is reportedly contained in a motion filed in a Florida court this week which is part of a lawsuit over how prosecutors handled Epstein's case.

The Mail on Sunday and the Sunday Mirror have since published details of interviews given by the woman in recent years, in which she discusses three alleged encounters with the Duke.

According to the Sunday Express, Andrew was due to fly back to Britain later following a ski trip in Switzerland.

Epstein was convicted in 2008 and spent 13 months in jail after he admitted having sex with a 14-year-old.

He had been investigated for paying underage girls to have sex with him at his luxury Palm Beach home - and 40 women had come forward as victims.

However, he cut a deal with federal prosecutors and the charges were not progressed.

Two of his victims have now brought a case against the prosecutors, claiming their rights were violated because they were not consulted on the secret deal.

The woman, referred to as Jane Doe 3 in documents, has applied to the court to be included in the lawsuit.

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Brit Hostage Tours Iraq City In New IS Video

An eighth propaganda video of British hostage John Cantlie apparently giving a tour of Iraq's second biggest city has been released by the Islamic State (IS).

In it the photojournalist claims it is "business as usual" in Mosul and that media reports suggesting residents are "living in fear" are "misleading".

The town was captured by IS militants during a blitz in June when they murdered more than 2,000 Shi'ite prisoners and soldiers, according to Human Rights Watch.

View of Mosul featured in the video

During the eight-minute video 43-year-old Mr Cantlie visits a market, a hospital and a police station.

Talking to the camera, he says: "The media likes to paint a picture of life in the Islamic State as depressed, people walking around as subjugated citizens in chains, beaten down by strict, totalitarian rule.

Video: New Video Of Hostage John Cantlie

"But really apart from some rather chilly but very sunny December weather, life here in Mosul is business as usual."

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We are aware of the release of another video and are studying its contents."

It has not been possible to verify whether it is genuine.

Video: IS Hostage Appears In New Video

In previous videos Mr Cantlie has spoken under duress from behind a desk and has worn an orange jumpsuit.

The last one in November saw him give an account of what he claimed was a failed rescue attempt by American forces in July.

Other footage released by IS in October purported to show Mr Cantlie in the embattled Syrian city of Kobani.

Video: Dad Of John Cantlie Appeals To IS

His family have previously appealed for "direct contact" with the militants, who have been holding him for two years.

Since August, IS has filmed and posted online the deaths of four Western hostages.

UK aid workers Alan Henning and David Haines and American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff were all beheaded on camera by the jihadi organisation.

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