NI Prison Officer Murder: Two Men Released

Two men being held in connection with the murder of prison officer David Black have been released without charge.

The 55-year-old was shot on Thursday during a high-speed ambush on a motorway, as he drove to work at Maghaberry prison near Lisburn.

High profile republican Colin Duffy, 44, and a second man aged 29 were detained in Lurgan, County Armagh, just miles from where Mr Black was targeted.

A police service spokeswoman said the pair had been released unconditionally. A third man arrested is still being questioned in County Leitrim.

Politicians on all sides condemned the murder of the prison officer, who was planning to retire next year after more than 30 years of service.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton strongly condemned the murder as senseless and applauded the efforts of police to bring the perpetrators to justice.

"There is no justification for this outrageous and cowardly act," she said.

"I offer my sincere condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of officer Black, who had a long and distinguished record of service.

"The United States remains resolute in support of the people of Northern Ireland, who have condemned violence and embraced the path to peace and reconciliation."

Mr Black's funeral will take place on Tuesday at Molesworth Presbyterian Church in Cookstown, a church which Mr Black had attended regularly.

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Delicate Diplomacy On Cameron Gulf Arms Tour

David Cameron is starting a three-day tour of the Gulf and Middle East today in a bid to cement major UK arms sales and bolster relations with allies in the region.

The Prime Minister will personally spearhead a push to persuade the United Arab Emirates to buy 60 of BAE's Typhoon jets over French rivals in a deal reported to be worth upwards of £3bn.

On Tuesday, he will travel to Saudi Arabia - Britain's biggest trading partner in the region - which is also considering adding to its fleet of aircraft.

Downing Street said the visit - Mr Cameron's second to each country as premier - was part of a wider effort to build a "reinvigorated partnership" between Britain and the region's leaders.

Reinforced military ties are seen as crucial amid continued fears over Iran's nuclear ambitions and the threat Tehran could seek to badly disrupt oil supplies by blocking the Straits of Hormuz.

Mr Cameron will fly first to a military airbase near Dubai where a number of RAF Typhoons are stationed to promote the aircraft to military and political figures from the UAE.

He will also hold talks with the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Prime Minister of the UAE on the potential for a joint work on the next generation of military aerospace equipment.

The Government hopes to secure deals for 100 Typhoons to be sold to the region in the coming year - worth at least £6bn to British firms.

Mr Cameron faces a tough balancing act however as he attempts to secure billions in investment from the oil-rich states while addressing concerns about the human rights records of their regimes.

The Arab Spring has led to an increased focus on largely autocratic rule in many states, including crackdowns on pro-democracy and other protest movements.

The Government has been criticised for failing to condemn abuses and accused of continuing to sell military equipment with insufficient guarantees it would not be used in repression.

But Saudi officials reacted angrily to an "insulting" inquiry into it by the Commons foreign affairs committee, warning it would be "re-evaluating" relations.

"We want to work together with the Gulf countries towards a future that is rich in prosperity, strong in defence and open in its handling and pursuit of political and economic reform," Downing Street said ahead of the visit.

On Wednesday, Mr Cameron will make a short visit to the Middle East before flying home for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at Downing Street ahead of the crunch EU budget summit.

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British Holidaymaker Feared Drowned In Egypt

A British man is feared to have drowned after he failed to surface while scuba diving at a holiday resort in Egypt.

Steve Cracknell was having a routine lesson with his instructor off the coast of Sharm el-Sheikh when the pair went missing.

Mr Cracknell, 46, from Yeovil, Somerset, is thought to have been on holiday with his wife and their two daughters at the time.

He vanished while swimming at the White Knight dive site, a relatively shallow canyon.

Locals have reportedly been searching every day for the pharmaceuticals executive and his instructor, who were diving with a company located at the Savoy Hotel last Saturday.

A friend of Mr Cracknell, who asked not to be named, told The Daily Telegraph: "I am just holding out hope and don't want to think about the accident.

"I can't imagine how his wife and daughters are handling this. My heart goes out to them.

"We are hoping for a good resolution, but we know that the longer they are missing the less likely it is that the result will be good."

Shinji Sato, a Japanese dive instructor living in Sharm el-Sheikh, told the paper: "They've still not found the bodies. This kind of thing is incredibly rare. It never happens.

"Everyone here is very upset. It's so sad."

Mr Cracknell's instructor is understood to be Costantino Di Maria, a veteran diver who has lived in Sharm el-Sheikh for years.

Reports say the plateau which Mr Cracknell was exploring suddenly sheers off into a plummeting mile-deep precipice.

Locals have speculated that one of the two men may have encountered problems during the diving session.

Mr Cracknell's family are thought to have returned to the UK.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We can confirm that a British national is currently missing in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt.

"We are liaising with the local authorities and we are providing consular assistance to the family."

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End-Of-Life Care: Plan For New Legal Rights

Families will have to be consulted before patients are put on a so-called "pathway to death", it has emerged.

Under reforms being put out for consultation on Monday, hospitals could also be sued and doctors struck off if they do not involve relatives in the decision to start end-of-life treatment.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt will make the announcement as part of a raft of changes to the NHS constitution.

The move follows the emergence of cases where patients were placed on the Liverpool Care Pathway - which involves withdrawal of fluids and food - without relatives' knowledge.

Mr Hunt told the Daily Mail: "I want our country to be the best in Europe to grow old.

"End-of-life care decisions affect older, and more vulnerable, people. These patients and their families have a basic right to be involved in discussions and decisions affecting their end-of-life care.

"This new consultation will help to raise awareness of these rights and ensure that there are tough consequences in any cases where standards fall short.

"The NHS is one of this country's greatest achievements. At the same time as we are protecting its budget, we are building an NHS able to meet patients' needs and expectations now and in the future."

A Department of Health source added: "New changes to the NHS Constitution, to be unveiled on Monday, will set out a new legal right for patients to be consulted on end-of-life care decisions. The right will also include family and carers.

"NHS bodies, as well as private and voluntary providers supplying NHS services, are required by law to take account of it in their decisions and actions.

"End-of-life care, like the Liverpool Care Pathway, can give patients dignity and respect in their last days, but recent reports have suggested that there is more the NHS can do to ensure that patients, their family and carers are fully involved in all discussions and decisions."

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Outrage At Killing Of Prison Officer In NI

The wife of a prison officer killed in a motorway ambush in Northern Ireland has called for no retaliation over his murder.

David Black - who had spent more than 30 years in the prison service and was approaching retirement - was gunned down in an attack believed to have been carried out by dissident republicans in Northern Ireland.

The father-of-two's wife Yvonne has appealed for no retaliation for the killing, which has been condemned by politicians on all sides.

She said in a statement: "Grief and sadness in another home will achieve nothing."

Mr Black, 52, was shot on Northern Ireland's M1 motorway early in the morning as he drove to the top security Maghaberry jail near Lisburn, County Antrim.

The attack happened at the M1/M12 turnoff in County Armagh

Police said the gunman was in a Toyota Camry with a Dublin registration which drew alongside Mr Black's black Audi.

Shots were apparently fired at Mr Black from the vehicle, causing his car to veer off the road and into a drainage ditch.

He sustained "very serious and probably fatal gunshot wounds," police said.

At the time bomb disposal experts were attending a security alert further along the motorway, which police believe may have been set up as a decoy.

Police attending the scene

No organisation has admitted responsibility, but security chiefs believe republicans opposed to the peace process were involved.

The extremists have been involved in long-running protests against jail conditions inside Maghaberry.

Prime Minister David Cameron said the shooting would not derail the peace process in Northern Ireland.

He said: "This is a dreadful tragedy for the family and friends of David Black who has been so brutally murdered as he went about his work keeping the people of Northern Ireland safe.

"These killers will not succeed in denying the people of Northern Ireland the peaceful, shared future they so desperately want."

The motorway was closed following the shooting

Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Chief Constable Matt Baggott said: "It was a completely senseless attack. It demonstrated the recklessness and ruthlessness and sheer dangerousness of those who oppose peace and are dedicated to taking us back to those dark days of the past.

"This has all the hallmarks of dissident republicans. This was just a brutal attack and we need the public's support to be able to solve it as quickly as possible."

It is 18 months since renegade republicans claimed the life of police officer Ronan Kerr in Omagh, County Tyrone.

Mr Black had expressed interest in early retirement but no date had been set, Prison Service director general Sue McAllister said.

"We will not allow this to derail the efforts that we are making to reform the service but we will do everything we can to support all of our staff in the very difficult days ahead," she added.

Theresa Villiers said the murder was "cowardly and evil"

A car used in the attack was later found burnt-out in Lurgan, Co Armagh, where supporters of dissidents have backed the jail protest campaign.

Mr Black, from Cookstown, Co Tyrone, was the 30th prison officer killed in Northern Ireland since 1974.

It is understood his service stretched back as far as the 1981 IRA hunger strike inside the Maze prison, when 10 republicans starved themselves to death.

Finlay Spratt, the head of the Prison Officers' Association, who knew Mr Black and described him as "a very nice fellow to work with", criticised the security provisions offered to prison officers since the Troubles ended.

"They have stripped away all the security around prison officers," he said.

Stormont First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness both condemned the murder.

"At this time, our thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved family and we condemn this murder in the strongest possible terms," they said in a joint statement.

The shooting happened at around 7.30am, at the same time as a major security alert further along the motorway at a shopping centre at Sprucefield, near Lisburn, where bomb disposal experts were called in to check a car.

It is believed this vehicle might have been linked to the shooting,

Only a day ago, Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers warned that the threat from dissident republicans in Northern Ireland remained severe. She described the latest attack as "cowardly and evil".

The Republic of Ireland's foreign minister Eamon Gilmore also expressed his condolences.

"I know that I speak for every decent man, woman and child on this island, North and South, in expressing revulsion at this act," he said.

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Washout Summer May Raise Winter Flood Risks

This summer's unusually wet weather means there is a higher risk of flooding in autumn and winter, the Environment Agency and Met Office has warned.

The wettest April to June on record, and further wet weather in July, September and October, has left river levels full, the ground saturated and exceptionally high ground waters in some areas, the agencies say.

The emergency services and householders are being advised to be prepared for flooding, which, because of the wet conditions, could hit with relatively small amounts of rain.

"This year our flood defences have protected over 119,000 properties, but we cannot prevent flooding entirely," said the Environment Agency's Paul Mustow.

"With one in six homes at risk of flooding, the most important step people can take in protecting themselves from the worst impacts is to find out if they are at risk, and sign up to the Environment Agency's free flood warnings service.

"As winter approaches we'd encourage everyone to take this one step to help protect themselves from what is recognised as the country's number one natural hazard."

Sarah Jackson, the Met Office's chief adviser to the Government, said: "We are heading into the winter period which is traditionally the wetter period of the year in the UK.

"Because the ground is so wet, if we do have any prolonged heavy rainfall in any part of the country, there is going to be heightened risk of flooding.

"We recommend that everyone keeps up-to-date with the latest forecasts and warnings in periods of wet weather to be prepared."

More than 1.1 million people are signed up to receive Environment Agency flood warnings - which can be sent by email, text, or a message to a landline or mobile phone.

This summer over 100,000 households were warned of potential flooding, giving people essential time to protect their homes and possessions. 

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Woman 'Mauled To Death By Daughter's Dogs'

A post-mortem examination will be carried out today on the body of a woman who is believed to have been mauled to death by dogs she had gone to feed.

Neighbours reported hearing screams and dogs barking as the woman went to feed the pets in the back garden of the home in Morden, South London, on Tuesday.

The police were called at around 6.25pm but the 71-year-old was dead when they arrived.

It is understood that the woman suffered multiple injuries in the dog attack.

Five dogs including, two Bordeaux bulldogs and a mongrel, were taken away.

Police say none of the animals were banned breeds and no arrests have been made.

Neighbour Kevin Hamilton told Sky News he heard noises outside at about 5.15pm on Tuesday.

Police cordoned off two houses in Morden, South London

"I heard screaming and dogs barking. The screaming was not specific screaming – there were no words in it. It was very much like hysterical screaming – no 'help' or anything like that.

"I thought no more of it, and believed it to just be the kids playing."

A spokeswoman for Scotland Yard said none of the animals were banned breeds and no arrests had been made.

She said of the victim: "She had sustained a number of injuries. An investigation is under way to establish a cause of death."

The post-mortem examination will be carried out at St George's Hospital in Tooting.

Two adjoining semi-detached houses were cordoned off by police.

Four dog breeds are banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act.

These are the Pit Bull Terrier, the Japanese Tosa, the Dogo Argentino and the Fila Braziliero.

There have been calls for more breeds to be put on the banned list and for the law to be toughened up after a number of high profile dog mauling cases.

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Savile 'Molested' Teen During Top Of The Pops

By Katie Stallard, Media & Technology Correspondent

A Top of the Pops audience member has told Sky News she was molested on camera by Jimmy Savile and then laughed at by a member of the crew when she tried to complain.

Sylvia Edwards, who was 18 at the time, says she was told to get lost by a man on the studio floor who said: "That's just Jimmy Savile."

Footage from the programme in 1976 shows the teenager clearly shrieking and jumping up from her seat as she struggles to get away from Savile, who says to a camera: "A fella could get used to all this."

Mrs Edwards told Sky News: "All of a sudden I felt this hand go underneath and I jumped up, I went to go back down again, but I couldn't go anywhere, his hand was still there."

"I was trying to push it away, but he wouldn't move it - I just screeched - I started feeling embarrassed because where could you go?"

"I was just getting really flustered and he didn't move, and I just remember trying to get out, but there were too many girls around me."

As soon as it was over she said she tried to tell the nearest member of staff what had happened.

She said: "I just found this man that had some sort of headset on, I don't know what he was doing, next to a camera, and I said: 'He's really filthy, he's putting his hand up my skirt and that', and he said: 'Oh no, don't be so stupid', he said, 'that's just Jimmy Savile, go on get out of the way, out of the way, you're blocking a camera shot or something.'

"I had to move because this camera was coming around and I thought fine, ok, what do you say - once they've told you to get lost, I didn't think that maybe I could go to the police, I just felt embarrassed."

She said she was picked out of the crowd to sit next to Savile and quickly found herself hemmed in by other girls.

"All I could think of was to get his hand away, and my hand was pushing it, but he just seemed to go rigid and keep his hand there, and actually if you watch the tape you can see him moving where I'm trying to push it away and he was having none of it, his hand was going to stay there, and that was it."

"I was trapped, I felt as if I was just stuck and everyone was closing in around me, because obviously they all wanted to get in the camera shot and I could feel them all around me, we had to just wait until they said we could move."

Mrs Edwards' case raises more questions for the BBC. She is convinced that some within the corporation must have known what was going on.

"I know that they knew about it because I told them years and years ago and they just brushed it under the carpet. That is what annoyed me and prompted me to come forward to say they did know. I don't know how anybody could say they didn't know it was going on."

A spokesperson for the BBC said: "The BBC cannot comment on individual cases. It has asked that anyone with allegations of this nature should report them to the BBC's Investigation Unit or the police directly."

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EU Budget: Cameron Faces Commons Showdown

Prime Minister David Cameron faces an embarrassing Commons defeat later today when MPs debate the EU budget.

A rebellion is brewing on the Tory backbenches: eurosceptics want the budget cut, while the PM plans to go no further than to demand a real-terms freeze, an inflation-only rise of a little over 2% a year.

The budget will cover the period 2014 - 2020.

In Brussels, some are calling for a budget increase of nearly 7% - at a time when the EU is demanding draconian austerity measures from Greece and other countries worst hit by the eurozone crisis.

That's like a red rag to a bull to the Tory right who are organising a Commons ambush.

Tory MPs Mark Pritchard and Mark Reckless will need 40 others to rebel with them to bring about a Government defeat if, as expected, Labour votes against the Government with the pro-European Lib Dems supporting Mr Cameron.

Past performance suggests they will fall short, but they could come close with MPs like Bill Cash and John Redwood garnering support for their cause and urging Mr Cameron not to "cave in" to pressure from Europe.

One eurosceptic Tory MP is even using the argument that a Commons rebellion will strengthen Mr Cameron's hand when he goes into the budget negotiations in Brussels next month.

The Prime Minister is beset on all sides - not only the right of his own party, but from Ukip which is attracting disillusioned Tory eurosceptics, and of course from Labour: shadow chancellor Ed Balls and shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander used an article in The Times on Monday to demand a cut in the EU budget.

Tony Blair, who still seems to harbour some ambition to become Europe's first elected president, warned there is now a serious risk that the EU could break up, and warned his party, and others, "not to play short-term politics with this issue" - but the temptation to do so will, needless to say, prove irresistible.

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Afghanistan: Two British Gurkha Soldiers Killed

Two British soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan by a man wearing an Afghan police uniform.

The soldiers, from the 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles, were shot dead at a checkpoint in the Nahr-e-Saraj district of Helmand Province.

Major Laurence Roche, the spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said: "The loss of these soldiers is a huge blow to The Royal Gurkha Rifles and everyone serving in Task Force Helmand. 

"Our thoughts are with their families, friends and fellow Gurkhas at this time."

The soldiers' families have been informed.

The Ministry of Defence said there have been nine UK deaths attributed to so-called "green on blue" or "insider attacks" this year.

The repatriation ceremony for Corporal Channing Day

The latest two deaths come as the bodies of two service personnel killed last week were repatriated to the UK.

Corporal Channing Day, who served with the 3 Medical Regiment, died alongside Corporal David O'Connor, of 40 Commando, after being injured on patrol with C Company in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand Province on Wednesday.

Their Union flag-draped coffins were flown into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.

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