Top Weightlifter Faces Sexual Assault Trial

A weightlifter at the Commonwealth Games has been accused of sexual assault after an alleged incident at a supermarket.

Papua New Guinea's Toua Udia, 22, was arrested after the alleged assault last Monday at a Tesco near the Athletes' Village in Glasgow.

Udia, who finished ninth in the 77kg division on Sunday, has been charged under the Sexual Offences Act.

He is due to go to trial on Friday after pleading not guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court.

The Commonwealth Games Federation said it was aware of the allegation.

Speaking at a daily Games briefing, chief executive Mike Hooper said: "Clearly there is a presumption of innocence which we all enjoy, and so really there is nothing more I can add to that.

"It certainly didn't impact on his ability to compete because there was no condition placed upon him.

"The reality is it's an allegation that has been made, it is being investigated by the police, it is their role to follow through, and we do not interfere in their process."

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Lloyds 'Risks Criminal Action' In Rigging Case

The Bank of England (BoE) governor has warned Lloyds Banking Group that "clearly unlawful" conduct over fee manipulation may amount to criminal behaviour as it was fined more than £200m.

Some £70m of the penalty related to efforts by Lloyds to rig fees payable to the BoE under a taxpayer-backed government programme aimed at supporting banks during the financial crisis.

In a letter dated July 15, Mark Carney told Lloyds chairman Lord Blackwell that attempts to reduce payments under this special liquidity scheme (SLS) were "reprehensible".

Mr Carney criticised attempts to reduce Lloyds' payments to the SLS scheme

Lloyds was fined a total of £218m by UK and US regulators over manipulation of the critical global interest rate Libor benchmark and the repo rate - used to calculate fees due to the BoE for its support.

It has also paid a £7.76m compensation figure to the BoE over the now-defunct SLS.

The UK regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), fined Lloyds £105m, while the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) fined Lloyds £62m and the US Department of Justice penalty was £51m.

Lloyds apologised for the "unacceptable" actions of individuals involved in the conduct and said the bank's previously lax operating culture was to blame.

MPs pursued the issue of Libor-fixing with BoE officials in 2012

It said: "The manipulation of submissions covered by the settlements took place between May 2006 and 2009 and the individuals involved have either left the group, been suspended or are subject to disciplinary proceedings."

The CFTC said the "unlawful conduct of Lloyds" undermined the integrity of Libor, which is the basis of trillions of dollars of financial instruments.

The FCA said the SLS manipulation happened between April 2008 and September 2009.

The regulator said more than a dozen individuals at Lloyds, including seven managers, were directly involved in or were aware of, the Libor manipulation.

Barclays was the first bank implicated in rate-fixing of Libor

Lloyds would have been hit by a 30% larger FCA fine if it did not settle at an early stage.

More than £2bn has now been paid by banks globally to regulators over alleged manipulation, including £290m by Barclays and £390m by RBS.

FCA director of enforcement and financial crime Tracey McDermott said: "Colluding to benefit the firms at the expense, ultimately, of the UK taxpayer was unacceptable."

On Friday, Sky News City Editor Mark Kleinman revealed the 25% taxpayer-owned group would seek to clawback bonuses paid to at least 15 former employees implicated in the inter-bank rate scandal.

The BoE said the latest case demonstrated the need for the Fair and Effective Markets Review, launched last month, which aims to restore public confidence in financial markets.

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1D's Zayn Gets Death Threats After Gaza Tweet

One Direction singer Zayn Malik has received death threats on Twitter after tweeting #FreePalestine to his millions of followers.

The 21-year-old's post has been retweeted and favourited more than 140,000 times but has caused anger among many of the site's users.

Malik immediately started receiving abuse from pro-Israel tweeters who have called him "ignorant" for wading into the debate over the current conflict in Gaza.

Another user wrote: "It broke me that one of my idols wants me to die."

Over 1,000 people have died in the conflict

Other people called for the singer to kill himself or let them kill him.

And @seanra11 wrote: "Another person who think he knows something about the war but he actually doesn't."

International pressure is mounting to end the three-week conflict, in which more than 1,000 people have been killed.

Malik, who has 13 million followers on Twitter, is not the first high-profile person to receive criticism for supporting Palestinians.

Rihanna deleted a tweet which contained the same #FreePalestine hashtag, claiming she it went out on her feed by accident.

A source told TMZ the Bajan pop star was reading about the Middle East conflict online when she clicked on a link which automatically posted the pro-Palestine message.

She followed up with a less polarising tweet later which said: "Let's pray for peace and a swift end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict! Is there any hope?..."

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'Rivers Of Hail' As Freak Storm Sweeps Coast

A freak summer storm has brought chaos to the south coast of England with lightning, floods and hailstones and a power cut on the railway lines.

Forecasters said a "deeply unstable airmass" had brought with it the risk of heavy, thundery showers across East Anglia, the South East and London throughout the day. The Met Office said nearly half a month's worth of rain fell in an hour in some areas.

The scene in Brighton after hail and torrential rain swept in

London Fire Brigade rescued two women from a car which in flood water in South Ruislip, northwest London.

Firefighters also rescued five people from three neighbouring houses which were flooded in Thaxted, Essex. One family remained on the first floor of their home while crews pumped water from the property after flood water affected the electrics.

Lighting strikes Hove, Sussex, taken from the bedroom of Jon Hughes

Commuters in West Sussex braved torrential rain and hailstones as they struggled to work, though the main Brighton to London line was unaffected.

People in Brighton, Hove and Worthing who posted pictures on social media websites described seeing cars submerged and people taking shelter in the town hall.  

Commuters were left stranded after the south-coast line was closed

Network Rail said electrical supply problems had been caused by a lightning strike, near Hove, during the morning, causing delays of up to 30 minutes to trains between Worthing and Hove/Brighton.

South West Trains said Woking-bound trains would not be calling at Esher, Hersham or Walton-on-Thames because of flooding.

A spokesman for East Sussex Fire and Rescue told Sky News they received some 300 calls from the public.

A street in Worthing which became impassable

Richard Fowler said: "The control room started receiving calls at six o'clock this morning. We have had 300 calls so far in the south coast area from Brighton and Hove.

"The power to the track has had to be isolated because the tracks are flooded, and we have sent one of our high pumps over to assist with that.

"People are phoning and saying they have flooded basements which are affecting electrics. We did not expect this kind of extreme weather this morning. There are large hailstones on the ground. It is almost like winter."

Worthing Station was closed after flood water poured into the underpass

Hove resident Adam Batchelor emailed a picture to Sky News of the road outside his home in Hove. "The basement flats flooded and people evacuated to the town hall," he said. "Thankfully I stayed away last night!" he said.

Laurence Hill wrote on Twitter: "Used to be roads. Now rivers of hail. Never seen anything like it."

Hailstones that fell across Sussex

The Environment Agency issued a flood warning - meaning flooding is expected - for the Kidbrooke stream at Forest Row, East Sussex.

It said: "Heavy showers will bring a chance of some localised surface water flooding issues across parts of Sussex and Kent this afternoon.

Hail and slush gave some streets the appearance of being hit by snow

"Further heavy showers are expected from around dawn tomorrow across much of southeast England which may result in some surface water flooding, especially in urbanised areas."

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Killer Joyrider Lindo Jailed Again After Chase

A man who ran over and killed an eight-year-old boy in 2006 is back behind bars after racing through a residential area in a police chase.

Ashley Lindo reached up to 60mph as he drove along paths, blew out two tyres and pulled a handbrake turn.

The 24-year-old was jailed for 18 months at Teeside Crown Court after admitting dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and driving without insurance.

The court heard how Lindo pretended to stop for police in Middlesbrough but then sped off when an officer got out to speak to him.

The pursuit took place at 6.30pm on April 12 this year.

Prosecutor Sue Jacobs said he drove the Skoda Octavia up kerbs and between bollards and on a footpath behind a school.

When police blocked his path he mounted a kerb and blew out two tyres.

He was finally forced to ditch the car after they went completely flat, about a mile after the chase began. He ran off but was arrested soon after.

Lindo served half of a three-year sentence in a young offenders' institution after he knocked down Daniel Conroy Curtin in a stolen Rover Metro in May 2006.

The prosecution in the latest case said: "It is clearly aggravated by his previous convictions, the time of day and the locations, as it involved residential streets in central Middlesbrough."

The court also heard that Lindo had 11 convictions for 22 offences, including another dangerous driving offence three years after he killed the little boy.

Lindo's defence lawyer, Gary Wood, said his client had "panicked" and added that his outlook on life had changed "dramatically" since becoming a father six weeks ago.

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Full UK Battle Group To Join Poland Exercise

A "full battle group" of 1,350 personnel is to be sent to Poland for a Nato exercise to reassure Eastern European allies in the face of Russia's conflict with Ukraine.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon confirmed the deployment and said more than 350 armoured and other vehicles would take part.

Exercise Black Eagle will be held in October and is part of a series of Nato exercises designed to support allies in Eastern Europe and the Baltics.

Next month, light infantry troops from 1st Battalion, The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment will also join Exercise Sabre Junction, a US-led exercise - again taking place in Poland - and involving 16 countries.

Four Eurofighter Typhoons from the RAF are helping police Baltic airspace

Four RAF Eurofighter Typhoon jets have been at Nato's Baltic Air Policing mission, based at Lithuania's Siauliai Air Base, since Russia annexed the Crimean region of Ukraine earlier this year.

Normally the mission involves just four aircraft, but since the crisis in Ukraine it has been boosted to 12, including four Lockheed Martin F-16 jets from Denmark and four MiG-29 planes from Poland.

Mr Fallon announced details of the latest exercise during a visit to the Polish capital Warsaw with Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.

Michael Fallon was recently appointed as Defence Secretary

He said: "It is right that Nato members and partners demonstrate our commitment to the collective security of our allies in Eastern Europe, so I am pleased to confirm our participation in these exercises.

"In particular, the commitment of a battle group to Exercise Black Eagle shows our sustained and substantial support to Nato's eastern border."

A Nato summit in Wales in September is also being held to discuss ways to respond to future threats and reassurance measures.

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Crashing Plane Kills Dad Walking With Daughter

A father has been killed and his daughter left seriously injured after a small plane crash-landed on a beach in Florida.

The man was walking along the sand in Venice when the aircraft, a 1972 Piper Cherokee, came down.

The pair have been named as 36-year-old Ommy Irizarry and nine-year-old Oceana.

On his Facebook page just hours before the tragedy on Sunday, Mr Irizarry wrote that he was celebrating his ninth wedding anniversary with his wife, Rebecca.

Ommy Irizarry

Witness Zack Arceneaux told reporters at the scene: "The dad looked very bad. They were performing CPR on him he had blood on his face.

"It looked like he wasn't breathing at all."

Oceana has been taken to a children's hospital in St Petersburg "and is believed to be in critical condition," said Wendy Rose, of the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office.

She added that neither the pilot nor his passenger, named as 57-year-old Karl Kokomoor and 60-year-old David Theen, were hurt in the incident.

Venice Airport officials had told the sheriff's office that the pilot was going to attempt a beach landing after signalling he was in distress and was unable to make it to the airfield.

Ms Rose was quoted by CBS as saying: "He knew he couldn't make it back to the airport and was going to try to land on the beach. And he did land at the edge of the water on the beach."

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating.

Spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen told the Associated Press the plane reportedly lost power but had no details.

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MH17 Black Boxes: Plane 'Hit By Shrapnel'

Black box data from the downed Malaysia Airlines plane reveals the jet crashed due to a "massive explosive decompression" after being hit by shrapnel from a missile, claims a Ukrainian security official.

Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine's Security Council, said the information came from experts analysing the flight recorders from MH17, which was shot down over eastern Ukraine killing all 298 people on board.

Air accident experts in Farnborough, Hampshire, had been tasked with downloading the data from the two black boxes and passing the information on to international investigators.

Dutch and Australian police have again been forced back from the crash site

Western countries blame rebels for shooting down the airliner with a missile, mistaking it for a Ukrainian plane, but the separatists deny any involvement.

Meanwhile, a team of Dutch and Australian police making a fresh attempt to reach the crash site were again forced to turn back after "explosions" in the area.

A previous attempt had also been halted by fierce fighting.

Ukraine rebels say they have lost control over part of the MH17 crash site in the face of a push by government forces.

Australia's Deputy Commissioner of National Security Andrew Colvin said evidence risked being lost amid the continuing clashes, and the chances of finding the remains of all the dead grew slimmer as time went on.

The UN's Navi Pillay is demanding a full inquiry into the plane attack

The claims about data from the flight recorders came as the UN said the shooting down of the airliner may amount to a war crime.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay condemned the "horrendous shooting down" of flight MH17, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, and demanded a "thorough, effective, independent and impartial investigation".

She said in a statement: "This violation of international law, given the prevailing circumstances, may amount to a war crime.

Some 100,000 people have fled the violence in eastern Ukraine, says the UN

"Every effort will be made to ensure that anyone committing serious violations of international law including war crimes will be brought to justice, no matter who they are."

Plans have been unveiled to stage a special memorial concert for victims of MH17 in Amsterdam this September.

The Prime Minister David Cameron is due to meet families of British victims at Downing Street on Tuesday.

The UN also said latest figures showed more than 1,100 people had been killed and nearly 3,500 wounded in fighting in eastern Ukraine since April, with both sides using heavy weapons in built-up areas, including artillery, tanks, rockets and missiles.

"Both sides must take great care to prevent more civilians from being killed or injured," Ms Pillay said.

Casualty numbers are rising with the use of heavy weapons in built-up areas

A further 100,000 people have fled the violence.

The UN report also accused the rebels of conducting a brutal "reign of intimidation and terror" in the areas they controlled, including the abduction, torture and killing of civilians.

The US has released satellite images it claims show rockets have been fired at Ukraine from within Russia.

The images, which come from the US Director of National Intelligence and have not been independently verified, also purport to show that heavy artillery for pro-Russian separatists has crossed the border.

Their release appears to be a part of Barack Obama's push to hold Russia accountable for its activities in Ukraine - and persuade European allies to apply harsher sanctions on Moscow.

Moscow has denied allegations of involvement in eastern Ukraine, claiming the US is conducting "an unrelenting campaign of slander against Russia, ever more relying on open lies".

The French presidency later said it would take further measures against Moscow - along with Britain, the US, Germany and Italy - over the situation in Ukraine.

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Israel Blames Hamas For Gaza Hospital Strike

Israel has accused Hamas of misfiring two rockets - one of which struck Gaza's main hospital and the other a refugee camp, killing seven children.

Palestinian police and medics had earlier suggested Israeli missiles for the strikes on Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, causing casualties, and a nearby park in Al-Shati refugee camp.

A Palestinian official said at least 10 people in total were killed in the strike on a playground in the camp park, and a further 46 injured.

However, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) denied responsibility for the attacks and said it had not been operating in the area at all.

A girl is treated for injuries at the Al-Shifa hospital

Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli army spokesman, said. "This incident was carried out by Gaza terrorists whose rockets fell short and hit the Shifa Hospital and the Beach (Shati) camp," he said.

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) also tweeted: "Since the beginning of the operation #IDF has documented approximately 200 rockets & mortars that landed short within #Gaza."

Sky's David Bowden, who visited the hospital in Gaza City, said: "It is a mess down there. I've seen injured children, some very badly injured and not so badly injured, and in the morgue I have seen dead children.

"I spoke to one man who carried his nine-year-old son Ahmed to the hospital. He was playing outside, when he claimed, an Israeli missile struck. He thankfully has survived. Other people I spoke to said their child had been hit by an Israeli drone strike.

Explosions in Gaza as yet another fragile truce ends

"Clearly, the people there believe it was the Israelis. And of course, the outside world will see this as another example of the violence here in Gaza of both sides as being out of control, and there will be renewed calls, even louder, for it all to stop."

Israeli media, meanwhile, reported four people had been killed and nine wounded in Gaza mortar strikes on southern Israel.

Sky's Jonathan Samuels, in Ashkelon, said it was understood the casualties were Israeli soldiers.

Shortlt afterwards, the Israeli army warned Palestinians living in Shejaiya, Zeitun and eastern Jabaliya around Gaza City to evacuate and flee towards the city centre.

An Israeli tank on the border with Gaza, earlier today during the ceasefire

The explosions came less than an hour after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon likened the conflict to a "manmade hurricane", saying "whole neighbourhoods have been reduced to rubble".

He demanded an end to the violence "in the name of humanity" and accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal of being irresponsible and "morally wrong" for putting their own people at risk of being killed.

The Secretary-General called on them to demonstrate "political will" and compassionate leadership" to end the suffering.

He said Gaza was in a "critical condition" following Israeli strikes resulting in the deaths of hundreds of Palestian civilians, which he said raised "serious questions about proportionality".

Attacks resumed ending a brief lull in fighting at the start of a major Muslim holiday, as international efforts to end the bloody conflict continued.

"Any process to resolve the crisis in Gaza in a lasting and meaningful way must lead to the disarmament of Hamas and all terrorist groups," said US Secretary of State John Kerry.

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Pakistan Mob Kills Three Over 'Blasphemy'

By Neville Lazarus, Sky Producer

A woman and her two granddaughters have been killed by an angry mob in Pakistan after an allegedly blasphemous post on Facebook.

Bashiran, 55, seven-year-old Hira and her baby sister died after their home was attacked in Gurjanwala, 110 miles southeast of the capital Islamabad.

All three were members of the Ahmadi community - an offshoot of Islam founded in India in the 19th Century.

The mob attacked and burnt five homes, a storage building and several vehicles belonging to Ahmadi followers on Sunday night after rumours emerged that a member of the community had put up an image of the Kaaba, the structure at the Grand Mosque in Mecca which Muslims face five times a day to pray, allegedly containing nudity.

Police officials said a crowd of 150 people first went to the police station to demand the blasphemy case was registered.

"As we were negotiating with the crowd, another mob attacked and started burning the houses of Ahmadis," an official said.

The victims were killed inside their home in Gurjanwala

Munawar Ahmed, 60, who lives in the area, said: "The attackers were looting and plundering, taking away fans and whatever valuables they could get hold of.

"Some were continuously firing into the air."

Salimud Din, a spokesman for the Ahmadi community, accused the police of failing to act.

"The police were there but just watching the burning," he said.

"They didn't do anything to stop the mob, first they looted their homes and shops and then they burnt the homes."

Mr Din said it was the worst assault since attacks on places of worship which killed 86 Ahmadis in 2011.

Under Pakistani law, Ahmadi people are banned from using Muslim greetings, saying prayers or refereeing to their place of worship as a mosque. 

The mob piled furniture from homes in the street and torched them

The blasphemy law is considered draconian by the minority Ahmadi and Christian community in Pakistan. The controversial law is not clearly defined and is punishable by death.           

Human rights groups say the law is often used to settle personal vendettas or to illegal grab property.

In January 2011, governor of Punjab Salman Taseer - who opposed the law - was killed by his bodyguard. Lawyers showered his killer with rose petals when he came to court.

Three months later Shahbaz Bhatti, the only Christian minister in the government, was killed for challenging the law.

And in May this year, prominent human rights activist Rashid Rehman, who had received death threats for defending people charged under the law, was shot dead in Multan.

A report by the Center for Research and Security Studies in Islamabad said there was just one case of blasphemy in 2001, but by 2011 that number grew to 80.

This year alone around 100 people have been charged under the law.

Though there have been convictions, the death sentence has never been carried out and most cases are thrown out on appeal.

Mobs like the one in Gurjanwala have killed many people accused of blasphemy.

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