Sri Lanka: Cameron's Deadline On 'War Crimes'

Prime Minister David Cameron has told the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa that he has until March to conduct an independent investigation into alleged war crimes.

At a news conference at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) in Colombo, Mr Cameron said the issue would remain high on the international agenda.

He said: "The Sri Lankan government needs to go further and faster on human rights and reconciliation.

"I accept it takes time but I think the important thing is to get on the right track.

"This issue is not going to go away, it's an issue of international concern."

The UN and rights groups say as many as 40,000 civilians may have been killed in the final stages of the civil war in Sri Lanka in May 2009.

But Mr Rajapaksa has denied any civilians were killed.

The PM's visit is the first by a foreign leader to the region since 1948

He has also blocked all calls for an independent probe into claims of war crimes committed by government forces against the Tamil population in the northern Jaffna region.

In response to Mr Cameron's comments, a senior Sri Lankan minister reaffirmed that the country's government would "definitely" not allow it.

Economic development minister Basil Rajapaksa, who is the president's brother, said: "Why should we have an internal inquiry?

"We will object to it ... Definitely we are not going to allow it."

Mr Cameron said Mr Rajapaksa wanted more time to address the claims, but put him on notice to deliver by March or he would push for an international investigation through the auspices of the UN human rights council.

He added: "I sense that they do want to make progress on these issues and it will help having international pressure to help make that matter."

Both men held a meeting on Friday night to discuss the human rights issue, where Mr Cameron said "very strong views were expressed on both sides".

It comes after Mr Cameron was mobbed by Tamil protesters who claim relatives were murdered by the state.

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Mum's Pain After Children 'Snatched By Dad'

By Lisa Dowd, Midlands Correspondent

A mother has told Sky News that her husband abducted their children and took them to Libya because England is "too Western".

In an exclusive interview, Priscilla Micalleff, 30, from Birmingham, told how Jamal Dgham, 35, who she is separated from, took Aisha, four, and 21-month-old Zakaria, abroad, after telling her they were going to the park.

She said: "He said England was too western you know, because they are Muslims, we came here because there are lots of Muslims."

The couple left Ms Micalleff's home country of Malta for "better mosques and schools" in the UK.

But seven weeks ago, without warning, Mr Dgham unlawfully took the children to his home country of Libya.

It is thought they are living with the children's grandmother in the Bin Ashur area of Tripoli.

Ms Micalleff said her husband had sent her a text message warning her that she would not see her children again.

The text read: "From tomorrow u r not gona hear or c the kids anymore and u won't know where they r."

Ms Micalleff has managed to speak to Aisha on the phone.

She said: "Sometimes it's hard, they don't answer the phone they make it hard for me.

"When she comes on the phone she's always crying, she tells me 'mummy I'm scared'."

In tears as she stands in her daughter's bedroom surrounded by her toys, she added: "You feel a very big pain in your heart that you can do nothing to get them back, all kids need their mum.

Family lawyer Pam Sanghera said: "We successfully obtained an order from the High Court that was served on him by email which he has read, but he says he is not going to return the children to UK."

Ms Sanghera, from The Family Firm Solicitors, says it is "inevitable" that the illegal movement of children will become more serious every year.

Latest figures from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office show that the number of children abducted by parents has almost doubled.

A total of 512 cases involving 84 different countries were reported to British authorities in 2011/2012 - up from 272 in 51 countries in 2003/2004.

Ms Sanghera said: "Libya is not a country which is signatory to The Hague Convention, so there's no automatic obligation on Libya to assist with the safe return of the children to the UK.

"The mother is going to have to initiate some sort of proceedings in Libya which may be obtaining a mirror order of the UK order that was made or another type of order which is similar in that it orders the father to return the children to the UK."

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Elizabeth Kinston: Body Found In GP Search

A woman's body found in grassland is believed to be that of missing GP Elizabeth Kinston - in what police said was a "tragic conclusion" to their investigation.

The 37-year-old mother, who had been suffering from postnatal depression, was last seen on November 1 after leaving her home in Beeston, Nottinghamshire.

The body was discovered near Enterprise Way in the Dunkirk area of Nottingham on Thursday afternoon by officers searching for her.

A post-mortem examination has taken place but the results are expected to take several weeks.

Police released CCTV images in an attempt to trace her

The death is not being treated as suspicious at this time, a police spokesman said.

The discovery came after emotional appeals were made by Mrs Kinston's husband David and her sister Charlotte for her to return home.

Police also released CCTV images of Mrs Kinston's movements on the day she went missing in an attempt to trace the missing doctor.

The 37-year-old woman had been on maternity leave after her second child was born in January.

Police have said she was known to have been battling with postnatal depression since the birth.

Detective Inspector Kev Broadhead, from Nottinghamshire Police, said: "Formal identification has yet to be confirmed, but at this stage we do believe we have found Elizabeth.

The 37-year-old woman had been on maternity leave since January

"It's a tragic conclusion to the inquiry and one we were all desperately hoping we would not have to face.

"On behalf of the force and of Elizabeth's family I would like to thank the hundreds, if not thousands, of people who helped in the search for Elizabeth, whether by sharing appeals on social media, distributing posters or getting out on the streets to search.

"It's been an unprecedented response and something I know her family would like to give heartfelt thanks for.

"It has given them incredible strength through these difficult days.

"David's priority will be his two little girls and getting them through this. We are supporting them during this difficult time."

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Typhoon Haiyan: Victims Flee Tacloban

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent on Leyte Island, Philippines

With nothing but the clothes on their backs, hundreds of typhoon victims are making a desperate bid to escape Tacloban.

People are try to escape the devastation of Tacloban

The ferry terminal in Ormoc City is full of lost Filipinos. They have nowhere to go. No plan, no home, no job, nothing.

All they have left are the few belongings they carry: small damp rucksacks, plastic bags, umbrellas. Some have only what they are wearing.

And they are supposed to be the lucky ones - the survivors of this cruel swipe of nature.

Each of them has their own story. Here is just one.

Julio Gatela is 32. He had a computer shop in Tacloban until his city became the place most devastated by the typhoon.

We meet him in the vast queue for one of the ferries away from here.

Julio lost everthing when the typhoon hit

The first thing we discover is that he has eaten just a few biscuits for 5 days.

There is food in this particular town, but he hasn't the money to buy any. He has just enough for the ferry and no more.

He shows us, pulling out an old damp sack from his bag. It is full of coins he managed to collect from the rubble of his home. The rest of his savings were notes - paper money which would never have survived so much water.

This is a not a well-off part of The Philippines. There are banks but not everyone has an account. Julio doesn't. He saved his earnings at home.

Our conversation is heartbreaking. Julio doesn't know what he'll do.

Many people have been left with just the clothes on their backs

"I don't have nothing else to do. I just want some rest. It's tragic out there (in Tacloban) so I have to calm myself and try to forget everything terrible that happened to us."

He is visibly depressed. I think he's probably emotionally broken. His face twitches as he talks to us.

"We don't know where else to go. What happened and why to us is a mystery for us."

He recalls the moment the storm hit.

"It was really terrible. Thundering strong winds. I cannot describe how strong it is. Different from every typhoon I have ever seen before.

"My roof was trembling. I put my life jacket on and I just waited. No one really knew what was going to happen. We have never seen big waves like this."

Many are trying to get to the neighbouring island of Cebu

With any luck, and with the coins he has salvaged, he will be on a ferry soon.

It will take him to the neighbouring island of Cebu where he hopes he will find the power to get him back on track.

"I don't know." he says. "I will just start at the beginning again."

In disasters like this, it's natural to think about the children, the mothers, the elderly. The reality is that everyone is suffering.

In fact, the children are probably the most resilient. I can see a few running around now, playing in the stifling sun which breaks the torrential rain. They don't really understand the chaos around them.

As I watch the kids playing, Julio recalls the friends and family he has lost.

"My uncle and many friends. And everything is destroyed. Everything."

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Typhoon Haiyan: 4,000 Dead In Philippines

The death toll from Typhoon Haiyan has now reached 4,000, according to a notice at Tacloban city hall.

The figure is the first public acknowledgement that the number of fatalities has exceeded an estimate provided by Philippine President Benigno Aquino, who said this week the predicted death toll would be closer to 2,500.

On Thursday, official confirmed deaths nationwide stood at 2,357 after the November 8 typhoon - one of the strongest ever recorded.

President Aquino has faced mounting pressure to speed up the distribution of aid.

Helicopters from the USS George Washington deliver supplies

There has also been confusion over the number of fatalities in the disaster.

A notice board in Tacloban City Hall said the toll had doubled overnight to 4,000 deaths.

The notice first said the figure was for Tacloban alone, before mayor Alfred Romualdez apologised and said it was for the whole central Philippines.

The figure is compiled by local officials who began burying bodies in a mass grave on Thursday.

A soldier stands at a checkpoint in the devastated city of Tacloban

The UN has put the latest overall death toll at 4,460 but an official said it was now reviewing the figure.

Preliminary numbers of those missing remained at 22,000, according to the Red Cross.

Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez said some victims may have been swept out to sea after a tsunami-like wall of seawater slammed into coastal areas.

Mr Aquino said initial estimates of 10,000 dead by local officials were overstated by "emotional trauma".

Survivors have grown increasingly desperate and angry over the speed of aid distribution, which has been hindered by looting, a lack of fuel for rescue vehicles and debris-choked roads.

It comes as helicopters from the USS George Washington aircraft carrier began flying food, water and medical teams to ravaged regions on the islands.

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'Family Doctors' To Be Restored In New GP Deal

The elderly will be given named doctors in a move aimed at "restoring the ethic of family doctoring", the Health Secretary has said.

Under a new GPs contract all over-75s will have a designated doctor who will be responsible for co-ordinating all of their treatment.

The agreement will see an "enhanced service" for patients with complex health needs to avoid them being unnecessarily admitted to hospital or A&E.

GPs will also take on more responsibility for out-of-hours care, with a commitment to monitor the quality of those services being used by their patients.

Concerns have been raised over the quality of out-of-hours care since Labour's 2004 GP contract enabled family doctors to opt out of night and weekend work by sacrificing £6,000 a year in salary. It also ended the requirement for all patients to have a named family doctor.

Jeremy Hunt has said the personal link between patients and GPs was broken

Jeremy Hunt told Sky News the move that will see those over 75 being given a named GPs was just the beginning of the return to "family doctoring".

He insisted that improving access to GPs for the elderly would not make it more difficult for others to get appointments at their local surgery.

Mr Hunt said: "Frankly if we look after the over-75s better it helps everyone in the NHS because that's where the real pressure point is. People who find it hard to see a GP will find it becomes easier because we are looking after that crucial group of people so much better."

He added: "If you talk to A&E departments across the country and see what the best thing, the one thing that we can do that's going to make life easier for you in the busy period, it's better out-of-hospital care for the over-75s."

Around 30% of those admitted to A&E are aged over 75.

Mr Hunt has also said that GPs, who earned on average £103,000 last year, will be forced to reveal their salaries from next year, which will allow the public to judge if they are getting value for money.

However, shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said: "No amount of spin can hide the fact that David Cameron has made it harder to get a GP appointment.

"This announcement will not put an end to patients phoning the surgery at 9am and finding it impossible to get an appointment - many of whom, not happy with a phone consultation, will still turn to A&E."

The British Medical Association (BMA), which negotiated for doctors, said the changes would cut unnecessary targets, reduce bureaucratic box-ticking and give doctors more time to focus on the needs of their patients.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the BMA's GP committee, said: "We recognise that GPs are facing unprecedented pressures on workload with rising demand and limited resources.

"From the outset of this year's contract talks, the BMA has sought to positively engage with the Government to address the difficult financial and workload pressures facing general practice, in order to find new ways of improving patient care, while at the same time freeing up GPs and practice nurses from pointless bureaucracy.

"Our agreement will deliver real benefit to patients and build on the work already carried out by GPs."

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Most Wanted British Fugitives Hunted In Spain

By Rhiannon Mills, Sky News Reporter

An "unlucky 13" of Britain's most wanted criminals who are thought to be hiding in Spain will be unveiled today, including the suspected leader of a £90m cocaine-smuggling ring.

Ian Stanton, 42, from Liverpool, is accused of being the ringleader of a gang who smuggled more than 400kg of cocaine to the UK hidden in a shipment of Argentinian beef.

The drugs were found at Tilbury docks in Essex in May, and the shipment was due to be delivered to a cold-storage company in Wigan.

He has links to Merseyside - specifically Crosby, Kirkby and Maghull - but also London, the Netherlands and Spain.

The full list of 13 is due to be unveiled in Madrid on Thursday by Crimestoppers, the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) and Spanish police, in the eighth appeal of its kind run under Operation Captura.

Hank Cole from the NCA told Sky News: "They are a mixture of serious criminals ranging from alleged sex offenders, those who've committed or attempted to commit murder, and significant drug traffickers.

"So these are the worst or most serious criminals that the National Crime Agency is looking to capture.

"Historically Spain had no extradition treaty to the UK so it was seen as a safe haven for UK criminals, since then the law has changed and we've successfully extradited large numbers of UK criminals back to the UK."

The initiative, targeting criminals thought to have fled to Spain, was launched in 2006 and so far has seen 53 out of 63 suspects caught.

Crimestoppers founder Lord Ashcroft said: "Despite our success so far, there are still a number of dangerous criminals who see Spain as a safe haven to hide from their past. But with the support of the Spanish and UK public, we can hunt them out and bring them to justice."

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Four Marines Killed On California Military Base

Four marines have been killed at a military base in California while clearing an exercise range of unexploded devices.

The sweep for explosive material took place at about 11am on Wednesday at Camp Pendleton in San Diego during a routine maintenance operation.

That usually involves the detonation of ordnance, officials said.

An investigation was launched and no further details have been released.

The identities of the dead were being withheld pending notification of relatives.

"We offer our heartfelt prayers and condolences to the families of the marines lost today in this tragic accident," said Brigadier General John W Bullard, commanding general of Marine Corps Installations West at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.

"Our first priority is to provide the families with the support they need during this difficult time." 

The deaths come about eight months after a mortar explosion killed seven marines during a live-fire training exercise in Nevada.

A military investigation determined human error was to blame for that accident.

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Typhoon Haiyan Aid 'Must Reach Victims Faster'

United Nations humanitarian chief Valerie Amos has said aid must reach Typhoon Haiyan survivors more quickly.

Ms Amos spoke out amid reports of widespread hunger and thirst and as a mayor of one of the affected areas said he would not be able to maintain law and order unless food arrived soon.

Officials are preparing to bury some of the storm's thousands of victims in mass graves in the hope of minimising the spread of disease in typhoon-hit towns.

Meanwhile Philippine Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla has warned that it could take six weeks to restore power to some areas.

Ms Amos told reporters in Manila: "The situation is dismal. Those who have been able to leave have done so. Many more are trying. People are extremely desperate for help.

Officials are struggling to cope with the sheer scale of the disaster

"We need to get assistance to them now. They are already saying it has taken too long to arrive. Ensuring a faster delivery is our ... immediate priority."

Criticism has been growing that help is taking too long to arrive in areas devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, known locally as Yolanda, last Friday.

Thousands of desperate survivors are clamouring to escape Tacloban, where clean drinking water is in short supply and scores of dead bodies lie piled up in bags outside the ruined city hall.

"There are still so many cadavers in so many areas. It's scary," the city's mayor Alfred Romualdez said, adding that retrieval teams were struggling to cope.

Body bags are piling up as preparations are made for mass burials

He said: "There would be a request from one community to collect five or 10 bodies and when we get there, there are 40.

"We need more manpower and more equipment.

"I cannot use a truck to collect cadavers in the morning and then use it to distribute relief goods in the afternoon."  

Mr Romualdez said the plan was to start mass burials in the nearby village of Basper on Thursday, after attempts to lay to rest some of Haiyan's victims were abandoned when gunshots halted a convoy travelling towards a communal grave.

City officials estimate that they have collected 2,000 bodies but insist many more need to be retrieved.

People queue to charge their mobile phones in Tacloban city

The UN fears that 10,000 people may have died in Tacloban city alone, but President Benigno Aquino has described that figure as "too much". 

US officials said relief was starting to get through, as an aircraft carrier expected to arrive in the Philippines by Friday headed towards the region.

Sky News Correspondent Katie Stallard, watching supplies arrive at an airfield in Cebu City, said: "We are seeing signs that the international relief effort is getting going, but many people will simply not know it is coming."

In Tabontabon, the town's mayor Brendo Gamez told Sky's Asia Correspondent Mark Stone that he feared a breakdown of law and order if aid was delayed.

He said: "We have no food ... if the people of Tabontabon suffer hunger, I don't think I can control them any more."

Some £13m has been raised by the British public in just 24 hours for emergency aid, which will go directly to help more than 11 million people affected by Typhoon Haiyan.

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), a group of 14 UK aid organisations, said that while life-saving aid is on the move, agencies are battling to overcome blocked roads, closed ports, an ill-equipped airport and increasing security concerns.

The disaster-ravaged country has become "increasingly volatile" as people become desperate for food and water, with some resorting to force, the DEC said.

Coree Steadmen, Christian Aid's emergency manager in the Philippines, said: "The devastation here is unimaginable. Aid workers are walking for hours and not seeing a single standing building.

"Most roads are covered with fallen trees and collapsed houses. Where roads are accessible, they are gridlocked with cars fleeing the area.

"Getting aid through is tough, but we are resourceful and we will find a way."

:: To make a donation to the DEC Philippines Crisis Appeal visit www.dec.org.uk, call the 24-hour hotline on 0370 60 60 900, donate over the counter at any high street bank or post office or send a cheque.

You can also donate £5 by texting the word SUPPORT to 70000.

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A&E Services: NHS Plans Two-Tier Service

By Thomas Moore, Health and Science Correspondent

Specialist emergency care could be concentrated in regional hospitals under radical plans for a two-tier A&E service.

NHS England is considering the new-look service as part of a major shake-up of emergency care.

It says other A&E units would not be run down and would still have the staff and resources to treat seriously ill patients.

But according to Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS England's Medical Director, critical patients with complex life-threatening problems need expert care - even if it means travelling further in an ambulance.

"We have demonstrated the benefits of transferring patients far outweigh any differences in travel time," he said.

"For example, stroke care in London, where the number of services has been reduced from 32 to eight, has resulted in a significant increase in survival and a return to independent living."

The plans would see the development of specialist emergency care centres

A panel of doctors has drawn up the plans for NHS England in an effort to stem the rise in demand for emergency care.

The number of hospitals breaching treatment time targets has trebled in the last year.

The plans would mean many more patients being treated in the community.

:: Patients with minor problems would be given more support to look after themselves.

:: There would be an enhanced 111 phone service, with patients speaking directly to doctors and nurses.

:: And there would also be seven-day appointments with GPs.

Dr Clare Gerada, head of the Royal College of General Practitioners, cautiously welcomed the plans.

"Of course it's important that patients get the same quality of service on a Sunday afternoon as a Tuesday morning," she said.

"But it's equally important that in the quest for seven-day working we don't remove resources from where they are best used, which is in general practice, and when patients see us most, which is in the working day."

Some A&E departments could end up dealing with less serious injuries

The plans also suggest specially trained paramedics could treat many 999 patients at home rather than simply transporting them to hospital.

The South East Coast Ambulance Service already has some 'paramedic practitioners', who keep 30,000 patients a year out of A&E.

Sky News spoke to 92-year old Gwendolyn Kimpton, who had a badly infected wound dressed by one of the paramedics.

She said she was relieved not to be going to hospital: "I would have been a bit frightened, I must admit."

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt told the Commons on Tuesday that the review would not shy away from taking "difficult decisions".

"We all know that the NHS needs to change to meet the needs of an ageing population," he said.

Earlier this week, Downing Street confirmed that Prime Minister David Cameron was getting personally involved in overseeing the NHS's response to the winter pressure on A&E departments.

Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham warned a failure to act now on "the brink of a dangerous winter" would see A&Es forced to go into the winter with too few nurses, doctors and beds.

In 2012/13, more than a quarter of all patients attending major A&E departments were admitted to hospital, up from 19% in 2003/04.

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Typhoon Haiyan Leaves Tacloban Devastated

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent, in Tacloban City

Tacloban City is hell. It is a place completely devastated and entirely broken in every way except one.

Dead bodies still lie in the streets

The resilience of the Filipino people has been humbling and extraordinary.

At a destroyed convenience store we stopped to chat to the owner and her daughter.

They have nothing left. Only three walls remain of their home and their livelihood. There is no roof. I ask how they are doing, quickly realising what a stupid question it is.

There is no electricity in the city

"We are surviving." the mother says, her voice breaking.

"You are still smiling, " I say to her. "Of course," she says. "We are Filipinos. We always smile."

Normally that's true. And even now when you smile at the locals they smile back.

Many people have left Tacloban for Manila

"Hello sir," they shout. "Hello mam."

Tacloban now has a horrible notoriety after what happened here. Dead bodies still lie on the sides of the streets.

But those who survived desperately need help. There is nothing like enough supplies or aid here and there is a depressing lack of co-ordination.

As I write this I can see men, women and small children sitting in the mud waiting.

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Typhoon Haiyan: Gun Battles Reported In Chaos

Eight people have also been crushed to death after a huge crowd of typhoon survivors rushed a government rice warehouse, causing a wall to collapse.

The incident in Alangalang town, 10 miles from the devastated city of Tacloban, underlined the increasing sense of fear and desperation setting in among those battling to survive the aftermath of the typhoon.

It came amid reports of gunfire exchanges between security forces and armed men and women - which were later denied by officials.

UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos has praised the international community's reaction but said much more needed to be done in a disaster of such magnitude.

Thousands of people have been begging for seats on flights out of Tacloban as anger at the slow pace of aid reaching the disaster zone turned deadly.

"One wall of our warehouses collapsed and eight people were crushed and killed instantly," said Rex Estoperez, spokesman for the National Food Authority.

Soldiers carry young children on to evacuation flights at Tacloban airport

Five days after Haiyan ripped apart entire coastal communities, the situation in Tacloban was becoming ever more dire with essential supplies low and increasingly desperate survivors jostling at the airport.

Sky News Asia Correspondent Mark Stone said: "Those who survived desperately need help. There is nothing like enough supplies or aid here and there is a depressing lack of co-ordination."

At the airport, Angeline Conchas, waiting for space on a plane with her seven-year-old daughter Rogiel Ann, said: "We have been here for three days and we still cannot get to fly out." 

Her family were trapped on the second floor of their building as flood waters rose around them.

They made their way to safety by clinging on to an electricity cable to move to a higher structure where they stayed until the waters subsided.

"It is a good thing the electricity had already been cut off or we would have died," she said.

An injured typhoon survivor is carried by members of the military

"We made it out, but now we may die from hunger."

"Everyone is panicking," Captain Emily Chang, a navy doctor, told AFP.

"They say there is no food, no water. They want to get out of here," she added, saying doctors at the airport had run out of medicine, including antibiotics.

"We are examining everyone but there's little we can do until more medical supplies arrive."

The United Nations estimates 10,000 people may have died in Tacloban, the provincial capital of Leyte province where 16ft waves flattened nearly everything in their path as they swept hundreds of metres across the low-lying land.

However, Philippine President Benigno Aquino said he believed that toll was "too much", and that the real number may be closer to 2,500.

Health Secretary Enrique Ona admitted authorities were struggling to deal with the sheer numbers of the dead.

Supplies of rice are loaded on to a truck, but food remains scarce

He told radio station DZMM they had delayed the retrieval of bodies because "we ran out of body bags".

He said: "We hope to speed it up when we get more body bags."

The UN estimates more than 11.3 million people have been affected with 673,000 made homeless, since Haiyan smashed into the nation's central islands on Friday.

Overwhelmed and under-resourced rescue workers have been unable to provide food, water, medicines, shelter and other relief supplies to many survivors, and desperation has been building across the disaster zones.

The international relief effort is building momentum with many countries pledging help. The United States and Britain are sending warships carrying thousands of sailors to the Philippines.

The aircraft carrier USS George Washington, which has 5,000 sailors and more than 80 aircraft on board, is heading from Hong Kong with five other US warships, while three amphibious vessels are also being deployed.

Tacloban's infrastructure was devastated by the typhoon's impact

The carrier group is expected to reach the Philippines later this week, the Pentagon said, bringing much needed supplies. 

Hundreds of soldiers and police have been patrolling the streets and manning checkpoints in Tacloban, trying to keep looting under control.

President Aquino has declared a "state of national calamity", allowing the government to impose price controls and quickly release emergency funds.

Speaking in a CNN interview, he said that local officials who feared 10,000 had died in Tacloban may have been "too close" to the disaster to give an accurate toll.

"Being in the centre of the destruction... there is emotional trauma associated with that particular estimate," he said.

A sense of fear and desperation is growing in the stricken city

"The figure I have right now is 2,000... so far about 2,000, 2,500 is the figure we're working on," Aquino added, though he admitted the toll still could rise.

The latest official government death toll stands at 1,798, although authorities have said they have not come close to accurately assessing the number of bodies lying amid the rubble or swept out to sea.

And international aid groups said they feared what was known now was just the tip of the iceberg.

"Obviously the situation in Tacloban is appalling but we are also very concerned about outlying islands," Patrick Fuller, Red Cross spokesman in the Asia-Pacific, told AFP.

"There are a lot of them and I think it will be days, if not weeks, before we have a clear picture."

Haiyan's sustained winds when it hit Samar island, where it first made landfall, reached 195 miles an hour, making it the strongest typhoon in the world this year and one of the most powerful ever recorded.

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Energy Prices: Customers 'Not Cash Cows'

The Energy Secretary is to warn that customers are not "cash cows" to be squeezed for profits by the shareholders of energy companies.

Liberal Democrat Ed Davey will deliver the warning in a speech to Energy UK's annual conference at lunchtime.

Energy Secretary Ed Davey

He will urge the industry to "open up your books" to show how it is trying to keep tariffs low.

His speech comes amid warnings that gas prices could soar this winter if the national supply runs short during another cold snap.

Average price rises of 9.1% have already been announced by four of the UK's six main energy companies - the other two are expected to follow.

In his speech he will say that power companies have to make profits to invest in infrastructure, secure supplies, and develop more energy efficient technologies.

But he will warn: "Those profits cannot come at the expense of the elderly, the vulnerable, and the poorest in our society.

"Customers are not just cash cows to be squeezed in the pursuit of a higher return for shareholders.

"Trust between those who supply energy and those who use it is breaking down. It is so difficult for people to work out what exactly they are paying for that they fear the big energy companies are taking them for a ride when bills go up."

He will say that some customers see a reflection of the greed that consumed banks, and this is a "Fred the Shred" moment for the industry, a reference to former RBS boss Fred Goodwin.

He will say the Government is looking at how it could reduce the impact of its policies on bills, which would include backing any "necessary" regulations recommended by electricity and gas prices regulator Ofgem.

"But our commitment must be matched by a commitment in industry to open up your books and set out exactly how you are bearing down on your own costs to make bills as low as possible," he will say.

Industry analyst Peter Hughes told Sky News that a "perfect storm" last March of extreme weather and the shutdown of two major pipelines caused prices to double.

He added that could happen again because the Government has refused to support the storage of more gas.

"It foreshadows things to come," he said. "The situation in terms of the risks will only get worse as North Sea production runs down and demand rises."

Sky's Nick Martin, on a gas platform in the North Sea, said: "North Sea gas won't last forever, the harder-to-reach wells cost tens of millions of pounds to drill.

"Somewhere in the middle of this complex equation, the customer still expects value for money."

:: Watch a day of special coverage on energy costs all day on Sky News - on Sky 501, Virgin Media 602, Freesat 202, Freeview 82, Skynews.com and Sky News for iPad.

There will also be a special programme on the energy industry on Jeff Randall Live this evening at 7pm.

16.08 | 0 komentar | Read More

Typhoon Haiyan: People 'In Desperate Need'

Aid agencies have launched a joint emergency appeal to get food, water and shelter to victims of the devastating Philippines typhoon.

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), made up of 14 aid charities, said its members were already responding to the crisis but the scale of the destruction meant there was "huge unmet need".

A "huge injection" of funds is needed to get aid through to victims after the typhoon made roads impassable and put airports out of action, the DEC said.

Although the official death toll stands at 1,774, around 10,000 people are thought to have been killed.

A further 10 million could be affected after the typhoon, said to be the strongest ever to make landfall, hit the southeast Asian nation.

Homes on a hillside in Tacloban have been obliterated by the storm surge

Authorities said they had evacuated 800,000 people head of the typhoon, but many evacuation centres proved to be no protection against the wind and rising water.

The Philippine National Red Cross, responsible for warning the region and giving advice, said people were not prepared for a storm surge.

Although weakened, the typhoon has also killed eight people and devastated farmland since making landfall in southern China. 

DEC chief executive Saleh Saeed said: "The destruction in Tacloban city, on the east coast, is said to be reminiscent of the Boxing Day tsunami.

People in the devout Philippines still try to use a badly-flooded church

"There is currently no food, water or electricity. We can only imagine how much worse the situation will be for families living in towns and remote villages.

"DEC members are doing all they can to get aid through but they need a huge injection of funds in order to do so.

"The priorities are getting food, water and shelter to people in desperate need."

Sky's Asia correspondent Mark Stone, on the island of Leyte, said up to 20 people had been killed in the area by falling bags of rice in the scramble to get to aid supplies.

The DEC includes the British Red Cross, Christian Aid, Oxfam and Save the Children.

All of its members will support the appeal and 13 of the 14 are responding either directly or through partner organisations.

The UK is deploying a Royal Navy warship, HMS Daring, and donating £10m of humanitarian assistance in aid for the victims, Prime Minister David Cameron said.

The ship carries equipment to make drinking water from seawater.

Britain will also deploy RAF military transport aircraft in aid of recovery efforts, earmarking at least one C-17 cargo plane to move humanitarian aid and large equipment.

Typhoon Haiyan has made landfall in southwest China, killing eight people

Meanwhile, Australia announced assistance of £5.8m and the US government has pledged $20m in immediate aid and has ordered the aircraft carrier USS George Washington to the sail to the Philippines.

Japan said it will fly a relief team over to the ravaged country and Taiwan is sending £125,000 in aid.

The United Nations World Food Programme has also allocated $2m (£1.25m) and Unicef is sending emergency supplies.

Sky's chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay is in Hagnaya in Cebu where he said people are begging on the streets because supplies from NGOs have not yet reached them.

He said nearly 100% of the buildings in the town have been damaged.

"There's concern that there is another weather front likely to hit the area with a lot of rain forecast in the next couple of days."

:: To make a donation to the DEC Philippines Crisis Appeal visit www.dec.org.uk, call the 24-hour hotline on 0370 60 60 900, donate over the counter at any high street bank or post office or send a cheque.

You can also donate £5 by texting the word SUPPORT to 70000.

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Typhoon Haiyan: Families Search For Relatives

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent, in Leyte

Many thousands of relatives of those who were hit by the typhoon still have no idea of the fate of their loved ones.

At the ferry terminal in Cebu city, hundreds are queuing to make the hardest of journeys.

Communications on the neighbouring island where their families live are down, the pictures emerging are grim and so the only way they will find out if their families survived is to go.

A woman with an umbrella stands amid the rubble of Tacloban, Leyte

Ramon Gerado Jnr, 46, has made an extraordinary journey to find his family.

Like so many Filipinos, Ramon works abroad. So for three days he travelled from Saudi Arabia, where he is a construction worker.

Aerial shots show the true scale of the Typhoon Haiyan destruction

"I am praying that my family is OK. But still, I am ...." he stops. It all seems too much.

We board the ferry for the two-hour crossing to Leyte Island.

It is packed, and with another storm coming, the sea is rough.

Everyone on board must be thinking the same thing: a mixture of hope and dread.

Some families have been forced to take food from damaged shops

Sitting next to me are two young women. They are in their late teens I would guess, and judging by their appearance they are sisters.

They are not talking. They are deep in thought. They seem far away, staring out of the window at the coastline of their battered homeland.

I decide not to break their thoughts by engaging in conversation, so I can only guess why they are making the journey.

It is pretty obvious though. If they are like the other 99% then they too are making the grim journey to find out the fate of their families.

Worried relatives have travelled to Leyte to look for loved ones

Both are clutching their mobile phones, presumably hoping the brightly-coloured handsets might suddenly defy the lack of signal and ring with good news.

As we arrive at the small city of Ormoc, on Leyte Island, we start to get a sense of the scale of devastation.

The buildings are roofless, the trees that are still standing have been stripped of all their branches. And this is only the beginning of the journey.

It will be many more hours before we get to Ramon's town. "I want everyone to witness what has happened here to my family," he said.

:: To make a donation to the DEC Philippines Crisis Appeal visit www.dec.org.uk, call the 24-hour hotline on 0370 60 60 900, donate over the counter at any high street bank or post office or send a cheque.

You can also donate £5 by texting the word SUPPORT to 70000.

16.08 | 0 komentar | Read More

World Cup: Crackdown On Brazil 'Terror' Gang

Man's Journey From The Devil To God

Updated: 12:24am UK, Monday 11 November 2013

Daniel Correa Martins, 30, was once a drug addict and dealer who wanted his life to end. He now has a family and works as a missionary in Osasco, Sao Paulo. This is his story.

When I was 10 my father took me to hospital and there l had to do several exams and they found out I was visually impaired.

There was no cure for me and they declared me officially blind.

When my father told me the news, I rebelled. I thought how could you let me be born like this? What kind of God would do that?

All I could think of was that I wanted to die. It didn't matter how.

I started hanging out with the wrong crowd. I started to steal and first started stealing in shops.

I was an invalid - why should I live? The devil works through what you say, through your words.

Every time I robbed a shop I stayed a little longer hoping that someone would end my life.

I carried on stealing more and more, and by the time I turned 12 I was addicted to marijuana, coke and crack. By the time I turned 13 I was selling drugs and peddling.

From that moment onwards my life started to get worse and worse. I became more ruthless and evil.

It got to the stage that I could barely live with myself and what I was doing. I was an addict.

Sometimes I would go an hide in the woods for up to four days smoking crack.

I stole, sometimes over five robberies in one day, to feed my addiction. And on top of this I was a drug dealer too.

My mum every day would go to church and pray for me. But all I did was help my three brothers also become hooked on drugs.

My oldest brother got caught and was sentenced to 10 years in the Carandiru prison.

My life continued its downward spiral.

The police would pick me up and have to release me again as I was under age.

I sometimes spent two months without washing or even brushing my teeth.

I looked like an animal. I would walk out my front door and all my neighbours were scared of me, they would run in and lock their doors.

No one would talk to me. They all ran away in fear.

At night I would sell drugs and rob shops during the day. All I did was take more and more drugs, but nothing changed.

Then one day drugged to the eyeballs, I sat down and cried and looked up to the sky, and said: "God why am I still alive? What do you want from me in this life?"

I was tired of this life.

I would go into my mother's house and steal. I would go into my auntie's house and steal everything I could get my hands. I would steal and sell to buy drugs.

Then one day I woke up one morning in a drug haze and went and stood outside my front door.

A young girl who my mother knew came along my road and stopped in front of me she asked if she could speak with me.

I said yes, but be quick as I have to go soon!

She told me that she had been in her living room reading a book when she felt she needed to tell me a message.

The message was that my days in the hands of the devil were numbered.

She said she saw me travelling to all four corners of the world, and as she spoke I got more and more angry.

I just said to her "cut to the chase because I've got to go".

She then said: "I can see you being taken to the woods by the police and beating and beating you and then you will be taken to another place."

I urged her to finish and she said that I would walk through the valley of death very soon but first l would be imprisoned.

I said to her: "We'll see."

The next morning I went to rob a shop and was caught.

And there were several police cars there - I had been on a wanted list for quite a while. They were all very happy to have caught me.

They took me to the woods and beat me and kicked me, saying that I needed to confess to everything I had done.

They then asked me if I had any tattoos - and I did.

When they saw them - both symbols of the PCC (the First Capital Command drug cartel) - they beat me even more.

Then they took me into a detention cell and shifted me every day to a different police station to be held.

When I ended up at the detention centre in Osasco I realised how different life was.

Life outside was one thing, life inside was something very different. Outside we all say we're men, but inside we see who the real men are.

Inside I learnt everything my mother had tried to teach me and I hadn't wanted to know.

When I arrived like any other prisoner, I was given a role; there everyone has a role - to wash the cell, wash dishes, wash spoons.

I had to wash the plates and spoons - something I had never done in my life.

Then my life started changing. But when I first arrived there I thought I would become even worse than I already was.

This was in 2004 when I was 21 years old.

This was the first day of my real life.

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Super Typhoon Haiyan: Struggle For Aid Workers

Rescuers are struggling to get desperately needed aid to areas of the Philippines devastated by Typhoon Haiyan.

Aid workers are being held back by blocked roads and damaged airports as they try to deliver tents, food and medicines to the worst affected areas.

Troops have been sent to the city of Tacloban to restore law and order after reports of looting, with Philippines President Benigno Aquino considering declaring a state of emergency or martial law where necessary.

Looters have reportedly broken into supermarkets, while a Red Cross aid convoy was raided. Consumer goods such as televisions and washing machines have also been stolen.

At least 10,000 people are thought to have been killed in Tacloban alone by the typhoon, officials believe.

Corpses hung from trees in the city and were scattered in the streets. Many were buried in flattened buildings.

Cars lie abandoned and submerged after Typhoon Haiyan struck

One UN official said he was told there had been a three-metre (10ft) water surge through the city.

A further 300 are confirmed dead with 2,000 missing on the neighbouring island of Samar.

Water has been cut off in many areas, making the relief effort more difficult.

Sky's Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay, in Manila, said: "The relief operation is only just getting going, it's fairly piecemeal at the moment.

Looters break a shop's butter to make it easier to get food supplies

"They really don't have the volume of aircraft they need to either get aircraft in or people out in sufficient quantities to try and control what has become, day-by-day, a more difficult situation."

At least six people have also been killed in Vietnam after the typhoon made landfall near the Chinese border.

Some 600,000 people were evacuated from at-risk areas in the north of the country before Haiyan - downgraded to a weaker Category One storm - battered the coast with 98mph (157kmph) winds.

All schools in the capital Hanoi were closed on Monday, and extra police were dispatched to redirect traffic in flood-prone areas.

A woman mourns next to the body of her husband and others

In the Philippines millions of people are said to have been directly affected by the typhoon's path and the death toll is expected to rise further as rescuers reach cut-off areas.

"This area has been totally ravaged", said Sebastien Sujobert, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Tacloban.

"Many lives were lost, a huge number of people are missing, and basic services such as drinking water and electricity have been cut off."

Haiyan hit the east coast of the Philippines on Friday and smashed through its central islands, with winds of 147mph (235 kmph) and a storm surge of 20ft (six metres).

Video from Eastern Samar province's Guiuan township - the first area where the typhoon made landfall - also showed a trail of devastation. Many houses were flattened and roads were strewn with debris and uprooted trees. 

The devastation has left a Hiroshima-like landscape

Witnesses reported seeing looting and violence with President Aquino admitting it was a major concern.

Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Zagala told AFP news agency that 100 soldiers had been sent to help police restore law and order in Tacloban.

The United Nations said it was sending supplies but access to the worst hit areas was a challenge.

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has directed the military's Pacific Command to deploy ships and aircraft to support search-and-rescue operations and airlift emergency supplies.

The European Commission has released €3m (£2.5m) in emergency funds, while the UK is providing £6m in aid and Prime Minister David Cameron has telephoned President Aquino to offer his support.

Threatening to further hamper relief efforts is a new storm approaching the southern and central Philippines.

Government weather forecasters said the tropical depression could bring fresh floods to typhoon-affected areas.

The depression is expected to hit land on the southern island of Mindanao late Tuesday and then move across the central islands of Bohol, Cebu, Negros and Panay, which all suffered typhoon damage, forecaster Connie Dadivas said.

It could bring "moderate to heavy" rains, or about five to 15 millimetres (0.2 to 0.6 inches) per hour, he said.

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Super Typhoon Haiyan: Miracle Baby Born

The birth of a baby girl amid the devastation of Super Typhoon Haiyan has provided a rare moment of joy for survivors.

Bea Joy Sagales was born at the airport in Tacloban, the city where officials fear at least 10,000 people have perished.

Her mother Emily Ortega, 21, was in a shelter when the storm flooded the city.

She clung to a post to survive and managed to reach the relative safety of the airport, where a military doctor assisted with the birth.

Cheers broke out in the terminal when it became clear the birth - described as "near miraculous" by officials - had been a success. 

Elsewhere in Tacloban, survivors have been scavenging for food and looting shops in order to stay alive, witnesses say.

Emily Ortega lies amid the debris at the airport in Tacloban

"Tacloban is totally destroyed. Some people are losing their minds from hunger or from losing their families," high school teacher Andrew Pomeda, 36, said as he warned of the increasing desperation of survivors.

"People are becoming violent. They are looting business establishments, the malls, just to find food, rice and milk. I am afraid that in one week, people will be killing from hunger."

Witnesses described how survivors are forming long queues at aid stations, waiting desperately for handouts of rice and water.

Some sit and stare, covering their faces with rags to keep out the smell of the dead.

A medic places baby Bea on her mother's chest moments after the birth

One woman, eight months pregnant, described through tears how her 11 family members vanished in the storm, including two daughters.

"I can't think right now. I am overwhelmed," she said.

Erika Mae Karakot, a survivor on Leyte island, said: "Please tell my family I'm alive.

"We need water and medicine because a lot of the people we are with are wounded. Some are suffering from diarrhea and dehydration due to shortage of food and water."

Another woman said: "I have no house, I have no clothes. I don't know how I will restart my life. I am so confused.

'Zombie-like' survivors have been left to trudge through thick mud

"I don't know what happened to us. We are appealing for help. Whoever has a good heart, I appeal to you."

Aid agencies have warned that many of the 480,000 people whose homes have been destroyed by the bludgeoning force of the cyclone face a desperate battle to survive.

"Everything is gone. Our house is like a skeleton and we are running out of food and water. We are looking for food everywhere," said Jenny Chu, a medical student in Leyte.

"Even the delivery vans were looted. People are walking like zombies looking for food. It's like a movie."

Lieutenant Colonel Fermin Carangan, of the Philippine Air Force, said he and 41 officers were sheltering in their airport office when "suddenly the sea water and the waves destroyed the walls and I saw my men being swept by waters one by one".

He was swept away from the building and clung to a coconut tree with a seven-year-old boy.

"In the next five hours we were in the sea buffeted by wind and strong rain. I kept on talking to the boy and giving him a pep talk because the boy was telling me he was tired and he wanted to sleep."

He finally saw land and swam with the boy to a beach strewn with dead bodies.

He said: "I think the boy saved my life because I found strength so that he can survive."

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Miliband Slams Payday Lenders' Kids Ads

Payday loans companies should be banned from advertising during children's TV shows, Labour leader Ed Miliband has said.

Mr Miliband used a piece in the Sun on Sunday newspaper to claim youngsters are targeted by firms keen to exploit "pester power".

Calling for them to be treated the same as gambling and junk food promotions, he said that, if the Advertising Standards Authority failed to act, a Labour government would legislate.

Accusing the companies of using "cartoon characters, trendy puppets or cute plasticine figures" to attract children, he writes: "We all know kids learn about values of family and friendship from what they watch.

Payday loan firms such as Wonga are accused of preying on children

"We also know how easily they can be influenced. That's why I really worry when payday lenders target our kids and young people.

"And that's what the evidence suggests they are doing. How else do we explain hundreds of thousands of pounds being spent by pay day lenders for adverts during children's TV programmes.

"And why else are they using cartoon characters, trendy puppets or cute plasticine figures in some of their ads?

"They aren't simply doing it to appeal directly to parents. They want to use pester power to get kids and teenagers to put pressure on their parents."

He cited a recent survey that showed more than one in three people with youngsters under 10 said their children had repeated payday loan ad slogans to them.

Father-of-two Mr Miliband is concerned about the influence of ads on kids

"The next Labour government will ask the Advertising Standards Authority to prevent irresponsible advertising by pay day lenders that targets or exploits children and young people," he said.

"This is not just about content but also the time of day when such adverts are shown. There is no justification for ever selling pay day loans during children's TV."

Martin Lewis, the founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, backed Mr Miliband's views - having previously told a Commons committee the companies' behaviour amounted to "grooming".

Bosses from the industry - which is under investigation by the Competition Commission - defended their practices when they appeared before MPs.

Henry Raine, head of regulatory and public affairs at Wonga, told the committee: "Wonga's business is aiming to lend to people who can pay us back, that's how we make money.

"The vast majority of people pay us back on time. We freeze interest after 60 days and 25% of people pay us back early."

Mr Raine said around 3% of loans, equating to around 40,000 of Wonga's 1.25 million customers, go to the 60-day period.

He said Wonga's record compared favourably with the rest of the loan industry, including credit card companies and banks.

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Iran 'Will Not Halt Uranium Enrichment'

Iran's president has said his country will not abandon its nuclear rights after talks with world powers ended without agreement.

International foreign ministers and diplomats from six world powers and Iran spent three days in Geneva trying to broker a deal on limiting Iranian atomic programmes, in exchange for lifting some sanctions on the country.

Although they were unable to find a breakthrough, the two sides agreed to to meet again in less than two weeks.

The talks are reported to have stalled over France's request that Iran reduce its stockpiles of 20% uranium by oxidising it, putting it further away from being weapons grade material but still usable in a fuel programme.

After the talks concluded early on Sunday morning in Geneva, Hassan Rouhani told the conservative-dominated parliament in Tehran: "There are red lines that must not be crossed.

"The rights of the Iranian nation and our national interests are a red line. So are nuclear rights under the framework of international regulations, which include enrichment on Iranian soil," he said, according to the ISNA news agency.

The Natanz uranium enrichment facility

Tehran has always insisted its programme is for energy and other civil purposes, not military.

Optimism about a potential breakthrough in the decade-long dispute were raised when senior politicians - including US Secretary of State John Kerry and UK Foreign Secretary William Hague - joined the talks.

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and a Chinese deputy foreign minister also flew in to take part.

But when French foreign minister Laurent Fabius told France Inter radio that Paris could not accept a "fool's game" his pointed remarks hinted at a rift within the Western camp. 

Sky's Foreign Affairs Editor Tim Marshall, in Geneva, said: "I really think they were close. The Iranians were slightly less disappointed but I think Laurent Fabius is going to take some heat from this.

"The US and Britain have led the toughest line against the Iranians in the last five years but France has been as tough as anyone, if not tougher."

Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague said the atmosphere at the talks was "completely different" from a few months ago.

"We must continue to apply ourselves in the coming weeks, building on the progress that has been made," he said.

The six world powers and Iran agreed to resume talks on November 20 to try to clinch a deal.

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Super Typhoon Haiyan: '10,000 Could Be Dead'

At least 10,000 people in the central Philippine province of Leyte could have been killed by Typhoon Haiyan, according to a police chief.

The national government and disaster agency have yet to confirm the fatalities, a sharp increase from initial estimates on Saturday of at least 1,000 deaths.

If the typhoon death toll is confirmed, it would be the deadliest natural catastrophe on record in the Philippines.

Coastal villages in Leyte were flattened, or swallowed by the storm surge

As the super storm tore through the province it destroyed 70-80% of the town of Tacloban, said chief superintendent Elmer Soria.

"The devastation is so big. We had a meeting last night with the governor and the other officials. Based on their estimate, 10,000 died," Mr Soria said.

A child is returned home after leaving an evacuation site in Tacloban

Most of the dead are understood to have drowned or were crushed by collapsed buildings. Many corpses hung on tree branches, buildings and in the roads.

"On the way to the airport we saw many bodies along the street," said Philippine-born Australian Mila Ward, 53, who was waiting at the Tacloban airport to catch a military flight back to Manila.

Shivering children wait ito be evacuated from a rescue centre in the city

"They were covered with just anything - tarpaulin, roofing sheets, cardboards," she said. Asked how many, she said, "Well over 100 where we passed."

The Philippines has no resources on its own to deal with a disaster of this magnitude, and the US and other governments and agencies are mounting a major relief effort, according to Philippine Red Cross chairman Richard Gordon.

A woman about to give birth is carried into a medical centre at Tacloban

Haiyan was one of the strongest tropical storms ever to have made landfall, lashing the Philippines with wind gusts of 275kph (170mph) and whipping up a storm surge which swallowed coastal towns and villages.

Haiyan, a category five typhoon that churned through the Philippine archipelago in a straight line from east to west, has weakened significantly before it is expected to hit Vietnam later today.

Residents beside a road littered with debris

Tacloban, a city of 220,000 people south of Manila, bore the brunt of Haiyan, which flooded villages up to one kilometre from the shore. Bodies have been seen floating in roads covered with debris from fallen trees, tangled power lines and flattened homes.

Interior secretary Manuel Roxas said: "From a helicopter, you can see the extent of devastation. From the shore and moving a kilometre inland, there are no structures standing. It was like a tsunami. I don't know how to describe what I saw. It's horrific."

A pregnant woman cooks a meal inside a building overlooking Tacloban

Mr Roxas said patrols had been sent out to stop widespread looting by residents desperate for food and water as city officials warned they were struggling to retrieve bodies and send relief to survivors.

"The dead are on the streets, they are in their houses, they are under the debris, they are everywhere," said Tecson John Lim, a Tacloban city administrator.

In Vietnam villagers are evacuated in preparation for the arrival of Haiyan

The typhoon has weakened as it approaches central and northern Vietnam, where authorities have evacuated more than 500,000 people.

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