Rolf Harris Spat At During Prison Scuffle

Disgraced entertainer Rolf Harris who is serving a jail sentence for sex abuse has been spat at in prison.

The 84-year-old was targeted during an incident at HMP Bullingdon in Oxfordshire.

A source said that there was a scuffle and the artist and musician was nearby.

"Someone did aim a spit at him, but he was not spat on, and was not physically hurt," the source added.

News of the incident came as it was announced that Harris has applied for permission to appeal against his convictions for a string of indecent assaults.

A spokesman for the Judicial Office confirmed that lawyers had lodged papers at the Court of Appeal this week.

One of Harris' victims who gave evidence against him during the trial told Sky News: "I perhaps should have expected it but it is still a shock."

The victim who cannot be named added: "It feels like such an insult and just beyond belief for him to do that."

Harris was convicted at London's Southwark Crown Court on June 30 of 12 indecent assaults and sentenced to five years and nine months in jail.

The appeal papers will go before a single judge who will decide initially whether or not Harris has grounds for appeal.

The Judicial Office confirmed to Sky News that no timescale had yet been set for the process.

If permission to appeal is granted then a full hearing at the Court of Appeal would fully assess Harris' case.

If, however, he is denied permission to appeal then he would be able to reapply.

One of the assaults was on an eight-year-old autograph hunter, two on girls in their early teens and another on a close friend of his daughter.

Earlier this week, Attorney General Jeremy Wright confirmed Harris' sentence would not be referred to the Court of Appeal on the grounds that it was too lenient, despite 150 complaints that the jail term was not tough enough.

Harris' offences took place between 1968 and 1986 against girls aged between seven or eight and 18.

He was prosecuted in line with the laws in place at the time of his crimes - when the maximum jail term for indecent assault was two years, or five years if the victim was under 13.

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High Street Revival 'Has Shown Little Impact'

By Frazer Maude, Sky News Correspondent

The self-titled "Queen of Shops" has come under fire after her Government-backed bid to revive the High Street has shown little impact.

Wolverhampton was one of 12 town centres chosen to pilot retail guru Mary Portas' High Street revival. It got a £100,000 share of the £1.2m in funding.

That helped finance the opening of five retail outlets. Three of them have been a success, one has diversified, and the fifth went under.

Nick Pitt, manager of the local shopping centre, chaired the Wolverhampton Portas Project. He sees it as a success for the town centre.

"A hundred thousand pounds is good value. And it rallied businesses around to come together in a very selfless way to help people get into business," he told Sky News.

"It was quite a humbling experience. I see people who'd never had the opportunity before to have their own shop and now they have.

"And those people are still helping us now to help other people get into business. And we're determined to do it again."

The celebrity trouble shooter was brought in by the Government two years ago to breathe new life into our struggling High Streets.

But some of her key recommendations, like a reduction in business rates and free parking, were ignored.

Some £1.2m in funding was set aside two years ago to boost business

Labour MP and chair of the Government's Business Select Committee, Adrian Bailey, is critical of the scheme, saying: "Overall, and I would emphasise it time and time again, you will not change the basic problems of the High Street just by putting in these sort of pilots.

"You've got to change the business rates and those obstacles which are deterring people from moving into the High Street in order to provide an imaginative variety of retail offers that people will want to buy into."

Mary Portas was not available for interview, but her CEO David Wood issued a statement to Sky News on her behalf.

It said: "We think there's some justified criticism of the way Government originally implemented the programme and the lack of infrastructure to support the town teams.

"There's also justified criticism of the way the majority of the recommendations were accepted but nothing was done - for example we spoke in the report about parking, business rates, landlords, town-centre-first planning approvals and the like but little was done."

Penny Maudaunt, the newly appointed High Streets Minister, says the scheme has been successful.

"There has been a huge amount of really good work that's gone on locally," she said.

"The pilots have been experiments. There have been a lot of good ideas, some ideas that may not have worked so well, but there are a number of ideas that have worked very well for particular areas and what we have to do is replicate that in other High Streets."

But many businesses say the areas that need tackling are the very ones that Ms Portas highlighted months ago, and which the Government ignored.

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World War One: 'Pals' Battalions Remembered

By Mike McCarthy, North of England Correspondent

Hundreds of events are taking place across Britain to remember the "Pals" - groups of friends, neighbours or colleagues who joined up to form their own battalions in World War One.

A century on exhibitions, concerts and church services are being held in memory of those who joined up to defend their country in what became a highly controversial recruitment campaign.

In towns and cities across the country thousands of men responded to a national appeal by Lord Kitchener, the then-Secretary of State for War.

He believed potential soldiers would be more likely to enlist if they knew they would probably be fighting alongside friends.

It was hailed as a huge success with the majority of recruits in the first few years of war made up of "Pals" battalions.

But heavy casualties led to huge losses in some towns or individual industries.

A banner has been erected in Accrington to remember the 'Pals'

Even today, some areas of the country remain shaped by the sudden loss of so many men within relatively small communities.

One of the best known "Pals" battalions was recruited in and around the hilly Lancashire town of Accrington.

Cath Holmes' great-uncle Walter joined up with the original Accrington Pals in 1914. He ended up at Ypres in Belgium where he died in September 1918.  

He was one of hundreds to die from the same battalion, whose proper name was 11th (Service) Battalion (Accrington), East Lancashire Regiment.

A banner has recently been stretched alongside Accrington's town hall in memory of the area's "Pals". 

Cath's voice wavered and tears formed as she recalled seeing a post about it on Facebook.

"I saw a picture of it being part-way up, so I just ran when I saw it all the way into town just to come and have a look at it," she said.

"I am really proud. I just stood there crying."

The Lancashire town of Accrington was shaped by the loss of so many men

Local historian Helen Barrett told Sky News: "At the end of the war there were so many widows, so many women who'd lost their husbands, brothers, fiancees, friends, cousins.

"There was barely a street that remained untouched. Almost every street had houses where the blinds were drawn as a mark of respect. 

"The widows had very little money to live off and had to suffer the indignities of means tests in order to get some money to bring their families up. It was a terrible time for them."

Untold numbers who had enlisted together in a war expected to last just a matter of months died together in a conflict which continued for four years.

Men had marched through their communities in glory as they headed towards what became the slaughter of battle.

Conscription was introduced in 1916. The idea of Britons fighting together as a community of "Pals" became associated with overwhelming and disproportionate bloodshed. It has never been repeated.

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'Kids At Risk' By Overdue Nursery Inspections

By Gerard Tubb, North of England Correspondent

Ofsted has been accused of putting pre-school children at risk and of not being fit for purpose over a backlog of nursery and childminder inspections.

Sky News has discovered that a quarter of early years providers have not been inspected for at least four years despite Ofsted insisting all inspections must take place within that time.

Jill Rutter, head of policy and research at the Family and Childcare Trust, accused the regulator of putting children in danger.

"Ultimately it does increase risks to children," she said.

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Pre-school Learning Alliance, said Ofsted has questions to answer.

"If you've got providers out there that haven't been inspected for years and years and years that's not a healthy position and that's not, if you like, fit for purpose," he said.

The delays are the result of Ofsted quietly resetting the clock on inspections on September 1, 2012.

In a statement Ofsted said all early years providers "must be inspected at least once within 47 months".

It went on to say: "The current cycle began on 1st September 2012 and will end on 31 July 2016."

Over 19,000 early years providers have not been inspected for four years

Under the Freedom of Information Act Sky News obtained data on inspections of settings on England's Early Years Register as of 31 March 2014.

It shows 19,204 nurseries and childminders out of a total of 77,509 have been waiting for four years or more for an inspection.

Of those, 342 have never been inspected by Ofsted at all, while 3,655 were judged to be only "satisfactory" at their last inspection - a grading now re-classified as "requiring improvement".

The data also shows 7,280 registered providers have not been inspected for at least five years and 611 have been waiting for six years or more.

Nurseries and childminders used to be inspected every two years, but in 2005 the interval was extended to every three to four years to save £4.7m a year.

At the time a government memorandum stated: "It could be argued that the proposed reduced inspection frequency for childcare providers might lead to very young children being at greater risk."

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PM Hails £300m Project To Unlock Power Of DNA

UK scientists are to map 100,000 complete DNA code sequences in a "landmark" project that aims to revolutionise medicine, Prime Minister David Cameron has announced.

Mr Cameron said the 100,000 Genomes Project, funded by a package of deals worth £300m, will "see the UK lead the world in genetic research within years".

The project will sequence the genetic codes of about 75,000 patients with cancer and rare diseases, and those of their close relatives.

Both the healthy and the tumour cells of the cancer patients will be mapped, meaning about 100,000 will be sequenced in total.

Mr Cameron said: "I am determined to do all I can to support the health and scientific sector to unlock the power of DNA, turning an important scientific breakthrough into something that will help deliver better tests, better drugs and above all better care for patients.

"As our plan becomes a reality, I believe we will be able to transform how devastating diseases are diagnosed and treated in the NHS and across the world, while supporting our best scientists and life science businesses to discover the next wonder drug or breakthrough technology."

Scientists hope that identifying tiny changes in the genetic code that can trigger disease will allow for personalised and more effective treatments.

It is hoped more drugs like Herceptin will be designed for specific cancers

One example of such a therapy that already exists is Herceptin, a drug specifically designed for women with a type of breast cancer characterised by over-activity of the Her2 gene.

DNA samples have already been donated by a few hundred participants in a pilot, and about 10,000 are expected to have donated by the end of the year.

The project is expected to be completed by 2017.

Among the cancers due to be targeted are bowel, breast, leukaemia, lung, ovarian, prostate and leukaemia.

Charity the Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council and the National Health Service are contributing to the project, which will be overseen by Genomics England, set up by the Department of Health.

The Californian DNA sequencing company Illumina, which won a contract to provide the technology for the project, will also invest about £162m in the project over its lifetime.

Wellcome Trust director Jeremy Farrar said genome sequencing could transform medicine.

"Twenty years from now academics and industry will have developed therapies which will be targeted at you and specific forms of cancer," he said.

"We will look back in 20 years' time and the blockbuster chemotherapy drugs that gave you all those nasty side effects will be a thing of the past."

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Athlete Tested For Ebola At Commonwealth Games

An athlete competing for Sierra Leone at the Commonwealth Games has revealed he spent four days in isolation over fears he had brought the deadly ebola disease into the UK.

Moses Sesay, who came to Scotland to compete in the cycling time trial, fell ill last week and was admitted to hospital.

"I felt tired and listless," he said. "All the doctors were in special suits to treat me. They dressed like I had ebola. I was very scared."

Tests eventually gave Sesay the all-clear and he was allowed to compete in the event, ultimately finishing last.

Medical staff treating ebola patients have to wear special protective suits

But the 32-year-old said he and his team-mates are worried about returning to their homeland once the Games are over.

More than 220 people have died in Sierra Leone after contracting the disease - more than any other country.

"All of us are scared about going back," Sesay told the Mirror.

"We have a three-month visa in our passports and, if I have the opportunity, I will stay here until this ends."

More than 700 people have died after contracting the disease in Africa

Health officials have been warned to be on the lookout for any unexplained illness in people returning from countries where ebola is present.

One union leader said British border, customs and immigration staff feel unprepared to deal with potential cases of the disease, although the Home Office said there was a "well-established plan to deal with different scenarios".

Dr Colin Ramsay, from Health Protection Scotland, said patients could be screened for ebola if they show symptoms including a fever, headache or sore throat, especially if they have travelled from an affected area within the last three weeks.

Putting such patients in isolation is a "standard precaution" and not unusual, he added.

Games organisers stressed the athletes' village has not been affected

A spokesman for Glasgow 2014 stressed there is "no ebola in the athletes' village", while Dr Ramsay said there is nothing to suggest there is any risk to sports stars competing in Glasgow.

"People have a misconception about ebola," he said.

"It is spread, primarily, through contact with bodily fluids, not casual conflict, so it wouldn't be sufficient just to share a house with someone.

"There has to have been close contact to have a substantial risk of being infected with the disease."

Meanwhile, a US doctor infected with ebola has insisted the only available dose of an experimental serum go to a fellow American patient in Liberia.

Dr Kent Brantly asked for the unit of blood to go to missionary Nancy Writebol, as the World Health Organisation announced a $100m (£59.2m) plan to tackle the outbreak.

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NHS Hospital Paid £1,800 A Day For Nurse

By Thomas Moore, Science and Health Correspondent

NHS hospitals are so short staffed on public holidays they are paying almost £150 an hour for nurses to work, a Sky News investigation has found.

On May Day Bank Holiday this year a locum agency was paid more than £1,800 to supply a nurse for a 12-hour shift, new figures show.

And one hospital paid £2,500 for a doctor to work that day.

The statistics - obtained through a Freedom of Information request - lay bare how much the NHS is relying on private locum staff on public holidays.

In one hospital, half of the doctors who worked on May 5 were locum medics.

And at another, almost one third of the nursing staff was supplied by a private agency.

Experts say that using locum staff unfamiliar with the hospitals they are working in can put patient care at risk.

With the NHS under increasing financial pressure, a nursing body wants the amount hospitals pay agencies to be reviewed.

One trust paid nearly £1,800 for a mental health nurse shift. Pic: File

Dr Peter Carter, Chief Executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said: "These figures are truly shocking.

"Many (of the nurses) will never have been to that ward before and will probably never be there again.

"It says nothing about continuity of care. Even finding your way round the ward, the geography, it makes life really difficult.

"Agency nurses do not provide good value for money … and the employers who use these extraordinary levels should be held to account for it.

"This is public money that is not being well spent. This is something that should be looked at with the utmost urgency."

Eighty of the 150 NHS trusts in England replied to a Sky News request asking how many locum staff they employed and at what rates on May 5 this year.

At the Heart of England NHS Trust in the West Midlands, half the doctors working that day were temporary locum medics, the figures show.

Experts say a large percentage of locum staff can put patient care at risk

More than three in ten nurses at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust and at Southend NHS Trust were from agencies.

Meanwhile, University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay (NHS Foundation Trust) paid an agency £2,500 for a locum doctor to work a single shift.

University Hospitals Bristol (NHS Foundation Trust) paid £1,800 for a nurse on a shift of just over 12 hours - equivalent to almost £150 an hour.

Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust paid almost as much (£1,798) for a middle grade nurse specialising in mental health - almost a month's pay for the average nurse.

Separate figures published in April suggested that the NHS has spent £2bn on agency staff since 2010/11.

A Department of Health spokesperson said: "We now have 6,700 more doctors and 6,200 more nurses directly employed by NHS organisations than in 2010.

"The figures … are not a full picture of staffing in the NHS, but we encourage all trusts to maintain a tight grip on their staff costs and we will hold poor performers to account."

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Boozy Criminals Get Tags That Detect Alcohol

By Darren McCaffrey, Political Reporter

People who consistently break the law while drunk are to be forced to wear tags that can detect whether they are drinking.

The mandatory so-called 'sobriety tags', which look like electronic tags, could force abstinence for up to four months and work by recording alcohol intake - measuring air and sweat emissions from the skin every half an hour.

If offenders break a drinking ban, they could find themselves back in front of a judge who will consider further sanctions or send them to prison.

This scheme will initially apply only to a handful of London boroughs - Croydon, Lambeth, Southwark and Sutton - and involve 100-150 offenders and is not aimed at those who are alcohol dependent.

The Mayor of London, who announced the scheme, said his aim was to reduce crime.

Boris Johnson said: "Alcohol-fuelled criminal behaviour is a real scourge on our high streets, deterring law-abiding citizens from enjoying our great city, especially at night, placing massive strain on frontline services, whilst costing businesses and the taxpayer billions of pounds.

"I pledged to tackle this booze culture by making the case to Government for new powers to allow mandatory alcohol testing as an additional enforcement option for the courts."

Alcohol-related crime remains a costly problem - estimated at between £8bn and £13bn every year - and two out of every five A&E attendances are due to drink-related injuries.

A 'sobriety tag' being put on a participant of a pilot scheme

The tags are widely used in the US, most famously on troubled actress Lindsay Lohan who was ordered to wear one after failing to show up for a probation hearing.

Authorities claim it has a success rate above 95% as well as reducing re-offending and domestic violence.

Critics have attacked the scheme, arguing that monitoring what people drink is a step too far, though that is denied by the company behind the tags.

Matthew Mitchell, of Alcohol Monitoring Systems, told Sky News: "It is not a human right to abuse alcohol and create public disorder and therefore a proportionate sentence in being ordered to wear this is entirely fair.

"This is high tech monitoring and this is the way our modern society is involving in testing people, which is much better than other systems."

Professor Keith Humphreys, former White House Drugs Advisor, who has advised City Hall on the project, said: "The Mayor's Office for Policing And Crime (MOPAC) will evaluate and review evidence from the pilot to develop recommendations regarding a wider introduction of the scheme.

"The tags register alcohol consumption but do not monitor movement or location of the individuals and data will be held in accordance with data protection laws."

A pilot scheme trialled in Scotland lasting several years failed to lead to the system being adopted. This latest attempt is due to last a year.

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UK Border Staff 'Unprepared' For Ebola

Border, customs and immigration staff feel unprepared to deal with people arriving in Britain who may be carrying the deadly ebola virus, a union leader has warned.

The virus - which has no vaccine and a fatality rate of up to 90% - has now killed nearly 700 people in West Africa, and it is feared it could be spread around the world by infected air passengers.

Public Health England has warned health officials to be on the lookout for any unexplained illness in people returning from affected countries.

But Immigration Service Union general secretary Lucy Moreton said members are "very concerned" about their personal safety and are not sure what to do if they think someone is infected.

"They serve on the front line; they are the first point of contact usually for people coming off an aircraft and the concern is what do they do if they're confronted with someone that doesn't appear well who appears at the border," she told BBC Radio 4's The World Tonight programme.

"There is no health facility at the border, there is no containment facility and until extremely recently there has been no guidance issued to staff at all as to what they should do."

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) staff at an isolation area in Kailahun

Ms Moreton said members had been contacting the union for guidance on what to do and how to protect themselves, but it had no answers for them.

There have been concerns the disease could spread to the UK after it emerged two people have been assessed for the virus in Britain.

A man was given the all-clear following tests in Birmingham after he travelled from Benin in Nigeria, while doctors ruled out the need for an ebola test on a second male in west London.

The Government's emergencies committee Cobra met to discuss the situation on Wednesday.

Afterwards, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said it is "most unlikely" the disease could spread in the UK.

A Home Office spokesman said: "Border Force has a well-established plan to deal with different scenarios including infectious diseases and we work closely with partners like NHS England to minimise any affect on passengers and staff."

A story about Liberian diplomat Patrick Sawyer who died from ebola in Lagos

Meanwhile, two US volunteers have been placed in isolation amid fears they could have contracted the virus in West Africa.

The pair - working for America's Peace Corps movement  - have not displayed symptoms but are under observation after coming into contact with an Ebola sufferer, who later died.

The Peace Corps said it was evacuating 340 volunteers from Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, the three countries worst affected in the outbreak.

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Watchdog To Confirm Bank Bonus Clawback Plan

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The UK banking watchdog will confirm on Wednesday that it is introducing the world's toughest rules for clawing back bankers' pay, even as it offers a fig-leaf to the industry by dropping some of its most punitive proposals for reform.

Sky News has learnt that the Bank of England's Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) will announce that bonuses paid by the biggest banks operating in the City will be subject to a period of clawback lasting for at least seven years from the point of award.

This will allay fears that clawbacks would begin only when three year or five year bonus deferral periods have ended, which would have meant that bankers faced at least a decade before they could be certain that variable pay was not at risk of being reclaimed by their employers.

The PRA will also disclose that it has also abandoned a proposal contained in a consultation paper published in March for the new rules – which come into effect on January 1 next year – to be applied retrospectively.

Under its original plan, the regulator wanted firms to claw back pay awarded prior to next year but with a six-year limit in accordance with a statute of limitations for employment contracts.

A senior lawyer who spoke to Sky News on condition of anonymity said they had been briefed that the draft rules applying to awards made before 2015 would not be included in the final clawback policy statement to be published by the PRA on Wednesday.

Concerns about the legality of the six-year limit had been overcome, allowing the PRA to propose a longer clawback period, the legal source said.

The new framework for clawing back bankers' pay will be the toughest in the global banking industry.

It is expected to trigger claims from London-based international banks that they will be placed at a significant disadvantage in overseas financial centres, where foreign rivals will not be subject to the same stringent rulebook.

However, the PRA's revised plans suggest that it has heeded some of the industry's warnings about the enforceability of its original proposals.

Senior bank executives are also likely to be privately relieved at the reduction in the overall period in which bonuses are at risk, and at the decision to abandon retrospective application.

Sources said the new rules would apply only to so-called code staff – defined by regulators as bank employees who take material risks – and only to level one and two firms, which are the biggest in the sector.

As Sky News revealed earlier on Tuesday firms will be required to amend the employment contracts of affected staff.

The PRA has, though, decided that the circumstances in which clawback must be applied are narrower than those outlined in its consultation paper in March.

Sources familiar with the matter said the final rules would be limited to misconduct or misbehaviour by individuals, and a material failure of risk management by the firm or business unit where the employee worked.

An earlier proposal to also apply clawback where there has been a material downturn in financial performance is understood to have been dropped.

The Bank of England declined to comment on Tuesday.

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Driverless Cars 'On UK Roads By January'

By Tom Cheshire, Technology Correspondent

The government is today announcing plans to put driverless cars on public roads as early as January 2015.

The British Army already uses autonomous vehicles, supplied by automotive design specialist MIRA, which is also developing systems for civilian use.

Researchers in Oxford have also developed an autonomous car that can be controlled using an iPad.

Tim Edwards, principal engineer at MIRA, told Sky News the UK had some "very advanced technologies and some fairly unique know-how".

Google is already testing driverless cars on roads in California

But he said: "Where we lag behind is actually getting the technology into some real field trials."

Trials on public roads have already been held in Japan, Singapore and Germany, and Sweden will soon follow suit.

In California, driverless cars are already road legal. Google's self-driving cars have already logged 700,000 miles.

In May, the web giant unveiled a new model - without pedals.

Nick Connor, Managing Director of Volvo UK, said: "We warmly welcome this initiative from the government and will be looking into the detail with keen interest.

Volvo is also testing them in Sweden

"Support of national and local government is crucial if we are to demonstrate the real, life-changing potential of this technology and encourage adoption from the public."

But the main obstacles may not be technological, but legal.

Suzie Mills, a lawyer at Ashfords, told Sky News: "That's going to be one of the areas that consumers want to know about - what does their insurance cover? Is it going to affect premiums?

"That's going to come down to clarifying exactly where responsibility sits. And that is something the government's going to need to look at and definitely insurance companies are going to want to know about."

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Cobra Meeting As UK Doctors Warned Over Ebola

The Government's emergency committee is to discuss how to tackle the "new and emerging" threat of ebola, as doctors in Britain were put on alert to spot symptoms of the deadly disease.

The outbreak is the largest in history, with the virus killing more than 670 people in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and Nigeria since February.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has told Sky News no British nationals have been affected so far, and there are no cases in the UK.

He said: "However the Prime Minister does regard it as a very serious threat and I will be chairing a Cobra meeting later today to assess the situation and look at any measures that we need to take either in the UK, or in our diplomatic posts abroad in order to manage the threat.

"We are very much focused on it as a new and emerging threat which we need to deal with."

Dr Brian McCloskey, director of global health at Public Health England (PHE), said the risk to British travellers and workers was low, but doctors needed to be vigilant for "unexplained illnesses" in those who have returned from the affected countries.

Medical staff prepare to bring food to patients in an isolation area

Dr McCloskey said: "The continuing increase in cases, especially in Sierra Leone, and the importation of a single case from Liberia to Nigeria is a cause for concern as it indicates the outbreak is not yet under control.

Those who experience symptoms such as fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and a sore throat within three weeks of their return from such countries should "immediately seek medical assistance," Dr McCloskey said.

The Government's chief scientific adviser, Sir Mark Walport, has told the Daily Telegraph that ebola was "potentially a major threat" to Britain due to the increasingly "interconnected" nature of the world.

British Airways, which flies to Sierra Leone and Nigeria, said in a statement it complies with guidance from local health authorities and will "continue to monitor the situation closely".

A person from Birmingham was tested for ebola after returning from Africa, but the tests came back negative.

Reports suggest he was tested earlier this week after travelling from Benin in Nigeria via Paris to the Midlands.

Countries affected by the ebola outbreak

Another man visited Charing Cross Hospital in west London after fearing he had the virus, but it was decided by doctors that he did not need an ebola test. 

A Department of Health spokesman said: "We are well-prepared to identify and deal with any potential cases of Ebola, though there has never been a case in this country.

"Any patients with suspected symptoms can be diagnosed within 24 hours and they would also be isolated at a dedicated unit to keep the public safe."

Health workers, family members and others in close contact with sick and dead patients are most at risk from ebola, which can have a fatality rate of up to 90%.

Infection results from direct contact with the blood, bodily fluids and tissues of infected animals or people.

The initial symptoms are followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some instances, both internal and external bleeding.

Symptoms can take up to 21 days to show, and there is no treatment or vaccine.

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House Prices Force Adults To Live With Parents

By Gerard Tubb, North Of England Correspondent

Millions of young workers have been dubbed the "clipped wing generation" because they are forced to live with their parents by rising house prices.

Housing charity Shelter has published census data showing almost two million workers aged 20-34 in England alone - a quarter of the total - are living with parents or grandparents.

A YouGov poll found 48% of them say housing costs are to blame.

At the Coast and Country Housing Association headquarters in Redcar, out of 11 people working in one office, nine were aged 20-34 and four of them were still living at home.

Laura Wood is living at the family home while she saves up for a deposit

Laura Wood, 26, moved back into the family home after graduating and has lived there ever since while she saves up for a deposit on a house.

"It's obviously difficult when you mum's still asking what time are you going to be in, where are you going what are you doing, so I don't feel like I'm 26 half of the time," she said.

Her co-worker Liz Wilson, 65, still has her 30-year-old son living at home and says the problem of unaffordable housing is forcing her to stay at work.

"I can't retire because we have to provide a larger property for him to have his own room, his own space, and as such we can't downsize," she said.

Unaffordable housing is forcing Liz Wilson, 65, to stay at work

Campbell Robb, Shelter's chief executive, accused the Government of not doing enough to help.

He said: "The 'clipped wing generation' are finding themselves with no choice but to remain living with mum and dad well into adulthood, as they struggle to find a home of their own.

"Rather than pumping more money into schemes like Help to Buy, we need bolder action that will meet the demand for affordable homes and not inflate prices further."

In a statement, Housing Minister Brandon Lewis said measures including the Help to Buy scheme were addressing the issue.

"We're determined to ensure anyone who works hard and wants to get on the property ladder has the help they need to do so," he said.

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Immigrant Benefits To Be Cut To Three Months

EU migrants will be able to claim benefits for only three months unless they have serious job prospects, under plans announced by David Cameron.

The Prime Minister insisted the change, which halves the amount of time EU migrants can claim, would make it clear to migrants that they cannot get "something for nothing" and that Britain was "not a soft touch".

In another pledge to safeguard jobs for British people he said he would limit to 500,000 the number of UK jobs being advertised across the EU through a jobseekers' website - down from 1.1 million jobs currently on offer.

There will also be curbs on "bogus colleges" which offer studying visas for cash.

David Cameron says Britain is 'not a soft touch' for EU migrants

Outlining his plans in The Daily Telegraph, David Cameron wrote: "Taken together, this is about building a different kind of Britain - a country that is not a soft touch, but a place to play your part; a nation where those who work hard can get on."

The number of Europeans currently claiming benefits is unclear. However, Government estimates from 2013 suggest only 6.7% of non-UK nationals (397,000) claimed benefits, of which 62,000 were Europeans and 58,000 from EU accession countries.

In contrast 16.4% of UK nationals claim benefits.

Sky News' Deputy Political Editor Joey Jones said: "Welfare and immigration are two touchstone issues for the General Election. The idea of benefits tourism, whether real or not, is where the two collide. 

"All the evidence is the Tories have been outflanked by UKIP on this territory, but in the General Election the main objective is to steal a march on Labour. That's what these announcements are all about."

All job centre posts are advertised across Europe

The benefits plan builds on changes laid out in January to make EU migrants wait three months after arriving in Britain before claiming out-of-work benefits.

Mr Cameron has previously been warned restricting benefits conflicts with the EU agreement on freedom of movement.

Currently more than a million British posts are advertised on European Commission jobs website called Eures, which is partly funded by the UK taxpayer.

Britain's job centres automatically upload available posts to the site. However, Mr Cameron has pledged this will now be limited to 500,000 roles and will only be included if an employer requests it is shared across the EU.

Yvette Cooper says the Government has 'failed' on immigration

A number of employers, particularly in manufacturing and agriculture, have routinely complained they are unable to find British recruits and have to fill the posts with workers from across Europe.

It is unclear how many EU residents actually find jobs through the website.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the Coalition was failing on immigration despite Mr Cameron's promise to reduce it to the tens of thousands by next year.

She said: "We need less talk from the Prime Minister on immigration and more action.

"It's almost a year-and-a-half since Labour called for benefit restrictions on new migrants. In that time we've had reannouncement after reannouncement from the Tories but little in the way of firm action."

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Kate's Got A Real Fan At Commonwealth Games

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will be hoping the home nations' gold rush continues as they return to the Commonwealth Games in Scotland where they spent a fun-packed day.

Kate and William joined Prince Harry and Prince Edward as they saw several English, Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish competitors take part in a games that is proving highly successful for the four countries.

The pair laughed, joked and grimaced - and at one point William fanned his wife with her identity pass, as she pulled a funny face. 

Both the Duke and Duchess fan themselves while watching swimming

Host nation Scotland won its 13th gold medal, taking it way beyond the 11 golds it won in Melbourne in 2006. England has 27 golds and Wales has three.

Prince Harry met two Australian players whose selfie of them and the Queen went viral last week.

Jayde Taylor was posing for a photo with team-mate Brooke Peris when the Queen moved into the background as she took the snap.

Harry is photographed with the England women's hockey team

Taylor said: "We asked [William] if he would do a selfie with us so we could add it to our collection, but he said 'I hate selfies but I will definitely do a photo with you'."

Kate, William and Harry went on to join the Earl of Wessex to watch Scotland take on Wales in the women's hockey.

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Tulisa: I Was Suicidal After Fake Sheikh Sting

By Lucy Cotter, Arts and Entertainment Correspondent

Tulisa Contostavlos has revealed she was suicidal after a sting by The Sun on Sunday led to her being charged over drugs allegations.

The former X Factor mentor saw her trial for brokering a drugs deal collapse last week when the judge said there were strong grounds to believe undercover reporter Mazher Mahmood - also known as the "fake sheikh" - had lied at an earlier hearing.

In an interview with Sky News ahead of a TV documentary, Tulisa - who had been told she could face four years in prison - explained it had been the worst year of her life.

"When I found out I was being charged I lost all hope," she said.

"I didn't have any fight left in me. I don't know who that person was but she was in a very dark place."

Tulisa reads a statement after her trial collapses

Tulisa was charged with helping to supply cocaine to The Sun on Sunday journalist after an expose was published in the paper last June.

The fake sheikh posed as a film producer and led Tulisa to believe she was in the running for a £3,500,000 film deal along with Keira Knightley and Kate Winslet.

She says she played up to the role of a bad girl and as well as being plied with alcohol, Tulisa says she believes her drinks were also spiked – an allegation Mr Mahmood strongly denied in court.

"I fully understand the media and the press. I don't see that that in any way justifies what they've done to me. You don't create something that didn't happen."

Tulisa will soon be back in court after she was found guilty of assaulting a celebrity blogger at a music festival last year - a ruling she is appealing.

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Domestic Abusers 'Not Being Brought To Justice'

By Ashish Joshi, Sky News Correspondent

The victims of domestic abuse are being failed by the Government because their abusers are escaping justice, claims Labour.

The Opposition says more than 10,000 perpetrators have not faced justice because police forces are wrongly using community resolutions to deal with violence against women.

Community resolutions were introduced to deal with low-level crime such as vandalism and anti-social behaviour. They are supposed to be used as an alternative to ending up in court.

Victims are asked what they would like to see happen - it could end with an apology, compensation or remedial action like cleaning up graffiti.

In the words of West Midlands Police: "Community resolutions mean children and adults with no previous convictions need not be criminalised for one stupid mistake."

But shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper claims the use of community resolutions to deal with domestic violence has more than doubled in the past five years from 1,337 in 2009 to 3,305 in 2013.

"These figures are deeply worrying. Domestic violence is an incredibly serious crime. Two women a week are killed by their partner or an ex and 750,000 children will grow up witnessing domestic violence," she said.

Yvette Cooper says community resolutions are often used inappropriately

"For the police to simply take a violent abuser home to apologise risks making domestic violence worse, and makes it even harder for victims to escape a cycle of abuse.

"Labour has called on the Government previously to prevent the use of Community Resolutions for serious crimes, including domestic violence. Today's figures reveal that nothing has been done."

But the Home Office has rejected Labour's claim that violent partners are escaping justice.

It said: "No government has done more to tackle the abhorrent crime of domestic abuse than this government. Our groundbreaking Claire's Law will help protect women from abusive relationships, while domestic violence protection orders are cracking down on the destructive cycle of repeated abuse.

"It is not acceptable for the police to use out of court settlements for serious criminality and that is why the government is already reviewing how they are used."

But Labour says an inspectorate report "looked at 66 police cases of informal resolution, and judged that the resolution was inappropriate in 14".

Women's charities and campaigners against  domestic violence have backed Labour's claims. They are worried community resolutions trivialise violence against women.

Jane Keeper from Refuge said: "Anyone with experience in domestic violence knows that most perpetrators regularly apologise.

"It's a feature of the violence, they abuse, batter, they control, and in the middle of it every now and again they say sorry and they'll never do it again.

"To have police encouraging this with perpetrators and keeping them away from being held accountable, is just playing right into hands of those who perpetrate violence."

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Fracking: More Protection For National Parks

Fracking will be allowed in national parks and areas of outstanding beauty only in "exceptional circumstances", ministers say, as new bidding for shale exploration licences opens.

The policy is part of new guidance published by Government which is aiming to offer up vast swathes of Britain for fracking.

The Government has committed to going "all out for shale", claiming development of the gas and oil resource is needed to improve energy security, and boost jobs and the economy.

But opponents say the high-pressure injection of water risks polluting water supplies, damaging the environment and causing minor earthquakes, and argue further fossil fuels should not be extracted due to climate change.

Business and energy minister Matthew Hancock said: "The new guidance will protect Britain's great National Parks and outstanding landscapes, building on the existing rules that ensure operational best practices are implemented and robustly enforced.

"Ultimately, done right, speeding up shale will mean more jobs and opportunities for people and help ensure long-term economic and energy security for our country."

Where an application in National Parks is refused and the developer launches an appeal, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles will consider whether to make the final decision himself to ensure the policy is being properly applied.

But Greenpeace campaigner Louise Hutchins warned: "Eric Pickles' supposed veto power over drilling in National Parks will do nothing to quell the disquiet of fracking opponents across Britain.

"Ministers waited until the parliamentary recess to make their move, no doubt aware of the political headache this will cause to MPs whose constituencies will be affected."

Friends of the Earth energy campaigner Tony Bosworth said: "Today the risk of fracking has spread. This threat to the environment and public health could now affect millions more people.

"Those who thought that fracking would only happen in other places will now worry about it happening on their doorstep."

The shale exploration licences which can be applied for from now provide the first step to start drilling, but do not give an absolute agreement to drill.

Planning permission, permits from the Environment Agency and agreement from the Health and Safety Executive will be required for further drilling.

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Gatwick Passengers Suffer Baggage Delays

Hundreds of people arriving into Gatwick Airport's South Terminal have faced long delays in picking up their luggage, with many being told to go home without it.

An airport spokesman said the overnight disruption was caused by "resourcing issues" involving baggage handlers Swissport.

"Due to resourcing issues with the baggage handlers Swissport there were overnight issues and delays with passengers' luggage," he said.

"Gatwick provided extra staff to help the airlines and their baggage handlers improve their service, as well as providing welfare and water for passengers waiting in the baggage areas, but we are sorry for the delays they faced.

"Baggage operations are now returning to normal."

Passengers of four airlines have been advised to go home without their luggage.

Gatwick said it provided extra staff for airlines to help reduce the delays

Officials at the airport informed passengers of British Airways flights who had waited more than an hour on their bags being returned, and those on Monarch, Thomas Cook or Thompson flights who had been waiting 90 minutes or more, that their luggage would be forwarded to their home address.

It is understood easyJet passengers have also been affected but had not been advised to leave without their baggage.

Some passengers took to social media sites to voice their frustrations over the delays - some up to five hours.

Julian C Adams tweeted: "Such shocking service at Gatwick airport! Waiting for the arrival of baggage for over 2 hours now! #shouldhaveflowntoheathrow."

Sophie Wood ‏tweeted: "3 hrs in #gatwick baggage handling ... Apparent Lack of staff appalling shambles #Gatwick#idiots."

Oliver Webb wrote: "‏@2 hour delays at #gatwick for baggage reclaim. #Swissport to blame apparently. No info from airport staff. Rubbish."

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Clegg: Russia Should Be Stripped Of World Cup

Russia should be stripped of the 2018 World Cup in the wake of the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine, says Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

He said it was "unthinkable" at present that the tournament could go ahead in the country blamed by the West for supplying arms to pro-Russian separatists suspected of shooting down the jet.

Football's world governing body Fifa this week ruled out calls from some German politicians for Russia to be boycotted, insisting the tournament could be "a force for good".

President Putin is coming under increasing international pressure

But Mr Clegg told The Sunday Times that allowing it to go ahead without a change of course by Russian President Vladimir Putin would make the world look "so weak and so insincere" in its condemnation of Moscow's annexation of Crimea and support for the rebels.

"If there's one thing that Vladimir Putin cares about, as far as I can see, it's his sense of status," he said.

"Maybe reminding him that you can't retain the same status in the world if you ignore the rest of the world, maybe that will have some effect on his thinking."

Russia has reacted angrily to additional sanctions imposed by the EU, saying they would hamper co-operation on security issues and undermine the fight against terrorism and organised crime.

Russia's foreign ministry also accused the US of contributing to the conflict in Ukraine through its support for the pro-Western government in Kiev.

It comes as 30 Dutch forensic experts head to the crash site in eastern Ukraine, despite intensifying fighting in the area between Ukrainian government forces and the rebels.

This map shows the flight path of MH17 before it crashed

Malaysia says it has secured an agreement with the separatists to allow international police to enter the crash site.

Officers would be allowed access to the area to provide protection for international crash investigators to recover human remains and establish the cause of the disaster.

Meanwhile, a Malaysia Airlines official has called for the creation of a new body to decide which flight paths are safe following the downing of the Boeing 777-200 in which all 298 people on board died.

Hugh Dunleavy, the company's commercial director, said airlines could no longer rely on decisions made by existing industry bodies on which volatile regions are secure to fly over.

Despite flying over a conflict zone, MH17's flight path had been approved by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, the Ukrainian authorities and the European airspace service provider Eurocontrol, Mr Dunleavy said.

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, he called for airlines and existing aviation bodies to "review existing processes and set more stringent standards".

"Ultimately, we need one body to be the arbiter of where we can fly," he said.

"This tragedy has taught us that despite following the guidelines and advice set out by the governing bodies, the skies above certain territories are simply not safe.

"For the sake of passenger and crew safety we need to insist on a higher level of authority."

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Controlled Explosions After Homes Evacuated

Police say a number of controlled explosions have been carried out at a flat in Derbyshire where "potentially volatile" substances were found leading to the evacuation of up to 200 residents.

A 55-year-old remains in custody and families from properties within 100m of the find in Newhall, South Derbyshire, remain out of their homes as a precaution.

Homes have been evacuated in Newhall, south Derbyshire

Officers said it could take until this afternoon before people are allowed to return to their homes.

Police had been called to the scene on Saturday afternoon by neighbours worried about loud bangs coming from a block of flats.

Firefighters and bomb disposal experts also attended.

Superintendent Paul Callum said safety is paramount

A man was arrested after the substance was discovered during a search of the flat in Belvoir Crescent.

Council officials told residents they found "volatile chemicals" in the flat that would take time to make safe.

Superintendent Paul Callum, who is in charge of the incident, said: "The safety of the public is paramount in these situations.

"We apologise for any inconvenience to the evacuees. We will let them return to their homes as soon as we can be sure the area is safe."

Local resident Leslie Wood, who is staying with friends after being evacuated, told Sky News: "Fire officers came to me and said there had been an incident and we had to vacate the premises for at least 24 hours."

A local school is being used as a coordination centre and temporary shelter.

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