Written By Unknown on Selasa, 14 April 2015 | 23.21
RAF Typhoon jets have been scrambled after Russian military planes were identified flying close to UK airspace.
The Ministry of Defence revealed the news hours after it emerged warships from Russia's Northern Fleet entered the English Channel ahead of planned anti-aircraft and anti-submarine drills.
Interfax news agency reported the vessels were due to carry out the military exercises in the north Atlantic, but HMS Argyll was deployed to monitor the destroyer and Typhoons were sent from RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland.
In a statement on the latest incident, a Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "RAF Quick Reaction Alert Typhoon fighter aircraft were launched today after Russian aircraft were identified flying close to UK airspace.
The Russian aircraft are thought to have been Bear H bombers
"The Russian planes are being escorted by the RAF in the UK area of interest."
It is understood the Russian planes intercepted were Bear H bombers.
After the Typhoons were scrambled, Voyagers from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire were sent to provide air to air refuelling support while communications and radar assistance was given from the National Air DefenceOperations Centre.
Two toddlers drowned when their stroller rolled into an Arizona canal as their mother tried to shoo away a bee, police said.
Alexis Keslar was walking with her 18-month-old twins, Silas and Eli Keslar, along the waterway in Yuma when she momentarily let go of the buggy to fend off the buzzing insect.
"The stroller rolled away from her into the canal, with the boys belted in the seat," police said.
Ms Keslar jumped into the waterway on Friday to try to rescue her children, authorities said, but the strong current washed away the stroller.
The twins were found after an hour's search
The distraught mother called for help after clambering out of the canal's steep sides, police said.
Canal managers stemmed the water flow to help rescuers, who found the boys after searching for about an hour.
The twins were flown to a hospital, but were pronounced dead, police said.
Yuma's canal paths are popular recreational areas, but authorities say they can be dangerous.
"Many people typically do not comprehend how swift the current in these canals are and how deep the water can be," Yuma police said.
"They also do not realise how difficult it is to climb back up many of the canal embankments."
Marlene Gleim, a friend of the boys' grandmother, told the Yuma Sun: "No parent should ever have to lose a child, let alone two at once."
David Cameron has claimed the Conservatives are the "party of the working people" as he made pledges on homeownership, £5,000 of free childcare and an income tax-free minimum wage.
Launching the Tory manifesto, Mr Cameron repeatedly made offers to voters who worked hard and wanted to get on the "good life".
Cameron and Thatcher: the "property-owning" dream
The manifesto set out measures for families from cradle to grave - identifying measures to help people over six stages of their lives.
Mr Cameron opened his speech by saying: "At the heart of this manifesto is a simple proposition. We are the party of working people, offering you security at every stage of your life."
Video:Miliband: Tory Manifesto Unfunded
He promised 30 hours of childcare for three and four-year-olds - five hours more than promised in Labour's manifesto yesterday - to help working parents.
He said if the party is returned to power, it will give 1.3 million families the chance to buy their housing association home at least a 20% discount.
Speaking at a university technical college in Swindon, Mr Cameron laid out his vision for a "property-owning democracy" echoing the phrases used in Margaret Thatcher's 1983 manifesto.
And he said the Conservatives would introduce a tax-free minimum wage, linking the minimum wage to the income tax personal allowance so the lowest paid would never have to pay tax.
He urged voters not to "waste the last five years" and let "Labour drag us back" to the past, and asked to be allowed to "finish the job".
Mr Cameron promised: "This buccaneering, world-beating, can-do country - we can do it all over again."
Video:Clegg: Tory Policy 'Doesn't Add Up'
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:: All You Need To Know About Party Manifestos
:: Sky's Anushka Asthana On Five Things We've Learned From The Tory Manifesto
Among other measures included in the manifesto, which has the phrase "strong leadership, a clear economic plan, a better more secure future" on the cover, are:
:: Raising the personal allowance for tax to £12,500
:: Increasing the starting salary for the 40p rate to £50,000
Video:Conservative Commitments Analysed
:: No increase in income tax, VAT, National Insurance
:: Raising the inheritance tax threshold for family homes to £1m
:: Seven-day access to GP service
:: An annual £8bn boost for NHS funding
:: Repeal the Hunting Act
:: Increase state pension by at least 2.5% with a triple lock
Video:May On Home-Owning 'Dream'
:: 200,000 starter homes built
:: Committed to four-boat Trident nuclear deterrent
Mr Cameron's repeated pledges on a "good life" available to people in the UK prompted a question on whether he saw himself as the impoverished Tom and Barbara characters from the BBC sitcom, played by Felicity Kendal and Richard Briers, or the rich Margot and Jerry characters played by Penelope Keith and Paul Eddington.
To fund Right to Buy, the Conservatives would force councils to sell their most expensive properties when vacant - estimated to raise £4.5bn a year - and replace the properties sold.
However, the Housing Federation claims the cost to the taxpayer would be £5.8bn and 40 years of failure on house-building means the UK still does not have the homes needed.
Since Baroness Thatcher introduced Right to Buy in 1980, 1.88 million council properties have been sold - only 345,000 new social housing properties have been built.
Video:The Greens' Main Policies
As well as extending Right to Buy at a discount to housing association tenants, the party has promised a £1bn fund for building 400,000 new properties on brownfield sites.
Mr Cameron's claim that the Conservatives are the party for workers comes after Labour said it wanted to be seen as the fiscally responsible option for government.
:: Right To Buy: Your Questions Answered
:: Labour's Manifesto At A Glance
:: Conservative Manifesto At A Glance
Conservative activists gathered for the manifesto launch were shown a video called The Note.
Video:Ed Miliband 'Ready' To Be PM
The video refers to the missive left for the coalition by the outgoing Labour treasury minister Liam Byrne after the 2010 election. It said: "There is no money."
But Labour has claimed the Conservatives have failed to explain properly how their measures will be funded.
The Tories say some £1.4bn a year of the funding will come from reducing the tax relief on pensions for those earning more than £150,000. Mr Cameron said their track record showed they could deliver on their pledges.
Labour leader Ed Miliband said the Conservatives were "trying to fund Right to Buy on a bounced cheque".
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Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said the Right to Buy policy was unaffordable and did not help millions of people trying to get on to the property ladder.
The Green Party has pledged to end privatisation in the NHS and re-nationalise the railways in its manifesto.
The party also vowed to ban fracking, stop airport expansion and halt major road schemes, while promising cash for energy efficiency measures and flood defences.
:: Full Coverage Of General Election 2015
Party leader Natalie Bennett told activists at the heart of the manifesto was "a vision for a fair economy".
She said: "That fair economy demands the end to austerity.
Video:Who Is Natalie Bennett?
"It demands we restore and enhance the essential public services to all, but particularly the most vulnerable.
"That fair economy is paid for by the rebalancing that we so desperately need, to see multinational companies and rich individuals paying their fair share in taxes as they are simply not paying now."
Ms Bennet added that a fair economy meant every worker should be paid a living wage.
"It is really not a radical statement to say that if you work full time you should earn enough money to live on," she said.
"And yet we are the only UK party who is saying the minimum wage should immediately be lifted to a living wage and should reach £10 an hour by 2020."
:: All You Need To Know About Party Manifestos
Ms Bennett also underlined the party's commitment to safeguarding the NHS, and pledged to remove all private operators from the service.
She said: "Behind that is an understanding of what privatisation has really meant for so many of our public services.
"It's meant the cutting of the pay and conditions of workers, it's meant the cutting of the quality of services and it has meant the shovelling of public money into private hands."
Video:#AskThe Leaders Full Q&A: Greens
Caroline Lucas, the party's former leader and the only Green MP in the last parliament, also spoke at the manifesto launch and argued tackling climate change was not "some luxury that is only possible when there are good economic times".
She said the environment was not something that could be ditched during tough times "like that extra cappuccino on the way to work".
Green Party plans for a free nationwide retro-fit insulation programme would tackle both the "scandal of cold homes" while creating more than 100,000 jobs, she said.
Ms Lucas told the audience the money was there but it came down to political choice.
"It's nonsense to say we can waste billions on new roads or on HS2 but we can't afford to keep people warm in their own homes," she said.
For every £1 spent on energy efficiency measures, £1.27 was returned to the economy, and Ms Lucas insisted it was the only way of reducing energy bills while also helping the environment.
She also argued that the prospect of a hung parliament and a minority Labour government opened the way for the Greens to realise its manifesto goals.
She said: "That would give us a real opportunity to push Labour on the policies we know the public wants and which are at the heart of our manifesto - whether that's scrapping nuclear weapons or reversing the privatisation in our NHS, whether that's returning local schools to local control or bringing rail back into public ownership."
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Television presenter Sue Perkins has quit Twitter after receiving death threats following speculation she could replace Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear.
The Great British Bake Off presenter revealed on Tuesday that someone had said "they'd like to see me burn to death".
Writing on Twitter, she denied she is to replace Clarkson and announced she was leaving the social media platform.
She wrote a series of tweets saying: "Guys, post the utterly fabricated story about me & Top Gear, my timeline has been full of blokes wishing me dead...
The presenter revealed the abuse on her Twitter page
"This morning, someone suggested they'd like to see me burn to death.
"All of which goes to say that I am off Twitter for a bit. Love and peace x."
Perkins first alluded to the trolling four days ago when she wrote: "Just back from night shoot in Kolkata sewers to find my timeline busy with middle-aged man-trolls. General gist: Man do cars, woman do cake."
Clarkson will not appear on the show anymore
Fans took to Twitter to post messages of support and encouragement following her announcement.
Fearne Cotton wrote: "There are some awful and sad humans out there. How pathetic. ps you absolutely rock!"
It is not known who will present Top Gear after the BBC decided not to renew his contract following his attack on a producer last month.
David Cameron has announced a future Tory government would give 1.3 million housing association tenants the chance to buy their homes.
:: So what is Right to Buy?
The existing scheme allows council tenants to buy their home at a discount of up to 70% - a maximum of £102,700 in London and £77,000 across the rest of of the country.
:: Full Coverage Of General Election 2015
The Conservatives have made extending this to 1.3 million housing association tenants a centrepiece of their manifesto for the May election.
Video:May On Home-Owning 'Dream'
:: This all seems familiar?
It is indeed. The scheme was trailblazed by Margaret Thatcher on coming to power in 1979 with the Tories hailing it "the biggest step towards a home-owning democracy ever taken" in their 1983 manifesto.
And in extending the scheme to housing tenants, David Cameron is hoping to recapture that aspirational spirit in the face of criticism of the negative tone of the Tory campaign to date.
Unveiling the plan, the PM echoed the words of the Thatcher-era by talking of "building a property-owning democracy for generations".
:: So that's the background, how will it work?
It will be funded by requiring councils to sell off the most expensive properties when they become empty, and replacing them with more affordable social homes.
:: LIVE BLOG: General Election 2015
Around 15,000 houses and flats are expected to become available in this way each year, but the Conservatives stress no one will be forced out of their home.
It has been claimed the sales would raise an estimated £4.5bn which could then be used to build between 80,000 to 170,000 new properties a year.
:: Do I hear a "but" coming here?
You do indeed. The move, unsurprisingly, is not without its critics and has been branded "deeply unfair" by housing associations.
The National Housing Federation warns it would mean using £5.8bn of taxpayers' cash to "gift" up to £100,000 to people already living in good secure homes, on some of the country's cheapest rents.
Meanwhile, the group argues it would do nothing to help the millions in private rented properties desperate to buy, or those forced to live at home with their parents because they cannot afford to rent or buy.
It points out the £5.8bn would be enough to finance 300,000 new shared ownership homes "open to everyone, not just the lucky few".
Political opponents have also waded in with Labour dismissing it as "yet another uncosted, unfunded and unbelievable announcement".
And the Tories' Lib Dem coalition partners claim the scheme would would result in longer waiting lists for homes and fewer social houses.
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Evidence from rescue workers "strongly suggests" Syrian government forces used toxic chemicals during barrel bomb attacks in Idlib, according to Human Rights Watch.
The New York-based group says eyewitnesses reported multiple attacks between 16 March and 31 March in the north west of the country.
Six civilians, including three children, died in one of the attacks, according to HRW. At least 206 people were affected in total.
The group investigated six attacks in which Syrian government helicopters dropped barrel bombs containing gas canisters.
Eyewitness accounts, photographs and video footage from three of the attacks indicate the use of a chemical agent, possibly chlorine.
A canister found in the remnants of a barrel bomb on 24 March (Pic: HRW)
HRW is continuing to probe the other three attacks.
Nadim Houry from HRW said: "Syrian authorities appear once again to have shown complete disregard for human suffering by violating the global prohibition against chemical warfare.
Video:May 2013 - Yarmouk Refugees
"The UN Security Council and countries that are members of the Chemical Weapons Convention need to respond strongly."
The most conclusive evidence came from an attack on 16 March in the village of Sarmin.
"The children were foaming at the mouth, they were suffocating, then their hearts stopped," said Leith Fares, a rescue worker in Sarmin.
A Syrian security official denied the claims, saying the accusations were "lies the insurgents say when they incur losses".
Video:Feb 2014 - Inside Yarmouk
The official told the AFP news agency: "If the army used chemical weapons or chlorine gas every time they say it did, those people would have been completely wiped out by now."
In March the UN Security Council adopted a resolution condemning the use of chlorine in Syria and threatening sanctions if the chemicals were used.
Syria was not forced to declare its stocks of chlorine under a 2013 agreement to dismantle its chemical arsenal as the substance is widely used for commercial and domestic purposes.
But the use of the gas for military purposes would be a breach of its undertakings under the Chemical Weapons Convention, which it signed as part of the deal.
The soul singer Percy Sledge, famous for the hit When A Man Loves A Woman, has died aged 73, according to reports.
The news was confirmed by Sledge's management agency which said he passed away in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
"He was a wonderful guy in a terrible business," said Steve Green with Artists International Management, Inc said.
"He was truly a standout."
When A Man Loves A Woman reached number one in the US when it was released in 1966. It went on to become an international hit, reaching number four in the UK that same year.
In 1987 it was used in a Levi's advert in England and again hit the charts, rising to number two.
The song found new life once more in 1991 when Michael Bolton covered it.
Sledge was a hospital orderly in Sheffield, Alabama, in the 1960s and would sing in states in the Southeast at weekends.
He failed to match the success of his first song but his concerts became popular all over the world.
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005.
A man has told police a missing Glasgow student left his home in the early hours of Sunday.
Karen Buckley, 24, was seen on CCTV leaving the Sanctuary nightclub at around 1am in the city's West End with the man.
Officers tracked down the man, who told them Ms Buckley left his home in Dorchester Avenue at around 4am.
She has not been heard from since.
Detective Superintendent Jim Kerr told a news conference the man has given a full account of what happened and was not currently being regarded as a suspect but is "helping" with enquiries.
Ms Buckley pictured hours before she went missing. Pic: Facebook
The detective said a handbag believed to be Ms Buckley's had been found in nearby Dawsholm Park shortly before he spoke to reporters.
Det Supt Kerr said her parents had told police it was typical for her not to use taxis and, as a result, it was possible she may have tried to walk home.
Video:Missing Student: Handbag 'Found'
He appealed for anyone who had seen Ms Buckley - a Glasgow Caledonian University student from Cork in Ireland - to get in touch.
Her family have flown to Scotland from Ireland to help with the search.
Her mother, Marian, told the news conference: "We just want Karen home safely, we are desperate. She is our only daughter, we love her dearly.
"If anybody has any information please come forward, we would dearly appreciate it."
Ms Buckley's father, John, said: "If anybody is holding Karen, if anybody knows anything of her, please return her. Please let's have her back. We love her to bits."
Ms Buckley arrived at the club with friends at around 11.45pm on Saturday and at around 1am she told them she was going to the toilet.
But she failed to return and left her jacket at the club.
Det Supt Kerr emphasised that Ms Buckley was widely travelled and was "aware of how to take care of herself".
But her said it was "very out of character" for her not to return home.
Police also want to find out more about a grey car seen on the roads between Milngavie and Drymen, north of Glasgow, between 11am and 3pm on Monday.
A major search is under way in Glasgow, with police carrying out door-to-door inquiries and examining CCTV.
Ms Buckley is between 5ft and 5ft 2in with brown eyes and dark hair which had long black curly extensions in it.
She was last seen wearing a black jumpsuit, red high-heeled shoes and carrying a black handbag.
She speaks with an Irish accent.
Ms Buckley lives with three other students in a flat in Hill Street, Garnethill, Glasgow.
