Syrian Rebels 'Execute' Government Soldiers

By Sam Kiley, Middle East Correspondent, in Jerusalem

Syrian rebels are suspected of murdering a group of captured government soldiers undermining a strategic victory which gave them control of the main highway between Aleppo and Damascus.

An unverified video of the killings, believed to have been in Saraqib, shows a group of about 20 armed men wearing rebel head bands standing over at least eight captured soldiers.

One of the soldiers pleads with the militia insisting that he did not shoot anyway.

A rebel can be overheard saying "gather them together for me".

Young men, many of them already wounded, are flung into a pile and then riddled with bullets.

Fighting in Aleppo

The executions are a reminder of a similar atrocity in Aleppo in August when a group of rebels murdered local people they accused of being members of Assad's Shabiha (ghosts) militia.

The capture of Saraqib is a significant strategic gain for the rebels. It controls the road to Damascus, and cuts the government forces main supply route to its Aleppo line.

It also severs the regime's links to Latakia, the main coastal city in the heartland of Assad's brethren in the Alawite community.

Rebel successes in the past have come from the valuable contribution of former regime soldiers who have changed sides, bringing their tactical skills with them.

Syrian refugees near the Turkish border

But recently deserters have been reluctant to contact revolutionary fighters for fear of summary execution. Last week a group of about 20 government soldiers gave themselves up in Turkey claiming asylum and saying they would not have surrendered to rebel forces for fear of retribution.

Amnesty International's Ann Harrison, the deputy Middle East and North Africa director, said that the footage appeared to show "a potential war crime in progress".

She said that the human rights group would continue to investigate the alleged atrocity.

The government is accused of widespread war crimes including the murder of civilians who have been found with their hands tied close to the government held air force headquarters in Aleppo.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

The rebel gains, which are reported to include a 25km radius around Saraqib, have come at a time when the exiled Syrian national Council and other groups are facing international criticism for their apparent failure to unite.

Two days ahead of key talks among the opposition in Qatar, the Syrian National Council lashed out at US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent statement that it was not fully representative of the country's diverse dissident forces.

"Any discussions aimed at passing over the Syrian National Council or at creating new bodies to replace it are an attempt to undermine the Syrian revolution by sowing the seeds of division," the SNC said in a statement.

Clinton said the SNC was not representative of on-the-ground opposition forces and that it "can no longer be viewed as the visible leader of the opposition".

It is likely that Washington will be pushing for an overhaul of the opposition at a meeting in Qatar this weekend. But US influence will depend on Qatari support.

Washington contributes a pittance, and only in the form of non-lethal aid, to rebels who receive hundreds of millions of pounds in support from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, much of it donated by individuals.

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Vigilantes Seize Mexico Town After Murder

Authorities in Mexico have said they are close to striking a deal to provide more security for a town where angry residents seized control after the abduction and murder of a taxi driver.

The takeover of the southern town of Olinala took place after around 100 people stormed a house where four suspected kidnappers were hiding. They were killed after the building was set alight.

The town's mayor, Eusebio Gonzalez, said nearly 700 residents had since been taking turns policing entry into the town by barricading streets and installing checkpoints.

Mr Gonzalez said the murder of the taxi driver was the latest in a series of violent attacks and Olinala residents are demanding more protection from criminal gangs.

He said the Guerrero state governor has promised to increase help to fight drug crime.

"We're looking to establish order. The governor is aware of the situation and wants to improve the situation," Mr Gonzalez said.

"People feel like there isn't another way."

The town's vigilante unrest erupted at the taxi driver's funeral after rumours emerged that a second driver had been kidnapped.

"Things got really ugly," said resident Paola Rosendo.

Eduardo Gallo, a respected Mexican anti-crime activist, said Olinala is just the latest town where people have taken up arms to combat organised crime in frustration over the government's inability to control drug violence.

"People took over in order to prevent authorities' collusion with criminals," he said.

At least two towns in the western state of Michoacan have formed their own armed guard forces and thrown up roadblocks to keep out criminals. Towns in northern Mexico also have taken similar measures.

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Seven Panda Cubs Make Their Debut In China

Eyes tightly shut, these seven panda cubs are the main attraction of a competition in China to win the chance to look after the rare animals for a year.

The tiny cubs made their debut at the Chengdu Panda Base, in southwest Sichuan Province.

The animals are a major draw for the "panda ambassador" competition, which has 16 finalists competing for the top prize later this month.

Of the seven pandas, the biggest is Aoliao weighing 13lbs.

Twin brothers, Chengshuang and Chengdui - "pairs" in Mandarin - are the only twin pandas born this year.

The 16 competition finalists have joined up with the Chengdu Panda Base to train giant pandas for release into the wild.

Three winners of the "Pambassador" programme will be announced on November 16.

According to organisers, the contest aims to raise awareness of protecting an endangered species.

Only 1,600 pandas are estimated to remain in the wild.

During their one-year "ambassadorship", the selected winners will be given the opportunity to witness a panda delivering babies and spend time with the cubs.

They are also expected to visit pandas living in different countries and to promote conservation.

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New York Scraps Marathon Amid Sandy Clear-Up

Energy companies have been working day and night to restore power to parts of New York devastated by the powerful Sandy storm.

In the last 24 hours, engineers in Manhattan have managed to repair 11 power grids damaged by the high winds and storm surge.

Around 5,800 homes were still without electricity in Manattan as of Saturday morning.

The worst-hit area of New York remains Queens - with 81,000 people still without power. Brooklyn and Staten Island both have 31,000 and the Bronx has 25,000 without electricity.

Runners make their way through Queens during the 2011 race

A statement from energy firm Con Edison said it had now restored power to 70% of customers - around 645,000 homes.

It said: "The hurricane is the worst natural disaster to strike Con Edison's customers in the company's history.

"Crews are facing thousands of downed wires in New York City and Westchester County.

"Some cannot be re-energized since they are in flood zones with damage that bars the safe re-introduction of electricity."

A man shovels away sand swept in by the storm surge generated by Sandy

But a lot of repair and clean-up work remains on the US East Coast, with parts of New Jersey also badly hit by the storm on Monday night and facing being cut off from electricity until the middle of November.

Motorists in 12 New Jersey counties will only be allowed to buy petrol every other day under order of Governor Chris Christie.

Petrol stations have seen long queues and angry scenes as people attempt to fill up after the storm.

The official death toll for those in the US now stands at 109 people, on top of at least 69 people killed when Sandy tore through the Caribbean.

A woman looks through the wreckage of her home in Staten Island

Estimates put the total damage up to $50bn, according to forecasting firm Eqecat - making it the second costliest after Hurricane Katrina.

It comes after Mayor Michael Bloomberg finally agreed to cancel the New York Marathon after outrage from residents left homeless or beset by power cuts.

The U-turn came just three hours after he defended the decision to hold it.

Concerns were raised that the city's already stretched police force would be redeployed to patrol the race from carrying out relief work and storm victims could be evicted from hotels to make room for people taking part.

A fallen tree on top of a parked car in the borough of Queens in New York

There had been growing anger too at the thought of big generators being brought in to power equipment at the finish-line tents in Central Park, while vast swathes of the city's population were still struggling without electricity.

Mr Bloomberg said: "It is clear that it has become the source of controversy and division.

"The marathon has always brought our city together and inspired us with stories of courage and determination.

"We would not want a cloud to hang over the race or its participants, and so we have decided to cancel it.

"We cannot allow a controversy over an athletic event - even one as meaningful as this - to distract attention away from all the critically important work that is being done to recover from the storm and get our city back on track."

An estimated 40,000 runners from around the world had been expected to take part in the 26.2-mile event.

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'Shore People' Battle To Rebuild After Sandy

They pride themselves on being tough, resilient "shore people".

But Superstorm Sandy has made even them wonder whether life can ever be the same again.

A small bay-front corner of Pleasantville, New Jersey, is where Sandy made its second touchdown on land.

Houses that have withstood a century of extreme weather were picked and smashed to pieces inland.

Mike and Tracey Rock returned to their home on East Edgewater Avenue to find it had been shifted off its foundations.

A house where Mike's grandmother had lived, where he had sat through countless hurricanes since childhood, will now have to be demolished.

"It is devastating. This is our past. We all grew up here. We'll rebuild but it won't be the same."

As they picked through the debris down the street, they found their front porch and paintings that had hung in their living room.

They found a half-finished bottle of wine but are still searching for their bath.

They joke that at least their view of the bay is better - the house that was in the way has disappeared altogether.

A cash register is seen among the debris in Sea Bright, New Jersey

The owner of that house was picking around a demolished roof in a garden a hundred yards away, trying to find any signs of home.

The neighbourhood is criss-crossed by narrow waterways, all now full of bits of houses tossed around by Sandy.

Lisa Broomsmith's home was shattered by a houseboat which was ripped from its moorings and thrown inland.

The garage where her husband had carried on the family tradition of toy-making has gone.

She said: "Seeing the defeat in his face has been the hardest thing.

"But this is not going to defeat us, this one perfect storm."

Like many families here, the Broomsmiths must wait for assessors to decide what happens next to their battered home. They did not have insurance.

All are thankful to have survived a storm that has been so deadly in their state.

John Tansey says his home - maybe his life - was saved by his old brown Ford van which stopped a boat dock from smashing through his house.

With remarkable efficiency, the Egg Harbour authorities are collecting piles of debris as fast as residents can place them on the pavement.

The memories and the scars of Sandy will take much longer to remove.

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Sandy Victims Struggle To Pick Up The Pieces

In marshland off the coast of Staten Island, roofs lie half submerged jumbled like children's bricks.

They are what remain of a dozen homes that were carried there over half a mile by Sandy's storm surge.

The sea rose six feet, swept inland and wrenched entire houses from their foundations.

One of them belonged to Vincent Caravello. He has lost everything he owns. 

"I'm 60 next year - and now I have to start all over," he told Sky News.

His son waded out to the house and smashed a hole in the roof to see if there was anything to salvage, and they found Vincent's high school diploma.

"The only proof that you know anything," joked Vincent's son.

Vincent Caravello lost his home in the storm

Despite all they are going through, they say they have to keep a sense of humour: 'Otherwise, what else have you got,' said Vincent. 

They are showing enormous courage.

Vincent says he only left that night because his children ordered him to. 

Neighbour Pete Correra refused to evacuate.  He is a veteran of the Gulf War and worked at Ground Zero after 9/11 but nearly lost his life when Sandy swept in.

Somehow he was able to cling to wood after being lifted by the sea then scramble to safety across a barrage of debris. 

"I shouldn't have survived but I did."

"Three days ago I was a successful man," Pete told Sky News.

"Now I'm ruined but my children still have a father."

Pete Correra refused to evacuate when Sandy hit

Other families have not been so lucky.  This coastal community is used to storm warnings and so some did not listen when told to evacuate. 

At least 14 have been killed in this area after being caught in the storm surge. 

The search continues for bodies and those still not accounted for. 

The federal relief effort is in full swing but even just switching the power back on is going to be a huge challenge. 

Millions of Americans are still without electricity in several states and could be for days.

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U-Turn On Amsterdam Tourist Cannabis Ban

A new law that would have banned tourists from smoking cannabis in Amsterdam's notorious coffee shops has been scrapped.

The mayor of Amsterdam has rejected the legislation, which the incoming Dutch government has ruled will be up to local authorities to adopt it - or not.

Eberhard van der Laan said enforcing the law in the city would only force pot smokers onto the streets.

He told the De Volkskrant newspaper that the city's tourists will not accept restrictions on the availability of marijuana.

"They will swarm all over the city looking for drugs. This would lead to more robberies, quarrels about fake drugs and no control of the quality of drugs on the market," he said. "Everything we have worked toward would be lost to misery."

Under the new rules, due to be fully introduced by January, the government will issue "weed passes" to those who want to smoke marijuana and hash.

Amsterdam coffee shops are to remain open to tourists

This would mean only Netherlands residents could buy cannabis openly. Foreigners, who flood to Amsterdam each year to buy and smoke drugs, would be banned from such consumption.

Some 1.5 million visitors are estimated to go to the Dutch capital, which relies heavily on tourism, every year to take advantage of its libera approach to drugs.

The change in law has caused lengthy arguments between politicians, some of whom believe it will curb drug use in the country, and coffee shop owners, who fear it could seriously damage their business.

It was brought in by the previous conservative-led government but MPs in the new administration have decided to let individual cities make up their own minds.

There are currently around 750 coffee shops in the country, with around 220 of in Amsterdam, mostly in the city's famous red light district where prostitution is also legal.

While marijuana trafficking is illegal in the Netherlands, people cannot be prosecuted for possession of small amounts and the drug is sold openly in designated cafes.

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Sandy: Fuel Crisis Grows On US East Coast

A US motorist has reportedly threatened another with a gun as the fuel crisis escalated along the US East Coast in the wake of superstorm Sandy.

Huge queues have been developing outside petrol stations throughout the stretch of the country battered by a storm that has killed more than 90 people.

New York District Attorney Richard Brown said 35-year-old Sean Bailey, of Queens, was arrested after he tried to jump the queue at a petrol station - and pointed a pistol at another driver who complained.

He was arrested on charges of menacing and criminal possession of a weapon.

Queues of cars stretching back more than a mile could be seen in areas including New Jersey and parts of neighbouring state Pennsylvania.

New Jersey resident Stephanie Damiano spoke to Sky News while waiting in a queue to but petrol.

Drivers argue at a petrol station in New Jersey

"This line is wrapping around the whole entire highway, there's miles backed up," she said.

"I've been here for two hours and 18 minutes exactly. We're just now reaching the front. There's about a hundred cars behind me now.

"I actually got assaulted last night waiting on the same exact line. I was walking in Walmart parking lot and a guy just got really agitated and assaulted me and tried to get into my car."

New York mayor Michael Bloomberg said he expected the shortages to ease over the coming days.

"Some of the gas stations aren't open because they don't have electricity," he said.

"That, over the next few days, should be accommodated. Once mass transit comes back you will have a lot fewer cars trying to buy gasoline."

Meanwhile, fears of lawlessness were rife, with more than 4.6 million homes and businesses across the country still without electricity because of the storm - which has caused up to $50bn worth of damage.

The Guardian Angels, a group of anti-crime volunteers, have been carrying out patrols in Manhattan island.

People wait in line to fill containers with fuel in Edison, New Jersey

Wolfgang Ban, a restaurant owner in Manhattan's Alphabet City neighbourhood, said: "People feel safe during the day but as soon as the sun sets, people are extremely scared.

"The fact that Guardian Angels are on the streets trying to restore law just shows how out of control the situation is in lower Manhattan."

There has also been anger in New York at Mr Bloomberg's decision to proceed with the city's marathon on Sunday - more than 40,000 runners are due in the city.

Frustration has been particularly acute in Staten Island, where rubbish has been piling up, a stench hangs in the air and mud-caked mattresses and furniture line the streets.

New York City councilman James Oddo said on his Twitter account: "If they take one first responder from Staten Island to cover this marathon, I will scream.

"We have people with no homes and no hope right now."

Elsewhere, the US Coast Guard said it had halted its search for the captain of tall ship HMS Bounty that sank off the North Carolina coast.

The search for 63-year-old Robin Walbridge - which employed ships, helicopters and planes - was suspended after more than three days of around-the-clock effort.

New Jersey officials say they will deploy military trucks to serve as polling places on Election Day in storm-battered communities, and are also extending the deadline for mail-in ballots.

The trucks will be parked at polling places that do not have power.

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Sandy: 'Mass Destruction' In Atlantic City

When the people of Atlantic City emerged from wherever they had been sheltering against Superstorm Sandy, there was only thing they wanted to see.

A stretch of the city's iconic boardwalk, ripped up and thrown inland, has become a nationwide symbol of the devastating impact of nature's assault on the New Jersey shore.

Ever since, locals have been stopping by: Simply to stare in wonder, or pick through what remains of the demolished boardwalk and abandoned buildings knocked over by Sandy.

The beach is littered with all kinds of debris: Massive chunks of timber, long buried maritime metal work, bits of brick wall, even local newspapers from as far back as 1974.

The site, at the end of Atlantic Avenue, has become something of a tourist attraction.

John Paxton outside his storm damaged home in Atlantic City

John Paxton, a lifelong resident of Atlantic City, said: "This is the first time I have been down to see it.  It is devastating, it looks like a bombed-out area.

"It is the first time I've seen mass destruction like this."

Like many, the 75-year-old ignored evacuation warnings. He saw out Sandy in a house which stands alone on a patch of waste ground four blocks from the beach.

He showed us how three feet of flood water had even left the food drawers in the bottom of his fridge filled with foul water. His home of 57 years is now caked in mud and sludge.

He said: "When I saw the road outside had become a river, there was nothing else to do. I went to bed."

Atlantic City has now begun a massive clean-up operation and almost every street is dotted with piles of damp or destroyed furniture and carpets.

A woman walks past storm damage in Atlantic City

Close to the bay, Kathleen Fitzgerald was dragging plastic rubbish bags full of soaking home goods out on to the pavement.

She says this is the first time that the city has been hit badly by a hurricane-like storm after several warnings came to nothing over the years.

"In a way we were lucky," she said. "As far as my family and all my neighbours, no loss of life, no injuries, so everyone did good."

Red Cross volunteers in the city say even those who prepared well for the storm are now running low on resources.

Catherine Barde said: "This has been incredibly difficult for the residents of this community. It is so completely devastating."

But she says that community spirit has helped: "Everyone comes together at a time like this."

It is perhaps a sign of the scale of Sandy that even Atlantic City's famed casinos were forced to close, at a cost of $5 million a day.

They will re-open and the city will re-build with the spirit demonstrated by residents like Shelley Grossman.

When the storm hit her apartment block, she said, residents retired to a safe room: "We were playing bingo during the height of the storm, it was like being on the Titanic, the music playing as the ship was going down.

"But it kept us all calm."

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Sandy: Face To Face With Storm's Devastation

The superstorm came ashore over a thousand miles of coastline to engulf 20 states - and counting.

In each state Sandy has had different consequences for different communities.

In Rockaway Park in the Queens borough of New York, the storm surge was overwhelming.

Like a tsunami, the sea rose by five or six feet, and swept through the town. It dumped much of the beach on the streets, flipped cars and ripped up the boardwalk.

For Frankie Burk, who was watching from a sixth-floor window, it felt like the end of days.

This was the work of God, he said, just as damaging as what terrorists wrought on 9/11 only more spread out.

The night it happened he ventured out in his waders, but was lifted up and pinned to a fence - but not before seeing electricity transformers above him explode down the street.

The fire they ignited was still burning in a block of properties almost completely destroyed.

Sky News found the Van Leirs, a couple who lived round the corner, hugging each other.

The historic Rockaway boardwalk was destroyed

Jan Van Leir was crying - it was too much to see their neighbourhood shops in smouldering ruins, she said. She wondered if the town would ever get its character back.

Rockaway Park is not affluent - it's a carefree seaside beach town say the people who live here. They are pulling together, helping neighbours remove sodden belongings. But the challenge is enormous.

Every building was flooded one way or another. Cars were carried down streets and flipped over. Basements and ground floors have been wrecked.

Further down this narrow peninsula in Breezy Point, people were killed and many homes went up in flames in a fire caused by a flooded electricity station.

On a dark, cold Halloween night for more than eight million Americans we drove back from Rockaway to Manhattan, the power was out for around two-thirds of the way, and it will be for days to come.

Beyond Brooklyn Bridge, Lower Manhattan stood dark and ghostly.

We had seen military helicopters patrolling the skies over Queens, helmeted National Guardsmen touring in Humvees, and scenes of devastation you do not expect to see in America.

If the scientists are right, this is just the beginning. The weather is only going to become more extreme because of climate change.

Ironically that issue has received barely a mention in the election contest that culminates next week. 

The Breezy Point fire razed dozens of homes

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Smugglers' Jeep Gets Stuck On US Border Fence

Suspected Mexican smugglers had to abandon their attempt to get into the US after the 4x4 they were in got stuck on top of the 14ft border fence.

US Border Patrol spokesman Spencer Tippets said agents spotted the SUV perched on top of the fence on Tuesday at the border between Arizona and California.

Two people on the Mexican side were trying to free the Jeep when the agents approached. They ran further into Mexico.

The Jeep was empty, but agents say it was probably filled with contraband like marijuana before it got stuck.

The smugglers had built ramps that looked like long ladders to drive up and over the fence.

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Superstorm Sandy: Thousands Stranded In Floods

Millions of people are still without power and tens of thousands are stranded in their properties due to flooding three days after superstorm Sandy battered the US East Coast and killed at least 72 people.

Nearly 20,000 people have been trapped at home in the New Jersey city of Hoboken, just across the river from New York City, amid accusations that officials were slow to deliver food and water.

One man blew up an air mattress and floated to City Hall, demanding to know why supplies had not reached residents - at least a quarter of homes there are flooded and 90% do not have power.

National Guard troops have arrived in Hoboken to help evacuate stranded people.

In total, about six million homes and businesses remain without power, mostly in New York and New Jersey - while miles of coastline, including Atlantic City, was ripped apart by the storm.

Residents in the flooded city of Hoboken

As the region struggles to recover, a clean-up operation in that state has begun while New York City has taken the first tentative steps to getting back to some form of normality as it re-opens some unaffected parts of the subway system - which suffered the worst damage in its 108-year history.

Two of the region's main airports, John F Kennedy and Newark Liberty, have also opened and officials promised the third, LaGuardia Airport, would be operational today.

Broadway shows have resumed and people packed on to buses that returned for the first time to city streets since the storm.

Electricity outages continue as far west as Wisconsin in the Midwest and as far south as the Carolinas.

Flood-damaged food is removed from New York shops

The superstorm, which also hit parts of Canada, came ashore over a thousand miles of coastline to engulf 20 states. It is now winding down and its remnants have been felt in the Appalachian mountains.

Sandy brought up to 3ft of snow to parts of West Virginia and Maryland and several more inches are possible before it dies out for good later this week.

Restoring the usually vibrant New York City to its ordinarily frenetic pace could take days, while rebuilding the hardest-hit communities and the transportation networks could take considerably longer.

Power company Consolidated Edison says it could be the weekend before power is restored to Manhattan and Brooklyn, perhaps longer for other New York boroughs and the New York suburbs.

There are still only hints of the economic impact of the storm.

Part of a home rests upside-down in Seaside Heights, New Jersey

Forecasting firm IHS Global Insight predicted it would cause $20bn in damage and $10bn to $30bn in lost business. Another firm, AIR Worldwide, estimated losses up to $15bn.

Amtrak said the amount of water in train tunnels under the Hudson and East rivers was unprecedented, but it said it planned to restore some service on Friday to and from New York City.

Speaking at a shelter, US President Barack Obama told New Jersey residents that the government will support them "for the long haul".

The region took the brunt of its impact and is among the worst affected areas on the East Coast.

The bill for Sandy could top $20bn

Joined by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Mr Obama -  who described the disaster as "heartbreaking for the nation"  - inspected the impact from Sandy, flying high over flooded neighbourhoods and sand-strewn streets.

He told those affected by the storm: "Our hearts go out to the families who have lost loved ones. Their world has been torn apart ... they are in our thoughts and prayers.

"For those like the people I have had a chance to meet on this block, throughout New Jersey and throughout the region whose lives have been upended, my second message is: We are here for you, and we will not forget, we will follow up to make sure that you get all the help that you need until you've rebuilt."

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Teenager Lured Men To Deaths With Fake Jobs

A teenager has been found guilty of aggravated murder for his role in a plot to lure men to a non-existent farm with fake job offers and rob them.

Authorities said Brogan Rafferty, 17, lured four victims with bogus job vacancies on Craigslist - a classified advertisements website - to the non-existent cattle farm in southeast Ohio.

His alleged accomplice Richard Beasley, 53, allegedly shot and killed three of the men. The fourth victim was shot in the arm and survived.

During the trial, prosecutors painted Rafferty as a "student of violent crime" who was a willing participant in the three murders while the defence argued he was acting under the duress of Beasley, a self-styled chaplain depicted as a mentor.

The man who survived, 49-year-old Scott Davis of South Carolina, had testified as the prosecution's star witness, identifying Rafferty as Beasley's accomplice.

Mr Davis told the court he had responded to a Craigslist advertisement to work as a farmhand. He met a man calling himself "Jack" for breakfast before driving to an isolated Noble County farm.

Prosecutors say that "Jack" was actually Beasley, and that he urged Mr Davis into a wooded area to look for farm equipment.

Mr Davis said he heard a gun cock and turned around to find himself face to face with a handgun. He said he pushed the weapon aside, was shot in the arm and fled as "Jack" fired at him. Mr Davis said he eventually climbed to a hilltop, found a house and asked to call police.

Authorities said all the men were targeted because they were older, single and out of work with backgrounds that made it unlikely their disappearances would be noticed right away.

All the victims were robbed of items including personal possessions, a truck and a weapon, prosecutors said.

Rafferty stood with his hands clasped behind his back and showed no emotion as he was convicted of three counts of aggravated murder and one count of attempted murder.

Hey had testified that he did not want to be involved in violence and said he went along with the plan only because he feared for his life.

Rafferty was tried as an adult but faces a maximum potential sentence of life in prison because he is a juvenile. His sentencing is set for November 5.

Beasley has pleaded not guilty and could face the death penalty if convicted at his separate trial.

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Superstorm Sandy: 'This Is A Wake-Up Call'

Superstorm Sandy is a "wake up call" that could lead to billion dollar flood defences being created in New York City.

Three of New York's top 10 highest floods have occurred in the last two and a half years, and the latest disaster has fuelled calls for major investment in flood defences.

"If that's not a wake-up call to take this seriously I don't know what is," said climate change expert Ben Strauss.

"The city is extremely vulnerable to damaging storm surges just for its geography, and climate change is increasing that risk."

State governor Andrew Cuomo is now considering storm surge barriers - which could cost up to $10bn - or a levee system.

Darkness continued to envelope a large stretch of the Manhattan skyline

"The construction of this city did not anticipate these kinds of situations. We are only a few feet above sea level," he said.

"As soon as you breach the sides of Manhattan, you now have a whole infrastructure under the city that fills - the subway system, the foundations for buildings."

With at least 50 people killed along the east coast - most by falling trees - and millions affected by the high winds, power cuts and flooding, President Barack Obama cancelled campaign appearances in key state Ohio to oversee the government response.

He is due to visit New Jersey to survey some of the widespread devastation caused by superstorm Sandy in eastern US and Canada.

He described the disaster as "heartbreaking for the nation".

The President is fighting a close race with Republican rival Mitt Romney and the White House has been keen to portray him as a strong leader ahead of election day on November 6.

More than eight million homes have been left without electricity by the biggest storm to hit the country in generations, which swamped parts of New York's subways system and Lower Manhattan's financial district.

Flood water from Sandy surrounds homes in South Bethany, Delaware

Much of the Manhattan skyline was still in darkness on Tuesday night and it is feared it could be days before electricity is restored to some of those cut off.

Forecasters predict the storm could end up causing around $20bn (£12bn) worth of damages in the US.

Sky News weather presenter Nazaneen Ghaffar said the bad weather will continue.

"The storm is still reacting with cold air from the west, so there will be further heavy snowfall as well as inland flooding," she said.

"Rainfall totals could reach around 6-8 inches, and winds will remain gale force in strength.

"The forecast suggests that the centre of the low will move northwards from western Pennsylvania into the west of New York and then into Quebec by Thursday."

Businesses and homes along New Jersey's shore were wrecked and communities were submerged under floodwater across a large area on Tuesday.

After seeing pictures of the shore, State Governor Chris Christie said: "The devastation is unthinkable."

A strong supporter of fellow Republican Mr Romney, Mr Christie also praised Mr Obama's federal response to the disaster.

Amid the despair, talk of recovery was already beginning.

"It's heartbreaking after being here 37 years," Barry Prezioso of Point Pleasant, New Jersey, said as he returned to his house in the coastal community to survey the damage.

"You see your home demolished like this, it's tough. But nobody got hurt and the upstairs is still livable, so we can still live upstairs and clean this out. I'm sure there's people that had worse. I feel kind of lucky."

The storm reached as far inland as Ohio and caused thousands of flight cancellations, while mobile phone network outages also were widespread.

Meanwhile, parts of West Virginia were buried under 3ft (1m) of drifting snow from the storm.

Mr Obama has issued federal emergency decrees and declared "major disasters" in both New Jersey and New York.

Speaking during a visit to Red Cross headquarters in Washington, he said: "New Jersey, New York in particular have been pounded by this storm. Connecticut has taken a big hit."

More than 80 homes in New York City's borough of Queens were destroyed in a fire caused by the storm.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who toured the area, said: "To describe it as looking like pictures we've seen of the end of World War Two is not overstating it. The area was completely levelled.

"Chimneys and foundations were all that was left of many of these homes."

Neighbour John Frawley, 57, said: "I stayed up all night. The screams. The fire. It was horrifying."

Hundreds of miles away from Sandy's turbulent centre, winds were churning up the waters of Lake Michigan to near record levels.

Officials in Chicago warned people to stay away from the lakefront, and parts of the bicycle path along the shore was closed.

The strong wind and rain has had other unexpected consequences.

Police in New Haven said a skeleton was revealed beneath the town green that may have been there since Colonial times.

Police spokesman David Hartman said a woman was with other bystanders looking at a fallen oak tree, and spotted bones in the upturned roots.

Hurricane Sandy - which was reclassified as a post-tropical storm upon making US landfall - had already killed 69 people in the Caribbean.

Many islands were ravaged by the storm, with an estimated $16.5m (£10.3m) worth of damage in Jamaica and 70% of crops destroyed in southern Haiti.

A Foreign Office spokesperson says that according to 'best esimates' there are 50,000 British tourists and 300,000 residents in the area affected by superstorm Sandy.

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Sandy: Dramatic Footage Of Air Rescue

Dramatic footage has been released of people being plucked from their flood-hit homes by helicopter.

Video shows New York Police Department rescue teams loading people onto a helicopter winch to safety, as flood waters rose.

But many people were not as fortunate, and details are emerging of the circumstances surrounding some of those who were killed.

An off-duty police officer drowned in his basement while rescuing his family from superstorm Sandy, police have confirmed.

The unnamed man is reported to have helped his father, girlfriend and baby into the attic of their home on the southern end of Staten Island, New York.

Falling trees have proved particularly deadly

He then went downstairs and never returned. Fellow officers found him in the basement at about 5am on Tuesday.

"Somehow he got trapped in his basement and he drowned in the basement," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

At least 55 people died across the US and Canada, and many are still missing, including two boys aged two and four.

New York was the worst-hit city in the US. In Queens, a 23-year-old woman was electrocuted after stepping on a live wire while taking photographs of a power line that had caught fire.

"She couldn't move. She didn't have a chance," said neighbour Renny Bhagretta, 44.

In Brooklyn, a teacher and student were crushed in the street by giant trees that came crashing down during the height of the storm.

Their bodies were discovered the next morning.

A 75-year-old Manhattan woman was reported to have died after her oxygen machine lost power.

Her grandson ran to nearby Bellevue Hospital for a manually operated tank, but the woman had already gone into cardiac arrest by the time paramedics arrived.

A 13-year-old girl was found dead under a pile of debris in the Tottenville area of Staten Island where four beach front homes were washed away.

Her mother, a church worker, was critically injured and her father, a plumber, was missing, neighbours said.

"They wanted to stay. We tried to convince them to leave. They said they didn't think it would be that bad," said neighbour John Alleva, 47.

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Superstorm Sandy Could Cost The US $45bn

Superstorm Sandy, which ripped through the east coast of the US, could cost around $45bn (£27.9bn), according to the latest estimate.

The figure, from by professional services firm PwC, allows for a rise in original estimations as the full scale of damage becomes clear.

"There is clearly the potential for initial estimates to rise as we saw with Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Irene which underestimated the scale and level of damage caused," Mohammad Khan, insurance partner, PwC said.

An earlier estimate by forecasting company IHS Global Insight said the storm would cause about $20bn (£12.4bn) in damage and between $10bn (£ 6.2bn) and $30bn (£18.6bn) in lost business.

While risk consultants AIR Worldwide estimated losses up to $15bn (£9.3bn).

Mr Khan added that interruptions to business will make up a significant part of the overall losses - with Hurricane Katrina these claims made up approximately 20% of the overall insurance claims.

Damage on the New Jersey coastline

"Whether this is applicable to Sandy depends on the swiftness of recovery of the subway and other transports links which would be a good proxy for the recovery of New York in general," he said.

Businesses have been hit by a host of problems caused by the storm, including the flooding of the New York subway system which suffered the worst damage in its 108-year history.

New York mayor Michael Bloomberg said it could be four or five days before the subway is running again.

The city's financial district was also flooded by torrents of rainwater - leading to the closure of Wall Street on both Monday and Tuesday.

The stock markets are scheduled to open Wednesday - although this could change - with mayor Bloomberg ringing the opening bell.

A road in North Carolina buckles following the storm

At the height of the storm, more than 8 million homes and businesses lost electricity - nearly a quarter of which were in New York.

Power company Consolidated Edison said it would be four days before its customers in Manhattan and Brooklyn would have power again, and it could take a week to restore outages in other New York districts.

But there was some good news from the region's airports - John F. Kennedy International in New York and Newark Liberty International said they planned to reopen with limited service on Wednesday.

Almost 19,000 flights have been cancelled since Sunday, according to flight tracking service FlightAware.com, and New York's LaGuardia Airport is still flooded and remained closed.

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Apple Sheds Two Top Execs In Shake-Up

Apple has overhauled its management team and announced that two top executives are to leave the company.

John Browett, the head of retail, is out after just six months in the job and Scott Forstall, the long-serving head of its iPhone software development operations, will go in the new year.

The US firm did not say why either man was leaving but both have presided over blunders in recent months.

Mr Browett, the former head of Dixons, slashed staffing hours in Apple shops in a move that was later reversed by the company and acknowledged as a mistake.

And Mr Forstall's division launched a software update in September that replaced Google Maps with Apple's first mapping application.

The software was immediately attacked for being full of inaccuracies and much harder to use, prompting boss Tim Cook to apologise.

The surprise announcement about the departures was made on Monday, at the height of superstorm Sandy which is battering parts of the east coast of North America.

John Browett had been in charge of Apple stores

In a press release, Apple said the changes would "encourage even more collaboration between the company's world-class hardware, software and services teams".

The statement did not thank either Mr Forstall or Mr Browett.

Mr Forstall, a protege of the late Steve Jobs, joined the firm in 1997 when the company bought Jobs' NeXT start-up. Apple credits him as being one of the original architects of Mac OS X.

His responsibilities are being divided between other Apple veterans and he will work as an advisor to Mr Cook until he leaves.

A replacement is being recruited to replace Mr Browett, who had taken over store operations when Ron Johnson - who helped create the concept shops - left.

Apple has more than 360 shops but they only make up 12% of overall sales. They are seen as ambassadors of the brand and therefore have a strong emphasis on customer service.

At the time of Mr Browett's appointment, commentators wondered what an executive from a traditional retail operation would bring to the company.

His move to cut staffing appears to have been motivated by a desire to improve profits but Apple divisions do not have their own profit-and-loss accounts and are supposed to support the company as a whole.

Carolina Milanesi, smartphones analyst for Gartner, told the Guardian: "I did question if Browett coming from Dixon was the right pick.

"Apple needs to learn how to deal with more customers in the stores but the need to retain the high level of care is something that a chain like Dixons does not do very well."

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HMS Bounty Sinks: Rescued Crew Member Dies

A woman rescued from the Atlantic Ocean hours after the HMS Bounty was caught by Hurricane Sandy has died.

Claudene Christian, 42, was pulled from the water on Monday - hours after the historic ship went down in the storm off the coast of North Carolina - but was unresponsive.

Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class David Weydert said Ms Christian, who lived and sailed on the ship, was taken to hospital in a critical condition but was later pronounced dead.

The Coast Guard is still searching for the ship's captain, Robin Walbridge, 63.

The famous HMS Bounty was hit by 18ft waves

Ms Christian, a keen sailor, said on Twitter that she joined the ship's crew in May and a series of posts described how much she was enjoying her life on the sea.

On June 7, she wrote: "So I had a tough day, lost in the sails. But it was sunny warm and I am on a TALL SHIP AT SEA. It's a "Bountyful" life."

Fourteen other crew members were rescued from the stricken vessel, which was about 160 miles from the hurricane's centre.

The captain ordered his crew to abandon ship at about 5am on Monday after the vessel lost power and started to take on water.

Sixteen people were on board the ship when it sank

Coast guards said the crew had put on cold water survival suits and life-jackets before launching in two 25-man lifeboats with canopies.

The suits are designed to protect people from the cold waters for up to 15 hours.

Rescuers faced 40mph winds and 18ft waves at the scene, which is 90 miles southeast of Hatteras in North Carolina.

The rescued crew were flown to Air Station Elizabeth City for treatment.

Coast Guard Sector North Carolina received a call from the owner of the 180ft, three-mast ship, saying she had lost communication with the vessel's crew late on Sunday evening.

The rescued crew were flown to Air Station Elizabeth City for treatment

It regained contact with the ship after receiving a signal from the emergency position indicating beacon registered to the Bounty.

HMS Bounty was built for the 1962 movie Mutiny On The Bounty with Marlon Brando and also appeared in Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

The original Bounty was known for the mutiny that took place in Tahiti in 1789.

People could apply to work on the ship, which was built in 1960 and restored in 2001.

The HMS Bounty Organisation said on its website that it was "dedicated to keeping the ship sailing and using her as a vehicle for teaching the nearly lost arts of square rigged sailing and seamanship."

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Sandy Could Mean Costly Delays For Travellers

Airline passengers delayed by Sandy may have to pay out thousands and wait days to reach their destinations, following the grounding of thousands of flights.

Flight-tracking service FlightAware posted details of 13,500 cancelled national and international flights for Monday and Tuesday, almost all related to the stormy conditions.

By early Tuesday, more than 500 flights scheduled for Wednesday were on hold, with more delays expected to be announced later.

More than a hundred UK departures and arrivals from New York and other East Coast cities were cancelled on Tuesday alone. The majority were due to operate via Heathrow. 

A British Airways spokesman said: "We are doing all we can to help customers whose flights have been cancelled and will look to use larger aircraft on some routes when the full flying schedule resumes to help get customers to their correct destination as quickly as we can."

BA's other US flights are operating normally and the company is also flying as usual to Toronto and Montreal in Canada.

Virgin Atlantic had to scrap most of its US East Coast services on Monday and Tuesday. 

"Our flights to America had been very busy at the beginning of this week due to the half-term school holiday. It's very unfortunate that this major storm has come when it has," a Virgin spokesperson said.

Some airports like this one in Washington DC virtually closed down

UK airports were advising passengers due to travel to the US to contact their airline before travelling.

All airlines flying out of the European Union are obliged under the EU Denied Boarding Regulations to provide or pay for later flights, accommodation and refreshments if travellers are delayed.

But there is no such obligation for US carriers. Passengers on these flights should contact their insurers for compensation. 

Under ABTA regulations anyone who booked their flight as part of a package deal can change or cancel their trip with a refund on the package price.

Businessman Alan Shrem was due to return home to Florida from Hong Kong via New York on Monday.

He is now on a waiting list with the next confirmed seat not until November 4.

"They just say: Yeah, it's a pretty big waiting list," said Mr Shrem, throwing up his hands.

In the meantime, he will have to fork out $400 a night to continue staying at a nearby hotel.

The impact on the airline's finances is less clear. Many of the customers on flights currently being cancelled will reschedule later on, so the airlines will still collect the fares.

But the cost of parking planes for days, along with potential damage, will undoubtedly cost airlines millions.

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New York Storm: Sandy Is Heading West

Superstorm Sandy is heading inland after battering parts of the east coast of the United States and Canada, killing at least 17.

The storm lashed parts of the east coast overnight, leading President Barack Obama to declare a "major disaster" in New York and Long Island.

Forecasters say the storm is set to move westwards towards the Great Lakes, and on to northeastern states and parts of Canada.

While it is gradually weakening, gusts of up 50mph are expected, and heavy rainfall will bring flooding to inland areas.

An explosion rocks a flooded New York power plant

The "post-tropical" storm made landfall at 8pm local time on Monday, bringing gusts of more than 85mph (135kph) and a record-breaking 13ft surge of seawater in Manhattan.

The water submerged subway tunnels and roads, while many bridges and tunnels were closed as a precaution.

At Breezy Point in the borough of Queens, 190 firefighters tackled a huge fire that destroyed more than 50 homes. They used a boat to navigate the flood water and rescue 25 people.

New York University hospital was forced to move patients to other hospitals after it lost power and its back-up generator broke down. Among them were 20 babies from neonatal intensive care - some on respirators operating on battery power.

CCTV captures the PATH station in Hoboken, N.J., as it is flooded.

Firefighters said one man had been killed by a falling tree, while two people were also killed when a tree fell onto a vehicle in New Jersey.

Elsewhere in New Jersey a levee broke, flooding the towns of Moonachie, Little Ferry and Carlstadt with up to five feet of water. Rescue workers are at the scene assisting those who are trapped.

Some 670,000 New York homes have been left without power by the storm, with electricity knocked out to more than seven million Americans.

A total of 16 people have been reported dead by local officials in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, West Virginia and North Carolina, while in Toronto, Canadian police said a woman died after being hit by flying debris.

Sea water floods the Ground Zero construction site.

New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg said the worst of the storm had passed and officials expected the tidal surge to recede by Wednesday.

Some 84 flights have been cancelled between London Heathrow and the US east coast. Flights from Manchester, Glasgow and Birmingham have also been cancelled.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Nasdaq suspended trading for a weather event for the first time since Hurricane Gloria in 1985.

It had been feared the surge of seawater could damage the underground electrical and communications lines in lower Manhattan that are vital to the nation's financial centre.

The collapsed front wall of an apartment building in New York

Sandy had already killed 69 people in the Caribbean, where many islands were left devastated by the extreme weather conditions.

Haiti was worst-hit, with 52 confirmed dead and many more still missing. Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe described the storm as a "disaster of major proportions".

Residents of Cuba's second-largest city of Santiago were left without power and running water for four days.

After battering the Caribbean, Sandy then made its way up the Atlantic. As it made its way toward land, it converged with a cold-weather system that turned into a hybrid consisting not only of rain, high wind and snow.

Earlier, a US sailor on board a replica of the HMS Bounty was recovered from the sea in an "unresponsive" condition and later died. The captain was missing, feared dead after the tall ship went down off the Carolinas.

President Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney suspended their campaigning with just over a week to go before election day.

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China: Journalists Dragged Away From Protest

A Sky News team were among journalists who were "violently" stopped from reporting on an environmental pollution protest in China.

Sky News cameraman Andy Portch was attacked by plain-clothed men as they tried to prevent him filming a protest over toxic emissions from a petro-chemical plant in Ningbo, Zhejiang province.

Police sought to disperse hundreds of people outside the Ningbo city government offices, including an AFP journalist who was briefly detained by police.

Sky's Foreign Affairs Correspondent Lisa Holland was among a crowd when an official tried to stop her reporting.

She said: "We were pushed and dragged down a flight of steps and our cameraman Andy Portch was kicked in the back of his calves as plain-clothed thugs tried to wrestle the camera from him."

He is heard on camera saying: "What are you doing? You can't beat me up like this. Stop beating me up."

During the commotion, one protester shouted: "Don't hit them, don't beat them."

A man holding a baby told police not to threaten them, saying: "You are bullying the Chinese people. We have to rely on foreigners to come and help us."

The Sky team was then marched away by riot police to roars by the crowd and threatened with arrest before being bundled away in a taxi.

An environmental protest takes place in Ningbo

The crowd took pictures of the whole episode and uploaded them onto Weibo – the Chinese version of Twitter.

People are using the powerful social media tool to highlight local disputes and controversial protests that never get reported by the state media.

Holland said: "As the authorities tried to prevent us filming the event - the crowds were taking pictures of the whole episode and busily uploading them onto Weibo - their version of twitter.

"It's Twitter but not as people know it outside China.  That's because China's population of 1.3 billion play a clever game of cat and mouse posting about the issues that matter to them but not using specific words which will get their messages blanked out by the sensors.

"The messages speak in riddles -  a language of Weibo has developed as users read between the lines but clearly understand each other.

"Through brute force the authorities tried to remove us from the story. But they just aren't quick enough to stop Weibo and its messages and images.  It's a constant flow of information which is simply over-loading the sensors.

"China is moving into a power transition when it gets a new set of leaders in the next few weeks.  Instability and unrest fills the ruling Communist Party with fear - and Weibo is fuelling that."

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Hurricane Sandy Churns Up US Election Campaign

President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney overhauled campaign plans again for Monday as Hurricane Sandy threatened tens of millions of Americans.

Both men dumped planned rallies in swing states in the path of the monster storm, upending strategies which have been months in the making.

"The storm will throw havoc into the race," Democratic Virginia Senator and Obama supporter Mark Warner told Fox News, as coastal evacuations were ordered and millions of people feared flooding and power cuts.

As the hurricane neared, Mr Romney on Sunday scrapped appearances in Virginia to join running-mate Paul Ryan in Ohio, the Midwestern epicentre of the unpredictable final week battle.

Mr Obama, who had already brought forward his arrival in Florida to Sunday evening to dodge the storm, cancelled an appearance on Monday in Orlando.

"Due to deteriorating weather conditions in the Washington area, the president will not attend today's campaign event in Orlando," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

Barack Obama meets campaign workers in Florida on Sunday

"The President will return to the White House to monitor the preparations for and early response to Hurricane Sandy."

Sandy is forecast to begin hitting the Washington region on Monday with strong wind and drenching rain.

The Obama campaign said the president was being briefed regularly on the hurricane and preparations for the federal government "to bring all available resources to bear" to ease the effects of the monstrous, late-season storm.

"Obviously my first priority has to be to make sure that everything is in place for families," the president told campaign workers in Florida on Sunday.

"That's going to be putting a little bit more burden on folks in the field, because I'm not going to be able to campaign quite as much over the next couple of days."

Mr Obama has also cancelled a campaign event in Virginia on Monday and one in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Tuesday.

Virginia and Colorado - like Florida, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa and Nevada - are the critical battleground states where the outcome of the election will be determined.

Mitt Romney campaigning in Florida at the weekend

Democrats claim the president has the edge heading into the final full week of the campaign.

The storm could offer opportunity for Obama, allowing him to pose as a cool, effective leader, marshalling the resources of an engaged government at a moment when citizens most need it.

However Republicans insist Mr Romney has the momentum necessary for victory.

In an email to supporters, he said people in Hurricane Sandy's path were in his thoughts and prayers.

"I hope that if you can, you'll reach out to your neighbours who may need help getting ready for the storm - especially your elderly neighbours," Mr Romney said

"I'm never prouder of America than when I see how we pull together in a crisis. There's nothing that we can't handle when we stand together."

Voters in many states are already casting ballots early, and about one-third of the electorate will have voted before Election Day.

In addition to scrambling to tweak schedules over the weekend, the campaigns were pumping millions of more dollars into TV ads running in the decisive battleground states.

Well-funded outside groups and super PACs are paying for direct mail, automated phone calls and other get-out-the-vote efforts.

Total spending in this campaign has exceeded $2 billion, making it the most expensive presidential race in the history of electoral politics.

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Hurricane Sandy: NY Braces For Wall Of Water

Heavy rain and strong winds from Hurricane Sandy have started lashing the northeast of the US, as forecasters warn New York could bear the brunt of the one-of-a-kind superstorm.

Sandy is on a collision course with two other weather systems leading to fears it could develop into one of the worst storms on record in the US.

The superstorm is threatening up to 50 million people on the heavily populated East Coast, and forecasters say it could wreak havoc over 800 miles (1,280km) from the Atlantic coast to the Great Lakes.

Authorities are warning New York could get hit with an 11ft (3.3-metre) wall of water that could swamp parts of lower Manhattan, flood subway tunnels and cripple the network of electrical and communications lines that are vital to the nation's financial centre.

:: Live Updates on Hurricane Sandy

Key evacuation areas affecting New York City and adjoining areas

Sandy, a Category 1 hurricane, is currently about 380 miles (615km) southeast of New York City, with winds of about 85mph (140kph).

The US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said it strengthened as it turned toward the coast on a predicted path toward New York, Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia. It is moving at 15 mph (24 kph).

The centre of the storm was positioned to come ashore Monday night in New Jersey, meaning the worst of the storm surge could be in the northern part of that state and in New York City and on Long Island.

The massive storm, which is hundreds of miles across, is set to stay until at least mid-week, bringing hurricane winds, flooding rains and snow in the Appalachian mountains.

Sandbags have been used to thwart flooding in low-lying areas

Hundreds of thousands of people have already evacuated coastal areas, but much focus remains on New York.

New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has ordered the evacuation of 375,000 people in low-lying areas of lower Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.

"If you don't evacuate, you are not only endangering your life, you are also endangering the lives of the first responders who are going in to rescue you," he said.

"This is a serious and dangerous storm."

New York and other cities shut down schools and suspended all train, bus and subway services on Sunday night because of the risk of flooding.

Police officers monitor Times Square subway station

Nearly the entire coastline of Staten Island has been evacuated. Parts of lower Manhattan, like Battery Park and Ground Zero, have also been evacuated amid the threat of flooding.

All US stock markets will be closed on Monday and possibly Tuesday, the operator of the New York Stock Exchange said, reversing an earlier plan that would have kept electronic trading going on Monday.

Hurricane Sandy also forced all 17 crew members of HMS Bounty to abandon ship after it issued a distress call 160 miles from the eye of the storm.

A state of emergency has already been declared in nine states - including New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts.

US President Barack Obama has cancelled a planned campaign appearance in Florida and returned to Washington to oversee the federal government's response to the ever-threatening hurricane.

Mr Obama promised the government would "respond big and respond fast" after the storm hits.

The projected storm track passes over New York

"My message to the governors as well as to the mayors is anything they need, we will be there, and we will cut through red tape. We are not going to get bogged down with a lot of rules," he said.

Federal Emergency management administrator Craig Fugate warned the "time for preparing and talking is about over".

"People need to be acting now," he said.

Airlines have cancelled more than 7,600 flights, with British Airways, Virgin and American Airlines have halted some departures to the eastern coat of the US.

At Heathrow, 47 departures and 12 arrivals have been cancelled.

Sandy was blamed for 66 deaths in the Caribbean before it began travelling northward parallel to the eastern seaboard.

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Crew Stranded On Lifeboat In 18ft Waves

Rescuers are unable to reach 17 crew members of HMS Bounty stranded on lifeboats near the eye of Hurricane Sandy.

The captain of the ship ordered all members to abandon ship after it lost power and the pumps were unable to keep up with the dewatering.

Rescuers located the scene, 160 miles from the centre of the hurricane, after receiving a distress call from the ship.

US Coast Guard said: "The 17 person crew donned cold water survival suits and lifejackets before launching in two 25-man lifeboats with canopies.

"The Coast Guard continues to monitor the situation and assess the weather conditions to determine the soonest Coast Guard aircraft or surface assets can be on scene to conduct effective rescue operations."

There are 40mph winds and 18ft waves reported at the scene, which is 90 miles southeast of Hatteras in North Carolina.

Coast Guard Sector North Carolina received a call from the owner of the 180ft, three mast ship, saying she had lost communication with the vessel's crew late on Sunday evening.

An air crew arrived on the scene and regained contact with the ship after receiving a signal from the emergency position indicating beacon registered to the Bounty.

The current Bounty was built for the 1962 movie Mutiny on the Bounty with Marlon Brando and has since appeared in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

The original Bounty is known for the mutiny that took place in Tahiti in 1789.

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Nanny 'Was Losing Her Mind' Before Child Murders

The New York nanny accused of murdering two children in her care told relatives she was "losing her mind", according to reports.

Yoselyn Ortega, who remains in a critical condition in hospital after apparently stabbing herself, was struggling emotionally and financially, friends said.

Celia Ortega told the New York Post that her sister "had snapped", adding: "We don't understand what happened to her mind."

Neighbour Ruben Rivas told reporters she seemed to have suddenly aged in recent weeks and had lost weight.

Other friends said that Ortega had suffered a financial setback and was forced to move out of her rented apartment in the Bronx and into her sister's home.

Juan Pozo, who had rented a room from the Ortega family, told The New York Times that the nanny's sister told him that she had "felt like she was losing her mind" lately.

She had recently been taken by relatives to visit a psychologist, Mr Pozo said.

"Apparently over the last month she was not herself," said police department spokesman Paul Browne.

Police said they were unaware of any significant history of psychological problems for Ortega, but were investigating whether she had recently sought treatment.

Police say the children - Leo Krim, two, and Lucia, six - were found horrifically injured by their mother Marina Krim when she returned to their Upper West Side apartment.

Mrs Krim was with her other daughter Nessie while her husband Kevin was away on business.

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Peru: Deadly Riots At 'Criminal' Market

At least four people have been killed and over 20 hurt as police trying to shut down Peru's biggest wholesale market clashed with protesters.

The mayor of the capital Lima, Susana Villaran, want to move the market - reportedly an easy place to buy illegal goods and stolen merchandise - to a modern, cleaner facility nearby.

She has accused traders opposed to the move of paying criminals to attack officers.

The outbreak of violence in connection with the La Parada market has stunned residents and could hurt Ms Villaran's chances of re-election.

The skirmishes have also prompted criticism of President Ollanta Humala's interior minister, who is in charge of the police force that was caught off guard when protests broke out on Thursday.

Two civilians died during the initial violence while two others were killed on Saturday. One was shot and the other stabbed.

Riot police have been out in force firing tear gas at the demonstrators who threw rocks at police. More than 100 people have been arrested.

In a television interview, Ms Villaran called La Parada "a world where a lot of people earn a lot of money through criminal acts, control of territory, protection rackets. And they don't want to leave."

She called the violence "pre-meditated reaction by hired bands or troublemakers who want to continue ruling their territory outside the law. We are not going to permit that in Lima".

Ms Villaran had set a deadline of mid-September for traders to move to a new market in the Santa Anita district but they refused.

One unnamed shop owner said: "Why is Susana taking our bread away?"

The capital Lima has been hit by a series of strikes over the past month as unions demand better pay and complain of being left behind by a decade of growth that has seen the economy surge more than 6% a year.

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Syria: Rebel Fighters Are Becoming Radicalised

By Alex Crawford, Sky News Special Correspondent

Sky has seen new evidence that the Syrian uprising is becoming more and more radicalised and being fought by Islamic fundamentalists and extremists.

The Syrian rebels have all but given up on military intervention by the West but after 18 months of grinding battle and a feeling they have been abandoned by the international community, they are making their own bombs and weapons and becoming much more self-sufficient.

There are some weapons and arms being smuggled across the borders from sympathetic Muslim neighbours.

We saw brand new rocket propelled grenade launchers with their rockets still in their plastic wrappers which had been smuggled across the Turkish border and an anti-aircraft gun which the rebels told us had come from Iraq.

But although that means that the rebels have many more weapons than they have had before, it is still small fry in comparison to the heavy weaponry, tanks and artillery employed by the regime.

What is increasingly obvious is the number of Jihad (holy war) flags and Jihad paraphernalia worn and used by the rebel fighters. The black headbands worn by many of the fighters are a symbol of Islamic fundamentalism - used by extremist groups and usually anti-Western.

The common refrain from many of the rebel fighters is that they have been forgotten by the outside world.

A cache of weapons seized by rebel fighters

A number of commanders told us they were disappointed, angry and frustrated by the lack of help from the international community.

One said: "All we get is words, not actions."

I asked him how many fighters were from outside Syria. He replied: "Most of the fighters are Syrians. I would say 90% of the fighters are Syrian. Only a few hundred in the whole of Syria are from outside the country and most of them are from sympathetic countries."

We met a Libyan medic and former rebel in his own country who said he had come to help the rebels in Syria as a fellow Muslim.

He said: "We know what it is like to suffer. I have come to help in the hospital but if I had to pick up a gun and shoot Assad soldiers, of course I would.

"The real problem here is not foreign fighters, not Al Qaeda or any other group but the regime which has done far more damage than any other group."

The rebels have been making significant gains in the north, crushing regime bases and the Assad army has been losing men as well as arms.

But the frustration by the rebels and the inaction by the international community is driving the rebels towards religious extremism.

If Assad falls, the West's lack of help may have lost them a potential ally in the Middle East and even worse, may have created an angry and resentful new enemy.

20.18 | 0 komentar | Read More

Earthquake Off Canada Sparks Tsunami Alert

Thousands of people in Hawaii have been ordered to leave their homes after a tsunami was triggered by an earthquake off the coast of Canada.

Initial warnings have now been downgraded but residents and tourists are still being advised to stay on higher ground until and all-clear is given.

The 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit off the west coast of Canada, around 96 miles (155km) south of Masset in the Haida Gwaii region, at just after 8pm local time.

The US Geological Survey said the earthquake was followed by a 5.8 magnitude aftershock several minutes later.

An estimated 100,000 to 150,000 people who live in Hawaii's coastal zones were urged to move to higher ground after a tsunami warning was issued.

The earthquake hit around 96 miles off the coast of Canada

This was later downgraded to an advisory and video footage of the island of Oahu showed relatively small waves rolling towards the shore.

Lenore Lawrence, a resident of Queen Charlotte City on the Haida Gwaii, said the quake was "definitely scary".

She said the shaking lasted more than a minute and that several things had fallen off her mantlepiece. 

Residents in parts of British Columbia were also evacuated but the province seemed to escape the biggest quake in Canada since 1949 largely unscathed.

Lucy Jones, a USGS seismologist, said: "This isn't that big of an earthquake on tsunami scales. The really big tsunamis are usually up in the high 8s and 9s."

Tremors were felt across a wide area in British Columbia, both on its Pacific islands and on the mainland.

"It looks like the damage and the risk are at a very low level. We're certainly grateful," said Shirley Bond, British Columbia's minister responsible for emergency management.

Officials downgraded a tsunami warning to an advisory for southern Alaska and British Columbia. They also issued an advisory for areas of northern California and southern Oregon.

The first wave of the small tsunami, about four inches, hit the southeast Alaska coastal community of Craig.

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