New Indian Prime Minister Modi Hails Victory

Opposition candidate Narendra Modi says he wants to "fulfil the dreams of 1.2 billion people" after sweeping to power in historic elections in India.

The final results have yet to be declared but the Hindu Bharitya Janata Party (BJP) already has enough seats to become the first majority government India has elected in 30 years.

As the polling data came in Mr Modi tweeted: "India has won. Good days are coming."

He then told crowds: "The heat of the election is over and the people have given their verdict which says that we need to take India forward to fulfil the dreams of India's 1.2 billion people.

"There are no enemies in democracy, there is only opposition. I will take your love and convert it into progress before I return."

The BJP has already surpassed the 272 seats needed to avoid a coalition, ending 10 years of Congress Party rule.

Narendra Modi declares victory on Twitter

The result is the worst ever for the Gandhi dynasty and follows what the BJP describe as a "people's revolution".

"This is the beginning of change, a people's revolution and the start of a new era," senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar told AFP.

David Cameron has already spoken to Mr Modi and an invitation to Britain has been accepted.

The Prime Minister tweeted: "Congratulations @narendramodi on victory in India's elections. Keen to work together to get the most from UK-India relationship."

Barack Obama also invited Mr Modi to the United States, despite a previous decision to deny him a travel visa.

Narendra Modi is blessed by mother, Hira Ba, on the day of his victory

Sky's Neville Lazarus is outside the BJP headquarters in New Delhi and described the celebrations as "euphoric".

"They were expecting the number of seats to be high, but not this high," he said. "It's a vindication of Narendra Modi and his campaign.

"There is a mood of change in this country because the Congress Party has been reeling from the economic slowdown and corruption charges."

Mr Modi oversaw a modern campaign which utilised everything from holograms to WhatsApp.

Celebrations outside a counting centre in Siliguri

The stock market responded to his win by leaping 6%, sending the rupee to an 11-month high.

Mr Modi has been the top official in Gujarat state for a decade.

The 63-year-old is the son of a tea seller and has played on his humble roots during the election campaign, with references to his mother riding a rickshaw to cast her ballot.

His victory comes despite controversy over links to the paramilitary Hindu nationalist group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) - which some describe as neo-fascist.

As chief minister of Gujarat, Mr Modi was criticised for failing to apologise for religious riots in 2002 in which at least 1,000 people died - mostly Muslims.

He has denied any role in the violence and the Supreme Court declared he had no case to answer.

However, suspicions prompted the US to deny him a visa in 2005, while Britain maintained a diplomatic boycott on Mr Modi until 2012.

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Party Time In India But Modi Must Reach Out

By Neville Lazarus, India Producer, in Delhi

It's a resounding victory and they are celebrating.

Supporters of the Bharitiya Janata Party have been partying since morning when counting began.

Young and old, first-time voters and veterans, they all converged on the BJP headquarters in Delhi.

Rishi, 24, who is studying to be a chartered accountant, believes Narendra Modi is the only one who can get India back on track.

No one but him can bring about that change, he says.

The right-wing BJP won more than 50% of the vote - a feat not seen for 30 years.

It will now form a new government with Mr Modi as prime minister.

BJP supporters celebrate outside the party's building in Ahmedabad

With victory in sight earlier in the day, Mr Modi met his mother and accepted her blessings.

A self-proclaimed recluse and introvert, he is rarely seen with family.

Right from the start, Mr Modi set the campaign agenda.

He covered a distance of nearly 200,000 miles across the country, addressing 477 rallies and attending over 5,000 events.

He has been the first politician to use a 3D hologram of himself, reaching 14 million people at 1,350 locations.

His Twitter account boasts 3.9 million followers, while his YouTube videos have been played 13 million times.

Ashok Kumar, who came to celebrate the victory, told Sky News: "Modi has delivered the second independence - the first being when India gained freedom from the British in 1947.

Indian women celebrate Mr Modi's election victory

"He has brought the second one after a terrible 10-year rule of the Congress party."

Sonia Gandhi, the head of the Congress party, and her 43-year-old son - vice president Rahul Gandhi, who led the election campaign - have taken moral responsibility for the defeat, telling reporters the mandate was clearly not theirs.

Chants of "Modi! Modi!" resound everywhere in Delhi.

Even senior leaders L.K. Advani and Rajnath Singh spoke of the Modi 'effect'.

His party seems to have been relegated to the background.

However, Mr Modi is seen by many as a polarising figure in the Indian political landscape.

He was at the helm of affairs during the Gujarat riots in 2002.

Mr Modi has pledged to work for the good of all Indians

Over 1,000 people died, many of them Muslims, and 100,000 were left homeless.

No courts have indicted him and investigations have left him in the clear but his role in the riots is still furiously debated.

Britain refused to deal with Mr Modi for a decade and only in October 2012 was the diplomatic boycott finally lifted.

Throughout his campaign, Mr Modi stayed away from religious rhetoric, concentrating instead on development and good governance, of which he has a proven record in Gujarat.

But India is a secular country with many minority and linguistic communities.

Mr Modi will have to reach out to all to be accepted as a national leader.

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Grief And Anger As Turkey Buries Dead Miners

By Robert Nisbet, Europe Correspondent

We watched a logjam of grief, as they filled a field with the bodies of those killed in the Turkish mine disaster.

Rows of graves were dug in what has now been called the Martyr's Cemetery, each hole separated by just a foot of earth.

The families say the men died shoulder-to-shoulder in the complex and should be laid to rest in the same way.

Ninety miners are due to be buried here, but many suspect that is a conservative estimate.

The suspicion of those we talked to is that the government and the mine company are lying about the death toll, because they are to blame for the tragedy.

A coffin draped in the Turkish flag is carried toward a grave in Soma

Abdullah Erdal, 21, has lost four friends in the mine.

He told us: "We are angry, with both the private mining companies and the government, because they did not have proper control.

"We are young, but we have been told that when mines belonged to the state they were better managed. 

"Workers had more rights. But with the private sector, salaries are low and security is lax."

Hulya Bilgen taught many of the victims, and her anger is barely concealed.

Mourners weep beside one of 90 graves dug at the "Martyr's Cemetery"

"I am sad, so sad. Young bodies are now in the ground for a few pieces of coal. Our future has been destroyed. It is a massacre. It is mass murder," she said.

But for the most part the scene at the cemetery was just of raw grief.

Hoarse from her lament, the mother of Ugur Colak, 26, slumped at his grave.

She cried: "I am burning! I am burning! Why has this happened to us?"

Her two-year-old grandson cannot possibly understand the manner of his father's death, but watching his family convulsed by grief, he too breaks down.

That proves too much for the many others gathered around the grave, including this reporter, who follow suit.

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Turkey Mine: PM Facing Fresh Violence Claims

Fresh images have emerged purporting to show members of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's entourage attacking protesters angered over the government's handling of the Soma mine disaster.

An amateur video filmed during Mr Erdogan's visit to the site of the mining disaster appears to show two of his bodyguards punching an anti-government protester.

The video was shot after the prime minister was forced to take refuge in a grocery store as he was jeered while walking through a hostile crowd in the mining town on Wednesday. His car was then mobbed by protesters calling for his resignation.

One protester has since claimed that he was attacked by Mr Erdogan himself, although those claims have not been verified. 

The allegations come as the death toll from Turkey's worst mining disaster rose to 238, with more bodies expected to be pulled from the mine in the coming hours.

Mr Erdogan's bodyguards appear to be punching one protester

Separate images have previously emerged showing Yusuf Yerkel, an adviser to the prime minister, kicking a demonstrator as he is held on the ground by police officers during the visit.

Mr Yerkel released a statement on the attack which read: "I am sad I was not able to maintain my composure despite all the provocations, the insults and attacks to which I was exposed."

The images have fuelled public anger over the government's handling of the disaster, with many accusing political leaders of not demonstrating enough compassion. 

A protester is kicked by an adviser to Turkey's PM during trouble in Soma

The government is also accused of failing to address safety concerns within Turkey's mining industry. Just two weeks ago the ruling AK party rejected an opposition attempt to launch an inquiry into the safety standards at mines in Soma.

Mr Erdogan has rejected the allegations, saying such accidents are not uncommon and happen in other countries. He highlighted cases in 19th century Britain.

Mr Erdogan said: "These types of things in mines happen all the time.

"It's in its nature. It's not possible for there to be no accidents in mines. Of course we were deeply pained by the extent here."

Victims of the disaster are being buried in mass graves close to the mine

Thousands of protesters clashed with riot police in several Turkish cities for a second day on Thursday. 

Police fired water cannon at tens of thousands of demonstrators in the capital Ankara and in the western city of Izmir. 

Turkey's four biggest unions also held a one-day strike, alleging that workers' lives were put at risk by cost cuts. 

In a joint statement, they said: "Hundreds of our workers have been left to die from the very beginning by being forced to work in cruel production processes to achieve maximum profits."

Protesters have accused Mr Erdogan of ignoring safety concerns

Relatives in Soma, meanwhile, began to bury those killed in the disaster as emergency workers battled toxic fumes in their frantic search for those still missing.

An estimated 150 miners are still feared to be trapped inside the mine, although hopes are slim that they will be found alive. 

The last survivor was pulled from the mine on Wednesday. 

Those still trapped are thought to be some 1.2 miles (2km) below the surface and 2.5 miles (4km) from the mine entrance.

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Turkish PM Attacked By Mob Over Mine Disaster

Turkey's Prime Minister has defended his country's mining safety record as at least 276 workers were confirmed dead in an underground explosion.

Tayyip Erdogan's car was attacked by protesters as he visited the scene of the disaster in Soma, some 155 miles (250km) south of Istanbul.

Emergency workers are fighting fire and toxic fumes as they search for survivors, with around 120 miners still feared trapped.

As thousands of relatives waited for news of Turkey's worst mining disaster, Mr Erdogan was accused of ignoring warnings over safety at the coal pit.

A convoy containing his car was attacked by crowds and he was forced to seek refuge in a supermarket, surrounded by police.

Protests have also taken place in Ankara

Protesters shouted for him to resign and said he was a "murderer" and a "thief".

Mr Erdogan told a news conference: "Such mine accidents do not happen only in Turkey.

"It also happens in many countries such as the United States, China, France, India and Belgium.

"I give, for example, figures for death tolls, many people died in such coal mine accidents. Our country is in a much better position."

Tayyip Erdogan defended mine safety in Turkey

He declared three days of national mourning and ordered flags to be lowered to half-mast.

Those still trapped are thought to be some 1.2 miles (2km) below the surface and 2.5 miles (4km) from the mine entrance.

Despite efforts to help any survivors who may be struggling to breathe, the country's energy minister Taner Yildiz said "hopes are diminishing" among rescuers.

The last miner to be rescued alive emerged from the mine in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

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Ferry Disaster: Captain On Manslaughter Charge

The captain of the South Korean ferry that capsized killing more than 280 passengers has been charged with manslaughter.

Two navigators and a chief engineer have been charged with the same offence - and if convicted all four could face the death penalty.

They are accused of leaving the ship as it was sinking while telling passengers, mostly high school students, to stay where they were.

Prosecutors have also charged 11 other surviving crew members of the Sewol with negligence.

Coastguard spokesman Ko Myung-Suk said a further five bodies were retrieved on Wednesday, including one found floating on the surface.

The confirmed death toll now stands at 281, with 23 still missing.

The Sewol was carrying 476 people when it sank on April 16.

The crew has been under criminal investigations after they were reported to have escaped the sinking vessel before many of the passengers.

More follows...

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British GSK Executive Accused Of China Bribery

A British executive of GlaxoSmithKline's China unit has been accused of bribery.

Chinese investigators claim Mark Reilly ordered his salespeople to bribe doctors and hospital officials to use the company's products.

A statement released by police in the central city of Changsha said that resulted in "illegal revenue" of hundreds of millions of pounds.

Mr Reilly and two Chinese executives have also been accused of bribing government officials in Beijing and Shanghai.

More follows...

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Turkey Mine Blast: 201 Dead And Toll May Rise

At least 201 miners have been killed after an underground explosion and fire in western Turkey.

The country's energy minister Taner Yildiz said 787 workers were in the mine at the time of the blast, which is thought to have been caused by an electrical fault.

Hundreds are still trapped in shafts and tunnels up to 2.5 miles (4km) from the nearest exit.

Many of the miners were coughing and covered in dust as they were rescued

Mr Yildiz said 80 miners were injured and at least four of them are in a serious condition.

The rescue effort is "reaching a critical stage" with the death toll likely to rise, he said.

The blast in Soma, some 155 miles (250km) south of Istanbul, is one of the worst mining disasters in Turkish history.

Dozens of miners have been rescued or made their own way out

Fresh air is being pumped into the pit to help workers who may be struggling to breathe, amid fears they could suffer carbon monoxide poisoning.

TV pictures showed rescued miners coughing and spluttering as they were pulled out alive, their faces coated with black dust.

Relatives waited anxiously at the entrance to the mine, cheering and applauding each successful rescue.

Worried relatives rush to the mine complex in the town of Soma

The accident happened when a power distribution unit exploded about 1.2 miles (2km) beneath the surface, according to Nurettin Akcul, head of the Turkish Mineworkers' Union.

It is thought it happened during a change of shifts, leading to confusion over the exact number of workers still inside.

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has postponed a one-day visit to Albania and is heading to the scene.

The explosion happened in Turkey's western Manisa province

In a statement, the mine's owners, Soma Komur, described the explosion as a "tragic accident" which happened "despite maximum safety measures and inspections".

According to Turkey's ministry of labour, the pit was last inspected on March 17 and was found to be compliant with safety regulations.

The country's worst mining disaster was in 1992, when a gas explosion killed 270 workers near the Black Sea port of Zonguldak.

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Ukraine: Self-Rule Vote Marred By Violence

Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine have claimed victory in a contentious referendum which could see two regions break away.

Voters in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk cast ballots on Sunday on whether to declare their areas independent, but with links to Moscow.

The unofficial poll has been condemned by a host of countries, including Britain, and dismissed as a "criminal farce" by the government in Kiev.

More than three million ballot papers are said to have been distributed across the two regions, with organisers claiming to have spent just £980 on the entire ballot.

Roman Lyagin, election chief in Donetsk, said early results showed almost 90% of voters in the region favour of sovereignty.

Mariupol has been at the centre of eastern Ukraine violence

In Luhansk, no immediate preliminary results have yet been released.

In Mariupol, the scene of fierce fighting in recent days, there were just eight polling stations for half a million people.

As the make-shift polling stations closed on Sunday night, at least one person in the town of Krasnoarmeisk was reported to have been shot dead by Ukrainian government forces.

Reports said the troops had tried to stop people voting.

Witnesses claimed heavily armed men in balaclavas started shooting at the crowd as the tense standoff escalated.

On the edge of Slavyansk, fighting broke out around a television tower shortly before people began making their way through barricades of felled trees and tyres for the vote. One serviceman was wounded.

Slavyansk's self-proclaimed mayor Vyacheslav Ponomaryov said turnout was 80% and the result "was not in doubt".

People queued up to vote on the future of Donetsk and Luhansk

Asked if he knew what would follow, the former businessman said: "Of course we know. Work starts on the establishment ... of the Donetsk People's Republic."

Western leaders have threatened more sanctions in the key areas of energy, financial services and engineering if Moscow continues what they regard as efforts to destabilise Ukraine.

The EU may announce as early as today measures endorsing a widening of the legal criteria for imposing sanctions on Russia, with the goal of making it easier to freeze the assets of companies involved in the Ukraine crisis.

Using the new expanded criteria, EU officials have prepared a list of 14 people and two Crimean companies active in the energy sector that ministers are likely to add to the EU sanctions list today, diplomats say.

The identities of the people and firms are being kept confidential for now.

The EU has previously imposed asset freezes and visa bans on 48 Russians and Ukrainians over Moscow's annexation of Crimea but it would be the first time the bloc has targeted companies.

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Schoolgirl Kidnap: Nigeria 'Won't Pay Ransom'

How To Tackle Nigeria's Growing Insurgency?

Updated: 1:09pm UK, Friday 09 May 2014

By Sam Kiley, Foreign Affairs Editor

American "experts" have arrived. British "advisers" are on their way - phew. It may only be a matter of time before Nigeria's missing girls are found and rescued.

Baloney.

Boko Haram is not a new problem. It's been violently opposing Nigeria's governments since 2009, leaving 4,000 dead, laying waste to villages, and not long ago killing 58 schoolboys in their classrooms.

It's had links to al Qaeda in the Islamic Mahgreb (AQIM).

It kidnapped a French family in the Cameroons, and is reported to have netted $3m (£1.78m) for their safe release.

The militant Islamist group has achieved international notoriety over the abduction of the girls, all aged between 12 and 15  - but only after releasing a video threat to sell them into slavery.

But it has been closely monitored by Western security agencies for some time.

In 2012, British special forces troops were at the sharp end of a failed rescue operation in Sokoto aimed at releasing Chris McManus, a British engineer and his Italian colleague.

They had been held by Boko Haram for over a year. It was thought they were about to be moved or sold to an al Qaeda group operating in the lawless Sahel.

The connections to al Qaeda, which intelligence sources say extends all the way to Somalia but is more tightly entwined with AQIM, have meant that Boko Haram has been of considerable interest to the West.

This has been mostly manifest in sharing intelligence with and getting information from Nigerian agencies about the threat that the movement might pose beyond Nigeria's borders.

Dealing with the growing domestic insurgency has been seen as a strictly Nigerian matter.

Very often Western commentators will see the involvement of Western troops or spooks as a panacea to turmoil in a Third World nation.

They are not.

It took the British army half a decade to get to grips with the complex tribal structures that dominate Helmand in Afghanistan, where the UK sent some 10,000 troops.

American forces never got to grips with the complex world of Somalia's clan structures after its UN/US intervention there in 1991.

And Western allies have left chaos in their wake after their invasion of Iraq.

Foreign experts can, however, help with technical intelligence surveillance, planning, and perhaps even offering troops for a final assault on a complex target.

But all other matters must remain domestic issues because only locals can fully understand the complexities of the social landscape they live in.

There may, ultimately, be a useful military option involving a strike at the leadership of Boko Haram that the West can help with.

But Nigerians know that finding a solution to a growing insurgency involves far more complex issues.

Nigeria's economically-neglected north will need a greater share of the nation's annual oil revenues of $50bn (£29.8bn) if it's going to reverse the growing north-south schism that has always threatened the coherence of the former British colony.

Locally, Boko Haram's foot soldiers will need to be lured out of the bush with offers of amnesty and employment. Surviving leaders may need to be given a role.

But, of course, this "proves" the argument that politics in Nigeria can only be advanced through the barrel of a gun - the nation has suffered at least eight military coups since independence from Britain in 1960 and is now taking nervous steps along a democratic pathway.

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Ukraine Referendum Will Add Fuel To the Fire

The polling stations are ready and we're told three million ballot papers have been printed, enough for every eligible voter in the region of Donetsk.

But what is still far from clear is what they are being asked to vote for.

The question seems to be deliberately vague: do you support the act of state sovereignty of the Donetsk People's Republic?  Yes or No?

That could be taken to mean greater autonomy, or some form of autonomous region, but still within Ukraine - or they could find they have voted for the creation of an independent state that could then seek to join the Russian Federation, a la Crimea.

Then there is the question of legality.

The referendum has no basis in law as there is no provision for local referenda on the statute in Ukraine.

There also seems to be no independent oversight and the poll will be policed by the separatists themselves - hardly the ideal conditions for a free and fair vote.

The organisers do not have access to up-to-date voting lists - those are held by the Ukrainian state security service - so they are relying on data from the 2012 parliamentary elections.

The vote is not being independently monitored

The ballot papers, at least those that we have seen so far, appear to have been printed on an ordinary printer, with no watermarks or other features to guard against, say, photocopying.

But that  is unlikely to be at the top of the list of complaints, when the votes are also going to be collected and counted by "People's Republic" volunteers.

None of which is to deny that there may well be a genuine number of voters going to the ballot box on Sunday to vote "yes", at the very least to express their dissatisfaction with the government in Kiev.

The latest poll shows that while a strong majority (70%) in the east still want to live in a united Ukraine, around two-thirds (67%) disapprove of the current national government.

But I strongly suspect we will be in roughly the same position after this referendum as we are now - the Ukrainian authorities and politicians in the West will say that this was an illegal poll, carried out under the threat of intimidation, and with no means of independent verification.

The People's Republic will say, assuming the vote goes their way, that the people have spoken, that they have a democratic mandate, that this is a genuine popular uprising of ordinary citizens demanding their rights.

What is clear is that this referendum is unlikely to resolve what seems to be a deteriorating security situation in the east of this country - it is difficult to see it will do anything other than add more fuel to the fire.

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Eastern Ukraine Regions Vote On Independence

Ukraine Referendum Will Add Fuel To the Fire

Updated: 7:31pm UK, Saturday 10 May 2014

By Katie Stallard, Sky News Moscow Correspondent

The polling stations are ready and we're told three million ballot papers have been printed, enough for every eligible voter in the region of Donetsk.

But what is still far from clear is what they are being asked to vote for.

The question seems to be deliberately vague: do you support the act of state sovereignty of the Donetsk People's Republic?  Yes or No?

That could be taken to mean greater autonomy, or some form of autonomous region, but still within Ukraine - or they could find they have voted for the creation of an independent state that could then seek to join the Russian Federation, a la Crimea.

Then there is the question of legality.

The referendum has no basis in law as there is no provision for local referenda on the statute in Ukraine.

There also seems to be no independent oversight and the poll will be policed by the separatists themselves - hardly the ideal conditions for a free and fair vote.

The organisers do not have access to up-to-date voting lists - those are held by the Ukrainian state security service - so they are relying on data from the 2012 parliamentary elections.

The ballot papers, at least those that we have seen so far, appear to have been printed on an ordinary printer, with no watermarks or other features to guard against, say, photocopying.

But that  is unlikely to be at the top of the list of complaints, when the votes are also going to be collected and counted by "People's Republic" volunteers.

None of which is to deny that there may well be a genuine number of voters going to the ballot box on Sunday to vote "yes", at the very least to express their dissatisfaction with the government in Kiev.

The latest poll shows that while a strong majority (70%) in the east still want to live in a united Ukraine, around two-thirds (67%) disapprove of the current national government.

But I strongly suspect we will be in roughly the same position after this referendum as we are now - the Ukrainian authorities and politicians in the West will say that this was an illegal poll, carried out under the threat of intimidation, and with no means of independent verification.

The People's Republic will say, assuming the vote goes their way, that the people have spoken, that they have a democratic mandate, that this is a genuine popular uprising of ordinary citizens demanding their rights.

What is clear is that this referendum is unlikely to resolve what seems to be a deteriorating security situation in the east of this country - it is difficult to see it will do anything other than add more fuel to the fire.

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