Ivan Leach: 100 Reported Sightings Of Fugitive

Some 100 sightings of a fugitive prisoner - suspected of committing a serious sex attack while on the run - have been reported.

Scores of possible sightings of Ivan Leach have been received by police since he went missing from North Sea Camp open prison in Boston, Lincolnshire, having failed to return from day release on October 9.

Leach, also known as Lee Cyrus, 47, is suspected to have committed a serious sex attack in Tayside after this and police have described him as "extremely dangerous and predatory."

The last known sighting of him was in his home town of Preston on October 19. Grampian Police ruled out the latest potential sighting of Leach in Aberdeenshire on Tuesday night.

Police have urged the public not to approach him under any circumstance.

Leach was jailed in 2005 for robbing a 90-year-old woman in her home in Ribbleton, Preston. He was given a life sentence with a minimum tariff of five years. Leach also has convictions for burglary, robbery and assault.

Leach is white, around 5ft 11in and stocky. He has a shaved head and hazel eyes. Police also said he has a scar on his top lip and was last seen wearing a black waterproof jacket, dark trousers and carrying a full rucksack.

Crimestoppers are offering up to £3,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Leach.

Grampian Police are also investigating the rape of a young woman in Aberdeen on Saturday morning. Officers said they are keeping an open mind about the identity of the rapist and are not focusing on a specific individual.

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Savile 'Took Girls To Leeds Hospital Block Alone'

Jimmy Savile regularly took teenage girls to a private hospital block alone for a few hours at a time, a former porter has told Sky News.

Terry Pratt said the Jim'll Fix It presenter was given a key to the nurses' accommodation building at Leeds General Infirmary during the 1990s.

Unlike doctors at the hospital, who had to be let in by a porter, he was allowed to take the keys himself.

The ex-worker claimed that Savile, who was a volunteer and fundraiser for the hospital, would arrive with the girls in the early hours of the morning and then leave before dawn.

Mr Pratt, who was a porter at the Leeds hospital from 1989 to 2010, said Savile came in with girls, who were often "dressed up to the nines", on three occasions in one week.

It is understood Savile had his own office in the hospital's Welcome Wing for 10 years from about the mid-1990s.

Given to him because of his fundraising activities, he even had his name on the door. The wing closed down a few years ago.

Savile was regularly given a key to the hospital's nurses' block

The hospital issued a statement responding to the latest claims of abuse by the late television star and DJ.

A spokesperson for Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said: "We continue to be shocked by each new allegation. It is important that they are investigated properly.

"The Trust is in contact with senior detectives from the Metropolitan Police and we have indicated our intention to help with their enquiries. If there are any issues which need to be addressed following the police investigation then we will take action."

Leeds General Infirmary is one of three hospitals, alongside Broadmoor and Stoke Mandeville, where Savile has been accused of abusing children.

Scotland Yard is currently investigating the Top of the Pops presenter's activities, and he is now believed to have been of the UK's most prolific child sex abusers, with about 300 possible victims.

Detectives are following 400 lines of inquiry as part of the investigation while the BBC has launched an inquiry into the culture and practices at the corporation during the Savile era.

Girls were said to be dazzled by Savile's celebrity status

It is also looking at the decision-making process that saw a Newsnight investigation into his activities shelved.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has said "heads will need to roll" at the BBC if it is discovered that abuse was ignored.

"Serious questions need to be asked and if after we find out what's happened, it's clear that people have turned a blind eye or, worse still, connived with it, then of course they're going to have to be held to account and - if that turns out to be the case - heads will need to roll of course," he told ITV's The Agenda.

Earlier this week it emerged Savile was barred from any involvement with the BBC's Children In Need charity.

Sir Roger Jones, a former chairman of the charity, said he had been uncomfortable about allowing Savile to have any association with their work.

Although he had "no evidence" that Savile was up to anything, he said he behaved strangely, adding: "I think we all recognised he was a pretty creepy sort of character."

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Moss Reveals Her Topless Teenage Anguish

Supermodel Kate Moss has used a rare interview to reveal how distressed she was when she was forced to pose topless at the age of 16.

Moss told Vanity Fair magazine that later, while she was still in her teens, she suffered a nervous breakdown during a Calvin Klein campaign.

Now 38, she spoke about the pressures she was under and how for many years she had no-one "to take care of" her, apart from the time she spent dating Hollywood star Johnny Depp.

Moss told Vanity Fair how uncomfortable she felt while working on a shoot for style magazine The Face with photographer Corinne Day, which helped to propel her to fame.

"I see a 16-year-old now, and to ask her to take her clothes off would feel really weird," she said.

"But they were like 'If you don't do it, then we're not going to book you again'. So I'd lock myself in the toilet and cry and then come out and do it. I never felt very comfortable about it."

Moss said she was not happy with her "boobs" and insisted that the only man on the photoshoot turn his back while the pictures were being taken.

Moss is now happily married to musician Jamie Hince

The supermodel claimed her mental health suffered while working on a Calvin Klein campaign in the early 1990s.

"I had a nervous breakdown when I was 17 or 18, when I had to go and work with Marky Mark and Herb Ritts," she said.

"It didn't feel like me at all. I felt really bad about straddling this buff guy. I didn't like it. I couldn't get out of bed for two weeks. I thought I was going to die."

She went on: "It was just anxiety. Nobody takes care of you mentally. There's a massive pressure to do what you have to do."

Moss said Depp came to her aid during their four-year relationship, but following their split she said there was "years and years of crying".

She told interviewer James Fox: "I really lost that gauge of somebody I could trust."

Moss married musician Jamie Hince in 2011 and has an 11-year-old daughter, Lila Grace, from a previous relationship.

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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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Sistine Chapel Marks 500th Year Of Masterpiece

Michelangelo's artistic masterpiece on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was opened to the public 500 years ago this week.

The painting of the world-famous fresco - one of the Vatican's most dramatic offerings - took five years.

It was commissioned by Pope Julius II and Michelangelo was initially reluctant to take the project on.

When he did agree he put his heart and soul into it, depicting more than 300 figures rather than just the 12 apostles originally sought.

The artist's work covers 12,000 square feet of the chapel ceiling and is believed by many to be his best work.

The ceiling mural was considered a marvel from the moment it went on show on All Saints Day (November 1), 1512.

It now attracts up to 25,000 visitors a day - more than five million people a year.

But the amount of pollution they bring with them is now a major worry for the Vatican.

Museum experts there are now considering crowd control and a filter system to cut down the dust and pollutants which, long term, could damage the artwork.

One suggestion is to limit visitors to 25 every 15 minutes - a move that Vatican Museums director Antonio Paolucci accepts is likely to meet fierce criticism.

This is because the chapel is seen as a place for religious worshippers as well as art lovers, something the Roman Catholic Church is keen to retain.

"So far we've tried to avoid this because the Sistine Chapel for those who visit the Vatican is not only a place of art but also a spiritual, religious place," Mr Paolucci told the BBC.

His comments come a few weeks after he denied visitors would be limited, suggesting to do so would be as "unthinkable" as limiting access to the shrine of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes.

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Sandy Uncovers Bomb At Guantanamo Bay

The US military has had to close down a ferry landing at Guantanamo Bay after Hurricane Sandy uncovered an old bomb.

The 500lb (227kg) object was discovered several days after the hurricane - later downgraded to a superstorm - hit the Cuban island.

Officals at the US naval base evacuated the area around the bomb and flew in a disposal crew.

It was later discovered that the device was "inert" and not a threat.

The island was once used as the US Navy's Atlantic fleet training centre.

Sandy was classed as a hurricane when it hit the Cuban island

Workers are still cleaning up the damage from last week's hurricane, which blew the roof off the base.

It is unclear if the state-of-the-art courtroom that beams proceedings to special viewing sites on US soil was damaged.

The site holds 167 detainees who the US believes are linked to conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The death toll in the Caribbean stands at 69, with thousands of people left homeless.

Sandy took the lives of 52 people in Haiti, 11 in Cuba, two in the Bahamas, two in the Dominican Republic, one in Jamaica and one in Puerto Rico.

Haiti is still recovering from the 2010 earthquake that killed 316,000 people.

The UN said the latest disaster has pushed back the country's progress.

"Haiti is trying to get its house in order, but each time disaster strikes, the progress is interrupted," said Johan Peleman from the UN.

"This country is exposed to devastating consequences by each storm. With every burst of rain, entire mountains are washed away."

The regions most affected were the south and west, where many communities remain cut off due to the destruction of roads and bridges, authorities said.

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Steve Jobs' Super Yacht Takes To The Water

A super yacht designed by Apple founder Steve Jobs has taken to the water a year after his death.

The Venus, named after the Roman Goddess of Love, could well be one of the last Jobs designs the world will see.

The 256ft (78m) vessel was a collaboration between Jobs and the French designer Philippe Starck and was apparently dreamed up after a day-long discussion between the two.

The Venus was designed to have 40ft (12m) long walls of glass

It is, perhaps unsurprisingly, powered by a bank of seven 27-inch screen iMacs that sit on the bridge.

The yacht, which was built by shipbuilders Feadship, took to the water at the firm's yard in Aalsmeer, just south of Amsterdam.

Jobs' wife Laurene and his children Reed, Erin and Eve were there for the event and gave those involved in the project thank you notes and iPod Shuffles with the yacht's name on the back.

Philippe Starck was asked to work on the project in 2007

According to Jobs' biographer Walter Isaacson, the vessel, which is made of exceptionally long aluminium panels, was just as Jobs had envisioned it.

In his biography, Mr Isaacson wrote: "The planned yacht was sleek and minimalist. The teak decks were perfectly flat and unblemished by any accoutrements.

"Like an Apple store, the cabin windows were large panes, almost floor to ceiling, and the main living area was designed to have walls of glass that were 40 feet long and 10 feet high."

The yacht at Aalsmeer, south of Amsterdam

According to Mr Isaacson, Jobs had said: "I know that it's possible I will die and leave Laurene with a half-built boat. But I have to keep going on it. If I don't, it's an admission that I'm about to die."

Jobs died on October 5 last year, aged 56, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

The vessel also features a "revolutionary" design of large glass windows at a 90-degree angle, rather than sloped, which is usual to help deal with the winds.

A man working by the aluminium vessel

Jobs even enlisted the help of the chief engineer of the Apple stores to design a special glass that would provide structural support.

The Venus is just under half the length of the world's largest yacht, the 538ft (164m) Eclipse owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.

Starck was asked to help design the Venus in 2007. A statement from his design house said: "The project never changed during the process of five years dedicated to a rigorous work on details, driven by the famous eye and genius of Steve Jobs."

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GM Slashes Jobs Amid Europe Car Downturn

General Motors has announced European job cuts amid the sales downturn in the foreign car market.

The US parent firm of Britain's Vauxhall said it would aim to make $500m (£310m) in fixed-cost savings between 2013 and 2015.

It added the company was planning further job cuts in Europe as it seeks to break even on the continent by the middle of the decade.

GM said it will cut the shifts at its Opel plant in Eisenach, Germany, from three to two next year, according to a presentation made after the firm revealed its third quarter earnings.

The Detroit-based car maker, which needed a US bailout after the global financial crisis, posted a surprisingly strong Q3 profit.

However, it said the break even target in Europe comes as it plans to save as much as $1.8bn (£1.11bn) there this year.

The proposed cuts come days after Ford announced major job losses as part of its plans to reduce production in Europe.

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Minerals Find Gives New Clues To Life On Mars

Nasa has discovered the mineralogy of Martian soil is similar to balsatic, weathered soils of volcanic origin in Hawaii.

The minerals were found in the first sample of soil collected recently by Mars rover Curiosity using its Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument (CheMin), said Nasa on its website.

The identification of minerals in rocks and soil is crucial for the mission's goal to assess past environmental conditions. Each mineral records the conditions under which it formed.

Until now scientists had an incomplete understanding of the mineralogical make-up of the dust and fine soil widespread on Mars.

Wind-blown martian sand deposit dubbed "Rocknest" (Pic: NASA)

David Blake of Nasa Ames Research Centre said: "Our quantitative results provide refined and in some cases new identifications of the minerals in this first X-ray diffraction analysis on Mars."

David Bish, CheMin co-investigator with Indiana University in Bloomington, said: "We now know it is mineralogically similar to basaltic material with significant amounts of feldspar, pyroxene and olivine, which was not unexpected.

"Roughly half the soil is non-crystalline material, such as volcanic glass or products from weathering of the glass."

Bite mark where rover scooped up Martian soil (Pic: NASA)

CheMin used X-ray diffraction, standard practise for geologists on Earth, which reads minerals' internal structure by recording how their crystals interact with X-rays.

This method provided a more accurate detection of minerals than any previously used on Mars.

The specific sample was scooped up at a patch of dust and sand that the team named Rocknest. The sample was processed through a sieve to exclude particles larger than 150 micrometres - roughly the width of a human hair.

Soil sample on CheMin instrument (Pic: NASA)

The sample had at least two components: dust distributed globally in dust storms and fine sand originating more locally.

Unlike rocks Curiosity investigated a few weeks ago, which are several billion years old and indicative of flowing water, the soil material CheMin has analysed points to modern processes on Mars.

These Nasa technological advances have led to other applications on Earth including compact and portable X-ray diffraction equipment for oil and gas exploration, analysis of archaeological objects and screening of counterfeit pharmaceuticals.

During a two-year period researchers will use Curiosity's 10 instruments to probe whether areas in Gale Crater ever offered environmental conditions favourable for microbial life.

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Sandy: President Obama Visits Emergency HQ

President Barack Obama is visiting rescue workers ahead of his trip to New Jersey to see the damage done by superstorm Sandy.

At least 55 people have been killed across the US and Canada. The worst of the damage is focused on New York and New Jersey, where Mr Obama will head later.

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

It was Mr Obama's second visit to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) in four days. On Sunday, he met with officials and told reporters the government would "respond big and respond fast" after the massive storm made landfall.

The superstorm wreaked havoc across the east coast of America

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.

Mr Romney is currently campaigning in Florida, where he said people had "come together" to help each other following the storm.

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.

It is feared it could be days before electricity is restored to some of those cut off.

Floodwaters surround a car parked on a street in Hoboken, New Jersey

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

While the storm has now passed the worst-hit area, 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 Empire State Building seen through the flooded Erie-Lackawanna Park

"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."

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."

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

Falling trees proved to be particularly deadly during the storms

Subways were flooded, public transport suspended, and flights disrupted.

However as the rain and wind eased, JFK and Newark airports were reopened. Laguardia airport remains closed.

In New Jersey, businesses and homes along the shore were wrecked and communities were submerged under floodwater.

But talk in the state quickly turned to rebuilding and recovery.

Areas along the shoreline were badly damaged

"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."

Some newspapers had suggested that Tuesday's election could be delayed, but Sky News' Political Editor Adam Boulton said that was unlikely.

"No-one is talking about that. In Manhattan they haven't even called off the marathon this weekend."

More follows...

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