Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 14 Februari 2015 | 00.48
Almost 200 pilot whales have become stranded on a beach in New Zealand.
Two dozen of the animals have already died, despite the efforts of volunteers who have flocked to the remote Farewell Spit on South Island to help.
It is feared that more of the whales could die, even if rescuers manage to re-float them.
Rescuers attempt to help a whale back out to sea
Andrew Lamason, of New Zealand's Department of Conservation, said: "We've had plenty times in the past where the pods have gone out to sea and turned around and come back again. We're preparing for a big few days."
Whale strandings are common in New Zealand but experts say this is the largest in more than a decade.
They describe Farewell Spit as a whale trap because its shallow waters seem to confuse the animals and reduce their ability to navigate.
The father of a 13-year-old boy who died after an altercation in his school playground has paid tribute to his "special" son.
Oisin McGrath was taken to hospital from St Michael's College in Enniskillen on Monday and died on Thursday evening.
On medical advice, his parents made the agonising decision to withdraw life support and donate their child's organs for transplant.
On the "RIP Oisin McGrath" page on Facebook, his father Nigel wrote that his special son would be forever missed and was now saving lives.
The schoolboy's funeral will take place at Holywell Catholic Church in Belcoo, County Fermanagh, on Sunday morning.
Parish priest Father Seamus Quinn said the teenager's death in such circumstances was every parent's worst nightmare.
He said: "There are no words to describe what they're going through.
"They're devastated, they're numb, they're in shock. It's a nightmare, except this one you don't wake up from. It's horrendous."
St Michael's College, which remained closed on Friday, asked students attending the service to wear uniform.
A 17-year-old student from the school was questioned following the incident but released on bail pending enquiries.
Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson tweeted: "Young Oisin McGrath's death is heartbreaking. I'll be praying for his family and all those devastated by this sad news."
Education Minister John O'Dowd said: "I am deeply saddened at the tragic death of Oisin McGrath. As a parent myself I can only imagine the grief his parents and family are feeling.
"My thoughts and prayers are with them at this terrible time. I also extend my sympathy to the whole St Michael's College community.
"The Western Education and Library Board is providing counselling and pastoral support to the school and will continue to do so for as long as is needed."
People at a mosque in Pakistan stopped a would-be suicide bomber by holding him down to prevent him detonating his device.
Witnesses say at least six militants jumped over the wall of the mosque in the city of Peshawar and began their assault as Friday prayers came to an end.
Worshippers managed to stop one, who was killed in the fight, but two of the attackers are reported to have set off their bomb vests, killing 19 people.
Police spokesman Nasir Durrani said: "People here showed great courage. They grabbed one of the attackers from his neck, and he couldn't detonate his explosives, and he was shot and killed."
Pakistan security personnel inspect the scene
In addition to the 19 deaths, more than 40 people were injured.
The Pakistan Taliban has issued a statement claiming it carried out the attack.
A spokesman for the militant group said it was in revenge for the execution of one of its members by Pakistan's government.
Relatives comfort a woman in the aftermath of the attack
Officials say they had no warning that the mosque was to be targeted.
Police spokesman Nazim Khan Durrani told reporters: "We had no specific intelligence of an attack but since we are at war with terrorists all sensitive institutions and installations have been put on alert."
It is the second attack on a Shia mosque in the last fortnight. Some 60 people were killed on 31 January in a bomb attack in Shikarpur, in Sindh province.
And the Pakistan Taliban attacked Peshawar's Army School in December,killing 145 people 132 of them school children.
Taliban members said they wanted the military to feel pain for operations conducted in the tribal regions.
The December attack prompted Pakistan to re-instate the death penalty.
The number of teetotal young adults has almost doubled, according to new statistics that show a significant drop in alcohol consumption amongst 16 to 24-year-olds.
The rise is so steep that it has caused an overall increase in the number of adults who do not drink at all, which is now over one fifth.
Young adults are also responsible for a decrease in binge drinking, the figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show.
The proportion who drank more than eight units of alcohol in one day, in the week before the interview, was down from 18% in 2005 to 15% in 2013.
London had the highest rates of teetotalism, with one third of adults in the capital saying they did not drink at all.
Video:Dec: 'Zero Tolerance' To Drink Call
One expert told Sky News that the rise in numbers of teetotal young people was related to the UK's changing demographics.
"It's probably mainly driven by the changing ethnic mix in this country. There are increasing numbers of people who don't drink at all because of religious reasons," said Professor Ian Gilmore, chair of Alcohol Health Alliance.
"But there is also under-reporting. We know that people report in surveys roughly half of what they drink.
"If you look at the Customs and Excise data who know how much we drink, the average drinking adult is drinking roughly 25 units per week. So there's no room for complacency."
Video:Dec: Binge Drinkers May Face Arrest
There remain concerns about regional variations in drinking patterns.
The figures in London contrast to the north of England and Scotland, where more adults drank and where more were likely to binge drink.
The ONS said alcohol misuse is a leading cause of ill-health in Great Britain, which is estimated to cost the NHS in England approximately £3.5bn every year.
At least 11 service personnel have been killed and dozens wounded in the last 24 hours in eastern Ukraine, officials have reported.
It comes despite the ceasefire agreement reached on Thursday, which is due to come into force this weekend.
"In the Donbass, this night was not a calm one. The enemy shelled positions of the 'anti-terrorist operation' forces with the same intensity as before," a statement by the military said.
It said fighting had been particularly intense around Debaltseve, a key railway junction linking the rebel strongholds of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Residents forced to escape the fighting in Debaltseve
Pro-Russia separatists had used rockets and artillery to attack government forces holding the town, the statement added.
Rebel authorities said three civilians had been killed and five wounded in shelling by government troops on Luhansk.
Video:Ceasefire Deal In Ukraine Conflict
Another two civilians were killed and six injured on Friday morning when a shell fired by separatists hit a busy cafe in the nearby town of Shchastya, the Kiev-controlled regional administration said.
Russia has been warned sanctions will be stepped up if the truce to end the 10-month Ukraine conflict is not fully implemented.
The ceasefire, which comes into effect on Sunday, was agreed after 16 hours of talks between Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany in the Belarusian capital Minsk.
A previous truce was violated almost immediately by both sides and there are doubts the latest one will hold.
Video:Poroshenko Expresses Surprise
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the deal provided "a glimmer of hope - no more, no less".
Russia has already been hit with financial and diplomatic sanctions for allegedly supplying the separatists with heavy weapons and fighters - which it denies.
Mrs Merkel warned: "We hold open the possibility, if these new agreements are not implemented, that we must take further measures."
European Council President Donald Tusk said previously-agreed sanctions against 19 Russian and Ukrainian individuals and nine entities would still come into force next week.
Video:Can Ukraine Peace Deal Succeed?
"Our trust in the goodwill of (Russian) President Putin is limited, this is why we have to maintain our decision on sanctions," he said.
The terms of the ceasefire include a withdrawal of heavy weapons, Ukraine taking control of its Russian border, the granting of special status to rebel regions and addressing the humanitarian crisis created by the fighting.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko admitted to having doubts, saying: "It was very difficult negotiation and we expect a not easy implementation process."
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe has said it plans to send 350 of its observers to eastern Ukraine to ensure the terms of the truce are monitored.
Chelsea Manning, the former intelligence analyst convicted in the WikiLeaks scandal, will undergo hormone treatment for gender reassignment.
The therapy would enable the Army private formerly known as Bradley Manning to make the transition to a woman.
Manning changed her legal name in April 2014.
The hormone therapy was approved this month by Colonel Erica Nelson, commandant of the Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where Manning is serving a 35-year sentence.
Manning, then known as Bradley, at the time of his sentencing
The decision, first reported by USA Today, came after a lawsuit claimed that Manning was at a high risk of self-castration and suicide unless she received more focused treatment for gender dysphoria, the sense of being a woman in a man's body.
The lawsuit was filed in September.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons and many state and local corrections agencies administer hormone therapy to prisoners with gender dysphoria, but Manning is the first transgender military prisoner to request such treatment.
Manning, 26, was convicted in August 2013 of espionage and other offences for sending more than 700,000 classified documents to WikiLeaks while working in Iraq.
A man who launched a jealousy-fuelled machete attack on his ex-girlfriend's new partner as he lay in bed with her has been jailed for 22 years.
Gary Johnson burst into Holly Dobson's house at 4.30am and started to punch, then hack at Christopher Spinks, who was asleep.
He cut wounds into his scalp and ear - and a blow deep into his leg sliced through to the bone.
Johnson was sentenced after being convicted by a jury at Newcastle Crown Court of attempted murder.
The judge, Mr Justice Males, said the attack in Stanley, County Durham in August, could easily have killed Mr Spinks.
He said: "The injuries which Christopher Spinks suffered were very severe.
"He had deep cuts to his nose and right cheek, a deep cut down to the bone on the left side of his scalp, and a cut to his left ear which split it in two.
"He also had deep wounds on his left leg, one of which was right down to the bone, which caused significant damage to his muscles and an important nerve.
"These were serious injuries on a defenceless man which could easily have killed him."
The court heard how Johnson, 26, from Chester-le-Street, had a stormy relationship with his ex-partner for about two years.
He had a conviction for violence on Ms Dobson, and was "intensely jealous" of any contact she had with other men, the judge said.
The unprovoked attack with the "vicious looking machete" left Mr Spinks suffering from panic attacks and suicidal thoughts.
He was also left having to wear a leg brace, the judge said.
Johnson, who has a young daughter, sent threatening text messages to his ex-partner in the hours before he travelled five miles to her home.
The judge said: "So there was a degree of planning and deliberation about your conduct and you wanted Holly Dobson to know what you were doing."
Outside court, Detective Inspector Gavin Heckles said: "This was a savage and premeditated assault on Mr Spinks, which left him with serious psychological as well as physical injuries.
"Johnson showed no remorse at any time during our investigation and interviews with him, and the comments from the judge summed up perfectly just how serious this was.
"I hope the substantial sentence will provide at least a measure of comfort to Mr Spinks and his family."
The British family of a prisoner in Guantanamo Bay have pleaded with the US government to send him home to London.
In their first interview, the teenage sons of Shaker Aamer told Sky News how their hopes of a reunion have been raised and then dashed.
Mr Aamer has been detained without trial inside the maximum security prison for 13 years - even though he was cleared for release in 2008.
The British government has lobbied on his behalf, and his case has attracted cross-party support, but there has been no explanation as to why he has not yet been freed.
Although he was born in Saudi Arabia, his wife and four children are British citizens. They barely remember their father; indeed his youngest son, Faris, was born on the same day as Mr Aamer arrived at Guantanamo on Valentine's Day 2002.
Video:Pink Floyd Frontman Speaks To Sky
Faris celebrates his 13th birthday on Saturday and told Sky News: "It's upsetting and quite shocking that I've never met him in my entire life."
His 15-year-old brother Micheal spoke of how their hopes have been dashed.
"We felt very happy," he said.
"We thought there might be a chance for him to come home, but it just kept getting delayed.
"We just felt more sad because nothing happened. We've seen other people with their parents... seen how they enjoy themselves, how they're so close to them.
"It's like there is a part of our heart that is missing because we've been yearning for him to come home for many years and nothing's happened yet."
Video:Shaker Aamer's Sons Make Plea
Mr Aamer took his young family and pregnant wife to Afghanistan in 2001. He says he was working for a humanitarian charity.
But a few weeks later the 9/11 attacks put the country at the centre of America's so-called War on Terror.
His family escaped to Pakistan but Mr Aamer says he gave himself up to the Northern Alliance and was then handed over to US forces.
After detention at Bagram Airbase he was moved to Guantanamo.
The Pentagon compiled a lengthy list of allegations claiming he had ties to al Qaeda.
His lawyer insists the allegations are false and are the result of torture or false confessions to earn rewards.
Video:'No Logic' In Holding Shaker Aamer
And his supporters stress that if the Americans actually believed them, they would not have cleared him for release.
Guantanamo spokesman Lt Col Myles Caggins told Sky News: "In 2009 Shaker Aamer's detention status was reviewed. As a result he was placed in a category we call 'eligible for transfer'.
"At some point in the future we will find a new home for him to be repatriated or resettled to."
But Micheal was unimpressed when he saw the video.
"I feel very sad because the man said they were going to try to find him a home," he said.
"But his home is here in London with his family."
Video:Pressure Grows For Detainee Release
There have been various theories about the delay.
Some say the US may prefer to see him sent to Saudi Arabia, where he is less likely to speak publicly about allegations of torture. There is also the issue of compensation.
Lt Col Caggins said: "We make these moves after a rigorous inter-agency process between our security officials, law enforcement and intelligence officials to ensure that transfer will be to a place that can maintain security assurances and human rights protections for those former Guantanamo detainees."
Mr Aamer's lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, scoffs at that.
"The most obvious person in the entire world to release is Shaker Aamer because he would be coming to the country with the best record of released prisoners, Britain," he said.
"And he would be coming to a place where we know his human rights are going to be respected, and he's been cleared for eight years, and he's got a wife and four children. What on earth is the argument against it?"
Video:2012 - Boyle Calls For Release
At least in recent years the family have been able to speak to their father. The International Red Cross has organised Skype video calls. Micheal remembers the first.
"We were all very excited," he said.
"We were very energetic. We couldn't wait to see him. And then when the call finally happened, we couldn't believe it was actually him.
"His voice. We hadn't heard it for such a long time.
"It was very surprising to hear his voice again. It was a shock. Skype has been very good at lifting our hopes up again because we've been able to speak to him, see how he's doing, and he's a very funny person.
"He always makes jokes. He lightens the mood a lot of the time. We talk about what's going on in our lives, how our education is."
Video:Archive - Guantanamo Bay in 2003
Mr Aamer's wife and daughter preferred to stay in the background and not be interviewed. Because both boys are under 16, Sky News has agreed not to show their faces.
The 70th anniversary of the Dresden firebombing is being commemorated today - one of the most controversial military actions of the Allied Forces during World War II.
Germany's seventh-largest city had been spared the destruction seen in Berlin and Hamburg for most of the conflict.
But on 13 February 1945, British and US bombers wreaked devastation in a bid to demoralise German civilians and force the Nazis to surrender.
Corpses littered Dresden's streets following the attack, with cultural landmarks including the city's opera house turned to rubble. There were few public air raid shelters for refugees, and thousands of bodies were discovered near cellars which could not withstand the firebombing.
Some historians believe the destruction changed little about the outcome of the war - describing it as a tragic waste of human life.
Video:Dresden Bombing Raid Archive Video
Nazi propaganda at the time claimed the death toll from the bombings stood at 200,000 - more than the total of those immediately killed in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear blasts combined.
However, an independent study commissioned by the city in 2008 concluded that 25,000 citizens died in the attack - many of them from collapsed lungs.
The number of people killed was likely exacerbated by the fires which ravaged the streets afterwards. A vacuum was created at ground level as superheated air rose rapidly, and the subsequent winds were so powerful they could uproot trees and suck people into the flames.
Irrespective of the death toll, many survivors insist the bombing was unjustifiable and amounted to a war crime.
Eberhard Renner, who was 12 at the time, lost schoolmates and neighbours during the attack - and remembers encountering the body of a woman in the street, one week after the bombs fell.
"She was burned to a cinder, had become very small, but her hand was held up and on it was her gold wedding band, shining, not blackened at all. I will never forget that scene," the now-retired architecture professor said.
"To sacrifice 25,000 women and children, innocent people? That's a war crime."
Former weather presenter Fred Talbot has been found guilty of indecently assaulting two boys when he was a teacher.
Talbot showed little reaction to the verdicts, which related to two victims who were aged 14 or 15 in the 1970s.
The 65-year-old, who was known to millions for his forecasts on a floating weather map for ITV's This Morning show, was described as a "chancer" at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court.
He was said to have been "obsessed" with teenage boys and "could not help himself", particularly when he had been drinking alcohol.
Talbot's diary entries formed part of the prosecution's case
Victims described how they were forced to sleep naked with him during school trips on canal barges that he had organised.
One told how boys would take turns to sleep in Talbot's bed on one of the trips, and that at one stage the defendant "started talking to me about sexual stuff" before assaulting him.
Video:Talbot Concealed Dark Past Of Abuse
Talbot's diary entries spanning three decades were seized by police and formed a key part of the prosecution's case. One entry read: "What I am doing with the kids means a lot to me, but it may be the wrong thing."
Greater Manchester Police Detective Constable Chris Doggart praised the bravery of the victims and said: "Talbot was an extremely popular and well liked individual - both as a celebrity weatherman and formerly as a science teacher - who earned not only the trust and adulation of many of his peers and pupils, but also much of the nation.
"Now he has been exposed as an opportunistic sex offender and that reputation is rightly in tatters."
The jury cleared Talbot of eight counts of indecent assault in relation to three other complainants.
Among prosecution witnesses at the trial was The Stone Roses singer Ian Brown, who had told the court how Talbot had explained to boys in his class how to carry out a sex act.
Brown said Talbot had also shown a gay porn film in another class.
Video:Talbot's Abuse Was 'Appalling'
Talbot's teaching career ended abruptly in 1984 after a proposal he made to two boys about sleeping with them at his home.
During a police interview in 2013, Talbot refused to answer questions about allegations by men who claimed they had been abused as children.
The abuse happened during his time as a biology teacher at Altrincham Grammar School for Boys in Cheshire, which said in a statement: "These awful events took place over 30 years ago and naturally our thoughts go out to those former pupils who were subjected to this abuse.
"We are confident that our present pupils and their parents know that the school is totally committed to ensuring the safety of our students and staff at all times and that these historical offences have no bearing on the School's outstanding reputation today."
Talbot has been remanded in custody and is due to be sentenced on 13 March.
Written By Unknown on Kamis, 12 Februari 2015 | 00.27
NHS staff who raised the the alarm over poor patient care were driven to the brink of suicide, a major review into the treatment of whistleblowers has found.
The report's author, Sir Robert Francis QC, said he repeatedly heard horrific stories of workers' lives being destroyed because workers had tried to do the right thing for people in their care.
He said the health service must undergo a "major change of culture", warning that: "Failure to speak up can cost lives."
Action has been urged at "every level of the NHS" to make staff raising their concerns the norm.
Sir Robert's proposals include:
Video:Hunt On NHS Whistleblowers Review
:: Action at every level of the NHS to make raising concerns part of every member of staff's normal working life
:: Freedom to Speak Up Guardian in every NHS Trust - a named person to give independent support to whistleblowers and hold board to account if it fails to focus on the patient safety issue.
:: A National Independent Officer to support the Guardians an intervene when cases go wrong.
:: A support scheme to help good NHS staff who are without work after raising concerns to get another job.
:: Sets out 20 Principles and Actions which aim to create the right conditions for staff to speak up.
Some 600 staff spoke to the review team, with another 19,000 responding to an online survey.
Many staff said they did not speak up because they felt their concerns would not be listened to, while others feared victimisation.
The report said student nurses and doctors believed the problem to be "endemic" within the health service.
Sir Robert wrote: "I heard shocking accounts of the way some people have been treated when they have been brave enough to speak up.
"I witnessed at first hand their distress and the strain on them and, in some cases, their families.
"I heard about the pressures it can place on other members of a team, on managers, and in some cases the person about whom a concern is raised.
"Though rare, I was told of suicidal thoughts and even suicide attempts."
Sir Robert wrote: "The genuine pain and distress felt by contributors in having to relive their experiences was every bit as serious as the suffering I witnessed by patients and families who gave evidence to the Mid Staffordshire inquiries."
Announcing the raft of measures, Sir Robert stressed that a change in culture was more important than regulation in bringing about the much-needed change.
"What I heard during the course of the review from staff, employers, regulators and unions and others leaves me in no doubt that there's a serious problem in the National Health Service," he told reporters.
"Taking into account all the evidence obtained by the review, I have come to the conclusion there must be a change of culture.
"No amount of legal or regulatory change will make it easier for staff to raise issues that worry them unless there is a culture which encourages and supports them to do so."
He added: "Too often, honestly-expressed anxieties have met with hostility and breakdown of working relationships.
"Worse still, some people suffer life-changing events, they lose their jobs, their careers and even their health."
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt ordered the review last June after Sir Robert led two inquiries into failures at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, which the QC said had shown the "appalling consequences for patients when there is a 'closed ranks' culture".
Mr Hunt said he was accepting all Sir Robert's proposals "in principle".
He told MPs: "The message must go out today that we are calling time on bullying, intimidation and victimisation which have no place in the NHS."
The Government would also fast-track a new law protect whistleblowers against discrimination.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn has lashed out at the focus on his sexual behaviour while standing trial accused of pimping.
The former IMF chief told a court in Lille, France, that he was not on trial for "deviant acts", adding that the idea that his preference for certain sexual activities would lead him to seek out prostitutes was "absurd".
Strauss-Kahn, 65, was once thought of as a front-runner to become France's president but now finds himself on trial, accused of arranging for prostitutes to attend sex parties he attended in Paris, Brussels and Washington.
Prostitution is legal in France but arranging it is considered procuring and attracts a jail sentence of up to 10 years.
On day two of the trial, Strauss-Kahn, known in France as DSK, again denied knowing the women with whom he had "free and friendly" sex parties were prostitutes.
He said paying for sex would be too big a risk for a man who was then head of the IMF, a body that was busy "saving the world from an unprecedented financial crisis".
The court also heard from Jade, an ex-prostitute, who said Strauss-Kahn performed a sex act during a night in a Brussels hotel before she had time to protest.
Sobbing while giving evidence, she told the court it was clear Strauss-Kahn knew she was paid to be there.
Strauss-Kahn said he had not realised she had objected and was "sorry" she had experienced it that way.
But he lost his patience when a lawyer for the prostitutes delved further into the event, saying: "I am starting to get fed up."
He added that people were free to disagree with his proclivities, but that he was not on trial for "deviant sexual practices".
Earlier Jade told the court that Strauss-Kahn had taken her to visit the IMF headquarters in Washington in January 2010 and the trial judge Bernard Lemaire passed around a picture of her smiling alongside him in his office.
But Strauss-Kahn said that, had he known she was a prostitute, it would be "inconceivable" that he would take the risk of hosting her at his work.
The court has already heard that Strauss-Kahn objected to the prosecution's idea of a "frenetic" schedule of sex parties, saying he only took part in such "recreational outlets" four times a year between 2008 and 2011.
Strauss-Kahn's presidential prospects were scuttled after he was accused of sexual assault by a New York hotel maid in a case that was later settled in a civil suit.
A Lamborghini was among more than 130 foreign vehicles seized recently by police in a crackdown on illegal driving in the UK.
The Aventador was imported from Germany but its 35-year-old owner failed to pay their car tax to be able to legally drive on Britain's roads, West Midlands officers said.
A pilot scheme called Operation Jessica, involving six forces, is aimed at giving police the powers to seize foreign vehicles.
The vehicles must be registered and licensed in the UK when they have been here for longer than six months in a 12-month period.
Until now, police have only been able to report any vehicles that were flouting the rules to the DVLA for the agency to take action.
Owners are being encouraged to tax, insure and register them in the UK, and any seized vehicles that are not claimed will be crushed.
Up to 350,000 foreign registered vehicles are thought to have entered the UK and overstayed the six-month exemption period without registering and licensing in 2010-2013.
Another of the foreign vehicles which were impounded
This costs the taxpayer £60m every year in lost tax revenue.
The registered owner of any impounded vehicles will have to pay a £200 release fee and a £160 surety, plus storage fees, to get the vehicle back.
They then have 56 days to license it in the UK or leave the country.
The Lamborghini was returned to the owner after they paid a £260 fee.
The DVLA was informed and may take further action, according to police.
Superintendent Paul Keasey said 134 vehicles had been seized across the West Midlands and West Mercia since the project launched on November 3. It ends next February.
He added: "We've stopped 210 foreign-plated vehicles in three weeks and 134 have been found to be illegal - that's more than 60% so it highlights the extent of the problem and why the pilot has been introduced.
"The DVLA has provided us with a 'hot list' of vehicles that have entered the country and stayed longer than permitted without licensing it here - we are actively targeting these vehicles and making stops on other foreign cars to check they are complying.
"It's the responsibility of every driver, no matter where they come from, to ensure they obey the UK road laws and that includes falling in line with on taxation, registration and insurance, as well as those on safe driving.
"This initiative allows us to deal more effectively with criminality on our roads, thereby increasing our communities' safety and security."
More than 300 migrants are feared drowned after their overcrowded dinghies sank in the Mediterranean on the way to Europe.
The victims are among migrants mainly from sub-Saharan Africa who had left Libya at the weekend in four small boats, the UN refugee agency said.
"This is a tragedy on an enormous scale and a stark reminder that more lives could be lost if those seeking safety are left at the mercy of the sea," UNHCR Europe director Vincent Cochetel said.
Hearses transport the remains of migrants who died on the journey
Details emerged after nine survivors out of a group of more than 200 packed into two dinghies were rescued by the Italian coastguard and taken to the island of Lampedusa.
"Nine were saved after four days at sea. The other 203 were swallowed by the waves," a UNHCR spokeswoman reported on Twitter.
Video:February - Italian Navy Rescue
The agency later said information gathered from the Italian coastguard and the survivors in Lampedusa suggested over 300 people were missing.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said the surviving migrants from the latest disaster spoke French, so probably came from west Africa.
"Because of the bad weather conditions, the two dinghies collapsed and the people fell at sea. Many drowned," said the IOM spokesman in Italy Flavio Di Giacomo.
Video:January - Stranded Migrants Rescued
Its spokesman in Geneva Joel Millman told AFP that information was coming in about another stricken boat and warned that the overall toll may reach as many as 350.
The tragedy is the latest in a whole series involving migrants trying to get to Europe from north Africa.
In the last year alone, several thousand people died on what the UN described as the most dangerous route in the world.
A former public schoolboy who has joined the fight against Islamic State militants has told Sky News he is prepared to die for the cause.
Macer Gifford gave up a job in the City to sign up with Kurdish fighters battling IS in northern Syria.
He said: "People seem to be utterly crippled by fear of the Islamic State, their use of social media, the brutal executions they're putting online. It's driving people into inaction. Sometimes you have to say 'enough is enough'."
Macer Gifford wants to show Kurds that the West cares about their plight
Mr Gifford, who is from Oxford and was a Young Conservative, left Britain in December to join the Kurdish People's Protection Units, known as the YPG.
The 28-year-old has since posted photos to his social media accounts posing with heavy weapons and vehicle-mounted machine guns.
He says he will stay until IS has been defeated - and describes conditions on the front line as very much like those during the First World War.
"There are entrenched positions, highly-defended positions," he said. "So, for the past three-and-a-half weeks I've been staring at the Islamic State more than I've been fighting them."
Mr Gifford says he hopes his presence will help show Kurdish fighters that they have not been forgotten.
Mr Gifford compared conditions at the frontline to the First World War
"I'm shining a light on what's going on out here. I'm showing the Kurds that they're not alone, that people in the West do support them and that they're willing to come out and help them in any way they can."
He says he is prepared to die for his cause, adding: "I believe in freedom. I believe in democracy. I'm willing to put my life on the line to go out and fight."
And he insists that his situation is different from that of young Britons who travel to Syria and end up part of the Islamic State.
"There's a huge difference... young Brits are going there without a clue who they're joining and it's only when they get there that they figure out, 'oh my God, some of the people around me are taking the wrong route.'"
Mr Gifford left the UK in December
Mr Gifford is not the first Briton to join Kurdish troops. Former soldiers Jamie Read and James Hughes went to Syria and fought alongside Kurdish forces in Kobani in December, after IS filmed the brutal killing of British and American aid workers.
David Cameron has been challenged to reveal whether he discussed tax evasion at HSBC with Lord Green, the bank's former boss who was subsequently appointed a Tory minister.
There were fierce clashes at Prime Minister's Questions amid revelations that wealthy donors to political parties were among those who legally held accounts with HSBC's private Swiss bank.
Ed Miliband said Mr Cameron was a "dodgy prime minister" who is "up to his neck" in the HSBC tax avoidance scandal - but the PM hit back, claiming his rival had relied on trade union cash to win the Labour leadership.
Mr Miliband claimed that the Prime Minister must have talked to Lord Green about HSBC as a coalition minister issued a press release in 2011 referring to the investigation into HSBC's Geneva account holders.
Allegations of tax evasion and avoidance centre on HSBC in Switzerland
The Opposition leader said: "Do you expect us to believe that in Stephen Green's three years as a minister you never had a conversation with him about what was happening at HSBC?"
Mr Cameron said the Tories had a far better record than Labour on tax avoidance - introducing measures to stop hedge funds dodging levies, make foreigners pay stamp duty and tax all bank profits.
Video:Labour MP Asks Cameron About HSBC
Labour MP Sharon Hodgson asked Mr Cameron directly whether he had conversations about HSBC tax avoidance with Lord Green, adding: "If not, why not?"
The Prime Minister said "every proper process was followed" when Lord Green was made a minister in 2011.
He said: "I consulted the Cabinet Secretary, I consulted the director for propriety and ethics, and of course the House of Lords appointments commission now looks at someone's individual tax affairs before giving them a peerage.
"I made the appointment, it was welcomed by Labour, and three years later they were still holding meetings with him."
Mr Cameron pointed out that Lord Green was the head of Labour prime minister Gordon Brown's business advisory council and was invited on a trade mission by the party in 2013 - three years after the HSBC revelations first surfaced.
The party leaders also clashed over donors, with Mr Miliband claiming that seven Tory donors who had given £5m to the Conservatives were linked to the scandal, which involved the banking giant's Swiss arm.
During PMQs in the Commons, Mr Miliband said: "You gave a job to the head of HSBC and you let the tax avoiders get away with it.
Video:Hodge 'Astonished' By Lord Green
"There's something rotten at the heart of the Conservative Party and it's you."
Mr Cameron replied: "For 13 years they sat in the Treasury, they did nothing about tax transparency, nothing about tax dodging, nothing about tax avoidance.
"This government has been tougher than any previous government. That's why they are desperate, that's why they are losing."
The Prime Minister pointed out that Labour donor Lord Paul was also caught up in the revelations.
Mr Miliband named Lord Fink as undertaking "tax avoidance activities" in Switzerland.
The Tory peer said the allegation was untrue and defamatory and challenged him to repeat the claim outside the Commons or withdraw it publicly.
Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith denied The Guardian's report that he was the holder of an account at the HSBC Suisse private bank.
EastEnders actress Linda Henry hurled racial abuse at a community warden after telling her "Do you know who I am? I'm Shirley", a court has heard.
The 55-year-old, who plays Shirley Carter in the soap, is said to have launched the tirade after being reprimanded for dropping a cigarette butt outside a Jamie Oliver restaurant in Greenwich, south London, last September.
Thea Viney, prosecuting, told Bexley Magistrates' Court that a black female warden and her black male colleague approached Henry and her partner after seeing them smoking in Nelson Road.
She added that when the Greenwich Town Council wardens challenged the actress, who has been charged under her married name Valiris, she told them they had no "photographic evidence".
Henry has been in the soap since 2006
Ms Viney said: "(She) told her that throwing litter was a zero-tolerance offence in Greenwich Borough and the Crown say that Ms Valiris responded by saying 'do you know who I am? I'm Shirley'."
The court heard that, having previously refused to hand over any personal details, Henry gave the warden limited information, including what the officer suspected to be a fake postcode.
Henry is then said to have told her alleged victim: "Who do you think you are? Go away, f*** off, n*****."
Henry denies one count of using threatening or abusive words that were likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress, and that the alleged offence was said to have been racially aggravated.
The actress, of Kelvington Road, southeast London, was supported at court by her former EastEnders co-star Cheryl Fergison, who played Heather Trott.
Henry, who has played feisty barmaid Shirley since 2006, is also known for her role as Yvonne Atkins in the drama Bad Girls between 1999 and 2003.
Snapchat has launched the first UK and Ireland-specific channels for its Discover service.
Sky News and Sky Sports will feature on the platform, publishing an edition each afternoon with stories specifically created for the app.
Around five to 10 stories will feature in each edition, curated by editors at both companies. The edition disappears after 24 hours.
Snapchat Discover launched in the US and globally at the end of January.
Some 11 publishers, including Vice, the Daily Mail and National Geographic, featured on the platform.
At the launch, Snapchat said the new service was "not social media... we count on editors and artists, not clicks and shares, to determine what's important".
Snapchat chief executive Evan Spiegel said: "We are huge fans of Sky News and Sky Sports and are grateful for the opportunity to partner with their outstanding team."
Snapchat is one of a new wave of messaging apps that have gained popularity, along with WhatsApp, Line and Kik.
Moving from messaging between users to publishing content to them is a shift for Snapchat and could offer a new revenue stream, with adverts served up next to publishers' editions.
Snapchat does not share its number of monthly users, but Techcrunch reported in December that it had around 200 million.
For news organisations, Snapchat offers access to a much younger demographic than even Facebook or Twitter do.
John McAndrew, Director of News Output for Sky News, said: "Our partnership with Snapchat is very exciting. We can reach a whole new audience hungry for news in a concise and creative form on a platform they already enjoy."
To access Discover, users swipe left from the home screen and from the Stories screen.
All the daily editions are then available at a tap. Each story starts with a 10-second headline, and users can swipe down for a longer form take on that story.
A former US Marine goes on trial in Texas today charged with killing the real life American Sniper.
Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, credited as the most deadly sniper in US military history, was shot dead at a gun range in February 2013.
His friend Chad Littlefield was also shot dead during the attack.
Eddie Ray Routh at a pretrial hearing
The two men had taken former Marine corporal Eddie Ray Routh to the range as part of his treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Routh does not deny shooting the men, but is expected to plead not guilty to murder by reason of insanity.
The movie adaptation of Kyle's autobiography American Sniper is now the highest-grossing war movie of all time.
Chris Kyle is celebrated as a hero by many Americans
Both the film and Bradley Cooper, who plays Kyle, have been nominated for Oscars.
The movie has attracted controversy with claims it glorifies violence in its telling of Kyle's 160 confirmed "kills" during four tours in Iraq.
But in Kyle's home town of Midlothian, where his widow Taya and two children still live, they dismiss the criticism.
Chris Kyle's widow, Taya Kyle, is slated to testify during the trial
Dennis DeWeerde, who runs the barbecue restaurant where Kyle regularly ate Sunday lunch, told Sky News: "Chris truly was a hero and you could sit and talk to him about things that happened overseas and he really was genuine in saying he was more worried about the people he didn't save.
"I don't know how else to describe him but for what he was, a true American hero."
The trial will take place in the small town of Stephenville.
Eddie Ray Routh as he looked at the time of his arrest
Until now the town was most famous for being the "Cowboy Capital of the World".
Stephenville has been swamped by media from around the world who are covering the trial.
The jury has been told to ignore the film - currently playing at the town's cinema, four miles from the court - and focus on the evidence.
Several potential jurors were released after saying they had already made up their minds.
Kyle is played by Bradley Cooper in the Oscar-nominated American Sniper
Routh's lawyers had asked for a delay in proceedings, or for the trial to be moved, because of the attention surrounding the movie.
And military veterans' organisations have questioned their use of PTSD as his defence.
Cliff Sosamon, president of the North Texas Military Association, said: "Just because you have post-traumatic stress, it doesn't give you the right or the excuse to do those kind of things.
"If that was the case you'd have veterans running wild all over the place, and that's not the case at all."
A view of the entrance to Rough Creek Lodge, where Chris Kyle died
The trial is expected to last two weeks.
Prosecutors have decided not to seek the death penalty so, if found guilty, Routh would face life in prison.
If he is found not guilty by reason of insanity, he would most likely be sent to a psychiatric hospital.
The captain of the stricken Costa Concordia has told his trial "a part of me died" on the night of the disaster - as judges retire to consider their verdicts.
Francesco Schettino wept in court as he addressed three judges who could decide his fate at 6pm this evening (7pm local time).
He claimed the blame for the disaster that killed 32 people lay with his employer Costa Cruises and said the media had portrayed him unfairly.
He said: "In this court a lot of words have been said to destroy my dignity. I have spent the last three years in a media meat grinder.
"It is difficult to call what I have been living through a life.
Video:Time Lapse: Concordia Under Tow
"All the responsibility has been loaded on to me with no respect for the truth or for the memory of the victims.
"I want to say that on 16 January a part of me died."
He was unable to finish his statement, breaking into loud sobs before declaring "basta" (enough) and slumping back into his seat.
Schettino is charged with manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and leaving the liner ahead of some of the passengers when it hit rocks and capsized off the island of Giglio in 2012.
The trial has heard there is a "tsunami" of evidence against the cruise ship's former commander, as prosecutors called for him to be sent to prison for 26 years.
Ian Donoff and his wife were among the 37 British passengers and crew on board during the chaotic and delayed night time evacuation.
Mr Donoff told Sky News: "We said our prayers together and we said it was so unfair that we were married only 11 days and this would be happening to us.
Video:Chilling Video Of Sunken Liner
"Everything passes through your mind and I said 'I don't think we're going to get out of here'."
Lawyers spent Wednesday morning summing up the case in court in Grosseto, Tuscany, where the trial began in July 2013.
Lead defence lawyer Domenico Pepe said his client was "the victim of a legal and media circus", who had suffered a lot of pain since the disaster.
On Tuesday, prosecutor Stefano Pizza called the captain's conduct "reprehensible" and said: "It was a Titanic affair that merits adequate punishment."
He said: "There is a tsunami of evidence against Francesco Schettino but he has admitted to nothing.
"It would be easier for a lawyer to fly than to defend Schettino."
Schettino, 54, claims equipment failures complicated the situation on the sinking vessel and he held off calling the evacuation because he wanted to avoid people panicking and jumping into the sea.
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Gallery: Italian Cruise Ship Runs Aground Off West Coast Of Italy
Rescuers on inflatable boats are seen next to the Costa Concordia cruise ship that ran aground off the west coast of Italy
The cruise ship suffered a lengthy underwater gash after hitting a submerged rock and foundered just yards from shore on the island of Giglio
