Argentina Floods: Dozens Die As Rain Continues

At least 52 people have drowned in their homes and cars, or were electrocuted as floods swamped Buenos Aires.

Thousands have been evacuated from their homes

At least 46 died on Wednesday in and around the city of La Plata. Six deaths were reported a day earlier in Argentina's capital.

Many people climbed onto their roofs in the pouring rain after storm sewers flooded forcing water into houses.

"It started to rain really hard in the evening, and began to flood," Augustina Garcia Orsi, a 25-year-old student, said.

"I panicked. In two seconds I was up to my knees in water. It came up through the drains - I couldn't do anything."

Many claim officials have not done enough

The rains also flooded the country's largest oil refinery, causing a fire that took hours to put out.

The La Plata refinery suspended operations as a result, and Argentina's YPF oil company said an emergency team was evaluating how to get it restarted.

"Such intense rain in so little time has left many people trapped in their cars, in the streets, in some cases electrocuted," Governor Daniel Scioli said.

"We are giving priority to rescuing people who have been stuck in trees or on the roofs of their homes."

The region of Buenos Aires has been worst affected

President Cristina Fernandez visited Tolosa, a La Plata neighbourhood where she grew up and where her mother was among those evacuated.

She announced security measures to combat vandalism, help for identifying the dead, and three days of national mourning for the victims.

At least 2,500 people were evacuated from their homes to about 20 centres in the La Plata area, which is about 37 miles (60km) southeast of Argentina's capital.

The rains are expected to ease later

The flooding threatened to ruin food supplies across La Plata's metropolitan area, which has nearly one million people.

National Planning Minister Julio de Vido estimated that 280,000 people remain without power across the city and surrounding province of Buenos Aires, where most Argentines live.

"Our job is focused on restoring service, but we're going to wait until the equipment dries to guarantee the safety of the electricity workers, because we don't want any deaths," he said.

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Saudi Criminal 'Sentenced To Be Paralysed'

A man in Saudi Arabia is waiting to be forcibly paralysed in punishment for a crime which left his victim in a wheelchair, it has emerged.

When he was 14, Ali al Khawaher stabbed a friend in the spine, paralysing him from the waist down, Amnesty International said.

The London-based human rights group said Mr al Khawaher, now 24, has spent 10 years in jail waiting to be paralysed surgically unless his family pays one million Saudi riyals (£180,000) to the victim.

Saudi Arabia applies a form of Sharia law, which allows eye-for-an-eye punishment for crimes but allows victims to pardon convicts in exchange for so-called blood money.

According to Amnesty, the man could be paralysed from the waist down if the sentence, which was passed in the eastern town of Al Ahsa, goes ahead.

The type of sentence in Sharia law is called a qisa, which means retribution.

The sentence has been condemned by the NGO, which said it had only recently learned of the man's sentence.

Ann Harrison, Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director, said: "Paralysing someone as punishment for a crime would be torture.

The man was sentenced to by paralysed by a sharia court in Al-Ahsa

"That such a punishment might be implemented is utterly shocking, even in a context where flogging is frequently imposed as a punishment for some offences, as happens in Saudi Arabia."

The Arabic-language al Hayat daily quoted Khawaher's 60-year-old mother as saying her son was a juvenile the time of the offence. She said the victim had demanded two million riyals to pardon her son and later reduced this to one million.

"But we don't have even a tenth of this sum," she said.

Al Hayat said an unnamed philanthropist was trying to raise funds to pay the blood money, but it was not clear how much time remained before al Khawaher's sentence would be carried out.

Amnesty said the case demonstrated the need for Saudi Arabia to review its laws to "start respecting their international obligations and remove these terrible punishments from the law".

Saudi judges have in the past ordered Sharia punishments that included tooth extraction, flogging, eye gouging and - in murder cases - death.

The NGO claims that the paralysis sentence would contravene the UN Convention against Torture to which Saudi Arabia is a state party.

Britain's Foreign Office also said it was deeply concerned by the reports.

"We urge the Saudi authorities to ensure that this grotesque punishment is not carried out," a spokesman said.

"Such practices are prohibited under international law and have no place in any society."

The Saudis have yet to comment on the reports.

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Dark Matter: Hints Of Elusive Substance Found

By Thomas Moore, Health and Science Correspondent

Scientists have revealed the most convincing physical evidence yet that dark matter, a mysterious and elusive component of the universe, really does exist.

Dark matter makes up more than a quarter of the universe, but cannot be seen with telescopes.

Physicists have so far only seen clues that it exists from its gravitational effects on visible galaxies.

The Endeavour took the AMS into space

But now a machine spinning around the globe aboard the International Space Station has provided the first glimpse of what could be dark matter.

The $2bn (£1.3bn) detector has for the first time spotted "fallout" that could come from dark matter colliding with itself somewhere in space.

The process is called "annihilation" and creates positrons, the positively-charged mirror image of electrons.

Researchers from Nasa and Cern say the particles detected by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) could come from a dying star called a pulsar.

But they were seen over a period of time and not from a single source, suggesting they originate from dark matter.

"There is no question we are going to solve this problem," said project leader Professor Samuel Ting from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"Over the coming months AMS will be able to tell us conclusively whether these positrons are a signal for dark matter, or whether they have some other origin."

The seven-ton AMS has a massive magnet at its heart that generates a magnetic field 3,000 times stronger than the Earth's.

The magnet bends particles from cosmic rays onto a series of detectors.

This Hubble telescope image is believed to provide evidence of dark matter

In the first 18 months of the experiment - the most expensive one ever carried out in space - the AMS has detected 30 billion particles. More than 400,000 of them were positrons.

Visible matter makes up less than 5% of the universe. Scientists believe that dark matter could help them understand the universe's origin and evolution.

The AMS, built by a team of 16 countries, arrived on the International Space Station aboard the space shuttle Endeavour's final flight in May 2011.

Since then, it has been collecting data from millions of light years beyond our galaxy, the Milky Way.

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North Korea Army: 'War Could Break Out Today'

By Mark Stone, in Seoul, South Korea

The North Korean military says it has ratified a "merciless" attack against the United States, potentially involving a "cutting-edge" nuclear strike.

"The moment of explosion is approaching fast," the army said in a statement on state news agency KCNA.

War could break out "today or tomorrow", the statement said, quoting a spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army.

"The merciless operation of (our) revolutionary armed forces in this regard has been finally examined and ratified.

"The US had better ponder over the prevailing grave situation."

The North's rhetoric has been met by a display of US military strength

The North's Committee for Peaceful Reunification of Korea was later quoted by KCNA as threatening to withdraw its 53,000 workers from the joint industrial zone it shares with the South.

Pyongyang informed Seoul on Wednesday that it was stopping the daily movement of South Koreans to the Kaesong complex, the last real surviving point of contact between the two countries.

And the committee said: "If the South Korean puppets and conservative news media keep badmouthing (us), we will order all our workers to pull out from Kaesong."

North Korea's latest pronouncements came as Washington scrambled to reinforce its Pacific defences, preparing to move an advanced missile defence system to the island of Guam.

Mr Hagel said North Korea posed a "real and clear danger"

The land-based weapon, which is primed to shoot down short and medium-range missiles, will be sent to the US territory to defend its bases there.

The Pentagon has already sent bombers, stealth aircraft and ships.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the North had moved a mid-range Musudan missile to its east coast.

The missile is believed to have a range of 1,875 miles (3,000km) or more, which would put all of South Korea and Japan in range and possibly also the US territory of Guam in the Pacific Ocean.

North Korea is not believed to have tested these missiles, according to most independent experts.

Tensions have been soaring on the Korean peninsula since the North launched a long-range rocket in December and conducted its third nuclear test in February.

A military checkpoint linked to the Kaesong joint industrial complex

North Korea has threatened missile and nuclear strikes against the US and South Korea in response to UN sanctions and joint military drills.

European diplomatic sources speaking to Sky News from the North Korean capital have said there is nothing there to suggest war is imminent: no sign of conscripts being signed up or unusual troop movements.

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Wednesday that North Korea's "bellicose, dangerous rhetoric" posed a "real and clear danger" to America and its allies South Korea and Japan.

"They have nuclear capacity now, they have missile delivery capacity now," he said.

"We take those threats seriously, we have to take those threats seriously.

"We are doing everything we can, working with the Chinese and others to defuse that situation on the peninsula.

"I hope the North will ratchet its very dangerous rhetoric down."

The UK Government said it was not warning of an immediate risk to British citizens travelling to or living in South Korea.

In a statement to Sky News, the UK Embassy in Seoul said: "We have noted North Korea's most recent statement, we are monitoring the situation and are in close contact with allies.

"We have been clear to North Korea that its long-term interests will not be served by threatening the international community and increasing regional tensions.

"We have updated our Travel Advice, advising British nationals in Korea and those travelling here to follow the advice of local authorities and subscribe to our travel advice, Twitter feed and Facebook page. We currently assess there is no immediate risk to British nationals in or travelling to Korea."

The tensions surrounding Kaesong - established in 2004 and a crucial source of hard currency for North Korea - carry enormous significance.

Neither of the Koreas has allowed previous crises to significantly affect the complex, which is the only surviving example of inter-Korean cooperation and seen as a bellwether for stability on the Korean peninsula.

China, the North's sole major ally, appealed for "calm" from all sides, repeating Beijing's oft-declared position.

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Long-Lost 'Twins' Raise $35k Online To Meet Up

Two potential long-lost twin sisters, who first got in touch thanks to a YouTube video, have managed to raise more than $35k online to finally meet up.

Anais Bordier, 25, a French fashion student living in London, initially saw Los Angeles-based Samantha Futerman, also 25, in a short film clip last December.

Her resemblance to her YouTube lookalike was striking.

Anais, who grew up as the only child of French parents, soon made some more startling discoveries.

Both women were adopted soon after they were born on the same day - November 19, 1987 - and in the same town in South Korea.

Anais, finally decided to get in touch with her American doppelganger via Facebook. 

"About 2 months ago, my friend was watching one of your videos with Kevjumba on YouTube," she wrote.

"And he saw you and thought that we looked similar ... like ... VERY REALLY SIMILAR".

The "twins" grew up thousands of miles apart. Pic: Kickstarter.com

Samantha grew up in New Jersey and now lives and works as an actress in California.

"At first glance, I only saw my face staring back from her profile picture," she said.

"After just a few clicks and a personal message from Anais … I was positive that this girl was in fact my biological twin sister."

However, both acknowledge the coincidences might be just that. 

So they turned to crowdsourcing fundraising website Kickstarter.com to fund getting together in person.

They also plan to take DNA tests to prove their connection once and for all. 

The project has attracted donations from over 800 people and good wishes from many more.

But not everyone is convinced, with some expressing outright scepticism and others calling the whole thing a fake. 

While there may not be a fairytale ending to the story, the two "possible sisters" intend to use some of the money to film a documentary about their journey either way.

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Tarantula The Size Of A Human Face Discovered

Scientists have found an enormous, previously unknown, species of venomous spider in a remote Sri Lankan village.

The newly-found spider (Pics: British Tarantula Society/ Ranil Nanayakkara)

The giant tarantula is as big as a human face.

Its legs, which have unique daffodil-yellow markings, span a massive 20cm (eight inches). The arachnid also has a distinctive pink band around its body.

The new species was found in the war-torn north of the South Asian country by scientists from Sri Lanka's Biodiversity Education and Research (BER) organisation.

It has been named Poecilotheria rajaei, in recognition of a senior police officer called Michael Rajakumar Purajah who guided the research team through a hazardous jungle overrun by civil unrest in order to seek out the spider.

The spider is said to prefer living on old trees

The arachnid had originally been presented to BER three years ago by villagers in Mankulam who had killed a male specimen.

Scientists immediately realised the dead spider was not like anything they already knew and a group was charged with finding any living relatives.

The living Poecilotheria rajaei were eventually discovered in the former doctor's quarters of the village's hospital.

According to wired.com, Ranil Nanayakkara, the co-founder of BER, said: "They are quite rare.

The tarantula is characterised by its yellow legs and pink band

"They prefer well-established old trees, but due to deforestation the number have dwindled and due to lack of suitable habitat they enter old buildings."

The website described the tarantula as "colourful, fast and venomous".

The species is said to be related to a class of South American tarantula that includes the Goliath bird-eater, one of the world's largest spiders.

In other reports Mr Nanayakkara is quoted as saying none of the tarantulas found in Sri Lanka have bites that are deadly to humans. However, the Poecilotheria rajaei would be able to kill animals as large as mice, lizards and small birds and snakes.

A male member of the Poecilotheria rajaei species

Peter Kirk, who covered the discovery for the British Tarantula Society's journal, told Sky News: "Ranil has been working on these spiders since 2009 out in Sri Lanka and this is the first of what is thought to be a number of new species he has discovered in what was previously the inaccessible northern region of the island.

"It demonstrates that wildlife continues to survive whilst we are in the throes of conflict and that they can adapt to its changing environment - but also highlights that we risk destroying the habitats of species new to science and condemning them to extinction before they are even discovered."

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Madonna In Malawi To Visit Son's Orphanage

Madonna has returned to the orphanage where she adopted one of her Malawian children.

Madonna sits with adopted children David Banda (L) and Mercy James (3rd R)

The pop star was welcomed with song and dance from youngsters at the Home of Hope, from where she adopted David Banda in 2006.

She said she was pleased to visit the orphanage, in the western district of Mchinji near the Zambian border.

"I'm happy that David is back to see his brothers and sisters," she said.

The star, David and Mercy join pupils at Mkoko Primary School

David, now eight, was accompanied by his sister Mercy James, also eight and adopted from Malawi, and Madonna's natural children, Rocco and Lourdes.

The visit saw him taken to see his former crib, which has been preserved in his memory.

It was not known if the family would also visit the Kondanani Children's Village, where Madonna adopted Mercy in 2009 after a protracted court battle.

Lourdes (L) and Mercy (R) clap hands during the school visit

The singer arrived in Malawi on Monday to visit projects she has supported.

She had initially planned to build a $15m (£10m), 500-bed Raising Malawi Academy for girls, before changing plans to help fund several community schools.

Meanwhile, the singer expects to raise more than $5m (£3.3m) to support education for girls in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries by selling an abstract French painting she has owned for more than 20 years.

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Chechen Leader: Skyscraper Fire 'God's Will'

By Katie Stallard, Russia Correspondent

Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov has attributed a massive fire in the region's tallest skyscraper to "God's will".

The clock tower is part of the Grozny City complex in the Chechen Republic

He has promised to rebuild the showcase building in Grozny "even better and more beautiful".

Writing on his official Instagram account, the self-styled strongman ruler said: "Only the outer part of the building suffered and not the construction itself.

Firefighters attempt to tackle the blaze in the provincial capital Grozny

"All necessary measures to preserve it were undertaken, but a fire happens according to the will of the almighty and against HIS will we are powerless.

"With God's help we will rebuild this building, which will be even better and more beautiful. We will use latest technologies and nearby there will be a complex of beautiful skyscrapers: Grozny City 2.

A witness films the raging fire engulfing the building

"Most importantly, thank Allah, there were no human victims."

The 40-storey, 145m clock tower, named Olympus featured luxury apartments and a five-star hotel, and was the centrepiece of a modern development meant to symbolise the rebirth of the previously war-torn city under Mr Kadyrov's leadership.

Flames engulf the high-rise building (Pic: @zrmv)

The complex was unveiled on the president's 35th birthday in 2011 at a ceremony attended by Hollywood actress Hillary Swank and violinist Vanessa Mae.

Earlier this year Mr Kadyrov presented Gerard Depardieu with the keys to a five-room apartment in the complex, after Vladimir Putin granted the French actor Russian citizenship.

A firefighter tackles the raging blaze

A spokesman for the Chechen president said Mr Depardieu's apartment was in a different building and had not suffered any damage.

Speaking as fire-fighters tackled the massive blaze on Wednesday night, one eyewitness, Anzor, told Sky News: "Everything is falling off it, there are terrible sounds.

The complex includes luxury aprtments and a five-star hotel

"I think the fire is getting stronger because the firemen can only extinguish the lower part of the building, but not the upper part - it sounds like it might fall soon.

"It's awful, this building was just built recently, it was beautiful - people had only just started buying flats here and today there is this fire.

Crowds gather to watch the towering inferno

"I don't think the building was in use but some people had bought flats there and someone was living there."

Another eyewitness, Lema Zarmaev, described the scene: "There is a lot of people around and the firemen are trying to extinguish it but they are not succeeding so far.

All those inside the building reportedly managed to get out

"It's burning quite quickly, but I don't think the fire will get to the next building because it's quite far apart."

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Rogue Trader Admits $8.3bn Goldman Sachs Fraud

A rogue trader has pleaded guilty to defrauding Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs with unauthorised trades totalling $8.3bn (£5.5bn).

Matthew Taylor admitted that he exceeded internal risk limits and lied to Goldman supervisors to cover up his activities involving futures trade in 2007.

Taylor, 34, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in a United States federal court in lower Manhattan after voluntarily turning himself in to authorities.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate pleaded guilty some four months after the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a civil complaint against him.

The CFTC accused Taylor of fabricating trades to conceal a huge, unauthorised position in e-mini Standard & Poor's futures contracts, which bet on the direction of the S&P 500 index.

The court heard that Taylor's trading position at the firm exceeded risk guidelines set by his supervisors "on the order of 10 times."

He also admitted to making false statements to Goldman Sachs personnel who questioned him about the position.

In total, Taylor's actions led to a $118m (£78m) monetary loss for Goldman Sachs.

"I am truly sorry," he told the court.

Taylor outside court in Manhattan on April 3

Taylor, who joined Goldman in 2005, worked in a 10-person group called the Capital Structure Franchise Trading (CSFT), and was responsible for equity derivatives trades.

After his trading profits plunged in late 2007, his supervisors told Taylor his bonus was going to be cut and instructed him to reduce risk-taking.

Instead he "amassed a position that far exceeded all trading and risk limits set by Goldman Sachs, not only for individual traders ... but for the entire CSFT desk," court documents said.

He subsequently attempted to hide his actions by putting false information into a manual entry system.

When supervisors and other employees confronted him about discrepancies compared with his actual positions, Taylor repeatedly lied, the court heard.

Taylor said he covertly built the position in an effort to restore his reputation and increase his bonus.

At the time he earned a $150,000 (£100,000) salary and expected a bonus of $1.6m (£1m).

Prosecutors are seeking a prison sentence of 33 to 41 months and a fine of up to $75,000 (£50,000), based on his remuneration and not the actual loss suffered by the bank.

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British Ski Coach Arrested At French Resort

A British ski instructor has reportedly been dragged off the slopes at the French ski resort of Megeve as part of a crackdown on 'unlicenced' teachers.

Alex Casey, 40, from Folkstone says he has been banned from instructing as he does not hold new qualifications being demanded by French authorities.

Some of Mr Casey's British clients held a noisy demonstration outside the police station after he was arrested on Tuesday.

He says his detention is the latest attempt to reduce the number of British instructors working in French resorts.

Simon Butler: 'It's a total protectionst system'

They were being unfairly victimised and wrongly accused of taking jobs from French instructors, he said.

"If I worked for a French ski school my qualifications would be fine and I'd be able to work without any restrictions," he said.

"But because I work for a British tour operator where we teach our own guests, they deem our qualifications to be illegal."

Simon Butler, who runs a ski school in the resort and employs Mr Casey, said the official French ski school, the Ecole Du Ski Francais (ESF) was trying to drive him off the slopes.

"They're trying to stop anyone other than their own instructors from being able to work and they're changing the rules to suit themselves. It's a total protectionist system," he said.

"On Tuesday they were checking that people on the mountain were qualified. But because we don't have French ski instructors our qualifications are not legal.

"Alex was arrested on the mountain by four gendarmes accompanied by French government officials before being held in a police cell for 24 hours.

"But we're a tour operator; our clients all come from the UK. They wouldn't come here if we weren't here so it's ridiculous to suggest we're taking work from French instructors."

Mr Butler claims he brings over one million euros to the local economy

In 2012 Mr Butler was arrested and taken to court for allegedly using unqualified instructors. But he says he won the case as the judge saw no difference between the ESF training system and his.

Now Mr Butler says the French authorities have told him he is not allowed to use any trainee instructors, although he insists all his  team are fully qualified.

"I've got to win this case or pack up," he said. I've been here 30 years and my kids go to school here.

"Our clients use local restaurants and we purchase 2,000 ski passes every year. Our clients bring over a million euros of business to the town.

"Yet as I'm talking to you now we have five gendarmes out on the mountain looking for our instructors. It's nonsense".

Mr Butler is to appeal against the latest arrest at a court hearing on May 30.

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