Driver's Unfinished Text Is Warning To Others

The parents of a driver killed after crashing while texting say they want his final unfinished message to be a warning to others.

Alexander Heit's family have released a photograph of the text which is cut off mid-sentence.

"Sounds good my man, seeya soon, ill tw ... ," it read.

Before he could send it, the 22-year-old University of Northern Colorado student drifted into oncoming traffic, jerked the steering wheel and rolled his car.

He died shortly after the crash on April 3, but his parents and police are hoping the photo of the mundane text on his iPhone will serve as a stark reminder to drivers.

His mother does not want anyone else to lose someone to texting while driving.

"In a split second you could ruin your future, injure or kill others, and tear a hole in the heart of everyone who loves you," Sharon Heit said in a statement.

Witnesses told police the young man appeared to have his head down when he began drifting into the oncoming lane in the outskirts of Greeley.

Police said he had a spotless record and was not speeding at the time of the crash.

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Palestinian PM Exit To Spark New Peace Fears

By Sam Kiley, Middle East Correspondent

The resignation of Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad, which Sky sources have confirmed is imminent, threatens to undermine American-led efforts to rekindle the peace process with Israel amid hectic shuttle diplomacy by John Kerry.

The US Secretary of State has twice met Israeli, Palestinian and regional leaders in the Middle East over the last three weeks and is now in London, where he will be briefing G8 foreign ministers on the US initiative set off by President Barack Obama during his April tour of the Holy Land and Jordan.

Mr Fayyad, a technocrat with no political affiliations, is seen as key to the Palestinian Authority's much-improved record on tackling corruption, reducing violence, and drastic improvements in administration.

He has repeatedly clashed with Fatah, the dominant political force on the West Bank which was founded by the late Yasser Arafat and is led by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

Jewish settlements are seen as a continuing obstacle to peace

A source close to the prime minister said: "Fayyad has resigned before and it was rejected by the president.

"This time he is adamant. He could not have gone in the previous months because he would have been leaving a sinking ship but now that the finances of the Palestinian Authority are more secure he will go."

He is expected to hand in his letter of resignation when President Abbas returns from a meeting with the Arab League's Peace Committee in Doha, Qatar.

His last quarrel with Mr Abbas was over the resignation of the finance minister Dr Nabil Kassis which he accepted, but which was then overruled by the president.

"He simply cannot and will not continue in office to be constantly sniped at and undermined by Fatah," a source close to him said.

Palestinian politics is always fractious. Such local dramas rarely attract the interest of the outside world.

The US Secretary of State John Kerry and his counterpart, Mr Hague

But this time the consequences of his resignation have wider implications.

A senior Western diplomat told Sky News: "The single best thing that has happened in the last few years is the Fayyad agenda of state-building … Fayyad's departure would have serious implications on relations with the international community.

"It is hard to overstate how important Fayyad has been.

"The Israelis trust him, even some senior quite hawkish Israelis."

He had been expected to go sooner but agreed to stay on after Israel suspended the transfer of tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority which almost crippled its ability to function.

Those transfers have now been restarted - and the Palestinian budget is in place.

Mr Kerry's efforts have been focused on trying to get talks going to end the occupation based largely on a Saudi peace plan dating back to 2002.

Mr Netanyahu is under pressure to end Jewish settlement

As part of the plan Israel would withdraw to the Green Line that separated the Jewish State from Palestinian territories until the Israelis seized it in 1967.

In return 57 Arab and Islamic states would agree to normalise diplomatic relations with Israel, which many have refused to recognise at all.

The US Secretary of State's efforts have assumed an air of urgency. British Foreign Secretary William Hague believes that the opportunity for a successful outcome is rapidly vanishing.

Israel's position, most strongly articulated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been that there is no "partner for peace" on the Palestinian side.

Diplomats agree that the Palestinians have agreed to suspend their campaign against Israel within UN bodies and the International Criminal Court for 12 weeks to give Mr Kerry a chance of getting talks off the ground.

The Israelis are believed to have similarly slowed or suspended the creation of new illegal Jewish settlements on the West Bank.

But if, as expected, Mr Fayyad goes, a vital and trusted link to the Palestinian leadership would be broken - which could send the peace process back into a deep coma.

The US and European Union can be expected to put Mr Abbas under heavy pressure to somehow hang on to his prime minister.

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Israel: Police Arrest Five Women at Wailing Wall

Five women have been arrested by Israeli police at the Wailing Wall for wearing prayer shawls that Orthodox tradition states should only be worn by men.

The women were all members of the Women of the Wall group that opposes police-enforced segregation of worshippers according to sex at the Jerusalem holy site.

The arrests occurred during a monthly prayer session organised by the group.

"Police detained for questioning five women who prayed with religious garments at the Wall," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

A girl watches men praying at the Wailing Wall from behind a barrier

The group's monthly gatherings at the Western Wall often end with arrests of women who don prayer shawls or read publicly from the holy scriptures, a rite also reserved under Orthodox ritual for men.

Jewish modernisers have long called on senior rabbis to relax laws in Israel preventing men and women worshipping together at the Wall.

Women are not allowed to pray with men at the Wailing Wall

On Wednesday, officials said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was considering a plan to convert an old archaeological dig south of the Wall into an area where men and women would be allowed to mix and worship freely.

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South Africa Rhinos Under Threat From Poaching

By Alex Crawford, At Kruger National Park, South Africa

Officials at South Africa's National Parks say they are "under siege" from rhino poachers and if the killings go on at the current rate the animal will be extinct within decades.

Despite a range of tactics like deploying the army, mounting helicopter patrols and even using drones in the past few months to try to pinpoint the poachers, the killing of rhinos for their horns is continuing at an alarming rate.

More than 200 rhinos were killed in South Africa in the first three months of this year.

The total for 2013 therefore looks set to top last year's figure, which was a record with more than 600 rhinos being slaughtered. And the 2012 figure was a dramatic increase on the previous year's record of 448.

The worst hit by far is the country's flagship Kruger National Park which shares a long 221-mile (356km) border with Mozambique, from where the vast majority of the poachers come.

Kruger saw more than 70 incursions last month by heavily-armed teams of poachers crossing from Mozambique.

Typically the teams are made up of between two and five hunters who find it very easy to slip across the border illegally.

About 20,000 white rhinos are believed to remain in the wild

They arrive carrying multiple weapons according to SANParks (South African National Parks) officials and can spend up to a week in the park, which is more than two million hectares - roughly the same size as Israel.

Ken Maggs, Chief of Staff of Operation Rhino at Kruger told Sky News: "This is a war we are fighting - against an enemy which has no rules."

He was talking whilst overseeing a training exercise which involved teams of armed rangers in camouflage gear using sniffer dogs to track down the poachers.

"We have very specific rules of engagement and we do not operate a shoot-to-kill policy. We are not allowed to just shoot at a poacher. We have to physically grab him and bring him in for arrest," he said.

The poachers are becoming more sophisticated and audacious - using silencers on their weapons to try to avoid detection and recruiting help from within the park to establish where the rhinos are.

The increase in rhino poaching has been driven by demand from the Far East for rhino horn which is believed to have healing and other properties - and is now more expensive than gold on the black market.

"We want to get the message across that rhino horn is just keratin, like our finger nails," Ranger Andrew Desmet said.

"It has no such qualities at all."

Rangers search the carcasses for bullets to use as evidence

We trekked more than two hours into the bush with one of the Kruger's investigation teams who had been alerted to more dead rhinos. The animals had lain undiscovered in the park for four days.

We saw the vultures first, circling overhead, and then as we approached, we noticed the odour.

"That is the smell of a dead rhino," one of the rangers said.

The two carcasses lay 300m apart. We came across the bones of the calf first, stripped bare by scavengers, its hide left like a folded mat.

It did not take the investigations team long to find the cartridge of a bullet hidden among the bones. It was swiftly bagged. It could be crucial in securing a conviction later. The cartridge will be sent to the University of Pretoria's Faculty of Veterinary Science which is building up a rhino DNA bank which could link the suspects to the dead animals.

Senior investigator Frik Rossouw moved onto the other carcass. This one was virtually intact - apart from a gaping hole where its horn had been.

Again, his colleagues used metal detectors in a circle around the dead animal, then over the animal itself. A beeping noise indicated metal inside the rhino's shoulder.

It took two of the investigations team, using knives to cut through the hide. They found what they were looking for: more evidence - this time a bullet which had remained lodged inside the animal.

"This animal didn't die instantly," Mr Rossouw said.

"The rangers who found them said there were marks indicating the rhino had probably been hit with her calf. She ran for her life before they caught up with her and fired again.

"These poachers just don't care. They want to get out of here as quickly as possible. They know if they get caught, they're in trouble."

The South African judiciary has handed out some tough penalties for rhino poaching recently.

Last year a Thai man was sentenced to a 40-year jail term for overseeing a racket which involved women posing as hunters so he could sell the rhino horn in powder form in the Far East.

SANParks is offering huge rewards, 100,000 South African rand (£7,300), for any information which could lead to the arrest of a poacher and one million rand if you can give police information which could bust a syndicate.

But so far, even the lure of a reward has not done enough to curb the poaching.

"When the sheer numbers keep going up daily, weekly, monthly, sometimes I am not so sure we are winning," special operations ranger Bruce Leslie said.

"It's a lot of pressure on us, our families, everybody involved in this war, but we have to do something and keep going because if we don't, if the world doesn't help, then the rhino will be gone forever."

Donations can be made to help protect rhinos at www.sanparks.org.

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North Korea: Japan Anxious Over Missiles

By Alex Rossi, Sky News Correspondent, in Tokyo

The Japanese government is continuing to hold emergency meetings with the country's military planners over fears of an imminent missile test from North Korea.

The latest military intelligence shows that the regime has moved medium-range missiles to its eastern seaboard.

It is believed leader Kim Jong-Un may order one to be launched on or around April 15 to celebrate the 101st anniversary of the birth of his grandfather and founder of North Korea Kim Il-Sung.

The Japanese have deployed Patriot missiles at key locations across the country as a precaution. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said Japan is ready to face down any threat.

Shinzo Abe: 'Sense of urgency'

"We are all working together united and with a sense of urgency," he said as he arrived at his offices earlier.

For people living and working in the shadow of the military hardware, the last few days have been unnerving.

At a clothes company across the road from one of the sites - the Defence Ministry - workers are preparing the summer collection for buyers from across the world.

One clothes designer, Akira Kinura, sums up how everyone is feeling - this is an anxious time.

He said: "We got a little bit tense when they brought out the Patriot missiles but we hope nothing happens and this is resolved peacefully."

In truth Japan is well used to angry language from Pyongyang, and this is not the first time Patriot missiles have been deployed as a defensive measure.

Meanwhile, in one of Tokyo's amusement arcades, gamers enjoy life-and-death battles in a world of digital make believe.

Arcade owner Patsuyuki Muchiki, who has been around video games his entire working life, believes the young North Korean leader is bluffing and that starting a war would be suicide.

"So Kim Jong is very childish. What he is doing is very unpredictable, but who would do such a thing when the consequences would mean the destruction of his own nation."

The Japanese are familiar with North Korean bluster and they are hoping this time is no different.

The real fear is that the regime may misjudge or miscalculate, and start something that ends with catastrophic consequences, not just for Tokyo but for the whole region.

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North Korea's Missiles 'In Upright Position'

Visiting Secretive North Korea

Updated: 11:52am UK, Wednesday 10 April 2013

Despite the current tensions on the Korean Peninsula, tourists have been able to travel to North Korea.

A Sky News employee has just returned from a four-day trip. Journalists are strictly banned from the county without visas, which are rarely issued, so we are not revealing her name, but here is her story:

I flew from Beijing to Pyongyang. On the flight with me were lots of North Koreans with plenty of excess baggage: TVs, vegetables and meat.

Nothing felt abnormal. There was no feeling of tension.

Only when I arrived at the Demilitarised Zone were we prevented access to some of the buildings because of the current situation.

Throughout the four-day trip, which was organised by a Chinese travel company, we were assigned two North Korean minders.

One of them was more senior than the other. She watched us and watched her colleague too.

They did not want the war but were also determined to fight if the country decided to start a war. They emphasised to us that they believed in the country from their hearts.

We were not allowed to move freely. We could only do tourist things according to the guidance of the tour "guards".

We were not allowed to take photographs in the car or anywhere without the minder's permission. We were told not to photograph anything that looked bad or makes North Korea look bad.

"Don't bring bad impressions out of Pyongyang," they said.

People were very friendly. There was little traffic, so people would stare at our bus wherever we drove.

People there are very aware of the potential war.

Every time we arrived at the places of interest, the tour guides would always ask us in Korean (the minders would translate into Chinese) about the latest situation and our opinions about the situation, particularly our opinions about the US, as they all believe the tensions are the fault of America.

When we asked the minders what would happen if the war breaks out tomorrow, they said: "If the war breaks tomorrow, until midnight tonight, we are still building the socialist constructions."

We also asked them whether they know where Kim Jong-Un lives and works, as we explained to them that in Beijing, all the top leaders work and live in a place called Zhongnanhai. They all said they had no idea.

The two minders liked to sing. One of the songs they sang was apparently written by a South Korean musician to express his admiration toward Kim Jong-Il.

On one of the days we went to Myohyang San, a North Korean mountain. The six of us on the tour were locked in the restaurant because the North Koreans were so afraid that we would wander around.

There is a museum near the mountain, where gifts from foreign countries are displayed. A lot of them came from Japan.

We asked them how could they receive so many gifts from Japan given that North Korea considers the Japanese as enemies. They told us that the Japanese really admire the leaders, so they gave us many gifts.

We stayed in the Yanggakdo International Hotel, where we could watch international TV channels including the BBC, NHK, (Japanese TV), Phoenix (Hong Kong TV) and CCTV (Chinese TV).

The minders live on a specific floor where they only have three North Korean channels to watch. They never ate with us and when we asked what they had eaten, they always refused to tell us.

We were not allowed to use the local currency, and they never showed us their money. We could use Chinese RMB, US dollars or euros.

There were not many opportunities to see any ordinary North Korean people apart from the shopkeepers, tour guides or waitresses in the hotel.

There is a casino on the underground floor of the Yanggakdo International Hotel, where most of the staff members come from Liaoning Province over the northern border in China, and North Koreans are not allowed to enter.

The casino is managed by people from Macau. The staff there told us it was empty because the tensions mean far fewer people are travelling to North Korea.

Staff at the casino are all Chinese. When we asked to go to the casino, one of the minders said to us: "You must be non-communists, because communist members don't go to casinos."

Wherever we go to visit, they always asked us if we think their places or things are pretty. They only wanted to show us the good side of the country.

As soon as we travelled outside the capital city, it felt very like the real North Korea: rural, no tall buildings, only farmland.

We never felt the tension of war on our trip. On the streets, on our tour, in the hotel and even at a school we visited, the students were studying as normal.

The people we spoke to asked us if it was true that living in Beijing is hard. They think living in North Korea is the happiest thing in the world.

It feels as though those North Koreans who have travelled outside the country have never mentioned what the outside world really looks like.

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Putin Frolics With Dogs In Latest Photo Op

By Katie Stallard, Moscow Correspondent

In the latest instalment of Vladimir Putin's bizarre series of photo opportunities with animals, the Kremlin has released pictures of the Russian president rolling in the snow with his dogs.

Critics accuse Mr Putin of presiding over the worst crackdown on human rights in modern Russian history, but he appears relaxed and playful as he is captured in the company of his canine companions.

The album, titled "A walk in the Moscow suburbs", shows an off-duty president enjoying a snowy day with his Bulgarian Shepherd, Buffy, and Japanese Akita Inu puppy, Yume.

Mr Putin sports a red and white Team Russia tracksuit in the pictures, which were taken by his personal photographer on March 24, but only made public now.

The Russian leader has just returned from a trip to Germany and the Netherlands, which was intended to promote trade ties with the two countries but will be remembered more for the protests that greeted him.

Putin, in Hanover with Angela Merkel, was confronted by topless protesters

Mr Putin said he enjoyed being heckled by topless women at a trade fair in Hanover on Monday, and shrugged off criticism over his human-rights record.

He was then jeered by more than a thousand activists in Amsterdam protesting a new "homosexual propaganda" law in Russia, which campaigners say will further marginalise the country's gay community and deprive young people of access to information about gay rights.

A demonstration by gay-rights activist in Amsterdam

Russia's justice ministry announced plans this week to prosecute the country's only independent election-monitoring organisation, accusing it of violating rules on foreign funding.

The self-styled strongman president has a long history of unusual publicity stunts, which have included photos of him hunting bare-chested in Siberia, tagging a polar bear and tranquilising a tiger.

Mr Putin has also used the medium to portray a softer, more environmentally-friendly side, being pictured feeding elk calves and, memorably, leading young cranes on a migration flight from his hang glider.

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Angelina Jolie Joins Hague At G8 In London

By Alistair Bunkall, Sky News Correspondent

The G8 group of leading countries has pledged to end sexual violence and rape in conflict in an historic announcement.

William Hague confirmed the agreement at a meeting of the G8 foreign ministers at Lancaster House in London.

He was joined by the actress Angelina Jolie who is a Special Envoy for the UN Human Rights Council, and Zainab Bangura, the Special Representative for the UN on sexual violence in conflict.

Mr Hague likened the crimes to the slave trade, saying rape in war zones is "one of the greatest and most persistent injustices in the world".

He added: "It is almost one of the most neglected."

The agreement will result in money pledged to fight the crimes.

Britain is providing £10m from the budgets of the Foreign Office and Department for International Development.

The pledge will make up part of the £23m package pledged by the G8 nations at the London meeting.

William Hague and Angelina Jolie in the Congo last month

The G8 has also agreed that there should be no amnesty for sexual violence in peace agreements, and committed to developing an international protocol to investigate such crimes.

Soldiers, who are sometimes the first to come across victims in conflict zones, will receive dedicated training to deal with such scenarios.

Mr Hague and Jolie have worked together on the agreement over the past year.

Last month they travelled together to the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country with one of the worst records of rape as a weapon on conflict.

Speaking alongside Mr Hague in London, Jolie said: "International political will has been sorely lacking. But today I believe that their (the victims') voices have been heard, and that we finally have some hope to offer them."

Britain has pushed the issue as part of its presidency of the G8 and the Foreign Secretary has said he intends to take it further when the UK assumes Presidency of the UN Security Council in June.

International Development Secretary Justine Greening said: "Britain will not stand on the sidelines while so many are denied the chance to reach their full potential and live safe, happy lives.

"We know that girls and women are at their most vulnerable at times of conflict or humanitarian disaster but we need to know what works best to tackle the terrible, often sexual, violence they face."

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Cyprus Crash Fear As Bailout Cost Jumps 31%

The Cypriot government has confirmed that the cost of its EU-IMF bailout has jumped by 31%, putting the already teetering economy in danger of collapse.

Government spokesman Christos Stylianides said: "It's a fact the memorandum of November talked about 17.5bn euros (£14.9bn) in financing needs. And it has emerged this figure has become 23bn euros (£19.6bn)."

The announcement means southern Cyprus will now have to find 6bn euros (£5.1bn) more than the 7bn euros the Nicosia government needed to raise in order to secure the EU-IMF bailout of 10bn euros (£8.5bn).

"Who is responsible for this? How did we get here? It was the fear of responsibility and indecision of the previous government," Mr Stylianides told reporters.

Cyprus has hit affluent bank savers with a massive tax to help secure the earlier agreed EU bailout funds.

But widespread outrage forced the government in southern Cyprus to reconsider its original plan to tax all account holders, instead focusing on those with more than 100,000 euros (£85,000) in accounts.

The bank levy affected many expats and foreign investors, particularly those from Russia.

The two countries share cultural ties through the orthodox Christian religion.

It has also announced plans to bulk sell gold on world markets, forcing Goldman Sachs to downgrade its 2013 price forecast for the precious metal.

Cyprus' sale plan would be the first major gold disposal by a euro area central bank since France sold 17.4 tonnes of gold in the first half of 2009.

"The Cyprus news has damaged gold in the last 24 hours in conjunction with the Goldman gold downgrade and the 17-tonne outflows from the metal's exchange-traded funds," Societe Generale analyst Robin Bhar said.

At current prices, 400m euros' (£340m) worth of gold amounts to 10.36 tonnes of metal.

Cyprus' total bullion reserves stood at 13.9 tonnes at end-February, according to data from the World Gold Council.

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Zuckerberg Unveils Immigration Lobby Group

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has unveiled a new political action group of top technology leaders to press for reforms in areas including immigration and education.

"To lead the world in this new economy, we need the most talented and hardest-working people," Mr Zuckerberg said in an opinion piece published in the Washington Post.

"We need to train and attract the best. We need those middle-school students to be tomorrow's leaders."

The group called FWD.us was created amid an intense debate in Congress on immigration, with lawmakers considering a "path to citizenship" for some 11 million undocumented immigrants, as well as measures to boost the number of immigrants with high-tech skills.

The new group naturally has its own Facebook page

Mr Zuckerberg said he supports a measure which accomplishes both those goals.

"Comprehensive immigration reform that begins with effective border security, allows a path to citizenship and lets us attract the most talented and hardest-working people, no matter where they were born," he wrote.

The new group's backers include other big names from the tech sector.

Among them are LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, Dropbox chief Drew Houston and venture capitalists John Doerr and Jim Breyer.

Mr Zuckerberg said the tech sector understands the needs of an economic adapting to new information technology.

"As leaders of an industry that has benefited from this economic shift, we believe that we have a responsibility to work together to ensure that all members of our society gain from the rewards of the modern knowledge economy," he wrote.

The president of the not-for-profit organisation will be Mr Zuckerberg's longtime friend Joe Green.

FWD.us will have offices in Silicon Valley and Washington.

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