Democracy Indian-Style: Millions Go To Polls

With more than 800 million eligible to vote over four weeks, India is taking part in the world's biggest democratic process.

A woman voting in Jammu

Some 815 million people are eligible to vote in nine phases. The election began this week and will last about four weeks, with the results expected on May 16.

A man shows off his ink-marked finger after voting in Uttar Pradesh

The two leading candidates to replace prime minister Manmohan Singh are Narendra Modi, of the Bharatiya Janata Party, and Rahul Gandhi of the ruling Congress Party.

Security at a polling station in Muzaffarnagar district, Uttar Pradesh

Voters are casting ballots in 930,000 polling stations and for the first time will have a "none of the above" option.

A polling officer learning how to work an electronic voting machine

Of those eligible to vote, 23 million are aged 18 or 19. A surge in registration among young voters means they make up 2.8% of the electorate, compared to just 0.75% in 2009.

A supporter of the TMC party in Kolkata Gujarati activists give BJP hopeful Narendra Modi a traditional welcome Modi supporters at a rally in Gujarat wearing masks Narendra Modi (centre) rallies supporters Election hopeful Rahul Gandhi after voting in New Delhi Sonia Gandhi, head of the ruling Congress party, voting in New Delhi Priyanka Vadra, sister of Rahul Gandhi, votes in New Delhi Women leave a polling station in Uttar Pradesh Nuns voting in the west coast city of Kochi Queuing to vote in Odisha, on India's east coast Villagers in Arunachal Pradesh, in northeastern India, wait to vote Voters in New Delhi Women wait to vote in Faridabad, in Haryana state

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Athens Bomb Fails To Dent Greek Bond Sale

Greece has tapped the bond markets for the first time since its bailout in 2010, as deep anger remains over severe austerity in the debt-ridden nation.

A bomb blast outside a Bank of Greece building preceded the debt sale.

The device detonated in a car before dawn but there were no injuries and it was unclear whether the attack was related to the sale of the five-year bonds, which raised a better-than-initially-expected €3bn and marked a milestone in its return from financial rescue.

The Greek deputy prime minister Evangelos Venizelos said it was over eight-times oversubscribed.

Source: Reuters

He described the sale as a "huge success" while the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde saw it as "an indication that Greece is heading in the right direction."

The yield - the effective interest rate - was confirmed at 4.95%, lower than fellow bailout nation Ireland's 5.9% five-year yield on its market return in July 2012.

The bombing followed a 24-hour public sector strike in Greece - the latest protest in a string of often violent demonstrations against the continuing austerity demanded of it by its international bailout lenders, including the IMF.

The latest anti-austerity protests were held in Athens on Wednesday

German chancellor Angela Merkel - a hate figure among unions in Greece because of her demands for deeper spending cuts in the country - is due in the Greek capital for talks on Friday.

Despite Greek bonds being rated as 'junk' by major ratings agencies, the success of the sale followed a steep decline in the country's borrowing costs from the darkest days of the eurozone crisis.

It marked progress in the Greek recovery programme but analysts also pointed to growing investor demand for riskier credits after the  latest US Federal Reserve minutes confirmed little pressure for a rise in interest rates before mid-2015.

Ishaq Siddiqi, market strategist at ETX Capital, said the sale marked the start of an uphill battle to regain credibility.

"The move by Greece at first to return to the bond markets appears to be opportunistic and somewhat symbolic as the country clearly wants to be able to raise its own funds to reduce its dependency on the Troika (its international creditors).

"Progress is slowly being made in the country's economy, but I stress, very slowly with the country mostly being helped out by the wider-recovery in the euro zone which is filtering in.

"Greece still has a debt/GDP ratio somewhere around 170%, still much higher than the IMF's (International Monetary Fund's) target of 120% for the country and, of course, the stubbornly high and frightening unemployment rate of 27.5% - the highest in the euro zone. 

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Gandhi's Grandson Stands For Parliament

By Neville Lazarus, Sky News Producer, Delhi

The grandson of Mahatma Gandhi is standing for election in India.

An author, historian and research professor at the University of Illinois, Rajmohan Gandhi is in India trying to woo the 1.6 million voters in his East Delhi constituency.

The 79-year-old's grandfather is considered the father of the nation credited with bringing freedom to India. 

This is reiterated by his supporters - and the man himself - wherever he goes.

Unlike Mahatma, who was associated with the Indian National Congress Party during the freedom struggle, Rajmohan Gandhi is representing the Aam Aadmi Party, which translates to the common man's party.

On the campaign trail he told Sky News: "The national movement that Mahatma Gandhi led and today's Congress Party are two distinct organisations.

"When I saw a large number of young people sacrificing their time and money and risking a good deal to try and fight the demon of corruption at a time when everybody was surrendered to corruption, everybody surrendered to the power of big money, this new thing was emerging in India and I felt it was my duty to lend them a hand."

Rajmohan's grandfather is credited with bringing freedom to India

The Aam Aadmi Party has its genesis in the anti-corruption movement started by Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal in 2011.

Mr Kejriwal broke away to launch  Aam Aadmi in November 2012. He wanted to fight the system from within to make meaningful change.

The party's crusade against corruption, which in India is endemic and pervades every section of society, made them enormously popular.

Aam Aadmi had a stunning debut in the state elections in Delhi and formed a 49-day government. But because they were unable to pass the anti-corruption bill, Mr Kejriwal withdrew his government.

Unconventional in its politics, its leaders and thousands of volunteers wear Gandhi caps and take to the streets to be heard. Their high-octane protests and door-to-door direct campaigns made them fighters for the middle and lower classes.

Mr Kejriwal, as Chief Minister of Delhi, even filed a report with police over illegitimate gains from gas prices against Mukesh Ambani, the head of Reliance Industries and the richest man in India. He is worth approximately $20bn (£12bn), according to Forbes.

Arvind Kejriwal set up the Aam Aadmi Party in 2012

Aam Aadmi has attracted bankers, lawyers, corporate executives, social activists and journalists who want a change in the political class. It has grown into a force where it now challenges the established national parties.

Mr Kejriwal has declared himself the challenger in the Varanasi seat against Narendra Modi, the prime ministerial candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Aam Aadmi has capitalised on the anger of people against conventional parties, and Mr Gandhi hopes to capture this rage and frustration and provide an alternative.

He said: "The Congress Party has been around for a long time and has not put up a fight against corruption or big money, so why would I want to join it?

"The Congress Party unfortunately has departed from the values it was committed to and this departure took place a long time ago."

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Ukraine: Russian Forces Remain, Says Nato

Russian armed forces are continuing to keep a presence near Ukraine's border, according to Nato.

Primorko-Akhtarsk Air Base. Pic: DigitalGlobe

The organisation's top military commander in Europe, General Philip Breedlove, has released a set of commercial satellite photographs which reportedly shows Russian warplanes, combat helicopters, armour, artillery and a probable airborne or special forces brigade deployed in various locations.

The bases are in southern Russia - east of the Ukraine-Russian border - near Kuzminka, Belgorod, Yeysk, and Novocherkassk, east of the Sea of Azov.

Belgorod. Pic: DigitalGlobe

The content of the photographs, which commercial provider DigitalGlobe said were taken on March 22, has not yet been independently verified.

An alleged Russian artillery battalion. Pic: DigitalGlobe

According to General Breedlove, possible countermoves to the Russian military threat against Ukraine could include sending US troops to alliance nations in eastern Europe who felt at risk.

Probable airborne or Spetznaz (special forces) brigade. Pic: DigitalGlobe

Russian troops in March took control of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula after local citizens - the majority of whom are ethnic Russians - voted in a referendum to secede and join Russia.

Military tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. Pic: DigitalGlobe

The US and other Western countries have accused Moscow of massing troops on Ukraine's border to maintain the pressure on the government in Kiev, and possibly for military use.

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'Don't Change Passwords' Over Heartbleed Bug

Internet users have been warned not to change their passwords in the wake of the Heartbleed security flaw discovery.

Hugh Boyes, cyber security chief at the Institution of Engineering and Technology, said: "Changing the password before the bug is fixed could compromise your new password."

He said they should only be changed on websites that had implemented a patch to fix the bug.

Blogging website Tumblr, owned by Yahoo!, has previously told users to change all their passwords, including those for sensitive data like email and bank accounts.

The Heartbleed bug is one of the biggest security alerts for years

Independent security expert Bruce Schneier called for calm, but said the security breach was serious.

"Catastrophic is the right word. On the scale of 1 to 10, this is an 11. Half a million sites are vulnerable, including my own."

Users can test a site's vulnerability to the Heartbleed bug by visiting a site created by developer Filippo Valsorda where you can enter web addresses and find out if the bug has been fixed.

If it says that the site has been patched, it is safe to change your password.

Mr Boyes added: "Regularly change your passwords.

"Depending on how sensitive the application/website is, passwords typically ought to be changed monthly or quarterly.

"Don't reuse the same passwords on different websites. Try to use a separate password for each website."

The Heartbleed bug was discovered on Monday by a team of security experts and had gone undetected for more than two years.

The bug is a flaw in the encryption that protects data as it is sent between computers and servers.

This has meant that personal and sensitive data was left vulnerable.

The encryption is best-known for the closed padlock that appears in the corner of a web browser to show a connection is secure.

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'If Reeva Had Spoken I Would Not Have Fired'

Oscar Pistorius has told a court he fired his weapon "by accident" after hearing a noise in his bathroom and thinking he was about to be attacked by an intruder.

The court in Pretoria heard the athlete say he fired four shots in quick succession after hearing someone inside the bathroom.

Fighting back tears, the 27-year-old said: "When I heard a noise, I didn't have time to think and I fired my weapon. It was an accident.

"If Reeva had come out or she had spoken to me I wouldn't have fired. The noise coming from the bathroom made me pull the trigger."

Pistorius had been in a relationship with Reeva Steenkamp for four months

During a second day of cross-examination, prosecutor Gerrie Nel claimed Pistorius' version of events on the night of February 13 last year "is a lie" and the barrister accused him of "adapting" events to suit his account.

The double amputee recounted waking up during the night and getting out of bed to close the doors to a balcony, shut the curtains and move fans into the room.

Miss Steenkamp is then thought to have got out of bed, but the athlete said he was unable to see her because he had his back turned and the room was dark.

Pistorius also said a duvet and fan in images shown to the court had been moved by police officers after Miss Steenkamp's death.

Mr Nel portrayed him as selfish and prone to tantrums during the couple's four-month relationship. He also questioned him about text messages sent by Miss Steenkamp which claimed she was "scared" of his reactions.

Text messages between the couple have been shown in court

He read from one message which said: "'I've been upset with you for two days now... I'm scared of you sometimes'. Why would she be scared of you?"

Pistorius replied: "I think she's scared of the feelings that she had for me, she says 'I'm scared of you sometimes and how you snap at me and how you will react to me'.

"I never shouted or screamed at her. It hurt her feelings about the way I would react."

Mr Nel accused the athlete of "picking on" Miss Steenkamp, claimed Pistorius "did not care enough" to tell Miss Steenkamp he loved her and insisted their relationship was focused on "me, Oscar".

The athlete also told the court he was "terribly sorry" he had taken his girlfriend's life after he was asked why he had not apologised in person to her family.

He said: "I am terribly sorry that I took the life of their daughter. I didn't think they would want to see me."

Pistorius was accused of blaming his legal team for not questioning claims made by witnesses and was asked a series of questions over his handling of firearms and ammunition.

He has admitted a handgun went off in a restaurant while in his possession, and told the court he carried his gun everywhere and usually had a bullet in the chamber.

The court heard Pistorius had ammunition belonging to his father in the safe at his home, for which he did not have a licence. He also had an extra magazine in his bedside drawer, which was found when he was arrested, and usually carried his gun with him at all times for safety reasons.

Pistorius denies premeditated murder and illegally possessing ammunition and two further counts related to shooting a gun in public in separate incidents prior to the killing.

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Alleged Hitman 'Confesses To 40 Murders'

A man charged with carrying out nine contract killings has confessed to murdering 40 people over several decades, authorities have said.

Jose Manuel Martinez, 51, allegedly told US investigators that he carried out the crimes while working as an enforcer for a drug cartel.

Authorities believed him because of the details he was able to provide, said Errek Jett, the district attorney in Lawrence County, Alabama.

His victims ranged in age from 22 to 56.

Martinez was arrested last year shortly after crossing the border from Mexico into Arizona. He was then sent to Alabama, where he awaits trial on one murder charge.

Defence lawyer Thomas Turner, who represents Martinez in that case, said his client maintains his innocence to that charge and does not seem to be a hardened killer.

"I've found him to be polite and a likable individual," Mr Turner said.

"He has a good personality as far as talking with him."

After Martinez was arrested, several investigators from across the country came to question him, and he was charged with a total of nine killings. 

According to judicial authorities, Martinez targeted victims in Tulare, Kern and Santa Barbara counties in California between 1980 and 2011.

The California charges would make Martinez eligible for a death sentence if he is convicted.

Martinez told authorities he had been a professional killer since the age of 16, the Los Angeles Times reported.

He declined to say which drug cartel had allegedly employed him.

Martinez's mother told the LA Times she was overwhelmed by the news of her son's alleged crimes.

"This is hard for me, really hard," Loreta Fernandez was quoted as saying.

"I'm still shaking."

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British Nuclear Sub Joins Missing Plane Hunt

The nuclear-powered submarine HMS Tireless is on its way to the area where possible signals from the black box recorder of the missing flight MH370 have been detected, Sky sources say.

The ship HMS Echo arrived in the search zone in the Indian Ocean a few hours ago and will help the Australian naval ship Ocean Shield, which detected four previous pings, and Haixun 01, a Chinese ship.

After dropping sound-locating buoys into the ocean, an Australian Navy P-3 Orion aircraft detected another potential signal on Thursday afternoon in the same area pings were heard on Saturday.

Angus Houston, who is in charge of the operation, confirmed the surveillance plane had picked up the "possible signal".

A map showing the two of the search areas

"The acoustic data will require further analysis overnight but shows potential of being from a made-made source," he said.

If confirmed, it will be the fifth signal to have been recorded by search teams, following on from detections on Tuesday and Saturday that have allowed search teams to narrow down the area they are looking in.

They are searching an area of the southern Indian Ocean 1,670km (1,040 miles) from Perth after the plane went missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8.

The Haixun 01 vessel initially reported some acoustic signals south of where the Ocean Shield sounds were detected on Saturday.

The first four pings were heard in the smaller zone being searched

But the signals heard by the Chinese ship were not believed to have occurred again.

The Australian Navy has been dropping the buoys in a pattern across the area where the Ocean Shield heard the pings.

Attached to each is a hydrophone listening device which dangles about 300m (1,000ft) below the surface.

Search aircraft, like the Orion, undertook at least 30 flights on Thursday

Australian Navy Commodore Peter Leavy said the hope was that the buoys would be able to pinpoint the source of the signals.

But experts say time is running out as pingers on black boxes are designed to emit signals for no more than 30 days.

Hopes that they may be tracked down in time rose on Thursday after an Australian government document circulated among agencies involved in the search said the pingers could continue for up to 10 more days.

Mr Houston on Wednesday expressed "optimism" about the ongoing search operation.

ADV Ocean Shield is towing a "Pinger Locator"

"I'm now optimistic that we will find the aircraft, or what is left of the aircraft, in the not too distant future," he said.

"But we haven't found it yet, because this is a very challenging business."

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Major Hunt After Three-Year-Old Girl Snatched

A three-year-old girl has been snatched in an Australian town, prompting a major police hunt.

Chloe Campbell went missing at around 7am local time on Thursday morning from a home in Childers, Queensland.

She is described as white, with light brown shoulder-length hair and around 3ft 3in (1m) tall.

Police, who have issued a child abduction alert, say she was wearing orange shorts and a yellow shirt with butterflies and bees on the front.

Her father, Garth Campbell, told Australian Associated Press that Chloe, who normally sleeps in the living room, had vanished along with her sleeping bag and stuffed, blue toy dog.

He said a window was open and that there was an adult-sized footprint on the family's car outside.

"I don't think there's any possible way she's wandered off," he said.

"She wouldn't leave the yard by herself."

He added that they normally closed the windows at night, but that one of the must have failed to lock properly.

"That's why we are blaming ourselves," he said.

"I think it's got to be someone who knows me, in how they got in, where she sleeps. They knew she was sleeping in front of the TV."

Bundaberg Police Inspector Kev Guteridge said: "Shortly after 7am Bundaberg Police were contacted by a distraught mother of a three-year-old girl to advise that her daughter was missing.

"We do hold very serious concerns for the safety of the girl as we do with every missing person reported."

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Pilots To Circle Globe In Solar-Powered Plane

By Tom Cheshire, Technology Correspondent

The Solar Impulse 2 is a plane that would - in theory - fly forever.

Unveiled in a hangar in Payerne, Switzerland, the aircraft will attempt to fly around the world using only solar energy.

The plane's cells and batteries are so efficient that it can fly through day and night, meaning no fossil fuels are needed.

"It could fly for weeks, even a year theoretically," its co-pilot and co-founder Andre Borschberg told Sky News at the official unveiling.

The only limiting factor is the human pilot, who needs to do human things like eat, sleep (in 20 minute bursts) and "take care of other duties".

Luckily the cockpit seat has a built-in toilet.

The plane flies over the Golden Gate Bridge on an earlier trip

The two pilots - Mr Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard - will take turns flying the plane over short legs.

The longest leg will be over the Pacific, from Asia to North America, and take five days.

The project started in 1999, when Mr Piccard completed the first non-stop circumnavigation of the earth in a balloon.

He landed with only a few hours' fuel to spare, and vowed never again to travel such a distance with fossil fuels.

In 2003, he started the solar plane project and by 2009, the first prototype was flying.

The project started in 1999

The £75m project has tapped commercial partners for money and know-how.

The idea is that the technologies developed for the plane in the sky will trickle down into our lives on the ground.

For instance, the insulation for the cockpit developed by German materials company Bayer will soon be included in commercial fridge technology.

More efficient batteries and electric motors have obvious mainstream potential.

But although the Solar Impulse is an impressive spectacle and proof of concept, it will be years before the benefits really make it to market, and decades before we might see a solar-powered passenger airline - if ever.

Mr Piccard says Solar Impulse is just as much about "changing mindsets" as it is introducing new technologies.

The Solar Impulse sets off on March 1, 2015 - probably from somewhere in the Middle East - travelling around the world under the sun's rays.

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