Australian Woman Being Tested For Ebola

A 57-year-old Australian woman has been tested for ebola after she developed a fever following her return from Sierra Leone, health officials have confirmed.

The volunteer Red Cross nurse arrived back in Australia at the weekend after spending a month working at an ebola hospital in the West African country.

The nurse, named as Sue Ellen Kovack by local media, followed health rules and has not mixed with anyone since Tuesday when she returned to her home in Cairns, Queensland.

She remains in isolation at the Cairns Hospital but her blood has been flown to Brisbane to confirm whether or not she has the deadly virus. 

Results of the tests are expected in the next few hours.

"This morning she rang up ... because she developed a low-grade fever of 37.6C," said Queensland chief health officer Dr Jeanette Young.

Video: How Effective Are Anti-Ebola Suits?

"We felt it important that she come into the Cairns hospital and be tested.

"We don't know whether she has that (ebola), but she's been exposed to people with the disease while working in Sierra Leone."

Dr Young said the woman had been feeling well when she landed back in Australia and only started feeling sick today.

Sky News Australia correspondent Jonathan Samuels said the nurse had been interviewed by broadcaster ABC before she left for Sierra Leone.

She told the ABC: "People put up their hands because they have an interest in their fellow man - that's why I'm going."

Video: How The Ebola Virus Has Spread

But local Cairns MP Bob Katter criticised the "irresponsibility" of the authorities and said returning workers should be properly quarantined for three weeks.

"We honour these Australians for being self-sacrificing [but] one person's moral and humanitarian ambitions are being carried out at a very grave cost to Australia."

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has assured his country that measures are in place to treat any ebola cases.

"What we're doing at the moment is we're carefully monitoring everyone coming to this country who's been in West Africa," he said.

"In every state, public hospitals have been prepared to deal with Ebola cases should we get any."

Video: Row Over Ebola Screening In UK

The tests come as the condition of a Spanish nurse with ebola has deteriorated and is now on a ventilator, according to a hospital official.

It is believed Teresa Romero caught the virus from a tainted glove after treating an infected missionary.

UN Chief Ban Ki-moon today called on the world to step up its efforts at a summit attended by the leaders of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

"Our people are dying", said Sierra Leone President Ernst Bai Koroma.

He pleaded for more money and medical staff to help combat "a tragedy unforeseen in modern times".

Video: Protests As 'Ebola Dog' Euthanised

The outbreak has so far killed nearly 4,000 people and its spread has stretched relief efforts to breaking point.

:: Watch Ebola Crisis: A Special Report tonight at 8.30pm on Sky News, featuring exclusive footage from Alex Crawford at the heart of the outbreak in Liberia.

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Protests As Ebola Victim's Dog Put Down

Animal rights activists scuffled with police after an international social media campaign failed to persuade authorities in Spain to spare a dog whose owner contracted ebola - and whose condition has worsened.

Almost 400,000 people signed a petition to save nursing assistant Teresa Romero's dog, Excalibur.

Mrs Romero's condition deteriorated on Thursday and she is now on a ventilator, according to a hospital official.

Teresa Romero and her dog Excalibur

The 40-year-old is the first person to contract the virus outside of Africa.

Protests erupted outside her apartment in Alcorcon, briefly stopping a police van pulling away with the family pet.

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1. Gallery: Protests To Save Ebola Victim's Dog

   Spanish police block animal rights activists protesting outside the apartment building of the nurse who contracted ebola, Teresa Romero, in Alcorcon, outside Madrid

2. Madrid regional authorities said they would euthanise the dog Excalibur to avoid possible contagion, sparking an outcry by animal rights activists to save the pet

3. The sign reads: "Zero sacrifice. Ana Mato (Spanish health minister) resign."

4. A neighbour tries to get a glimpse of Excalibur as he stands on Ms Romero's balcony. Almost 400,000 people signed a petition to save the dog

5. Excalibur barks from the balcony

8. A van presumably carrying Excalibur leaves her apartment. Continue through for more pictures

Demonstrators chanted "assassins" as batons were used to clear the road.

Madrid's regional government later said the mixed-breed dog was sedated, euthanised and incinerated.

Authorities had obtained a court order to kill the dog, saying they could not rule out the possibility Excalibur could spread the virus.

On Twitter, the hashtag #SalvemosaExcalibur was tweeted more than 400,000 times in 24 hours.

Video: Online Appeal To Save Ebola Dog

Mrs Romero's husband, Javier Limon Romero, also made an emotional appeal for the dog to be spared - but the campaign was in vain.

A 2005 study published in a Centres for Disease Control and Prevention journal suggests dogs are susceptible to the virus.

However, there is no documented case of ebola spreading to people from dogs.

A US veterinary health expert criticised the Spanish authorities.

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1. Gallery: Ebola Crisis: Special Report

"There's never been any evidence of transmission from dogs to humans," said Dr Peter Cowen, a professor at North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine.

"It's never happened in any sense. So we don't have any scientific information that that dog was a risk."

Seven people are currently in isolation at Madrid's Carlos III hospital but Mrs Romero is the only one diagnosed with the virus.

One of the seven, a doctor who treated Mrs Romero over a 16-hour shift, claimed in a letter published by El Pais that he had not been told she had ebola,

Video: Hammond And Kerry: Full Statement

:: Watch Ebola Crisis: A Special Report tonight at 8.30pm on Sky News, featuring exclusive footage from Alex Crawford at the heart of the outbreak in Liberia.

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Counting The Cost Of The Ebola Outbreak

The impact of the deadly ebola virus may cost West Africa £20bn, experts have warned.

The World Bank said the worst case scenario would see the wider region suffer a loss of 3.8%, with Liberia at risk of losing almost 12%.

Sierra Leone, which was forecast to have one of the top 10 growth economies globally in 2014, is also expected to see significant impact

World Bank president Jim Yong Kim said: "The international community now must act on the knowledge that weak public health infrastructure, institutions and systems in many fragile countries are a threat not only to their own citizens.

"They are also to their trading partners and the world at large."

The spread of the deadly virus is the worst health scare since the outbreak of AIDS in the 1980s, according to a US official, overtaking the SARS crisis a decade ago.

"I would say that in the 30 years I've been working in public health, the only thing like this has been AIDS," US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention director Thomas Frieden said.

"It's going to be a long fight," he told the heads of the United Nations, World Bank and International Monetary Fund gathered in Washington DC for an emergency summit.

The UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) also said the ebola crisis may impact food security.

This comes despite continuing price decline for most food items globally, bumper wheat production and huge rice stockpiles.

Tour companies and airlines have already been hit over Ebola fears

The FAO said the outbreak was a "hot spot" of concern since it was disrupting markets and farming activities "affecting food security and large numbers of people".

Meanwhile, the cost to other countries is yet to be accurately calculated.

Tour firms and airlines have already seen share prices fall as fears spread.

But specialist firms providing goods and services to help overcome the outbreak have seen benefits.

Phoenix Air Group, the world's only specialised highly contagious air transport service using Gulfsteam III jets, has been swamped with exclusive-use bids.

The UK, Canada, Mexico, Japan and the UAE have all tried to establish exclusive contracts, according to a US Department of State briefing document seen by Sky News.

The UN and World Health Organisation also tried to secure deals with Phoenix, the document revealed.

In response, the US offered Phoenix a $5m (£3m) six-month contract for medevac services for American government employees who may become infected.

And suppliers of white anti-contamination suits have seen orders spike as governments increase their response.

Britain's Department for International Development has boosted suit orders from a Hull-based contractor, from 50,000 a month to 100,000.

The suits cost around £25 each and are worn for about one hour, before the contamination risk becomes too great.

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Fixer 'Knew About Shrien Dewani Murder Plot'

A middleman said to be the link between British honeymooner Shrien Dewani and the hitman who murdered his wife knew all about the plot to kill her, a court heard.

At the British businessman's murder trial in South Africa, Mr Dewani's lawyer suggested fixer Monde Mbolombo put the Dewanis' taxi driver in touch with hitman Mziwamadoda Qwabe.

Francois van Zyl said phone records revealed Qwabe and Mbolombo spoke frequently on the night of the murder in November 2010.

Addressing Qwabe at South Africa's Western Cape High Court, Mr van Zyl said: "There are calls between you and Mbolombo. Why?"

Mngeni and Qwabe have already been convicted of Ms Dewani's murder

Qwabe replied: "As I said, Monde was the link man. If I had a problem getting hold of Zola (taxi driver Zola Tongo) then I would have called him."

Mr van Zyl said: "This was the night of the carjacking. Why did he call you and what was discussed?"

Qwabe replied: "I don't recall."

Dewani's lawyer said: "I put it to you that Mbolombo was much more than just a link man - he knew much more."

Qwabe, who has already been convicted of killing Shrien Dewani's wife Anni was also accused by Mr van Zyl of giving conflicting evidence about when the fee for the killing was collected from the Dewanis' taxi.

Qwabe came face-to-face with Dewani on Wednesday for the first time since Anni Dewani was killed.

The former tour guide told the court he was contacted by Tongo who told him he knew of a husband who wanted his wife killed.

Dewani denies arranging the murder of his wife Anni

Shrien Dewani denies planning his wife's death by hiring three men to kill her as they drove in a taxi through Cape Town's Gugulethu township during their honeymoon in November 2010.

Tongo has also already been convicted for his part in the plot, along with a third man Xolile Mngeni, who fired the shot that killed Ms Dewani.

Mbolombo was granted immunity from prosecution last year when he testified in Mngeni's trial while Qwabe drove the hijacked taxi, from which Mr Dewani and Tongo had already been ejected, the court heard.

Prosecutors say Mr Dewani, 34, wanted to get out of the marriage and arranged a staged hijacking in which he escaped and Anni was killed.

It was revealed in court on Wednesday that Mr Dewani viewed sex websites within 48 hours of his wife's body being found.

Mr Dewani, from Westbury-on-Trym, near Bristol, denies all five charges - murder, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances, kidnapping and defeating the ends of justice.

It is not known whether he will give evidence in his trial, which was adjourned after Qwabe complained of suffering stomach cramps and will resume on Monday.

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US Military: Airstrikes Alone May Not Stop IS

Airstrikes alone may not be able to stop the advance of Islamic State fighters in Syria, US officials have warned.

Barack Obama met military commanders to discuss the campaign against IS in Syria and Iraq amid fears troops would be needed on the ground.

"Our strikes continue, alongside our partners. It remains a difficult mission," the US President said.

"As I've indicated from the start, this is not something that is going to be solved overnight."

US-led airstrikes have continued on Kobani - where IS militants have been fighting a fierce battle with Kurdish forces - although senior commanders have warned the Islamists could still take the strategic border town.

Coalition jets have been targeting IS fighters around Kobani

Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said: "Airstrikes alone are not going to do this, not going to fix this, not going to save the town of Kobani.

"We know that. And we've been saying that over and over again.

Video: Sam Kiley On The Battle For Kobani

"We all need to prepare ourselves for the reality that other towns and villages and perhaps Kobani will be taken by IS."

Rear Adm Kirby said troops would be needed to defeat IS, adding: "We don't have a force inside Syria that we can co-operate with and work with."

The US military's Central Command said American-led forces carried out 14 coalition strikes on Wednesday and 19 bombing raids near Kobani since Tuesday, in an attempt to help Kurdish militia.

"Indications are that Kurdish militia there continue to control most of the city and are holding out against ISIL," a statement said.

Video: Airstrikes Target IS In Border Town

Activists said the strikes killed at least 45 IS militants since Monday evening, forcing the group to withdraw from parts of the town.

Over the past few days, thousands of IS fighters armed with heavy weapons looted from captured army bases in Iraq and Syria had managed to push into some areas.

The fighting has forced 200,000 residents and villagers to flee and seek shelter across the border in Turkey.

Idriss Nassan, deputy head of Kobani's foreign relations committee, said the town was "still in danger" and more airstrikes were needed.

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1. Gallery: Protests Rage In Turkey Over IS

   Residents walk through a damaged street in downtown Diyarbakir following overnight clashes with police

2. Violence erupted in Turkish towns and cities, mainly in the Kurdish southeastern provinces, as protesters take to the streets to demand more be done to protect Kobani

3. Kobani, a predominantly Kurdish settlement which has been surrounded by Islamic State fighters for three weeks

6. Kurdish protesters set fire to a barricade set up to block the street as they clash with riot police in Diyarbakir

7. Flames are seen near a Turkish police vehicle in Diyarbakir during a demonstration of Kurds to demand more western intervention against Islamic State militants (IS) in Syria and Iraq

9. Kurdish protesters set fire to a public bank

10. A branch of Halkbank is set ablaze

13. Kurdish protesters clash with Turkish riot policemen

14. Police used tear gas and water cannon in Istanbul

17. Smokes rises from the Gaziosmanpasa district in Istanbul

18. A public bus burned by Kurdish protesters is pictured at the Gaziosmanpasa district

The Kurdish population, who live in many of the areas IS controls in northern Syria, northern Iraq and parts of southeast Turkey, has been pressuring Ankara to intervene to defend Kobani.

Turkey says it does not want the town to fall and has encouraged the US to set up a no-fly zone and a humanitarian corridor (buffer zone) on the border.

France is backing calls for a buffer zone and the US and Britain said they were willing to "examine" the idea of a safe haven.

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Couple Sentenced For Having Sex In Police Car

By Sky News US Team

A couple who had sex in the back of a police car have been jailed.

Heather Basten, 29, was already in trouble with the law after being pulled over in Wisconsin with her lover, Travis Husnik, 33, on suspicion of driving under the influence.

The couple were put in the back of a police cruiser for the ride to Oconto County Jail on 3 August.

The deputy driving the car noticed they were getting amorous in the back seat and stopped the vehicle.

He told Husnik to pull up his trousers and get in the front of the car for the rest of the journey.

The two were charged with disorderly conduct and lewd and lascivious behaviour.

Sheriff Mike Jansen told Sky News: "In my 37 years on the job, I've not been made aware of anything like this happening in our county."

Husnik was sentenced to the maximum 90 days in jail because of his criminal record.

Basten received 48 days, plus fines and court costs.

Assistant District Attorney Robert Mraz said the couple's behaviour was "a little disgusting".

Judge Jay Conley was quoted by the Green Bay Press Gazette as saying: "The process of being arrested is supposed to be somewhat unpleasant ... and you end up having a tryst. Incredible."

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Hong Kong Government Cancels Protest Talks

The Hong Kong government has called off talks with pro-democracy demonstrators who have paralysed parts of the territory for more than a week.

Tens of thousands have taken to the streets demanding free elections after China said it would have to approve candidates for the region's 2017 ballot.

The largely student movement also wants Hong Kong's Chief Executive, Leung Chun-ying, to resign.

It was hoped that talks on Friday would ease tensions.

Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests have drawn huge crowds

But Chief Secretary Carrie Lam said: "Students' call for an expansion of an uncooperative movement has shaken the trust of the basis of our talks and it will be impossible to have a constructive dialogue."

Meanwhile, Hong Kong's Justice Department handed the investigation of a $6.4m (£4m) business payout to Mr Leung to prosecutors on Thursday.

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1. Gallery: Protest Is An Art In Hong Kong

   Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong have been keeping their message alive with highly-produced poster art celebrating the 'Umbrella Revolution'.

2. Click/swipe through for more images...

Opposition leaders argue that the head of the former British colony faces a "huge integrity problem" over his failure to declare the payments made to him by Australian engineering company UGL.

Australian media reported that Mr Leung received two payments from UGL during a deal struck in December 2011 - months before he took office in July 2012, but a week after he announced his candidacy.

At the time, UGL was buying insolvent property services firm DTZ - where Mr Leung  was a director.

The reported deal was that Mr Leung would receive payment so that he did not compete with the firm over the following two years and would act as an adviser "from time to time".

"It boils down to a huge integrity problem," pro-democracy MP Claudia Mo said. "Can you imagine Obama being a consultant of some company while being a political leader?"

Another MP, Cyd Ho, urged Hong Kong's parliament to investigate the payments.

Video: Ultimatum For Hong Kong Protesters

"He should have cut himself off all business affiliations. This time it's a very serious case. A statement cannot explain away all the queries from the public," she said.

While Mr Leung has not yet commented publicly, his office says he was under no legal obligation to declare the earnings.

It comes as protests continue, though numbers have fallen in recent days.

Video: Hong Kong Protesters Clash

Small groups still control a number of barricades across the city in what has become the most organised challenge to Beijing's rule since Hong Kong's handover in 1997.

Occupy Central, one of the main protest networks, claims a "new wave of civil disobedience" is to be announced by all groups involved.

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US Ebola Victim Was About To Realise His Dream

By Sky News US Team

Thomas Eric Duncan, the ebola patient who died in a Texas hospital, had long-held ambitions to join his family in America and was planning to propose to his girlfriend, it has emerged.

Mr Duncan, the first person to be diagnosed with ebola in the US, was born near a leper colony in Liberia but eventually fled the country during the civil war.

The 42-year-old was in America to attend the high-school graduation of his son, who moved to the US as a toddler.

According to his friends and family, Mr Duncan grew up in a village near the Yila Mission, an American Baptist mission hospital and leper colony.

He moved to a middle-class area in the Liberian capital Monrovia for high school. But by the time he was 18, warlord Charles Taylor invaded Liberia from Ivory Coast, initiating years of conflict.

Thomas Eric Duncan arrived in the US on 20 September

Mr Duncan sought to join his half-sister who had moved to the US with her husband in 1989, shortly before Taylor's invasion. But his application was denied.

He fled to a refugee camp in the Ivory Coast, where he met Louise Troh, who would become his girlfriend. Their son was born in the camp.

Video: US Airports To Start Ebola Checks

When Ms Troh's application to live in America was accepted, she and the couple's son moved to the US - but Mr Duncan's efforts to relocate were denied.

He moved to another refugee camp in Ghana, then returned to Liberia where he worked as an executive's chauffeur.

When he arrived in the US on 20 September, it was the coronation of years of efforts.

He had confided that he wanted to ask Ms Troh to marry him, according to a lifelong friend, Thomas Kwenah, quoted by the AP news agency.

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1. Gallery: Ebola Crisis: Special Report

But by then he had already been exposed to ebola. He is believed to have contracted the virus while helping a pregnant neighbour in Liberia who eventually died.

Mr Duncan showed no symptoms on the flights.

But his death on Wednesday in Dallas alarmed the public in the US and raised questions over the authorities' ability to cope with the disease. Officials say an outbreak is unlikely in the US.

A sheriff's deputy who entered Mr Duncan's apartment, apparently without wearing protective clothing, is being tested for ebola in what officials say is an "abundance of caution". 

Video: Ebola: Flight Route Of US Patient

The man has been identified as Michael Monnig in local news reports. His son, Logan, told the Dallas Morning News: "We don't want to cause a panic."

"There is almost no chance my dad would have ebola."

Four people in Mr Duncan's apartment, including Ms Troh, have been quarantined.

Meanwhile, the US military is working to build medical centres in Liberia and may send up to 4,000 soldiers to help with the crisis.

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1. Gallery: The Desperate Fight To Contain The Ebola Outbreak

   A man rests outside the clinic.

2. A woman is comforted after medical officials remove her husband, who is suspected of having the disease.

3. Officials try to prevent themselves from spreading the disease.

4. A local who has just brought his brother to the centre. He had to rely on plastic bags tied around his hands to try to protect himself.

5. A man thought to be infected with ebola waits for treatment.

6. Patients wait to be seen by medical staff.

7. Workers try to decontaminate themselves.

8. A worker with a child who may have caught ebola.

9. A make-shift hand-washing station in Monrovia.

10. Decontaminated boots of medical staff.

11. The basic conditions make containing the disease very difficult.

In Spain, a nurse has tested positive to the deadly virus, while in Australia a woman is being tested. 

US officials have also stepped up airport screening at five airports: New York's JFK, Newark in New Jersey, Washington Dulles, Chicago and Atlanta.

The new checks, taking effect from the weekend, will include taking the temperatures of hundreds of travellers arriving from West Africa.

The UK is facing calls for similar screenings.

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MH17 Passenger Was Wearing Oxygen Mask

One of the passengers on the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 shot down over Ukraine was found wearing an oxygen mask, it has emerged.

Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans made the revelation during a late-night TV interview on Wednesday.

"You know that somebody was discovered wearing an oxygen mask and had time to put it on," he said.

Mr Timmermans gave out the information before some relatives knew

The passenger, an Australian, had the elastic strap of the mask around his neck, said Wim de Bruin, a spokesman for the Dutch National Prosecutor's Office, which is carrying out a criminal investigation into the crash.

It raises the possibility that some passengers knew the plane they were on was doomed.

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1. Gallery: Impact Marks On MH17 Fuselage

   These stills were released by the Dutch Safety Board on September 9, 2014

2. They show clearly visible puncture marks scattered across the fuselage of MH17

3. On July 17, the Malaysia Airlines flight lost all 298 passengers and crew

4. The plane was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur

5. The disaster occurred over an area of Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists

6. Crash investigators say it was probably downed by "a large number of high-energy objects"

7. The Dutch Safety Board has ruled out technical fault or human error

After Mr Timmermans made the comments, Dutch prosecutors confirmed it in a letter to the victims' families.

"How and when the mask ended up around the victim's neck is unknown," prosecutors said in the letter, which was published online.

Mr De Bruin said forensic experts investigated the mask "for fingerprints, saliva and DNA and that did not produce any results.

"So it is not known how or when that mask got around the neck of the victim."

He also said he did not know where in the plane the Australian victim was sitting.

None of the other 297 victims of the crash was believed to be wearing an oxygen mask, prosecutors added. Thirty-eight Australian residents and citizens were killed in the disaster

Relatives of the Australian passenger were told about the mask as soon as it was discovered.

But the families of other victims heard about it for the first time when Mr Timmermans mentioned it during the TV interview.

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1. Gallery: The World Mourns For MH17

   Flowers continue to be left outside Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam

2. One of KLM's crews pay their respects

3. They add a bouquet to the growing number of flowers

4. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his wife Margie attend a memorial at St. Mary's Cathedral in Sydney

5. Mourners in Australia attend a memorial service held for a family of five killed in the crash

6. Children at the ceremony in Sydney, Australia

7. A photo displayed on a memorial shows teacher, Arnold Huizen who died with his wife Yodricunda Theistiasih Titihalawa and their daughter

8. School children sit together with candles at the Pelita Bangsa school as they remember their teacher Arnold Huizen in Indonesia

9. People light candles during a candle light vigil for the victims of MH17 Kuala Lumpur

Mr Timmermans, the incoming vice-president of the European Commission, later expressed regret for revealing the information.

"The MH17 disaster goes to my heart," he said.

"I should not have made the comment. The last thing I want to do is aggravate the relatives' suffering in any way."

Relatives of victims began calling investigators asking about Mr Timmermans' comments, Mr De Bruin said.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was shot down on July 17 while flying over rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam.

The findings of an initial report by a Dutch-led team of air crash investigators appear to back up claims that the plane was hit by an anti-aircraft missile.

Kiev and the West have accused Moscow-backed separatists of shooting the down airliner with a surface-to-air BUK missile supplied by Russia.

Moscow denies the charge and has pointed the finger back at Kiev.

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Lego Drops Shell Over Greenpeace Spill Video

Lego has ditched a long-standing partnership with Shell, after a Greenpeace video used its toys to illustrate an Arctic oil spill.

The decision comes after the slick parody video by the environmental group went viral online, garnering more than 5 million YouTube hits, over the oil giant's plan to drill in the Arctic.

Using Lego blocks, the video starts by showing animals in pristine snowy wilderness before moving on to a scene of heavy machinery drilling for oil.

To gentle background music a Shell branded road tanker and petrol station are brought into view - before it zooms in on a pin-striped businessman smoking a cigar on a Shell offshore drilling rig.

The video had a pin-striped businessman smoking a cigar on a Shell oil rig

A crude oil slick then starts spreading before the Arctic 'drowns' in a black morass.

The video ends with two captions: "Shell is polluting our kids' imaginations.

Video: Greenpeace Defends Targeting Shell

"Tell Lego to end its partnership with Shell".

Lego products are currently sold at Shell petrol stations in more than two dozen countries, in a deal estimated at £68m.

In response to the campaign Lego CEO Jorgen Vig Knudstorp said the current deal with the Anglo-Dutch Shell, negotiated in 2011, would not be renewed.

"We want to clarify that as things currently stand we will not renew the co-promotion contract with Shell when the present contract ends," the company said in a statement.

"A co-promotion like the one with Shell is one of many ways we are able to bring Lego bricks into the hands of more children and deliver on our promise of creative play."

Lego, the world's biggest toy manufacturer, added: "The Greenpeace campaign uses the Lego brand to target Shell.

"As we have stated before, we firmly believe Greenpeace ought to have a direct conversation with Shell.

"The Lego brand, and everyone who enjoys creative play, should never have become part of Greenpeace's dispute with Shell."

The oil company would not be drawn into the exact business dealings it has with the Danish toy firm.

A Shell spokesman told Sky News: "Our latest co-promotion with Lego has been a great success and will continue to be as we roll it out in more countries across the world.

"We don't comment on contractual matters."

Greenpeace said that within the last three months Lego was swamped with more than 1 million complaints.

Its Arctic campaigner Ian Duff said: "This is a major blow to Shell. It desperately needs partners like Lego to help give it respectability and repair the major brand damage it suffered after its last Arctic misadventure.

"Lego's withdrawal from a 50-year relationship with Shell clearly shows that strategy will not work."

Greenpeace previously targeted Lego's US-rival Mattel, over Asian pulp and paper used as packaging for its Barbie dolls.

Founded in the interwar period, wood-based Lego was replaced by plastic components around 1947. Petroleum by-products are used as feedstock for plastics and as an energy source in their manufacture.

Naomi Klein, author of global warming book This Changes Everything, told Sky News Business Presenter Ian King that the capitulation by Lego is part of a wider trend.

"A lot has to do with carbon bubble research showing these companies have five times more carbon in their reserves than our atmosphere can safely absorb," Ms Klein said.

"Since that research has come out it has been a game-changer and this is one more sign of that."

:: Naomi Klein will be interviewed by Ian King Live, tonight at 6.30pm.

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